The Fish Knits

When I was in High School my two best friends and I had a thing about Vilage des Valeurs. We called it VdV, and it was our place for adventure… (no, not the only place for adventure!) We loved spending an afternoon rummaging through the racks, book shelves, housewares and sporting goods. I have bought pants, skirts and tops, of course, but I have also found ice skates in great shape, brand new Birkenstocks for $4.99, and almost new Doc Martens for $9.99 which are my motorcycle boots. There have been cook books and craft books and some fantastic old pattern books for Aran sweaters and children’s ensembles.

I have even found needles and yarn.

It is no secret to those of us who read blogs that yarn can be found at Value Village. It has happened before. And yes, I have found perfectly acceptable non beige-acrylic yarn at VdV, and of course I brought it home with me. But this time? This time I rocked it!

Check it out!

But I have no idea what it is. Who here reads Russian? Kathy??

What I do know is that there is a lot of it. Two great big hanks of beautiful navy blue laceweight. Look!

Hee! And guess how much. Go on, guess.

$1.99! I figured I could not be held responsible for stash enhancement when there is a deal like this to be had. To leave it behind would have been irresponsible of me. Right…?

And happy birthday Margene! May you have a wonderful day and a wonderful year.

Today here in Ottawa we have rain. Lots of rain. Rain like we haven’t seen since the dreary fall days that you can still handle despite the rain because there are trees in riotous fall colour and there is that lovely damp fall day smell in the air. Today’s rain ain’t that kind of rain. It’s the cold, soggy, grey kind of day that isn’t yet spring, there aren’t any flowers peeking out from the snow still on the ground, and everywhere you look it’s dirty. It’s that kind of day. I think we’d better get suited up in some rain gear and go for a splash. Evan’s bright yellow Wellies should help sunshine the place up a bit!

I am full of knitters’ angst today, too. You see, I have wonderful stuff waiting for me, calling to me, but which has to wait until I get some stuff finished up for the STiKs gig which is coming up rilly-rilly soon. Like, 10 days from today. *runs screaming round and round the room, clutching head* I was galloping along on the little sweater I was designing, until I looked at it and thought that perhaps the armscye is a little short. Le sigh. So progress stopped while I changed tack and threw together some of my favourite little hats for new babies, and one of Hello Yarn’s baby bonnets

The lighting today is terrible with all the clouds…

(too cute!) for a friend’s baby, and now I realize that if I just get my act together I can finish the bloody little sweater within an evening. But there’s another thing holding me back.

That Smell.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but honestly, I have never known yarn to smell like this. It’s no secret that I sniff yarn, and this stuff was fine when I got it. It smelled neutral. Pretty much like nothing. It has some *ahem* acrylic in it, which I find pretty much always smells like nothing, so I wasn’t expecting much. Anyway, once I’m knitting with it, it starts to stink. Really stink. It goes away once the warmth of my fingers is away from it, so I would hate for someone to buy the sweater then be grossed out by the smell once it warms up on baby’s body. This little fact has totally stolen my will to continue. I was trucking along telling myself that it would be fine once it has had a little trip through the Eucalan, but I am seriously starting to wonder. So the “proof of concept” idea is seeming a little weak at the moment. You know how it is. The unfortunate thing is that it’s a nice fabric for a little girl sweater. All fluffy and soft and hugable looking. In the interest of full disclosure…

Still needs button bands and I’m thinking wide-ish round collar

Looks nice, but I guess you’ve been warned. It’s so rarely that I buy Bernat yarns, and I guess I’ve just been reminded of why that is. Oh, and the armscye depth matches a number of Evan’s sweaters from that age range, so I guess I’m ok. I measured the rest of the dimensions off of those old sweaters, and they fit my little guy when he was that size, so I guess my decision now lies with wether or not to finish the Haven and Hell sweater after all.

And all I want to do is start my Rockin’ Sock Club socks! Oh, and some Fetching mitts, and a Shedir hat (that link goes to a .pdf), and Isabella since the Ramen Noodles have turned into

Spaghetti

As promised, a photograph of the new Socks That Rock skein that landed in my post office yesterday. Yahoo! (Can I still say that? Is that word Copyrighted now…?)

Since there are still people out there who have not yet received their package for the sock club, I will be a nice blogger and put the picture behind a link.

Rockin’ Sock Club February Skein!

Any Sommelier types out there?

My dad has this bottle of wine that I like to tease him about. He has had this bottle of wine for ages. Ages I tell you! Notice the vintage. It’s a 1970! Anyway… I have been teasing him about it for years. You know, that it’s probably very expensive vinegar, that it’s solid from all the sediment, yada yada. I keep threatening to call Konrad Ejbich on Ontario Today, and get the official word on the very expensive double magnum of vinegar, but I have to tell you, Konrad is a tough guy to get a hold of! So I’m calling out to the blogsphere.

We did a little checking online, and it looks like I may have to eat my words, but does anyone out there know for sure? It’s a double magnum (3L) bottle of 1970 Chateau Pichon Lalande, Grand Cru Classe Appelation Pauillac Controlee. It has been well looked after, kept still and in stable temperature, out of direct light.

Let the speculation begin!

*edited for a typo

For all two of you who were in suspense over the mystery knit, here they are…

Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays, knit for a good friend for his birthday. They were a really fun little project! I started them on Monday night last week, and finished them on Saturday evening, in time to block them overnight and deliver them yesterday. Never mind that I missed the actual birthday, and that I had to drop just about everything else including maintaining the house in order to get them done… They are now with their intended, and I *think* they went over pretty well. We’ll just have to see if they actually get worn. (G- if you’re reading this- it’s ok if you don’t ever wear them. Just know that I will notice and repossess them! ) At least I’ll be totally SET for next year, and will have whatever giftie I devise all sorted out in time. March 6th. Not the 22nd…

One of the things I like so much about the pattern is the way the cables follow down the heel. Super cool. Now if only I still had my Birks!

Anyway, I enjoyed knitting them so much that I went back and bought more yarn, in a different grey for a pair for me. Yippee! I’m looking forward to that.

But wait! There’s more… When I got home today there were a couple of Post Office tags in my mail box. Hooray! Both my Knitpicks order AND my Rockin’ Sock Club orders had arrived! (J- you can blog about your STR package now… )Alas, I have no photos at the moment. Despite the daylight savings time having kicked in, I found myself without enough natural light to photograph the spoils. Tomorrow, my pretties. I have to say that the STR colourway this month is really beautiful, totally something I would be drawn to, and the pattern is great too. I don’t think that my skein has some of the colour of others, but you know what? I’m ok with that. I think I like mine better! The toe up construction is something I’ve never done before, so I’m looking forward to that, too. But really? Wow. I dig.

From KnitPicks came my Options needle set, which I am very excited about, though how does everyone store their needles in the case? I noticed that they’ve not labeled the needles to say which size they are, so how do you work around that? Just wondering. Looking for system ideas.

There a more than a few projects in Favorite Socks and Lace Style which have me scheming, so I think those were both good purchases too. Again, the lack of good light makes taking pictures awkward, but at least I can tell you that there are a lot of socks which are new to me, and very lovely. Yes, I have a handful of them already in my magazine library, but they are now all in one place, and spiral bound no less! I love the spiral binding for pattern books. Let it be known.

The Uptown Boot Socks by Jennifer L. Appleby from IK’s Winter 2003 issue are worth a second look for the Rock coloured Fleece Artist sock yarn that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. The pattern isn’t what I had in my mind’s eye, but then, it might work… Another option is the Go With the Flow socks by Evelyn A. Clark from IK’s Spring 2005 issue. I liked it then, I like it now, and I think it might be worth swatching.

Which brings me to my next question. How well is the Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn likely to hold up to swatching, ripping and re-knitting? Anyone have any experience with this? Shed some light on the subject? I am beginning to think that I have a bunch of swatching ahead of me in order to find a pattern that I’m really happy with for this yarn, and I’m wondering if I’m deluding myself thinking that I’ll be able to get away with it.

Until next time, I’ll be sniffing yarn. Socks That Rock yarn. Mmmmmmm….Can’t wait to cast on!

Behind clouds. That’s where. I was looking forward to posting a picture of Saturday’s lunar eclipse, but it just wasn’t to be. We couldn’t even see it. I think there’ll be another one in… August? Is that what they said? Better luck then I guess.

Have you seen the new Knitty? It’s up! It’s up! And there are some very neat patterns inside. Such as… Dashing, a more masculine take on the very popular Fetching from the summer 06 issue. I like! Also, there’s Isabella, a feminine little top which I think will flatter my shape, and I have a feeling I have an appropriate yarn substitution in my stash! Yay! It’s the stuff that I turned into Ramen Noodles the other day, but I have to admit that I have zero recollection of what it is, and the ball bands are long gone as far as I know. But hey. If I get guage I’m happy… Ribena is also interesting, though I think I’d change up the ribbing at the waist. Maybe not make it as deep…? I do like the sleeves though. Oh, and Bauble? Totally caught my eye. I want to make one now now now!!

But I have other stuff to knit. For example…

I’m not saying what that is, since it is for someone who may or may not read the blog (probably not, but I want to be safe!). There will definitely be people who recognize the stitch pattern, and will figure out exactly what it is, but for now that’s all I’ll say. I can talk about yarn though… It’s yarn that’s new to me, and it’s not the yarn called for in the pattern. It’s Smart superwash wool from Norway, and I like it. So far anyway… I have a bit of a thing about superwash wool, in that I find it goes pretty much instantly limp. I know there are those who love Mission Falls wool with undying passion, but I’m just not one of them. I like the cotton quite a lot, but the wool I find flaccid and pilly. (Don’t hold back there Sarah- tell us how you really feel!). Anyway, this stuff seems to have more resiliency, and has some lovely colours. It’s not as soft as the Mission Falls, but that’s ok as far as I’m concerned. I like wooly wool. And the best part? I don’t have to worry about giving the above item to someone who is likely to toss it in the wash! It’s meant to be tossed in the wash! I’ll just have to make sure I weave in the ends securely…

So I’m still waiting on my STR package (sniff) as well as my Options needles (no big surprise there, I only ordered them on Friday last week). On Monday I was so excited when I came home and saw a package sticking out of the mailbox. Sock yarn!! I was so thrilled! Then I got closer and saw that it was a package for my husband. Mope. Anyway, the mail watch continues… Dave, I hope the yarn I saw on your blog today wasn’t a STR spoiler! Don’t tell me if it was… I stopped reading as soon as I saw those three letters! <:)

Maybe tomorrow I’ll have good news to share. Fingers crossed!