January 26th (started Jan 1st)

Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty
Yarn: Handmaiden Lady Godiva, 2 skeins
Mods: took out one repeat of the increase rows

January 29th (started Jan 26th)

Pattern: Odessa from MagKnits
Yarn: Lana Gatto Feeling, less than 1 ball
Mods: none, really.

February 25th (started Feb 3)
(picture goes here!)
Pattern: Rambling Rose from Interweave Knits
Yarn: Katia Diana, red and ivory.
Mods: Different colour placement, due to only having two balls of ivory.

April 19th (started March 21)
(picture goes here!)
Pattern: Roza’s Socks, Spring 2007 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, “Somerset”
Mods: none!

Yes, it’s true! I stayed up last night and finished the hat! But first, the Clapotis report!

Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty
Yarn: 2 full skeins of Handmaiden’s Lady Godiva
Mods: Took out one repeat of increase rows (and thus the matching decrease rows).
Comments: I’ve heard on many podcasts people complaining about the dullness of this knit. I enjoyed it. It may have been because I didn’t have hours to sit down and just knit, I knit more in little bursts. The most annoying part for me was the fact that the yarn didn’t want to drop down, so I had to poke each and every stitch to unravel it.
I had worn it a few times before blocking, I was a bit hesitant because I liked the scrunched look of it right off the needles. I did block it in the end, by soaking it with some Eucalan, then laid it out on a towel (without pinning). It so so even and silky and omg so much better now! Love.

Pattern: Odessa from MagKnits
Yarn: Lana Gatto Feeling (& Blue Moon beads from Michaels)
Mods: Yarn has different gauge? maybe?
Comments: I like it, I need to block the life out of it. Right now it feels like it will just pop off. I don’t know if I’d want more rows in it, as it does come down to my eyebrows.
I finished two projects this month! Go me!

Endpapers, all blocked. Now, I’ve been wearing these since I made them, almost every day. I think I may block them regularly. All the stitches are even again, no more stretched out bits, it’s great. I am now a fan of blocking! yay!

And now for knit-object-overload:

The hat makes me feel like a flapper.

And I’m almost halfway through already! I started on the 26th, just after Clapotis was done. The yarn I’m using is Lana Gatto ‘Feeling’, which is 70% Extra-fine Virgin Merino, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere. This yarn is… yum.

I actually bought it at the same time I bought my Handmaiden Lady Godiva. Dad had given me a very generous gift certificate to my LYS in Victoria, so I splurged on the good stuff. I actually have 3 balls total of this stuff, two blue and one cream. My idea at the time was gloves. I may still make mittens with the two leftover balls if the yardage looks like it will cooperate (Ooh, Anemoi Mittens anyone? I’ll have to check the gauge, I think this yarn is a bit fat).

Thinking of gauge, I haven’t checked mine. The yarn used in the Odessa pattern is similar enough to this. Last night I put the hat on a looong circular and tried it on my head, so it should work. The yarn is a lovely denim/steel blue, and the beads are a similar colour, but iridescent, so they sometimes look green. The picture that is closest on my monitor is the bottom left one, but even so it is a bit darker than that.

In the top left photo, you can see the dental floss threader I used to get the beads on the yarn (you can also see a titch of the Wiimote to the left of my laptop). I strung them on in blocks of 10, so it was easy to count. The beads I actually got a Michaels last January with Odessa in mind. I like to let things stagnate marinate, obviously. I have the same beads in white for pale yarn too, I’ll see if I love this one enough to make another.

I have never been a hat person, but now I live where it is cold, so I need to be. Especially if I keep insisting on showering in the morning, and boycotting hairdryers because they are the ultimate evil.

I’ve been wearing my Clapotis unblocked, but Lisa left a comment on the last post saying that she soaked hers and then just laid it out without pinning, so mine is currently on two towels on the floor. While I was doing that I thought I might as well block my Endpaper Mitts, as I haven’t done that yet either. Random bad blocking picture:

After I dunked Clapotis, the water was actually faintly blue! The Endpapers gave off no colour.

I did it! I finished my January knitting!
The Clapotis, it is done. And very lovely, if I may say so.
No pictures yet, because I’m not home in daylight, remember? But tomorrow I am, so hopefully some pics then.

My current issue: it hasn’t been blocked yet. I’m not sure how I’m going to block it. Any blocking I’ve done before I’ve put out on a towel on a carpeted floor, and then stuck pins through knitting, towel, and carpet. This apartment is entirely hardwood, so I’m at a loss. I know people use their beds for shawls, and that may work for lace that dries so quickly, but this is thicker.

I actually like the scrunched, un-blocked look, but the corners do roll up.

The boyfriend pointed out that as of next week, I do have use of a steamer, unofficially (there’s one in the theatre). We’ll see.

I wore it to work today, and I got a compliment!

I’m having a good day.
It’s my one day off this week, and I have a little list of stuff I want to accomplish, and yet I also want to relax. It’s not even noon yet and I’m doing well.
I normally get up at 8:06am (at least, that is when the alarm goes off).
I let myself sleep in for an hour, then I got up and chillaxed with some emails and some blogs over breakfast. Then, into power mode!
Dishwasher on, laundry on, and mixed up some banana bread.
While that was baking, put laundry in the dryer, had a shower. Got dressed in sweatpants.
Unload dishwasher, and water plants while waiting for bread to be done.
Chillax a bit, blog post, as bread cools.

The secret is doing fun things and chores at the same time. You don’t notice the chores so much then. I mean, I was having fun baking, and the laundry and dishes were doing themselves!

It also helps to do this to a soundtrack of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, but that may just be me. (Cats was for baking, now I’ve got Jesus Christ Superstar, and Phantom is for later. You know, I think I should make a Lloyd Webber playlist, and put it on random. That could be funny.)

This afternoon I plan on taking some stuff to the used bookstore and used DVD store to sell, folding laundry, eating banana bread, and preparing resumes to send out.

And when the resumes are done and my stuff is sold…. I SHALL KNIT! I hope to get a good way into the decreases tonight, if not finish it. Yay, it looks like I shall have my FO for January!

If you’re lucky, I may even take a photo in this rare daylight.

I’ve had a bit more time to think about these now, I think this is do-able.

1. Enjoy my knitting. I’m pretty good at this already, but sometimes I just need to remember that this is a hobby. For fun.
2. Finish one thing per month. I can get pretty busy, just look at me this month. 5 12-hour days, and one 8-hour day per week. Because this can happen, I used the word ‘thing’. This can include anything that gets bound off. In all of March, I just finish one sleeve of a sweater? That’s okay, it’s a thing! One sock? One mitten? All things!
3. I have two sweater’s worth of yarn in my stash at the moment (and one on the way). By the end of the year, I want at least one knitted sweater done. I’m going to cross my fingers for two, but I won’t hold my breath. (see schedule note in R.R. 2)
4. Leave more comments on people’s blogs.
5. Meet knitters in this city, make friends.

This month’s finished thing? Hopefully Clapotis. I’ve dropped 9 stitches so far, and I only need to drop 13 total before I start decreasing. Then it’ll fly.

People all over blogland are doing the ‘Knit from the Stash for the New Year’ thing. I contemplated it, and made a vague mention of it on here I believe. But I am weak. My excuse is a good one.

I have discovered the magic of recycled yarn on eBay. Go on, search for it. Be astounded at the deals! I got a sweater’s worth of merino/cashmere yarn for under $40 Canadian! It’s a rich royal blue, if the seller’s picture is accurate. There’s also a lot of 100% cashmere laceweight out there. I was very tempted, but I couldn’t be that bad. But…

I bought Victorian Lace Today! We got one copy in in November, and that immediately sold. It has taken this long to get another copy in, because the publisher was out. Go knitters!

Thinking of the power of knitters we’ve all heard the story of how Blue Moon Fibre Arts brought a bank to its knees. That is on one hand the best proof of our power and existence, and on the other a giant pain for Blue Moon. I actually have a code for the sock club, I wandered onto their website quite by chance when it was still open for sign-ups. I did it because it was there. Then, the email came this month asking for the money, and I actually did the math.

Yes, you get exclusive patterns, exclusive colourways, and binder and the other odd freebie or two, but I still can’t pay $50 for a pair of socks. That’s what it works out to. And there’s the possibility I’ll get stung for duty too, which adds even more. It’s not that I don’t want to support a wonderful entrepreneurial business, I just simply don’t have that money.

I shall just make do with free internet patterns, and less expensive yarn.

I really want to buy laceweight yarn, with my new lace book and all. BUT! I want to meet more people in this city. I only know people in the theatre industry, and while that is good, and they’re great people, I want to talk about knitting with actual people. So, I am going to take a class at my LYS. That’s why I took that drop-spinning class, but it felt like I alienated the other two students by somehow being naturally successful at something I had never done before. I am going to take a class on making the cover sweater from the Winter 2007 Vogue. I’m sure I could do it by myself, but it’ll be nice to talk to people about it. Also, so I get more wear out of it, I’m contemplating making it longer. I don’t know if it’ll be with more motifs, or with ribbing, like the sleeves (which I also want to make full-length). It was this sweater that prompted the eBay buy.

My one issue with that is that I got aran and worsted mixed up. Then I checked a website that has them in the same category. But they aren’t the same, are they? The sweater asks for aran, and I bought what the seller called worsted. Oh well, the swatch is my friend.

Oh, and another note. I will not be using the word ‘capecho’. I’m not one for naming things, but I think the motifs look like sand dollars, so that is what it will be.

Of course, I’ve made all these plans, but haven’t signed up yet. I should do that. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve been procrastinating on, that I should really do. And I have today off, but I’ve just lazed around. I want to do something but don’t seem to have the energy or something. There is some stuff I definitely need to do though. Resumes, health care, and the like.

I’ve dropped 4 stitches now. It’s weird doing it on purpose. Especially because this yarn doesn’t want to drop. Go figure.
I love the colours, they’re what originally drew me to the yarn. It’s all sorts of blues and greens and it reminds me of BC and the ocean and all the green grass and tress. There’s not much green here. It’s a bit sad. Living downtown, I at least don’t have to look at the country around here. It’s beautiful in its own way, but I’m used to seeing the ocean, or forests, or just something GREEN. Here, you have the Rockies on one side, which yes, are spectacular, but not the ocean. And on the other sides it’s basically flat as far as you can see. I know when I was in Banff, right in the middle of the mountains, the views were amazing, but I did feel boxed in.
It’s a bit of the same feeling with all the skyscrapers, but at least I can’t see the endless brown landscape. I can at least pretend there’s green out there. I can’t quite pretend I’m back in on the coast though, there’s no salty sea smell, and also no green trees. Even downtown in Victoria or Vancouver there’s green. Not that I don’t like it here, it’s just different.

It’s just the right type of knitting for me right now, I have barely any free time, and I need something simple. Today is my day off for the week, so I’m just going to sit and knit and watch TV. And oh, is there plenty of TV to be watched.

We rented two movies last weekend, and haven’t finished either. We have Strings, which is AMAZING. We started it, but were both so tired, we dozed off. This is in no way a reflection on the movie though. There is also Joyeux Noel, which I can’t wait to watch, even if it isn’t Christmas anymore. I think the movie is about more than Christmas.

And then there’s all the Christmas/Boxing Day DVDs. As I’ve said, I have all 11 seasons of MASH + the movie. We also bought Season 1 of the new Doctor Who, I have the Princess Bride to watch, there’s Deadwood on my computer, I bought Patrick Dead Like Me season 1 and we’ve been watching that… so many.

Oh, and if you haven’t seen Heroes, WATCH IT NOW. OMG, SO GOOD. We’ve watched all 11 episodes of that in the past few days, and it is a great show. Of course, now we have to wait for them to start airing again. January 22nd, my friends.

So I think that even though I have 1 day off a week (and 5 12 hour days a week) for all of this month, I think Clapotis may have a chance of being finished.

Happy New Year to everyone out there reading this!
I have already had a very productive new year, I have started a Clapotis. I may be late to the party, but oh well. I’ve had two skeins of Handmaiden Lady Godiva in my stash for a while. Almost two years, I think (I had a gift certificate to my then-LYS, and wanted to splurge). For a while it was going to be a Braided Mischief scarf from Scarf Style, but I frogged that idea after almost one skein.
Yesterday I Googled ‘Clapotis’ and ‘lady godiva’ and found Kneurotic Knitter, who has made one out of exactly two skeins of the same yarn! She mentions that she only did one less increase repeat, and still managed 12 repeats of the straight rows. I wasn’t sure how much to reduce it by, I probably would’ve gone with more, and had stuff leftover (never like that).
So today, during another D&D session, I started, and am almost to the point where I can drop my first stitch. Well, I’m about 12 rows away.

I’ve also joined two knitalongs recently, the Romantic Style one, and the Victorian Lace Today one. I already have RS, I bought it at work a few days ago (40% off, oh yeah), but we’ve been out of VLT for a while now. Sold out at the publishers, surprise surprise. We should be getting one this week though. I ordered a few but when I called to check, they’d only sent us one because they were short copies. Still unsure as to projects, but I think I really want to do the hooded shrug from RS. VLT I need to look through more (I have browsed, while pretending to work).

Problem with all this newfound knitting mojo is that for January at least, I have no free time. Well, I have Saturdays off, so there is one day a week where I have to fit in sleeping in, tidying, laundry, eating, lazing, and knitting. The other 6 days of the week are writeoffs.

Knitting resolutions?
1. Knit from the stash (this isn’t hard and fast, but I just want to keep my yarn to the one storage thing. Thing is full right now, so I need to stash-bust to have room for more)
2. Finish a sweater
3. Only join knitalongs I will participate in (I haven’t forgotten you, Cardigan for Arwen KAL! I swatched on Dec. 31st!)

The knit from stash thing is sticky… I have a reservation for Blue Moon’s Rocking Sock club. I don’t have that money to spare. Well, I do have it in my savings, but I try not to touch that. I don’t know what to do. I’ve emailed to ask if the stuff is superwash. If it isn’t, decision is made for me: I won’t knit handwash socks. If it is… we’ll get to that.