2017 Year in Review

Pets

I hate leading off with bad news but I must sadly say that I lost Squish this year. He had been ill for a couple of years with thyroid and, more recently, kidney failure but when he suffered a stroke (I think it was a stroke, he showed all the classic symptoms that EMTs tell you to watch for in a human) and was left partly blind and unable to walk I had to let him go. Rest easy my Squishy-cat; I miss you still.

Mouse has adjusted to being the only cat quite well and has embraced her Siamese genes by mewing constantly, mostly when she wants food; which seems to be every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, she has suffered from IBS for most of her life and has now added pancreatitis to her list of ailments. Watching her suffer through a flare-up is horrifying; the poor little cat is clearly in agony when it happens. And there isn't anything the vet can do for her, no medication or anything; all we can do is watch and hope she doesn't get worse.

Eclipse has not had any change in her health status but she does have cancer so I don't know how long she will be with us. Could be years could be months, with cancer you just never know.

Soccer's kidneys have started to fail so he's on medication for that. And he developed a fat lump on his side very quickly just before Christmas, monitoring for now and it has not become hard so far. He also seems to have a depressed appetite, food doesn't seem to interest him much and I had to move him onto a prescription vet diet; at least he'll eat it, he was refusing to eat anything for a couple weeks last spring and he's not a dog that should skip many meals given that he's always been a bit scrawny. For now he's still eating and doesn't seem to be in pain so we're monitoring.

Ahab seems to be that last healthy pet in the house and still loves playing Scent Hurdle. I'm keeping him running only one heat per race otherwise he seems to be really tired before the end of the tournament.

Knitting and other Fiber Arts

And now, let us take a look at the fiber accomplishments of 2017. I spent most of this year unemployed so my production level was high.


First completed project of this year was a pair of socks for my Niece. My Nephew's socks were completed in 2016 for his 2017 birthday so they show up on last year's review.










Followed immediately by a pair of socks for myself.

Then my Calgary Sister texted me a picture and asked if I could make her a hat like the one I had made for my Niece for Christmas 2015 in black or grey. How can one refuse? I called it Space Wurm not because of the colour (a true black) but because I was watching space documentaries while knitting it. Colour would have been a good reason to call it Space Wurm too.




Next, having learned that my Wee Niece's mauve Wonderful Wallaby just barely fit, I made a larger one for her. I have actually seen her wearing this in several video calls with her! Now, that's the way to get yourself hand knits. Or for your mother to get you hand knits. Either way.





Then came a pair of John Deere socks. I had originally intended these as a gift for a friend but one ended up longer than the other by about 1cm so I'm reluctant to gift them. They're waiting for me to make a decision.




Next I completed the first three of a series of Hats. I had some old Wool-Ease in my stash that I could never think what to do with. I can't even remember what I originally bought it for; so I made it up into a bunch of hats. This also lead to an important question - What do you call a group of hats? My personal favourite was a friend's suggestion of a "snuggle of toques".

Then came my UK Vacation. There were many adventures, but of relevance to knitting - while on the train from London to Edinburgh it broke down so I had lots of time to work on a pair of socks. I knit most of a sock while stuck on the train then completed the pair in the lounge of the hotel in Edinburgh. They're in my Scent Hurdle team's colours and I've been wearing them to tournaments, well, in winter that is.







And I finished another entire pair of socks while visiting with my Sister in Aberdeen. These went to my Mom for Mother's Day, which is celebrated in March in the UK so she got them early since we were in the UK and they were finished and it was UK Mother's Day. She did not get a second pair for Canadian Mother's Day but only because I didn't have time, I would have if I'd had time.


Upon returning home the hats continued to drip from my needles, it helps that Wool-Ease is a really chunky yarn, giving me a total of nine in various sizes. I originally intended to give these to charity, except for the medium green which I kept for myself, but they kept getting claimed by those who saw them on the table at the front door. In the end I kept the medium green, the solid red went to my Mom, the large charcoal to my brother-in-law, the blue with red stripe and grey crown to my Niece, the large green to my Nephew, the charcoal with red ribbing to my Sister, the small blue to my Wee Niece, and only three went into the charity box. Still, they all found a good home.

Then I did some experimenting with loom knitting, I would like to do more of this but I'm having problems finding the right tools. I have a feeling this could mean I'm pushing the envelope here. Cool beans. I did a small blanket that I ended up not liking because I chose the wrong cast off and messed up the pattern, this may get frogged yet. Plus, I have since found that double knitting works really well when you are working with two colours, so I really I feel I should be pushing this technique more and using three or more colours.


Next a sweater for me. I wore this lot through the cold snap over Christmas and New Years.











Then socks for my Dad for Father's Day.




Another sweater for my Wee Niece. The colour in the picture is completely wrong, it's actually a light blue. Since its in Scotland taking a replacement picture is tricky.






I enlarged the fish from the "A Recipe for Fish" blanket pattern and made a dish cloth.






Followed by a couple of Aww-Poo Bags. Still working on perfecting the pattern for these as I'm not 100% satisfied with it.

A flaming red 10 Stitch Blanket. My awe for the genius of Frankie Brown continues unabated. No particular plan for this at this time. I'm not worried; there's always someone having a baby.






A blue blanket. I had no recipient in mind when I made this but it worked out well when it went to a friend of my Scottish Sister who had a baby boy this year. The friend lives in Canada so there were no shipping costs incurred.




Some cotton socks for myself as I always seem to run out of summer socks. Not that I wear socks much in summer but it is good to have some.






Next some boring and practical dish cloths. As you can no doubt tell from the Franken-Cloth I was using up old stash to make these.

Another Aww-Poo Bag, this one came out a bit small, so still working on perfecting the design.











Another baby blanket, tentatively thinking of trying to sell these. And if that doesn't work out then I have plenty of baby gifts. There is a diamond pattern in this blanket, you can't see it at all in the picture but I assure you, its there.




Reached into my stash and worked up a baby car-seat blanket. The picture may not show it well but there are holes you can buckle a baby car-seat through. That way the baby can't kick the blanket off. This was this year's only crochet project.





I had purchased some alpaca sock-weight yarn to go into my Mitered Square Sock Blanket but I ended up with too much orange so I used the alpaca (why wouldn't you choose the alpaca?) to make mittens instead. There is a finger hole in the right mitten so you can text or use your GPS without removing your mittens.





Then I finished the first Christmas present, my Nephew's Star Wars Scarf. This was my first try at double-knitting and I have fallen completely in love with the technique; it is awesome. Also, I love this pattern and am still debating doing one for myself. I fear that if I do though I'd better also do one for my brother-in-law.




There was enough alpaca left after the mittens for a headband. It is currently far too cold to wear this.






And Christmas present number two, more double-knitting to make a Horse Scarf for my Niece. The colours in the picture are really off, the background should be light beige, same as in the Star Wars Scarf picture, and the scarf itself is dark purple and mauve.



And then another little blanket, blue with a leaf pattern. This picture is pre-blocking, I suspect the pattern will calm down and it will look much better once I take some steam to it.





And finally one last blanket with a single snowflake pattern but mostly stockinette stitch. Finished this on Dec. 30, although like the blanket above it still needs blocking, so it just squeaked across the wire.






Completed this year:
38 projects
36 knitting projects
9 chunky hats
7 little blankets
7 pairs of socks
3 sweaters
3 dish cleaning apparatus
3 Aww-Poo Bags (experimental)
2 double-knit scarves
1 wurm hat
1 pair of mittens
1 headband
1 loom knit project
1 crochet project

Current Weather
A balmy -20C and sunny. After over a week of -30C temperatures -20C feels positively warm.

The Most Boring Update Ever

There's not much to report on lately, hence the string of Wordless Wednesdays.

Knitting progresses on many projects, including a Christmas gift for my Nephew. But none are really worth taking a picture of at the moment. And my Nephew is getting old enough to be on the internet, although I don't think he knows this blog exists. Still, best not to take chances.

I've decided to use the yarn I bought for a large loom knitting blanket project that didn't work out for a double knitting blanket project instead. (Because I totally needed another project on the go.) I had to abandon the loom knitting as what I wanted to do required a loom too large to use without some kind of stand. I'm letting the stand idea sit in the back of my mind for now. But double knitting produces a very similar fabric, at least for two colours. Also sitting in the back of my mind is whether or not you can double knit with more than two colours in the row. Stripes are obviously possible but I was thinking of multiple colours within the row. Haven't found anything on YouTube but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

The Fence

The fence was replaced last week. The contractor did a good job and it only took them three working days to complete. It did take five calendar days because of a Sunday and a wind storm during construction. Boy did I miss being able to just open the back door and let the dogs out together, for days I had to carefully let them out one at a time on a rope otherwise they'd have been happily off exploring the entire neighbourhood.

old fence gone

new fence

That wind storm really did a number on the fall leaves.

Cat News

In somewhat sadder news Mouse has had a couple of pancreatitis episodes over the past month. The last one was really bad, the poor cat was clearly in a lot of pain. We ended up at the emergency vet after she had vomited half a dozen times and started passing loose bloody stool while lying on her side. She's on some pain and antacid drugs now. She seems OK but it took almost three days before she wanted to eat much. She's still not eating a lot at a time but she is eating a lot of small meals throughout the day.

Current Weather

-1C and cloudy. Fall has truly arrived, there's snow on the back deck.

There has been knitting

Really, there has. Just not a lot of finishing.

Wait... no, there were a couple of things finished. Poo Bag Bags for people with dogs. Still tweaking the pattern for these:

Pattern: Coming soon
Yarn: Cotton Worsted, ball band long gone I'm afraid
Needle: 5.5mm

This might be better on a slightly smaller needle.

Pattern: Coming soon
Yarn: Patons North America Astra (Solids), this is a sport weight yarn
Needle: 3.75mm

I think this should have been done on a slightly larger needle but I couldn't find my 4.0mm or 4.5mm.

A pair of summer socks, mostly cotton, continue to grow although very slowly. They're sitting right by my computer so most progress is being made while waiting for the computer to do something. Like upload pictures.

I really wanted to try some of Frankie Brown's Ten Stitch blanket patterns because they just seem so darn cool, so I'm doing a bright red Ten Stitch Blanket.

And a variegated green Ten Stitch ZigZag. These will both be baby blanket sized and so far I'm loving these patterns.

And more fish for the Fishy Blanky. This will not be the final configuration for the Fish, I just laid them out to take a picture.

Other things are continuing too, a fingering weight sweater for myself, not really needed until fall. And my Scottish Sister's sweater. I swear I'm going to finish it before she leaves!!

I had to abandon the Loom Knitting, it was just too hard on my back and neck because of the way I had to hunch over the loom. It's too bad because I loved the fabric I was getting but one cannot abuse the body too much or the consequences can be painful. Or worse. I'm still trying to think of a way to make a stand for the loom to see if I can resolve this. We'll see what happens.

Current Weather
21C and about to start storming.

Further Developments

So I'm still experimenting with Loom Knitting. I really, really want to use this technique to make blankets. Blankets big enough for a bed spread if possible. I have combined my two looms together to make one that should be large enough for a baby's crib.

Yes, those are horse shoes.

But I'm not sure this can go any larger. It's not really meant to be even this big so I'm having to do some improvising. For one thing I had to use a sponge, just a regular square one you get to clean with, to keep the loom from closing up in the middle until I had some fabric that could keep it open.

I also started using a straw as a yarn guide to make sure I'm keeping my stitches nice and loose. I tried without using a yarn guide and the stitches got too tight to work and I could not keep the middle of the loom open enough to pass the completed fabric down through it even with my helpful sponge.

This project has two strands of worsted weight (4) yarn held together. On a smaller project the fabric was a bit too stiff but it seems OK at this size.

Current Weather
1C with snow showers.

The Snowflake Baby Blanket

I finished the Snowflake Baby Blanket but I don't care much for it. The fabric is wonderful (fabulous, gorgeous!) but it's riddled with mistakes; I missed part of the pattern, I don't much care for the combination of chevrons and snowflakes now that I see them live, and I think I used the wrong bind off so the end looks funny. I'm also not a huge fan of the cast on I used although I could live with that part if it weren't for all the other issues.

Plus it's not really big enough to use for anything. It only measures 61cm (24 inches) wide and 53cm (21 inches) long. Definitely not big enough for much. I may end up frogging it and re-using the yarn for something else. I have plenty left over so I could re-use the yarn and make something of a usable size, with fewer mistakes.

Pattern: charted it myself
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Solids & Marls in Flannel and White
Gauge: 12 stitches and 10 rows = 10 cm
Needle: Double Loom Knit

Remember the hats?

These hats.

Well, my Calgary Sister and her family came over for dinner a few weeks ago when they were still sitting on the dining room table and they all decided they'd like a hat. So, four more found good homes. There are now just three waiting for a home. I think I'll hold onto them until my Scotland Sister comes to visit, my Wee Niece may like one. I don't think any of the ones left will fit an adult; they're more of a child's size. After that, the remainder will go into a clothing donation run.

It's always good to thing when your hand knits have gone to a good home.

Started working on a new double loom-knitting project, I have done one in the past, a blanket for my Wee Niece. And I quite like the technique, especially for some complex colour work on a blanket. I ran into a few things I didn't like though, one being gauge. They heavy worsted/aran yarn (number 5 on commercial acrylics) was almost heavy enough but not quite; I was never really satisfied with the gauge; it was just a bit too loose. I don't like things too loose, they snag and wear out quickly. Plus, with this technique you can see the strands that are being carried along if the fabric is too loose to hide them. There's a happy ending for the blanket though, my Scottish Sister likes it for my Wee Niece's pram ("stroller" in North America) so I guess that worked out in the end. But I wanted to try again.

It turns out there isn't a lot of information about loom knitting out there. I don't think it's nearly as popular as regular knitting, and what is out there did not cover much about gauge. I did learn that when double loom knitting gauge is determined by a combination of how far apart the two lines of pegs are and how far apart the pegs are from each other. I suspect how tightly you wrap the pegs will matter too but perhaps not as much as with regular knitting. But I, so far anyway, have not found out much about how to determine gauge. With regular knitting there's so much out there you can get lost in it.

So, I decided to experiment with gauge, this is never really a bad idea. The first blanket was a heavy worsted/aran weight yarn and the blanket is in Scotland so I don't have a sample, I do have more of the yarn so I may work up a sample up at a later date. In the meantime, I worked up a quick sample using a worsted weight (4) yarn and as you can see it's hideous:

It doesn't help that the picture is blurry but you get the idea.

You can see right through the fabric and the ends are pulling out even though it's done nothing but sit on the back of the couch and look ugly. I shudder to think what would happen if it was used for something. Urgh. 

By the way, the watering can and the "GO" patterns came from a book called "Tapestry Crochet, 64 Playful Patterns for Children" by Renate Kirkpatrick.

So next I tried using two strands of worsted held together. This was much better, the carried strands are hidden for the most part, although the high contrast of the colours I used does still mean you can see them a bit. This is a bit of the nature of this technique, I suspect that unless your fabric is so thick it can stand up on it's own you will always be able to see high contrast colours behind the fabric. With two strands of worsted the fabric was a little too stiff for a blanket; although it might make a nice floor rug or pet mat. (Yes, I switched to yellow when I ran out of cream. Bite me. This was about gauge and I wasn't about to run out and buy more of a yarn I was trying to get rid of, I was stash-bustin' for this experiment.)

Given that two strands of worsted produced a fabric that was just a little too stiff for a blanket I decided to try two strands of DK weight (number 3 on commercial acrylics) held together. This turned out to be my Goldilocks gauge for loom-knitted blankets on this loom. Not to tight, not too loose; just right. I love how this fabric is turning out.

I did have to buy more yarn for this part of the experiment and I was not at all sure how to calculate how much I'd need (not much on that out there either) so I decided to get (I hoped) enough to make up a baby blanket. In the end I think I bought about twice what I'll end up needing. Oh well, it was on sale and I can always make another blanket.

At some point I will try with a bulky weight yarn, number 6 on commercial acrylics, and see what happens with it. But that won't happen until I finish the current blanket. The pattern for this blanket is mine(ish), I took some free snowflake patterns and combined them, then added some chevrons and a border, to make the blanket.

The next issue is that the knitting loom I have, a Martha Stewart Knitting Loom is not wide enough for an afghan or a bedspread or something like that. In the picture above the blanket is about 25 inches wide, that's just barely wide enough for a small baby blanket. I bought a second loom (Micheal's sent me a coupon) and will try combining the two to make a wider board but I'm a bit worried about doing that. This board is only meant to be about 2 feet wide so making it wider may make it too awkward to use and there are no stands available for these, or the plastic may not be strong enough over that distance. Combining two looms will still only give me about 4 feet of width and I'd like to be able to do something 5-7 feet wide to make a blanket you can really cuddle up with or put on a bed as a bedspread.

Another option would be to make panels and sew them together. While this is certainly an option I like the idea of one single, wide panel to make the entire blanket. I will try the combined length and see how/if it works before I come to my final conclusion.

There are longer looms out there which are bent into a figure 8 shape but they're not really intended for double-knitting. I have found some videos on YouTube on adapting them for double knitting but the one's I've looked at have the pegs spaced further apart than my current loom so I'd need to check the gauge all over again. And I may end up with something too thick or heavy to really use.

I fear that, in the end, I may have to try my hand at making a knitting loom. This would be way, way outside my usual skill set so I'm not at all sure it would or could happen. I suppose I could always ask my Dad for help... I'd need to borrow his tools for something like that anyway.

Scent Hurdle
There was a Scent Hurdle tournament on Saturday. Ahab ran with our regular team in the morning and with another team in the afternoon. He did fantastically well. I even managed to talk him through picking up one of his barbells (another dog picked up the wrong one and dropped it in the race lane) and taking it to the box, he didn't really need to do this but he had picked up the barbell and wouldn't drop it, then dropping it and picking up his other barbell (which the boxloader had placed in the box after the other dog removed his) and bringing back the correct barbell. Wow. I know he's smart, but just; wow. I'm still amazed I was able to get him to do that. I really wish someone had been taking video of that race.

Easter
Not much happened for Easter around here, my Red Deere Sister and her husband came for dinner and we had ham on Saturday. That's about it.

Current Weather
Mostly cloudy, 10C.

Slow

It's been a slow knitting week.

Made progress on my sweater, not that it looks like much.

Sweater

 Made progress on my sister's socks, not that it looks like much. Need to make better progress on these.

Socks

My Wee Niece's Dragon has a tail, not that it's attached yet. Now he just needs arms, legs, wings, and spikes.

Dragon

 And I got a new toy. Should be good for making nice warm afghans. Suspect it's going to require pretty thick yarn.

Knitting Loom

Also indulged in a new book "Knit Stitch Dictionary" by Debbie Tomkies.

Hmmm, I guess it wasn't so much slow this week as I just didn't complete any projects.

2015 in Review

I thought I'd take a look back at some of the things that happened in 2015.

First up, Squish. His thyroid packed it in early in the year and he must now take medication for the rest of his life. 1 pill twice a day. Makes vacations tricky. Hopefully he'll be with me for many more years.

Squish

Next up, Ahab. In February he had to leave Scent Hurdle due to his missing paw and it took until December to get him back. This involved a major change to the rules of the game. He's back in action now though!

Whistler, Oliver, and Ahab at his last Scent Hurdle tournament of 2015

Continuing with health issues I had a major gallbladder attack early in the year which ended with it's removal in November. While I was getting that done Soccer had the worst ear infection ever which took over two months to clear up. I think that's it for heath crises in 2015.

Now for the fiber stuff!

Seamless Red

Fist project finished in 2015, although it was started in 2014 was a little red sweater for my Wee Niece, completed before I even new she was a Niece not a Nephew. It's sized for a toddler not an infant.

Grey Baby Blanket

Then a baby blanket for the same kid. The picture doesn't show the texture in it at all. I'm told Wee Niece quite liked this blanket as it's very soft. My sister likes it too because it's acrylic and easily washed. The grey yarn came from a commercial sweater of mine that fell apart and I scavenged the yarn for a future project. Well used I'd say. The yellow was pulled from the stash, a leftover from another baby blanket made years ago. I was unemployed while making this one, hence everything coming from the stash.

Cell Phone Case

Then I made myself a cell phone case. I used it for a while but found it inconvenient to have to fish my phone out of two pockets.







I found I needed something to hold treats for the boys so I made myself a bag to carry dog training treats in. It fastens to the belt loop on my pants.

Dog Treat Bag

Niece Socks

Followed by socks for my not-so-wee Niece. There were definitely socks for my Nephew completed around this time too but apparently I didn't put them in Ravelry or take pictures.



Then Wee Niece got an adorable little overall that ended up fitting her for about two weeks. Kids grow so dang fast at first.

Pepita

Got selfish and made some socks to keep my own toes warm. Actually, I don't think this counts as selfish. I need socks too after all.

Super warm socks

Mom and sweater

Followed by a sweater for my Mom. She wears it lots, which is really cool.

Knocked off a quick pair of booties to go with the overalls for the Wee Niece. Feedback regarding these says they stay on quite well, Wee Niece wasn't able to kick them off immediately.

More socks, this time Mother's Day socks for Mom.

Eventually, I got around to making another something for myself. A tank-top for hiking. Note to self: go hiking more so you can use this.

Papita II

I got worried about the little overalls not fitting the Wee Neice, with some subsequent justification I might add as she was a big baby, so I made a larger version of overalls for her. Although at this point I still didn't know she was a girl.

Had to interrupt all the baby knitting to make some Father's Day socks for my Dad.

Father's Day Socks

Then straight back to baby knitting for some booties to match the second overalls.

Found an adorable pattern for toy mice for the cats so Squish and Mouse got a catnip filled treat. Where they are now I couldn't say, under furniture I suspect.

 

Returning to baby knitting I couldn't resist making a hat to complete the set for the Wee Niece.

Sister socks.

Decided that a new mom might need some new socks too. The colour in this picture is all wrong, it's the same yarn as the Father's Day socks. 

Socks for BiL

And if a new mom needs new socks surely a new dad does too. Made these for my Scottish BiL. The colour in this picture is much closer to reality than the socks for my sister above.

Experimented with some Star Booties but ended up not liking them because I chose the wrong cast on. It's a neat pattern but I need to think about the cast on.

A$$ Juice Cozy

Got caught up in a record keeping mistake and ended up making an A$$ Juice Cozy for work. Modeled on a wine bottle here. Completed with only three days warning.

Another blanket for my Wee Niece. This time a Loom Knitting experiment. I like this technique I can see ways to do some really intricate colour work.

Loom Knitting

A random pair of socks that ended up going to Mom because I got caught up with baby stuff and ran out of time to make her a pair for her birthday in December. Good thing I had these in reserve.

Mossy

Then something for myself again, a green vest done in double moss stitch. Don't think I'll be doing that again in a hurry. Worked out though as I wear it a lot.

More baby stuff, this time for a different baby. The overalls and booties went to a co-worker for his baby. When I met his girlfriend at the office Christmas party she said she quite likes them.

 

Another vest for myself. This one from the same yarn as Mom's sweater.

Gallbladder

Because I had requests to bring in my gallbladder after it was removed I knitted one as it turns out they don't let you take your organs back after they've been removed. Imagine that. It's presently in a jam jar on my desk at work.

Christmas hats for the Canadian Niece and Nephew. I think these went over well as they wore them home after opening them.

 

And another a pair of socks for myself. In fact, I'm wearing them as I write this.

And to finish off, a final pair of socks for Dad for his birthday in January. Didn't notice how different the two skeins were when I started and ended up having to rip out the first sock back to the heel in order to make the heel and toes in the second skein.

Wow, 33 projects finished in one year. I sure hope I don't have to exceed this in 2016.

And I guess that pretty much sums up 2015. Looking forward to a great 2016.

Current Weather

Mostly sunny and 1C.