Christmas Knitting Haul

My poor blog has been sadly neglected through December. The run-up to the Big Day with kids seems to speed by so very quickly. Except for those times (of which there are too many) when the kids are bouncing off the ceiling with excitement or sugar. Then I just want to send them to their rooms until after the New Year has come and gone. It didn't helped at all that a very, very, very cold spell settled in and never wanted to leave. When you have to stand at the door while the dogs go out to do their business so that you can quickly open it for them the moment that they are finished it is just too cold for kids to be outside playing.

But somehow we made it through.

First things first - the kids at their Christmas concert...

Here is Katie and her best friend Tessa before heading into the gym. Our school is old and the gym is waaaaay too small for the amount of kids at the school and I wasn't able to get a decent picture of the actual concert. It is so bad that parents play musical chairs during the concert so that everyone can at least see their child perform. We are supposed to have a whole new school built within 3 years since we are designated a growth neighbourhood.

And Christopher.... I wish he really was as angelic as he looks in this picture.

And here is the good stuff! I got lots of great knitting stuff! Dallas took the kids to my favourite yarn store, Golden Willow Natural Fibres, so that they could each pick out a skein of sock yarn. Their choices can be interesting, to say the least! Well, Christopher's can be anyway. Katie picked out the blue Trekking since she knows that my favourite colour is blue. Christopher picked the bright green Opal since green is his favourite colour. At least it isn't acid yellow like his last pick. The drop spindle and Lisa Souza roving were from my sister, Susan. And the Yarn Harlot desk calender and Charlotte Schurch and Beth Parrott Little Box of Socks were from Dallas. I have one more knitting thing from Christmas, but I am going to wait a couple of weeks to show you.

Some "Ooooooohs!" and an "Oops!"

Working the Agribition with Ron from Buffalo Gold remained fun up until the end. My feet were completely killing me and the pain was starting to radiate up my back, but I still didn't want it to end. I met so many great people. And I would go to work for Ron again in a heart beat.

I also found that I like my kids a whole lot better when I don't see them as much. Funny how that works.

I had my first bison burger courtesy of Ron and we got to introduce him to local favourites like Nanaimo Bars.

My stash has also now moved up in social standing. My poor superwash sock yarns are turning up their noses at their new luxurious neighbours.

This skein is a sportweight 90% bison down, 10% nylon blend. The nylon is really only added because the bison down is very short and the nylon makes it easier to spin. I think I will make it into an everyday scarf for myself since it is machine wash and dryable. Yup, you read that right. Into the dryer it can go. It won't shrink or felt. This is the same yarn that my sister washed and dried after a test dyeing.
The two skeins on the right are the "Lux" yarn which is 45% bison down, 20% cashmere, 20% silk and 15% Tencel. When I get brave enough to try my hand at lace knitting I will do one of them up into a dressy scarf. It is available in the two colours right now, but in January there will be an additional 20 shades.

The socks below are machine knit from the "Lux." They are to die for! So soft that I couldnt quit fondling them all week. These aren't actually available from Buffalo Gold yet as they were a prototype, but somehow they jumped into my bag at the end of the week. Probably because Ron didn't want them with my drool all over them.

But all was not great on the knitting front last week. I am still not sure exactly what I did wrong on the heel of these Crusoe socks, but I think they are going to have to be frogged up to the start of the heel flap. I followed the pattern for the flap...

Rw 1: Slp 1, *k1, wyif, slp 1

Rw 2: Slp 1, p to end

and they "grew" so much width-wise that almost became bubble shaped. I don't THINK I did anything wrong, but obviously I must have.

Other than that I love this pattern for variegated yarns.