Football and knitting

Watching Arsenal vs. Chelsea. I imagine co-worker Neil is getting ready to gloat as Chelsea has just scored. Wait, now there's another goal for Chelsea. An own goal!!!Sh*t!

Anyway, in better news, I finished the first sock for Maria: I like it a lot except for the knobby edges of the grafted toe. I need to bring it to my grafting class to get suggestions.



I've also made good progress on my Oblique sweater:



Next task, four squares to bring to the grafting class.

Blocked scarf and a new project

I washed and blocked Jill's scarf today. I like it a lot:





I've been working on socks for Maria. Just 3x1 rib. Easy. Portable. The yarn has a lot of flaws in it, however, so I'm not sure how well they'll wear. Anyway, this is just sock number one, but it's coming along nicely.



Finally, Boo has decided his food would be more useful as an art piece:

I did it!

40 minutes of concentrated kitchner stitch produced a pretty succesful join:



It was really hard to maintain my concentration throughout all 63 stitches, but I think it turned out pretty well. I'll post pictures of the finished scarf after I block it.

And here's a lovely shot of the cats acting like they like each other:

Almost done

My Lily of the Valley Scarf is all finished, but for the grafting. Oh dear, the worst part. I don't like Kitchner stitch, and I'm not fully satisfied with any of my attempts at it. I'm taking a class on it, in a few weeks, but I need the needles for my Forest Path Stole, so I'm not sure I want to wait. But since it's a gift I want to do a really good job. What to do?

No knit night for me : (

I'm still trying to recover from a brutal cold, and I have to teach all day tomorrow, so no knit night at the Purl for me.

Of course, I'll still be knitting. I've started the 9th tier of Forest Path, and I'll probably knit some more on Oblique. I finally took a picture of my progress:



There's one big error, but I was over 4 rows beyond it when I saw it. I couldn't fix it easily, and ripping back that far was too disheartening, so it's staying.

Here the sock I started for Maria:



This is my easy traveling knitting.

Happy Birthday Purple Purl!

The Purple Purl, my LYS, is celebrating its 2nd birthday today. Congratulations Jen and Miko! It's a great store: lovely yarn, coffee and treats, warm atmosphere, and a great knit night.

So, of course I went by to buy: 25% off all purple yarn. And free purple stitch markers as a giveaway!

I went for some Malabrigo sock (my camera always adds lots of blue to the photos, so the colour is off):



And some kid mohair from Twinkle Handknits (Miko kindly ignored that fact that this yarn is called "Dusty Pink", and accepted my claim it was a shade of purple):



Lots of ladies were there knitting, but I couldn't stay. This evening is a Shape Notes potluck, and I had to get to the grocery store for something to bring (and the week's food for the family).

New sweater project

I cast on for Oblique today. Yes, I wanted to finish all my other projects first (except of course for Forest Path), but I need something to knit on next week during the Synod meeting of the Anglican Toronto diocese. Boring meeting about money, and knitting is definitely called for. But complicated lace charts are not a good idea. So, a sweater is in order.

Knit night

at the Purl was good as usual. But I'm losing my voice, and of course I can't not talk, so it's feeling pretty ragged right now. I'm not sure I'll be able to get through a full day of work tomorrow. Teaching, especially a grammar/vocabulary class, is a bit difficult if you can't talk.

Poor Miko was really being given a hard time for trying to get people to go see New Moon with her. I really want to go, but we're going to see the band Rural Alberta Advantage that night.

More of our new cutie

Sound asleep on my daughter's tummy. Boo is dead to the world





And here is a shot of my Lillies scarf:

2 in one day

Just to show these lovely shots of our kitties:





And a great shot of my Forest Path:

I'm back . .

not that anyone cares. It's hard to be a blogger no one reads. It's even harder to blog about things that are tough to write about. Though, it could be easier in some cases, knowing no one reads difficult stuff.

Anyway, my father-in-law died about two months after my last post, and blogging has been a complete non-priority for me. I did miss it. Although my Ravelry page has met my knitting-record needs, other stuff has been completely neglected.

Like the acquisition of our new cat, Boo Radley:





The humans in the house all adore him, but Kisa is still adjusting. There have been some massive battles, but I hope things will work out eventually.

Of course, I've done lots knitting since then. Too much to record here, but here's a summary of what I've finished since then: 4 sweaters, 1 dress, 5 shawls, 3 pairs of socks, 2 hats, 1 pair of mittens. At the beginning of the summer I started the Forest Path Stole:



I'm working on tier 10. Obviously, this is going to take a long time.

I've almost finished the Tomten Jacket for my niece, Miranda. I'll post pictures when it's finished, which won't be until I've taken a class on grafting in December. After I graft the hood, I just have to add the i-cord and maybe a zipper (or buttons).

I'm making the Lilly of the Valley Scarf from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. This is for my co-worker Jill, who is just too generous for words. Time to give back a little.

I'm finishing the second of two garter stitch scarves made out of Malabrigo worsted. Very yummy to knit. They are gifts for Miranda's parents:





I'm determined to finish all that's current, except for Forest Path, before I start new projects. I have lots of sweaters in my queue I want to begin.

Well, Tom and I are off for a walk by the lake, to enjoy what may be the last nice weekend for a while.