More news about Ktog

This weekend I got one yarn review knitted and typeset, and typeset the review of the sock yarn I've been working with. I also got Web Browsing dine and finished off our Enduring Classic Book Review. Waiting in the wings is a local yarn shop feature by a guest author, and some pieces for Gizmos and Gottahaves -- Cabin Fever has a new pattern!

The photos of mohair don't turn out well at the best of time, but here is the yarn in question, with a stripe of sock yarn that was used as a pattern in another project.

Last weekend, Mom and I went to Karen Lawrence's Purls of Wisdom retreat. Karen closed her shop, SheepStrings, earlier this year, but she continues to make hand-painted yarn which she will be selling at shows. I bought this yummy yarn which, in real life, looks like a field of sunflowers! The photo at right isn't doing it justice at all!

Having spent the day in the office, I'm off to do a bit of knitting!

Another Two Weeks...

and another productive weekend in the office! Yesterday I prepared notices for our advertisers and retailers about the changes coming to Canadian Guild of Knitters. Since the retailers will be made aware of them before the next issue of Knit Together comes out, I may make an announcement in the blog here within the next couple weeks. Keep your eye on this space!

Today, I got another page laid out for the November issue and marked one of the test packages for Level 2. Last weekend I marked another Level 1 package, which should be safe at its maker's home by now.

This past summer hasn't afforded me the focus I need to work on complex projects, so I've been working on self-striping socks, a plain mohair shawl, baby surprise jackets, and a yarn sample or two just to keep the fingers nimble. As that much-missed characteristic finds its way back into my days, I've found a project just right for my still-hurting attention span: a clock. A Fair Isle clock. I saw the "Clock Tam Kit" in the Knit Picks catalogue, and thought, "Cool," and moved on. That would have been it, if Darling hadn't seen it and said "Wouldn't it be neat for you to knit a clock?" One gauntlet, thrown down. I ordered the kit, and, after perusing the directions and modifying some of the numbers, I dug in. Apart from the 5 (which I didn't change quite enough), I'm pleased with the result. I'm especially happy that the colours that came with the kit matched the wood of the kitchen cupboards so well! This was a good project to try and 'get back in the swing again.'

The other two Fair Isle projects I started this year are in a holding pattern and will remain there until the focus is truly back on track.

I want to leave this post with a warm fuzzy: Zoey, the CGK mascot, has separation anxiety, so she's usually not far from wherever I am. That usually includes the shower. One recent morning, I stepped out of the shower and found her curled up on my bath robe, which had slipiped off the side of the bath tub. She is a pretty princess, and to be truthful, I think she looks good on coral.

Next weekend, Bonnie and I are going to a retreat in Muskoka with workshops by Sally Melville. Again, watch this space for information of our escapades.

Back in the Office again.

There's still much to do for the November issue, so I'm spending this rainy day (another one in a cast of thousands, it seems, this year) in the office. It's good to feel up to the task.

I have been alerted to an errata from the August, 2009 issue of Knit Together, on page 17, under Knitting Getaways: Julia Bryant's telephone number is 485-1751, not 61 as stated. My apologies to Julia. I hope that anyone interested in her inspiring tour of Morocco is able to reach her by e-mail, or through another avenue or her blog, www.fibrefantastics.com .

Change is in the wind at Canadian Guild of Knitters, and we will be making some announcements in our November issue. All things evolve, and so must I.

Now, it's off to write (or do paperwork... it's a toss up!)

Trying to get back on track

It's been a long summer and early fall. Too much bad weather has helped to make for a long, uphill climb that some days just didn't seem worth the effort. The tide is turning a bit, and I'm trying to get myself back on track.

The November issue got started soon after the August issue went into the mail. It still needs more work than I would like at this stage, and I've still got membership renewals that have come in during the last month to process. Today, however, I finally got to mark the Level 1 materials that have been in the office for far too long. Just two test packages of Level 2 materials to mark, now.

Time and health haven't been my friends of late, but I am gradually getting reacquainted with both. I thank you for your patience as I work through it.

Knitting wise, I have been able to get some simple projects done. A knit-along (KAL) on the EZasPi yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/) has got me doing a few Baby Surprise Jackets (BSJs). I have a good reason, as Darling's son and daughter-in-law are expecting. Here's the one I have done in DK yarn. From the leftovers, I've made a pair of socks from Cabin Fever's Tiny Speckled Toes pattern and a bonned adapted from an old Paton's book.

A second one was done in white Cotton Club (discontinued yarn) with black-and-red and black-and-white stripes, and one from a new, printed yarn called Splash by King Cole. I found it on an expedition to a new yarn shop in Scarborough called Creative Yarns, located in a plaza on a corner of Warden Avenue just south of the 401. They had some other yummy stuff there, too.

I've started a couple of complex projects, but have abandoned them for now. Soon, I'll get back to them.

The 13th again??

OK, this whole time thing is just getting stupid!

Last week I got the printer's copy uploaded for the next issue of Knit Together, and I haven't had a chance to proofread a damned thing!

I stayed home from K-W to get that done, but instead wound up helping Darling stain the shed he built for my CGK booth materials and other things. For those of you who missed us at K-W this year, we're sorry, but we were short-staffed for the booth this year, and I had another commitment. See you in 2010!

We've packed a lot of living into the last month, and it's kind of important that we do so right now.

One thing we did do a couple weeks ago is another batch of Hot Rod Relish, the first since 2007. It's a family recipe made with tomatoes, sweet green and red and hot red peppers. It's like salsa, but with 5 cups of sugar in a batch. Trivia: there are 25 cups of sugar in the jars on the right! You make 5 batches every couple of years, and it keeps the whole family happy!

This morning we went for a long paddle, one of the first of the season, and the longest one since I moved here last year. Darling snapped this photo of me and Zoey, our CGK mascot:

It was nice to have a summer day to enjoy at least a piece of!

We're getting closer!

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I shouldn't be surprised, really, for it's been a month of steady working at Knit Together, and it's nearly ready to go to print. That's why you haven't heard from me.

Knitting is a requirement of getting Knit Together out the door, and there's been a lot of knitting going on. First, I finished the main project. It's a summer top called Flowers for Mary. I don't want to give this one away, so here's a peek at the 'flowers...'

Then, I got too wrapped up in another yarn review. One of the yarns in this issue is a self-striping sock yarn. I've never professed to be a sock knitter... I can count the pair of adult and baby socks I've ever made on one hand. But, I got new sandals to wear indoors (one of the pleasures of aging, I'm sure) and I'm going to want some funky socks for the winter... so without further adieu here are my 'fraternal' socks. They look quite similar without shoes, and very different in the sandals. Note that the stripes reverse from one sock to the other... this is because I made them both at the same time from the inside and outside ends of a 100 gram ball. Neat trick, eh! I all these my 'port and starboard socks, because the colours just happened to come out red on one toe and green on the other! They were such fun to do, I'm doing another pair in the 'primarily yellow' colourway.

Finally, I re-knit the mini project for this issue... it's a dress scarf made from Australian merino laceweight wool and the Habu Silk Stainless I reviewed in a previous issue. I'll release a picture of this closer to press time, which will be soon, now, as the last of the pages are headed for the proofreader tomorrow. Just page 2 to layout, and we're ready to ftp the file!

I have to go and put these on ravelry now!!

Now, THAT's a lap cat!

Leah, apparently, has no idea about a workspace. Seems she thinks it's a playspace. The other morning, just after I sat down at the computer, she decided to do her usual peek out the office window. After she finished that, she poked her way across my keyboard, to a sparkly elastic that had caught her eye.

Meanwhile, my spread sheet was going 6777777777;km.nn.

Progress continues on Knit Together. A batch of proofreading was delivered earlier in the week, and another piece was completed on this beautiful, sunny Saturday morning.

Next week, Darling and I are going to take a couple of days off. I'm hopeful there will be a yarn shop visit involved. We'll see.