Do I have to wear these on a sash?

I happened upon these here and here and you can play along too, here. Fun fun!

I was a Brownie when I was young, and got a few badges. I never made it to Guides though. We moved and I had to join a new troupe that required you bring 25 cents to every weekly meeting. I kept forgetting to bring mine and got up to a dollar seventy-five, so I quit going. Thankfully, I no longer neglect my debts.


The "Proselytize Knitting" Badge
All knitters must espouse the wonders of knitting.

The "MacGyver" Badge, Level One

This was really more of an attempt. I wasn't successful. I was in the airport and had finished a sock that I hadn't anticipated on finishing during my flights and waiting times and since the governing body that regulates what can and cannot be taken on flights sees fit to allow knitting needles on board, but not teensy-tiny scissors, I had nothing to cut the yarn with. Without breaking the yarn, I would be left without anything to knit, like, uh, the other sock. I had a Dristan bubble pack in my purse and thought that the edge might be sharp enough to eventually break the yarn if I kept sawing at it. I tried for a little while, but then became very self concious and stopped. Who knows though, it may have worked in time.

The "MacGyver" Badge, Level Two

I know I've used knitting implements for many things other than knitting, but the only ones that come to mind at the moment are using a dpn for changing the time on the clock in the Jeep and for also checking cake done-ness.


The "Knitting Has Force Me to Seek Medical Attention" Badge, Level One

This should explain all you need to know about this badge.

The "Knitting Under the Influence" Badge

This is just a given, isn't it?

The "I've Knit Items With No Conceivable Practical Application" Badge.

Perhaps my favourite was a 'Smitten' that I knit for my brother-in-law and his wife as a joke one year for Christmas. A 'Smitten' is a very large mitten with two cuffs, whereby two people can wear it with the intention of holding hands while walking in the winter wonderland. I basically just wanted to see if I could make one, figuring it out on my own without a pattern. I did, and the result was actually pretty neat, although when my brother-in-law saw it, he stated; "I'd have to kick my own ass if I wore that thing." Too funny.

From the Mouths of Babes...

While I'm still strolling down memory lane, doing a little year in review, I've been revisiting all of the projects that I've finished with our neice as my muse. She just turned one this past July. She started out like this, like we all do. I went a little bonkers in the crafting department and for Christmas (they announced that they were pregnant in November, bear that in mind) that year, she, who wasn't even confirmed as a she yet, and her mom recieved this.
I didn't stop there though. Between Christmas and the shower, I pulled this
together. And I think somewhere around Mother's Day or so, these materialized, and I know that these were in the shower gift bag as well.

Then it was Christmas time again, and it was time for toys. I think they went over well.

And before I left Ontario, I had to give her this.

In and amongst all of this, my sister in law has been great about taking and sending pictures, some of which I've posted about , some of which I've just plain stolen. Here's a mini-gallery to that effect...









And so a year has passed, and it was time to get together some birthday presents. I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I did somehow get these in under the wire.

This whole post is really just about this next picture, which when I recieved it, made me just keel over laughing. Maybe it was just me. This is a digital photo of a print, which is why it may be a little blurry.



This is the wee girl on her big day sort of modelling the pink stripey sweater that I knit for her. When I saw this photo, I pictured her saying, as evidenced by the look on her face:

"Doesn't this woman know where the toy store is?"

Lest I Forget...

Inspired by Ellen's recent trip down my memory lane, I decided to go back and revisit some of my old posts. To quote Ellen, 'What a hoot!' I've always thought that this blogging stuff was fun, a great little outlet to express myself and in doing so, gain a little introspection. But I completely neglected the fact that it's also a great little record of bits and pieces of my life, some of which I had kind of forgotten over the past year.

I missed my blogiversary, cuz, as I stated yesterday, I'm terrible with dates. But in going back, I see that my first post was April 30/06. I don't know what else I might have been doing that day, but it was that day that I decided to start my blog. Probably because I wanted to play along with all of y'all.

One year later, April 30/07, was the day that the constable and I moved into our very first house. That was a great day. One of those days that leaves a very Seinfeldian 'memory burn'.



This is us on that day. I love this photo.

This was kind of a funny story too. We were to take posession and move into the house on the same day, as the house was vacant. Being first time buyers, maybe we were a little naive, I don't know. What we did know is that we needed a residence and to get our stuff out of storage while the RCMP would still cover the costs. At any rate, we called the moving company that had all our stuff in storage and finally gave them an address where they could drop the stuff off. I believe that the 30th was a Monday.

So we showed up at the house bright and early. So did the movers. While all of this was going on, I had to go to the bank to get a bank draft for the down payment to drop off at the lawyers office. The movers showed up at 8:30 am. The bank didn't open till 10.

I get the money sorted out and return to the house, whereby the movers are pretty much done unloading the truck. Normally they would unpack all of the boxes for us and take all of the packing materials with them, but as the house was (and in many ways still is) a disaster zone and we had no intentions of unpacking anything until way into the future, they just dumped the boxes off and left.

It wasn't until around 1 pm that the lawyers office called to say that they received the money from the mortgage company and that we could proceed with moving in. I thanked our paralegal very much and hung up the phone, and then surveyed my already set up living room in the little apartment.

So I guess for about five hours or so we were technically trespassing. I don't think anyone is going to bother doing anything about it now, do you?

Anyhow, this should be nice to read a year from now when another whole slew of stuff has happened and I can't keep anything straight.

Until later...

A Sweater Story...Chapter 1: The Obsessive Swatcher.

I'm really bad with dates. Which I find kind of amusing, as I have a BA in history. I usually don't keep track of my projects, like when I started them and when I finished them etc. I just knit and eventually a completed item emerges. I think I like it this way, as I don't get bogged down by deadlines (not terribly often anyway) or with how long a project is dragging on. I live in this blissful little world of time suspension. Come to think of it, I live most of my life this way. Stuff just happens and time passes and it's all a wonderful surprise to me....

*pauses, floats away...*

Anyway, I would actually like to know exactly how long it will take me to knit this...



Pattern shown on the cover there is not the one I am knitting, but it is in that issue of the magazine. This is going to be for my sister-in-law, hereafter known as SIL. No need to do any stealth knitting here as she requested a black cardigan and left the rest of the creative process up to me. I'll keep the pattern a secret for the time being, as I'd like that part at least to be a bit of a surprise.

I've gotten a wee bit obsessive about this project, as I'd really really like the finished item to be, well, good. Knitting baby sweaters is one thing. If they're too big, they'll fit eventually, and even at that, the fit is not incredibly important. It just needs to be functional and comfortable. If there are a few teeny mistakes, at least the wearer is never, ever going to notice or much less care. And that amount of yarn is an investment you're not too heartbroken over if it doesn't work out as perfectly as you had imagined.

Adult sweaters are another story entirely. Fit is everything. Mistakes will be noticed by the wearer and everyone the wearer comes in contact with. Yarn investment and composition are of paramount concern. Pattern choices need to be appropriate and hopefully flattering. I've been dying to start sweater knitting, serious, adult sweater knitting since I began playing with sticks and strings, but wanted to build up my technique on smaller projects first. I'm confident about my technique now. It's just the unpredictable nature of the finished object that has me a little freaked.

At any rate, I've been swatching for a week now. Gauge swatches up the wazoo, going back and forth between needles sizes, trying to determine which would be the best choice for the pattern and for the fit of someone who isn't here to try it on at various stages. I pretty much have to wing it. I've also been cable swatching. There is a bit of cable detailing, which I love, but OMG, do you think I could get this dern sample to co-operate? I swear it took me five tries before I could do two repeats without completely screwing it up and confusing myself in the process.

Anyhow, all of this is a terribly long winded way of saying that I finally made decisions on needles size, yarn, and pattern and cast on today. So I guess today is day one. We shall see how things progress.

Stay tuned...

Second Sunday...

As the constable and I both had the day off today, and we chose to do very very little, I am dubbing today Second Sunday. It's imperative to squeeze as many lazy Sundays out of the week as you can, and as it usually only works out to about one, this is a treat indeed.

We're taking a break from home reno's at the moment, and in doing so, my knitterly side, having found itself with an abundance of extra time, has taken over with a vengence. I've been feverishly working on a super secret project that has a rapidly approaching deadline. I was forced to reconcile myself to the fact that it will not be done on time. And I had a whole damn year. A YEAR! And I still didn't manage to get it done. It's supposed to be a wedding/first anniversary present for Carrie, (it's okay, she knows about it, though she doesn't know what it's going to look like, hence the secretive part) and I handed her a coupon shortly before the nuptials that said she could cash it in one year to the day for an afghan. Stupid stupid stupid. I was so sure that I'd be able to manage it. But then life got a little nuts and well, here we are. I'll be finished it before too too long, just not in a week, when it's supposed to be done.

I was going to send Carrie a card with a photo of a portion of it, just to whet her appetite, but when I went to the Superstore to print out the pictures at the little kiosk thingy, there was a line up and group of Superstore employees huddled around the machine, befuddled as to what the problem was...as per usual. This always happens. I just didn't have the patience today to wait, so rather than sending a hard copy, Carrie will just have to stop by the blog and see for herself.



So Happy Anniversary! Here's a picture of part of a gift that I promised you. Neener neener.

Along with the sweater that I'm dying to knit out of the new fall issue of IK, there's another sweater in the queue that I've promised someone else. I worked up some swatches today, one gauge and one cable, to see if I could handle the pattern, and it took all of my will power not to get in the Jeep and go to the awesome yarn store in Mahone Bay, Have a Yarn to shop for a large quantity of what would likely be rather expensive materials. I'm not posting a pic of the pattern I've chosen as I'd like the final product to be a surprise, despite the fact that the requestee knows it's going to be a black cardigan.



I've also whipped up an itty bitty sock on some itty bitty needles with a very fine yarn for someone with itty bitty feet. I am now suffering from second sock syndrome.

And remember in my post about the Harlot's visit when I talked about wanting to attain big 'K' knitter status? Well, I think I just crossed an important threshold today. When I mentioned going to Mahone Bay to the constable, he quite firmly reminded me that I have plenty of projects on the go that require finishing, and that I didn't need any more yarn. In my heart of hearts I agreed, but the whole yarn purchase thing was just really eating at me today for some reason so instead, I went to my LYS, the Ball and Skein (pretty sure they don't have a website) and calmed my nerves with some Austerman sock yarn. And then I promptly hid it in my purse so its entrance into the house would be undetected. Covert yarn purchase. Another important step now taken.

There was more I was going to prattle on about, but another great wave of laze has overtaken me, and I've lost the motivation to do just about anything. This self imposed vacation is quite nice.

Until later...

Desire...

I want to knit this. In the worst way. It's the first time that I've been itching to go right out and get the magazine. It looks comfy and warm and perfect for fall. The only thing is, I'm worried that it won't look good on me. I'm, uh, what you might call 'well endowed' (the constable has referred to me as Chesty LaRue more often than I'd like to admit...I tell myself he's just a Simpsons fan and move on).

If I do end up knitting this, it will be only the second sweater ever that I will have knit for myself. The first one, as you may remember, I just went ahead and knit to see what would happen. I considered it a learning experience. This sweater I would like to fit me properly, despite the fact that the lower portion is rather swingy and loose. I'm a little worried of shelling out a large quantity of money on something and having it look like crap on me.

I'm also not a little slip of a thing and worry that those areas of ribbing around the mid section would accentuate things I don't want accentuated.

Any tips out there for assuring a decent fit or advice on choosing knitted garments that are flattering? I'm so very new to sweater knitting. Looking forward to doing a little yarn browsing though!

Until later...

Super Nova...

So remember the little bundle of baby things that I sent off last week? Well, they reached their intended recipient, and I think she's pretty happy with them (well, they both are!).



Both bonnet and booties were knit from a Patons pattern, using Bernat baby yarn. I think the result is pretty derned adorable (though it really helps if your model is a little ham and gorgeous to boot...ee. Hehehe...pun totally intended).



This next photo totally cracks me up.



And here is our little Nova modelling one of the strawberry outfits which complete the ensemble.



I'd like to believe she's saying, 'Yay for presents!'

Until later...

Pebbles in the Sand...

I'm trying very hard not to do any work today. It's been a very busy couple of weeks, with visiting and working on the house. It flew by so fast I can hardly believe it.

So rather than tidying up and getting the place back in order, I'm making myself sit still and perhaps partake in a little knitting this afternoon. The more likely event is that I will have a nap.

Blogging about the house progress makes me at least feel as though I am working on it, so here's an update.



The pulls and knobs for the kitchen cupboards arrived the day our company (the constables parents) arrived, so we were able to showcase a nearly complete kitchen to them during la grande tour. The backsplash tile arrived the very next day, just in time for my FIL, handy-man extraordinaire, to put it up for me.



I was pretty derned in love with the kitchen prior to the tile going on the wall. As I sat and looked at how well all the elements seemed to fit together, I started to get a little apprehensive about whether or not the tile was going to make the space look too busy and messy.



Then the tile was cemented to the wall, and I was smitten. I was in deep smit. No grout even, just tile. My FIL said, 'Oh just you wait!'



People, I can't even describe to you how much I love this room. I can't stop hanging out in here, just staring at it all. I love love love this tile. It brings a whole new dimension to the kitchen and ties everything together.



The only glitch I suppose is that now, with the tile, my awesome Jonathan Adler (such a name dropper, aren't I?) funky striped pottery pieces don't really go in the kitchen anymore (re: pitcher and cookie jar in previous kitchen WIP post). Ah well, I think I can deal.

We're also at the point where we're doing a little fractured living. We've moved all of the eating and cooking operations over into the house and were utilizing the master bedroom while we had company. Now we have stuff strewn all over the place, and I'm not sure where to be most of the time! I knew this point would come. Not quite ready to leave the apartment just yet, not quite set up in the house.

Especially when the living room looks like this...



But that's another post. Right now, it's time for my nap.

Until later...

A Terrier's Vacation...

Terriers are my very favourite breed...



Cute and cuddly, easy dogs to feed...



They'll help bring you up whenever you are down...



Terriers average twenty pounds...



When I walk around in this terrier town...



One thing that makes me down is when people...put...



[sweaters]



...on their dogs...



NB: Kids in the Hall, for those who may not know, were a Canadian sketch comedy troupe, hugely popular in the early to mid nineties, known for their perhaps 'off beat' humour (or maybe it's just a Canuck thing?). If you're from the States and not familiar, you may recognize Dave Foley, a former member, who made a good cross border transisition onto US tv on News Radio. This video contains some adult language.

B's Babies...

My own personal knitting history is, oddly enough, tied into the child bearing history of a very good friend of mine. I'll call her Awesome B.

Awesome B has six children. She and I are the same age, which never ceases to blow my mind. Having six kids is only part of what makes her awesome. I am indeed full of awe that she not only wanted to have six babies, but has six beautiful, charming, polite and funny kids.

I am awed by the fact that B is able to keep the days straight and that she still knows her own name, with what it takes to raise six children.



When B was pregnant with her first baby, a boy, I was still a very novice knitter, but I was determined to make her a blanket. That project was the very first time I went to the yarn shop with the intention of making something specific and then giving it to someone. It was the first time I had a deadline too. You'd think that nine months, even for a novice knitter and a seemingly simple project (a baby blanket, after all, is just a big square) would be enough time. I chose fine, soft baby yarn, blue and white, with a hint of silver running through it. I picked out a pattern book full of baby blanket patterns and had the yarn lady help me with the amount I needed and in picking out the right needles.

I started the project with all the vim and vigour a new project brings. A few minor mistakes later and having to rip back a fair number of times (thereby ripping out yarn overs mind you) I was discouraged and let the project languish in some dark corner somewhere. I wanted it to be perfect after all. Nothing less than that would do.



I ended up doing a basket weave blanket, much smaller than the sparkly one I had started, out of some left over acrylic. It was intended as a car blanket. It was a weird shape and I remember concentrating really really hard on doing alternating knit and purl squares. My purl stitches were all twisted, cuz I wasn't doing it right and I'm sure my cast on and cast off edges were atrocious.I didn't even finish that one in time for the first. It ended up in a gift basket for the second baby, a girl. And somewhere in there a very ugly hat materialized for B which B was too polite (until recently, when she could see that I had markedly improved in skill) not to accept.



Here is where my memory gets a little fuzzy. I'm worried that baby number three, another boy, didn't get a knitted anything. There was a good stretch of time where I was pretty broke and the rapidity with which B was having babies, I just couldn't knit that fast. So Baby 3 either got the blanket started for Baby 1 (as I know I eventually finished it and did give it to B), or nothing at all, or Baby 4 (another boy) was the one left in the lurch. I'll have to knit him a hat or a sweater at some point. Cuz by Baby 5 (yet another boy), I had my stuff together and managed not only to crochet (crochet is much much faster) a baby blanket, but made a baby quilt to match. And a little cardi too I think.



Which brings us to Baby 6, the final little bundle of joy, and this time, a much anticipated little girl.

Baby 6 was born in June, and even though I didn't know whether she was going to be a boy or a girl (neither did B), I didn't pick out a pattern ahead of time. I was confident enough to know that I could now knit something quickly, and of decent quality.



Some of you may have noticed that the shawl that appeared in the other photos is now conveniently missing. Had it not been for the house reno's, I likely would've finished it too, but as my skill has improved, so has my acceptance of some basic knitting realities. If you want baby items finished before the child enters college, you have to lower your expectations. So I thought that the bonnet and bootees would suffice. As long as they had some outfits to go with them.



So I guess the days of knitting for B's Babies are past now. Maybe someday it'll be my turn. I'll have gotten all the knitting kinks out and be pretty confident as to what I'm doing in that department, having had all these years of practice. I'm sure B will have some sage advice on the topic of raising children when I call frantic and bewildered, which I'm sure I will do.

B just received the package yesterday, and seems genuinely pleased with the workmanship. Baby wearing items photo should follow soon. Now I need to make up for the ugly hat.

My Coming Out Party...

Hello. My name is Marti, and I am a knitter.

That may not come as a surprise to many of you, as this is a knitting blog, or was primarily a knitting blog when I started it.

I've knit for a while now. I've been what the Harlot might term a small 'k' knitter. (I aspire to have big 'K' status some day. I'm working on it) I started small, with simple projects and cheap materials. It was all I could afford. I knit mostly in private, only at home, only when I was sure people weren't looking. I was embarassed to knit in public, not only because I wasn't very good when I started, but because I was afraid of what others might think of me for knitting. I didn't know anyone else that knit. I had no idea where to find others who did. But I was intrigued from the first batch of garter stitch mess that I started when I was nine and kept doggedly at it until I figured it all out, mostly on my own.

Then along came the internet and with it The Yarn Harlot. Here was someone who was putting into words exactly how I felt about knitting and all that surrounded it. And she wasn't just talking about or to me. She was talking about hundreds of thousands, nay, millions of peole. It was a simply stunning discovery. I started reading other blogs, started making bloggy friends, started a blog of my own. I still knit primarily by myself, still a little shy of my technique and ability and of meeting new people to find a group and join in. Until last night.

I met the Harlot.



I dragged my poor mother in law with me to Halifax last night to see the goddess of yarn herself at the Lord Nelson Hotel. What a hoot. For the first time in my knitterly life, I was in a room with more than one other knitter.


The lovely lady sitting in the front row (yes, I sat in the front row...Hello, my name is Marti. I am a knitter and I'm also a dork...though that may be a redundant statement) not knitting and looking in my direction would be my very kind and generous mother in law.

And not just a couple of other knitters, but a whole room full of them! Mostly my age, sharing similar tastes and sensibilites! It was, to be frank, hilarious. Hilarious to me because I've been toiling, still, in isolation all this time.


Photo taken by the very nice knitter sitting next to me, working on a swatch for a beach cover-up made of cotton, and discovering that she cared for knitting with cotton about as much as I do. Which isn't much. I wish I had gotten her name now.

Unless you're a knitter yourself, I don't think you can quite comprehend how nice and completely and utterly fun it was to be in a room full of people just sitting and knitting and talking about knitting, waiting for someone to come to the podium and talk more about knitting for an hour or more. That really will be lost on you if knitting isn't your 'thing'. But you can take my word for it...it's a lot of fun.



What's even more fun is to be in the presence of someone who is soooooo good at what they do. I can't tell you how much I admire (okay, envy) good story tellers. I can get up in front of a crowd and hammer out something akin to decent public speaking. But what just absolutely floors me is someone who can entirely capture a room with their story telling. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is just one of those people. Smart, wickedly funny, endearing, passionate...I could go on and on. Pick all the good adjectives you like. They all apply. It's like listening to your favourite band on CD, then going to the concert and knowing once and for all that they are just as good live, maybe even better. It's the same thing.


I highly recommend that if you're going to a book signing, that you take a photographer along with you. Preferably one who's son you are married to.

It's also amazing to me how someone can take a topic like knitting, seemingly simple enough, and really make it about something much much bigger. Charity, equality, consumerism, self-image...all these things, and so bloody funny to boot.


Again, for the uninitiated, holding the sock or getting your picture with it is kind of a big deal. Yes I know, I'm a dork. We've addressed this already. Would you rather be seeing pictures of me at a Star Trek convention? Cuz it just as easily could be.

In the end, the heart of the matter was don't let others define you and judge you for what you love or who you are. Which is a pretty important message, no matter what. As she pointed out, we outnumber golfers 2 to 1. I know, I was shocked too. So I may be a dork, put I'm totally not alone.

I would've liked to have hung around until the bitter end, maybe talked to a few more knitters about knitting, maybe met a few of the Halifax group who were so lively and excited in their matching t-shirts, maybe gotten over my shyness and gotten the Harlot to pose with Chicken Edith, who did come on the trip but didn't make it out of the bag, but by the time I was done in the line, I was nearly keeled over from starvation, so it was off to a veggie calzone with my name on it.
From now on though, I don't think I'll be quite so shy or self-depricating about my craft.

After all, I am a knitter.