Recognize this?

It's the ice cream cozy from KnitWit

I had a bit of Cascade Fixation in my stash and Cari (my houseguest) is a Ben & Jerry's afficianda, like me, so it seemed like an appropriate little gift. I must say that this particular shade/ball of Cascade Fixation has pooled quite unattractively. I'd have been very disappointed if I'd bothered to make something more time-consuming, like socks, out of this stuff. Despite it's unfortunate colouration, it is very functional as an ice cream cozy!

Not too much other knitting, cuz I've been out quite a bit with my guests.

I did manage to work my way back to the Pre-Whoops stage with Cinxia. (growl) I'm a bit concerned about the front edges and their tendency to roll. I'm hoping that a bit of blocking will fix things. If it doesn't, I may experiment with some "pick up and knit" edges for the front.

And just because they are so cute, here is a picture of Gillian with my friend's dog, Mimi. Gilly likes Mimi, but for some reason yesterday she was unusually enchanted with the dog and insisted on having custody of her at all times! I'm hoping that Gilly will become attached to her service dog this easily!

Yums and Yucks...

At least that is what they call my first grader's circle time sharing of good and bad things that have happened during the week!

Yuck - Sick pup! Gillian has some mystery ailment. She has sneezed and coughed a bit over the last few days, but last night she had a complete meltdown. For several hours she raced through the house screaming and throwing herself on the floor, crying and kicking. She was also whimpering and clutching her head. My worst fear is that Gilly has inherited my husband's severe migraines, which he recalls starting at 6 or 7 years of age. The thought of a non-verbal child suffering from migraines is a bit more than I can cope with right now, so I'm clinging to the more palatable options of sinus or ear infections. We're headed to the Ped. this afternoon for a more objective diagnosis.

Yuck - I whoopsed Cinxia. Somewhere during the first decrease row, I suffered a lapse of attention and ...whoops! I don't even want to admit how many rows I had to frog back once I noticed. (maybe 15?) Serves me right for not checking row counts after every decrease row. Bad Dobby, bad Dobby... (Ellery made me put the Harry Potter reference in here, she is way psyched about going to the movie this weekend!)

Yum - Friends from California are visiting us on Thursday! Cari and Boyd have a daughter "in between" Ellery and the twins, so it will be a lot of noisy, squeally fun for kids and a lot of gabbing and maybe a cocktail or two for the mums!

Yum - Look what came in the mail!
My free ball of Bernat Disco! Mine is "Mr. Brown" colour, which is a rather nice coppery brown. (Might do well to mix with some other yarns to make a Vegan Fox!)

WIP update, without pictures... :-(

Dead camera battery and I'm too impatient to wait for it to recharge!

I have a few projects on the go:

Cinxia - I've finished both sleeves and am gathering up my courage to put all the pieces on one needle!

Rowan Vest - The bulk of the knitting is finished. I have to tinker with the shoulders a bit. I knit them according to the pattern directions, but the shoulders are a bit more sloped than I think they need to me, plus I'm concerned about how thick the seams will look on a small garment knit with a full yarn like Sisik. I'm going to test stitch the shoulders and figure out if I should frog/reknit/3-needle bind-off the shoulders instead.

Brittany Jumper - I've finished about 4 inches above the picot hem. This is a great on-the-go project...circular knitting with no row counting!

Since things are almost under control...I'm swatching bits and pieces for this...



The pattern calls for baby cashmerino, which is a little out of my price range and not the easiest care yarn for baby clothes. I'm thinking of making this robe a bit more casual with Sirdar Snowflake (from the stash, natch). So far, the swatches have a nice, chenilley-look to them, which sort of suits a wrap-around bathrobe. The Snowflake is however, icky to work with. It pulls more than any chenille or boucle that I've used and the stitches are very difficult to see on the needles.


Oh, and an unrelated funny...

I have a tendency to walk and knit, usually with a skein of yarn stuffed in my pocket, or a small knitting bag tucked under my arm. I was standing outside the girls' school last week, knitting the Brittany jumper while waiting for the final bell. Ellery appeared around the corner, working on her scarf...knitting bag tucked firmly under her arm. I thought the mum next to me would die laughing.

A Real, Live Knitting Celebrity! Thanks Knitomatic!

Lily Chin!

Lily Chin was in town yesterday at Knitomatic promoting her new Signature Collection of yarns and patterns. I was prepared to be underwhelmed, as there weren't many pictures on her website that screamed "Knit Me, Hoard Me!!", but the yarns and patterns were surprisingly nice.

On the website, the six varieties of yarn in the collection (each named for a neighbourhood in NYC) appear to be knitting staples offered in a nice, but not extensive colour range. In person, each yarn has a little "extra" that makes it tempting! For example, Central Park, the Boucle is wool-based but with a touch of Lycra to keep it from bagging and sagging. Tribeca is a cuddly mohair blend with the added bonus of being "shed-proof"!

The patterns are similarly deceptive. On the website, they look nice, but not particularly wearable (at least not for a 40-something suburban housefrau) In person, the colours were much richer than in the photos and the designs were flattering to a wide (no pun intended) variety of figure types. I'm quite tempted to make the tasselled wrap in green Central Park!

Our little group at Knitomatic!



Ms. Chin is an engaging speaker who encouraged us to try things on and play with the yarn samples. She was also convincingly empathetic to our concerns about "figure camoflage" while standing in front of us in a size "teeny" pair of leather pants!
Here is Miss Ellery in a cute crocheted cloche...almost worth learning to crochet just to make one of those!


I brought Ellery to the trunk show in an attempt to gently fan the flame of her newly acquired love of knitting. Ms. Chin graciously asked Ellery about what she was knitting and what design features she liked and disliked in knitted garments. Ellery mentioned that she likes a sweater that I made for her because it makes her look like a polar bear! (Probably not a sentiment shared by adult knitters)


Here's Haley, owner of Knitomatic and our hostess for the afternoon, wearing a luscious pink mohair sweater from the Collection.

I'm on a roll....

The good news...another finished object!

The bad news...the recipient developed an uncharacteristic bout of camera shyness and will not allow me to photograph her while wearing the sweater. (Hey, at least she wears the sweater)



That's Elle in her zippered cardigan (from behind). Clare is wearing her coat of many colours, while hopping into my van.

That only leaves Cinxia and my nephew's vest still on the needles. Therefore, it is time to start another project! This one is for a little girl, not yet two years old. I have to scan my pattern picture, but I'm planning to make the Brittany jumper from Minnow Knits, Two in this...



Butterfly 10 mercerized cotton in a powdery peach colour.

In other news, E and C went out for Halloween as witches. I think Clare's red eyes add to the effect. (Gillian decided that the real action was back home with the parade of kids at the front door and an endless supply of candy for snacking!