Close to You

There are those like Staci Perry, aka Very Pink, Andrea from Fruity Knitting, my friend, Pam, and Mom who purchase yarn only when they are about to start a project and thus make project-specific purchases. Otherwise when they are in a yarn shop or yarny event, they have the self-control to refrain for making a purchase. These folks do not own a yarn stash. But some of us have a stash that is abundant. I am one of the latter who have more than a few lovely one skein wonders that were on sale at the time of purchase that I just had to buy. This year I have been working to lower my stash by making a few scarf/shawls and using up those single skeins.

You will remember the two Summer Shawls I made earlier this year. If not here's another look:

Adult size made with Isager yarn in the colours Thistle and Curry plus a random turquoise coloured leftover yarn

A pint-sized version made with Space Cadet minis in pinks and grays

These simple crescent shawls help cut back on some of my Minneapolis stash and they both made great little gifts.

Now I am back in Greater Vancouver with my more voluminous stash where I have found a few of these singles and I very much want to use them in a lovely way. Enter the pattern Close to You by Justyna Lorkowska. The background of how Justyna came to make this pattern is rather lovely. You can read it in its entirety on Ravelry, but here's a quick synopsis. Justyna is a knitter and pattern designer. Her husband, Martin, took on dying wool and when she asked him why, he responded: "To be close to you." So she took a single of his hand dyed yarn and made this:

Photo credit VinGirl on Ravelry

So I took a skein, actually it was a cone, of Yarnia's blend of a single strand each of dark blue merino, bright blue wool and tan coloured bamboo. Here are some photos of my results so far.

The Yarnia wool/bamboo combination with three separate strands is a bit of a pain to knit with because it splits so easily. I have to constantly check to make sure a strand hasn't been dropped along the way. Other than that the pattern is very simple, using the garter stitch, double YOs and K2 tog, but the overall design packs a lot of punch. The intention is to use all 437 yards or 400 meters on this project. The pattern is easy to adjust. The shawl has a crescent shape and I intend to keep it in place with a Jul Design Pedestal Button.

Photo from Jul Design webshop

The disc is made of leather and the silver is part of a shaft and screw. All the user has to do is unscrew the back, push the shaft through the knitted garment and then tighten the screw. This works so much better than a shawl pin where one needs to get the stick in and out of the knitted fabric which can damage the knitting. I also find most pins can shift with wear. The Pedestal Button won't allow shifting and once it is in place the entire garment stays secure where you put it on your shoulders.

I have already purchased a brown, 2 inch diameter button and although not a perfect match, it will compliment my Close to You nicely. Once completed I will be down one more skein in my stash. So that makes one skein down and so many more to go.

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing. I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away. Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close. Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening. As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend. Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration. I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time. One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock. So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep. Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot. And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms. (BTW

Yarn Barf

It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while. But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf . I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you? It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank. (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo. Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left. Easy to find, right! Sure but what about the remaining 4

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Close to You

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Ode to the Cat

Anatomy of a Sock

Yarn Barf