not QUITE what I was after

The neon socks for the 14th birthday are well on their way. I bought this great neon coloured wool at the Frolic:

But when I knit it up, it kind of... de-neoned. I mean, it's still nice, and squooshy and soft and lovely to touch, but the colours (although they striped quite nicely), don't really call out NEON.

No one who sees them believes this sock came from this yarn...

Still nice, though. On to the second one...

Such a proud Mom!

Saturday was the boy's final basketball games of the season. (Just in time for baseball to start next week...) It was a bittersweet day - we are a basketball family, and love this league.
It didn't hurt that after two very hard fought games (semi-final and final), his team came away with the championship.

It's a great win, as the league had asked us to move him up a division earlier than his age would dictate. So this season, he was the only kid in the top division that wasn't in high school! I was worried that he wouldn't really make an impact, but that worry was for naught - he was a big part of the team, and I have the utmost respect for the players that welcomed him, and helped hone his game. They made him a better player, and a better person. If all teens were like this group of players, I'm happy with where the world is going.
But leaving the younger division was hard - he has a lot of friends there, as did we, and he enjoyed mentoring the younger players, and helping them with their game.
So it was great to see this - not only did his team win, the coaches of the lower division brought him back for this - The Gibber Award:

 It's only given to one player in the whole league.
Can't read it? Let me quote: (not that I'm bursting with pride or anything... (and yes, I erased his name in the photo))
"for his valuable contribution to the team by consistently displaying leadership, dedication and sportsmanship all with a positive attitude"
Yup - proud Mom here!
He also participated int he slam dunk contest:

He still needs to grow a bit for this - but I did get some pictures of the winner, who shyly came up to me after to ask if I got any good pictures - turns out I got some great ones of him, and he asked if I could email them to him! How tough do we think that was for a 16 year old to ask some woman to email him pictures?

Killing time

In the week before the Knitter's Frolic, I didn't want to get involved in a big project - I knew I was going to start the Lopi sweater that is a gift as soon as I got the yarn at the Frolic, so I wanted something small to keep me occupied. Of course there are always socks, but those really are my travel and game knitting - I could do something with charts while at home.
Enter the Christmas ornament!
I've made a bunch of these already - for my tree last Christmas and some gifts. They were so well received, and are so easy to make, they are the perfect time filler.

I've charted a bunch of names (still have a few more to go - lots of friends and family in my life!!), but I still love the fair isle ones!

The perfect filler project! They take about an evening to work up - great for TV knitting...

What goes around, comes around

*Note - regarding our medical situation - things are MUCH better - still not completely good, but definitely better. We are still in a situation of disruption of households - all of us are doing what we can, while still trying to handle our own lives. But better is good, and we are working with that.

On to the knitting...

I learned to knit from my Mom, who was one of 8 kids. She and her sisters were and are incredibly close, both in age and emotionally. We can talk of family get togethers where the sisters all showed up in either the same style of dress or the same colour, without having talked about it beforehand.
Mom taught me to knit when I was about 8 - the usual stuff - barbie doll scarves, and rugs, using crappy multi-coloured acrylics. From that age on, I always knew HOW to knit, I just didn't do a lot of it. As i grew up,  I mostly sewed, then did some quilting, got into cross stitch in a big way, while still knitting things every know and then. I remember knitting sweaters in university, still using crappy acrylics or blends (Patons Shetland Chunky, anyone?), and every now and then would knit a baby item for someone. (Looking back on that paragraph, you'd think I was such a good girl during school - staying home and crafting... SO not reality! While I was an A student, I was also a jock, and I did my fair share of dating and partying... I enjoyed and continue to enjoy all aspects of life...)
Anyhoo, when the nieces and nephews started coming, then my own son, knitting was a better option - portable, easy to put down and pick up, and the fibres and patterns had improved so much since my acrylic days. I got back into it in a huge way!
Fast forward a few years, and I was spending some time with my Mom while she recovered from some surgery. While sitting with her watching TV, I would knit, and she got interested again. I gave her some wool and needles, and she started knitting socks again like she had never stopped. I guess the pattern was just engraved on her brain. She continues to this day - always with a sock or a scarf on the needles. (She doesn't like making sweaters, she says - too hot...)
Fast forward another year, and another surgery (minor stuff, but it kept her down for a week or so - everything's good now, and it's not her that is incapacitated now). I spent a few days with her, then her sister, my aunt came down for a week. Seems my aunt also knew how to knit, but hadn't in years. Spend enough time with us, and we can convert anyone it seems...
She also started with socks, then moved on to an aran cardigan for my Uncle (I need to get a picture of that), and these.

here's her words from the email she sent me:
On her last visit your Mom brought me a ball of wool from you. I thought it was so interesting that I wanted to know how it would turn out once knitted up. I made a pair of gloves (attached picture) and had a lot of fun looking how the different colours turned out. After doing the first finger I had to think about how to get the others to turn out the same. Lots of fun. Thanks for the wool.

I love that they taught me, I taught them back, and my Aunt is now re-teaching my cousin.

What goes around comes around...

Frolic - final post

You've seen the sock yarn, and the sweaters. (I think I have a lot of knitting to do...) The only other thing I bought were some ceramic buttons, because I can't seem to go to the Frolic and not buy buttons...

I really fell in love with the maple leaf ones, and the others, well it was a great deal to buy in bulk, so I did...

The other great thing that day was meeting up with Brenda and Marie. We've been "blog friends" for quite a while, and while I have met Brenda before, it was my first time meeting Marie. The four of us, (Susan joined us) had a great time, chatting over coffee, and comparing purchases. The way we were talking and getting along, you'd swear we had known each other for years. The true sense of friendship. Can't wait til meet up with them again at other knitting events. And I will remember to take pictures - this time around, at least Brenda remembered - go check her blog for a picture of Susan, Marie and myself. Oh, and Marie makes the BEST chocolate chip cookies! The BEST, according to my husband and son...

Frolic, part two - the sweaters!

So all the sock yarn has been added to the stash - they fit in quite nicely, and everyone seems to be getting along, all stuffed together...

I also hit up Camilla Valley Farms at the Frolic for some Lett Lopi - the lighter weight Lopi yarn that is perfect for sweaters. The two girls that have the cottage next door to ours (and are great friends), have birthdays in late June and July 1. The older one turns 16 this year, and her parents are planning a party at the cottage, complete with pig roast (that's where we come in - we've done it a few times, and my husband has even built a variable speed motorized stainless steel rotisserie unit that handles a pig, or anything else that large...)

So M turning 16 is a big thing. And deserves something special.

Like an Icelandic sweater. In grey, charcoal, cream and red.

I'm using this pattern, Afmaeli - a free pattern - as a base. I'm changing it up a bit - removing all the ribbing, and making the neckline wider. Rolled edges at the sleeve and bottom, and some waist shaping, to make this a more modern silhouette.

And because M's sister K is turning 14 around the same time, she is getting the neon socks from the prior post, and when she turns 16 in a couple of years, she will get the same sweater, with a slightly different colour combo.

Browns with a hit of green. Still kind of traditional, but the pop of green will liven it up.

Tomorrow - the last of the purchases, and the best meet up ever!

 

Frolic stuff

So Saturday, Susan and I had our usual meet-up breakfast at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, before the DKC Knitter's Frolic started. No pictures of breakfast, but picture fresh St. Urbain bagels, cream cheese, and my butcher's smoked salmon. Delish!
Then, well fortified, we were off to the Frolic. I had a few things planned - I wanted Lett-Lopi for two sweaters, and I wanted sock yarn, specifically some of Dye Versions Galapagos colourway in a wool base. I also had plans to meet Brenda and Marie for coffee!
I came out with Lett Lopi for two sweaters, and lots of sock yarn - unfortunately, no Galapagos (she had none...) but I more than made up for it...
Quite the haul of sock yarn, that's for sure!

And up close:

Bright Neon! Manos Del Uruguary Alegria. Soft and smooshy, 75% superwash merino, 25% polyamide. These are for a birthday gift for a soon to be 14 year old girl. Hard to hate these brights...

Brown. But a deep, rich tonally brown. (Darker than what appears here...) I wanted a plain brown wool for socks for a guy, but I didn't want PLAIN brown. There are lovely tones in this Turtlepurl tonal.

Another Turtlepurl multicolour. Not self striping, just a lovely bright hand paint. Guy-ish enough (i.e. no pink), so any number of the guys in my life would wear it. (Except my father-in-law - he's still pretty traditional, and the orange might throw him off...)

Turtlepurls self striping in Burberry - yum! This is a striping yarn, not a hand paint. She (Turtlepurls) was brilliant - she had samples of all the self striping yarns knit up so you could see how they striped. AND... the sock yarn was in two separate skeins, dyed together, so you can match the stripes exactly. (Nancy! you can match them EXACTLY!!) Kind of a cool thing if exact matching is that important.

And nothing say spring like these colours - pale shades of greens and purples. Another Turtlepurls handpaint.

Seems I bought most of my sock yarn at Turtlepurl - what can I say? Her colours really speak to me.

Next up the Lett Lopi, coffee date and what ELSE i bought..l.