Stretching

It was a conundrum. Elann.com's Tuesday special was a bag sale. Their Esprit cotton/elastic (basically a Cascade Fixation knock off . Sshh.) at 65% off! The sale started at noon. By the time I got home from work at seven, the colours I wanted were gone. What to do? This is a great deal, people. So I grabbed three bags in colours that looked nice on the moniter.

They arrived today. As expected, not one of them looks the same as the web page. The Capri Blue has nothing to do with Capri. Too powdery. The Grey Slate is less silvery than expected and the Canyon Rose is much deeper. Still, I love them all. Except, maybe the blue.

Two words: Knee socks. I have 30 skeins of stretchy goodness to play with. Good thing The Daughter likes blue.

Coo Coo Ka Choo

Which Alice in Wonderland character are YOU? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Walrus You scored the Walrus! You like to look after yourself and indulgence is your favourite vice. You use charm and manipulation to get what you want and don't mind taking someone else's share... if they aren't watching of course. Hmmm...don't know about the definition but I LOVE the walrus - the animal, not the character. Without the noble blubbery beast, I wouldn't know the definition of 'thigmotactic' or 'hauling out'. nor the location of Round Island. I have a picture of walrus on my bathroom wall and a walrus figurine on top of the television. I kid you not.

Ugly Sock

ONline Supersocke 100 - Tropic Color #926

Whoa. You sure is ugly. How can yarn so cute on the ball make such an ugly sock? How?

Blog of the Week!

O my goodness. I'm a featured blog on Baa Bonny Bell's new podcast! Very exciting!
Sherrill, who was my upstream pal for SP7, has recently started podcasting from her garden shed. She's doing a fine job too. (Yes she has a lovely garden shed to match her lovely garden and even more lovely log home. Still...can't quite manage to hate her). Give a listen at Belle of the Ball Podcast.

I've not yet listened to it, but I have saved it onto a new-fangled device called an MP3 Player. Has anyone else heard of this invention? The daughter has recently passed her used one on to me after having upgraded, via Santa Claus, to the new Sony Walkman with video and photo display. I've been enjoying podcasts and CBC3 programming on the subway and tonight I shall attempt to "rip" a CD. How modern am I?

Because I'm not fond of photo-less posts, here is my Valentine's Day latte. Tasty it was.

Fourteen on the Fourteenth!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY baby!

You've come a long way!

Camera-less!

I feel naked and ashamed. I went to visit my sister yesterday and left the camera on her couch. Thanks to her partner, who works in Toronto, it will be back in my hands by week's end. I'll likely not sleep a wink until then!

In Smaller Towns, I Walked Away Many Nights

Night Walk

Sky's black gloss and the street
a long mirror of sidewalk lights.

The wind pushes wet leaves and an empty
garbage bag slick with rain behind you;

your dark neighbourhood shakes
the folded map inside.

What makes the body pace
the night to sudden nowhere,

the feet wear down the earth's hard edges.
So the idea begins its slow erosion from stone.

Like the artist with his prophet hands
sculpting slabs of matrble sliver-thin,

a father's hand on his small girl's forehead
soothing the fever toward sleep

or a man's naked back sanding down
the wood's rough cut, bone-smooth.

The blood with its desert silt pours on
in the anxious cities,

in you who walk the darkness
with that hand upon yopur shoulder

to wear away the heaviness,
to usher down the flesh.



Carla Funk
the sewing room
Turnstone Press 2006

Cablin' Baby!

I feel about cabling needles the way I feel about DPNs for socks; that my clumsy fingers were just not meant to hold that many pointy things. Injury to myself and others often occurs.
Thanks to Grumperina's excellent Cabling Without A Cable Needle tutorial, the honeycomb pattern is emerging.
I've had to frog the back. The shaping proportions won't match the front. The back, with no cabling, will be much easier to adjust so it's best to knit it second. I didn't mind tearing it out at all. I feel I have a real understanding of this garment now. Very exciting. Go Team!

Make My Day

I got this lovely award from SandiPurl. Thanks!! I'm all a'blush.

The rules tell me to pass it on: “Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

The award's been going around our Toronto circle a fair bit. I love all you local knitters! I really do! Still, in the interest of diversity, I thought I'd pass this on to people I know only through blogland - you know, spread the love more globally.
So, in no particular order, the blogs that reach out over the internet to cheer, inform and entertain. Check them out!

Wind Loop
Baa Bonny Belle
No Knit Sherlock!
Ennairda Knits
Lectio.ca
Lick My Sticks
And Sew to Knit
joyousknit
Miss Scarlett
AntiM and the Rickety Blog