Brown Blues

Who knew trying to buy brown wool would be so difficult!

I went to my favourite yarn store to buy Cascade 220 Superwash for the sweater for the M4A Grad. I need about 5 balls at least, 6 by to be on the safe side. Unfortunately, LYS only had 4 balls.

I called another store I've never been too, but was willing to drive up to it. They had the right colour, but only 3 balls. I recorded the dye lot to see if it was the same as my favourite LYS. No such luck.

I talked about the difficulty during knit night and learned about Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool. So today after work I picked up 3 balls of Brown Heather. Looks really nice and feels wonderful.

I'm working on the gauge. But wouldn't you know it, I can't find a 4.5 mm needle. I'm sure I've multiples of that size around but I can't put my hand on them. Okay, I tell a fib, I actually have a 16 inch, but I need a bigger one to knit the sleeves in the round.

Velynda by Chic Knits

The other project I'm going to knit in Cascade 220 is Velynda by Chic Knits. I bought the pattern at Mary's Yarn in the late fall. I love the gentle shaping of the sweater.

I knew I was going to use Cascade 220 that was the reason I chose the pattern as it would work with Cascade 220. I couldn't decide which colourway to use. At one point I was on the porch of the store with about 6 different skeins trying to see them in the natural light. In the end I chose colour 9454, Rainier Heather.

I will be knitting a gauge square later today. I won't be knitting this sweater up until I finish the M4A sweater, but I am looking forward to knitting this one.

Mittens for Akkol Sweater

Last week, while on holiday, I learned about the Mittens for Akkol project. I can't believe that I never learned about this group during my years of waiting to travel to adopt my son.

As I was reading, a flurry of posts came up about the Grad colours had been posted. I investigated and learned the group knits gifts for the 'students/orphans' who graduate this coming spring. Nanci, the coordinator just returned from Akkol, Kazakhstan where she meets the grads to be, measures the students and elicits their colour choices. Each grad received a sweater, hat, mitts, scarf, thin pair of socks, and thick pair of socks. Reading about this project moved me to tears.

Many of the children in the orphanages in Kazakhstan are not orphans in the sense of parent-lessness. They live in the orphanage, or Regional Boarding School as the 4 year old to 16 year old homes are often called, but are still connected to family in some limited way. Because of this connection they are never eligible for adoption. In addition, many children come into care above the age of 4 and few families chose to adopt older children (me included). And other children, though eligible to be adopted never do get adopted and live their entire lives in the orphanage system. Whatever the reason they are in care, or however they came to be in the Regional Boarding School, it is definite they will not be leaving to a healthy, happy family with lots of cash to spend on their needs. Many leave to fend for themselves. The idea of these students leaving with a bundle of garments hand knit personally for them is a precious thing.

As I've been wanting to do something to support the children still living in the orphanages in Kaz, and that I love to knit, this is the perfect project for me.

Now I don't have a lot of time, but this is something that seems so very important to me, so I've chosen to knit a sweater for a boy. He chose browns, both light and dark, and dark gray as his colours. I've been checking out Ravelry for a pattern and finally tonight I settle on Todd Gocken's Brigade. I love it's streamlined look with the 3 X 2 ribbing up the sleeves, and I really like the offset zipper on the neck. The sweater reminds me of the style of clothes I saw on the young men in Kazakhstan.

The sweater is knit in Cascade 220. I'll do it in the Superwash version in the Chocolate colour as it will work great with his colour choices. I have some Cascade 220 for another project, so I can do my gauge, I believe both sweaters have the same gauge. I'll be out to buy the wool later this week.

I believe the finished sweater has to be sent out in early May, so I'll have to get started and finished quickly. My goal is to have most of the sweater finished by the end of March Break.

Ha ha ha Post Number 5

I've got nothing to blog about except for the fact that by writing this post I will have more blog posted than in the last 2 years. So I just had to make a post. Sorry for wasting your reading time. LOL.

I Need Another Cast On

There are days when I have an obsession to cast on a new project. Yesterday was one of those days.

I decided that I have a beautiful blue sleeveless shirt that I would like to wear to work. However it is winter in Canada, so a sleeveless shirt isn't going to work without something to keep my arms warm. So I decided I needed a shrug.

I went through all my magazines to look at what shrug patterns where in the house. I found a nice one designed by Joanne Turcotte in the September 2007 Creative Knitting called the Comfy Shoulder Shrug.

Great, now to find some medium weight yarn. I had been knitting a cowl that I had decided years ago to frog with some Kertzer Northern Chunky in cranberry cocktail. It was the right weight, so I cast on and started knitting. By the time I had 3 inches I knew this was the wrong yarn. I don't think I'd be able to bend my arms if I'd finished the shrug.

The search was back on. I also had some Sandnes Mini Alpakka in lilac. The alpaca is fingering weight, so I figured I could double it.

So far it is working well. I have about 3 inches done and I'm anxious to keep going. I want to see if I can get this finished before the end of the week, or before the colour and measurements for the grad in Kaz is posted on-line. I'm sure once it is posted I will want to start that immediately.

Oh, I'm not sure if the shrug will go with the shirt that sparked the need for a shrug. I decided I could always buy a new shirt in a colour that would work with the shrug.

January Flurries - Not the Snow Kind

So far this month

• I've cast on 2 pairs of socks.
• And then I've pulled yarn to cast on a couple of hats, a pair of tights and a sweater.
• I've cast on the front for Denis' blue vest.
• I have a sweater for myself that I started in October that needs to be finished.
• And I have two sweaters for my friend's daughters to complete.
• Found out at Knit Night that there is a baby on the way - that calls for a new cast on.
• And I've just signed up to knit a sweater for a boy in Kazakhstan as a graduation gift for when he leaves the orphanage later this year.

I was a little worried about how much I was starting until I read the Yarn Harlot's blog yesterday. It seems to be a recurring January theme for the Yarn Harlot, and if I think about it, I do it too.
Anyone else in the midst of a January flurry of cast-ons?

Finished Lately

I was wondering what I've finished lately and realized that I've done a couple of small projects. I actually knit another hat for my sister but see I don't have any photos of it yet.

The first is a cowl. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the finished product. The cowl was for my friend Loretta' birthday. Her birthday was on the 18 of October, I finished it in time, but didn't see her until Halloween when I was able to give her the gift,.

Pattern: honey cowl by Madlinetosh
Yarn: 2 skeins of Studioloo Wink Wink Worsted in Heirloom Tomato
Needles: 5mm
Started: September 22, 2011

Finished: October 16, 2011

For my sister Kathryn I knit this set. I've sewn her name to the outside back of both the hat and cowl hoping that they don't get lost that way. The yarn lived up to its name as there was enough to do both the hat and the cowl from one ball. I have anther ball in a pink colour way that I am looking for a hat pattern for it.

Pattern:Herminone's Cable and Bobble Hat by Lauren Kent

Yarn: 1 ball of King Cole Big Value DK in purple
Needles:
Start: June 25th, 2011
Finished: September 7th, 2011

Pattern: honey cowl by Madelinetosh
Yarn: left overs from the hat above
Needles: 5.5 mm
Started: September 7, 2011

Finished: September 22, 2011

I was inspired at the Show and Tell Mary's Yarn store hosted in October to start knitting a sweater for myself. I hope to finish one soon.

New Year Resolutions

I am really still here and I'm still knitting, just don't seem to get on the computer to update this blog.

So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to knit more and to update this blog on a regular basis. Note I haven't said what that means, I just don't know how regular will be regular. I've been back to work since the end of October and my son and I have had colds, pink eye and the flu since I returned to work. I put Denis to bed and I'm soon in bed myself. I'm determined to give myself at least 30 minutes of knitting every evening. Oh, I didn't mention I'm back in the classroom and I have a Senior Kindergarten /Grade 1 combined class. And my SK's stay all day. Truly it is just 2 of my little SK girls that keep me hoping all day, they are a true challenge, ergo my exhaustion at the end of the day.

I marked the end of 2011 by casting off the back of Denis' new wool vest. Later this month I'll be registering Denis for Junior Kindergarten and in September he'll begin school. All the Catholic schools in Toronto now have a navy and white dress code, so I'm knitting him a navy vest to get him prepared. I'll mark the beginning of 2012 by casting on the front later today.

Denis' day care is in the elementary school he'll attend. I love the idea that he'll just walk across the hall to his class at the beginning and end of his day. I hope to get him into the morning Kindergarten class.

Pembroke Vest

By: Kirsten Kapur

The rest of the information is on my Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com/projects/mishmee02/pembroke-vest. I've name the project Ready for School, mainly as the knitting of this is mentally preparing me for Denis going to school. Denis has only been home 10 months and I'm already registering him for Kindergarten, wow!

Oh, please excuse the photo, I've taken better. I dropped my lovely camera and damaged the screen on the back. It still takes photos but I have to guess as to the composition. Next week I'll take the camera out to get it repair.