Knitting on Impulse

When You Know The Notes To Sing....

For those of you who are craving yet another opportunity to sing along:

No?  Here's a few things I've been working on this week, then:

1. My second go at a custom dyed sari silk scarf (iteration no. 1 was too yellow.)  It turns out that as much as I love being all intuitive and free-wheeling about the process of dyeing, there comes a moment (which I hadn't entirely anticipated) where someone says, "can you make me one of these, about this wide, in those shades of green?" And then taking notes would have been a Good Thing To Do.

(Now it goes back on the drying rack, in the vain vague hope that it will surrender its last bits of moisture into the fully saturated atmosphere in time for me to knit it up by Sunday morning.)

2. A bit of jewellery.  I don't tend to "think" in gold nearly as much as silver - probably because it doesn't suit my own skin tone nearly as well.  However, so many visitors to the Market have lamented its meagre presence in my collection that I finally applied myself to the task. 

Turns out that my favorite blue-green hue (Peruvian blue opal, in this case) takes on a whole new depth and richness displayed on a gold backdrop.  (This could send me off on a brand new tangent - aquamarine, lapis.... Blue and gold - imagine that!  Funny the obvious things we can be blind to.)

Black and white also failed to disappoint.  That's the great thing about moving out of my comfort zone - what starts as a chore turns into an exciting creative exercise.

 

As Promised, More Alpine Flora

The Pasque flower (still searching for the book containing the proper Latin name for this particular variety) is one of my favorite alpine plants:

They start their floral existence as luminous white flowers perched atop thick fuzzy stems:

As the petals fade,

The centres take over,

and soon legions of fuzzy mop heads are marching up the mountain:

Up the Mountain

Today being sunny, we seized the moment for our last "summer holidays" trip up the mountain.  We hiked a fair bit farther than usual today - down a bit, along a bit, steadily up for a whole lot, and then back again the way we came.  The little people performed admirably: one uncomplaining, the other not so much uncomplaining, but they both climbed a pretty steep chunk of alpine trail at a steady clip without faltering or getting breathless.  We were impressed.

I brought the camera:

A little gratuitous mountain scenery:

Which inspired Rob to channel Julie Andrews:

I also managed to capture the last stage in one of my favorite wildflower transformations - more on that tomorrow.

The Week Before...

September has always felt to me much more like a New Year than January 1st.  Possibility and new beginnings are in the air, and the onset of crisp cool weather after the lazy-making summer heat fills me with a sense of energy and purpose.  (At least it would if we had had any summer heat this year.)  The packing and unpacking bits of the summer have come and gone, and the school year is just around the corner, which makes this a week for Fitting Stuff In. "Just one more" of all the favorite summer activities, tidying up loose ends, buying school clothes, signing up for September conferences I have known about for ages but thought I had plenty of time because it was still summer...  In short, a week for organizing - or more accurately, catching up on stuff I should have organized long ago. 

So, in the interests of catch-up, here's some of that silk I dyed week before last:

They all became seed stitch scarves over the course of a day and a half (to the serious detriment of my wrists), though I have yet to photograph the results.  I'll fit that in one of these days...

 

Monday Morning Recap

What a whirlwind last week was.  We returned from Creston late Thursday evening, and spent Friday putting our tiny abode into some semblance of order for a very exciting visit!  Charity was one of the first ever commenters on my blog, and our friendship has grown over the last year and a half, sharing the highs and lows, cheering each others' successes and offering encouragement in the hard times.  It was such a joy to see an online relationship translate into "real" life, as we shared food and laughter and the happy chaos of 5 excited youngsters swirling around us like a hurricane.  Funnily enough, we didn't knit much, though we talked about it a great deal (with accompanying background snickers from the men).  In fact, I didn't even take any photos - odd in a way for me, but I think some things are meant to simply BE and be fully lived in the moment, rather than documented.  I did remember to press the camera into Stuart's hands Sunday morning, though:

She came bearing gifts:

This is 880 gorgeous metres of merino laceweight, hand dyed on Vancouver Island.  (Which I was so busy fondling, I forgot to keep track of the ball band in order to post the link.  I'll add it once it surfaces.)  I shall have to gird up my courage and properly venture into lace one of these days.  I think my reticence stems not so much from technical intimidation, but from the fact that I am distressingly distractible of late and I dread the repeated frogging that is sure to result.

I have managed not to mess up the stockinette or the bands of garter stitch on the Cobblestone, however:

Now that real life has resumed, personal knitting time is again curtailed, so I've only managed a few inches on the sleeve since I last posted about it.  I am loving the outcome so far, and since the last vestiges of hope for hot summer weather are fading, I think I will try to squeeze in the time to finish it this week.

 

Treasure Hunting

We're home.  We spent four days visiting family in Creston (or more accurately, two days driving, and two days visiting!) It was a lovely trip, and I permitted myself (with minor guilty misgivings) to take a break from production knitting and bring only the Cobblestone pullover.  The lower body is now complete and waiting to join the sleeves, and the first sleeve is well underway.  More on that next week.

One of the joys of having children is the renewed reminder of the thrill of discovery.  Our kids are accustomed to seeking their treasure in nature, and my parents' property did not disappoint.

The Bone Forest (as that corner of the acreage shall henceforth be known):

We discovered the complete skeletal remains of one large and one small deer (presumably a doe and fawn) scattered throughout the underbrush.  There was a grizzly bear haunting that spot a couple of weeks earlier, and no shortage of cougars and coyotes in the area, so we entertained ourselves with a bit of forensic speculation.

The Dragonfly:

DD is a dedicated bug lover; for my part, I couldn't resist the opportunity to add another colourway to the collection:

The Great Creek Adventure, featuring:

Frog Following:

Water Walkers:

and Webs:

 

Who has time for boredom when you have eyes?

I Might Be Crazy

but I have this huge craving to knit a Cobblestone Pullover.  For myself.  (Hubby is not a sweater person, and most definitely not a wool person - he's the sort of skin type who finds cashmere to be marginally wearable.)  Normally, I am attracted to cleverly shaped curves and intricate details, but right now I want a hard wearing wool pullover to throw on for a quick trip to the grocery store in the drizzle.  Essentially, I want the handknit equivalent of hubby's fleecy that I occasionally comandeer because it is plain and dark, and just roomy enough that I don't have to suck in my gut, but skims my hips in a kindly non-tent-like fashion.  For days when I want to be comfortably invisible... but also classy.  You know?  I already have two major projects in progress for fall wear, and far more production knitting than I am properly keeping up with... but I want it nonetheless.

IF I make one, it will have to come from stash, and at this point the two most likely candidates are Briggs and Little Regal in a tweedy charcoal grey, and Elann Sierra Aran (80% wool/20%alpaca) in blueberry.  I am actually leaning toward the B&L because it is such a hard wearing, no nonsense wool - I want something I can stuff in and out of a pack and generally abuse without looking horribly pilled and disheveled. The Elann Sierra is considerably softer though - anyone have experience with how it wears / pills?  Either one would need to be knit at a wee bit tighter gauge than the pattern, but it looks like it would be a pretty easy design to convert.

The great dyeing marathon has given way to the great seed stitch marathon - here's skein no.1:

(I forgot to snap a picture before winding up the skein).

Speaking of Eccentricities...

I devised a makeshift outdoor drying rack for yesterday's dyeing marathon:

I believe the strata has a "no outdoor laundry" rule, but surely skeins of silk are exempt!

(You'll note they are arranged in colour wheel order, possibly giving me away as eccentric AND obsessive!)

Seriously though, how is it that substance abuse and the lopping off of body parts are considered to be perfectly acceptable hallmarks of a "real artist", but knitblogging is somehow silly?  (Insert feminist rant about double standards and the patriarchy here.)

Yesterday's other project:

Eccentric

The interface between blogging and the "real" world is an interesting one.  Inside my head, the phrase "I write a knitting blog" has come to feel perfectly reasonable, even mundane - right up there with "I own a dog" and "my car is blue."  So reasonable, in fact, that I occasionally say it out loud, as happened last week at the market.  The woman stared incredulously for several seconds, lower lip wobbling fiercely under the influence of barely suppressed giggles, before collecting herself enough to feign serious interest.  The man just laughed.  And then looked vaguely worried by the faint possibility that I wasn't joking.  I briefly considered referencing the popularity of the Yarn Harlot to bolster the case for normalcy, but thought better of it.

Speaking of eccentricities, here's some bright orange recycled silk:

It knits up soft and thick and fuzzy - less refined than spun silk, but with none of the fretting about whether it will snag on dishpan hands.

Drive By Blogging

We're just back from a whirlwind trip to Vancouver (3-4 hours each way).  Itinerary: drive down Monday morning, spend a few hours in the eye of a storm consisting of four very excited and vocal cousins (aged 3 to 7), wish babysitter good luck, race to restaurant and help assemble decorations for MIL's 75th birthday dinner, drink a wee bit too much wine with said dinner, crawl into bed bleary eyed. Wake at the crack of dawn because IT'S MORNING, MOMMY!  Pack up, at least 50% of which consists of searching for a stuffed dinosaur that may or may not have actually come down with us, but she's pretty sure it did, so her life depends on finding it.   Stuff two children (one sulky due to absence of said dinosaur), one large dog, and one giant bag of clean laundry (love SIL's front-loading machines!) into car.  Drive home, stopping frequently for road work delays and large downtown detour around fatal shooting crime scene.  Shower, fit in a quick blog post before heading out to the wrap-up dinner for my women's small business group. Resolve not to drink.

A few random photos from the trip:

They are widening the Sea to Sky highway between Vancouver and Whistler in preparation for the 2010 Olympics, which consists of alternately blasting away chunks of mountain,

and building scaffolding out over the sheer drop to the ocean.

A quick shot of Howe Sound:

More later - gotta run!