Blocked

It's Done!

Phoenix Rising is off the needles!

While I was away the extra yarn from Make One arrived so on Tuesday afternoon I threaded 280+ beads onto the new skein and proceeded to work on the edging. After a couple of setbacks (you didn't seriously think I'd finish this project without making at least one more mistake, did you?) I finished the last row about suppertime last night but had to wait until today to do the cast off since we had a ball game to attend (second win in a row--and sadly just our second win this season). I think it is very beautiful.

I will soak it overnight then block it tomorrow. Normally I would only soak a shawl for an hour or so before blocking but there have been some issues with dye residue so an overnight blocking has been recommended by the folks at Make One. Stay tuned for photos.

With the shawl completed it's time to turn my attention to other projects. After wasting (ahem, spending) numerous hours this morning drooling over several patterns for which I would be required to buy more yarn I gave myself a stern talking-to and turned to my stash and UFO's. To feed my lace addiction before the second Year of Lace shipment arrives at the end of June I will continue to work on Muir and maybe even make some progress on a Shoalwater Shawl that has been in hibernation since last summer. Knit in turquoise laceweight, Jessica has been nagging me to finish it. I realized that a new Sockdown would be starting in a couple of days but found that this month's choices--a design by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts or "design your own"--don't really appeal to me so I have decided to cast on another pair of socks for May (to qualify, socks must be cast on in May and completed by the last day of June). This time I am going to knit Brigit by the late Gigi Silva, aka Monkey Toes in KnitPicks' Gloss in Dusk, a denim blue. Finally, here is the latest photo of my Noro socks:

Uh, huh. Frogged. Now, before you condemn me for being too picky, I must defend myself and state that I had already decided to leave the colours as they were when I realized that the foot was much tighter than the leg--too tight, even for me. That's the part I knit in the car on the way home and for some reason my tension was obviously way different. Since I had to rip it back to the heel anyway, I decided I might as well go all the way. When I rewound it I divided it into two skeins, beginning and ending with the same colour sequences, something I probably should have done in the first place. While I was doing so, I decided that the colours would really suit my sister-in-law so have decided to make her a pair of socks for her birthday in July. And to make sure I have enough yarn (she has long, wide feet) I am going to (gasp) knit them from the toe up. I haven't chosen a pattern yet but will likely do more than just a plain sock this time around.

After wearing capris and bare feet for several days I have been forced back into jeans and a hoodie. Happily, the clematis looks just as nice under overcast skies.

Weekend Fun

Every May Clinton, BC celebrates Heritage Week, beginning with the annual Ball (the longest running event of its kind in Canada, the first ball took place in 1868 and has been held every year since) on the Victoria Day weekend and ending with the parade and rodeo the following weekend. This year marks British Columbia's 150th anniversary so many events and floats this week focused on life during the mid-nineteenth century.

Saturday morning the whole gang headed into town for the parade.

After a mainly overcast week we were thrilled to see the sun shining. A Mountie on horseback led the way

followed by marching bands

more horses

and various floats.

Since moving to Clinton five years ago my mom has become involved in several associations and takes part in some of the events during Heritage week. It was for this year's celebrations that I knit the Shoalwater Shawl for her and she wore it to the Open House at the village museum

and again in the parade.

After the parade we made our way up the street to get in on the Lions Club's beef on a bun. They roast the beef overnight in an underground pit and it is always delicious and tender. There we met up with my aunt and uncle

and my cousin and his wife.

After that it was off to the rodeo.


Although the cowboys gave it their all, the animals definitely had the advantage and very few participants managed to achieve a qualifying time. The weather was perfect, with just enough cloud cover and breeze to make things comfortable.

After a brief stop at my parents' house to freshen up we went out for dinner at the local Chinese restaurant. A quick trip back to the cabin to drop off the kids and change and it was back to town, where we met my parents and their friends for drinks at the Legion. There was a live band playing and even though the music was generally not to Cameron's and my taste we did get up and dance to a few familiar songs. It was more fun watching my parents dance--they move so smoothly together.

Before heading home the next day we built a fire and had a weiner roast. It was sprinkling a bit but we enjoyed our hotdogs (with fried onions, of course!) and toasted marshmallows. Hugs for everyone, then it was time to hit the road--my holiday had come to an end.

Home Again

There's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed. Even though I had a wonderful time away it felt good to wake up this morning to familiar sights and sounds. I arrived home yesterday afternoon feeling truly refreshed, having indulged in a great deal of R&R during the previous week.

Bad blogger that I am I neglected to take photos of the many deer that we spied along the roadside or through our cabin window. Nor do I have photos of the fish that I caught (and ate...mmm!) or the loon on her nest or the eagle on its roost; although I had good intentions I forgot to take my camera along every time we went fishing. I do, however, have pictures of all the knitting I got done.

I finished up three pairs of socks:

"Violets Rising" for the May Sockdown on Ravelry.

Feather & Fan Socks. I started these way back in March but stalled after working the heel on the first sock. I lost interest after trying (unsuccessfully) to do a contrasting heel in red (my yarn was too heavy) and fiddling with various needle sizes for the foot. Once I picked them up again they only took a couple of days to complete.

Berroco Sox for my sister, Jacqueline. I began this pair when I went to Toronto a few weeks ago and took them along to work on in the car on the way up to the cabin. My mom was amazed when she discovered that I continued to work on them even after darkness fell (although we did have to pull over once so I could retrieve a dropped stitch by the car's interior light).

I also began a new pair of socks from Noro Kureyon sock yarn that I bought at the Frolic in Toronto.

I'm a bit disappointed with how these are turning out. I chose this yarn based on the colours on the outside of the skein; as you can see, they are rather bright and pretty. However, I am pulling the yarn from the centre of the skein and after the initial turquoise cuff the colours are much more subdued than I'd expected. Since I'm knitting the sock from the top down all the bright colours will be on the foot, hidden away inside my shoe. I'm seriously considering finishing the first sock, then frogging it and reknitting the colours in the reverse order. Hmm, we'll see how much the idea appeals to me once I am done.

When I wasn't working on socks I did a few more pattern repeats on Muir, which I had roused from hibernation.

Although the pattern is worked over 32 rows it doesn't require a lot of concentration and is relaxing to knit.

After a promising start last weekend the weather turned cool so we spent a lot of time indoors over the following week with the heater humming away, my dad working on crossword puzzles, me listening to my iPod and knitting (Cameron had returned home after the long weekend and my mom spent most of the week at their house in Clinton, ten miles away, busy with the village's Heritage Week activities). We did manage to get out fishing a few times (although we got rained out once) and enjoyed trolling around the lake, watching for wildlife and occasionally reeling in our catch. Our peace and quiet came to an abrupt halt Friday night, with the arrival of my sister, her husband, and their four children, who had come up to the cabin to attend Clinton's annual parade and rodeo. Cameron arrived an hour later; although he hadn't intended to return to the cabin (I had planned to catch a ride home with my sister), after a rough week at work he decided "to get the hell out of Dodge" and join us.

The rest of the weekend was noisy and busy and fun. I'll write all about it in tomorrow's post--I even remembered to take pictures!

Let the Fun and Games Begin!

The lilacs are in full bloom and it feels like summer. What a perfect way to kick off the long weekend!

Happily, I managed to finish my felted slippers in time.

My feet will thank me; the weather may be warming up but Cariboo nights are still awfully chilly. My knitting bag is packed with more projects than I can ever hope to accomplish and I am looking forward to a week of rest and relaxation...but no internet. Although I won't miss television I do feel a little pang at the thought of going a whole week without checking out my favourite knitting blogs and sites. But admittedly, that's part of the charm of the place.

I remember before we were married Cameron asked me what we did at the cabin and my answer was "nothing". Of course, that's not entirely accurate. We sleep in. We take walks. We visit with relatives. We go fishing. We have weiner roasts. We read. We knit and stitch. We do crossword puzzles and anacrostics. We play Yahtzee and cards. We have a few drinks and eat too much junk food. But if we want to do nothing, that's okay too.

Just a couple more hours and we'll be on the road. I can hardly wait...

Proof

As I said, there is no way to take a good picture of a lace shawl in progress so you'll have to settle for this one.

I've now completed the three border pattern repeats

and am awaiting more yarn from Make One to do the beaded edging; meanwhile Phoenix will be going into a brief hibernation.

My felted clogs have worn right through the soles so I am hoping to have time to knit some more before heading up to the cabin this weekend. This time I'm going for a beautiful pink and brown combination---the brown has almost a maroon tone to it so it complements the pale pink really well.

I am staying at the cabin for a whole week so hope to get lots of knitting done. The hardest part is always choosing which projects to take! Mr. Greenjeans II? Socks? More lace? All of the above?!?

On the non-knitting front, my sister and her longtime partner surprised everyone yesterday by tying the knot in a small, private ceremony, with just my parents in attendance.

Congratulations, Alison and Stan!

Phoenix Rises Again...and Again

Like the mythical bird for which it's named, my shawl has undergone multiple deaths and resurrections since my last post. Unfortunately, this phoenix does not regenerate itself but instead requires a helping hand out of the ashes.

I should have seen it coming. My knitting was going way too smoothly and I was getting way too comfortable.

BAM!

The knitting fates struck first late Thursday night. As I worked my way across the 500+ stitches I realized that two of the pattern sections were off by one stitch. Never one to tink or frog if I can help it, I carefully laddered down two rows and reknit purls and repurled knits and YO'ed and SSK'ed and K2TOG'ed until everything was right. Then I carefully worked across the rest of the row and went to bed, like a good little knitter.

I woke up refreshed and resumed work on my shawl while I contentedly sipped my morning tea. It didn't take me long to get back into the rhythm and I purled my way across the next row without incident. The next row was a little trickier and involved periodically slipping three stitches onto a cable needle and wrapping them before returning them to the working needle. Eventually I reached the end and gratefully purled back across the next row, feeling great satisfaction in having completed the first of three 16-row border repeats.

BAM!

About a third of the way across the next row I realized that I had wrapped the wrong stitches in one section. I could not bear the thought of undoing almost 1100 stitches one by one, unwrapping the wraps as I went, but the prospect of laddering down two rows and rewrapping the correct stitches was equally daunting, since it also involved repositioning various other pattern stitches, including yarnovers and decreases. In the end I chose the latter option but it didn't go as smoothly as it had the previous night. Finally, though, after several hours of fumbling and cursing and gnashing of teeth I had the stitches reassembled in their correct places and I am hopeful that blocking will remove any obvious signs of surgery.

After all that stress on Friday I was ready for a night out. Trooper put on a free concert in Hope and I'm happy to report that after all these years they can still "Raise a Little Hell" and assure us that "We're Here for a Good Time".

The next evening we helped to celebrate my brother-in-law's birthday and I finished my Wavy Scarf while we sat around the table after dinner and talked.

I had a perfect Mother's Day. I slept in, knit to my heart's content, and didn't have to cook supper! I received some lovely gifts from Cameron and the kids, including some roses from Colin in an interesting yellow-green colour I'd never seen before.

Aren't they pretty? And I was touched beyond words when one of Matt's friends dropped by with a red rose for "Mom".

With all that knitting time I was able to get a lot done on my shawl and have almost reached the midway point of the the third border repeat without further problems. (Although it is now apparent that I will indeed run out of yarn before I do the beaded edging but I'm not concerned because Make One is providing extra to those who need it.) All I can say is that Phoenix had better behave itself from now on or it may literally find itself reduced to ashes, never, ever, to rise again!

Needles on Fire

Despite the lack of photographic evidence (there is just no way to take a good picture of a lace shawl in progress) let me assure you that I am burning my way through "Phoenix Rising", the first installment in the Year of Lace club. I have now completed the main pattern and begun the border. Yesterday I finished the 14-row set up and must knit three more 16-row repeats before moving on to the beaded edging. Some knitters have run out of yarn so I thought it in my best interest to finish the shawl while more yarn is still available. Like some other YOL knitters I have experienced a couple of problems with the yarn, namely knots (I've had three so far) and crocking (colour transfer) but find these minor irritations. The dye washes off my hands easily (except for around the cuticle of my pointer finger, the one I use to throw with) and I am confident from what I have read that the colour loss will cease after the shawl is given a good soak. As for knots...well, maybe three (so far) is more than you should expect to find in an expensive skein of hand-dyed silk but I don't think it's worth getting too upset over. As much as I don't enjoy joining laceweight yarn, I figure if I was working with smaller skeins I'd have to join them anyway. From all accounts Amy and the team at Make One are doing their best to deal with these unexpected problems. I feel bad for them, especially since this is the inaugural project.

With the Rivendell socks out of the way I decided to join in the May Sockdown on Ravelry. This morning I put the finishing touches on the first of a pair of Violets Rising by Anne Hanson.

The yarn is some beautiful purple, green, and yellow Koigu I bought at the Frolic (the colours change depending on the light and in the photo look more golden). Other than wishing the legs were a bit longer I am happy with how the sock turned out. The pattern is not difficult but definitely requires concentration. Every row of the 24-row repeat has yarnovers and decreases and the centre and side patterns have different repeats. Unlike my experience with other lace patterns I found it hard to get a rhythm going or anticipate the next stitch sequence.

We've had a bit of sunny weather this past week but are still waiting for a full-fledged spring. Regardless of the lack of Mother Nature's cooperation I am going ahead with some spring cleaning and am attacking my office/sewing room first. My approach to this overwhelming task is to do a little at a time, in between knitting stints. It's amazing (and humbling) to see what has accumulated since the last time it was done but I look forward to having a more orderly place to hang out.

Since spring is the time of new beginnings it also seems fitting (pardon the pun) to get myself back into shape. I inevitably put on a few extra pounds over the winter and then have to consciously work on losing them over the spring and summer. Over the past few days I have been eating much more healthily and intend to continue this trend, in addition to working more exercise into my routine. In most aspects of my life I am an all-or-nothing girl and my health is no exception. Either I eat right and exercise or I don't. No middle ground. One of these days I'd like to find a balance but for now it's back to the grindstone. Which reminds me, I have an office to clean...

Frolicing in Toronto

Well, I worked my last shift at the shop on Tuesday, April 23 and with some mixed feelings closed that chapter of my life. The staff gave me a nice send off and I look forward to keeping in touch with them.

There was no time to feel like a lady of leisure, however. Wednesday was spent getting ready for my trip to Toronto and Thursday found me saying good-bye to Chilliwack's drizzly weather and hello to Toronto's spring sunshine.

My timing could not have been better. Not only was I there to help celebrate my sister's birthday,

I also had a chance to attend the Downtown Knit Collective 11th Annual Knitter's Frolic. I have never seen so much beautiful yarn in one place and of course I had to take some home with me.

For socks,

for scarves,

and for shawls.

The week flew by all too quickly but I did manage to get some knitting done. I began my own Mr. Greenjeans sweater from some beautiful teal-turquoise-purple Cascade 220 Paints I acquired in Victoria the weekend before last

and finished up the second Rivendell sock on the planeride home.


Unfortunately, the weather isn't much better at home a week later, although the plum tree is now in full bloom. I am feeling a bit jetlagged and was up way too early this morning--I guess my body is still on Toronto time, three hours ahead. Ever practical, I just look at it as three more hours of knitting time.