I liked knitting it and it turned out really well. I was determined to finish it and so was working on it to the exclusion of other projects. I felt like I couldn't work on anything else because I. Had. To. Finish. It's amazing how quickly things you like doing become a chore when this is hanging over your head.But now it is finished and yesterday I worked on ...
the second sock while I watched a Miss Marple movie, and this ... 
mitten which I am trying to fine tune and have taken apart several times already but am closer to what I want than I was, and a larger project ...
the Guenevere (www.cabinfever.ca/P305.html) in Briggs and Little Soft Spun wool which is due out in October (http://www.briggsandlittle.com/) .
I feel so much better with all these projects on the go and with a lovely pullover finished.
-Deb
We know that knitters are for the most part are wonderful people and in groups at a retreat are lots of fun. But a group of knitters who knit for charity are even nicer and very welcoming, at least this group was.
The Sticks, String and Stewardship Retreat is the brain child of Alison Hood who believes that using your gifts and talents in even the smallest way to help someone else has amazing benefits to the recipient but also to the giver. And that from every gift some good radiates much further than you could possibly imagine. And although I happen to catch Alison looking sort of serious here, she is a lively, funny speaker and lots of fun. Her committee did a great job and even though we had a schedule, it was very relaxed with lots of time for knitting and talking. Is there a square inch of table that is not covered in yarn?
These woman are very involved in the Prayer Shawl Ministry (
They also wanted to add to their skills as knitters. So we made Top Down sweaters for teddy bears. They were partially done here but several teddy bears were suitably clothed the next day.
Lisa came to show us her dress knit out of Cotton Tweed. Isn't that incredible? Wow.
and shopping Show & Tell on the way back, with several crys of "We need to go back, I missed that booth."
We were all a bit blurry after all that shopping. 
She knew nothing about this award, and her reaction was perfect.
The challenge now is to see who can outdo her next year. Who is going to step up to the plate? You have a year to train and save up for the big event. Do we need a bigger bus?
Just a tease today, gotta go,
So well in fact that I tried another pink one. This one took 1 afternoon to knit. It took me longer to figure out something in my house that was head sized to display the hats on than it did to knit it up. There are a couple of cereal bowls stacked up under there if you are looking for something yourself sometime.
This leads to the question we get asked quite often - 'How can I make this in a different size or using a different weight of yarn?' The first pinkness was made with sock wool at a gauge of 7 sts per inch (28 sts = 4"/10cm) and is a small adult/large child size with 144 stitches cast on. The second pink is made with aran weight (heavy worsted) at a gauge of 4.5 sts per inch (18 sts = 4"/10cm) and is a small kids hat with 80 stitches cast on. Same stitch pattern worked on both hats.
They look slightly different. They feel Really different. The sock wool hat is very, very stretchy and soo light. I did it with a 50 gram ball and have some left over (although that's the same for both hats actually). The heavier weight hat took a nanosecond to knit while the sock wool hat took the time it would take to knit one sock. You might think that the size makes a difference in the time taken to knit the two hats since one is for a small child and one is for a large child but the sock wool hat for a small child would still need 120 sts. And it would still take you a while to knit that up.
It's not that it's too pink. It's that it's pink enough that I can't ignore it's pinkness. I was trying some patterns on it which I liked but which didn't look good with the pink. So I had to rethink my approach. If you can't beat it, join it and why was I fighting the colour? This pink reminds me of - candy floss, fall fairs, candy apples. Yes, that's it, I need something very round. Pink is round. This pattern reminds me of balloons.
This is some of the sock wool I dyed and it's making a great hat. I'm using addi turbo's for the first time. I know, a little late to the party. I am impressed though. They are wonderful. I am using a 2.5mm/US1 needle 40cm/16" long which I thought would be very awkward but the wire is very bendy and the needle shaft is long enough to hold onto.
This is all I have to show you so I thought I'd show it thrice. It's a man's sock but if you switch from a stitch gauge of 7 sts per inch (28 sts = 4") to a finer sock yarn, say Ultra Soft Touch superwash (without the nylon) which gives you a gauge of 8 sts per inch (32 sts = 4"), you will get a smaller sock (8" around instead of the man's sock which is 9" around) and you too could have these to wear. Now that's a thought. Into my sock wool stash I must go.
I did take my knitting figuring that all the artistic creativity would give me a good idea for a hat. But no knitting mojo was there and after frogging twice I put it away. It's ssooo pink and I had geometric patterns in my head which didn't fit somehow. I was thinking of balloons and roundness and it wasn't coming out that way.
I put the hat away and started another sample of the King's Knight sock (
The last weekend of the summer and our year begins again. Any knitting new year's resolutions on your mind for the coming year? I think I want to have a sock on the needles at all times. And I am definitely into sock weight wool now so more of that. And my Briggs and Little wool is on it's way from the maritimes and I can't wait.
