Friday, March 28, 2008

Going north!

So much has been going on and I'm just kinda waiting on posting it all until I get my hands on a camera to take pictures of all my knitting and activities. Since my camera broke, I've been frustrated that I can't take pictures of my work in progress to post up on Ravelry or this blog.

Anyway, I'm going to be borrowing one today and then I'm going up north to my chalet with my friend Bridget. I will be back with lots of stories and pictures this week. Promise!

Have a great weekend.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

I love Peace Fleece!

I really love the look of tweedy yarn. I'm knitting a sweater for my nephew and it took me a while to find the right yarn. Once i did, it was really expensive. It's kind of ridiculous to spend a hundred dollars on a sweater for a one year old when I've never even knit anything for myself. I got it anyway. I'm halfway through knitting it, my camera broke a few weeks ago, so no pics for a bit, sorry.

A few days ago, I was looking at sweaters on Ravelry and I found a great pattern from the Zephyr Style website. The sweater is the 28thirty pattern. The best part was the fact that this lead me to find the Peace Fleece website. I love their tweedy yarn and the colour combinations are amazing. Not only that, but it's cheap! That sweater would cost me 30$ to make, with shipping and everything!!!

I'm starting to have my doubts about wether or not I want to knit the 28thirty sweater, but I will find a reason to knit with that wool soon! Actually, I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's "The Opinionated Knitter" and I really want to try knitting a simple raglan sweater for Andreas using her EPS system. She shows you how to calculate the right number of stitches to knit the sweater using a gauge swatch and the exact measurements of the wearer. If I can understand how to do this, I will no longer be slave to the pattern again!

I am a little scared to knit a sweater for my man because we've all heard of the type of commitment or disaster that could bring on. I guess that it is so hard because guys don't seem to care excessively about what they wear, but on the other hand they have these weird little exceptions about the kinds of collars that they like or don't, or sleeve cuffs, or colours. I can see where it can start to be difficult. I loved the sweater that the Yarn Harlot(Dec.27/08) knit for her husband for Christmas. He really wasn't in to it though. It's just so much work to knit a sweater for a giant, so it better be something that he'll wear forever! Or else... to the dog house he shall go!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

I'm back and in my pajamas!

I just finished a big contract that I've been working on since november. Now I can hopefully say goodbye to headaches and my nervous eye spasms that seem to have crept up on me. I'm not kidding. I need to sleep for a little while. I plan to spend tomorrow at home in my pajamas... you guessed it, knitting! I'm presently knitting a sweater for my nephew. Because he's only 1, and he's tall for his age, and he's the only baby I know, I have no idea what size to knit it. I've actually been carrying the wool for this project with me all over this country , knitting, measuring, and ripping back. I've decided to knit it so that it will be too big (possibly for the next 2 years, who knows!). I figure that my sister can always roll up the sleeves or that it can be passed down to my children. I've been definitely over thinking the measurements.

Since I'm looking at 2 months off starting today (!), I've been lining up my schedule with classes. The first will be a spinning class at Ariadne's . This will be my second time learning how to spin with a drop spindle. i think that I'll really get into it this time. It's a bit trickier than it looks, but once you get the movement down it only takes a bit of practice.

The second class there will be in April and I'm learning how to knit two socks on one circular needle. It's a full day workshop, taught by Kate Gilbert and there's even a lunch included. That sounds very relaxing. Exactly what I need.

I'm also going to be starting a sewing class next week. It is a beginner's course which is great because I need to learn the basic use of my sewing machine, like what the tension knob things are. And I also need to learn how to read a pattern.

There are so many things that I'd really love to do in the next few months: get a sassy haircut, go for a massage, do some volunteer work, spring cleaning (if it ever comes).

I won't speak too much about spring, because I'm not sure if I believe that it will ever come again. It's gonna snow 15cm tonight and they're calling for freezing rain tomorrow. Not good. I wish i was on a beach...knitting.