sweetgeorgia

What I did on my Gap year

It was exactly one year ago today when I started on my trip to Fiji. I didn’t think that I’d be away from work, friends and family for so long. In fact, the idea started out as just a three-week vacation… which became a hiatus from work wherein I declined all new projects and clients and explored other avenues of creativity, design and content development. Two of my close friends got married while we were in Fiji and, outside of sporadic wedding planning, we did a little bit of surfing and a lot of sunburning.

Traveling ended up being a very small portion of my year. Although I did travel to London several times, I think my travels and explorations were mainly internal. I started a couple new business ventures (because you can never have enough new ideas), looked back at the last ten years and looked forward ten years, discovered new friends and old souls, snowboarded during all my spare days this past season, uprooted and moved my possessions three times, and got divorced from my husband of six years. I tearfully sold my childhood and family home in Kitsilano … the one housing my entire dye and design studios… and am joining the hoards of people looking for a place to live in Vancouver.

My internal travels still take place every day. I question and I doubt. I look at different paths and avenues and simultaneously get inspired and despondent. These travels never end but I am just grateful that I don’t need to walk these paths alone. My family and friends have been an unmeasurable support and I am very very grateful for them.

Yesterday, I received news that I’m back on the practicing registrar for pharmacists… so I’m returning to practice in a field I thought I’d never go back to. I’m learning to see that not everything is black and white… and adjust to seeing all the shades of grey in my life, appreciating all the subtlety. And I’m also starting to knit again. Finally.

The back and front pieces are done. All I need are sleeves now. Why does it always feel like “All I need is ‘fill in the blank’ now”? I don’t know. But at this particular moment, all I need are sleeves now.

Here’s to the end of my gap year and to a most beautiful fresh start.

Mixed up.

Destash. I’ve set myself a bit of a laughable goal in wanting to use up pretty much every last drop of my yarn stash. The aim is to not acquire any new yarn until I’m done with the current stash. Jen, this does not include the lovely yarns I picked from your stash… you are going to London and it’s just not practical for you to take all your yarns.*

I’m attempting to destash by breaking up bags of yarns that were originally destined for full-on sweaters, because, really… when will I have time to sit and knit two sleeves, two front pieces and a back? Instead, I wanted this big, chunky scarf … I didn’t realize, however, that it was going to weigh about 200 lbs.

Ingredients for the knit scarf:

• 2 x 50g of dark eggplant alpaca from La Droguerie, purchased in Tokyo
• 2 x 50g of Rowanspun 4-ply in Rumtoft
• 2 x 25g of Rowan Lurex Shimmer in Bronze
• 1 x 25g of Rowan Kid Silk Haze in Splendour
• 3 skeins of Habu Tsumugi Silk, purchased in Kichijoji
• 1 x 100g of 5/2 bombyx silk, handdyed in cochineal

I’m looking to make this scarf about 10 feet long if I can manage it…

And this is destashing by handweaving with mixed warps… I used up the Saje and Golden Siam silk yarns that I purchased in San Francisco about two years ago. Plus, I added two strands of 5/2 bombyx silk… one pale lavendar (from cochineal with no mordant) and one pale cool green (from osage overdyed lightly with natural indigo). The dark green warp thread is cashmere and nylon. The weft is 100% silk… slubby and raw… and completely purple. I feel like this scarf might have been fulled a bit too much (my washer and I are still getting acquainted) but it is now wonderfully soft and warm.

Today, the 6-yard silk/wool warp is going on the loom.

*Aww yes, my friend Jen (of South African yarn tourism fame) is moving to London TOMORROW and has started writing about her adventures already … here …

Diamond Fantasy

Vancouver is seriously lacking sufficient light to take photos right now. These were shot at 6400 iso. 6400. I can’t even believe it.

The Diamond Fantasy Shawl is done and blocked. Knit out of the Silk Lamb Lace yarn, I followed Sivia’s instructions to the letter — the shawl is 10 repeats with the icord edging. The perfect size. Divine and soft, I love it. If you are in Vancouver and want to see it up close and personal, it’s actually at the three bags full shop right now. I’ll probably leave it there for a couple weeks… and I doubt I’ll need to wear it anytime soon!

Here and there.

There’s a coolness in Vancouver that is beyond crisp now. Yep, it’s downright chilly today. Feeling the need to have warm, comfy and cushy Zara sweater NOW.

I’m making progress, yes, I am…

In light of the fact that I seem to have zero spare time these days, I’ve been taking a tip from various knitters who encourage knitting a row here and there throughout the day… That’s three rows in the car, two rows before a client meeting, three more rows while waiting for dinner… It’s amazing what a few minutes here and there can do.

Similarly with my weaving, I was able to warp up my loom with the new handpainted silk log cabin scarf project during the daylight hours. Since I haven’t had time to move my work computer down into the finished (yahoo!) office, I’m still sitting three feet away from my loom… which means that when I have to upload a file that takes 10 minutes, I can turn around and fuss with my loom for 10 minutes.

This is 144 ends (72 purple threads and 72 black threads) spread out neatly through the built-in raddle that is positioned on top of the Spring loom. I’m being extra careful by running a thin strip of painters tape over the top so that stray threads don’t pop out of their spots… or that I don’t accidentally pull a chunk of threads out of the raddle. Yeah, been there, done that.

Those are two lease sticks that I’ve tied to the back beam of the loom — they keep the warp nice, neat and tidy… The last warp I put on was, well, shall we say, put on haphazardly without a tidy cross or lease sticks… and well, let’s just say, it got a little messy back there. So, I’m being good and conscientious here… hopefully it will pay off in terms of a better-tensioned warp and less mess.

And this probably should be filed under “too much information” but, yeah, I’m crocheting the bikini from last summer’s issue of Knit.1. Now, to figure out how to properly do crochet decreases…

Random Thursday.

So… photos of Sizzle. Right. This way…

Yeah, the photo is headless because I just got a haircut on Tuesday and now I look a little too much like Karen O… which is not entirely bad, just different. Why why why do I forget how I look with fringe?! Anyway. It’s just hair. It’ll grow back.

Sizzle

• Pattern: From Wendy Bernard at Knit and Tonic
• Size: The smallest size (30″)
• Yarn: Estelle Mystik DK, a cotton viscose blend… I think I used about 5 balls
• Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm Knit Picks Options!!! (I love these!)
• Mods: None… I made the regular neckline although you can make a more “modest” version if you like… although this doesn’t seem too bad for me.
• Notes: It’s quick and easy to knit, although for me it wasn’t exactly a “three day project”. But I did knit the majority of it on our trip to Tofino and it was good “driving” knitting. Next time, I would knit this in the round, of course.

And seeing as I finished Sizzle and Orangina and I’m awaiting more yarn from Weaving Works to finish my EZ fair isle cardi, I figured I could start a new project… Enter Cosmicpluto’s Lucy in the Sky cardi:

I’m knitting Lucy with stash yarn. It’s Filatura di Crosa Zara that I bought a long while ago and even though it’s DK weight, I’m knitting it on US 8 (5mm) to make gauge. I don’t mind if the resulting cardigan is a little more drapey… in fact, I prefer it that way.

And, look, there’s more on random Thursday… Heather at Lectio.ca has written up a sock pattern for SweetGeorgia Speed Demon yarn that she is giving away for free! It’s called “Sell Your Sole” and you can download it from her site here: http://www.lectio.ca/images/sell_your_sole.pdf

With only 48 stitches around, these socks are quick to knit (I love that) and Heather has provided super-detailed step-by-step photos and instructions for turning the heel. Yahoo. If I have a moment to breathe tonight, I’ll cast on for a pair… Maybe I’ll even be able to bring handknit socks to my grandparents in Japan this time!

And finally on random Thursday, pop on over and visit my friend Shelley at The Maple Kitchen. We’ve been friends since our days at university and she was our uber-fabulous MC at our wedding… and now, she’s just posted about her very first knitting project!!! Send her some love.