Frazzled Knits

A glove

The boys still wear their Guess Who gloves all the time, but the gloves are seriously too small for them!  The fingers end at about the second knuckle.  Bless them for not minding, but I thought it was time make some bigger ones:

One finished so far, and the thumb gusset almost done on the second.  The yarn is Patons Kroy in Gentry Grey (though it's more black) and the stripey stuff is a mystery yarn from my Aunt Ilse that I think I've identified as Regia Jacquard Color 4 ply in "Taiga".

a big birthday, and some sadness

Now that I've posted a little about my vacation, I can tell you what else happened the week we got back.  I turned 40 (actually on the day we flew back from England), and my grandpa died.  He was 92, and I guess I'd say his body just gave out.  I had the honour of being present when he passed away very peacefully in his nursing home - my sister and I were there with my grandma.  It happened a little faster than expected so it was a bit of a fluke that it was just the three of us at the time.  My aunt and uncle were on their way. 

Anyhow, it has been a heck of a week back, very busy with the funeral and such. I will miss my grandpa, and I worry about my grandma now, who has been caring for him 24/7 since he had a stroke 12 years ago, but he lived a good, long life and I am happy that he went peacefully without any suffering.

There isn't much knitting related to report in this post except for this:  My dear friend Barb gave me two skeins of Misti Alpaca Baby Me Boo for my birthday, and it was a comforting and welcome gift during a pretty tough week:

That's all for now.

I'm back

I am back from a wonderful vacation to Austria and England over Christmas and New Year's, with a little bit of knitting news to report:

1. I wore my Owls sweater almost constantly while in Austria.  LOVE that sweater.
2. I knit a Shaelyn Shawl on my vacation, using one skein of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn:
   
   
3. My aunt Ilse let me rummage through her stash of knitting yarns and pattern books in Austria, and I brought back a bag full of sock yarns and 8 books:
   
4. I found a tiny yarn shop in Muerzzuschlag - got very excited, but didn't buy anything.  Kind of regret it!  They had some very cool neon yarn.
   
   
   
5.  In London, ever the frugal shopper and aware that my luggage was getting dangerously close to the 50 lb limit after all that Austrian loot, I bought a single ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze at the amazing Liberty department store:
   
6. I found a wonderful wool shop in Farnham, the Interknit Cafe, and made a wee purchase there too:
   
   
   

Also did some other things that weren't knitting related, like visiting the Christmas markets in Vienna, toboganning down a mountain in Austria, enjoying a Christmas tree with REAL candles, going on the London Eye, standing on the Prime Meridian at Greenwich and getting locked into Greenwich park, going for country walks in England past strange cattle and green fields, and lots and lots of visits with family.

It was a great trip!

Owls!

Well, I'll be darned, the thing fits!

• Pattern: Owls, the free version that is no longer available
• Yarn: Istex Plotulopi (unspun Icelandic) in 1421 Forest Green Heather
• Needles: 4.5 mm for ribbing, 5.5 mm for body of sweater
• Gauge: 14 sts/4" after blocking and wearing
• Modifications (so many!):
  • Used a finer yarn than called for in pattern
  • Cast on 128 sts as per size XL in pattern to compensate for tighter gauge
  • Did not do waist shaping
  • Put 8 stitches onto holder for underarms (didn’t bind them off) instead of 4
  • Increased 4 stitches around yoke on first round to make 190 sts (went from XL at cast-on to M for yoke; am hoping being pear-shaped means this will work ok!)
  • Knit 7 rounds plain on yoke before starting chart so owls wouldn’t be in armpit, and to add length since my yarn is finer than what the pattern calls for
  • Knit owls as per chart, followed by 8 rounds plain stockinette so that yoke reached the top of my shoulders before starting decreases
  • Added an extra plain knit row after rows 1 & 2 of the yoke decreases, both time
  • Added an extra short row at back of neck
  • Neck ribbing not quite as long as pattern states - I wanted a more open neck so my T-shirt would still show
  • To decrease 9 stitches evenly across the round, I alternated K7 K2tog and K8 K2tog around
  • Used the miraculous elastic bind-off for the neck - worked great!
  • Used 12mm green buttons from Fabricland (from the plain bargain buttons rack, 7 packages of six, 90 cents each package)

I can hardly believe it worked out.  I love it.

Owls?

No idea if it fits, but it looks nice!  I should really try it on. 

A little bit of knitting

Here's what I ended up making out of the yarn from the frogged Nalu mitten:

• Pattern: Men's Wrist Warmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, or free from Canadian Living's website
• Yarn: 50 grams Lion Brand Superwash Cashmere Merino (1.25 balls)
• Needles: 4 mm
• Modifications: None whatsoever (how rare)
• Comments:  They don't look like much coming off the needles (just two skinny tubes with a hole in them) but I love the way these turned out.  They were very quick to knit up, and they look great.  Hope my cousin likes them!

My only other knitting has been this mysterious tube of Istex plotulopi (unspun Icelandic) which may or may not turn into a modified Owls sweater:

I love that at this point, this sweater could be almost anything!  If the Owls don't work out, I might just do a colourwork yoke.  Or...?  Another inch to go and then I do the sleeves.  After that, things get exciting!