Vest-uary Victory!

If you recall, when February began I had some rather ambitious plans, including knitting a vest as part of the Vest-uary KAL on Ravelry. Even though some of my plans have gone by the wayside (cough, GAAA squares, cough) I am happy to report that I finished my Washington Square Vest Monday night. Even though it is still slightly damp from blocking, I took advantage of the good light and got Colin to take a picture.

While I am fairly satisfied with the results I wish I had made the vest just a little bit bigger since I would prefer more coverage in the front. I’m going to have to experiment with some other tops and see if it looks better with them. As I was finishing this project I realized how long it’s been since I’ve completed a sweater-type garment and it felt very satisfying. So much of last year was spent knitting socks, scarves, shawls, and, of course, the afghan, so it was a nice change.

As you can see from the photo, after a stretch of some remarkably springlike weather, we have snow today. Winter’s last gasp? We can only hope.

Hope and Remembrance

Last night I finished my second pair of socks for this month’s SKA sockdown.

With their alternating stripes of stockinette and moss stitch, they’re appropriately named “Mossinette”. They’re knit in superwash merino from Beyond Basic Knits, in a colourway named “Hope and Remembrance”. The proceeds from both the yarn and pattern went to breast cancer research.

This seems like a good time to tell you that I got the results from my mammogram and everything’s fine. Let’s hope I remember to book one every year, the way I’m supposed to. Maybe these socks will help to remind me.

I’ve been plugging away on my Washington Square Vest and am now a few inches past the division for the armholes. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get a good picture of my work in progress so this will have to do until it’s finished.

Other than the cabled section and the lace border, it’s been all stockinette so much of this vest has been worked with a book on my lap to make the miles of plain knitting more bearable. I’m worried that it’s going to be a bit small but am hoping that it will stretch a bit in the blocking. And yes, I did remember to do a swatch but we all know they lie, right?

A Good Mail Day

Okay, maybe I do have a Yarn Fairy after all, at least a surrogate one. This morning I received my prize for the Sock Knitters Anonymous December Sockdown.

Not only did Pick Up Sticks send me a skein of Casbah in their exclusive colourway, they also included a Perl Grey stitch marker necklace/brooch and a cute little sheep tape measure. A big thanks to Connie and her staff for such a generous prize package.

I also received the spring issue of Interweave Knits but I haven’t looked at it yet. I’ll save it for later today, then I’ll make a cup of tea and read it from cover to cover.

The sun is shining, the snowdrops are blooming, and the mailman brought me knitterly goodness. I think it’s going to be a good day.

On My Toes

Yesterday was all about the toes. I reached the end of my first Mossinette sock

and finished off both of my Annetrelac socks.

What a blast these were to knit.

And then I couldn’t resist and cast on a pair by the late Gigi Silva (aka Monkeytoes), one of our featured designer’s for February’s sockdown.

These are Bellatrix, knit in Malabrigo Sock in the Stonechat colourway.

I had to delay my traditional Valentine’s Day gift to Cameron by a day because we were away this weekend.

He gets another lemon meringue pie in two weeks for his birthday. Even though they are technically Cameron’s, we all get to enjoy them. Matt says February is his favourite month!

A Repeat Visitor

Last week I looked out my back window and saw a small hawk sitting on the fence. After a couple of minutes it flew towards the suet feeder under the plum tree, then disappeared. From its size and appearance I guessed it was a sharp-shinned hawk. On Monday it was back, only this time it landed on the deck railing. I managed to take some pictures and after doing some research I was able to confirm that it was indeed a sharp-shinned and learned that they like to prey on feeder birds. This afternoon I was on the phone with my mom, who is an avid bird watcher. We were just talking about the hawk when from the corner of my eye I saw a bird fly up to the deck. I couldn’t believe it--there it was again, right on cue!

I hate the idea that some of my beloved birds might fall prey to this guy (except the starlings--it can eat all of those it wants) but what a treat to see one so close up.

The flickers have also been frequent visitors lately and I am constantly interrupting my knitting to go look outside just in case there’s one on the suet. Even so, I am getting a lot done, though I don’t have any pics to share with you today. I am currently working my way through the cabled waist section of my vest, which has turned out to be a rather slow process. Every second row has 66 or 67 4-stitch cables and even with cabling without a cable needle, every 4-row repeat takes me about two hours to complete. I estimate that the entire 5” section will entail approximately twenty hours of knitting. The work is tedious and hurts my hands so I’ve limited my knitting on it to two repeats or eight rows per day. Meanwhile, I am making good progress with my Annetrelac and Mossinette socks. Pink Ribbons hit the frog pond because I didn’t like the way the yarn was knitting up but I’ll do them in the future with some different yarn.

Cameron and I had a lovely weekend, including a night’s stay in Vancouver. I demonstrated tremendous restraint (or stupidity) at Urban Yarns; even though they were having a really big sale, I left with only the pattern I’d come for and a circular needle I hadn’t seen elsewhere. Impressive, no?

To Our Health

It is somewhat coincidental that I should be knitting “socks for a cause” for breast cancer during the same month I was scheduled for a mammogram. I chose this particular cause because my mom is a breast cancer survivor; fourteen years ago she underwent a mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy and is thankfully healthy today. You would think, considering her experience, that I would be diligent about having a yearly mammogram but I confess that I have been neglectful about making that all-important annual appointment. As I’ve been knitting these socks I’ve been reflecting on how vital it is that women do self-exams and get their yearly mammograms. After all, as the technician pointed out, the most common factor among breast cancer sufferers is that they are women. Genetics is secondary. So, if you haven’t yet, go book yourself a mammogram!

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

This may be Vest-uary but this week has been all about the socks. I immediately got hooked on my Annetrelac socks and once I got going I did not want to put them down. I also worked a bit on the Pink Ribbon socks and Mossinette.

But in the back of my mind a little voice kept nagging me to finish my socks for January’s sockdown before I got too far into February’s and so I devoted the past couple of days to Queen of Cups and am happy to report that I now have a pair.

And you didn’t think I’d neglect my vest entirely, did you? I have worked the first 4” and am now ready to begin the cable pattern at the waist.

Unlike Christy, I don’t have a yarn fairy but I did have some Christmas money to spend on books and these two arrived on my doorstep yesterday afternoon.

They are both winners and I can’t wait until I have some time to really dive into them. Maybe March?

No Little Plans

Considering my last post, it was entirely fitting that I should turn to February 1st in the Yarn Harlot’s page-a-day calendar and read the following quote, attributed to Daniel H. Burnham:

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood…Make big plans, aim high in hope and work.”

This morning I embraced this philosophy to the fullest and cast on no fewer than four new projects. Add to this the Fylingdales cardigan I cast on late last week, and I think it can be safely said that my blood has not been merely stirred but whipped into a frenzy.

Back, from left to right, Mossinette Socks, Washington Square Vest, Pink Ribbon Socks; Centre: Annetrelac Socks; Background: Fylingdales

My heart beat a little faster last night when I learned that I had won a prize for the Sock Knitters Anonymous December sockdown, a skein of sock yarn from PickUpSticks. I'd be part of this group even if there were no prizes but it was cool to have my number drawn.