Christmas trip and Christmas knitting

Oh boy did I ever take on too much xmas knitting, it's still not all done. and we're almost February.

Me and JF spent two weeks in Newfoundland with my family for Xmas. It was the first time he'd been there for the holidays and my first time since 2003. What a relief, I literally did nothing for most of the trip.

In my last post I had just started my dad's socks. A few days after xmas I finally finished them (due to lack of an internet connection for most of the trip, I needed to look up something so I could finish)

Details:
Pattern:Toe up sock with gusset this heel using the magic cast on.
Yarn: Oasis Yarn Aussi Sock
Needles: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm circ
Made for: Dad
Timeline: Nov 29th, 2008 - Dec 30th, 2008
Modifications: Just 2X2 rib, mostly improvised pattern.

He likes them a lot and wore them pretty much immediately.

Next up was a hat for my brother that I cast on on the way to NL and cast off the next day. I didn't want my brother to see me knitting it so I had to put my dad's sock aside for a bit. I knew my dad would see his socks cause I wanted them to fit him perfectly and so he got to try them on.

Details:
Pattern: A Hat Fit for a Boyfriend by Stephanie Nicole
Yarn: Cascade Superwash - Charcoal 900,
left over Blueberry, Green Apple and Chocolate for stripes
Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm
Made for: Matthew
Timeline: Dec 21st, 2008 - Dec 22nd, 2008
Modifications: Added three 3-row stripes.

Somewhere in there I also finished my grand-father's Heavy socks which I started back in August on my trip to Maine.

Details:

Pattern:#101 Heavy Socks by Briggs & Little
Yarn: Briggs & Little Tuffy Smoke 87 & Oxford 86
Needles: US 3 / 3.25 mm
Made for: Pop N.
Timeline: Aug 22nd, 2008 - Dec 18th, 2008
Modifications: Added contrast heel, toe and cuff.

In the airport on the way home I cast on for my MIL's hat . She wanted a simple hat with earflaps but not like a snowboarder hat just so that her ears are very well covered. I this on with a very bad sinus infection, while extremely tired with no pattern and little idea of how I thought it might work. This is what I came up with.

Details:
Pattern: Ribbed Ear Flap hat by Me (pattern to come)
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Galway Colornep
Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm
Made for: MIL
Timeline: Jan 3rd, 2009 - Jan 9th, 2009
Modifications: None, it's all my design.

I also made an earflap hat for JF's sister it was this pattern but I forgot to photograph it before I gave it to her. I should be able to get a picture soon.

I also started a pair of gloves for my mom and I couldn't get them finished before I left so I brought them home with me. Because of the fact that we are seeing some people soon whose gifts I haven't finished, I have to put them on the backburner as well. I should photograph the progress soon however.

My most recent project has been a pair of Trigger Mitts for JF's grandfather. He's not a hunter but spends a lot of time outside in the winter shoveling (he enjoys shoveling). I thought that these would be perfect for him. I'm using two patterns to help me figure out parts of this, but it's pretty straight forward once you understand the basic construction of mittens and gloves. One of the patterns is something I got that's from Newfoundland, and it's the most common pattern for this type of mitt. I didn't follow the colourwork though and decided to go with Salt and Pepper on the back and thumb and finger and something simpler on the palms. JF is really enjoying these so they probably wont be my last pair.

Details:
Pattern: loosely based on Soft Mit-Gloves by Emily-Jane as well as a traditional Newfoundland pattern.
Yarn: Cascade Superwash - Chocolate 819 & Charcoal 900
Needles: US 4 / 3.5 mm
Made for: JF's grandfather
Timeline: Jan 10th, 2009 - Jan 25th, 2009 (I'm hoping to finish by tomorrow)
Modifications: lots. colour work, number of stitches. More or less improvised.

I'll post a picture of them when they're done.

All I have left is 1.5 pairs of Newfoundland mittens. The Pink and black one needs it's mate and I'm also doing a Purple and white pair for JF's cousins. I also need to make a felted kitchen set for JF's grandmother. Hopefully I'll be able to finish within the next 2 weeks. Then I can finish my mom's gloves. I really want to knit something for myself after that.

Mountain Adventure.

This past weekend was my father-in-law's birthday, and for his birthday he decided that he wanted to climb a mountain with his family. I was invited to come and despite my uncertainty about climbing a fair-sized mountain I went along for the adventure.

We went to Mt. Mansfield near Underhill, VT. It is much bigger than the only other mountain I've ever climbed Mont St-Hilaire. we set out early Sunday morning and got started on the mountain around 9 am. I started to get discouraged pretty early on because my asthma was giving me hell and making me extremely out of breath. At some point I'd pretty much given up but then I got a second wind and upon seeing this I just couldn't stop, I knew I wanted to see it from the top:

View from (almost) the top.

We finally made it and although the pictures don't really capture it (it was a bit foggy and the pictures show this) it was beautiful, absolutely the best time of the year to climb a mountain. We ate lunch and then started walking towards our descent point. shortly after we started to descend it started to snow (I'm not even kidding). It finally stopped and we kept coming down very slowly (I always thought that coming down was faster than going up but it was wet and slightly slippery so we came down extremely slow).

Those little white dots are snow people!!

We finally got off the mountain and everybody was in pain. Getting up and down has been the hardest thing ever for the last 2 days. But I'm still very glad I did it. I probably won't be doing that size of a mountain again for a while. I figure I'm better off building up to it.

My Birthday

For my birthday this year JF offered to take me on a road trip. I desperately wanted to see the Ocean (I miss it so much), so I decided to go somewhere in New England. After a little bit of research I almost chose Boston, but then decided on Maine, since it's so pretty and apparently has quite a few yarn shops.

We took the scenic route down and drove into Portland to check out yarn shops (Central yarn Shop, Knit Wit and Seaport Yarns) and in the evening we took a little Ferry Cruise around Casco Bay. We decided to stay at a B&B about an hour outside of Portland in Kittery where the Outlet Malls are (we were within walking distance to the mall).

On my birthday we went to one of the beautiful beaches along the coast (I can't remember which one) and we shopped at The Yarn Sellar. I had seafood for both lunch and dinner (MMMMM!!!!). In the evening we did some outlet shopping, but only had 2 hours so we didn't actually get a lot done. (I hit Old Navy and got an awesome argyle cardigan in pinks and green Oh my!). We did the rest of the outlets on our last day and then drove all the way back home.

Here are some highlights:

Beautiful sunset on Casco Bay.
There was a spinning wheel in my B&B room. (hehe)

Knitting on the beach.

I did a lot of yarn shopping because I set out to buy most of my yarn for Xmas knitting (everyone is getting something knitted this year, yes I'm that crazy). Here is the haul:

Berroco Ultra Alpaca in (l-r) Plum Mix, Salt & Pepper, Cardinal, Peat Mix, & Winter White.
The purple and green are to be the Icewine Mittens for my Aunt and the rest I just had to have.
Cascade 220 in green for a hat for my cousin.
Rowan Felted Tweed in Phantom for a hat for my brother's bday.
Some Baby Cashmerino in blue for my mom for gloves and the red is mine.

Plymouth Galway Colornep for Koolhaas hats for JF's parents and Galway Paint for some felted slilppers for my grandmother and JF's grandmother.
Berroco Touché for an Anouk for our friends baby girl.
Sock yarn (l-r) Oasis Aussi Sock in grey for my dad, Colinette Jitterbug in October Afternoon for myself (I just loved the colours) & Jojoland Melody superwash for me(interesting and cheap).

My birthday also brought an awesome gift from Robyn. I only photographed the yarn but included was also some awesome Sheep themed oven mitts and pot holders, some candles, a couple of interesting drink mixes, a wip/notions pouch and this awesome pendant:

from http://jessejanes.etsy.com
the yarn. Some lovely green mystery merino and Colinette Jitterbug in Ginger cinnabar (I was eyeing this in her shop).

Thanks so much Robyn I love it all!

Yarn Harlot

Robyn, her sister Amy, Jenna and I decided to head to Kingston on Wednesday to see the Yarn Harlot. She seems to be skipping Montreal this time around and we wanted to get our books signed. Robyn's friend Marga met us there from New York state.

Robyn and I had decided that we were bringing her bagels and squeaky poutine cheese. (She really enjoys these two things). Because of this we got blogged.

I bought the books that were available and got them signed and I also got a chance to take a few photos.

I got to hold the sock!!!

The Yarn Harlot while speaking

I got this one after she signed my book. You can see the cheese and the bagels beside her!

It was a really fun day and I got to have some of the best nachos (in a restaurant) that I have had in a really long time. We also got to go to Michaels and I didn't actually get that much of anything.

Newfoundland Trip

Ok, so I'm not gonna bother to apologize for not posting for 2 months, I'm just gonna do it. I will however apologize for the fact that I'm about to do 10 posts in the span of 24 hours.

I actually tried to post while in Newfoundland, but the Internet in my hometown is over-used and therefore stupidly slow. I couldn't get my pictures uploaded so I just gave up. It wasn't as exciting a trip as the last few, and that is ok. I really need a vacation where the only thing distracting me was the sound of the ocean.

The highlight of my trip was the fact that my dad bought me my very own lobster, he was a little small but it was just right. Usually I only get the legs and claws from the lobster he buys for himself.

One of my best friends from highschool is pregnant again so I decided to make her a little outfit for her baby. I made Trellis from knitty and designed a hat to go with it.

This same friend is now a hair stylist so when I go home I get her to do my hair, cause it's so much cheaper because it's a small town. She put in some blonde and red highlights.

While I was there my brother celebrated his birthday, it was my parents anniversary and mother's day was just after I left. We decided to go out for a family supper to celebrate everything all at once.

On the way back to the airport we saw a caribou. He's smallish and has no antlers because it was spring.

I enjoyed my trip and I also scored some Briggs and Little Tuffy while I was there in all the colours I could find. I didn't photograph them but I will and post a picture sometime later.

Farm Visit

So I realized that I forgot to blog about my day at JF's aunt's little farm. His mom visits her sister at her small farm from time to time and she had mentioned that they'd recently acquired 3 agneaux (lambs). I got quite excited and so she decided to invite me one day to "les nourir aux biberons" (They are being fed with bottles, biberon is baby bottle in French. Needless to say I was quite excited at the prospect. They also have a few horses and a cow. Here are a few highlights from the day.

First we fed the little guys


Then we took them outside for a little sun


Then we visited and fed some horses


I took a really neat picture


And met Mrs. Cow


the geese were apparently coming back for summer


We also met a very friendly barn cat


She wanted me to take a close up (Taken upside down while she was walking through my legs)

I really enjoyed my day, and the feeding of the lambs was awesome! It totally made my week!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm leaving for Newfoundland on Thursday and will be staying until May 8. Hopefully I will score some nice stuff like I did last summer!

FOs

So I officially suck at keeping this up to date, but I really haven't been doing much but knitting and I'm not a big progress pic person. I have however finished a few projects and started a couple more. I might have to start making a list.

My first distraction was designing the March sock for Robyn's Nest's Sock Club. I only made one sock due to time contstraints but I will eventually finish the pair for myself.

I loved the yarn and wanted to do something Paddy's Day related, so the lace resembles little four-leaf clovers.

Next I got distracted by a series of hats, you saw the Newfoundland Hat in the previous post, which i have yet to figure out the pattern for, I will do it, I just need to stop knitting for a few minutes first.

The first of the hats is:

Montreal Tuque by Veronik Avery

I cast on more stitches because I did it in a sock weight/sport yarn (Reynolds Soft Sea Wool).

Next came

Purl Beret with Sparkly Cherry Tree Hill Alpaca.

I saw one made in the same yarn at Ariadne, I chose another colour and I really like it. I will be for next winter, because its mostly too warm for me to wear a hat now.

After all the hat distraction I put my ass in gear and finished my Central park Hoodie -sans Hood.

I needed 1 more full ball of Anniversary Twist than I had and a little bit of a second to finish the collar. I still have over 100g left (113g balls). I like it fine, even though it's not quite as long as I thought it would be (stupid belly) and it does some weird bunchy thing on the bottom button that I don't know how to fix. It's not as itchy as I would have imagined, I've actually managed to wear it with a tshirt without too much issue. I've been wearing it almost every day, as it works perfectly for a cool spring weather coat, as long as there's not too much wind. Overall, I feel its a job well done for my first sweater.

I thought I would need a break after finishing my largest project ever but the next day I cast on a pair of no purl Monkeys:

I'm making them in Dream in Color Smooshy, Chinatown Apple. I'm loving the way its only slightly variegated and doesn't pool. I'm doing a eye of partridge heel and the bottom of the foot is reverse stockinette so that I don't feel the purl bumps on my sensitive feet.

My yarn stash has grown quite extensively over the past while and I will blog about at least some of that a little later.

In other news, I'm planning a trip to Newfoundland at the end of April for 2 weeks. I was originally planning on going in the summer, but it seems that sales for the summer will probably not happen early enough for my tastes. Hopefully I'll come back with some more yarny goodness.

Carnaval du Québec

Last weekend we went to Québec city to check out the Winter carnival. This year they are also celebrating Quebec city's 400 birthday, so it's more special than other years.

Here are some highlights:

Chateau Frontenac from the Lévis-Quebec ferry


The Ice Palace


The most interesting of the Snow sculptures. A Beaver and a Fleur de Lys hugging.


The Star of the Show

There were a lot more snow sculptures, you can see them here.

It was a fun weekend although another knit free weekend (there was just no time).

Winterlude

So as long as I can remember I've wanted to skate on the Rideau Canal. I remember seeing it in one of my text books as a fairly young kid in Primary school and thinking "WOW"!.

I've thought about it pretty much every year since I've lived in Montreal (I'm on my fourth winter here). Usually it's too late and last year it apparently wasn't skateable. This year I thought about it ontime, and JF and I decided to go during their annual winter festival, Winterlude.

The Canal was awesome, aside from a few rough patches caused by flooding earlier in the week. But for the most part was very nice. Here are some highlights:

Skating the Canal


Beavertails!!!


JF on the canal


One of many ice sculptures (to see more click here)


Us @ Parliament Hill

We had beavertails which is the thing to do, even though you can get them all over in Québec. And we visited parliament we even got to go inside, they were having an open house. We got to see the beginning of the ice sculpture competition which was excellent because on Day 2 they were already starting to melt a little. click here to see more of the sculptures as well as the rest of our trip pics. There were a few really awesome ones.

Overall it was a really excellent weekend, and I got to visit one of my favourite restaurants (Swiss Chalet) since they don't have any in Québec. There was no knitting as I decided to let JF have a weekend were I was all his.