Swatching, Swatching...

The Cherie is blocked, sewn (and altered) and it now looks wonderful.

See:

I had to sew the neckline closed about 3" because it was so deep that I kept having to adjust it. Now it is perfect and I love the feel of the Manos. The pattern is perfect for this yarn because it is warm without being too hot to wear indoors.

I am still working on my current WIPs including the sweater for my boyfriend, but there has been some major stash enhancement and today I will begin swatching for two new projects.

The first is the Soap Bubble Wrap available free if you sign up for Knitting Daily emails from Interweave Knits. The yarn I chose for this project is Silk Bamboo from Patons in the Sapphire colourway:

I bought it from Yarn Forward and Sew On on Bank S. This yarn is sooo soft, but it has the reputation of being very slippery so we will see how it goes.

The next yarn is Sublime Kid Mohair in the Fancy colourway:

Purchased at Wool-Tyme on Colonnade. This yarn is also extremeally soft, which is a good thing since it is destined to become the Grecian Plait, a sweater designed to be worn next to the skin (with perhaps a cami underneath since it seems to be see through).

So I will be swatching for both of those today.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

Wow!...where did the time go?...

Okay...It's been way too long since I last posted to this blog...Hang on, Postman's here!

Yea! It's my order from The Loopy Ewe. Give me a sec and I'll take some pics!(I achieved Groupie status, and I want to see what my goodies are!)

WOW! My order consisted of 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock DK in the Fall Foliage colourway. I received all this:

If you want to know the details, you're just going to have to become a Loopy Groupie!

My boyfriend and I went shopping on Friday and we hit up Mrs. Tiggy Winkles to buy some Tinker Toys to make me this:

A homemade swift! I got the idea from Crafting Jen and it works pretty well. Plus its a lot less expensive than a real swift!

The yarn being displayed on my "swift" is this:

Miski by Mirasol. It's 100% baby llama and it is SOOOOOOO soft. The colourway is 101, and although it looks really grey in the pic, it's more blue in reality. I bought it at KnitKnackers.

I am attempting to get my knitting patterns in some semblance of order so I bought this at HomeSense:

I'm afraid I might run out of space soon though, the way I hoard patterns.

Speaking of patterns, I finished the Campanulas:

and I received my prize that I won in the 1st Campanula KAL contest:

A skein of merino from Dyed in the Wool (the colourway is Singed Tomato) and a cool stitch marker:

I'm doing the Stitch Marker Exchange again, and I received my first stitch markers from Yosemite Knitting Addiction:

They have cool little flowers on them!

I also joined the September Sock Club at Robyn's Nest, and received my package:

A skein of Superwash Merino from Lotus Yarns in the exclusive colourway "Time to Go!", along with matching stitch markers and a cool sock pattern.

Alas, on the subject of socks...The Summer of Socks has ended. I managed to finish just 4 pairs in the allotted time. However, the SOS wasn't just to get pairs of socks, it was to minimize my sock yarn stash...

The stash before:

The stash after:



Hmmm...maybe it's a good thing I joined Sockknitter's Anonymous on Ravelry!

...And finally I have a little screen-mate. I've named him Socks.

Here he is checking out all the socks Wendy managed to finish during the SOS (all 19 pairs!):



He's an esheep! Isn't he cute? He keeps me company while I'm on the computer.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!

WARNING!!! Yarn Pr0N...

The Socks are finished!:

And there was much rejoicing...

Here is what prompted me to join the Summer of Socks: My sock yarn stash....

I know it's not that enormous...but here's my guilty little secret...I buy sock yarn like Oprah buys shoes. I can't resist it. However, I live with a non-knitter boyfriend who, although he is wonderful and supportive, cannot comprehend my need to collect sock yarn. So I figure if I knit some of the balls into socks (for him as well...he never complains about the socks he receives from the stash)...maybe he wont notice that the stash never seems to diminish. At least that's the plan: Distract him with socks.

On a completely unrelated subject (yeah right) here's my order from the Loopy Ewe:

Oh look! Sock yarn! I can't help it... I'm a sock yarn junkie and proud of it! By the way, it's Interlacements Tiny Toes in the Bachelor Buttons colourway. I can't wait to see what they become.

I'm now impatiently waiting for my catalogue and yarn samples from Lana Knits. I want to knit this sweater for my boyfriend:

It's from the book No Sheep For You by Amy R. Singer, and is made from AllHemp6 which is from Lana Knits. I want to make the sweater in a dark colour with an orange pattern and I can't decide between Licorice and Chocolate...(I know...It wouldn't be a tough decision if this was candy, I hate licorice). I've seen several pictures on the Internet but the colours are never the same, hence the samples.

I also joined the National Capital Knitters web ring. Who knew there were so many knitting bloggers in Ottawa? Or knitters for that matter? See... I know people who knit and live in Ottawa (just check out the turn out when the Yarn Harlot comes to town), but I never really see anyone KIP. I knit on the bus, but I never see anyone else doing it. Where are all you knitters that KIP?

Oh well...I'm off to work on the shawl and figure out which socks to do next.

TTFN and KEEP KNITTING!