Let's Not Talk About It...

So its time for a Hexi check in, but I sadly have zero puffs to show this week. I found out last Monday that I would be teaching a new class starting Wednesday nights so I have been completely swamped with trying to get caught up with that. In fact this blog post is a brief break from writing a lecture about gerontological theories. Woot!

What did arrive in the mail today was this...

12 mini skeins of yummy sock yarns that I bought on etsy from LadyDanio for puffs. Hopefully this will inspire me to double my efforts to have lots of puffs for next week.

msi.

It's Time to Meet the Hexipuffs!

Today is the first day I was really cold coming to work. It was -18 degrees Celsius and somewhere in the -20's with the windchill. Brrr. I compensated by wearing lots of hand knits: legwarmers, hat, cowl, mittens. They helped but I still have a major chill on. Now I am cuddled up with a blanket and my knitting. This is making me feel much better about the cold world outside my window. 

Tuesday will now be hexipuff day on the blog. I know what you are thinking, what the heck is a hexipuff? In short, a hexipuff is a small knitted hexagon that is stuffed with batting. Eventually these will all be tied together to make the Beekeeper's Quilt. This pattern from Tiny Owl Knits has become extremely popular and has over 2,500 projects on Ravelry. People are doing themed quilts, making pictures from the hexies, and all sorts of neat things. I personally love the random, eclectic nature of the original and I am aspiring mine to have the same quality.

I will be using up scraps of sock yarn to make the blanket. This quilt will be an ongoing project for the year. I am hoping that if I manage to knit at least one hexi a day, by the end of the year I should have enough to make a small quilt. A wonderful thing about the hexipuffs is that they are a small, portable project that takes very little yarn (and time) per puff. The pattern was easy to memorize so I have made myself a small "hexipuff kit" with all the tools I need and can take this anywhere for fast on-the-spot knitting. In the Danger Crafts Holiday Swap I got this great handmade zippered pouch from my swap partner which I am now putting to good use as my hexi kit.

I started knitting these over the holidays and so far I have managed to make 11 of them. I'll update you weekly on my progress.

Yarns Used This Week:
Manos del Uraguay Serena
Knit Picks Chroma
Vanna’s Glamor
Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra Standard Handpaints
Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label
Koigu KPPPM
Frogtree Pediboo

Hexipuffing to stay warm, 
msi.

Good Karma in Maine

Yesterday marked the first official day of our Maine vacation. The guy and I flew in late Monday night and met with my Dad and step-mom at the airport. We awoke yesterday to a beautiful, crisp Maine morning. I have been wanting to visit Good Karma Farms for about a year now, since I first felt their fiber at a Knitty Yarn Tasting at the Purple Purl in Toronto. When I read the label and found out they were located in Belfast, Maine, about two hours away from my Dad's, I knew I needed to go. 

And go we did. The small family owned farm was in full operation, and Josh and owner Jim were more than happy to give us a tour and lesson in how their yarn goes from fluff to fantastic fibre. After seeing the machines in action, Jim took us out to the fields to meet the animals: chickens, alpacas, 2 llamas and a one-eyed cat. It was freezing cold, but the time flew by as Jim answered all of our questions and the alpacas put on a show for us. Below are some of my photos, be warned there are a gratuitous number of alpaca photos. They are so cute, I couldn't help myself! After the tour I bought a bunch of their awesome hand dyed and spun yarns and a needle felting kit to take home. It was truly an experience I won't soon forget!

Loved the vintage look of the signs out front. Taken with Vintage Cam.

First stop on the tour was seeing the raw fibre. After it is washed it is put through a machine that removes all of the burrs and other vegetation. Then it goes through the drum carder which removes the shorter fibres and aligns the fibres nicely. 

After running through the drum carder, the result is undyed roving. 

Good Karma Farms does and additional step and runs their roving through this machine which further removes short fibres so it will be less likely to pill and felt.

Yarn is then spun by this machine. We saw it in action making yarn for a blanket company.

This little guy was very curious about what we were up to. 

Out in the alpaca fields with the female alpacas and the babies. This sweetie was Phillipe, born in May this year. He was no so interested in a kiss from this other alpaca because he was very curious about the lady approaching him with the camera. 

Phillipe is unsure about me. 

But he warmed up eventually. 

The girls were aloof at first but as I got closer they were more curious about my presence. 

This is Dolly, one of the two llamas. She galloped over to say hello. 

After visiting the girls we went to the next field to visit the boys. They were much more curious, friendly and boisterous.

These two brothers put on quite the show, jumping and wrestling in the late afternoon light. 

Being stared at by alpacas.

I love their fuzzy, sweet faces. 

I may have bought some yarn. So gorgeous!

msi. 

The Shiny Green Monster, or The Sweater Project

Earlier this year I began feeling confident enough in my knitting skills that I wanted to make my first sweater. I decided that this sweater would be a mother's day gift for my Mom. This was my first mistake. Many knitters have written about how your first sweater should be a project for you; for one you will be more motivated to work through it so you have a finished garment, and two you will be able to live with its imperfections as a testament to your "learning curve". I ignored good knitterly advice. Something one will always regret later.

For my mom I choose a pattern called the Spring Staple Sweater from Knitting Today magazine. The woman in the picture looked so happy; I was totally swayed by her happiness.

The Spring Staple Sweater from Knitting Today Magazine,  April/May 2011. Pattern by Jill Draper. 

Once I had the pattern in hand I headed to one of my LYS's (local yarn shops) to buy the yarn. It just so happened that they had the recommended yarn on sale in selected colours. Now, just in case any one is under any illusions that making a sweater or any knitted garment is less expensive than buying one from the store, let me put that delusion to rest. Yarn is expensive, plus labour, this finished garment is worth a small fortune. Even on sale the raw materials for the sweater cost about $80. A friend and I perused the colours that they had on sale and we decided on a green shade called Scuba, since green is my mom's favourite colour. Now this yarn is mercerized cotton. I'd never worked with, or even heard of this before so I didn't think too much about it. At this point, I still didn't know a lot about fiber, so I just figured that $80 was a lot of money, therefore the yarn must be great. This was my second mistake. I left the store with a bag full of yarn and a smile on my face, ready to get started and conquer this sweater. I had a little over a month until Mother's Day. Lot's of time for an accomplished and confident knitter such as myself.

When I got home, I wound the first skein eager to get going. I cast on the first sleeve and started knitting. About an inch in I was no longer excited. This yarn is shiny. The colour is not attractive. The yarn is slick. Later I would learn that the mercerization of the cotton is what makes it so "lustrous". Oh boy. So now I was in quite the pickle. I hated the yarn, I was about an inch in. The yarn was not returnable since it was on sale and I had a lot of it. I kept knitting. Another inch. I felt ill. The shininess of the yarn was nauseating. Determined, I knit another inch. When the first sleeve was completed a day or so later, I convinced myself that I deserved a break. The migraines were really getting to me, and there was a hat pattern I was dying to knit. Just one hat and then I would get right back to the sweater. I shoved the materials in a bag to to try and contain their reflective sheen.

Fast forward two months. Mother's day is but a distant memory. I think I gave my mom a pair of socks. I am cleaning our spare bedroom when I come across "it". Still in it's bag, one sleeve completed. I pull it out and start knitting the other sleeve. "This isn't so bad", I think to myself. When I get to the shaping rows, I wander to my stash to find the magazine with the pattern and come away with needles and some sock yarn. I'm easily distracted.

Three more months pass. I am at the knitting store and the gal that works there asks me, "So how did your sweater turn out?". I mumble something indiscriminate and hastily pay for my purchases, lest I be judged. When I get home I search for "it". I pull it out of its bag. The sun glints off the shiny surface. I twitch and say "I will conquer you". I pull out the swift and wind three more balls. Instead of finishing the sleeve, I cast on for the body. I think that the lace pattern will keep me interested, it will after all leave some gaps in the shine. This time I have a good run at it. I knit about 4 inches of the body over the next weeks. I leave the project out in the living room so I have no choice but to guiltily pick it up.

My mom sees it in progress and get's excited. I ask, "Don't you think it's a bit shiny?" The truth is I want her to turn away from it in disgust. To gag a little and tell me that she would never wear this so I can be put out of my misery and just call "it" a loss.  But what does she say (gotta love her)? "If you are making it for me, I will love it. Besides its not that shiny". Not that shiny? I swallow my real opinion, which is if she was to wear this monstrosity she would looks like a mermaid. A mermaid in a bad colour.

I knew it was too good to last, and the sweater got moved back into it's bag before long. Just for a "short" break. I've told my mom that with all the Christmas knitting I have to do I will pick it back up in the New Year. Next year for her birthday, or mother's day maybe. I told her sweater's just really aren't my thing. They take so long, I like quick knits. I'm just not a sweater knitter.

But I have a secret. I bought some yarn and I have a pattern for another sweater. I've swatched for it in secret and am ready to start knitting. A sweater out of merino wool. Not shiny. Not green. A sweater for me. And I can't wait to cast on.

msi

Yarnapolooza 2011, Or 12 skeins of yarn, 4 brand new patterns, and a partridge in a pear tree

It's been an interesting week. Between the new job, working on two contract projects, and the challenges of returning to work full time there wasn't much that could inspire me to get out of bed before noon this Saturday. But it just so happened that today was the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair and if there is anything that can get me out of bed it is the promise of yarn. And maybe bacon.

Yarnapolooza is the name that one of my friends gave to this event because there is yarn, yarn everywhere! I had a set amount of money in my purse and I spent (almost) every penny. I wanted to stick to local dyers and support smaller companies so I tried to spend the majority of my money on local products.

Lola is very confident that I bought this yarn for her amusement.

My first and most pricey stop was the Tanis Fiber Arts booth. I went with the intention of picking up her new Adelia Pattern with a couple of skeins. For this I bought the Purple Label Fingering weight, a yummy combination of merino and cashmere in Plum and Sand colourways. I then found the "One of a Kind Bin" and I couldn't resist picking up a blue and red multi skein. I have the My Vampire Boyfriend socks in mind for the red and a baby sweater in the blue. 

Tanis yarns, from left to right: plum, sand, and 2 one-of-a-kind skeins

Next stop was the Feather My Nest Booth, a LYS from Sarnia, ON. Here I bought a kit to make a linen stitch scarf. The yarn accompanying it was Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock. Not a Canadian yarn but from Chicago, where we just got home from! This pattern seemed to be popular at the fair this year and I saw kits at more than one booth. Linen stitch is very interesting as the finished project looks woven, not knitted. Looking forward to casting this one on soon.

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in 3 colours:  Huron, Envy & Franklin's Panopticon  (L-R)

Another non-Canadian yarn, but I couldn't resist the prices that the Busy Hands booth has on one of my favourite yarns, Malabrigo.

Malabrigo Rios in Purpuras, and Malabrigo Sock in Caribeno.

Waterloo Wools is another local dyer that has really great yarn. I bought this bright orange yarn and the Kaie Beanie pattern to make hat for my Dad for Christmas. He loves Orange.

Waterloo Wools Huron Worsted Weight in Persimmon.

Another gift for my Dad, I couldn't resist this bright orange and black sock year from Manspun yarns (based out of somewhere in Ontario).  Touted as the yarn of manliness, this colour: Harley Compatible.

Love the Harley influence in this manly sock yarn. 

So I was all done shopping, but then I came across the Indigo Dragonfly booth. When I saw this yarn called "Zombie Grover eats a Cookie", how could I resist! Another great Canadian company from Halliburton HIlls.

Love the colours in this uniquely named yarn!

The only other thing I bought was an awesome pattern for this family of zombie dolls from Joey's House. Zombert, Zombella and Zombot the pet! I took this picture on my phone at the Shall We Knit? booth. Can't wait to make these critters to add to our knitted collection of oddities at home. 

Well I'm now broke and exhausted. Off to reorganize my stash and take a nap!

msi.

PS. Super big thanks to one of my bff's L, who drove me out to the fair and enables my yarn addiction. Love ya!

September Sock Knitting

September is a big birthday month in my family; we have 6 birthdays this month and one on October 1^st. This means I am very busy knitting at the moment trying to get presents completed on time. The big birthdays (other than mine :P) are my step-dad and my grandmother’s. I had big plans for knitting this year, but due to my ever-narrowing time constraints they are only getting one knitted gift each. It just so happens that both of them have developed a taste for hand knitted socks ever since I learned about a year ago. Now for every special occasion that is what they request. My grandmother likes fuzzy ankle socks for wearing around the house and K, my step-father, likes the full sock, as long as it is warm and non-scratchy.

I picked out the yarn a while ago and have been slowly plodding away. For K, I chose a very cool yarn called ONline Supersocke 100 Butterfly Color that is patterned to look like butterfly wings. These were an awesome find in the bargain basement of one of my favourite LYS, Romni Wool. Being a nature guy, I know that he will get a kick out of these. I really like the way the patterning of the yarn has come along. I am finished the first sock, but I have a whole other sock to go and only 1 week to knit it! I cast on last night and then promptly fell asleep – this full time work thing is really getting in the way of my knitting schedule.  

Butterfly sock!

For my grandmother, I let her choose the wool from my stash and she immediately gravitated to the Mesa colourway of Chroma worsted. I have made her socks from this before and they are so scrumptious and soft. Again, I have one sock completed that I made in Chicago, and another to go. These aren’t such a big deal because they have a very short leg and are made of a much thicker yarn. 2 weeks until her birthday.

A cozy ankle sock out of Chroma Worsted

I always have about 5+ projects on the needles and I am dying to finish these socks so I can go back to a project intended for myself, Citron by Hillary Smith Callis. I am making this out of one of my favourite yarns Dream in Colour Starry in the Deep Seaflower colourway. I rarely make items that I end up keeping so I would really like to get this done for the cool fall days ahead.

Such pretty sparkly yarn!

One last thing before I leave you, I came across this article from the guardian that I thought was really awesome. It's about Joe Strummer's daughter, Jazz Domino Holly and her new book about crafting. I have put this on my amazon wishlist! 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/8735016/Joe-Strummers-daughter-is-the-Queen-of-Crafts.html 

My favourite quote from her: “Crafting is the perfect antidote to cookie-cutter mass-production, and gives us a means of expressing not only our individuality but also our originality in a handmade rebellion against passive consumption.”

I love this because it is so true! The reason I craft and knit is for just that reason. In an ever modern world there is so much focus on consumption of things that are easily acquired and that are essentially all the same. When I knit something it takes time and contemplation, and every item is distinct. I've yet to meet a knitter that doesn't make mistakes! Just like the people who knit and receive their craft, it is the imperfections that make something unique. 

Happy Knitting, 

msi

Home from the Windy City

It has been a while since my last post, partly because I was finishing up end of term marking and then my guy and I went on vacation to Chicago for a few days before I started back at work. Yesterday was my first day back at full-time, go-to-the-office-everyday work in about 2 years. Between getting my master’s degree, working part-time and work at home jobs it’s been a whirlwind couple of years. So trust me when I say getting up early in the morning, wearing “work clothes” and packing a lunch has been quite the shock to the system. It’s a slow start to the new job but I know it is going to pick up soon, so I am trying to ease myself back into the “real world”.

Onto pleasanter things, the guy and I had a great time in Chicago. He’s not accustomed to going on “vacation” so it was a nice treat for us to go away for a few days away from all the stress that has been happening on the home front lately. I have wanted to visit ever since reading Erik Larson's book, Devil in the White City. We stayed downtown Chicago for 4 days and had a wonderful time sightseeing around the city, going to museums, shopping and doing otherwise touristy things. I even got to go to a wonderful yarn shop called Loopy Yarns. I could have spent all day browsing here, but I behaved myself and only picked up a few things that they had on sale, partly because the suitcase was already very full and partly because the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitting Fair is this upcoming weekend (squee with excitement!). 

My small stash from Loopy Yarns: A cute pouch for knitting notions, a very cool German sounding sock yarn meant to be knit 2 at a time, and a Malabrigo silky merino in the lettuce colourway

Interspersed with pictures, here are 10 things I discovered about Chicago:

1) The Museum of Science and Industry is not only cool because it is housed in one of the few remaining buildings from the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, but is also a place where you can run on a human hamster wheel, see baby chicks hatch, check out the Apollo 8 command module and witness and indoor tornado. I definitely channeled my inner child and got really excited about getting to sit in a big John Deere tractor. I’m about as “city” as they come, but for some reason this really thrilled me.  My other favourite thing was Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle, a huge dollhouse that was constructed by the silent film star Moore in the late 1920’s. The dollhouse contains real artifacts, gemstones and tiny furniture all inspired by various fairytales (it even has a secret treasure room for Ali Baba!). Even the guy couldn’t help but be impressed by the detail in the castle.

Awesome stuffed toys in the gift shop: sun, earth and moon. The shopkeep must have thought the guy and I were total nerds as we giddily rotated them around each other in the store. 

I had a lot of fun with the shadow screens, in which you can manipulate the video feed by using your body's shadow. 

A baby chick that I watched hatch moments before this picture. Her shell remnants are off to the left side as she takes her first breaths. 

The guy runs on the human hamster wheel. He was very proud that he got up to 10 miles and hour. 

2) The “El” (elevated trains, part of Chicago’s public transportation system) is slightly terrifying. Especially for a gal afraid of heights and going at a brisk speed. Seriously. Scary. I remember seeing the El on ER many years ago and thinking, “that looks a bit frightening”. And it was. The guy thought I had officially lost my marbles as I clung to him with a look of terror on my face as we went about 5 miles an hour saying "We're going to plummet to our death!". I’m not proud of it.

Entrance to the dreaded El train. This was one of the more rickety stations. I have rendered these photos in black and white to signify my fright.

The El heads over a bridge. Notice the absence of side rails. This shot really reminds me of Gotham City (Chicago was the scene for Gotham in The Dark Knight)

3) When it comes to fireworks, American’s do it right. We went to Wednesday showing of the twice-weekly fireworks at Navy Pier and it was outstanding. By far the most impressive firework display I’ve seen. On Navy Pier we also browsed at the shops and checked out the small section of old-school rides: a carousel, tilt-a-whirl, and Ferris wheel. All lit up at night, they were truly magical. Another interesting Chicago fact is that the first Ferris wheel in the world was built here for the World’s Fair in 1893. According to my friend Wikipedia, this first wheel was 80.4 meters tall and could seat 2,160 passengers. What a sight that must have been in the 19^th century!

Gold raining from the sky

Green lightning! 

The park on Navy Pier featuring the Ferris Wheel

Lonely horses waiting for riders

The tilt-a-whirl in action

4) The architecture in Chicago is truly awe-inspiring and reflects the changes in this infamous city over the years. On our last morning we went on a river cruise put on by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. Over this 90-minute cruise a docent told us all about the styles of architecture in Chicago and we saw some of the iconic buildings from the water. I am not known to be a lover of boats, but paradoxically I do love being on the water so its a risk I often take. This was a lovely cruise and despite the heat and inevitable sunburn I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the architectural details of the Chicago skyline. One of the things we did not have time for was to see a Frank Lloyd Wright building, so if we ever go back that will be my first stop. Ever since I read the book Loving Frank by Nancy Horan and saw the retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim a couple of years ago I have been fascinated with his work.

A view up the Trump Tower. The dark lines that encircle the building are at strategic points the mimic the height of surrounding iconic buildings. 

Chicago skyline from the river. 

Look up, look way up! I can't remember the name of this particular building, but this circular style of skyscraper really caught my eye. 

Prarie-style architecture that inspired Frank Lloyd Wright.

A view of the skyline at the other side of the river, showing the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and the Stock Exchange Building. 

The Civic Opera House on the right with other skyscrapers in the background. 

Loved this gothic style architecture on the Tribune Building. 

5) The impressionist collection at the Chicago Art Institute IS all its cracked up to be. I was most excited to see Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, or as I called it as a child "Sunday in the Park with George" (after the Sondheim musical). My grandmother had a print hanging of this in my childhood bedroom and I remember staring at it with wonder. I loved the lady walking with her monkey and the clothes worn by its subjects. I marvelled at how this image was really made up of tiny dots. I didn't know that this work was in the CAI collection so when we turned to corner and saw it tears welled up. Its truly impressive in person and the size of it astonished me. Other highlights were Van Gogh's The Bedroom,  and the Renoir and Monet Collections. Outside of the Impressionist galleries, the CAI did not disappoint with icons like American Gothic and a couple of gorgeous Rothko and Pollocks. The guy loved the Arms and Armour collection as well. But my favourite stop was the Chagall stained-glass windows. I could have stared at them all day. Chagall's use of colour always smacks me in the emotion centre of my brain. Love it. 

One of the three panels for Chagall's stained glass windows.

A close-up of one of Monet's Water lilies

Van Gogh's The Bedroom 

A crowd clustered in front of Seurat's, Sunday in the Park. Can anyone else spot the accessibility problem here?

As the guy looked at the armour collection I got creative with the camera and lighting effects to make these time-travelling knights. 

A noble steed charges into the future.

6) Chicago is a city dedicated to public art. I can't remember the figure off the top of my head but on our architecture tour the guide told us that a penny for every x amount of development money must go to public art. My favourite public sculpture that we saw was the iconic "Cloud Gate" by Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park. The park was full of many other neat installations, and there were more at Navy Pier and scattered throughout the city. I wish that we would have had time to explore them all.

The Cloud Gate, known to locals as the "bean"

The skyline reflected in the Cloud Gate

Inside Cloud Gate

A public art installation/water park in Millennium Park. Water would squirt out of their mouths from time to time. 

A 26 foot tall sculpture of Marilyn in her iconic pose from The 7 Year Itch. 

7) The Shedd Aquarium is the home to Granddad, an Australian lungfish that is reportedly 86+ years old. He was acquired by the aquarium for the 1933 Expo! He looks like a sunken log. In addition to granddad, the aquarium is home to over 25,000 fish from around the world. I visited my first aquarium, the Boston aquarium, when I was about 7 years old and have loved visiting them ever since. I love being in the water and the mysteries of the deep both fascinate and terrify me. The aquarium also had a special exhibit on Jellyfish which we both really enjoyed.

View of the city from the aquarium over lake Michigan.

A jelly undulates across its tank.

From the size of those brains, these fish must be destined to take over the world. 

A variety of corals.

Tiny sea snakes pop their heads out of the sand.

Think these are all corals. Look again. 

I couldn't resist a Finding Nemo reference. 

8) Chicago is beautiful lit up at night. I love night photography and getting another perspective of a place once the sun goes down. Chicago did not disappoint. We stayed to the main strips in the evenings (Magnificent Mile, Michigan Ave, and Navy Pier), and enjoyed people watching and seeing the buildings all lit up.

Michigan Avenue bridge at night. 

A night time view of the Chicago River. 

The view of the city from Navy Pier at night. 

9) Chicago is home to Sue, the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found. She lives at the Field Museum, where there is also an incredible jade and gem collection, and Egyptian tomb, a Fossil Prep lab and other fun exhibits aimed at kids and adults alike. I loved that the exhibit curators have a sense of humour and the written descriptions and illustrations of the exhibits made me chuckle more than once.

Rawr! Meet Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Gotta love the illustration on the left. 

An amber pendant with a bug preserved inside. Jurassic Park anyone?

Inside the Maori Meeting House.

The Grainger Hall of Gems includes this beautiful Tiffany stained glass window. 

An opal sun broach.

Yes, please! My birthday is just around the corner. 

10) My guy and I are geeks no matter where we go.

msi.