Socks

 The were issues with the first sock in this pair; it just did not want to be and sat unknitted for days on end. Then when I finally forced myself to finish it I completed the second in only two days. Sometimes knitting is weird.

These will be heading to Scotland for my Wee Niece once they're dry. Not sure if they'll make it in time for Christmas but if not they can be a nice January surprise.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: Knit Picks Hawthorne Hand Painted Reel in Road trip stripes
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

Current Weather
-11C and partly cloudy.

Socks

 Socks continue to fall from the needles. Another pair for myself. I may have to stop soon because I've got significantly more socks than I can wear in a week and I'm running out of space in my sock drawer.

Yeah......Who am I kidding? This is not going to stop me from knitting socks for myself or anyone else for that matter.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Gradient Duo in Stardust
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

Other News

I think I need new mittens, my hands are feeling the cold a lot more this year than I remember from past winters. Maybe it's the new blood pressure drugs; I don't know. Anyway, the mittens I've used the most for the past several years are made from fingering weight yarn, hang on here the are: Podster Mitts. And they just don't seem warm enough this year. Fortunately I placed a huge Knit Picks order last week, mostly for sweaters, but there should be enough leftovers for mittens and hats. Maybe even a cowl, not sure about that though.

Current Weather
4C and sunny. Feels like winter out there.

First Fall Socks

 The Summer of Socks is over but the socks continue. This yarn comes in three long colour changes but I decided I wanted to break up the yellow in these socks so I made the cuff, heel, and toe yellow in each sock.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: Knit Picks Knit Picks Stroll Gradient Duo in Rocket Ship
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

Ahab
Ahab continues to recover from a lumpectomy last week. He's stuck wearing a t-shirt (my Dad sacrificed a t-shirt for the dog) for a few more days at least. It's better than the cone from last time but he still isn't a fan.

Current Weather
2C and cloudy. Fall broke yesterday, it had been really nice for weeks, but on Thanksgiving Monday I found snow on the deck in the morning. It melted by late afternoon but still..... 

And this morning the air was distinctly frosty when Ahab and I went for our morning meander around the block.

Last of the Summer of Socks

The first day of Fall is on Tuesday, two days away, so these are the last of the Summer of Socks. In total there were eight pairs of socks in the Summer of Socks. That's actually a lot of socks. And if I go back to the first of the year I have knit 12 pairs of socks. And with more to come, it's looking like a productive sock year.

Love the colour of these, which works out well since they're for me.

Pattern: Improvised basic sock
Yarn: Cascade Yarns ® Heritage Prints in 58 Twelve
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

Health
I continue my efforts with the treadmill, I'm up to half an hour a day at 3 miles per hour most days; there are shorter days and slower days but for the most part. Not much to most perhaps but a good effort for me.

Current Weather

17C with periodic clouds. The wind shifted today and blew some of the chocking smoke from California, Washington, and Oregon away. It's expected to shift back in the next day or so bringing more smoke here.

Socks

 It's not quite Fall yet, and more importantly it still feels summery even though the light is now distinctly autumnal, so these count towards the Summer of Socks. Not sure if the next pair will make it under the wire or will be part of the Autumn of Socks. Assuming the sock mojo continues.

The black dye ran a bit on my hands as I was working the toes, it actually looked a bit like my fingers were rotting off but fortunately I'm not diabetic so I did not panic when I noticed it. I will rinse them really well and wash them to hopefully get the dye out before they dye my brother in law's toes black. I must remember to warn him about the possibility.

These duo cakes do not create identical socks, or at any rate, the two colourway's I've worked with both have not. Both this pair and the pink socks for my Niece definitely stripped differently. I'm not worried about it, fraternal socks are fine as far as I'm concerned, but if you're expected matching socks from this yarn you might be disappointed.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Gradient Duo in Pet Rock
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

Health

I continue to engage with my Frenemy the Treadmill, we're up to half an hour most days. Feeling fitter than I have for a long time so calling that a win.

Current Weather
23C and cloudy. High today was around 27C.

The Summer of Socks Continues

Another pair of socks drips from the needles in preparation for ...... wait for it ..... winter. But we're not talking about winter yet so here are the socks.

Pattern: Basic Sock

Yarn: Knit Picks Hawthorne Hand Painted Reel in Skyline Stripes

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows

I think these will go to my sister in Scotland. Which obviously means I also need a pair for my brother in law and my Wee Niece. Oh, the trials and tribulations of a knitter.

Current Weather

21C and partly cloudy. Today's high was over 30C. HEAT WAVE!

Socks

 It's been a summer of socks so far. After finishing these I immediately cast on a pair for my sister in Scotland, which means I will have to do socks for my brother-in-law and my Wee Niece too. Oh, the agony! :-)

Pattern: Basic Improvised Sock

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Gradient Duo in BFF

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Health

Managed a new personal best with my Frenemy the Treadmill of 30 minutes. Felt like I could have gone longer but I don't want to hurt myself. I turned 44 earlier this week and exercise and me have not been pals for years; got to take it slow.

Current Weather

19C and sunny. Bit of  a break from the heat, I just hope this doesn't mean summer is over.

Socks

Finished my Dad's birthday socks, which are not needed until January, Mom's were finished a couple of weeks ago. These did not start off well because I cast on far too many stitches and had to frog the entire first sock back to the very beginning after turning the heel. Urgh. The colour is really cool, it appears to be a light grey in most light but sometimes it looks blue. There was also a white stripe just as I started the second sock. Meh, it adds character.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock

Yarn: Lang Yarns Twin Soxx in 216

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Also played a bit of Yarn Chicken with these socks, this what was left.

Ahab

The old pooch had his annual physical last week and the blood work came back as the picture of health except for signs of some arthritis, not unexpected given his age. Excellent stuff for a 14 year old life-long tri-pawed.

Health

My Word of the Year for 2020 is "Health" (bizarrely appropriate, right?) however, I haven't really done much of anything with it. I didn't want to make a New Year's Resolution because no one keeps those, so I chose a word to concentrate on instead. Then promptly did nothing. Well that's not quite true, I had a mammogram (Mom's breast cancer diagnosis was a terrible wake-up call) but that was technically in December. Then I found out my blood pressure had spiked so I got on some medication to get it under control. 

But, I have been lacking in exercise. Mostly because I hate exercise. However, I have been making myself go on the treadmill for 15 minutes every day for the past week.  Some days I even manage 20 minutes and today I noticed that my distance was a little bit further which I suppose means I've been going faster since I still stopped after 20 minutes. 15 minute is what I plan to do though because I can handle 15 minutes mentally. And so far this seems to be as much a mental thing as physical, although I haven't exercised much for many years so, yeah; start slowly. Here's hoping I can keep it up.

Current Weather

28C and partly cloudy. HOT! HOT! HOT! We seem to be getting some actual summer weather. Sweet! Even my home office in the basement is getting warm.

Socks

Finished a pair of socks in record time, only 8 days from cast on to cast off*. I didn't bother looking it up but this could be one of my fastest pairs ever. It helps that the yarn is gorgeous. They don't quite match but they're very close.

These are for my Mom for her birthday; which isn't until December so I'm way ahead this year.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock

Yarn: Pro Lana Golden Socks Fjord 4-Fach in 189

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather

20C and partly cloudy before noon. All of next week is supposed to be bordering on hot.

* I ended up looking it up and I've finished socks in as little as 4 days so these are no where near a record.

Death by a Thousand Socks

What I thought would be a nice rust colour turned out to be the colour of dried blood. They're still nice socks just a bit unfortunate in colour.

Pattern: Basic Sock Pattern

Yarn: Rico Design Superba Multi Melange Superwash 4 fädig in 004

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather

17C and mostly cloudy. Rained for most of today.

Socks

Finally finished these poor socks. They got lost in a bag for weeks and I only found them this morning, it was a shame they got lost as I finished them up all in one day after finding them. The picture doesn't show it but I used a different yarn for the heels of the socks; I liked how the yarn was striping so much I didn't want to break it up when I got to the heel so I used some plain black for the heels.

Pattern: Basic Sock / Improvised

Yarn: Berroco Sox in 1448 & Knit Picks Stroll Solids, Heathers & Twists in Black

Needle: 2.5mm

Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather

17C and cloudy. Will probably rain soon.

Socks

More socks fresh off the needles. Just my usual basic sock pattern done with a neat colourway.

Pattern: basic sock
Yarn: Rico Design Superba susu in 005
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Pandemic
Currently working from home and leaving as infrequently as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Outlook seems grimmer everyday; health, economy all grim.

Current Weather
-3C and mostly cloudy.

Socks

More socks have dripped from the needles. Love it when that happens, I didn't seem to have much sock mojo last year* but so far this year seems better; these didn't even take a full month to finish. Andy they came out a lot more identical than I was really trying for. Very odd.

Keeping these for myself, it's hard to see in the picture but there's a sparkly thread spun through the yarn. I deliberately made these a little shorter than normal because I'm a little worried that the sparkly thread will be itchy.

Pattern: improvised basic sock
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Lucky Sparkle in 9484
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Current Weather
-1C and clear. It's just a tease, no real signs of Spring yet; the groundhog lied. Again. It happens most years. Not sure why we keep letting the little liar keep prognosticating.

* I looked back through my records and it looks like my sock production last year was bang-on average. No idea why it feels like I hardly finished any.

Weekly WIP Update

Yeah, so; these aren't exactly happening every week but there's only so many times you can repeat, "not much has changed so I didn't bother to take a picture" without being boring to the point of tears.

First up this week are some socks, sort of spring like colours but still mostly wool since this is Canada after all.

Next up are a couple of cancer caps for my Mom, I'd like her to have a few to choose from. Hopefully she doesn't get so sick from the chemo that she doesn't care what hat she's wearing.

 

And my gray vest and blue sparkly sweater have come out of sleep mode and gotten a little longer.

 

And a new, very dark brown, cardigan has been cast on. This one is worsted weight and feels like it's just flying along.

In frustrating news, I had to buy new 4.0mm needle tips this week because one of mine has disappeared. I still have one tip but it's kinda useless without the mate to go with it. Then, when I tried to use the new tips I discovered that the cable I was planning to use needs gluing and I don't have any other cables long enough for this project that aren't already in use. I was planning to cast on a cancer cap so I just cast on the grey one above instead so all is not lost.

That is the one downside I have found to Knit Picks interchangeable needles, at least the old ones that I have, this may not be an issue with a newer cable; the end join occasionally works loose. I just use some strong glue and put it back together and it's good to go, but it does mean the cable is out of commission for a day while the glue cures. This kind of glue takes 24 hours to completely cure.

Current Weather
-13C and partly cloudy. Winter came back again.

Niece Socks

Finished a pair of socks for my Niece's birthday in March. Basic top down sock done with an interesting yarn as usual. My favourite. I do like this parifect yarn; although fraternal socks are also OK.

Pattern: basic sock
Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect in 01731
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 46 rows = 10 cm

Other News
A friend let me run her dog so I played Scent Hurdle today. So much fun. I was saying to multiple people today that ever since Ahab retired from Scent Hurdle I have never been so busy at a tournament. People offer me dogs to run or I judge the tournament or something. So. Much. Fun.

Also went snowshoeing on Saturday with some friends; that was also fun but my calves keep reminding me that it would be helpful to be fitter when doing these things. Sigh.

Current Weather
-12C and mostly cloudy. Doesn't feel nearly this cold.

Weekly WIP Update

Progress this week was limited to two projects, I basically ignored everything else; mostly because I'm getting close to finishing my green sweater. And socks just sort of happen.

The Olive Green II sweater is getting very close to done, only part of one sleeve and the neck remain to be finished.

And my Niece's birthday socks have been started. These aren't needed until March but it never hurts to get ahead.

Current Weather
2C and sunny.

2019 Year in Review

Well, that wraps up 2019. Not the best year on record I'm afraid. I lost both Mouse and Soccer and my Mom got some bad health news. I suppose the good thing about Mom's news was it forced me to go see a doctor myself for the first time in far too long. My results are all good except for high blood pressure.

Mom's bad health news will mean a rough year in 2020 so I feel like I'm bracing myself for it. Deep breath.

Starting with pets

Mouse left us in March after a sudden, brief illness. It is astonishing how much of a hole such a small, quiet cat left behind.

Then a second whammy when Soccer passed in July. I miss the stubborn, pushy old fellow.

Ahab is enjoying being the only pet, it's also possible we've been spoiling him. Just a little.... OK, fine; maybe a lot. His health seems to be fine so far (touch wood) still just a little arthritis in his joints slowing him down but otherwise he's in excellent health.

No changes with Eclipse either, she does like being a pasture potato. Best retirement ever.

And moving on to knitting

First thing finished in 2019 was a pair of socks, the usual basic socks made with interesting yarn. Kept these for myself. That's right, I selfish knit.

Then I finally, finally finished Spruce. This sweater took two years because I stalled out on the yoke, and it took me months to figure out that I didn't want another raglan style. I don't know if the yoke I ended up using has a name or not but I must like it because I've now made several sweaters with this yoke or a variation on it.

Then I made myself an Ugly Christmas Vest. Yes, in January. I even wore it this Christmas. This picture doesn't have the buttons but they're there now.

I always need a few socks right away at the start of the year since there are a cluster of birthdays all at once. Here are my Niece's socks. My Dad and Nephew's socks were finished in 2018 during an impressive sock run.

Then I finished Parchment. The first of three fingering weight cotton/acrylic blend sweaters, the yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Fingering Weight, I would love a couple more of these. A dark grey and a light grey perhaps..... Or maybe a bright red..... decisions, decisions..... I ended up taking the neck out of this sweater and re-making it, you can see my second attempt in the second picture.

 

I had a need for some socks for my own sock drawer so three pairs of socks dripped from the needles in rapid succession. Including my Time Traveler socks at last. If you don't know which pair that is or why they're called Time Traveler you need to turn in your Nerd Card.

 

Then I finished a sweater that was too small. Urgh. No idea why I continued until after blocking it before I admitted defeat but I did. It is now being re-knit a little larger.

Ravelry says I completed a pair of booties next but apparently I didn't take a picture and I'm not exactly sure where they are.

Then I completed the second fingering weight cotton/acrylic sweater. This one is a lovely dark green. You can see I did a much better job with the yoke where the sleeves attach compared to Spruce. The neck is just slightly too snug on this one, I have to take my glasses off to put it on or off. But, once it's on it fits great.

Then I needed some summer socks. These are a cotton/acrylic blend. I really don't like knitting cotton socks so these took quite a while to finish.

Next a wool vest. Not sure I will be keeping this one as I don't like how the shoulders sit or the way the weight of the hood pulls at the yoke. It may get re-made into a different vest.

Next came my pride and joy for 2019: my very own Star Wars Scarf! I love this scarf and have been wearing it at the slightest hint of cold. Unfortunately it was too warm for it when I went to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This is a double knit fabric and I have fallen in love with this technique, the fabric it makes is wonderful. The down side is that it is a fairly slow technique since you basically have to work each stitch twice every time. It is totally worth the effort though.

Then came two sweaters for my Wee Niece for her birthday. I usually do socks for birthdays but she was spotted in a video call wearing another sweater I had made for her so I decided on a sweater. Then made her two because she's still small enough I can still make her a sweater pretty quickly. And she wears the sweaters; this is important because there is no point in investing all the time and yarn needed for a sweater that won't be worn. There have been multiple sightings of her wearing the heathered sweater since it arrived, apparently it is currently one of her favourite sweaters. One really must take advantage of this willingness to wear hand knit sweaters while it lasts.

 

A hoodie sweater for myself came next. This was a re-knit of another sweater that didn't work out quite right. Wool yarn isn't cheap so I didn't want to have an unworn sweater sitting around. I have worn this one many times since it was finished. Or re-finished.

Another car seat baby blanket came next.

And then came Celestial, it was this project where I perfected the yoke for this series of fingering weight cotton/acrylic blend yarn. Unfortunately, I don't know if you can see it in this picture.

After something of a sock drought these were finally finished and went to Mom for her birthday.

Then another baby blanket, this one is not meant for a car seat. I made up this pattern and I really like how the textured stripes came out.

Since my Wee Niece got sweaters for her birthday this year she got socks for Christmas. I don't do a lot of Christmas knitting, too much pressure, but I'm willing to make an exception for someone who wears so many of my knits. Plus my other Niece and Nephew have reached the gift card age.

And Dad's birthday socks are all set for 2020.

And a blanket which has been on the needles since Aug. 2018. Glad to have this one done at last. There is a surprising amount of yarn left after finishing this so it may get some matching booties, and maybe a sweater and a hat.

And one final pair of socks for my Nephew's birthday in February. Squeaked these under the wire by finishing them on New Year's Eve. Yup, that's how exciting it is around here.

To recap:
24 projects completed
10 pairs of socks
8 sweaters
7 gifts
3 little blankets
3 things sent to Scotland
2 vests
1 Star Wars scarf

Word of the Year
I think I succeeded with this; for 2019 my word was 'active' and after moving to a new office for work I did start walking the dogs in the morning, my consistency did sort of fade once Winter set in though. More to do with ice than with snow or cold, although cold is a factor for Ahab.

For 2020 the word will be - health.

Current Weather
0C and mostly cloudy, the wind has stopped so I thing the Chinook is close to over.