Every Piece Has a Story

It's funny how every piece that I knit seems to have it's own story. Case in point. I decided to try my hand at knitting another sweater. I have only knit one so far in my short knitting life. It was a baby sweater. It wasn't for me, obviously, but I just wanted to learn how to knit one. It turned out pretty good but I haven't knit one since. One of the main reasons is that I don't really wear sweaters. The last one I wore was one that my mom knit for me.

Well, I finally got my SO to come with me to the LYS and pick out a pattern and some yarn. The pattern was pretty easy and I couldn't wait to get started. The first problem was that I was having a hard time getting gauge. The pattern was 6 st per inch, and suggested 4mm needles. Well I started my swatch and found that I had to go down a needle. Then another needle size and then another until I found myself knitting my swatch on 2.5 mm needles. Yes that would be fine if I was knitting a sock, but this was a sweater. How on earth could I knit a sweater on 2.5mm. Yes you guessed it, I can't. So I switched from my regular continental and tried out Portuguese knitting. This worked better although I was still on 3mm needles. So be it, if that is what it had to be then I was game.

The pattern was pretty much all "Moss Stitch" which mostly meant a ribbing type of deal. For continental this was easy but not as much fun with  PK. Oh well, if that is what the knitting gods wanted who was I but a mere knitting mortal to argue.

Things went well and I finally got to the part where I was going to do a 3 needle bind off on the shoulder seams. No problem and so I went ahead and did it. The problem was that I forgot to make sure the "right sides" were facing. Yes, now I had a big seam ridge on each shoulder. Of course that would not do so I pulled out the seams, turned the pieces around and then seamed it up again. There, now that was finished. Well of course is wasn't.  You see when I was shaping the shoulder I did not follow pattern on the last few short rows so here I had a moss stitch sweater with this ugly stockinette part near the seams. I thought about it. Who would notice. Would it really matter. Let's just keep going. And as I had these thoughts I could feel the knitting gods glaring down at me. It was like having a good angel in one ear and a bad in the other. I knew that I could not let this be. If I kept going this sweater would end up on the bottom of some drawer or closet with no friends and nowhere to go.

So, for the second time I ripped out the seams. Then I knit back on each of the short row pieces and of course that meant three pieces. And then knit it back up in pattern. And finally seamed it all back up. Whew.....now I could move on to the border ribbing.

Well I picked up 300 stitches around the neck line and began to rib. I could see the finish line clearly in sight. I couldn't wait as I ribbed the border with extra ferocity. I got about 1.5" of it done when I noticed there was a ridge where the border started. Hmmmn?  I turned the piece inside out and of course you know what I saw, or rather didn't see. A ridge. So back into my ear went the good and bad people. Keep it, RIP IT OUT, Keep it, RIP IT OUT. I knew what I had to do. So once again I ripped out hours of work. I then proceeded to pick up 300 stitches, but this time on the proper side of the work. And this time there were no ridges. I have really come to hate ridges.

So now I am almost finished the ribbing. Almost done. Yes, it seems every piece seems to have a story. Some story's are not as great. But in the end, when you look at the finished piece you know the trials and tribulations that you shared. And in someway I guess this brought us closer.

Couldn't Help Myself

Last time I talked about picking up a new foster dog. Well, now he is my adopted dog. I really couldn't help myself. Actually he had me from the time he sat with his rump on the back seat, his front paws on the ground with his head sticking through on the console. What a great dog. I take him everywhere and am really glad I kept him. Archie is his name. Don't remember if I said it last blog. Anyways, he really makes me happy, even if I do have to get up every morning early just to walk him Even in the winter.

I thought I would be near the end of my sampler blanket for my daughter, but looking at it I really think I should go just a bit more. You know how you get tired of the project and then want it to end. So you talk yourself into that the blanket is large enough. And then you end it. And you are so happy until......you realize that it really was not big enough. Of course you know that before but you are so busy convincing yourself otherwise that you just pretend it's okay. Well this time I am not going to pretend. I am not going to end it yet. Nope...Bigger and bigger it goes until it really makes one great cover my daughter from head to toe and even more blanket. She is off to year 2 of University soon so I gotta get going.

A New Dog and Old Blanket

Well my first foster dog was adopted and his name was changed. The great thing here is that a dog went from being scheduled to be euthanized to finding a great home. Have to give credit to the lab-rescue team of ladies who do such a good job.  I was missing have a dog again, and so on Saturday I was at Chapters looking through books on dogs when I got a call. Seems there was another dog in London in need of rescue. Now this was about a 2 hour drive and I had already made some arrangements to go to Kempenfest in Barrie. I don't think my SO was to happy when I came home from chapters with a change of plans. Anyways it took about 6 hours but today I am hanging out with my new friend Archie. What a great guy and disposition.

I finished my Traffic Island socks and have blocked them. Now it is just the blanket I am still working on. I will probably start something else. I have a bunch of shawls in mind but we'll have to see which one and what yarn I have in my stash. There are no pictures today as Blogger or my computer seems to not want me to post any. It seems every time I try it will not bring up my files. Oh well. Sometimes I guess the sites have bad days just like we do. Congrats by the way to all who attended the sock summit. Looks like they had fun.

Public Knitting

Timberline socks

 Today I took my father to one of his doctors appointments. While I was waiting for him I brought with some socks that I was working on. It's funny because most times I seem to be very shy about knitting in public. Is it really the stigma of a guy knitting that gets to me. I am embarrased to say that it is.

Even in the waiting room I found a corner of the room where I could work on the socks while waiting for my dad. After a while one of the girls at the front desk asked what I was knitting. I brought up my sock and we then had a great conversation about projects I was working on and how I was a bit shy to knit in public. The one girl said that she believed a guy who was not shy to show his feminine side was really one that was confident about himself.

My Daughters first Sock

Given that in fact I was shy I am not really sure what that means for me. LOL

The first picture was a quick knit of Lucy Neatby's Timberline socks. It's the second picture (the one with the thumb) I am most proud of. The reason? Well it is the first sock that my daughter knit. I have urged her to try socks and for a while she was intimidated. That is why I was so excited that she made this one. Of course the second one is still yet to hit her needles but that is okay.


I guess being a male knitter is still a complicated matter to me even though it is something that I really love and enjoy doing.

Shawl Marathon finally done.

 It feels like it's been years since I finished a project. Normally I was used to doing 2 or three projects a month at a minimum, but that was before I caught the Shetland Shawl Marathon Bug.

It is a given that I love doing lacework. Funny thing I think for a guy to say but I find it so artistic that I love the finished projects. I have done quite a few works of Estonian Lace, so awhile back started checking in on Shetand lace.

It wasn't long before I purchased Sharon Millers Heirloom Knitting book. Wow, was it ever filled with great stitch patterns. Not so many finished patterns but I decided to try one of the easier shawls in the book.

What I didn't realize was how long this one would take me to finish. It was knit in the round, so the first thing is that you have no idea what it actually looks like while you are doing it. Scratch that, actually it looked like a big lump of knitted wool. It was only when I got to doing the edging that little by little was I able to get an idea of how it was coming along. This after over a month of knitting. The pattern was actually quite easy, and it was just the edging at first that I had to get used to. Normally I did a pick up all stitch edging, but this one worked it's way around 1 stitch at a time every other row of edging. I already spoke in a prior entry about how many stitches that took.

I originally had 2 skeins of Zephyr lace, but ended up going back twice more for another 2 skeins. Luckily this was available in the dye lot that I had to match.

The shawl marathon, or at least this one is now finally over. I don't know if I am as excited on this piece as I was on others or just relieved to be done. Either way it certainly is an interesting piece. It is done in the colorway of sage green, which is hard to tell by the picture. Here you can see the edging up close. It is just finishing blocking, and I will try and get a few more pictures soon of it wrapped on something the way it was meant.

Well, now that it is done I just have to finish my sampler blanket. In the meantime I have started a quick pair of socks for my kid. I am doing another of Lucy Neatby's socks called "Timberline Toes". A very easy quick knit. This sock has the garter short row heel. I just finished the first. I am still not convinced I like this type of heel better then the heel flap, however, it does work nice for variegated yarn.

I also will probably end up doing another Estonian project from Nancy Bush's book. I must say that book has more projects that I like than any other book I own.

Savings Lives

As most of you know my dog of over 13 years passed away last month. It was really weird not having a dog in the house given I have had one for over 20 years. I really wasn't ready for another big commitment, but on the other side I really missed having one around the house.

Yes, I admit, I am a big time dog lover. I did a bit of research on the internet I came across the idea of fostering dogs. This is the taking in of dogs that have no homes and have no one yet to adopt them. You take care of them until they are able to find forever homes. I thought this was a great way to help out animals that needed help, all while being able to have a dog back in the house.

I checked out a few groups that foster, and signed up to the LAB-RESCUE group. It took about a week after submitting an application that I was contacted and interviewed. Yes, they said, I was a good candidate to foster, but they were going to look for a dog that was easy for my first time.

Well, about a week later I got a call that they had a dog for me to foster. I was so excited and made arrangements to meet with them and pick up the dog a few days later. Little did I know what would be there to meet me.

Timbit, as he is called is a 130lb Yellow Lab. I don't think I have ever seen a dog that big. He was huge. His story was that someone found him collapsed on their lawn and called animal control. They picked him up and kept him in the shelter. Given his size, if the rescue didn't step in to help he probably would have been euthanised. I don't know how he got that way but he was just huge. It was difficult for him to walk but he was just so happy to have some attention. He had bed sores on his legs, and the muscles would shake when he stood and eventually he would have to sit again.

I got Tim in the car, and the two of us made are way home. The first time I took him for a walk we were able to get about 20 paces and then he needed to lie down and rest. This is how it went with 4 rests to get to the end of my property line, which is about 70 ft. And then of course 4 more rests to get back. Although he was filled with a ton of love, Tim is in bad shape. Who would let him get like this and then toss him away.

In the first few days I saw that Tim loved to get into the garbage to see what he could find. Of course now it is under lock and key and I am teaching him to start to leave it alone. Not an easy job for a food minded dog.

The first week of fostering has now passed. I have learned so much about patience and understanding. I hope Tim can find a great home, but until then I will love and care for him. Together we will slowly try to get some of the weight off so again Tim can run and play like other dogs.

Moving Forward

The one thing about life is we have a choice whether to keep moving forward or to stop and just keep looking back. I have always been a big believer in the forward choice. I have been really busy these days but thought I should write a bit anyways.

I am still working diligently on my Shetland Shawl and Sock Sampler Blankets. I don't think I have ever had a period of knitting where I worked for so long without coming to the end. That being said I am getting there. I am over half way through the edging on the shawl. Finally I can start to see how it is going to look. It has certainly taken alot more yarn then I though but hope that this last skein will do it. I figure that the edge had 800 stitches and that it required me to knit about 1600 rows to complete. Since on average each row has about 20 stitches in it the edging involves about 32,000 stitches or more. I also figure it takes about 30 minutes to complete the 24 rows in each edging repeat meaining the edge should take in all about 30 hours. Who would have thought. I just have to keep going forward and at some point I am going to get there. God, I hope that I like it when I am finished given the time.

The sampler is coming along. My daughter laughs a bit at the colours but I am using up all my leftover sock yarn which is nice. Of course, it also means buying some more before it will be finished.

My kid finished her first sock and was thrilled. Me too. Of course now she has the dreaded second sock syndrome.

Finally, I have decided that I am going to become a dog foster parent. I really miss having a dog around the house and it's been about 20 years since I have been without. In the morning when I come out of my bedroom it is just so strange to not head down the stairs and a second later feel a dog, whooshing past me, racing to the bottom. And it really is weird to walk into the house and not have that friendly greeting. I think with fostering I can help out other dogs that need a home and yet not jump into a long commitment of owning a dog. I do think that will come but I think I need a bit of time. I am excited about this and am waiting for them to find me a foster dog. Feel like a kid I am so excited about that.

It's almost exam time for my son, so I am sure he is going to be stressed this week and then starts the summer officially. At least for a parent, summer really begins when school ends.

I'll keep you posted to what happens with my shawls and fostering. And of course whether my kid casts on her second sock. Yep, just keep moving forward and everything will be alright.