Category Archives: Knitting Creations

Hole in the Wall

Yesterday we went for a day drive. On our agenda was checking out Limehouse Conservation Area. When I saw the frozen trail I almost turned around and walked back to the car, as after my little mishap last year I am not very fond of ice, but Joseph convinced me to try it for a little while saying I can walk on the grassy edge of the trail and I agreed. I was very glad I did as further down the trail we came to an area called The Hole in the Wall – I am surprised how little I managed to find about it on the Internet but it sure is an amazing sight:

The photos do not really convey the phenomenon well, it is hard to capture the complexity of the grid and they do not show how deep those fissures are. You come to an area full of tunnel like structures that are interconnected like blood vessels. When you get close to the edge  you see that they are very deep (about 10 to 20 feet deep) narrow (about 1-2 feet wide) and the tree trunks create weird formations; many of them growing on both sides of a fissure with the trunks and roots creating interesting structures. The whole thing reminded me of the complex trenches or bunkers on the Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem (me and my war memories,,,)

We will have to go back to this conservation area the spring as we couldn’t really explore it in depth because of the ice and I also want to see what grows around there.

On the trail I had a chance to take photos of two hats I knitted recently:

I was actually knitting this hat for myself but as I look in it like one of Woody Allen’s famous sperms:

I was very glad to find out it fits Joseph really nicely.

So I knitted myself another one with the second skein of yarn (a lovely combination of merino, cashmere and silk):

Not that I look much better in this one (as you can obviously see) but the sperm image don’t jump as fast to my head and I do need some ear protection during the winter in Canada even when it is as mild as the one we have this year.

I Am Gartering

 

One of my favorite Israeli authors is David Grossman, in one of his first books: The Book of Intimate Grammar: A Novel he describes the fascination of a young Israeli boy with the present continuous tense (we don’t have it in Hebrew). The boy keeps using it in his head with Hebrew words. Ani kofetzing = I am jumping – is the one stuck in my head from some reason.

To borrow from this lovely kid, these days I am gartering.

After finishing the Candy I made for our Cookie*:

Which was the third finished (I have a fourth waiting patiently on the needles,,,) Different Lines going off my needles almost in a row (I knitted a few holiday gifts between the second and third).

I planned on knitting a cardigan (this is in my plans for the longest time,,,) but alas, I came across the latest creation of Veera Välimäki – Color Affection and had to knit it NOW!

The only problem was that the pattern is not published yet and the only way to get it is to buy a kit from The Plucky Knitter but alas, all the kits were sold, oy!

In my despair, I bought some alternative yarn, Tosh Merino Light and went on a mission to get my hands on that pattern,,, Luckily, it took me only a few days to find a raveler who wanted to sell her kit and since then I am gartering away on this lovely creation:

After getting well into the third section, I decided my esdges pull too much and I ripped it off and started again. I am now almost at the end of the third section and the rows are long (over 300 stitches and growing rapidly) but I can already see it is going to be an excellent shawl and I am going to knit a few more of it and may try some personal variation or two (I said that about the different lines and never did it,,,)

One useful thing I learned in one of Ravelry’s groups discussion is how to avoid the pulling of the edge when you have a lot of increases near it (I am going to apply it in my next pogona and other Stephen West patterns too):
Do a yarn over on the needle before the first stitch and drop it when you get to it at the end of the next row, it takes a bit getting used to but it makes the edge really nice and loose. It works nice with one or 2 colors. When I got to the 3 colors section I decided to do the YO with the thread I just used and the one I am going to use next then I knit the first stitch with both threads and after dropping the YO I pull lightly on the thread not in use right now – I think it will give me a nice edge but will give you my final verdict on this one after blocking.

I think I am doomed. I think I am going to garter to the end of my knitting life!

Oh and I really have to hold my horses not go into the longest rant about the GOP primaries in general and the Newt in particular!

 

*  Photo taken by Cookie and used with her permission.

Seeing Double

Seeing double?

No, not exactly*.

But, what else can a knitter do when someone dear to her is coveting her latest favorite creation and a major gift giving event is fast approaching?

 

* The yarn is different as I couldn’t find the dark purple Casbah I used in my original and I really wanted to try the most inviting Madelinetosh  Pashmina!