Knitter's Frolic Goodies!

Ugh... Yes, I know the Knitter's Frolic was almost a month ago, but as mentioned in my last post, I've been a terrible blogger of late. Part of it can be attributed to two major public outreach events only a week apart, and the other part can be blamed on committee meetings, paper deadlines, and all that other graduate student stuff. Anyway, let's put that all aside and think about the fibery goodness from the Knitter's Frolic instead!

I was actually quite restrained when it came to buying things. I really wanted to get an ornate drop spindle from Gemini Fibres and to buy ALL THE CASHMERE from Roving Winds Farm, but I was a very very responsible shopper.

My first purchase was these gorgeous handmade buttons from the woodlot. I totally can't remember what kind of wood this is, but I just love the pattern that the wood grain gives. You should check out some of their other buttons in their Etsy shop... so pretty!

I also got a big fat bag of fibre from Hopeful Shetlands. The mix I got has a lot of lamb's wool in it, so it's veeeeeerrrrrryyyyyy soft. It was a pretty good deal too...

Speaking of fibre, I also got a Fleece Artist braid from the Rose Haven Farm Store. I just couldn't resist the colours. For some reason, my palette preference is moving more towards the greens and yellows, where I've always preferred blues and purples. At any rate, I have a lot of fibre to spin with... and I guess it's time for a fibre diet too, until I get around to spinning up what I have.

Finally, as an early birthday present (and it's my birthday tomorrow, so I get to open it!), my Mom bought me this delectable sock kit from the SOAK booth. It includes a jar of Peppermint Heel Foot Cream and a skein of Lorna's Laces Solemate sock yarn. It's so luxurious, I'm gonna have to find the perfect pattern for it...

Other highlights included the Fleece Artist tasting booth, where we were allowed to knit with all sorts of crazy beautiful and luxurious yarns, and strange bacon and egg yarn (found on the internet here) and textured felted weirdness from The Black Lamb's booth:

Knit-tag

Man I'm a terrible blogger... Well, my buddy Erin over at Kniterly has forced me into writing something by tagging me in this game of Knit-tag. Apparently the idea is that I answer these questions and then tag someone else. Erin has already tagged all the blog friends I have who write about knitting, so I think I'll leave out that second part, but here's the first:

1. Are you always happy with your FO’s?

For the most part, yes. Since I joined Ravelry in early 2009, I think I've had maybe 2 or 3 projects that I really haven't been happy with, and even then, it was usually because I either made them too small or accidentally blocked them using an iron on an acrylic carpet (yes, I'm occasionally really stupid). For certain projects, such as my diatom shawl, my Cable Luxe sweater, and my Emma cardigan, I just looked at the finished project and admired my awesomeness as a knitter. Seriously.

2. Are you sometimes so disappointed that you frog everything and start a new project? Why? Color? Yarn? Making? Too small? Too large?

This does occasionally happen. My mother-in-common-law gave me some fluffy acrylic/mohair yarn recently, and the first project I made with it was this very pretty crocheted sweater, the Lush Cowl-Neck Sweater from Sweaterbabe. It had the potential to be really lovely, but even on gauge, and making the largest size, it was still way too small...

Well, I just ripped that sucker out, which was no easy task considering the fibre composition of the yarn. That's happened one or two other times, and mostly because of fit or the yarn just not working with the pattern.

3. Do you wear your knits or do they end up at the bottom of a cupboard? If so, why? How do they age after being washed and worn?

Hells yes! I wear my knitted things as much as possible. I'm trying to build up an entire sock drawer worth of knitted socks. I'll admit that there are one or two knitted things that have ended up at the bottom of the drawer, but for the most part, I'm happy with what I've made and I'll wear it. My socks have aged very well after several wearings. They tend to felt a bit on the sole, but that just makes them squishier. I usually machine-wash them on cold, and then dry them flat. As for sweaters, I wash them very rarely, and usually by hand. They've all stood the test of time pretty well. I should also note that I've been knitting for only 3 years, however, so "the test of time" doesn't mean all that much.

4. Do you always make a swatch? (maybe it should have been the first question, lol ?!)

I very rarely swatch. For garments where I'm not sure about the fit, I do sometimes, but as a rule, I just start knitting the thing, and if the gauge looks about right, then I keep going. If not, then it's frog time. No big deal. I often try to make garments that I can try on as I go, however, or that have instructions like "Knit until it's a certain length" or whatever. I actually swatch more often when I do crocheted garments because my gauge can be very variable in crochet.

5. Finally, would you rather work with some yarns you know well rather than others to avoid bad surprises?

I'm willing to work with almost any yarn. There are a few brands I come back to, but I'm not opposed to trying something new. I've never had a really bad surprise with any yarn. The one exception is that I will never knit with fun fur.

Alright, there you go, Erin!

By the way, if anyone was wondering which sweater I chose to start from the last post, I went with the Morning Dew sweater because of purely practical reasons. Also, I just happen to be using the yarn from the Cowl-Neck Sweater I mentioned above and frogged. I think I'll do the Lore Hoodie after that because it's just so pretty!

Alright, enough rambling from me. I promise I'll post some knitting goodness after I'm done my committee meeting and this upcoming Mike Brown lecture. Cheers!

Pining for a new sweater

It might sound crazy, since spring has arrived in full force in T-dot, but I'm really really itching to knit myself a new sweater. I'm still in the midst of knitting for others, with a small sock project on the side (with my brand new gorgeous hand painted yarn... but more on that later), but I haven't really been immersed in the craft as much as I was previously. Part of it is that I've been riding the boyfriend's Gio E-bike around town instead of taking the TTC, and I think the other part of it is just general apathy. I've been spinning a bit while I watch TV with the boyfriend, but I haven't had the incredible urge to knit for some reason.

I'll be going to a meeting this weekend in Syracuse, NY, and it'll be a 5-hour drive each way, so that's a LOT of knitting time. I'll also be sitting through two days of talks, which is also a LOT of knitting time. I'll of course bring the "knitting for others" and my sock, but all of these projects are in various stages of completion, so I'm thinking I might have to start something new... But decisions, decisions! (I know, I lead a hard life.) Here are my options:

The Lore Hoodie is a pattern from Vampire Knits by Cirilia Rose. It's absolutely gorgeous... Really, it's the pattern that sells the book. I already have the yarn for this, some Diamond Yarn Galway Heather in the Thistle colourway (the same yarn I used for Dad's sweater). I guess I'm a little worried that it'll be too bulky for travelling, but it's also a design I've wanted to knit for a while now. I love the hood and that lacy skirt.

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Next up is Morning Dew by Diana Rozenshteyn. This will definitely be portable enough, and will involve a considerable amount of mindless knitting (great for staying awake during talks!), so it's probably the top choice for travel knitting. Also, it's seamless and top-down, which is my favourite style of sweater (to wear and to make). I've got the perfect yarn for it: an acrylic-mohair blend that was given to me by the boyfriend's mother last summer called "Lanificio di Milano Mohacril". I haven't been able to find it online, so it's probably a vintage yarn (the labels look pretty old). Anyway, the issue would be that I'd already started a crochet project with this yarn, but have since partially frogged it. The yarn was broken in several places because it's so fuzzy, and I still have half of that other project to frog before I start this new one...

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This pattern isn't really a sweater, but it's something else I've been wanting to make for a while. It's the #24 Jumper by Louisa Harding from Vogue Knitting Winter 2010/11. I'm going to use some Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool in a dark grey that I got on sale off of WEBS. I'll likely do the duplicate stitch in Bernat Roving, which I have in their bright pink colourway. It'll also be a fairly bulky project, so maybe not the best for travel, but it looks pretty darn adorable. Wouldn't it go perfectly with a waist-hugging belt? I think it would.

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Finally, I'd love to knit this sweater as a hooded cardigan. It's Sporto by Nikol Lohr from the Winter 2011 issue of Knitty. Since it's a top-down raglan, it'd be super easy to convert into a cardigan just by knitting back and forth instead of in the round. I also have the perfect buttons for it. I'd use the left-over yarn from Dad's sweater, and alternate it in stripes with the left-overs from my beautiful cabled sweater. I'd also like to incorporate some stripes of my handspun to make it extra special. Again, it might be a little bulky for travel, but less so than the Lore Hoodie or Vogue Jumper because it's top-down, so would be relatively small at the beginning. And I just love that hood... so cozy!

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Anyway, those are my choices. Hopefully I'll be able to make a decision before we leave Friday, though I also have to think about preparing my talk, and a million other things... le sigh!

The Ultimate Pie

Wow... A whole month without posting! I'm sorry, internet. I'll try to do better next time. How about I make it up to you with pie?

As I have for the last few years, I hosted a Pi Day party at my apartment on March 14th. We never got around to reciting the digits of Pi or playing Pi trivia (much to the boyfriend's relief), but much fun was had by all. We had quite a spread!

In the front is Joanna's vegetable curry pie, which was the boyfriend's pick as the winner of the Pi Day best pie contest, mainly because she made her own crust (and because it was delicious), behind that, we have Steph's chocolate chip cookie pie, then Lisa's coconut creme brule (frickin' amazing), and finally, my Pie Pie. The empty pie pan used to contain a bacon-brocolli-spinache quiche made by the boyfriend, which was instantly devoured. Classes at a pastry school are sounding pretty yummy right now.

I'd like to talk a little about the pie I made... The Pie Pie. I first saw this recipe on The Anticraft years and years ago, and I knew that one day, I would have to make it. The description blew me away (really, it sounds orgasm-inducing), and caramel, peanut butter and chocolate are some of my favourite flavours. At 448 calories per 1/8th of a pie (yes, I calculated it), it's definitely not for the health-concious, but really, it's so delicious that you really shouldn't care.

I decorated mine with the Pi symbol, of course. One pie got devoured at the Pi Day party and the other, we saved for a dinner party later in the month (really a get drunk and do your taxes party). Our hosts made all sorts of noises of appreciation, and I had to stop myself from eating a second piece (because of the afore-mentioned calorie content). This pie took a good five hours to make, so I'm probably not going to make it again any time soon. If I do, I'll try to make my own cookie crumb crusts, I think.

Anyway, the final verdict is, if you have a few hours to kill and an incredible craving for peanut butter caramel goodness (and aren't on a diet), then you should definitely make this pie. I'm seriously drooling just thinking about it right now...

Goodies!

I have been extremely well behaved of late when it comes to yarn purchases. I haven't bought anything new for myself since November, when I went to Victoria. And really, that was travel yarn, so it barely counts. At any rate, I certainly deserved a treat. My friend Sherry pointed me towards a few Etsy shops that sell gorgeous hand-painted yarn, and I couldn't resist buying a few things from Fiber Charmer's shop. I mean, the yarn was on sale, and the roving was fairly cheap... totally justified.

Impatiently, I waited a week for my goodies to arrive, but finally yesterday they did! I was so excited that as soon as I got home, I just ripped open the oversized envelope without even looking at the custom's label. Had I done the latter, I would have realized that I got a little bit more than I paid for...

It turns out I had been lucky enough to be Fiber Charmer's 300th sale, and so she included a lovely hand-written note, and a few extra little goodies! First of all, she gave me this adorable little hand-sewn pouch from Etsy seller Hot4Handbags.

It's the perfect size to fit all my notions, and so I immediately transferred them from the little crochet pouch I was using to this one.

She also sent along some mini skeins of Shangri-la yarn in Emerald and Black & Blue. I'm not sure what I'll use them for, but they're so cute!

Ok, on to the juicy stuff. I'm sure you're just dying to see what I actually ordered. Well, what attracted me to Fiber Charmer's shop was that she had tons of beautifully hand-dyed yarns for extremely good prices on sale. Like a $12 4-oz skein of sock yarn kind of extremely good price. I narrowed my choices down to two skeins of sock yarn, the first of which was this absolutely gorgeous hank of Chris Sock in "Green Progressions Dye's End". I was just swooning over that blue melding into the green and into the yellow...

Next up I got a skein of Chris Sock in Mood Ring Red Brown. It looked a little redder on my computer screen than it does in real life, but it's still super gorgeous. I'm thinking a sock with travelling stitches would be perfect for this one.

Last but not least, I couldn't resist ordering some spinning fibre. Fiber Charmer's hand-dyed fibres are amazing (seriously, check them out), but I was attracted to this lovely braid of 70% silver alpaca and 30% silk. Oh man it's soft... I just want to rub it against my face all the time. I don't know what it's eventually going to become when I spin it, but I'm sure it'll be gorgeous.

And because I'm a fibre nut, here are some more close-up shots:

A bit of colour to cheer up the winter greys

As I mentioned before, we've been having an extremely mild winter in Toronto. I believe we've had more rain than snow, and I've only had to wear my winter jacket 2 or 3 days. Despite this, the grass is brown, the sky is grey, the leaves are missing from the trees, and everything is this a depressing mishmash of neutral tones. This might explain why lately I've been knitting a ton of really colourful projects for myself.

The most recent of these is my Lazy Katy Shawl , designed by Birgit Freyer, and knit in Knit Picks Chroma sock yarn in the Mix Tape colourway (unfortunately discontinued). Above you can see it blocking, and also what attracted me to the pattern. That asymmetrical swirl is just so cool and intriguing. It was actually a fairly simple pattern and went by surprisingly quickly. Even the lace edging wasn't too difficult. And just to show the magic of blocking here are some before and after pictures:

Next up is what I've been calling my ridiculously striped hat. I used some Bernat Roving that I got at the Stitch 'n Pitch this summer, and the leftover Bernat Softee Chunky that I had used for Slurpee the Brain Slug. The colour combination was inspired by my friend Lynn's Sweet Pullover. I didn't really follow a pattern, just cast on an even number of stitches (I can't even remember how many), worked in brioche stitch for a while (see my tutorial on the Happy Seamstress) and sort of made up the decreases. It's a little too big, but it's squishy and colourful, so it makes me happy.

I started this next project over the X-mas holidays with the intention of wearing it to Austin when I went down for the American Astronomical Society meeting. I only ended up finishing it when I was already there, but I was still able to wear it a couple of times. I'm speaking of the popular Lanesplitter by Tina Whitmore. It's a deceptively simple pattern, essentially just a big rectangle knit on the bias. I made mine in Knit Picks Shine Sport in Marmalade and Noro Silk Garden Sock, both received as gift yarns. The Shine might have been a bad decision, since it's a cotton yarn and has already stretched a bit, but I like it anyway. The boyfriend kindly took a picture of it for me while I was leaning over:

I wanted to knit the Snowball's Chance in Hell by Renée Rigdon and Zabet Stewart since before I knew how to knit. These armwarmers are really great to wear under a shorter sleeved sweater like my Buttony. I used Knit Picks Stroll Sport and a little bit of leftover Knit Picks Swish DK from Octie.

Last, but not least, I finally knit something out of Debbie Stoller's SuperStar Knitting, which I reviewed over a year ago. I made the Colourful Cable Hat by Sally Wilcox. I absolutely love this style of knitting, with the cables in a different colour than the background, but if I were to do it again, I'd knit my floats a LOT looser. This hat is fairly tight on me, even after some severe blocking. I might knit a bit of ribbing at the bottom just so it covers my ears properly. The yarn is Diamond Luxury Collection Mulberry & Silk in Olive and Royal Purple, which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to use a super soft, squishy, shiny and beautifully coloured yarn.

That's all I have for now folks. Thanks for bearing with me during this unusually long post!

Einstein is still ok

Remember back in September when I wrote about faster-than-light neutrinos? Scientists at CERN running the OPERA experiment had claimed to record neutrinos arriving at a detector 60 nanoseconds faster than they would have if they had been travelling at the speed of light. There has been a ton of skepticism around this result, and now, it turns out, the discrepancy in the arrival time is probably due to a faulty connection between the GPS unit and the computer.

Anyway, the team will have to rerun the experiment to make sure that this is indeed the source of that error, but it looks like Einstein's Theory of Relativity is still valid. Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. If you want to read more about this, check out this Wired article, this Science Insider article, or this Telegraph article.