UFO:Undeniably Finished Object, or, at long last!

The Kilt Hose

Pattern: from the article "A Better Sock from the Toe Up" by Ann Budd in the Summer '07 IK, with cable patterns from: Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book, and The Girl from Auntie using the two-circ method. Adaptations for calf-increases are my own.

Materials: Phildar Preface in Cream on 2.5mm Aero circulars.

Cost: approx. $20 yarn and $7.50 needles.

This was a loooong knit, but worthwhile and oh-so rewarding. I used the middle eastern cast on and side increases on the toe, a simple 4X2 rib for the foot and a short-row heel. The Girl from Auntie's Simple Celtic Cable runs up the centre of the shin of the stocking, and the Hollow Oak cable pattern from VK up each side. There are double increases at the centre back to allow for calf-shaping, and the increases continue the ribbing pattern in kind. I switched back to the 4X2 rib a little earlier than I feel I truly ought, and continued in 1X1 ribbing for the section of stocking which lays under the turn-over cuff. The cuff is worked in smocking stitch (also obtained from VK) and it is a dream! I have designs on knitting something small and adorable for someone entirely out of smocking stitch. It's just that. much. fun!

There are a few errors, little things that only I (or one of you eagle-eyed knitties!) would ever notice, but they fit perfectly (so exclaimed the groom when I spoke with him on the phone early on the day of the wedding!) and looked lovely and suitably fancy.

Grr...flickr...or, Sooner Than I Thought

Last night saw several hours of hangout-time with two of my dearest cousins, who live in Alberta. I hadn't seen them in two years, and now I've spent two good evenings in one week with them! Bliss!

Flickr was all figglety this morning, and refusing to upload much in the way of pics. But here's one of the many I now have of the hose; evidence of the fun and muddy reception can be seen:


**I highly recommend clicking the pic and viewing it on flickr in the larger size!**

To tide you over until tonight, when I'll do a whole post on them. Enjoy!

At long, long, last, or, Let the Sun Shine!

The hose are finished. I finished casting off the second stocking at about 7:05 this morning, having stayed up until after 1am last night casting off the first stocking, soaked them quickly under the bathtub faucet and blocked them. Lacking proper sock blockers, I pinned them out on a mesh sweater drier, where I block all my sweaters. Hopefully, they will be dry by this evening when I get home after work. Let's keep our collective digits crossed.

I'll take pics before I unpin, and oodles tomorrow when they are in situ and fully kiltified (like that? I just made up that word. I like it). Again, hopefully, there will be lots of natural light by which to take stunning pictures. At the moment, sources are calling for scattered showers/thunderstorms through the afternoon. Which is when the outdoor, non-tented ceremony is scheduled to take place in a park. We shall see.

The stockings look good, the rehearsal was relatively free of actual rehearsing, but a great deal of fun was had - the groomsmen, none of whom I had ever met before, are all fantastic guys, and I'm looking forward to partying with them tomorrow night - and all the many parents involved mingled pleasantly despite all the divorces and present ex's (yes, both my parents and the FBIL's parents are split, and all but his mother have now found new spouse's. It's absolute madness).

Sigh. The chaos and general craziness are almost over, and I found myself actually getting excited for this wedding yesterday evening! I've been so stressed and pre-occupied what with wedding issues, work issues, and that car accident, that I've found it difficult to really be 'into' this wedding. But yay! Lil' Sis will be married in 26 hours! I'm very happy for them both.

My promise: good, beautiful pics of the hose as soon as possible. A full documenting of the hose and the wedding is to come!

Just text, or, What a Smockery!

I know, I know, another one without a picture. And I have things to show you, too! Grr. I have appointments in the early afternoon on Thursday, so hopefully I'll have some nice sunshine to take some nice shiny pictures for you. Backyard photoshoot time!

The kilt hose are probably about 7 hours from finished, maybe less. And I have three and a half words for you: I love smocking-stitch! Oh my word, it is just lovely. It's easy to do, easy to keep count (four rows!) and it's thick and textured. It's knitting a beautiful turn-over cuff. I cannot wait to see these things blocked and worn.

I'm looking forward to knitting something else, since I've been knitting these hose every day on the way to work and at home in the evening for....forever? Alright, not that long, but it will be nice to start something new, or tie up some of those loose ends (check the sidebar).

I do have other things to say, and some of it is non-knitting related, but for now, kilt hose. I have a cold Creemore on my coffee table, some ice cream in the freezer, and many hours of knitting in my near future!

Almost, but not, or, Another Verse, now in REverse!

I would just love - love! - to deliver the kilt hose on Monday evening when I see my sister and her fiance for some pre-wedding reception set-up. But we shall see. I'm about 2 cm away from starting the turn-over cuff. I'm faced with the realisation that I will have to knit the cuff inside-out, and I'm not entirely certain that doing a cable pattern in reverse is going to prove entirely simple. So I'm thinking I'll just knit in the opposite direction, maybe with a wrap to keep the stitches from gapping...

Pizza at Colonnade again, tonight! I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to that pizza.

Very very very little time left, or, Those Damned Kilt Hose, or, Whose Bright Idea Was This, or, Mine: I am the Idiot

I am posting from work, because if I post from home, I will inevitably waste precious and very limited hose-knitting time. They are about 25 cm long, from the tip of the short-row heel to the live stitches on needles, and if I remember correctly - and given how many times I've looked at the post-it with the measurements on it, I believe I am correct - the FBIL's leg is 26 cm from heel to bottom of the kneecap, which is where the fold on the stockings should sit. So I'll complete the side and front patterns I'm on right now, do a little 1X1 ribbing to snug them in above the calf, and then on to the turn-over cuff! I think we're doing some sort of honeycomb or smocking stitch. Honestly, I'm going to do whichever is fastest. I'm quite open to suggestions if anyone is feeling informative and merciful.

I have 11 days to get these things finished (despite whatever madness that counter in the sidebar may be telling you). And while this has turned all insanity, I will admit to two things: I have, actually, quite enjoyed knitting these (I won't mind doing a second pair for The Man), and, if I do say so myself, they are freaking beautiful. Thank you, Vogue Knitting Encyclopedia, for the Hollow Oak pattern, and thank you, oh thank you, dear, sweet, Girl from Auntie, for the simple celtic cable pattern: I, truly, could not have done this without you.

Hoser, or, The Way Things Are

I haven't much to blog, since the past 7 days haven't seen me do very much except sit/lay/lounge and feel, well, somewhere between drunk and stoned.* But I have done some knitting. It's been a little slow, with all the druuuugs, but there has been definite progress on the FBIL's hose. Let's have a look, shall we?



Here they are, frolicking in the suburban jungle. Two pattern repeats are complete on the centre-front of the hose, and almost two of the pattern on the sides of the hose. And thank heaven's for Cristi's fabulous pattern-row markers!! Thank you for inventing these and sharing with the knitty world!! They have been a total lifesaver.

My life has become these hose. Today I watched the last 20 minutes of Once Upon A Time in America and worked on the hose. Then I watched CSI:NY...and worked on the hose. Then I watched The Magnificent Seven...and worked on the hose. And then I watched a show on TLC with Stacey London...and worked on the hose. There's a pattern, you see.

Must finish hose. Must. Finish. Hose.

*Not that I have any idea what it is like to be stoned. Nope, no way.

Kilts, or, How I Spent My Weekend

Supervising and helping out at the studio during the dance exams was fun, but resulted in...a lot of empty time. But, lucky me! I have a way to fill that time. Between the weekend and two hours bus riding every day this week, I have made some real headway on the FBIL's kilt hose.



I saw my boss/dance teacher this evening, and she told me that all of my dancers passed their exams, and most did very well. I'm quite pleased!

The new job is going well. We've been keeping "banker's hours" for the past three days, which has made for a nice, gradual way to work myself back into having a full-time job. I am the database master! And I'm enjoying it! Weird...

Hmm, what else...Oh! I should talk about the knitting! Ok, so the feet are almost done. Hopefully I'll be able to get them done tonight while watching the Senators kick some Duck butt!! Then we start the impressive part: the cables and shaping up the leg! I'm not sure how easy on the brain it will be to try to do all that cabling on the bus. I am thinking of getting a large purse/small bag to facilitate the on-bus knitting. I figure I'll get something biggish to hold the project, charts, stitch markers, along with my usual purse contents and my headphones for my mp3 phone. Oh, cheap vinyl purses! How happy you make me when you actually look like leather!

In other news: I love Vietnamese food. L-o-v-e it. I love that when I go into the little pho shop up the street from our temporary office (where I've been working this week) I get a large pot of tea before I even order. I love the enormous, two-meal-servings, "small" bowls of pho. I love the tofu in their vegetarian offerings. I love that my enormous meals come to way less than $10. I love that the guy who runs the place is so nice and pleasant and friendly and knows me already. I love it!

Wembley pic!



It's horribly blurry, I know. She wouldn't stay still, and my phone-camera has pretty horrendous shutter delay. But doesn't she look like she has a giant smile, a la Dr. Teeth of the Muppet Show?! That was her birthday gift earlier this month (yes, I bought my dog a birthday gift, you want to make something of it?) and she loves it. She particularly likes the squeaky tongue!

I have sunshine-y plans!

This weekend was more like two work days. We had our dance school exams! My students all did fairly well, I think (hard to say, as I wasn't in the room of course, and the examiner doesn't give the teachers too many hints on the day of the exams. But I'm hopeful for my girls. I had a good time out at the studio, and all the extra time I spent with my teacher/boss was a real delight, and I feel as thought I truly got to know her better.

And she made me a little offer. Our performing troupe is going on a trip to Russia to dance at a multicultural dance festival (the MacCulloch dancers have been to China, Spain, Belgium - twice, I believe, - France, Mexico - twice, - Scotland several times, Bulgaria...) and this year's group of travellers is sadly lacking in highland dancers. Am I sure I wouldn't like to go? The only reason I hadn't agreed to go was financial, but now I have a good job, and three weeks vacation annually. So sometime this week I'll see if I can use a week or so at the end of the summer!!! How excited am I at the possibility that I'll dance in Red Square?! Oh wow!!

I got a fair bit of knitting done, as well. I am about three inches past the toe increases of the FBIL's kilt hose. I'm hoping that the next few days will see the total completion of the feet; I'm really looking forward to the pattern-work on the legs of the stockings.

And I'm watching Houseboat. Cary Grant and Sophia Loren...charming!

Oh, right...the sunshine-y plans: I'm planning to take pics of the kilt stockings during my lunch hours downtown. Prepare yourself!