Arts and Crafts

The Art of Cooking (or so):


Pumpkin Soup with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of freshly ground nutmeg. That's why we love fall.

Then there's Art etc.


There was that neat little Arts and Crafts fair in the Montreal West Town Hall, and on Saturday at 2 p.m. I went on a whim.

Artsy jellies and preserves:



Artsy baking:


I have tried myself at biscottis. These look better. There are also two homemade truffles in the box.

Very artsy soap:


Peach, Lemon Verbena and Chocolatte (it's coffee in a soap, really!). They smell great. That tin is Vanilla Lip Balm. That not only smells great, but tastes also good. Yes, I know, I am not supposed to use it as candy.

Then there's this:


Can't really show it to you, these are a bit of a secret.

One for me and one for...won't tell!



As you can see, I had a blast!!

If you wonder where the crafty part of that post is - I'm not finished.


Armwarmers. Very handy when one likes to wear 3/4 sleeves in colder weather. They are knit with the Applelaine Applepie in the Godiva colourway.



Yup, another pair. Also called "sleeves with holes."
They are knit from Mountaincolor Bearfoot "Mountain Tango" which was brought to me by the lovely Miss D..


And then there's the hat. Everyone who's seen it likes it. I think I look silly wearing it, as ever. The good news: it only takes one ball of chunky yarn (knit on 6 mm needles) and holes of lace notwithstanding it is very warm. Watch out for the pattern to arrive here soon - I am also going to tell you which yarn would be perfect.

It's 5.12 p.m., we had an important meeting today and my pattern has been destined to be published. Sorry, pals! I will try to make up another one you can have.

Obligatory picture(s)

The Yarn Harlot came to Montreal on Friday, November 10th, and I went to see (hear) her.

There she was, holding up "the sock" to take (blurry?) pictures of her audience. I was sitting in the audience, taking DEFINITELY blurry pictures of her. In fact, the two pictures I blogged are the only ones that are not blurry, and one was taken by Miss D. who kindly offered her services. They had been accepted thankfully, after all, it is really not her fault that I look like a walrus next to that tiny person. But, I got to hold the sock.


Sorry, Alison, you know you're not as pale as pictured.



Yup, it was fun. And she signed my book, too.

Embossed Leaves Socks "How To"

For all of you out there who wanted to knit the Embossed Leaves Socks

featured in IK Winter 2005 but have been kept by the size the sock design delivers, here you go. Adapt the pattern to your size without losing any of the design elements.

What do I do to make the circumference smaller?
Just leave out one of the purl stitches between the leaves pattern. You'll have 60 sts around. The heel can be easily adapted, and when starting the toe just k1, p1, knit to last 2 sts, ptog, i.e. drop one of the knit sts at the beginning.

What do I do to make the foot longer/shorter but want to keep the star toe?
For all of you with shoe size 10 or larger (I myself wear a 10, sometimes 11 and the Koigu version fit my foot, but sometimes it just needs to be larger or smaller for that matter, right?) knit another 8 rounds of the pattern repeat, or leave it out - or more if needed. Now comes the part where it gets a bit tricky, but not much.

To get the same finishing of the leaves as in the original pattern, you'll have to mirror the toe decreases. I.e. start with p2tog and end with p1, k2 on all needles.

To make the foot larger, you would finish the whole repeat, instead of ending after the first 8 rnds as written in the pattern. Now the last leaf points into the "wrong direction" for the instructions of the star toe as written in the pattern. Just use the following chart for the mirrored toe:


Click on chart to make it larger

To sum it up: when ending with half a repeat use toe as described in pattern. When making smaller or larger and ending with the whole 16 rnd repeat, use mirrored toe of chart.

Now, go and knit some. You know you want to!

Frame of mind

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it: Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Socktober calls