A bittersweet end

Well, I'm officially out of Sock Wars now. I went for a skate today and came home to a parcel from San Fran containing my death socks : (



It's not so bad really because the socks are great; they are fun, stripey socks and they fit beautifully. They're also a merino/bamboo blend so they're super soft. I've got happy feet! The package also contained belgian chocolate so I shall console myself with a nice treat tonight.

I managed two kills so I'm pleased with my effort. Now I'm free to work on my Olympic socks, a challenging Cookie A. pattern called Vilai from Sock Innovation. I've done and undone the same 4 rows over and over but I think I've got it now!

Winterlude

I spent the weekend in our beautiful capital city (Ottawa for non-canadians) and took in the sights and sounds of Winterlude.

I was surprised to find a couple of cozy trees:



These festooned trees were apparently part of an installation by arts collective Spins & Needles.


Marvelous ice sculptures were everywhere:


And I enjoyed an evening skate on the Rideau Canal.


Also spent a day at the incredible Canadian Museum of Civilization. Wish I'd had longer than a weekend to explore this wonderful city!

Kayla Shrug

I made this Kayla Shrug last fall and then stuffed it away in my closet because I didn't think it worked on me. It's an Americo Original pattern and I made it out of their Pima Cotton as the pattern suggests.


Turns out it looks great on my sister so I was happy to give it to her rather than have it go to waste. I couldn't bare to think that my 18+ inches of 1x1 ribbing for the top would be in vain. I hate 1x1 ribbing!

The shrug has a unique construction and, as I knit it, it took me a while to figure out how the whole thing was supposed to work on an actual body. But it does, and the cotton gives it a nice drape.


I hope my sister enjoys it. It's a frustrating aspect of knitting; you can spend hours working on something that doesn't fit you well in the end. I'm working on a new sweater now. Here's hoping!

Cambodia Knits

At the last meeting of the Around the Bay Knitting Guild, we had a special guest speaker talk to us about an inspiring enterprise. Monika told us about Cambodia Knits, which she started last year with the goal of providing an employment alternative to marginalized communities. You can read all about Cambodia Knits here. It's an interesting business model that teaches people how to knit, and then allows them to work from home at their own pace.

We watched a slideshow while Monika told us about Cambodia's culture and history, and some of the challenges people who live there face. She explained her motivation for starting CK and how she went about doing it. We also got to check out some of the goods and I purchased an adorable little elephant finger puppet. I just love him.


Sock Wars update: I'm still in the game. I sent out death socks last week and so far haven't received any!

Sock Wars!

I've been doing so much report writing at work that when I come home and try to write a blog entry, I stare at the screen and my mind goes blank. But I've got it in me to do a little post today because I'm so excited to be participating in the upcoming Sock Wars V!


Each participating knitter is an assassin and must knit a pair of socks as quickly as possible and send them to their target before they receive death socks in the mail from their own assassin. I won't go into all the rules but you can check them out here. Over 200 knitters from all over the world are participating!

I'm totally expecting to be out in the first round but the great thing is, no matter when you're out of the game, you end with a new pair of socks. The overall winners get a whole whack of sock yarn.

I've received my dossier with info on my target: size 11 feet, dammit, I'm used to knitting for my own size 6. I've swatched and I'm looking forward to some extreme knitting! Now I just wait for the pattern to be posted at 8 pm tomorrow. Wish me luck....

Have a Sweet Christmas

My sister and I had a Christmas baking day and it was exhausting but fruitful. We made and iced gingerbread and tried our hand at Macedonian zelnik. We have quite a way to go to master this pastry, which my baba has baked to perfection ever since I can remember.

The quickest and easiest thing we made was this peppermint bark. If you need to whip up some last minute gifts, give this fesitve treat a try. So delicious.




Have a very merry Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas!

It's December 1st and I have a new pair of mittens, reminiscent of candy canes, to help celebrate the holiday season.

The pattern is Herringbone Mittens by Elli Stubenrauch (ravelry link here). I used Cascade 220 for mitts that could stand up to some wear and tear. The stranded colourwork means the resulting fabric is double thick so these should be nice and warm.

I have unusually small hands so I downsized the mitts by using 2.75 mm needles for the cuffs and 3.5 mm for the rest. The advantage of having small hands and feet is that it takes less time to knit mitts and socks, and saves on yarn!

I went to the park with my birdhouse ornament to take pictures, and happened upon a tree covered in decorations which I took advantage of for some photos. Thanks to whatever little elf trimmed the tree!

I hope we get some cold, snowy weather soon so I can make proper use of the mitts. Apparently it's going to be a mild winter though :(

Here's hoping for a white Christmas...