Wow! I have been lax about this blogging thing. Do I need an excuse other than we have been painting the house while we are not out backpacking?
On the knitting side of things, I finished a summer top for myself in a turquoise blue (see picture), a different summer top for my mom-in-law in a light yellow (didn't take a picture yet), and a ankle length pair of socks for myself in Kroy sock yarn.
I just got my Socks that Rock heavyweight sock yarn and am working on a pair of hiking socks also for myself. (No, I'm not greedy!) It was my hope to have one pair of hiking socks complete and yarn for a second pair to be worked on while we were camping, as if that is possible when your hands are covered in Deet and trail grime.
I did get a brand new camera for my birthday so I will be able to take more pictures to post on here. Whee!!
I'm still trying to figure out how to fancy up this page. I have my Olympic gold medal which I'd like to add so, if anyone can help me out on how to add things like my gold medal, etc. please YELL.

Now that I have a brand new computer, I can get back at this blogging thing. Another reason for my silence is that I had been working on knitting Rogue as a birthday surprise for my daughter. I had completed the body and was working on the hood when my daughter and her fiance came by to take me on a day trip to Saltspring Island. Rogue had been hidden away and I brought my Moebius scarf along so I could complete it.
On the way home DD asked if she could please borrow the pattern for Rogue since I wasn't going to be using it (or so she thought). She was going to be purchasing yarn soon so that she could work on it a.s.a.p. Well, I had to come clean then and admit that I was using the pattern and was making Rogue for her. She was delighted. Needless to say that Rogue will not be her "surprise" birthday present. I'll find something else to knit for her instead. (No Lisa. Not a knitted wedding gown!)
On the topic of the Moebius scarf, I used just over 2 balls of Noro Kureyon using a pattern from Cat Bordhi's "A Treasury of Magical Knitting". Now that my camera has come back from the shop I'll be able to take a picture to post here.
I wish that I had had a camera before I gave my Eris sweater away. It wasn't until it was gone that I realised that I did have an old digital camera stashed away in my closet. It is a Sony Mavica, one that uses floppy disks to store the images.
I will promise to try to update my blog more faithfully from now on. If anyone could tell me just how to put those fancy buttons and links along the side, I'd love to hear from you.

I have done it! I was panicking on Wednesday morning but was able to complete one sleeve that day. Yesterday I spent the day on my butt watching movies, drinking tea and knitting... of course. I was able to finish the second sleeve just before I had to peel out the door to get to work.
This morning I relaxed and then finally sewed the underarm seams together. Then it hit me! My camera started acting up when we went out for a hike last Sunday so I brought it in to have it fixed. I called my mom in a panic and she said that her camera wasn't working either but... sometimes she could take ONE picture. The blessed lady (Mother Mary) came over with her camera which did work and took the one picture. She emailed it back to me (since a certain child of mine has my card reader at her house) and the picture came out really well.
Yeah!

Well, I did start to knit Eris AFTER the flame was lit. I had bought "Wool from the Andes" from Knitpicks and had already done the sampling. I ended up deciding on using 3 mm needles for the collar and 4 mm for the rest of the sweater.
On Friday afternoon I grabbed myself a snack and sat myself outside in the sunshine. Knitting went well... for the first 28 rows of the collar that is, before I figured that the tension was making the collar look a wee bit like cardboard. I grabbed another ball of yarn and a set of 3.25 mm needles and swatched again. The tension looked a bit better so I frogged and started over.
I had also rented a movie (the Constant Gardener) but found it was impossible to concentrate on the graphs involved in Eris so I reverted back to working on some socks.
I was able to get some work done on Eris on Saturday but not as much as I had hoped.
This morning I got serious about working on Eris and finished the right side of the collar. I was a bit confused about the instructions for picking up stitches to knit the left side and am not too happy about the way the join looks but will forge on. Once I find my 4.5 mm needles I'll swatch for the body of the sweater. (LISA!!! I want my knitting needles back... please).
If anyone else out there is working on Eris and wants to compare notes, give me a shout.

I had a momentary panic attack. I had purchased 9 balls of yarn for the Knitting Olympics project. This amounted to 99o yards. Earlier this evening I read the pattern and thought that it said that the pattern called for 975 METERS, which would have been 1066 YARDS or 1 ball more than what I had.
DH and I went for a walk and on getting in the door I thought I would give one more glance over the pattern to see just how many balls I would be short. On re-reading I found that it did say "975 YARDS so, I may be pushing it with 990 yards but it isn't as bad as I had thought.
So, for those of you who had read the previous post (which I just edited and removed) put it down to lack of attention on my part.

Sorry about not updating the blog! I got carried away with cutting a ton of old jeans into strips for my rya rag rug. There are still about 5 pairs of old jeans waiting to be cut up.
On Saturday I had to go out on a call-out with SAR but I did manage to get some work done on my sock after the search.
Today I finally signed up with Team Canada for the Knitting Olympics. It is hard to believe that there are 2500 knitters taking part from all over the world. Incredible!
Once I figure out how to add the "Knitting Olympics" and the "Team Canada" buttons to my blog I'll be happy. I'm sure that it is fairly simple. I haven't had time to sit down and figure it out yet.
(Lisa?????? HELP!)

Work gets in the way

I had to work yesterday and did a lot of reading as well. Some knitting was done as well but I figured I could take a break to catch up on some reading and housecleaning after work.
I've almost finished one of my felted slippers. These are to replace my old felted slippers that are slowly wearing out. DH and DD both suggested that I darn the old ones, which I may yet do. The newer ones can be used by guests until the old ones are beyond repair. One thing about felted slippers is that visitors love them.
Another future project will be to reknit a gansey for my DD. I am not sure if it was me or if the instructions in Beth Brown-Reinsel's book "Knitting Ganseys" was misleading. I took my daughter's measurements and knitted a test swatch. Armed with all this information I created my graph and started knitting. (That was the easy part).
Once all was done and the loose ends were all darned in I presented my daughter with the completed sweater. Hmmmm, it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy to tight on her as well as too short in both the arms and the body. It fit me perfectly though which caused my daughter to wonder if I had intended to make it for myself all along.
I guess I should have allowed extra inches for a looser fit. The sleeves and body could have been dealt with as I worked on it.
Now I have to frog the entire sweater as well as a scarf I was knitting with the leftover yarn. Maybe I should be doing the gansey instead of Eris for the Knitting Olympics. Hmmm, something to consider.

Wow! my first day of blogging.

I will lay the blame for this blog squarely on Stephanie (sorry Steph) and the Knitting Olympics. Hey, I need a place to put those cool buttons once I officially join this mad event, and once I decide on which team I'd like to represent. (This was a toughie! Coffee or wine?)

Besides being an obsessive knitter I'm also a weaver although my gigantuous loom currently has a baby blanket warp draped over the front beam. Every time I wander into the "weaving room" the warp cries out to me, begging me to finish warping it at least.
My husband, builder of my fine loom (a 60" countermarch) also built my weaving room but, it is in a windowless part of the "dungeon".

On the knitting side: I have just completed another pair of socks, this one was done using Regia yarn. I've never tried Regia before but saw the cool color and decided I HAD to make socks with it.

Aren't they cool! My daughter was hoping that they wouldn't match (unmatched socks drive me up the wall) so that she could have them.
Fooled ya Lisa!

Eventually I'll be sure to post a picture of the loom on here, maybe with the completed baby blanket on it. (that will be a chilly day in hell)!