Knitting fails

I’m (mostly) taking the day off, just like I took yesterday, and part of Friday off. And since we really can’t go on a mini road trip because of Covid19, plus Michael wants to work on the addition while the sun is shining, my ‘days off’ look a lot like gardening and cleaning – to justify the knitting and reading, of course.

To that end, I cleaned my knitting drawers in the living room this morning. This involved pulling out a lot of abandoned half-finished projects, or outright failures. As I was organizing and packing things away (and vacuuming the drawers), I thought about how – when I post a picture of something I’ve knit (mostly over on Instagram) – I always get a number of comments in which people disparage themselves for not being as ‘productive or accomplished’ as I appear to be on social media.

So I decided I’d take some pictures and post these so-called failures just to show that we all struggle, even at things we’ve been doing for over twenty years.

City Limits Tee by Tanis Fiber Arts. Knit in the Metropolis colourway in purple label and mohair.

This #knittingfail was just pure stupidity on my part. I’d never worked with mohair and I was pretty damn sure I wasn’t going to be able to wear it next to my skin EVEN BEFORE I BOUGHT IT. And yet, I wanted to try. But did I knit a swatch? Or test the yarn in any other way before knitting? Nope. I loved knitting the pattern, loved the colour, etc, but couldn’t wear it for longer than thirty seconds when I tried it on. There is a slim chance I pull it out of storage, finish the arms and neckline, and give it away. Slim.

Here’s a close up so you can see the pretty speckles among the greys:

Ranunculus knit in glorious red label (merino, cashmere, and silk) by Tanis Fiber Arts

I loved the idea of this summer weight sweater and the freaking gorgeous yarn but didn’t enjoy knitting fingering weight yarn on 6mm needles. I put the bottom ribbing on hold, intending to knit the arms and give it a light block to see if I wanted it longer before binding off. But then I absolutely LOATHED knitting the sleeves on clunky, heavy needles. HATED IT!

Pretty close up of the yarn:

Can’t remember the pattern!! But the yarn is aran weight cashmere – a Christmas gift I’ve been hoarding for two years.

I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to knit with this insanely luxurious yarn, but I knew I wanted some sort of cables. I ripped this hat down to the ribbing twice (changing needle size) because I didn’t like the fit, but every time I tried it on I still hated the feel of it on my head – looser ribbing, tighter cabling. It got shoved to the back of the drawer!

The parts of a fuzzy monster …

This took up an insanely stupid amount of my time, specifically ripping back and trying to knit the legs out of the fuzzy yarn in a small circumference. I actually went so far as to teach myself magic loop (read: a new knitting technique) that I’d been far too lazy to bother with before. I just couldn’t see the stitches properly. So then I decided to knit the limbs in another yarn … instantly hating the combo. Honestly, if I’d had access to a fire, I would have burned this project.

So there you go. No one is perfect, including me. We make dumb choices even when we know better, we’re impatient, have short attention spans, etc.

Now! I’m making my darling husband (who is putting up rafters on the cabin addition today) waffles for brunch, then cracking a new book. I’ve read two books in the last two days – pure luxury!

Misfits 1: the knitting

Mory knits. Rather obsessively. And I thought it might be fun to share some of the patterns she either knits or wears in Misplaced Souls (Misfits 1).

Mory’s go-to hat pattern: Snap by Tin Can Knits. Mory is knitting a slouch version of this hat with her own [K4/P4] check pattern thrown in for fun throughout Misfits 1. I’ve knit several Snap Hats myself and you can see them on my Ravelry page. I will also be giving away a couple of hats (cashmere!!) when I get my hands on the paperbacks for Misfits 1.

One of my first Snap hats …

Mory’s go-to pattern for self-striping socks: Smooth Operator by Susan B. Anderson. Mory is wearing rainbow socks, like these:

MCD’s Smooth Operator’s knit in Gauge Dye Works, White Light colour way. Ravelry Page.

Mory’s self-striping arm warmers: Palmistry by Stephanie Lotven. Mory is knitting a longer version than called for in the pattern in Misfits 1 with a skein of Black-Hearted Brimstone from MudPunch yarns. I’ll be giving away some self-striping yarn in May when I get Misfit 1 paperbacks.

My longer version of Palmistry, knit for author friend, Coralie Moss. Ravelry Project Page.

Mory’s large purple/pink/blue shawl: The Drifter by Tamy Gore. I haven’t knitted my version yet but this is the yarn I’m going to use:

I think I will start this shawl on release day! Yarn is from Black Cat.

Other knitwear/patterns mentioned:

Pearl Godfrey’s (light gray) Estonia lace shawl: Echo Flower Shawl by Jenny Johnson Johnen

Mory’s colorwork (mostly black with purple and light gray) sweater that she wears to lunch: Gardengate by Jennifer Steingass

Burgundy is wearing lace socks that Mory knit for her birthday: Spring Forward by Linda Welch

In the final scenes of Misfits 1, Mory is attemtping to learn the brioche stitch: Plumpy by Andrea Mowry.

Fun! Fun!

– AMAZON – APPLE BOOKS – KOBO – BARNES & NOBLE – SMASHWORDS –

New to the Adept Universe? The first book is Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1). Or click here for the entire reading order

Knitting while married

Me: The class schedule for Knit City 2018 is out. It looks like they have some great instructors!

Michael: Do you get to fan girl? *teasingly* Oooh, is Andrea Mowry going to be there?

Me: *narrows eyes at Michael**then, scanning further down the list, discovers that Andrea IS going to be teaching**gushing ensues*

Ahem.

And there is a lesson on how to know you might talk about knitting, and one knitting designer in particular, a little too much. 🤣

Link round up:

Knit City

Andrea Mowry (I follow her on instagram)

Some of the items I’ve knit with Andrea’s patterns:

Find Your Fade #1 – Click picture for Ravelry project page

Fade Your Fade #2 – click picture for Ravelry project page

Pint-sized So Faded – click picture for Ravelry project page

Comfort Fade Cardi – click to view Ravelry project page

It might not look like it …

… but I’m working through the editor’s (aka SFG’s) story notes for Dowser 8 today.

I’m three-quarters of the way through knitting armwarmers in Gauge Dye Works’ self-striping merino twist yarn in the Sweet Baby James colourway. If knitting updates interest you, I usually post more on my Instagram page.

Yep, this is what brainstorming a ‘missing’ scene looked like earlier this afternoon.

I’ve also spent the day trying to convince myself that I have absolutely no need for a new iPad, even if I would totally have fun writing with the pencil.

And .. that’s editing in a nut shell. For this book, at least.

2015 Knitting FOs (Finished Objects)

Non-knitters will find this post terribly boring. Sorry. 🙂 But I wanted to share the knitting projects I finished in 2015. Well, at least everything I remembered to snap a picture of. It was a slower year for knitting – but two and half baby blankets will do that – and as you can see I was focused on knitting coordinating outfits for a new niece (born at the end of July) and a new ‘nephew’ born at the end of December.

FYI – I’ve linked the pictures to Ravelry project pages, either my personal project or the main pattern page.

Norah's Moderne Baby Blanket
Norah’s Moderne Baby Blanket – unblocked

IMG_0552
No personal Ravelry project page 🙁 This is Beyond Puerperium. Yarn: Spud and Chloe Sweater, colourway: turtle. The pink and white mother of pearl buttons are from ButtonButton in Vancouver.

IMG_0554
Again no personal Ravelry page :(. These are Little Squirrel by Tin Can Knits.

IMG_0556
IMG_0558

IMG_0566
No personal Ravelry page. I tweaked the cables to match the Deluxe Cashmere Blanket above. This is Cable Baby by Pamela W Allen.

Lev's Moderne Baby Blanket

IMG_2737

IMG_2739

IMG_2740

IMG_2741

Barley

Easy Peasy
I think this little hat might be my favourite of the baby knits.

Finally a present for myself! Ley Lines made out of recycled cashmere.
Finally, a present for myself! Ley Lines knit out of recycled cashmere.

What was your favourite item knitted in 2015? What are you most excited to knit in 2016?

Yarn bombing…

It has been especially quiet around here for over a month, and while some of that time off was forced upon me (I was rather unwell through November into December), the later half of December was a self-imposed holiday filled with much baking and entertaining and holiday fun. Through all this the weather has been remarkable here in Vancouver and I have enjoyed a number of sunny (and windy!!) seawall walks.

While walking to Granville Island on December 31, I happened upon two great examples of yarn bombing a.k.a knitting graffitti… true, I have noted others while wandering around Vancouver’s Kitsilano area, but these were brand new and begging to be photographed (with the iPhone 4s, FYI).

Wikipedia (linked above) describes yarn bombing as such: Yarn bombingyarnbombingyarnstormingguerrilla knittingurban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk.

A fringed yarn bomb on the swing set at Kits Beach, Vancouver, BC, Canada

This, of course, got me wondering about yarn bombing and whether or not anyone was tracking such things… if I should be submitting the photos to a database or what not… and, upon Googling, I discovered that the writers behind yarnbombing.com were actually from Vancouver, BC, Canada, which I thought was more than a little cool! There are also a few Ravelry groups devoted to this subject.

A flowered yarn bomb on a tree at the entrance of the seawall path of Vanier Park

There were no tags identifying the artist(s), but I suppose that isn’t the point. I hope to happen upon more installations, and may be moved to contribute my own some day…

Only 11 months late:

These are Navdeep’s Christmas 2010 socks…he took possession of them last night on October 31, 2011. Yes, I am a little behind with the knitting, ahem, either that or I have too many projects on the go…

Pattern: David Socks – Designed by Anne Hanson of Knitspot – as always Anne’s patterns are well written and result in fantastic finished objects! – rating: 5 stars

Yarn: Gourmet Crafter Sock Yarn by Gourmet Crafter (Alexa) –  Colourway: Stanley Park Lights – love the yarn base (cashmere!!) and the colours – rating: 5 stars

Ravelry Project Page

Joanne’s Birthday Socks

A very lovely friend of mine turned 30 last week [ah, 30 I remember you fondly, as you blew by many, many years ago] and I wanted to help her celebrate this milestone in style, so I knit her some socks:

And last Monday, in a brief sunny break, we sipped iced tea in the garden and Joanne modelled her socks for the blog. Here is a detail shot of the stitch pattern and yarn:

In the skein I really though the blue and pink were dominate, but, as you can see, the purple won the pattern.

I don’t think they could be more perfect for my vibrant and, still so young in age but wise of heart, friend.

______________________

Pattern: Bois de Rose Socks – a well-written pattern that complimented this gorgeous variegated yarn just perfectly, plus it’s FREE on Ravelry!

Designer: Nicole Masson [aka stefanina on ravelry]

Yarn: CashLuxe Fine by SweetGeorgia Yarns  Colourway: Stella – This yarn is so soft it is yummy, and the colours kick-ass! Plus it’s LOCAL = one of my favourites!!

My Ravelry Project Page

This is the sort of thing that makes me…

…want to learn how to spin my own yarn. Course, it would take years to learn to produce something this gorgeous and I am not usually noted for my boundless patience. I stumbled across this most beautiful handspun yarn while shopping, for what I cannot remember, on etsy the other day:

50/50 cashmere and silk! Greens and pinks and creams. I was so smitten. I immediately put it my favourites and continued shopping for whatever I was looking for, but yet the yarn haunted me–no matter that it was an expensive luxury–no matter I had promised myself I would knit from my stash until I had made a solid dent, but… but… this was handspun–I didn’t have anything quite this decadent… finally I latched on to the thought that it was soon going to be Valentine’s Day and I deserved a little gift, so into the cart it immediately went!

And I don’t have, not remotely, any buyers remorse… a 100% of the profits from the Little Creek Yarn shop go to support Partners in Health. Lynn, the talented spinner, dyer and shop owner, answered my shipping question promptly and was cheerful and chatty. And the yarn… Oh, the yarn… so soft, so shine-y, so amazing…

Now what shall I make? You better believe this baby is all for me and it’s going around my neck – no gift making!! Must now hustle off to Ravelry to find patterns to match.

Yarn Details
Purchased from: Little Creek Yarn
Colourway: Hvar
Weight: Fine, 16-18 wpi
Fibre: 50/50 cashmere/silk
Yards: 225