Category: adventures

Frolic Spoils

I dithered about whether or not to go to the Knitter’s Frolic. In the end we headed up in the afternoon, and it was definitely more subdued and less crowded (more parking spaces!). Of course, I don’t need any yarn, but it’s not like anyone really NEEDS yarn. I haven’t been to the Frolic in a few years and it was nice. Also really nice to run into people I know and see less often now.

I did pick up a few things. A Japanese stitch dictionary from Needle Arts Book Shop and some Pocky from the snack bar – the event is held at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Pocky isn’t hard to get around here (most of the grocery and convenience stores carry some) but, you know, it’s hard to resist.

Pretty merino top from Turtlepurl.

Koigu from Shall We Knit? I think I’ve finally accepted that I am a Koigu addict. Not for socks though. (Perrine, Oolong, Castlegar, Hibiscus and Beauchamp all use it!)

Apparently I’m in a blue period. This “Cheshire Cat” yarn from Wonderland Yarns has a great hint of purple in it. I also picked up an Addi Rockets needle to try out, despite the fact that I’m mostly avoiding metal needles in favour of wood (easier on my hands).

That’s everything! Not a huge shopping trip but it was really fun.

Tomato Watch 2014:

We finally got out and did some gardening on Sunday, so the peas and carrots are in. I repotted my wee seedlings into yogurt containers, which should be okay size-wise until it’s warm enough to go outside.

April 28, 2014
Monday Treats

I’m pretty deeply into a couple of deadline projects at the moment, but I was able to get out to the Spring Toronto Indie Arts Market at the Gladstone Hotel on Saturday, and I picked up a couple of cute treats! Lots of the vendors were knitting behind their tables.

Sweet cards from Gotamago on Etsy.

Very cute leaf buttons from giroofasaurus-vexed.com.

It was really beautiful this weekend. We also did a little bit of garden prep: bought some compost and nutrients to mix into last year’s soils, emptied and threw out some cracked old pots, set up our deck table and chairs. I’m pretty excited for this year’s garden.

April 14, 2014
sweater surgery

I’ve been knitting a big, cozy, cardigan for D., but it’s gone through a few iterations in the last few weeks! I knit up some love set-in, horizontal pockets…but they were deemed too small so I ripped them out (I’ll have to save those pockets for something for myself and my tiny hands!). Then I knit up some nice kangaroo pockets, like those on a hoodie:

And they are good! Except for the fact that the body was then too long below the pocket. Clearly I haven’t been planning very well on this project, just kind of knitting. I really didn’t want to rip all that pocket work again, so I decided on some surgery instead.

I picked up stitches in a row below the pocket, where I wanted the new hem to start, by using a spare needle and picking up half of each ‘V’ stitch across. You can see that there’s a few inches of stockinette below the needles there, but I want to get rid of all of that.

Then I gave ‘er a snip…

…and separated the old hem from the sweater by picking out that row.

When you pick up stitches like this, it doesn’t line up exactly with the old fabric, because you’re going in a different direction. I lost half a stitch at the beginning and ends of the row, so I had to increase 1 stitch on the first new row. Luckily, I planned a purl ridge on the RS where the patterning switches to garter rib, so it really doesn’t show much! I knit down about three inches then bound off for the bottom of the body.

Now I’m back on track! Half a sleeve and most of the body.

I do have a new sweater idea that I’m itching to get on the needles though, so we’ll see how much attention this project gets this week.

November 25, 2013