Sunday 24 April 2016

Ambition Struck

And I organised a couple of random cardboard boxes full of yarn into new under the bed storage boxes.

This project included frogging a couple things that weren't working so I could put the yarn away.

Former Green Vest

Former Ugly Christmas Sweater
Current Weather
-2C with fog and clouds
Finally getting some rain, sort of. It was supposed to rain all day yesterday but only sprinkled occasionally instead. I gather there was more rain not far from here. This hill is such a bizarre micro-climate.

Saturday 23 April 2016

Slow

It's been a slow knitting week.

Made progress on my sweater, not that it looks like much.

Sweater

 Made progress on my sister's socks, not that it looks like much. Need to make better progress on these.

Socks


My Wee Niece's Dragon has a tail, not that it's attached yet. Now he just needs arms, legs, wings, and spikes.

Dragon

 And I got a new toy. Should be good for making nice warm afghans. Suspect it's going to require pretty thick yarn.

Knitting Loom


Also indulged in a new book "Knit Stitch Dictionary" by Debbie Tomkies.

Hmmm, I guess it wasn't so much slow this week as I just didn't complete any projects.

Sunday 10 April 2016

Rabbit

Finished a Rabbit. Not to be confused with a Bunny; those are smaller. I just decided that.

The tail didn't quite come out how I expected it to. It's much smaller. Maybe my gauge was too tight or something. I'm not stressing about it too much. I think I did a better job with the eyes this time, they seem more even. I think. I hope my Wee Niece likes it; then she can take it home and it can be played with. Maybe it will become Real. (If you got that reference you clearly read "The Velveteen Rabbit" at some point. If you haven't I recommend it; make sure you have tissues handy at the end.)

Pattern: Henry's Rabbit by Sara Elizabeth Kellner
Yarn: Lang Yarns Denim Cotton Recycled in Off White
Needle: 3.25mm

Should I call him Peter?

I used up all my remaining stuffing making this Rabbit so I must remember that I need more before I can stuff any more toys. The annoying thing is that I made a trip to Michael's earlier today but didn't realize how close I was to running out of stuffing so I didn't buy any more. I did get some supplies to try para cord braiding though.

Reading
Read "Hunter" by Mercedes Lackey last week. A good read; but then she's one of my favorite authors ever. I really liked how she handled the teenager in a dystopian future genre which is so popular right now. I'm not going to do a book review. I think elementary school scarred me for life when it comes to book reports. Suffice to say, it was an enjoyable read.

Current Weather
7C mostly cloudy.

Sunday 3 April 2016

Scent Hurdle

Judged my first Scent Hurdle tournament yesterday and no one cried, screamed, or cursed my family unto the ninth generation so I'm calling it a win. Now to send the results to the Statistician. Hope I recorded everything right.....

Ahab wasn't running last night as this was a CKC tournament and he can only run in independent tournaments. Meant I got to try my hand at judging. It's a lot harder than you think.

The tournament didn't start until later than expected so I made some progress on my sister's socks. It's a good thing I don't need these until July.


Another Scent Hurdler was there working up some socks in Felici Time Traveler. Doesn't look like Knit Picks has this in stock right now. I have some of this in my stash but I think I might just delay using it until my sister goes back to Scotland, otherwise there is a serious risk I could loose the socks. I'm sure it would be a total accident that would land them in her suitcase..... ;-)

Other Knitting

There hasn't been a lot of sock knitting going on lately because I've been focusing on a light weight sweater for myself. At the moment I have partial sleeves (I usually work sleeves two at a time), mostly because I had to frog them and restart when I realized the increases weren't working right. This time is going much better.

And there is another vest on the go, a cardigan this time. I'm not sure if I like this one though so it might get frogged yet.

Finally my toy kick continues with a rabbit. This one's a bit more complicated that the bunny I did at Easter although it's from the same designer. At the moment it looks like a blob. I'm working my way up to knitting a Loch Ness Monster so I'm knitting up some practice toys first. My Wee Niece will benefit immensely from this.

Rabbit blob.

Current Weather
Mostly cloudy 10C.

The weather has been crazy warm since about mid January and shows no signs of stopping. I do wish it would rain though as it's been so dry I'm having problems wearing contact lenses. I took eye drops with me to Red Deer for the Scent Hurdle tournament yesterday and did not regret it as I had to drop my eyes several times throughout the evening. And the farmers are going to start doom and glooming if we don't get some rain soon. Hard to believe we had severe flooding only three years ago in June of 2013. By "severe flooding" I mean downtown Calgary was evacuated due to being submerged in several meters of water for five days and it took weeks, in some cases months, for all the businesses to recover and re-open. The Calgary Stampede went on as scheduled though; they had to completely replace the track for the chuck wagon races, a project that was expected to take months and was completed in weeks instead. Says something about the "git 'er done" attitude around here I suspect.