Last night, a small group of us got together at the Bridgehead on Wellington (where the Knit Night meets the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month) to seam the blanket. We had a serious winter storm yesterday (a sight which has been all too familiar in Ottawa this winter) so a lot of people who were planning to come were unable to make it. 

From L to R: Sarah, J., Kim, Linda and Shawna (who proved to be a champion seamer, despite claiming to not be a knitter).

So far, J. has received over 50  5" x 5" squares, and there are still more on the way. Yesterday, we sewed them into groups of four, which will then get put together.

 J. even brought bribes thank-you gifts.

I forgot to take pictures of the two squares I contributed, but when I looked through the pictures I took last night, I discovered that I had one that included both of my squares.

I believe that J. will be going back to the Bridgehead next Friday (check her blog, or the Ottawa Knitting Yahoo group for confirmation) to continue seaming. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and more people will be able to assist – it's a huge job!

Despite the treacherous road conditions, I'm glad I ventured out. It was a fun evening! And, I was able to add to my collection of goofy pictures of Sarah (because one can never have too many)

I'm going to be away for the next three weeks – a work trip to Mozambique and South Africa. It is unlikely that I will be able to blog while I'm away, but I should get lots of knitting time in, so I will have some new FOs to show when I get back.  See you then!

Earlier in the summer, I came upon some rather odd graffiti on a building there. I finally remembered this past weekend to take my camera with me, so I could capture it.

All four sides of the buildings are covered in green and blue tea pots. I'm at a loss to understand this. Was the building attacked by a group of tea-loving hoodlums with blue and green spray paint? Is this the work of a cult? Why tea pots? Is this a common graffiti theme?

Of course, while I was there getting pictures of tea pots, I had to snap a photo or two (or ten) of my dog, Macha

She's 11 years old, and the poor sweetie hates this time of year. She is allergic to ragweed, and she's miserable from early August until the first frost. She's a very itchy baby.

These guys were beside the bike path along the Ottawa River last week, along with hundreds of geese and duck families. They grow up so fast *sniff*

I am now back from my few days in Montreal, where I had a great time visiting my friend Susan (who loves her new dishcloths!). I took the train and enjoyed the scenery while I knit and listened to podcasts.  Such a civilized way to travel. Over the weekend we drove out to Hudson to go to Finnegan's Market (what does it mean that I was drawn to a spinning wheel even though I don't spin and have no intention of spinning? And no, I did not buy it. I don't spin.) We also went to the Biodome, which was my favourite place to take visitors when I lived in Montreal (except now I was the visitor, and Susan had never been there). Along with the usual exhibits, consisting of four ecosystems, there was a great travelling exhibit called Fatal Attraction, about mating rituals of animals.

On Friday the first clue came out for the Mystery Stole 3 project. I had taken my yarn, needles and beads for it to Montreal, so I printed the charts and began it while I was there. Once I get going on a lace project, I get completely hooked and can't put my needles down, so it should be no surprise that I finished Clue 1 fairly quickly:

I stretched it out a bit using my blocking wires, but of course, lace never looks "right" until it's blocked. 

Believe it or not, there are beads on it. They don't show up at all on the photo. And even "in person", they are very subtle. Now, I didn't want anything too flashy, but I worry that it might be even too subtle.

The yarn I'm using is Naturally Dawn in white (colour 7) that I bought last weekend at Wool n' Things. The beads are silver-lined clear Czech glass seed beads (and I managed to get the first section done without scattering the beads all over the place – there may have been one or two (or three) that got away from me, but no great disaster yet).

The yarn 50% wool, 50% silk. It is soft and lovely, and knits up beautifully. The only problem is that it comes in 25g balls, so there will be ends to deal with, which is never fun with laceweight. I usually spit-splice, but since it's not pure wool, I can't do that. Maybe I'll try a Russian Join. Actually, I've already had to join twice, because the first ball had 2 knots in it (I really hate knots in yarn), but I just joined in the new yarn along the edge and I will try to weave in the ends without it showing too badly.

I picked up more Patons SWS yesterday, so I'm back to working on the afghan. I have 14 1/2 squares done, 15 1/2 to go, and then a gazillion stitches to graft together and a border to knit. And the Big Pile O' Lace, I'm still working on that. And a couple of small projects to satisfy the need for instant gratification. No pictures yet though.

Now the problem with creating a list of things to blog about, but not actually blogging about them, is that by the time I get around to blogging, some of the things will have changed. Like the weather. One of the things on my list is the lack of a real winter so far this year. So, I could just scratch that off the list and move on, or I could show you some now out of date pictures. Like this:

I took this picture on Christmas Day. Not only was there no snow on the ground, but the grass was actually green. Not a dark, dead green either – a bright vibrant grassy green. And, although I didn't get a picture, there were some trees that were budding. The earth was confused. Very confused. There were even some geese still hanging around:

Now, we're used to seeing geese on Dow's Lake every spring and fall, but it seems awfully late for them to still be hanging around Canada. Shouldn't they be on a beach in Mexico or something by December 25?. I hope they made it somewhere warm in time.

The remaining things on my list can be broken down to three main categories: FOs (finished objects), WIPs (Works in Progress) and my knitting to-do list. I had also planned (and it's on my list) to prepare a list of the knitting books that I have, so that if any of my work knitting club want to borrow any books, they know what I have. But unless I get through all the rest of the stuff and have a burning desire to keep going, that will have to wait until the new year.

So, let's start with FOs so that my gallery is complete before I move on to 2007. First off, weeks ago I finished the Brioche Stitch scarf I made to go with my hat.

I started it when I was at my Mother's in November and finished it a few days later. I started off using a double strand of Paton's Classic Wool, like in the hat, but thought it was too thick for a scarf. So I frogged it and started over with a single strand. I like it much better – I've been wearing this scarf and hat pretty much every day.

And yes, it's sitting on this book. And no, I don't own it. I borrowed it from the guild library. It certainly is a wonderful book. But this is not a post about books. This is a post about knitting (all right, and winter). Books have to wait.

Next up, is a bag I just finished yesterday. Back in October I received a great package from my SP9 Secret Pal, which included 3 balls of Eco-fil:

I decided then that this yarn wanted to become a Kitchen Sink Bag. I cast on for this bag within a couple of days of receiving the yarn, and worked on it obsessively until I got about this far:

And then it sat in my basket, neglected, for almost 2 months. I had used a double-strand of the yarn, and a 5.5mm needle. The basketweave parts (bottom, corners, top and strap) were pretty tight wit this size needle, but I didn't want it holey, so I stuck with it, even though it was kind of hard on the hands and slow-going. I loved doing the mesh part though.

It turned out a bit wider than the pattern (about 16 in instead of 14 in), which I figured was okay – I wanted a big bag. I did the same number of rows that the pattern called for. But when I was almost finished the top, and about to start the straps, I found it seemed to disproportional. The pattern specs are 10 in x 14 in. Mine was 10 in x 16 in. It seemed too shallow for the width. That's when I abandoned it.

A few days ago, I picked it up again and decided to finish it. I ripped back to the top of the mesh part, and added in a couple of inches.Then I did the top, and the straps, and it's done. It's now 12 in x 16 in, and I'm quite happy with it.

The strap may be a bit too long, but I'll wait until I'm using it to see if I want to shorten the strap. It's going to be a great market bag in the summer.

And finally, Travelling Roses, the Sequel. As you may recall, I first made this scarf for my International Scarf Exchange pal. I loved this pattern so much, that I used the second skein of Misti Alpaca laceweight that I had, and cast on for a second scarf back in mid-October, the beginning of which I showed here. I only worked on it off and on, since I had a lot of other things on the go at the same time, and since I had already made it once. I took it to Halifax with me in November and finished knitting it at my mother's. Here it is, pre-blocked:

I didn't block it right away, because I decided that I wanted to using blocking wires instead of the string method I had used previously. I planned to purchase some inexpensive welding wire to use as blocking wires, but had trouble finding some. Finally, I was putting in a Knit Picks order for the Classic Circulars and Options tips in the sizes I didn't have, and more cables, and I added in their blocking wires. When my order arrived, I started blocking the scarf:

What a difference blocking wires makes! So much easier to block lace with wires. (unfortunately, I can't get an accurate shot of the colour – it truly is a lovely shade of red)

Finally, I could wear the scarf that I had loved since I first started working on the first one in September. When I finished that one, I blocked it, folded it up and mailed it off – so I didn't discover the problem It curls:

A little while after I started wearing it, the whole thing turned into a little tube. Waaahhhhh. This can't be. I love this pattern. Now, I know that a stockinette-based pattern will do that, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it breaks my heart. Anyone have any suggestions? Is there something I can do to stop it from rolling into a tube as soon as I wear it? And here I've made the pattern available – should I put a warning on it? Should I pull the pattern? I'd hate to have people make it and then curse my name when they find it rolls. Help!

Whew, that was a long post. But I've scratched a bunch of stuff off the list. I'll save the WIP and to-do stuff for later today or tomorrow.

Speaking of Sarah, although she’s not in the picture on her blog, I already have a picture of her on mine, although I didn’t know it. Remember this picture from my Yarn Harlot post?

I didn’t know who she was at the time, but now I know that it was Sarah. But she doesn’t always have that look on her face!

Wednesday evening I had a great time chatting with Lynne, who convinced me to check out the Ottawa Knitting Guild meeting on Monday. So I’m going to head there tomorrow, and will then decide if I want to join the guild. After 2 years of playing Everquest and 1 year of playing World of Warcraft (which I quit playing a year ago, thus freeing up way more knitting time), the whole “joining a guild” thing makes me think more of gaming than of knitting. I wonder if this guild does raids.