Happy National Holidays

I completely missed blogging on Canada Day - hey I spent most of the day away from internet activity celebrating the holiday. So Happy belated Canada and a Joyous Fourth to the Americans.

I mentioned yesterday that I would fill you in on the weekend activities and seeing that it is Wednesday - I don't think it is too late to do that.
So here is a hint to activity number one:


Why yes those are completed entrelac socks - just in time for summer.
Yarn: Koigu PPPM 2 skeins colour: (light blue) and one skein of KPM colour 1003 (dark blue) I have probably 1.5 skeins total of yarn left - so I could knit a short pair of socks.
Pattern: Entrelac socks by Eunny Jang - IK Winter 2007
Needles: 2.25 mm dpns
Pattern modificatins - not nearly as long as the knee highs. I started the 7 st blocks a repeat earlier to take into account my thick calves. I just did a normal 1x1 rib instead of having folded cuff for the ties and tassles.

Now back to the weekend activities - what is that the socks are on - why yes it is a kayak


We went kayaking on the Grand River again this year. We went last year with Jeneric
We used a different outfitter, and this year we didn't have any holes in the kayaks ( always a bonus) although the water level was very low in some spots so I am sure we contributed to some wear. We kayaked from Glen Morris to Paris .
After the trip we went back home to pick up Keeper and headed to my parents and ended up at their cottage.



Of course that meant spending beach time with the family - I know it sounds awful doesnt' it.

We go to see Keeper play in the water for the first time. The first time I took him down to the waters edge he didn't seem to sure about the water. He didn't get his feet we but watched the waves.

I took him to the edge about 5 min later, and he lapped up the water (yummy L. Erie water) and proceeded to lie down in it to cool off. He wanted to run and jump in the water but that is difficult with the leash and everything.

A good time was had by all.

Entrelac socks

The lilacs are in bloom:


When I haven't been enjoying the beautiful lilacs that are infusing the air with their aroma, I have been working on the entrelac socks. Do you want to see proof ( I am not sure if I have shown you these socks before).

Hopefully not much longer and I will be able to move these too the FO column, although they will have to wait for the fall before they get any wear. Entrelac has stretch too it and looks much better once it is on the foot then loose. Do you want to see?

Some random thoughts

I had this nice long post last night almost ready to post and blogger ate the thing - pisses me off. I'll try to recreate the post.

A couple of weeks ago our car started making a weird engine noise. We scheduled an appointment with the mechanic for this past Tuesday to have it looked at and fixed. On Sunday (Easter Sunday) we were at my parents for dinner then started to drive home on the backroads as we normally do. Well we heard a noise and something falling from the car. The battery light came on, "UH OH!", the engine began to over heat. SHIT! We knew there was a gas station about 5 km up ahead. We decided to limp there, so we could inspect the car with some lights, stopping often to let the engine cool down (I was glad for a change that it was cold for Easter). We arrived at the 24 hour service station - it was closed. Lets pause for a moment to consider that.
There was lights on around the building so we pulled up and checked under the hood. The coolant reservoir was still full. We called CAA and Dad. Dad confirmed what I thought when I saw a shiny pulley beside the engine - the fan belt was gone. CAA came and towed our car and Dad loaned us his truck for a couple of days until the pulley (it had seized) and belt could be replaced. Just a word of advice don't have your car brake down on Easter Sunday.

On Tuesday night Amy Singer came to the knitting guild to discuss her new book No Sheep for You. I learned a lot from Amy's talk about how to substitute fibres and how a yarn will behave when it is knitted up. Amy also talked about the different non animal fibre families: bast, seed, protein, synthetic, and extruded; how knowing how one fibre behaves in the family will give you ideas on how a related fibre will behave - think of linen and hemp both bast fibres. Extruded fibres are an expanding group and will be an interesting place I think to watch, this family includes yarn made from bamboo, soy, corn seaweed and MILK (yeah that last one was new for me as well). I think No sheep for you will be added to my library at some point.
Amy also had the trunk show there and I got to fondle the silk jacket/robe that Amy admits should be left in your will if you ever decide to make it. If you do make it - please will it to me. The wonderful sweater of Morrigan - an enticing knit (which I realize I am not that crazy to make) was beautiful and soft.

I have finished one entrelac sock. You could easily make a decent pair of socks from only two balls of koigu - just split them in half and knit until one runs out of yarn. My sock weighs 48 g and I have a 23 cm (9") heel to cuff measurement - I might have been able to squeeze one more pattern repeat out of the navy, I am not sure, but I decided to stop at this length due to the thickness of my calves and my dislike of overly long songs. I have worn the sock for a couple of steps and I don't think the pattern will bother me for a normal day's activities. However I wouldn't wear this sock for a massive hike - in those situations the little ridges might bother you. I am looking forward to finishing this pair of socks and adding them to my drawer. (My wool socks always seem to be in the laundry).
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A few wishes

I wish that I could say I have been jet setting around the world or at least the continent to explain my lack of blog activity but alas I do not have that exciting of an excuse.

I wish that I could say that I have some fabulous story to tell you for my blogiversary - which I forgot all about - it was March 10.

I wish that I had some great finished objects to show off but I don't.

I am at the heel of the Entrelac socks. The slow progress has to do with lack of knitting time rather than the pattern. That is another wish - more time to knit.
I was worried the pattern might not be suitable for those stolen moments to knit but it actually is working good for that. Once you get the entrelac pattern down (not hard), you just continue on, knitting each square of 72 total stitches. Priscilla asked about knitting backwards - I guess tinking could be considered knitting backwards but what I was referring to was instead of knitting moving the stitches from your left needle to your right, move the stitches from your right needle to your left. I like the tutorial here, if you want photos.

One thing that I have finished though is my 300 km challenge that I set for myself as part of Runagogo (I haven't updated my total there in March). I knew February was going to be the toughest month because of the weather but walking Keeper forced me out twice a day (okay some of those days were really short and I didn't count walking around the pet stores). With this warm weather (it hit 22C today and suppose to be similar tomorrow) it makes it nicer to walk. Although this afternoon would have been better if we didn't have to walk through the pouring rain on the return half (my shirt was wet since my rain coat had soaked through). I am not going to sign up for the next 100 mile challenge since I know I will be able to accomplish it.

I think I need to set some knitting goals and see what I can get done in the next few months. Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments. I may add them to my list. I have a few ideas of upcoming projects.

"I'm ready for a walk ..but
if I am not sleeping I always am ready!"

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Some thoughts on entrelac

As some of you guessed (it wasn't that difficult) I am making Eunny Jang's Entrelac socks from the spring issue of IK. I am using a navy colour as the contrast and a light variegated blue for the MC. I have done the first two rows of blocks twice now. The first time I knew the set up triangles were ugly but wanted to get a feel for how the blocks went and to work on other problems. I then ripped and have redone the blocks and am much happier with the results.
A couple of comments so far:

• In the sock pattern as opposed to the tutorial you have to SSK on the set up triangles. This at first puzzled me but I now realize it is to decrease from the 72 sts for the toe (knit in St St) to the stitches needed for entrelac.
• Knitting backwards is slow but faster than turning the work all the time. I have also improved on this technique between the first set of triangles to the second set of triangles
• I like to twist my picked up stitches before knitting them. In the case of the navy blocks, I need to do this on a "purl" row, I haven't been able to accomplish knitting backward to give this twist so I twist the stitches individually before knitting them moving them back and forth between the needles. I was turning the work and purling them, however I think it is simplier to twist the stitches. Before these socks are done I might be able to do the knit backward and twist technique.
• I wish I had shorter dpns. I normally don't mind the Susan Bates that I have for length but there is just too much needle hanging around. Maybe it will get better.

Jenni is curious how the pattern will feel on the bottom of the foot. I am interested as well. If your bottom of the foot is sensitive this is probably not the best pattern for you as you will be walking on texture. I have been thinking of ways to give a plain foot. I have no idea how well these would work.

• Knit the entrelac on the cuff only.
  
• Knit the top of the foot in entrelac using a flat technique (with side triangles), then go back and knit the bottom of the foot in stockinette and seam the two pieces together (or maybe join as you go.
  
• I was trying to think of a way to do it in the round- knit the blocks (you would need side triangles still and then do short the instep but you would maybe need maybe 12 rows of sole for every row of blocks completed and since you don't get to the sides except when a row of blocks is done then you would have to do back and forth on the bottom but just in sections and this seems like a pain in the ass so you might as well use method 2 above.

Maybe when I get to the heel I will try the foot on and walk around and see if it bugs me. If it does then I will try something like method two above. I have a fairly high tolerance to these sorts of thing though - if I didn't I wouldn't try this pattern - so I may not be the best judge of this problem.

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