My Annual Knitting Goals…almost in February

Since I'm only hours away from February, I thought I'd post my list of knitting goals for the year. I was inspired by the yearly goal setting that my family does, but also by Susan B. Anderson's group on ravelry, which challenges people to post some annual goals.

So, here goes…

1. Knit from stash for most of the year. Only buy yarn if I really, really, really love it.
2. Organize the yarn that has migrated into my bedroom closet (migrated from my stash closet in the guest room!) and sort the yarn into bags for projects.
3. Knit from the project bags that I create, rather than get sidetracked by new projects.
4. Knit one pair of socks per month this year, including socks for my kids.
5. Finish off my project pages. My yarn scale broke so I haven’t been keeping track of yarn amounts. Need to break out my new scale.
6. Finish my friend’s baby present BEFORE the baby arrives in May! :)
7. Participate in Jane Richmond’s KAL - I got to test knit the Climb socks from her most recent book and have ordered the yarn to make the Inland cardigan(pattern).
8. Keep working on my Noro Kureyon Sunny Spread. I would love to have half of it done by the end of the year.
9. Attend VKL in Seattle and take one of Susan’s classes (fingers crossed!!!) 

Although there are many goals, I think that they're do-able. I've already spent tonight going through my closet full of yarn and bagging projects, fulfilling goal #3. The number of project bags I now have ready and waiting? Nineteen. Yikes. This yarn isn't my stash; it's actually yarn that I moved into my bedroom closet from my stash (stored in my guest room closet) because I was planning on making something 'soon' with it. Time to make some headway on it before the clothing in my closet is replaced by more yarn.

I also finished off a pair of socks that I started early last year. At times, I've even worn just the one, lonely finished sock. I've been feeling inspired lately and knit the matching sock in a few days last weekend.

Did I mention how much I love self-striping yarn? My addiction will hopefully be satisfied with goal #4. I tend to hoard my self-striping yarn, but it's so beautiful to knit. This particular yarn is Zwerger Garn Opal Sweet and Spicy in the Eiswaffel colourway. The pattern is from the wonderful Susan B. Anderson, called How I Make My Socks (right to the point!), which never fails to produce the perfect pair of socks.

Testing...testing...part 2

After a long lull in my knitting, I did a few test knits this summer and fall that have inspired me to knit as much as humanly possible again.

The first test knit, which I blogged about here was the Barley Hat by tincanknits. Following that, I was able to test knit the Flax Sweater, also by tincanknits. Both patterns are from the Simple Collection by the knitting duo that was created for people who are new(ish) to knitting. Check out the patterns here. They are fun, relatively easy, and in a variety of patterns that stretch far beyond the beginning knitters scarf.

I will definitely be knitting up more of the patterns, especially since my last knit was the Flax Sweater, which I made for T, who refuses to wear it. The joke is on him - he's 2 years old and I chose the 2 to 4 year old size, so there is plenty of time for me to convince him to wear it. He usually is overheating due to his inability to sit still for more than 10 seconds, so hopefully he might be more amenable to wearing the sweater when it's a little colder.

After trying to figure out which yarn to use for the sweater, and even buying 2 skeins of Malabrigo Rios in Azul Profundo, I fell in love with Dream in Color Classy's Happy Forest and had to hunt down enough for T's sweater. Here is where ravelry.com is a double-edged sword: I would never have seen the yarn and then become obsessed with finding it if not for ravelry, but then would also not have been able to buy it off a fellow raveler. Happily, I did find it and am happy with the results. Even if the sweater is lying on the floor of T's room, unworn. I can bide my time.

I've also had a chance to test knit two patterns for Jane Richmond this fall. One has not been released yet, so I won't mention any more about it, beyond that the pattern will appear in the book that Jane Richmond and Shannon Cook are releasing shortly. And that I totally loved the pattern. I've knit the pattern once but will be knitting it again in the near future.

The other pattern has now been released. I knit a shawl that Jane designed for Knit City 2013. The shawl is named McMilne, after the two producers of Knit City. You can click here to see the pattern page on ravelry and check out Jane's beautiful version. I'm not much of a shawl person, partly because I never know how to wear them. However, this shawl is not only beautiful, but very wearable. I actually had a chance to wear it to Knit City on the Saturday that we attended. It is gorgeous! I was able to poach the two skeins of Malabrigo Rios that I had originally purchased to knit a sweater for T, so I was able to cast on right away once I received the pattern. It was easy to memorize and knit up very fast. I absolutely love the pattern and highly recommend it! Plus, it was really cool to bump into other test knitters and Knit City and see all the different versions of the shawl. Again, highly recommended!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Many members of my family are sharing lists of goals for this year with each other. So, in no particular order, here goes:

Yoga x 20 days per month, for the whole year
Practice French more often
Write two blog posts a month
Pay down credit cards
Pay off two student loans
Pay off piano loan
Increase our contributions to our kids' RESP fund
Lose weight
Save money in a TFSA
Clear out my office
Use a cash envelope system, like Gail Vaz-Oxlade recommends
Follow at least two 'bites' per month from One Bite at a Time
Learn to play the violin
Knit one lovely thing each month
And finally, my sister and sister-in-law both set seasonal goals, so I'd like to come up with some fun things to do with my family each season


Not a bad list, if I do say so myself. Everything feels either manageable, like something that I wish I had more of or less of in my life, and/or will stretch me a bit. I really like making lists, especially because I am the kind of person who needs to refer back to them when my energy is running low and all I want to do is have a nap.

Some of these things are lifestyle changes that I want to make. So far, I've done yoga six out of eleven days this month, taking a break for a couple of travel days. Very manageable. I've been tackling the 'Eating Your Frog' and making a list suggestions from One Bite. Again, a bit of structure for things that I already do.

Some of them are pushing me to do things that I've wanted to do for a long time. I have a chance to learn to play the violin right now but I haven't taken it up yet. Even if all I do is learn how to crank out a scratchy version of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", I'll be happy. I've also been losing the rest of my baby weight steadily over the last few months, so I'm excited to push myself to do that. You'll notice I didn't put up any specifics about my weight loss. I believe that it's important to know specifics of your goal and how you'll get there. Trust me when I say that I have specific weight loss plans, I just haven't posted them. Likewise, the details of my loans.

And, they also give me permission to do things that I really want to do, with the key word being 'permission'. I love using beautiful yarn to make beautiful things. However, I often don't get exactly what I want. So, this year I'm going to choose one project a month that has been in my knitting queue forever and make it the way that I want to. This month I've chosen to make the Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig. I splurged and bought two skeins of madelinetosh tosh merino light in antler (the cream colour in my picture). I bought two other skeins to make a dress for my daughter, but then poached the skein of tern for my cardigan (the gray stripe from my picture). I'm going to do stripes of antler, tern and cousteau, which is a rich green. I love how it's turning out so far.

Finally, you might have noticed that none of my goals are work-related. I decided that, following last year's workaholic tendencies, that I wouldn't make any personal goals that were work-related. I work more than I should already. Instead of making goals about limiting how often I work, I decided to add things into my life instead, like more yoga and more knitting, which will help keep my sane and hopefully interfere with some workaholism.

And, on an unrelated topic, in the picture, my cardigan is on top of another skein of yarn that I just opened up. I was approached by a student and asked to make something for a charity auction. I tried not to be, but have to admit that I was flattered that they thought I would make something that people would bid on. The problem is that I don't have a ton of time to spend on it since the event is coming up in a week and a half. I landed on making the Marian Cowl by Jane Richmond. I decided to make it with Rasta yarn by Malabrigo. I went to my LYS to buy a skein, and when they heard what I was doing they donated the yarn, along with about 20 scarf-making kits. I was so impressed, especially since I was about to spend $30 on the yarn, and left the store with several hundred dollars worth of merchandise. I so excited to tell the student who originally asked me about the donation from the yarn store. Good karma!

Winterfresh Cardigan

In the spirit of knocking another thing off my list, I'm going to post about one of my favourite knitting projects. I started writing the post on February 16th, so I guess it's time that I actually finish it!

I am so excited that I finally finished a project for myself. I've made a couple before (out of the 100+ projects that I've made), but this is my first sweater for me (at least, that actually fits me).

I ordered the yarn a long, long time ago from ..... They were having a big going-out-of business sale and so I placed a big order. I think I ordered about 20+ skeins of yarn. Opening the box felt like Christmas. Anyway, part of my order was 4 skeins of Cascade Venezia, in the colour way Winterfresh. Blue in almost any shade is by far my favourite colour and I especially love aqua. So, with great intention I ordered the yarn. And it sat, and sat, and sat.

I finally cast on for the cardigan at the end of last summer. I wanted a project that was fairly simple, and this project has an almost unending amount of stockinette knitting. It's a really easy top down project, and once you get past the divide for the sleeves, you just keep on going with stockinette. The most challenging thing was keeping up my motivation to with the long, long rows of knitting or purling.

I also got sidelined at one point because my cable connecting the two ends of my circular knitting needle broke. I bought a new one a few weeks later, but it took me a while before I picked up the project again. I finished it off with a bright red button, since my favourite colour combination is aqua and red. I actually wore the cardigan with a red tank top this past weekend. I'm so happy that I actually finished the project because it's one of my favourite things in my wardrobe and I made it! Crazy!

My ravelry project page is here. The pattern is called Lady Kina, and it's a free pattern (in both English and French) that you can find here. There's also a pattern for a mini version of this that I'm sorely tempted to make for M.

Vintage Socks

One of my very favourite knitting pattern designers is Susan B. Anderson. She can do no wrong. I was an off-again, on-again knitter until I discovered her book Itty Bitty Hats. Now, as my husband likes to call it, I 'knitblog', which I think really says something about how she is so inspirational. Susan has a great series of Itty Bitty books as well as a very cute book called Spud and Chloe at the Farm. I don't have the last book yet but it's only a matter of time. Susan also has published many free patterns - not only is she a brilliant designer, she's very generous too.

Susan recently shared some of her latest knit socks on her blog. She had such a big response to the posting that she wrote down her personal pattern for making socks - found here (and here is the ravelry page). Although I've got a few other projects on the go or waiting in the wings, I had to cast on for this pattern right away. I dug out a skein of my precious yarntini Self Striping Sock yarn in Vintage.

Susan's sock pattern is a quick and easy knit. She has mastered the art of pattern writing. Her instructions are always crystal clear. This pattern would be perfect if you wanted to try casting on for your first pair of hand-knit socks.

The best part for me...Susan and I have the exact same size feet, so I followed the pattern exactly. Not a single change. They fit perfectly. I had planned on doing my weekly update today, but I decided instead that I had to write about my lovely new socks. Did I mention that I love them?

Weekly Update

This has been a busy, stressful week this week - hence, my Monday post is being written on Friday. Next week is another week, right? Trying to sort out lots of job stuff for next year, which will hopefully be resolved very soon. Also...we're going to be moving (very close by) in July. Big changes brewing in our household.

Some things I'm knitting this week:
Lovely socks. A great pattern (as always) by Susan B. Anderson, called How I Make My Socks. I especially love that I can follow her exact pattern because we have exactly the same size feet. I finally broke out this yarn, which I had been hoarding for a long time. It's Yarntini's Self Striping sock in the Vintage colour way.

Some things I'm loving this week:
Watching my kids play together. Having 'help' in the kitchen from my daughter. Learning to cook around M's food allergies (no dairy, no soy, no gluten, no peanuts).

Some things I'm working on this week: 
Keeping my sanity? Actually, working hard on keeping my personal integrity during a stressful time. Also, figuring out what I want and how to ask for it.

The Rainbow Blindingly-Bright Wallaby

Now that I'm focussing on some of my works in progress that have been languishing in my yarn stash, I'm actually making some headway. I finished Mom's Eleonora Shrug last week and have moved right along to M's Wallaby.

I was checking out yarn on KnitPicks a long, long time ago. I came across a rainbow self-striping yarn called Chroma Worsted in the colourway Lollipop. They have the same colour in a fingering weight as well but I had already picked out a few skeins of Felici Fingering weight yarn in Rainbow, so I didn't want two different sock yarns in similar colourways - apparently I have a slight addiction to self-striping yarn. I came across the Wonderful Wallaby pattern on Ravelry and decided that the yarn would be a great match for the pattern. I wanted to break up the stripes a bit so I decided to pair the Chroma with KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Bare. Several helpful people on Ravelry said that it would pair well together because the weight was similar. I also liked that it was about a third the price of the Chroma, making my Wallaby a lot less expensive.

I ordered the yarn and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. It turns out that it can take a long time to get a yarn shipment from the US into Canada. I think that it was almost a month before I received my box in the mail. My poor husband had to put up with me racing to the door everyday for a month. He had some good eye rolls going by the end of that month.

I originally cast on for a size 2 but decided to frog it and cast on again for a size 4. I wanted to my daughter to be able to wear the sweater for a while, and given my track record, I knew it could take a while for me to finish it. So, besides some minor mistakes I made from knitting when I was too tired, the project sped right along. I finished knitting a few nights ago, used the kitchener stitch to finish the hood and one of the underarms and held it up to admire my handiwork.

That was when I noticed that the opening for the neck (called the placket) and the pocket on the front of the sweater weren't lined up right. In fact, it was really off, by about an inch. The sweater is small and there isn't a lot of distance between the placket and the pocket, so it was really noticeable (at least to me). My husband could tell when I pointed it out, but said that I was a crazy person and should just leave it alone. The problem is that I had spent so much time and energy on the sweater that I knew that it would drive me nuts every time I saw it. I thought about how to fix it and couldn't think of a way besides ripping out the whole sweater. 

I posted on Ravelry, asking for help. Within two hours I had many different, very creative responses. Some people said it probably wasn't as noticeable as I thought and that I should just leave it. Some suggested that I embellish the sweater so that it looked intentional (this is when I realized I should post a picture - the sweater is already a little eye-searing). A few others suggested ways that I could rip out the pocket while saving the sweater, and reattach the pocket. I was not looking forward to another long slog of work on the sweater, especially when I had already thought it was finished. 

Last night I set the sweater out and looked at it. Frustrating. I tried to be creative to see if there was a way around fixing the pocket. I even looked at the placket, thinking that if it was moved a little, then the middle of both would line up. Obviously, though, you can't move the placket.

Except, I realized that I could. The placket is split in two and gapes open quite a bit. I figured out that I could take a button and attach it to the placket, so that it held the two edges together. I tried to place it a little higher up from the original split so that the front doesn't pucker so much. Not a perfect fix, but definitely better and now it's something I can live with.

The best part? She actually wants to wear the sweater. I'm still in shock.