Too Much Frolic-ing

Is there such a thing as too much of the Knitter's Frolic? If it's possible I think I did it. It's a good thing I didn't bring all my money with me or I probably would have been a lot worse than I was. There is still a stuffed alpaca that has my name on it from Green Acres Aplaca Farm but that will be another day.


I met Kimberly & Shannon at the JCCC. We started off at Dyed in the Wool Handmade. Maggie has the most amazing colour sense. I am in awe of what she does.

This is the yarn I bought from Maggie. The green is a bamboo/merino sock yarn and the other stuff is laceweight. I have some great beads I bought from Bead FX a few weeks ago and I think I am going to use the lace yarn to do the Moroccan Days / Arabian Nights stole.



Lettuce Knits had all Lexie Barns bags at 20% off. If I hadn't already bought 2 bags (see below) I might have gotten another Lady B bag. I already have it in Baja but I just love that bag. Instead I ended up bying a smaller bag that is perfect for holding spindles or projects.



Speaking of bags I had already bought, I have wanted this Jordana Paige bag for the longest time. I emailed the Needle Emporium but due to email difficulties Julie didn't receive any of my emails. I really wanted the bag in blue but they didn't have it in stock. The grape was my second choice. However, since my emails never got there they only brought one of the Knitter's Satchel bags to the show. I actually liked the deep red colour so I decided to go ahead and get it.



I also bought the Namaste Laguna bag in turquoise colour from Julie. Shannon is a bag-a-holic and she came to our snb with this baby in the green colour a few months ago. I knew this was in my future and today was the day.



I plead insanity when it comes to the spindle. I went to Gemini Fibres booth just to look for the May/June 2008 Piecework magazine. It has "Create Extraordinary Lace" on the cover and I caught a glimpse of it while I was eating lunch. I had to go back and look for it. I mean really. It's lace and anyone who reads my blog knows how crazy I am about lace. I almost got away, really I did. I had the magazine in my hand and was ready to go and pay when one of the women that was there last year brought down this basket full of gorgeous spindles. I had glanced at some of them around the magazine rack but I was able to resist. When I saw this one I had to give it a try. I just couldn't resist. Give it a try I did and it spun so well I couldn't leave it behind. In my defense, I haven't bought a single spindle for about 6 months. That's a record for me. Now I have to stay away from Gemini.



The Purple Purl had a sale on Malagrigo. I love their lace weight so I picked up the lovely yellow lace yarn. The Indigo Moon is sock yarn. My two downfalls, socks and lace.



This is more lace. What a big surprise. How can you go wrong when you get yummy merino and it's close to 1,000 yards for only $24? You just can't pass that up. I tried. I resisted and resisted and then I just had to go back for it. The company is Oceanwind Knits. I know exactly what I am going to knit with it too. I just don't have the pattern yet. I'll let you all know when I get it. I can't remember the name.



Penny my SP11 spoiler, gave me a gift certificate from Redbird Knits. I didn't want to use it before because I didn't want to use part of it for shipping. So I saved it for the Frolic. The Cosmic Dawn Fleece Artist was the last they had of it. I love the colourway. The Lang was on clearance for $8.00. I mean really!!! How can you pass up 150 grams of sock yarn for $8.00??? The yarn is supposed to be sport but it doesn't really look like it to me. The yarn also has the matching reinforcing thread inside the ball. Thank you Penny! I put the gift certificate to very good use.


Last but not least, I bought this blue fibre from The Black Lamb. That's another thing I resisted. I left the booth a few times without buying it but the colour kept calling to me so I finally just caved. The picture doesn't do it justice. It really is much more blue than it looks here.

Monkeys

Not much knitting has been going on here over the past week. As a matter of fact, not much knitting has gone on since our last Snb almost 2 weeks ago. I did, however, manage to finish the Monkey socks. Even with the design upside down I like it. I like these better than the Los Monos Locos because, IMHO, with the purl sts it makes the stitch design pop more.

Now to get back to work on the baby blanket. Tomorrow is the Knitter's Frolic and I have been waiting for this since the last one ended. It is going to be an exhausting day and I can't wait!

What Is Wrong!!!

Sorry, rant mode is on and no knitting content. I seriously feel the need to get this off my chest. There was a case here a few years ago where a woman was walking on the sidewalk with her child. She was mowed down by some drunk driver. She was killed and her son was seriously injured. The guy who did this was sentenced yesterday. He got 2 for 1 credit for time already served and will be out of jail in 3 years!!!!! People get more than that for crap! I just don't understand it. What kind of a deterent is that?????? I think the justice system needs some serious overhalling and some of these judges need to get booted out on their ass.

Wee Tiny Sock Is Here!

Yesterday I received my Wee Tiny Sock from Peggy. How cute is this sock? I just love the colours and I can't even express how much I love the card that came with it. Thank you Peggy!!!

A Purl Of A Day

Life has been very busy lately and blogging has taken a back seat. With Joseph's confirmation over and done with I finally managed to get to The Purple Purl on Saturday. The weather was very rainy. Is there a better way to spend a rainy day than knitting with friends? I think not

While I was at The Purl two lovely women, both named Barbara from Pittsburgh, happened into the store. They were in town for the weekend (headed home today I believe). Somehow we got to talking politics. They are Clinton fans and so am I and so is my son. Don't say anything against Hillary in his presence. He'll blast you and give you pretty good reasons for it as well. I am American born and Joseph's birth has been recorded so he is a dual citizen. Alas he is still too young to vote. I was given a Hillary 08 button for Joseph and he was thrilled to receive it. I can't thank them enough. Now if only I could figure out a way to keep in touch. I didn't get any email addresses. I'm hoping at least one of them email either Miko or Jennifer so I can keep in touch..

As always I didn't come home empty handed. I finally bought the Alpaca With A Twist fibre and I can't wait to get going to try and spin some. I also got a Go Knit bag in two sizes. The medium size holds the Alpahbet blanket perfectly and I have socks in the small one. I still say, just like yarn, one can never have too many bags. I see a few more in my future by the end of the Knitter's Frolic.

I managed to accomplish a lot of knitting on the blanket. I'm more than halfway there. I'm working D, E, F, G, & H right now and past the halfway point for this block of letters. I can't believe I was actually able to work on it at The Purl. When I figured it was time to stop I picked up the Monkey socks and finished the first one and cast on the second. Low and behond, this easy pattern I managed to screw up. I was used to the Los Monos Locos and forgot to add the two plain knit rounds at the end of the pattern repeat. I didn't figure this out until the first sock was finished and I was starting the pattern on the second sock. I ended up ripping back the second sock to the proper place and then put it aside when I got home and undid the first sock to the point where I made the mistake. I'm on the twisted ribbing now for the first sock and will get that one done tonight. I'm not sure what these socks should be called. They are monkey socks because they have the purl sts but they are toe up so the pattern is almost the same as Los Monos Locos - just with purl sts.

UPDATE NOTE: I've had this post waiting for pictures before I posted and that just hasn't happened yet so I've decided to post it and I'll put pictures in a different post. I've since completed the first Monkey sock and am now working on the A-B-C charts for the blanket. I'm not sure how much I am looking forward to the edging. I have to read the pattern and figure out exactly how it is constructe

Here, FINALLY, are the pictures.

X Y Z

This is the progress so far on the Alphabet Blanket. I started this on Friday and so far so good. I had some challenges with the "Z" and "U" but I'm well past that now. The Z was in the erratta but I figured it out without that and the U I think I was getting tired so I messed up. I'm using the Sock It To Me that I bought from Elann.com and 3mm needles. The pattern calls for 3.25mm but I couldn't find any when I was ready to cast on so I used the 3mm.

Pride & Joy

After months of hard work, yesterday was Joseph's confirmation. Since pictures are not allowed during Mass we were allowed one picture only with the Bishop after the Mass was over. With time limited this was the best I could do. It's a little grainy but Joseph looks great.

This is Joseph with his godmother. He asked her to be his sponsor as well. Valerie is such a special lady. She is going through some difficult times and when Joseph asked if she would be his sponsor all she said was "I would be honoured."


On the knitting front, I've put the monkey sock aside for the moment. It is going to be my "on the go" project, for now. I've started the alphabet blanket from Debbie Bliss's Baby Knits book. I couldn't think of a more appropriate gift for a teacher that's expecting her first baby. I'm using the Elann.com Sock It To Me yarn in cream. I would like to dye it when the blanket is done. No pictures yet but I've started N, O, P, Q, R and finished S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. Not bad for a weekend of knitting that included a confirmation. I'll try and get some pictures taken tomorrow.

Better Late ....

I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to post. Tuesday was the book launch for The Yarn Harlot's new book. I am not very familiar with downtown Toronto. Living in Scarborough, I don't get downtown very often and I am not very TTC savvy. Therefore, I decided to join the gals at The Purple Purl and head to the Isabel Bader Theatre from there. It was great to see everyone. I haven't been there in well over a month and I just love that place. I'm still not sure if it is a good or bad thing that I don't live closer.

This is the gang before we headed onto the street car. Look at Michelle's sweater. Isn't it great? I am in awe. I don't think I could ever knit anything like that. Colour knitting just isn't my thing.

Of course, you do realize, it is impossible for me to go to The Purple Purl and leave empty handed. Aside from these great purple purl necklaces that Miko and Jennifer gave to everyone, I also bought my first skein of Noro sock yarn. I can pretty well guarantee this won't be my last skein. The skein wouldn't photograph very well so this is the best I could get.

The Skydiggers were the opening act. They are really good. This is the first time I heard them and I have to look into getting a CD.

Rachel H. gave out the prizes for the scavenger hunt. If I didn't have to work that day I would have tried to participate but I don't have the kind of job where I can just take time off whenever I feel like it.

As everyone hummed while the Skydiggers did their exit, Stephanie came out to cheers. Stephanie was hilarious, as she always is. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the pub afterwards because as I said I live in the east end and travel home is an hour and I was exhausted so I opted to go home. One of these days I am going to go to a signing or launch and actually get to the after party. This is the second time I missed it.

Of course you can't go to a Yarn Harlot book launch without any knitting. This is what I have on the needles at the moment. It's the Monkey socks done toe up. They could be Los Monos Locos but it has the purl stitches in there and the Los Monos Locos do not. So I am just going to say they are upside down Monkey socks. The yarn is Jawoll Cotton. I am using 2.25mm needles because the Los Monos Locos I did with 2mm needles seemed to be a bit snug around the ankle. I am almost to the cuff. The yardage on this yarn is a little less than I am used to. It is going to be interesting to see how high I can go for the leg before I start knitting the ribbing. This sock should be done by tomorrow.