Instead of studying today I sat down and knit this little guy.
I made him for a display that my friend is organizing for Oceans Day.
I realize that its slightly ridiculous that I spent my day knitting an octopus instead of studying for my last final but what can I say, this is what my life has turned into.
I am tempted to knit a huge one of these. Just for fun.

You are not dreaming, I am updating my blog.

Wow, I didn't realize that the last time I updated this was January.

I have been knitting all this time I swear.

Although I may not have much to show for it.

I have been working on the Colette Pullover from Interweave Knits.

Sure it looks good from afar. But I'm worried. I have made it all the way to the Raglan shaping without much mishap. Yet this thing so far looks like a big sack. What if it doesn't fit me? What if I get so excited about finishing it that I mess up? I have to admit that usually, by the time I get to the end of a project, I am so excited/sick of it that my finishing often ends up being sloppy.

The pattern for this is really good but I feel it lacks certain explanations. I mean, I don't know what I'm doing here, I need extra specific detailed guidelines.

But what scares me most is this:

The steek!

I mean cutting your knitting seems wrong to me. So I'm not looking forward to this part. I feel I might mess it up.

Let us pray to the knitting Gods that this sweater comes out un-injured.

You spend so much time and energy knitting something, you want it to be perfect.

Perhaps this is an exercise in accepting faults.

No, these are not hot pants.

In an attempt to distract myself by the sweater fever I've been having in the past couple of weeks, I started knitting a bag. I've never knit a bag before because knit bags make me kind of nervous with all their holes and stuff. But then I found a free pattern on the Interweave website and I was sold.

I decided to make this out of Cascade 220 because it has such a great array of colours to choose from. I wasn't sure the purple would work with this but I think I really like this thing.

It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

Today, I made my way to the craft store to pick up some yarn I had spotted the last time I was there. I knew it was on sale so I decided to go for it. When I was home last summer I found some old books full of patterns. I stole one because there was a hoodie in it that I really liked named Gopak. When I saw this Moda Dea Tweedle Dea yarn I really liked it and immediately thought of Gopak. Anyway, I bought 6 balls of this today because that was all that they had. I know its not enough for a sweater but I figure I might venture out there on the bus again sometime this week to get some more. However, I've encountered a slight problem. I cannot seem to locate Gopak. I looked everywhere, turned everything upside-down and Gopak and nowhere to be found. This makes me sad for several reasons. 1) My apartment is mess because my life is a mess. 2) I really liked that pattern and really wanted to make it. I guess I'm just going to have to try to design it myself now.

I am back.



Much has happened in the past little while. My father passed away and I discovered that knitting is good therapy. I kept the scarf that I had made him for christmas and even though he never got the chance to see it, I will wear it and think of him because I'm sure it would have made him happy.



One thing I really missed while I was away was the keeper of my yarn.




She is good at keeping my projects and my lap nice and warm. Sure its frustrating to stand out in the cold while she barks at strangers that ignore her cuteness instead of doing her business, but the truth is, I cannot live without my weiner.



I was pretty busy during the holidays. Busy knitting that is. I managed to finish many projects including the previously seen Noro scarf.


I have to say I love this scarf. Its my favorite scarf ever. I've been knitting for 2 years now and I don't know why I never knit myself a scarf until now. Perhaps because I was waiting for this beauty to enter my life.







I also knit myself a bandana hat. I bought this fleece artist kit at Lk Yarns a while back. I liked the look of the pattern and the colour of the yarn. I wasn't sure this hat would really uit me or my style but I think it turned out pretty good. When I put it on, I usually don't want to take it off. So I am pretty happy. Fleece artist makes some mighty fine yarn.

Finally, I made a hat for the boyfriend. He had requested llama and some yellow so I obliged. I have made this hat before so it didn't take very long to make because I knew what to avoid. Anyway it turned out pretty nice and he was quite happy to receive it.




























The holidays also means one thing: stash growth. While I was home I visited 2 yarn stores. One was weird and mostly carried Phildar yarns. The other was the fabulous Yarn Forward which I discovered last summer. While there I decided to buy some Cascade 220 to make myself a bag. I also bought some Jawoll Superwash sock yarn from Lang.

I'm not sure what pattern I will make out of these but I have a few ideas. These colours were just too good to pass up.



My stash has also grown because I received 3 lovely skeins of yarn straight from Argentina. I think its from a company named Yanabey. I don't know what they are made of. I suspect that there is some acrylic in them but they are kinda nice regardless. I think I will make these into a blanket. All I need to do is find some charts with llamas and traditional South American designs and stuff. Perhaps some day I will take a fiber related trip down there. Something to add to my ever growing to-do list.








And thus my stash is now in quite the state of disarray. Unlike some lucky people I do not have a handy chest to stock my yarn in. Maybe once I get school work out of the way I can figure out how to stash all this delicious yarn in a more beautiful fashion.

When I have a lot of things to do, I go into panic mode trying to decide which to do first. This usually ends with me doing none of the things I have to do and starting something I want to do instead. Thus, I have begun a Noro stripped scarf.

I noticed this pattern on several blogs thanks to my good friend and knitting partner in crime Miss B. Most of the patterns I saw were made with Noro silk Garden. I decided to use Kureyon because, after hours of looking at shade cards on the internet, I fell in love with #213. Plus, when I went to LK Yarns (aka the best yarn store in Halifax) they had said colors of my dreams.
So I started to knit this on friday evening and I am completely in love. I cannot stop myself from knitting this scarf. This picture doesn't do it justice.
And I still have at least one mitten to knit before christmas. Not to mention tons of homework.
This is bad. This is very bad. But so good.
I realized yesterday that I might have a problem because I only have 3 balls of this stuff. I can either buy another one or I might just try to use the third ball from both ends to create the stripe. We'll see.
These champagne tastes will ruin me but at least I will be stylish.

My christmas knitting was stalled for a while. With school and work I had too many things to do already and christmas knitting seemed like just another thing that I HAD to do (granted its a self-imposed "I have to do this" but still). I'll admit it, I'm a selfish knitter. I like to knit for myself. I know what I want and I know how I want it. But I did manage to finish a pair of socks yesterday. I don't know who I'll give them to yet because they turned out slightly on the giant side. I could get away with saying they are house socks...we'll see.

My big summer project was a deer sweater which I knit out of good old Patons.

When you knit something, especially something time-consuming, you become very familiar with all the things that are wrong with it. I wore this out in public for the first time the other day. At first, I felt a bit self-conscious. I thought "man, the zipper is not sewn right, there are holes where some of the color changes, some of my weaved in ends are sticking out." But then, I realized that people were looking at it in a admiring way. And I started to feel pretty damn sexy. This sweater is flawed but most people probably can't tell that it is. Besides, that's how you know that its hand made. Plus I like my people and things to be flawed.

Speaking of things that are flawed, I found some socks that I made this summer. I haven't actually worn them yet because I still haven't weaved in ends. I think I mostly put them aside because I couldn't stand knowing how many holes were in them. But upon further examination, these are pretty awesome and mighty comfy. Miss B knows me well enough to know that this self-stripping Super Sox yarn was right up my alley. Not bad for my first pair of socks knit on small needles.

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I want out of life. Right now I'm pretty sure about what I don't want. As far as the wants go this is what I have so far:

- I would like to live on an alpaca farm. Perhaps have a few cashmere goats and sheep and train a pack of weiner dogs to be herders.

- I want to learn how to play the accordeon.

I know these sound like silly dreams but the more I think about them, the more they feel like life goals that could be accomplished if I set my mind to it.

I can think of no better way to end this post than by exhibiting yet another thing full of flawedness.

It is very hard to look sexy when trying to take a picture of yourself this early in the morning:

Don't you hate it when life gets in the way of your knitting?

I have been feeling overwhelmed lately.

And whenever I need some soul saving I knit entrelac. (Pattern is Danica from www.knitty.com)

If I knew I could make a living out of it, I would quit everything in a flash and just knit.