A brilliant idea popped into my head yesterday. I was so excited about it, that as soon as I got home from the gym and had showered, I ran around my office grabbing every needle I owned and all the left-over odds and ends from all my Finished Objects. I piled this mess on the bed, then went downstairs to have dinner with Yannick and Kevin (remembering to get dressed first).

After supper practically kicked Yannick out of the house so I could go upstairs, get into bed, watch the rest of the American Idol finale, and knit my Big Great Idea. He left. I started. He came home a bit later to watch the Lost finale with me, and I proudly showed him what I’d completed of my Great Big Stoopid Idea.

Me: Look!
Him: That’s nice honey.
Me: You didn’t really look at it.
Him: (looks at it) What is it?
Note: the object I’m holding up is 2″ wide and sorta resembles a scarf…if every inch or two the scarf changed needle sizes, yarns, tensions and patterns.
Me: It’s a reminder scarf thingy.
Him: Huh?
Me: Isn’t it a great idea? As I complete each project I’ll add on a bit using the left over yarn and those needles and that pattern, that way I’ll have it as a reminder of each project.
Him: You could also just take pictures.
Me: (turning over the Stoooopid Scarf Thingy to show him the back where I’d attached little labels with the yarn info and pattern info) But…but…look. Isn’t it a good idea?
Him: (looking sadly at me) Do you want my honest opinion?
Me: (realizing that a long, skinny, 2″ wide hodge-podge of stuff with annoying tags hanging off the back just waiting to get tangled is not so much of a Big Great Idea as it is a Big Waste of Time.) No.

At this point I undid the Big Stoooopid Thing and came up with Great Idea the 2nd. A big ball of yarn. I liked the idea of having a little bit of yarn from all the projects put together somehow, and since I have no idea how, yet, I’m going to tie the ends together and wind up a ball of yarn. Maybe I’ll knit with it someday, or maybe it will become a Really Ugly Sculpture, who knows.

Tada! I think this little outfit is so cute! The sweater is from The Baby Knits Book by Debbie Bliss, and the booties from 50 Baby Booties to Knit by Zoe Mellor. The funny thing is that the sweater is called for children ages 3-6 months, yet the booties are listed as 6-9 months. I got gauge on both, so I’m going to have to assume the sweater is meant to be roomy. But what baby wardrobe is complete without at least one slouchy sweatshirt for those “fat” days? hehehe

I had to bring Jackie her contact lenses today after work, so I took a few extra minutes and went inside to see Bradley. What a cutie! And each time he’d grin you could just barely see his first 2 teeth…so precious. Can’t wait to have more babies to play with! (Robyn, I volunteer for baby-playing-with duty).

Then I stopped by my parents’ house before going home. My mom was super excited because our wedding invitations arrived today. I picked up a copy to bring home and show Yannick, but I don’t have his reaction yet because I haven’t shown him yet. We had a little tiff this morning and I don’t want to look at it with him while I’m still mad at him. 😉

Presenting the latest The Amazing Race team- The Kid & Me.

This is my partner, Crystal Palace’s Kid Merino, henceforth to be known as “The Kid”.

I think this little baby sweatshirt is so cute! I’m already picturing it with the sleeves a different color, like those long-sleeved tshirts that are popular.

I still need to weave in the ends, but I started this cutie Thursday morning before work, and by Friday night the seams were sewn. And I worked until 8pm on Thursday, and had a root canal Friday, so it wasn’t like I had 24 hours of straight knitting time. Of course, that ruler is included for scale, so I know it’s not surprising that a wee little sweater only took a short amount of time. I’m just really amused by this.

Yannick isn’t so sure if he likes it, because of the rolled edges I’m sure it doesn’t look “finished” to him. But I know how cute and comfy it will be on the baby. I’m just a bit surprised that the pattern lists this as 3-6 months, as, while small, it’s pretty big (for a baby). And I would have thought the body would be longer, or the sleeves shorter, but I guess infants aren’t known for their long torsos, most of which are taken up by diapers.

Want to know the best part? The whole sweater is one ball of Patons Decor. 1 BALL. I didn’t even come close to running out…there are still a few meters left. (Ok, had I made any of the sections longer I probably would have run out, but still…one ball!) I’m already thinking of all the odd balls of Decor I have lying around and coming up with some cute Fair Isled or striped versions.

I’m off to go swatch for the booties now, and at some point find the time to make a Skor Truffle dessert and Spaghetti Squash Mediterranian Salad, both for lunch tomorrow in the country.

I leave for my root canal in a few hours. I’m not sure if I will feel much like posting later, so I’m posting now and leaving you with a bright, sunny photo to counteract the gray, rainy day outside.*

This is the progress on the Sunrise Sock by the end of the Montreal Knitting Guild meeting. 104 rows of foot. I still don’t know what treatment I want for the cuff…I’d like to do something that has the same slant as the stripes, but I’m afraid if I try to do slanted ribbing I’ll just end up with a weird variation of moss stitch with no stretch to it. I’m going to go through my copy of Knitting on the Edge to see if anything strikes my fancy.

In the meantime I’m making excellent progress on the baby girl sweater. Last night I finished the back (which I started yesterday morning) and did the front to the armpit BOs. I plan to finish the front before I leave this morning, and do the sleeves this afternoon. My goal, if it should work out, is to have a completed baby sweater by bed time. I LOVE baby clothes!

*I say this for you sun-loving people. Me, I prefer a full-out rainy day everytime. If I wake up and sun is streaming in through the open window my first reaction is to squint and want to pull the blankets over my head. But if there’s gray light coming in, a cool mist in the air and the sound of rain hitting anything…THAT energizes me like no sun ever could.

I leave for my root canal in a few hours. I’m not sure if I will feel much like posting later, so I’m posting now and leaving you with a bright, sunny photo to counteract the gray, rainy day outside.*

This is the progress on the Sunrise Sock by the end of the Montreal Knitting Guild meeting. 104 rows of foot. I still don’t know what treatment I want for the cuff…I’d like to do something that has the same slant as the stripes, but I’m afraid if I try to do slanted ribbing I’ll just end up with a weird variation of moss stitch with no stretch to it. I’m going to go through my copy of Knitting on the Edge to see if anything strikes my fancy.

In the meantime I’m making excellent progress on the baby girl sweater. Last night I finished the back (which I started yesterday morning) and did the front to the armpit BOs. I plan to finish the front before I leave this morning, and do the sleeves this afternoon. My goal, if it should work out, is to have a completed baby sweater by bed time. I LOVE baby clothes!

*I say this for you sun-loving people. Me, I prefer a full-out rainy day everytime. If I wake up and sun is streaming in through the open window my first reaction is to squint and want to pull the blankets over my head. But if there’s gray light coming in, a cool mist in the air and the sound of rain hitting anything…THAT energizes me like no sun ever could.

I leave for my root canal in a few hours. I’m not sure if I will feel much like posting later, so I’m posting now and leaving you with a bright, sunny photo to counteract the gray, rainy day outside.*

This is the progress on the Sunrise Sock by the end of the Montreal Knitting Guild meeting. 104 rows of foot. I still don’t know what treatment I want for the cuff…I’d like to do something that has the same slant as the stripes, but I’m afraid if I try to do slanted ribbing I’ll just end up with a weird variation of moss stitch with no stretch to it. I’m going to go through my copy of Knitting on the Edge to see if anything strikes my fancy.

In the meantime I’m making excellent progress on the baby girl sweater. Last night I finished the back (which I started yesterday morning) and did the front to the armpit BOs. I plan to finish the front before I leave this morning, and do the sleeves this afternoon. My goal, if it should work out, is to have a completed baby sweater by bed time. I LOVE baby clothes!

*I say this for you sun-loving people. Me, I prefer a full-out rainy day everytime. If I wake up and sun is streaming in through the open window my first reaction is to squint and want to pull the blankets over my head. But if there’s gray light coming in, a cool mist in the air and the sound of rain hitting anything…THAT energizes me like no sun ever could.

Last night I went to the Montreal Knits meetup after work. We were a smaller group this time, and something with the weather and my headaches made me so out of it, that by 9pm I left to head home. I crawled into bed at 10 to watch the season finale of CSI:NY and brought with me my Denise set and the Patons Decor I wanted to use for Rene and Vivianne’s future daughter’s gift. This time I would be prepared…no more running out of bed every 30 minutes to find a new needle size and spending time finding which wip it was stashed in. Nope, I’d be ready. Like the Denise advertisement says: Relax, we’re all here. Being prepared worked- I hit the proper gauge with the size 10 US.

I cast on this morning and, due to the wonder that is baby clothing, am 3/4 of the way finished the back (or front, they’re the same). I love when a pattern says “knit until 4.75” and then you’re at the armpits. Talk about instant gratification!

I’m having some gauge issues that are thisclose to making me just want to knit shapeless scarves for a while.

Yesterday I brought my Sunrise Socks to the Montreal Knitting Guild May meeting. All went well until I was finished the foot and about to start the heel. My directions for the foot said to knit until 103 rows were done. The 1st heel direction said “k ndls 1&2 until all but 1 st rem= 108 rows”. Huh? Clearly I’ve made a wee error somewhere. I’m using the same directions that I used for the Fibonacci Sock (note to self: finish that pair of socks) and I think it was a bit long so I took out a few rows of the foot…and reminded myself of this by changing the row count…unfortunately that was my only note to myself so I don’t know if I really meant 103 or if I was writing fast on my Palm’s graffitti area and meant to write 7. I need to try on the Fibonacci Sock and see if it really fit well or not. Also, I don’t know how I want to close the sock top. I’m not sure if I want to just do 2×2 rib or something a little more fancy. I think I want to find something that follows the swirl of the colors around the foot.

I also found out last night that Yannick’s cousin and his wife are expecting a daughter. I knew they were expecting, but was holding off on the knitting until I knew the sex. So I broke out my Baby Knits book I borrowed from the library, and showed Yannick the pink yarn I currently had in my stash: 2 huge skeins, leftovers from the pink Comfort Clapotis, and 4 balls of dusty rose Patons Decor. We both prefer the Decor, so I started swatching. I got gauge for a pretty little dress, then realized I didn’t have enough yarn for it. I decided I’d swatch for a little sweater, and went to bed.

This morning I got out the needles for the sweater and started swatching. No good. Tried on another size needles. No go. After the third try I gave up, and decided to swatch for a teddy bear pattern I’ve had the yarn for in my stash for about 2 years. I got the row gauge, but the st gauge was 1″ longer than 4″. I tried again…and still got 5″. That’s when it hit me- after getting too much width I switched to a SMALLER needle to keep trying. DUH.

Now I need to reswatch everything with larger needles, because clearly morning knitting is not my thing.