I'd Rather be...

Well...back in Tofino actually. It was sunny and quite warm for two of the days we were there.

The weather here at home is pissy. No...worse than pissy. It is windy and pouring rain. It has been windy and pouring rain for five days now. Parts of the city are flooding. It feels like one of the plagues of Egypt. And while I'm complaining, I'll add that very little knitting has been done around here the last few days on account of my shoulder and neck. It's an old pain in the...(well you get the idea) for which I see a chiro and a massage therapist nearly weekly. Some weeks I can ignore it and some weeks I can't. Today is so bad that it is throbbing right up into my jaw. Between that and the rain, I'm not a very happy camper.

I'd rather think about happier days last week. Was it only a week ago?? This is the house where we stayed. If you squint a bit, you can see it hiding behind those trees. We had the entire lower floor. In the first picture, I'm relaxing out front on the wooden deck.



Doug chose to relax in the sun room extension of our suite. Can you see the title of the book he's reading? I thought this was an odd way to relax and mentioned that to him. I might have been laughing (at him) when I did so.





We didn't even need jackets on the third day.



The third day was very very calm compared to the stormy first day. On the middle day, we climbed up the rocks on that far end of the beach and watched the waves. They were still pretty whipped up from the storm the day before.




Yesterday, I got my first white box from Elann in over a month! Aren't I good? I have to say that I was very excited to receive it. Doug went out to get the mail, and came back into the house shouting: "White Box!!" Music to my ears...



Nobody packs a box like the folks at Elann. That green stuff is the Cedar Baby Cashmere for R's prayer shawl. I didn't post a better picture of it this time because it looked blueish in the pix. It is a true green (not blue), but likes to fake out the camera.



It's a ball...
It's a skein...
It's Super Tweed!

Elann's Super Tweed is super springy...super cushy...super pretty!



I just got the two balls each of my four favorite colours and still can't decide which colour I want a sweater in. Doug's getting a ribbed toque in the brown mix.



Well, maybe I'll pretend that I'm not aching and knit a few more rows on Doug's toque.

Little Miss Frugal Strikes Again

How to put leather soles on your felted slippers for super cheap.

Step 1: Go to thrift store and buy suede leather jacket(s) in colour of choice for as cheap as you can find. My favorite thrift store had a half price sale on today. So I paid 3.50 for the jacket. I think I can get at least six sets of soles out of it.



Step 2: Buy rotating leather punch tool (thanks T, great idea!!). This is a Tandy Leather punch I bought at Wal-Mart for 10 bucks.

Step 3: Make bottom of slipper pattern, trace and cut out. Punch!



Step 4: Sew sole on bottom of slipper and feel extremely proud of self.



Step 5: Repeat for other slipper. Dance around in slippers. Maybe drink some champagne. You can afford it!

The Court Jesters of Hats

H took over the hat from yesterday. Claimed it as her own this morning by putting it on her head and refusing to take it off. She's been wearing it all day. C wanted one in "manly" colours. So...the three of us came up with this colour sequence. Now C has a hat on his head that he refuses to take off.

I made C's using the pattern I posted yesterday. I knit the main hat for 6" before shaping the crown.

I'm The Queen of Hats!

Who knew?



Okay, maybe I'm not the Queen of Hats, but if you play along, you can have a free hat pattern. Some Elannites have been asking about hats, so here are my humble offerings.

Not that I've actually made all that many hats...but I do have a few favorite patterns. Doug's hat is a simple ribbed hat knit flat on 5mm needles with Bernat Denim Style yarn. The hat pattern was free on the ball band of the yarn. He loves this hat and wears it all the time. I'm going to make him a new one exactly the same with Elann's new Super Tweed. I'm expecting my box on Tuesday.

My hat in the above photo is one that I cobbled together on my own. I wear it all the time. Here are various incarnations of it.

This is the hat I'm wearing in the photo. It was knit in the round and has a garter stitched band and stripes with some garter stitch bits thrown in from time to time.



This is the exact same pattern for a hat knit in the round, done with the garter stitch band, but no garter stitched details in the stripes.



This is the hat with ear-flaps. Well...one ear flap because I wanted to be able to show the plain side too. I'll add the other flap...later.



If you're an observant knitter, you'll notice that the ear-flap side is the "bad side" because that's where the round joins and the stripes go a bit wonky. I do my best when weaving in tails to even things up, but there's always a bit of flotz. No problem if you don't stripe. You can always put the wonk at the back, but I like to center an ear-flap over that part. Tends to distract the eye away from it IMO. Or you can be super anal and figure out a way to keep the overlapped bits from showing.

When I knit the hat without flaps, I wear the seam at the back.

This is Doug in the hat to show you that on his fat-head (I have permission to say this), it is kind of a beanie. My kids and I have the same size head. Doug has a super-sized head. You'll want to consider these things if you make this hat using my pattern.



Same hat having a shot by itself. I like bright colourful striped hats. Especially on kids. But the hat can be made plain or with different stripes or whatever turns your crank. I was thinking of making the iCord on the other side blue or charcoal.



If you want to make this hat in any of its incarnations...here is a FREE recipe, courtesy of me. I'm such a nice person!

*Take note: I am telling you how I made MY hat. You will have to decide how wide and deep and all that you want your hat to be.

Matt's Hat (I call it this because I made an ear-flaps version for my 13-yr-old nephew Matt last Christmas, and apparently he did not take it off all winter). I made Matt's hat about 6" long before shaping the crown and it came down right to his eyes. Teenagers sometimes like that kind of thing.

I used: Red Heart Cozy Wool in a bunch of great colours. 16" circular needle (6mm/US 10); set of 4 6mm DPN's
Gauge: 14 st = 4" on 6mm needles in SS

Cast on 64 stitches on the 16" circular, PM, join in round and knit a garter stitch band (beginning by purling the first row). Do I need to mention that you get garter stitch in the round by alternating knit/purl rows?? I begin with purl and knit 1 1/2 - 2" of garter (5 ridges on my hat), ending after a knit row.

Then I knit another 3 3/4 of main body of hat (total of 5 1/2" from the beginning, or longer if you want) before shaping the crown.

I shape the crown by placing markers every 8 stitches (total of 8 sections) and knitting 2 together (the last 2 stitches before the marker) every other row (plain knitting between) until I have 8 stitches left. I cut the yarn, thread on a needle and pick up the remaining 8 loops purl-wise off the DPN's, pull snug and fasten on the inside of the hat. You can use the yarn tail to fasten on a pom-pom, if you MUST have one.

The stripe pattern on my hat is:
White for the band / earflaps
2 rows charcoal
3 rows sage
1 row white
2 rows sage
1 row white
5 rows red
1 row white
1 row red
1 row white
3 rows blue (I began decreases on the second blue row)
1 row white
2 rows blue
1 row white
remainder: orange

Earflaps: hold hat with brim up and crown down, with RS facing you. Count 8 stitches from the center seam to the right. P/U and knit 15 st. from that point. Knit three rows in garter.

On 4th row (RS) K1, ssk, knit to last three st. K2tog, K1
Next row: knit

Repeat two rows until 3 st. remain. Use the 3 st to carry on in iCord for 12-14" or whatever length you like. I sometimes change colour for the iCord, as I did in red here. When the iCord is long enough, I draw the the yarn through the 3 live stitches on the end and draw it up through the cord to hide it. Then I tie a knot with the bottom inch of two of the iCord. Some people make pom-poms for the ends, or a fringe, or whatever. Some people eat cars.

You repeat the flap on the other side by folding the hat neatly in half and line up the other flap to match. Very scientific. Some people count to make it perfect.

Have fun!!

One more hat 'cuz blogless-B specifically asked for it.

This is a hat I made with Bernat Camoflage yarn (I like camo enough to make it with acrylic if that's all that's availabe). I made it using the exact same method from this free elann.com pattern:

http://elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=6024



As you can see, the hat is made by knitting two hats together and then punching one into the other. It is completely reversible. I never wear that noisy half showing. I don't like it. But I do like the more camo type camo.

Elann's free pattern for "Harlequin Hat" tells you how to do the provisional cast on so that you can knit one hat going one way, and then pick up the bottom stitches and knit the other hat going the other way. Cool eh? Makes for a nice warm hat. Elann's pattern is knit in sock yarn. I made mine with worsted/aran weight on 5mm needles.

I cast on 84 stitches, worked for 6 inches before shaping the brim, and then decreased for the brim over 7 sets of 12 stitches.

Storm Watching

This is the best reason to go to Tofino in the late fall or winter. Storm Watching!

Tofino is a little town on the extreme west coast of Vancouver Island. It is about as far west as you can go and still be in Canada. Vancouver Island protects the mainland from the impact of the open Pacific Ocean, but Tofino has no such protection. Tofino, affectionately known as "Tough City," braves the wild temper of the Pacific on its own terms. Doug and I arrived Monday evening after six hours of travel. You take a two-hour ferry to Nanaimo and then drive four nearly four hours across a winding island highway. A huge storm was brewing as we arrived, and the next day we got to watch.

If you want to learn about Tofino or check out vacation possibilities, this is a good site. Be sure to click on the links for awesome photos.

http://www.vancouverisland.com/regions/towns/?townID=28





We stayed on Chesterman Beach at a lovely bed and breakfast house. We had a large, totally contained suite all to ourselves. It's like having half a house to live in.

I've been to Tofino several times in the last four years -- twice with Doug and some friends of ours, once on my own for a week, once with a friend, and this time just with Doug. We plan to take the kids in January. This time around, we hatched dreams to live there one day.

Check out Todd and Lynda's place at Chesterman Beach. That's where I always stay. Beautiful house, wonderful hosts, amazing beach.

http://www.chestermanbeach.net/



This is Chesterman in a calmer mood. Later that day, the tide went out, and the waves settled down a bit. Chesterman is a massive beach. That's Frank Island framing up the sunset. I mentioned yesterday that you can walk out there when the tide is out. There are houses built on that tiny island. Imagine watching the storms from there!



Yes...I did some knitting. I knit on the ferry and on the long drive. In Tofino, we don't have a TV, and we listen to the roar of the ocean for our music. I knit in the mornings and in the evenings. On the first evening and morning I made the mate for my fingerless glove of a few weeks ago. Turned out I needed those gloves all trip, so I'm glad I did that early.



Then the gloves and I did a little photo shoot, cuz why waste such gorgeous scenery??



I also worked on a second bag using my contest pattern, but of course I'm not showing that here. I mostly worked on this very long sock. I'm calling it a "Wellington Sock." I want long socks that I can wear in my Wellingtons (rubber gum boots), so that the lip of the boot does not rub on my leg. This one is made with some Lion Brand Magic Stripes yarn I bought sometime last year. It's a bit blotchy quality wise, but the colour changes were a lot of fun, and I'm mostly a beginner sock knitter, so not a bad practice yarn. It's a nice wooly blend, just not up there with some of my stashed sock yarns.



Still getting questions on my SWS slippers. This one's for you SK: I used 8mm (US 11) DPN's, and cast on 36 st. for the smaller pair and 42 st. for the larger pair. My feet are size 8 (9 1/2" long). If your feet are longer, you'll want to work a few more rows in the foot length. And don't fall asleep while felting! :)

Goodbye Tofino

Just one pic to whet your appetite...



Sunset over Frank Island viewed from Chesterman Beach. You can actually walk out to Frank Island when the tide is all the way out. A great place to watch the wild Pacific crash onto the rocks. I'll be posting lots of Tofino pix over the next few days.

Off to Tofino!

Doug and I are off for four days in Tofino (my mostest favoritest spot on earth). Will be back to knit and blog and blather on...later!

TTFN!

Slipper Madness Part Deux

Thanks for all the encouraging comments about my wee slippers. Yes, I am sure they will find a good home on somebody's feet. I'm going to send them to the Sheltering Stitch project, along with some other items.

I hear several of you asking for specific details, so here goes. I used a pattern called "Striped Slipper Socks" from this book. It's an easy pattern that knits up quickly. It took me two to three hours to knit one slipper in the regular size and three to four to knit the super-size. You knit them just like socks, casting on and working a few rows of cuff, working a heel flap, turning the heel, picking up the instep and wandering on down the foot. You know the drill.

I knitted on jumbo 8mm DPN's.



The pattern gives directions for a medium sized woman's foot and a large. I worked the medium size in the Charisma. I made the foot 9" from the back of the heel before shaping the toes, and then ran it through my washing machine for one full agitation cycle.

My felting technique: I have an older (15years) top loading washer. I set it up for smallest load with two or three pairs of jeans and some Cheer detergent, throw in the slippers and run it on HOT. For the Charisma slippers, it ran until the first spin cycle (15-20 min). I had forgotten about it until I heard the machine spinning and thought, Uh-Oh...But the slipper came out the perfect size. Naturally, I did the exact same thing with my other three slippers, and the Charisma one behaved nicely, but the Patons SWS slippers had other ideas. I tried not to take it personally. On the other hand, the SWS felts up so thick and strong, it is like felting with two or even three strands held together. Hmmm...

Back to round two of SWS slippers for selfish old ME. I made them huge!! This time I followed the instructions for the larger size in the book, knitted an extra three rows of cuff, and knitted the foot from the back of the heel 12" long before shaping the toe.



Just so you know how mammoth these were...



Ok...I felted them exactly the same way as before, only this time I checked on them every three minutes. After twelve minutes I took them out and rinsed them in cold water and then threw them back in for two more minutes. Rinsed in cold water again, and they were perfect!



All is well with the world once again.



These are the leftovers. I used two balls of Patons SWS for each pair. The smaller pair (leftovers on the right) probably took slightly less than a ball and a half. The larger pair took nearly two balls, but still a bit of leftovers. I matched the stripes by matching the balls and starting each slipper at the same point in the yarn pattern. It's very easy to spit-splice this yarn if you have to fudge it in a few places.

Slipper Madness

It started with Slippers-That Suck (see last post)

Then I made a pair of these from Knit One Felt Too. I made a test slipper and it turned out great, so I made a second one to finish the pair. Yes, they're the same size. The camera has an attitude.



Then I made a second identical pair with Patons SWS. And they turned out super cute and cozy. SWS felts up thick and dense.



Both pairs were supposed to be for me...see any problem with that??



The little ones are too small even for Hayley (major pout). Know anyone with 6" feet who needs a cozy pair of slippers??

I've already cast on a second pair of SWS slippers for me. This time, I'm making a larger size and will pay better attention during the washing machine stage.

This is a swatch of elann.com's new Super Tweed yarn coming out on Tuesday Nov. 7. It's a cottton, wool, acrylic blend that is soft and springy. Feels soft like a rag wool, but the touch of elastic will help it hold its shape better than most rag wools. Very nice to knit. I got guage with my sample (16 st = 4" on 5 1/2mm needles). The colour is Dappled Sand.

Button Button

As in...Cute as a...



How cute are those? I found them at Michaels yesterday. Big beautiful buttons. I put a quarter there to give a sense of scale. Darling daughter has already earmarked her favorites for future projects I am to knit for her. (This one here, would be perfect for a pink shrug, mom).

If that isn't enough cute for you, how about my tiny toolbox? It's a Player's Light cigarette tin (oh scandalous!) I found at the thrift shop. Just the right size for the essentials (I am a minimalist) with room for a few more.



What I wish the weather was like today...



It's not. We are in full November monsoon today. It's cold and windy, and rain pours off the gutters as though a hose was left on. When I look out the window from my desk (mmmm), I can see a river of rain running down the street. I can also see the mailbox. Handy. But no yarn today. No yarn for the last two weeks. No yarn until I've worked my way through some of the wonderful yarns I already have here, begging for attention.

Well...maybe just a little yarn.

Take Your Kid to Work Day

Yesterday was Take-Your-Kid-to-Work-Day at Colin's high school. Colin was happy because both of his parents work from home! He spent the morning with me and the afternoon with Doug. Colin interviewed me, and I gave out my work title as homemaker and freelance writer. He helped me clean up the upstairs of the house so that my working area was tidy and comfortable for me.

We had a long conversation about the activities that fill out my mornings of working as a writer. When I said that writing my blog was sometimes part of my work, he retorted that blogging is not writing. By reply, I read him an excellent article on Witch Hazel in Trish's "My Merino Mantra" blog. He agreed that it certainly was writing and that he would expect to read that article in a gardening magazine (or one on herbal remedies). We did a free-writing exercise together and shared what we had written. He had many questions about how I get articles ready for contests or to send to publishers. He asked me to read him the article I am working at selling now that the contest work is done. He responded emotionally to the article and we talked about that. I showed him the website of a magazine that I think will be a good market. We found the submission guidelines, etc. He was so engaged that he got excited when he discovered that this magazine is a perfect market for my piece.

"You're going to send it there, aren't you mom?!" He urged.

It was a fun morning for both of us.

Colin spent the afternoon with Doug, and they looked pretty busy. Colin interviewed Doug and helped him get his home office set up. They were switching furniture around a lot. At one point, Colin was busy dismantling my desk. Later, I walked by Doug's office and overheard him explaining principles of basic programming to Colin.

The guys moved my desk upstairs. Now that Doug has claimed the downstairs for his office, we're going to turn our hardly used living room into a library of sorts. My desk gets to sit in the middle of our front window where I can look out and see the changing leaves.



On another subject:Slippers That Suck

Remember these? I liked them a lot, but that teal colour never felted properly, and now look what's happened after only a month of wear!!



All the other colours felted well. I'm ticked at that teal. My last pair of these slippers lasted for nearly a year. I'm trying a new pattern from that Knit 1 Felt 2 book. These ones are knit on big needles with worsted weight yarn. Perfect for that huge hank of Charisma from Webs. I liked knitting with the Charisma, it's such a sturdy wooly wool, and this colourway is packed with rich dark wintery colours.



The slipper is knitted like a short sock on large needles and then felted. The first one turned out great, so I'll go ahead and make a second one, and probably a second pair in Patons SWS. I like that striped pattern and might try it with my Highland Wool sometime.