Through My Window

I may as well fess up: I do not think I will make my end of the World Cup deadline on my Not-So-Shrunken cardigan. Then again, according to my non-conformist ways, I really should set a slightly different date say, a week after the competition ends? Sounds good to me! New deadline for those knitting with me: July 18th’ish. ‘Ish’ because in an effort to maintain our non-conformist ways, you really should pick your own date!

And a big congrats to Suzanne who has already completed her WIP for the Cup. Isn’t it gorgeous?!? See, when I grow up, I want to be just like Suzanne. Gorgeous, smart, talented and, best of all, a SUPER fast knitter to boot! Yep, that’s exactly what I want to be when I grow up.

I thought you might be interested in some pictures of where I’ve been working on my sweater since starting knitting for the World Cup competition:

Sandy Cove Beach, Gander Bay, Notre Dame Bay:

My parents' cabin in Victoria Cove, Gander Bay. I love this place. Visiting this building is like stepping back in time:

The ever present cup of tea now that I have two children and haven't seen a full night's sleep since July 4, 2007. Brand? Tetley (orange pekoe) - the perennial Newfoundland and Labradorian favourite (though my personal favourite is Twinings' Earl Grey):

Enjoying some knitting time on our drive back to Torbay from Victoria Cove.

I am working on sleeve number one and have three balls of yarn left. My fingers are crossed that the Knitting Goddess forgot that I even know how to knit....

Ghost Blog

It’s embarrassing to me how much this blog has become a ghost blog of late. I have to thank those of you who keep checking in for updates - bless you! There are lots of things happening at Chez Fibreholic that I’m not yet at liberty to share but which make writing blog posts a little more difficult than usual. Do not fret, I will tell you all about it in good time. The frustrating thing is that it is not like I don’t have blogging fodder because I have lots!

For example, last week was our annual ski trip to Sugarloaf, Maine. I have lots of lovely pictures and stories to share with you about that trip. I also have some knitting progress to show you. No, no FOs yet but I have been working on my Marilyn sweater. It’s been off the needles for sizing twice and still needs another inch of knitting before I can start on the sleeves. Unfortunately, this stage of the knitting process is of the invisible variety. I knit and knit and knit and the measuring tape still doesn’t show any signs of growth. Something to do with the increases at either side of the raglan sleeves and the fact that I want to start on the sleeves NOW! I have also been doing some sewing and am working on a blind for our dining room.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it on the blog before but Iain is taking swimming lessons at the base pool.

This session, he is the only child in his class! Although this means he is at a disadvantage for interacting with other children in a wet environment, it does make it easy to take videos of him during class without having to worry about having other children in the pictures by accident.

Here are Iain and Daddy during Iain’s first lesson of this session.



I watch from the sidelines as thirty minutes of constant exposure to chlorinated water is not good for the skin on my hands. I did brave the aquatic elements during our ski week and had Iain in the pool for four of our five mornings there. He is getting more and more comfortable in deep, cool water (the warm bathtub water certainly isn’t an issue!).

And, for this week at least, here is one of the reasons why I have not been blogging. It is also one of the reasons why I do not like the first week home from a holiday.

Can you blame me? Sigh.

On The Road Again

There will be a brief commercial interruption here at Fibreholic while DH, Iain and I fly to Kingston, ON (via Toronto), making this coming weekend a long weekend for us (and that would be why I am on the low post side this week. I’ve been busy doing laundry and packing!). I will be back the middle of next week. Yes, although they are not in the bag yet, I considered which knitting projects to take before I decided on clothes. A true knitter am I!

Until I return, here is some knitting candy to keep you entertained. The picture at the beginning of this post is of my second Fetching glove yesterday morning.


And here is the completed set yesterday evening – a full FO!

Let’s see that again!


I’m very pleased with this knit. I followed the pattern to the letter for this, my first Fetching pair. For my next pair, I will be experimenting with the bind off, finger length, etc. Although the picot bind off the pattern calls for is pretty, is does curl quite a bit. This particular FO is a pressie for someone who uses a computer a lot and has a propensity for being cold. I felt the bind off curl was okay as it allows your fingers to move very freely which is a good thing when using a keyboard.

Details: I used some of two balls of Mission Falls merino wool (I used 'Mallow' 025) on 3.25 mm DPNs. There’s enough yarn left over to add to something else or for a very small project.

Just to keep you up to date on other knitting progress, I managed to get to my LYS on Wednesday and picked up a longer Addi Turbo for my Not-So-Shrunken cardie. Here’s a progress shot.

I really have only knit a row to get the sweater moved over onto the longer circular but I think I had knit some since I last posted a progress shot so you might notice some movement forward.

And, last but not least, we had our first hard frost last night. Yes, fall is coming – my favourite time of the year! Here is a photo of our last rose of the summer. My sweet boy was behind me saying “Mmm! Mmmm!” as I was taking this picture. It turns out he wanted up so that he too could smell the rose and say “Mmm!” more!

What Projects Are In Your Knitting Bag?

I am shamelessly stealing an idea from Barbara’s blog. She posted about her ‘short attention span’ with a picture of her current WIPs. What a great idea!

Here are the WIPs in my knitting bag:

One Celtic Cable scarf, the second Fetching glove, and my Not-So-Shrunken cardie.

Now, I’m curious. What is in your knitting bag? Do you even have a knitting bag or am I the only one who carts around multiple projects in hopes that one of them will suit the occasion I’m attending? How many of you do things like bring knitting in your purse (like I did to the Wing Commanders Garden Party on Sunday) but do not take it out of because it just did not seem like ‘that kind of event’…whatever that is?

Come on! Curious minds (well, mine anyway) want to know!

That’s The Way I Like It!

I really love knitters and knitting designers. I really admire someone who has a design vision and sees it through to completion and then the fortitude and business acumen to write up a pattern and sell it. Seriously, what other group of people would you feel comfortable emailing a question to, over a weekend, and get your questions answered within hours? I had a couple of questions for Wendy regarding the Marilyn’s Not-So-Shrunken pattern and emailed her on Saturday. What a sweetie – she was back to me within hours with answers and a couple of other suggestions. Thanks so much, Wendy!

This past Friday, I knit one swatch using 3 mm needles. I washed and blocked it.
Stitch gauge check = exactly on.

Row gauge check = one row too long; I can live with that.

With a pretty successful swatching experience in hand, I cast on Marilyn’s Not-So-Shrunken cardie on Friday night. I managed to work on it on and off throughout the weekend and yesterday while other WIPs beckoned. Here’s the progress so far:
The pattern calls for ‘at least’ 24” circulars. I’m still casting on stitches so this baby is going to be uncomfortably tight on the needles before I put the sleeve stitches onto waste yarn. It’s too bad my trip to Wolfville yesterday coincided with Gaspereau Valley Fibres’ closed day of the week or I would have gotten longer circulars. I don’t know if anyone else nearby sells them or not but, after last night’s knitting, I realise I’m going to have to try. The stitches are so tightly gathered together that they are threatening to slide off the needles and I’m having to use a significant amount of hand muscle force keeping them where they should be.

I love how you can see the raglan part of the sleeves appearing in this top down knit. It’s very exciting and my first top down sweater. Naturally I will keep you posted on how it goes. Stay tuned for a 2008 FO date - I hope!

The other big knitting news in my life is that, thanks to Ravelry (ah, Ravelry. The online community that give so much and asks so little…), I have hooked up with a fellow ‘raveller’ right here in Middleton! This is a dream come true as I was really missing other knitters to sit and knit and chat with. A group of Ravelers here in the Valley have met up a few times but I haven’t been able to attend thus far. Then, on Saturday when I was perusing Ravelry, I noticed that they were meeting that afternoon. I called Barbara to initiate a car pool but the meeting ended up being cancelled. Instead, Barbara offered for her and me to meet up at her house for an afternoon of knitting. It was great fun and I hope I can host a knit up in the future. That is a little more difficult to plan for at my house. Not that I don’t like visitors, I love them and can plan and host a play date at the drop of a hat. However, Iain is not conducive to knitting. He pulls on yarn. This is bad, bad, bad when you’re trying to knit. Particularly if you hope to finish the project you’re working on instead of picking up the stitches he keeps pulling off.

Sorry I missed writing a blog post yesterday. Iain was overdue for his twelve month needles. He was already fussy yesterday – a fact I attribute to teething seeing as the only thing that would settle him was chewing on frozen fruit – and a needle yesterday did not help the evening or this morning. Anyways, it’s been a bit of a rough 24 hours or so. I did knit a wee bit last night but had no time or extra energy to write.

Project Tart

I am such a project tart. There. I’ve said it. Now you know. I’m fairly certain you won’t hold it against me though, considering there are probably a few of you just like me out there. Likely, one or two of you are even reading this post right now.

I’ve been hit with some major startitis. I can point my finger in the two directions that have contributed to this problem. The first, Christmas is around the proverbial knitter’s corner so I’ve got to/have started casting on or started shopping for some projects in that vein. Secondly, knitting swatches for the Yogini Bolero is kicking my butt. I am on swatch five, people. Yes! You read that right. Swatch FIVE! And still no closer to getting gauge than when I started. This fact alone has me turning my adulterous eye in different directions. Really, five swatches? That’s enough to make even the most fearless knitter cringe.

However, my eye is not turning too far from my new favourite designer, Wendy Bernard. No Sir! Next on my list of Wendy’s patterns to knit is Marilyn’s Not So Shrunken Cardigan. Have I mentioned that I love it? Have I mentioned that I hope it will make me look young and hip (I’m ignoring the little voice that says ‘Patty, no sweater can do that. That requires plastic surgery and an attitude change.’)? This sweater is one sweet little number and, I think, will get worn and worn.

When we went to Australia (can you believe, two years ago in November? Time flies!), I picked me up some yarn. Likely I never told you about it. Sorry about that. Anyhoo, I did. I picked up enough Cleckheaton Country Silk 8 ply, 85% Pure Wool, 15% Silk blend in a gorgeous khaki green to knit a sweater (Hmm. The colour I have isn't on the Cleckheaton website anymore. This is slightly worrying.) And, get this, the label even says ‘Made in Australia’. Squeee! I decided awhile ago that I’m not picking up tacky tourist stuff when I travel. When I go to exotic locations (such as the other side of the world), I’m picking up quality tourist stuff. That’s where this yarn comes in. Quality and the label verifies that I was a tourist.

I need something mindless (and that cable scarf sure isn’t it…) for those times when I find myself sitting in front of my Apple TV watching Season 1 of Stargate (I’m addicted and very behind the TV times. And, I'm comfortable with that.). The Marilyn should have include a fair share of mindless stocking stitch which is perfect ‘in front of the television’ knitting for me. I do believe I’m off to, you guessed it, s. w. a. t. c. h. for another project. One that is not on my Christmas ‘to give’ list. Yep, project tart. That is so me right now.