Not an Artist

Faking It

2009-07-11T23:02:00.003-04:00

I've been reading and watching a lot of photoshop tips and tutorials lately. Mostly I'm trying to be better at "fixing" all those little mistakes I make in-camera, and trying to improve my photoshopping skills in general. But sometimes I just find something FUN. This photo was taken on our last trip out East in June 2006. It was a brief glimpse of blue sky from a Lunenburg street and the original was pretty uninspired (see below). Based on this tutorial I created a photoshop action to "fake" the HDR (High Dynamic Range) look of photos in an instant, and after playing around for a lot of time applying it to bunches of my old photos, this was my favourite one. I love how that siding pops in this new and improved version. The clouds are a bit pinkish but the siding just looks gloriously detailed to me, which I love.

ZOMG, a Finished Object: Tattoo-less Kimono Shrug

2009-07-05T12:22:00.005-04:00

Have you ever experienced love at first sight?

I first saw this sweater on the marketplace floor at the DKC Knitter's Frolic this past April. I was shopping with my best friend Meredith and we were both determined to buy only things that we loved. Usually this means just a few skeins of expensive luxury yarns for me and a selection of beautiful but practical yarns and projects for her. But when we both saw this sweater I'm pretty sure we both fell madly in love with it at the same time. Luckily for us, the wearer of the sweater not only shared the name and origin of the pattern but let us know that it was for sale in the very next room. We both bought the pattern, and after rejecting the idea of buying 10 skeins of Malabrigo (it would have been lovely but $170+tax for a shrug seemed a bit insane, even to me) I settled on two fat skeins of a silvery-grey wool-silk blend. I wound it up and started knitting that very night; masses of garter stitch were the perfect antidote to a completely crazy period at work around the same time.

I think I may be the only person grateful for the crapppy summer weather we've been having so far, since it allowed me to wear this cozy shrug a lot more than I thought I would be able to in June. Which worked out perfectly because it meant that I could convince the talented photographer Jacquie to do these shots for me on her recent Toronto visit. Also, if you like the jewellery I'm wearing, it is by Sprout Jewelry (etsy). I adore these diamond earrings, and they were ridiculously affordable.

Pattern & Modifications
Tattoo Kimono Shrug by Danielle Wilson from Spun Fibre Arts in Burlington, Ontario. As it turns out, you can buy it directly via Ravelry as a downloadable PDF, something I wish I had taken advantage of since I have a terrible time keeping track of paper patterns and I fully plan to make another of these in the future. The only modifications I made were to eliminate the "tattoo" part and just knit a solid garter-stitch back instead, and to completely knit my own size since the pattern as written was turning out giant for me. Probably a gauge issue but I didn't bother checking, I just ripped and re-knit to what you see here. I wish I'd taken better notes about that, actually. (see this project on ravelry)

Needles & Yarn
I knit this on hefty 6mm (US10) Addi Turbo needles. The yarn is Fleece Artist Margaree in a lovely silvery grey colour called Salt Spray: it is 45% Mohair, 45% Wool, 10% Silk and in each giant hank of 250g you get 375m, pretty great yardage for a heavy worsted. The wool/silk mix make it cozy, drapey and gorgeous; I've been wearing it a lot and see no sign of any pilling so far, something I often have a problem with in yarns soft and drapey enough to wear right next to the skin.

Timeline
Cast on April 25 and completed on May 28, 2009. The only reason it took so long to knit was a lack of knitting time (due to work) and the fact that I had to knit the entire body twice due to a major sizing issue. As it turns out, it was cold enough in June to wear it anyways!

MP3 Shuffle

2009-07-03T17:59:00.005-04:00

Tagged by Yvette, who has a mostly female lineup of oldies and goodies :) Since I just recently replaced my lost 1GB iRiver with a shiny new 8GB iRiver, I have a whole bunch of new stuff on my player, so it was fun to just sit here and shuffle through 'em. Here are the rules:

Turn on your MP3 player.
Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
Write down the first 15 songs that come up--song title and artist--NO editing/cheating, please.
Choose some people to be tagged. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about your musical tastes, or at least a random sampling thereof.

And my songs were:

Death Cab for Cutie - New Candles
Corey Hart - Boy in the Box
The White Stripes - We're Going to be Friends
X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage, Up Yours!
KMFDM - Brute
Black-eyed Peas - Anxiety
Ash - Burn Baby Burn
The Killers - All the Pretty Faces
Kimya Dawson - So Nice So Smart
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Not Forgotten
Rancid - Not to Regret
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - The International Sin Set
Dayglo Abortions - Wake up America
Furnaceface - Just Buy It
Goldfinger - 99 Red Balloons (cover)

What is in your random 15? I tag Jacquie, Dr Steph, Joyce and Glenna. Now I get to see if any of them even read my sad neglected blog anymore, too!

(This post also contains a random photo day photo! These are details from some photos I took at Casa Loma a few weeks ago.)

All That Sparkles

2009-07-02T19:32:00.001-04:00

Must be beaded.

I don't know why but lately I have been seized by the urge to knit with beads. Little sparkly accents just seem right, and so I have been seeking out projects with a generous amount of bling. Combined with my recent startititis, and I find myself with teensy crochet hooks and bead-filled tupperware everywhere.
First there was Fabergé (Rav link), a pattern I came across the last time I went on a major cowl spree (sometimes I become obsessed with knitting one specific type of item and then spend hours lurking on ravelry and adding tons of them to my faves/queue). Some sexy Handmaiden Samira, some random sparkly beads I had in my craft stash, a teensy crochet hook and I was good to go.

Then that familiar feeling hit... I needed to start something else, something new. And while I was at it, I could use another cute shrug. I like to wear tank tops to ride my bike to work, but I'm not comfortable showing my shoulders (especially with my big black tat on one shoulder). So, a little lightweight shrug is perfect to throw in the milkcrate on my bike and slip into before I hit the office.
Oh and, did I mention the beads? Cobweb (Rav link) is just pretty and perfect. Lace and beads. I'm using some laceweight Zephyr silk from my stash, held double and combined with lots of shiny blue and purple beads for this one. Now that I've started knitting it I kind of never want to stop, even though I am starting to think I may run out of beads before I finish the second sleeve. I'm also thinking vaguely of adding a tie and extending the body length to have more of a wrap/cardigan feel to it -- it is so light and airy I think that would be super cute.

Oh and for my next trick... I'm kind of in love with Morning Glory... at this point it is more a question of whether I have enough beads for it and where to find an appropriately sized purse frame.

TTC Knitalong = Awesome

2009-06-10T00:15:00.002-04:00

So the TTC Knitalong was this past saturday and it was awesome!! And I'm not just saying that because I was one of the organizers. It was a seriously great time and it wouldn't have happened without a lot of hard work and creative input from so many people. Thank you everyone who helped out and thank you everyone who came out!

I started my day heading for the subway and eastward from my central-west 'hood. I love taking these moving subway photos, they will never get old for me ;) Ironically it was the only subway ride I got that day, since my team's entire route was on streetcars, and mostly the Queen 501 car.

I was team captain along with Meredith (we're the ones in the awesome red t-shirts) for "Team East B" the coolest team of all (not that I'm biased). We got started at the Naked Sheep, where owner Lisa went all out and put on a spread that included a whole variety of tasty breakfast snacks, a piping hot carafe of coffee and baileys and amarretto to put in it. Yum! She also gave door prizes to absolutely everyone, ranging from cute prize packs of tape measure + soak, to store gift cards and travel mugs. All this on top of a generous discount and being super friendly to everyone. It was a great start to the day!

Next up we hit the Purple Purl, where even more delicious treats awaited along with Jen's special punch, grab bags for everyone that included a cute Purl tote, hot yarn calendars and some gorgous alpaca! And they raffled off a really amazing prize for each team -- think Vicuna laceweight, omg!

They also provided some suberb comic relief in the form of a new European yarn... what does that look like to you?

Between the amazing yarns at these two first stores there were already some bulging tote bags by the time we headed for our next stop in Kensington market!

It was then that we encountered TEAM A. It was like something out of West Side Story as we crossed paths on the way to Lettuce Knit.

Where we got some much needed relaxation time sitting on the porch and front patio, after enjoying some of the awesome new product and great discounts.

Next stop was Americo Original, a really one-of-a-kind yarn shop that stocks only beautiful, high-quality yarns imported from South America. We spent some more money and ooohed and aaahed over the luscious samples. Emily and Clara both enjoyed the visit :)

Our final stop was Romni, the queen of all Toronto yarn stores, where despite feeling like I shouldn't keep spending money I think we all just went a little crazy. It was the perfect place to end up and certainly the only yarn shop that could handle more than one team at a time (we ended up with about 60 participants spread over 4 teams, so even though we were pretty spaced out by the end it was still pretty busy!)

We ended at the Rivoli, where we filled the upstairs front with knitters (and got some distinctly odd looks from the bartenders and handful of other customers). Is that not a great crowd? It was a great spot to wrap up as everyone had a chance to grab some food and beverages while all the teams straggled in and the captains all met to confer.

We ended up with 15 prizes to give out, here you see the 4 winners of the Fierce! Knitwear prize for each team -- aren't they wearing some beautiful handknits? Some of the other prizes included Knitting WIN, Knitovation, Needs a Sherpa (a classic), Best Knitticism and more. The prizes included some great donations from all the LYSs that participated, including Village Yarns, Knitomatic, The Knit Cafe, Mary Maxim, The Yarn Boutique, Passionknit and all the stores listed already.

And it never would have happened without this amazing team. Than you so much Glenna, Lisa, Meredith, Sandi, Joyce, Yvette, Nadia & Sophie! We rock! Oh and super special thanks to my cousin Jay (Sandi's hubby), who rocked not just the logo design but hooked us up with a sweet deal on the shirts and tote bags too. All of which meant we got to enjoy cool swag and still donate a hefty portion of the proceeds to our chosen charity, Sistering.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I bought a lot of yarn? YUM!

(The full photo set is here and it was HARD to choose the best ones to share here. Definitely check them out, especially if you're looking for more soft-focus yarn porn)

Its TTC Knitalong Time!!

2009-05-16T10:59:00.004-04:00

New & Improved: Its the TTC KNITALONG.
Join us on June 6, 2009.

In my time as a knitter there have been some events that really stood out, and the TTC Knitalongs were one of them. The last one was in June 2007, which is when these photos were taken (see the full details if you like: Part I | Part II | Part III). The previous organizers have had some busy/crazy years in between and so a few months ago Joyce and I decided it was time to pick up the torch. We emailed the old guard and started gathering volunteers and in just a few short weeks we'll be TTC-ing all around the city, yarn in hand! The big day is June 6, and practically every yarn store in the region has signed up to participate. There will be some phenomenal discounts, special treats and super prizes so go to the official blog for all the details and sign up if you haven't already!

Finished Object: Topographic Cowl

2009-03-27T00:05:00.001-04:00

This knit started out as an emergency knitting project a few weeks ago when I realized I'd forgotten my knitting at home and wouldn't have time to go back before drunken knitting. Naturally, I did have time to hit the Purple Purl to buy some new Malabrigo and Addi Turbo Lace needles in a 5mm and cast on a completely new project!

Pattern & Modifications
The pattern is Topographie from knitty, only I pretty much ignored everything but the instructions on when to purl and made a big tube-style cowl/neckwarmer. I replaced the ribbing with a few rounds of garter stitch, knit and purled as the yarn told me to until I was starting to run low on yarn, and then did another few rounds of garter stitch. The results are stunning -- this was super easy and its easily one my favourite recent FO's. Not that there are that many of those these days, silly job taking away all my knitting time ;)

Needles & Yarn
The yarn is the always delicious Malabrigo Worsted in colourway Loro Barranquero. Knit on 5mm needles this yielded a perfectly balanced fabric that is cozy and yet drapey and soft.

Timeline
I cast on March 13 (drunken knitters!) and finished this up on March 21st, so just over a week. Not bad considering how little time I actually spend knitting lately.

Genius

2009-03-20T06:50:00.002-04:00

This is one of the funniest and most beautiful thing I've seen in a while. I can only imagine how hilarious this would have been to actually DO.

Happy St Paddy's Day!

2009-03-17T23:36:00.000-04:00

Look! A Puppy!

2009-03-16T08:39:00.003-04:00

Meet Sandy, my Dad's new puppy. This is her meeting my new Keens, in July. (Deep breath, Steph & Jacquie & Amy, I rescued them right after taking this picture and they are completely undamaged)

I am waaaay behind on processing photos at the moment. I'm still plugging away at our honeymoon stuff as well -- I have about a billion awesome photos of iguanas running around the resort that I need to finish sorting through as well.

I've realized something fundamental about why it takes me so long to get photos up after I shoot them: I need some time/distance in order to edit effectively; and by edit I mean cutting down the 100+ photos I may have taken in any one day down to maybe 20 good ones. Otherwise I fall in love with capturing every detail instead of focusing on just the great photos, and I end up with 60-photo sets.

At heart I think I'm a storyteller though, so its tough to decide. Sometimes even a crap photograph captures a part of the event that I want to remember/document. I don't think I'll ever be a true photo artist... but I can live with that. My user name is what it is, after all.

I'm a Weaver

2009-03-06T09:29:00.003-05:00

Finally the big reveal... I've now had my loom for well over 2 weeks but only just got around to moving it into my "craft room" where it now basically uses all the available floor space. After a certain amount of research and guess-work, I have come to the conclusion that this is an Artisat loom. It folds front and back (although when warped this releases the tension so I don't know that I'll be doing it that often).

I've already warped it and woven a bit, using some coned yarn I picked up in the Romni basement a few months ago for another project, and I've been weaving using sock-yarn scraps I have a big bag of so there are some wacky colours happening and my selvedges are terrible. I really need to find some time to take a class or coerce some of my experienced weaver friends to come to my house and give me some pointers. At this point I'm totally winging it based on the little information I was able to find on the internet and my own innate sense of mechanics.

It seems to be in very good shape and was obviously well cared for by the previous owner. All the parts move easily, there is no visible rust on the reed or heddles, and it actually still smells like wood (I LOVE the way my loom smells, when I walk in my craft room now I take a big deep breath of the delicious smell of maple).

It came with a 12-dent reed (that is 12 slots per inch) which works for some of the super fine yarn I'm using to warp it right now but probably won't work for heavier weight yarns. So I guess I'm going to have to spend a little more money on a reed with fewer dents -- I'm thinking an 8-dent for sock-weight and either a 6- or 4-dent to accommodate up to worsted weight. If anyone with some weaving experience can suggest a more appropriate reed size for sock weight and worsted yarns that would be awesome :) I want to be able to make big cushy woven blankets and I have visions of cozy plaid baby blankets for all of my friends' babies.

33 Things About Me

2009-03-03T08:17:00.000-05:00

I originally began this post in 2006. It was supposed to be 100 things about me, but for some reason I kept getting stuck around 20-something and giving up. I have now accepted that I will never be able to say 100 things about myself that will be true for more than 5 minutes, so now it is 33 things and a picture:

I am Canadian and proud of it
I was born in the 70's
I love my job, it is as close to my dream job as I can imagine
And yet it still drives me utterly insane sometimes
I love knitting
I love taking photos
I hate shaving my legs
Thank god for wax ;)
I am weirdly in love with my natural hair colour now, after over 15 years of dying it various colours
Because I'm Canadian and somewhat compulsive, I insist on spelling colour, behaviour & neighbour with a 'u' and it drives me crazy when other Canadians don't. I blame MS Word's auto-spellchecker for ruining the spelling habits of many of my less compulsive fellow Canadians
Of course I am prone to accidentally ending words in -ien instead of -ian (Canadien, Italien) but I blame my Québecoise heritage for that
My favourite colours swing back and forth between red & orange
I have 3 tattoos, the youngest of which is still more than 10 years old
I've been meaning to get a new tattoo for a while now
In my life I've had approximately 20+ body piercings
Currently I only have a few, and mostly in my ears
My husband and I have been together for over 10 years now
But we only just got married 5 months ago!
We have 2 cats and no plans to have babies
I go to the gym 3-5 times a week, and I started a weight-lifting program 6 weeks ago
I've dropped 3 pants sizes since starting
I'm back down to where I was about 5 years ago, before I decided to quit smoking and after many years of practically zero physical activity
I have become good friends with a neighbour (also a knitter!) from going to the gym
Its kind of cool to have someone to borrow a cup of sugar from if I need it!
I never would have thought I'd become a gym person but I've kind of grown to love going, especially now that I'm lifting weights
I'm not quite back into the kind of shape I was in at age 20
But I don't really have the motivation to start cycling 20-30km every day like I did back then
Lately I have been missing my youth a tiny bit though
Which is why I've been listening to a lot of old punk and industrial music on my mp3-player
Sometimes I feel like I'm in disguise
I couldn't possibly be that woman wearing the conservative wool coat, heels and giant sunglasses
Listening to the Forgotten Rebels or KMFDM at 8:30 in the morning on my commute through the financial district helps a little
I certainly don't feel like someone who just bought a used floor-loom so I could start weaving my own cloth!

Curl Curl Revolution

2009-02-27T08:51:00.003-05:00

I like to think that Adam and I throw a pretty good party, but our friends Kim & Sinclair are the real masters when it comes to having awesome parties. They both have birthdays in February and this year they decided that the best way to celebrate was a bonspiel! So it was off to London last saturday, and boy was I ever excited. I'm not from a small town and I've never learned to curl, but I've always been fascinated by the game. I finally got my chance to play and you know what? It was not a disappointment. I loved it!

I tried to blend in by wearing my grandfather's 1950's plaid lumberjacket. I didn't exactly fit in but it is one of my favourite mementos of his so I didn't care.

It looked much more appropriate on our friend Mike, who is clearly pulling together a real trailer-park boys theme right now. Dig that facial hair! And that is a rum-and-coke he's drinking, too.

Adam was naturally better at curling than me, but I blame the fact that I was on a team of totally newbies whereas his team had some slightly experienced players and an actual skip.

The winning team even got a trophy! There were six teams of 4 people and Sinclair lead team 5 to the WIN.

Mission Accomplished

2009-02-26T08:57:00.003-05:00

My husband did the groceries so now we are fully stocked up with Dry Vermouth and cocktail onions (and a few other food-type items of course). I am vaguely considering throwing a martini-themed house party in the spring, although this time I think I'll wait until they turn the A/C on in our building. And hope for fewer fires than the last time...

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, a mild sore throat combined with more than a little paranoia about my job situation. I'm kind of in love with my new job and I really, really want it to work out. So now I'm afraid of doing something to mess it up, because that's how I roll sometimes: self-sabotage is my not-so-super power.

My Grocery Issues

2009-02-24T23:31:00.003-05:00

I keep a pad of paper on the side of my fridge to jot down groceries on as the week progresses. This is what it currently contains:

Bacon
Eggs
Vermouth
Cocktail Onions
Raspberry jam (Smuckers)
Shampoo
Vanilla

That sure says something about our daily habits, doesn't it? Clearly we ran out of breakfast foods immediately followed by Gibsons (that is a gin martini with a pearl onion instead of an olive for you non-drinkers). Jam, shampoo and vanilla just seem tame in comparison, don't they?

I feel like you can tell a lot about a person by their ongoing grocery list. Do you have one? Share it, and link to it in the comments. I'm starting my very own lame grocery meme.

Gone Curling

2009-02-21T07:16:00.002-05:00

I popped over to Flickr to see if I could find an appropriate, creative commons photo of a curling rock to share because I am SO EXCITED to be going curling today. I didn't find any photos that I loved but I have to say that the search results for "curling" are quite lovely.

I also re-discovered this fantastic sweater, owned by Jodi Green who I've been reading for years after I knit one of her sweater patterns as one of my first ever sweaters (Mariah). Apparently someone thought they were tanks.

OH YEAH!!

2009-02-20T00:11:00.002-05:00

This is the best thing I've ever seen on FailBlog.

At least I think it is. Its possible the 30 hours of work I've done in the last 36 hours is clouding my judgement. The worst part? I left the office at 11:15pm today saying "I didn't get as much done today as I'd hoped I would".

In other news -- I have a loom!! It is sitting in my foyer being absolutely freaking gorgeous and I can't wait to have some breathing time to play with it. Soon.

Damn Spammers

2009-02-17T22:36:00.004-05:00

I've been getting absolutely swamped with comment spam lately, so I've been forced to switch to moderated comments :( This is no fun -- I prefer instant feedback when I comment on a blog, and I assume others want the same! This is just pushing me to finally get on switching over to a fuller-featured Wordpress blog, like I've been meaning to for a few months now.

Anyways, I have no real new knitting content to share but I did want to let everyone (all 6 of my regular readers) know that the Fluevog saga is finally at an end. After 4.5 weeks they finally called me to come and get my boots. When I got there, they had stretched the foot of the boot instead of the calf and they were completely unwearable. I thought I was going to cry, right there in the store full of touristy Sunday shoppers. The nice knitting salesguy came to my rescue when the person I was dealing with actually had the balls to suggest that I wait until the manager came back from his TWO WEEK vacation. I got a full refund on the spot.

Which I went straight out and spent -- for the same money I got a gorgeous messenger bag from Rudsak (40% off!) and an adorable pair of Campers (20% off!). I am wearing the bag and the boots in this photo but it is a bit hard to see the boots. This is what they look like. Its more of a heel than I was planning to get but I love wearing them, and they are Campers so they're actually quite comfortable. It is going to take a little practice to learn to walk fast in heels again but it is fun to wear them so I'll manage.

Finished Object: My Heart (for my Husband)

2009-02-16T10:13:00.003-05:00

I simply haven't had as much knitting time lately, and this was extra true of the heart that I decided to knit for my husband for Valentine's day! When the Knitty surprises were released on January 28, I knew I had to make one and I figured I had plenty of time -- more than 2 weeks! The only catch was, I wanted it to be a surprise, so I was only able to knit it while he wasn't around. My commute provided some of the knitting time, but I often don't get a seat as the King streetcar is usually packed full by the time I get on it in the mornings. It isn't that long a ride, either.

So despite working on it daily and putting in a long stint at Drunken Knitting on Friday the 13th, my progress was slow, and I ended up finishing it on Valentine's day out of sight while Adam made our delicious meal.

Pattern & Modifications
Heart by Kristin Ledgett for Knitty.com.

A lovely pattern that I more or less followed. I was on the streetcar when it came time to split for the valves however, and so I kind of just figured out my own way without consulting the pattern. Which is why my second colour valve is the opposite of the original pattern's. I also left out the red stuffing for the exposed ventricles, because I think they look more realistic that way. I did sew in the ends through the bases to keep the regular stuffing from leaking out or showing. I'm very pleased with my results!

Yarn & Needles
I used a few leftover wedding rose yarns to make this -- some tencel threads, a mohair in a deep red, and a mysterious red fingering-weight yarn that someone contributed at the rose-knitting-shower. Held triple-stranded and knit on 2.75mm (US2) needles made for a glossy fabric that I stuffed loosely for maximum squishability.

Timeline
February 1st - 14th, two weeks of extremely intermittent knitting! Followed by 20 minutes of extremely goofy project photography time:

Happy Valentine's Day, Just Barely

2009-02-14T22:44:00.002-05:00

I'm completely full of delicious food* that my husband cooked for me. There were stuffed mushroom caps, filet mignon and homemade whipped cream with berries for dessert. I am seriously the luckiest wife ever :)

*None of which contained heart. My heart is what I gave him (say it with me now... awwww)

Finished Object: Rainbow Red Snickets

2009-02-12T07:16:00.001-05:00

These socks took a while to knit, but now that they are done they are pretty gorgeous. The yarn is simply beautiful, with deep undertones that make the finished socks seem to almost glow from within. The twisted detail was a bit of a slow knit, but the results are worth it. I'd say my first completed pair of Project Sock Rainbow is a smashing success!

They fit a tiny bit loosely on me after some sizing issues when I first started knitting them, but I don't care. They are cozy to pad around the house in and the bright red colour still makes me smile every time I see them.
Pattern & Modifications
The pattern is Snicket Socks by Sabine Riefler. I tagged this pattern as a "must knit" back when Magknits was still around, so I was thrilled when Sabine shared the pattern as a free Ravelry download following the shut down of Magknits (sad). The only modification I made was subbing a standard slipped-stitch heel-flap construction. I suck at short-row heels and I don't find they fit my feet very well, so I went with the tried and true! Other than that it was a wonderful pattern.

Yarn & Needles
I am completely ashamed to admit that I don't remember what kind of yarn this is. Jeff bought it for me as a super generous gift last summer at the Purl, after Lady Lung Doc pointed it out to me as a great red for my sock rainbow (the original red I chose turned out to be too dark and have too much orange in it to really work). I proceeded to loose the label immediately and all I remember about it is that the label was turquoise and white, and I think it was a Diamond yarn. Anyone know what I'm talking about? It knit up really nicely on 2.75mm (US 3?) needles, so it is a bit of a heavier sock yarn.

Timeline
I cast these on in early September '08, and after a few false starts on smaller needles that made it a very unpleasant knit, I switched up to the 2.75s and knit right along on them. It still took me most of 3 months to finish them because I mostly worked on these for half-hour intervals while riding the recumbent bike at the gym.

Whew!

2009-02-03T07:48:00.004-05:00

Boy, I sure do like to follow up 31 straight days of daily blogging with resounding silence, don't I? I've been super busy the past few days with work and so I have to admit I let the blogging slide as soon as I could. I did blog every single day in January, just like the list says!

Anyways, all that work doesn't mean I haven't done anything else... I've made some progress on my vine-lace vest; it is a great simple lace knit that I'm really enjoying, especially since it progresses so quickly! Its funny how lately I'm all about larger yarns and visible progress. I used to think nothing of knitting one pair of socks on 2mm needles (US0) for a month if that was how long it took. So, while I do have a pair of socks on the needles (2.25mm needles to be precise) lately I find myself setting them aside for more gratifying, bulkier-weight projects.

Oh and how could I forget: we're bringing back the TTC Knit-along!! Go join the Ravelry group, and mark your calendars for Saturday, June 6. Joyce and I are spearheading this mission but we've got an awesome group of volunteer team captains, organizational help and a little bit of design help too... no changes have been made to the original blog yet but as soon as we sort out the new logo and registration is ready for action (probably in about a week) I will let you all know!

Fame & Fortune

2009-01-31T00:11:00.003-05:00

It figures that the day I take a time out and leave you with nothing but a wacky filler youtube link is the day that Craftzine will blog about my free knitty pattern, miittens. Woot! I am famous! And also tired... I worked about 16 hours yesterday on only 3 hours of sleep and I'm feeling more than a little bit frazzled. So um yeah, welcome craftzine readers! Scroll down to check out some of my more impressive content, like this free pattern for two-needle slipper socks.

Oh and guess what today is? The LAST DAY OF JANUARY. Which means operation blog every single day in January is a win, and now I can stop posting filler just to keep up appearances. I do plan to keep blogging regularly though, its just too much fun not to.

After These Messages

2009-01-30T02:21:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, work eats my life. I refuse to fail at posting every day on DAY 30 of 31 though, so you get this rather appropriate nostalgia trip instead. Proper knit content will return soon!

Free Pattern: Simple 2-Needle Slipper Socks

2009-01-29T08:20:00.001-05:00

I first made a pair of these slipper socks in early 2005 when my husband (then my boyfriend) asked for a pair. After a bit of experimentation I came up with this really simple pattern that is knit flat and then cleverly folded and seamed to make the slipper/sock shape!

This is the original pair of slipper socks I made for my boy. Its a terrible photo though, so I'm mostly using the more recent shots of my pretty green socks!
Because they don't require a lot of yarn, they make an awesome stash-buster project. You will need approximately 100g of worsted-weight yarn to get the results pictured here! They can be made very special by using a really luxurious yarn or embroidered embellishments and make a great, quick-to-knit gift as well.

These intructions make about a size 7 - 10 (women's) slipper. If you are interested in test-knitting a larger or smaller size for me, please email me to let me know so I can add more sizes to the instructions! Eventually I plan to create a PDF of this pattern for download on Ravelry and it would be nice to offer more than just the one size.

Yarn
For the pair of green slippers I paired a lighter worsted-weight yarn with a strand of kid mohair for a little extra fuzz and depth of colour. Using two strands of similar coloured yarns held together have a beautiful effect, as you can see in the photos.

Green version:
2 balls Knit picks Wool-of-the-Andes, 100% Wool, 110yds/50g. Colourway: Grass.
Approx 25g of Fleece Artist Baby Kid (discontinued, but any baby kid yarn will do) Nylon/Baby Kid Mohair, 1093yds/250g

Grey version:
Approx 100g of Red Heart Worsted. 100% acrylic, 835yds/454g.
Scraps of random green acrylic for edge detail

Tools
Size 7 (4.5mm) needles (or size needed to obtain gauge)
Tapestry needle

Gauge
23 ST and 24 Rows = 4" (in pattern - K1 P1 rib)

Directions
CO 21 ST
Row 1 (ws): *K1 P1* Repeat to end of row
Row 2 (rs): *P1 K1* Repeat to end of row

Repeat these two rows until you have a 21" length.

Fold and pin the strip as in the diagram below, with the right side facing out. Seam along both sides (purl stitches) and the seam should practically disappear.

You will end up with a folded shape like this:
After seaming, squish and shape the slipper sock until you have this sort of shape:
A sock-blocker helps to shape these, but isn't absolutely necessary -- just putting them on your feet will do.

And, you're done! The ribbing makes these flexible, stretchy slipper socks, but keeps them snugly in place when they're on.