February Finishes, Faves & Fantasies

It’s March 9th already. How did that happen? I wanted go ahead with my February post anyway as I didn’t have a lot of finishes but did have a lot of life happen.

I only finished two projects in February, and one was just in the knick of time. I finished my first pair of self striping socks. It’s true what people say about the yarn being addictive. I called these socks Potato Chippy for just that reason. This is a plain vanilla sock with Fish Lips Kiss heel in Knit Picks Felici (Ever After colourway).

I love them. I did my normal 64 stitches on a 2.5mm (US 1.5) 9″ circular needle. Next time I do vanilla socks I am going to try a 2.25mm (US 1) needle as they seem to be a little loose. You can see some of the bunching around the ankle, which is pretty normal for me, but this was more than I was used to.

 

My other finish was another pair of Spate fingerless gloves by Jane Richmond. I made a pair for myself back in December with some deep stash yarn. These were made for a good friend out of yarn I bought for another project, then decided not to make. The yarn is lovely! It is Lichen & Lace worsted in the Poppy colourway that I purchased from the Purple Purl in Toronto. Last time I saw her I had one finished and she tried it on to make sure it fit. I’m not going to lie, I was happy to have them done by the end. I don’t tend to knit the same patterns over again so I think my brain was craving something different.

At the beginning of February, my partner Dave and I took a much need mini break and drove out to Prince Edward County, about two hours away from Toronto. My ulterior motive was to visit Rosehaven Yarn Shop to see their selection of Quince & Co. yarns as well as the newly acquired Brooklyn Tweed yarns. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen what fell into my bag. I got two skeins of Quince & Co. Chickadee in a very dark heathered grey to make some armwarmers Dave’s daughter requested. I also picked up some hand dyed yarn by Bohoknits who is Kelly McClure, the designer of the ubiquitous Sockhead Slouch Hat. She is local to that area and in fact sometimes works at the store. That skein is named Colonel Mustard for obvious reasons. The big purchase was 12 skeins of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in the colourway Truffle Hunt for a Rift sweater (by Jared Flood) for Dave. It was a splurge, but he is worth it. I’m looking forward to getting the pattern and swatching soon. My friend Eric of the Stick + Twine podcast will be hosting A Tweed Grows in Brooklyn KAL and it’s just the push I need to get started on this sweater, just in time for the warmer weather! The Fantasy part of this post is that I think I might get it done on time. 😉

February is also the month of my birth, and I received these two skeins of Stonehedge Fiber Mill Crazy. Apparently these are mill ends that are sold off at a very reasonable price. They are very soft. One is 64 grams and the other is 62 grams for an approximate total of 389 yards of DK weight. Does anyone have any pattern suggestions? Please let me know. The only thing I can think to do is to alternate stripe them in a tube cowl.

I also got gifts of mini skeins from a couple of friends for my sock yarn scrap blanket and a beautiful pair of  socks. I’ve never tried contrasting heels, toes and cuffs and this is really motivating me to give it a go.

I’m going to do a separate post to share some of the other lovely things that entered my life last month. The last thing I want to share for this post is this book of poetry by Julie Cameron Gray. Julie is someone I have been following for quite some time through her blog and Instagram feed. I’ve had the pleasure of her company for a quick coffee. I knew she was a writer, but I didn’t know it was poetry. This is her second book. Who says you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Isn’t that just the most gorgeous cover? I fully admit that I’ve never read a book of poetry before. I had quite a bit of time to myself last month while Dave was away dealing with his father’s health issues. I binge watched all of Downton Abbey and  I thought it was the perfect time to read a book called Lady Crawford.

First let me say, this is not a review. I’m not at all qualified to do that. I just wanted to share with you all in case any of you are interested in reading this or giving poetry a try. I kept coming back to two of the poems, On Origins II and Happy Birthday. They both evoked parts of my past I had long forgotten and I spent some time reminiscing and acknowledging how far I’ve grown as a person. I don’t know much about poetry, but when writing affects me that much I know it’s something well worth reading. On a completely unrelated note – as a knitter, it makes me happy to see that Julie is wearing a handknit cowl in her author photo.

That’s it for now. Please do let me know if you have any ideas for those lovely mill ends I received. I would really appreciate it.