Knitting on Impulse

Productivity

A little making:

A little knitting:

A little noticing:

I've neglected the latter of late, foolishly, because it really is the cornerstone of everything else.

Birthday Boy

It's Sunday evening at the end of school holidays, which means.... we have just spent the last hour digging up various accoutrements required for tomorrow morning, all the while muttering dire warnings about what will happen next time if said objects are thoughtlessly removed from their appointed places in order to pack the supposed-to-be-just-for-school backpacks with provisions for imaginary expeditions to the North Pole. 

Since I didn't get much knitting done today, I thought I'd entertain you with a pictorial synopsis of the birthday celebrated this past week.  (The boy has excellent taste in cake - he chose the dark chocolate hazelnut torte.)

It was an awfully good cake (from the Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking).

 

Wolfhound Agility Training

Thanks for all the support and feedback on the socks!  I'll let you know when I have some kits ready to go.  I keep thinking I am crazy to embark on this on top of everything else, but it is just So. Much. Fun. 

Speaking of fun, our two week Spring Break is winding down.  We have had such a good time with the kids this year, as they are just now to an age where they can play alongside us (as opposed to merely observing from our arms, shoulders and aching backs.)  We skied together almost every day, but this morning felt lazy and opted for a less organizationally intensive form of sliding. 

Our wolfhound's normally stolid and reticent nature was superseded by protective instinct, and she followed the children to the top.

Which may have constituted an error in judgement.

She held it together for a few seconds, but then there was some decidedly ungraceful flailing followed by something of a thud.

After her knees stopped knocking, she seemed quite pleased with herself, opting to work off the residual adrenaline with a bath in the fetid swamp emerging on the other side of the trail.

(The fetid swamp was actually rather pretty before she landed in it - you can find that bit over on my photo blog.)

Bee and Thistle Socks V. 2.0

The yarn:

The design:

 

(See the bees now?)

As long as I was redoing the design, I thought I'd add some thistles:

This one's a keeper.  I think the kits will consist of two skeins of purple (228 yds each, so lots of yardage for each sock), a mini skein of the cream/yellow, the pattern (with tips for converting it to your favorite sock formula), and a notecard.

 

Frosty Leaves

Here's one I'm really pleased with:

The image (also available in notecard form):

The mosaic palette:

The yarn (100% alpaca, in a worsted weight, 4x100gms.)

This will be a scarf, I think.

I suppose it might be an idea at this point to elaborate on the grand plan.  (I tend to have a fast moving imagination which gets verbalized in sporadic blurts.... and then I wonder why nobody knows what I'm on about.)

I'm hoping to add hand dyed yarns to my inventory at the Farmer's Market this year - both individual skeins and kits inspired by (and including) my nature photo notecards.  Since the submission deadline is barely a month away, I'm presently working up some colourways and sample knits for display, but once I have what I need for the Market, yarn will also start appearing for sale via my website.  So, you know... opinions, preferences, and/or expressions of interest are more than welcome! 

Sea Urchin

This was a lovely little diversion that I finished up over the weekend.  Ysolda's pattern is clear, error free, and well organized, and the design is clean and mathematically elegant - no awkward contrivances, just a sweet little showpiece of short row shaping.

Plus it is actually reasonably flattering on my face, which most hats are not.  (Though I might be excessively self-critical - you'd have to ask my husband to be sure.)

Pattern: Urchin by Ysolda Teague, a free pattern which you can download from Knitty, or Ysolda herself.

Yarn: Wool Slub by Fleece Artist, which I have been hoarding for years and years.  I still have about half a skein left, so I think I might try for a very basic pair of fingerless mitts.

Modifications: none whatsoever (this may be a first for me!)

Protosock

Not exactly what I was going for, but a good object lesson in the perils of ignoring hue and value in the starry eyed pursuit of "ooh, pretty":

V 2.0 is drying as I type.

Bee and Thistle Socks V. 1.0

The inspiration:

 

I elected to go with just the bee and the thistle, leaving out the foliage:

The yarn:

The bees are.... lurking a little too effectively. Just because they do it in real life doesn't mean they ought to get away with it on the sock.

 

In V 2.0, I shall use the magic power of colour theory to bring the little buggers (ha ha) out of hiding.

Transitional

When we lived on the prairies, I used to find the snows of March unbearably cruel, (not to mention the crime against humanity that was the snows of April, May and June) but here it's a different kind of thing, a transition that makes sense, feels right.  Apart from the obvious benefit to spring skiing, there is the fact that the process of melting down eight or more feet of snow takes a couple of months, during which the surroundings are in something of an awkward state. 

While the drowsy emergence of tangled, pillow-faced shrubs may be charming,

the slow condensation of a winter's worth of dirt, sand, and doggy indiscretions on trails and roadsides is not.  An inch or two of pristine white every few days is a welcome thing - a little like the hairdresser who devises a decent transitional style when you get the burning urge to grow out that pixie cut.

Besides, patio season will be back long before the mountain melts!

First Day of Spring

Yup, we popped up the hill again this morning. 

It's hard to resist all that fresh powder - 14 cm of it by day's end!  We packed it in at noon, as the kids were getting tired.

The afternoon was for creative pursuits:

This was entirely my daughter's idea - she presented me with a template which she had drawn and carefully cut out of card stock.  I helped with the transfer to fabric - she did the sewing.  I'll let you know how the turning and stuffing works out.

I managed a bit of pattern writing, mixed up some stock solutions for dyeing, and did some knitting:

It appears I do have a learning curve: I am writing this pattern as I go (on the computer, in actual words, as opposed to scribbled calculations on the nearest scrap of paper) so that if/when it turns out well I won't have to go through the agonizingly tedious job of reverse engineering my own design.  (And if it doesn't, I won't have to guess what went wrong!)  Speaking of reverse engineering, that bit is...blush... coming along.  I'm about 3/4 done both the Little Knight and the Mystery patterns.