Are you there, blog? It's me, Alison

I've been thinking for a week or two about how to make a drama-free return to this little corner of the Internet that I've got here. I lost interest in the whole thing last year (obviously), but I never did say goodbye or officially shut things down, just so that I could come back if I wanted to. I'm still not sure whether I'll start blogging again with any regularity, but I have been finding myself wanting to post certain things, and this seems like the most appropriate place to do that. So hello to anyone who may pop by after all this time!

I'm not going to try to summarize the nine months that have passed since I last posted, except to say this: I'm still living in Montreal and working on my Ph.D. (writing the dissertation draft). In news of the new, I'm expecting a baby in early December -- and that’s what brings me back to the blog. Yep, I'm 25 weeks pregnant and, I must say, feeling excellent.

For me, Ravelry took the place of knitblogging. I could put all the info and photos about knitting projects there, and I no longer felt the need to duplicate that stuff here. But now that a baby is on the way, I'm doing a little bit of sewing and bookmarking a lot of stuff online, and I don't have another place to keep track of that stuff. Also, I probably want to talk about baby stuff more than my friends want to hear about it, because -- let's face it -- stuff can be boring if it isn't about you. I'll be the first to admit that when knitting bloggers had babies and started talking about the babies instead, I often tuned out. If you're not interested, you're not interested -- and I wasn't, but now I am. Life changes like that, doesn’t it?

All this is to say that I might start blogging a bit, and it's probably going to be about babies. OK, about my baby. (But I'm more interested in yours now, too -- I promise.) And I'm jumping right in with burp cloths. What could be more fascinating?

A couple of Christmases ago, I made flannel pillowcases as gifts (a big hit, by the way), and I had some flannel left over. With more than a yard of one print, I made a simple receiving blanket: trimmed off the selvedges, cut about a 40-inch square, turned over a hem all around and sewed it. With smaller pieces of leftover flannel, I made three burp cloths:


I looked at several patterns/tutorials online and settled on this one. I cut out six pieces, paired different patterns together for each cloth, sewed the pieces together, and topstitched. Easy -- once I figured out the tension on my machine had to be set at 1 for the topstitching (only 1!?).


Et voila. I'll probably need dozens more. Several patterns recommend layering a cloth diaper inside the burp cloth because some babies barf that much. This, along with about 273 other things I've read in the last five months, terrifies me.

Monster shawl

This morning's conversation...

Me:      I'm going to take some photos of my shawl.
Bill:      I can take them -- you go to the very end of the garden, and I'll stand at the back door and see if I can fit it all in.



Pattern: Lightweight Mountain Peaks Shawl
Yarn: 2.4 skeins (1,050 yds) Misti Alpaca 2-Ply Lace (colour: 0790)
Needle: 3.25mm Addi Lace

I feel a real sense of accomplishment with this project. The pattern was a challenge, with two elements I'd never done before: lace patterning on both RS and WS rows, and a knitted-on side-to-side border. I think it's my most difficult project to date. As I was blocking it I was a little scared by the size, but the second I draped it around my shoulders, I was in love.

The reason for its hugeness (compared with the photo of the original shawl in the Mimknits pattern) is that I used laceweight yarn with a cobweb-weight pattern. (So typical of me: I meant to buy the laceweight Mountain Peaks pattern but made a mistake, and I was too cheap to just suck up that $6.50, so I just went ahead with the pattern I'd bought.)

Because I used a heavier yarn and, thus, a bigger needle, I ran out of yarn at the halfway point of the border. I turned to Ravelry for help, and it didn't let me down; Raveler luGirl very generously dug into her own stash and sent me a skein of yarn from the same dye lot so I could finish. (Oh, how I love knitters.)


I still love all those small shawls I listed in my last post, but I want to marry this giant shawl. I also want to keep knitting challenging lace. It's very satisfying.

Small shawls

I know I'm not the only one preoccupied with small shawls at the moment, not by far. The appearance of Ishbel seemed to open the floodgates, and now I'm seeing lots and lots of beautiful little shawls on Ravelry -- lots and lots of patterns that use about a skein of sock yarn. I was gathering links together for myself and thought I'd share.

These patterns are free:

- Fizzi (Ravelry link only)
- Multnomah (Rav link)
- Lazy Day Lace Shawl (Rav link)
- Travelling Woman (Rav link)
- Weaver's Wool Mini Shawl (Rav link)
- [added 11/19] Leaf Peeper Bandit (Rav link)

These ones cost some money:

- Aestlight Shawl (Rav link)
- Antonia Shawlette/Capelet (Rav link)
- Butterfly Forest Shawl (Rav link)
- Centrique (Rav link)
- Damson (Rav link)
- Hayworth Shawlette (Rav link)
- Herbivore (Rav link)
- Little Colonnade (Rav link only)
- Milkweed Shawl (Rav link)
- Simple Things (Rav link)
- Sunbird (Ravelry link only)
- Wast Side Shawl (Rav link)

So many shawls! All I want to knit these days is shawls. These ones, big intricate lacy ones, you name it. (They don't have to fit, for one thing.)

By the way, new Twist Collective today! I haven't even looked yet...

Comfort knitting

Well, I worked very hard on my conference paper last week, and got it done (with pie charts!), and ... and nothing. By Friday I was sick with a sore throat and was losing my voice, and on Saturday morning -- when I was supposed to present my paper -- I felt worse. So no conference, no paper. I was disappointed, plus I had this pesky stabbing pain in my throat, and if that wasn't enough, Saturday afternoon came with period cramps. So it was a rotten day. So I started knitting.

As I mentioned in my last post, I already had my eye on the Prairie Rose Shawl from A Knitter's Book of Wool, and I had the perfect yarn for it. On our holiday to the east coast last fall, I'd bought a 400-yard skein of Shetland laceweight that was from the Last Resort Farm in Malagash, NS. It's very woolly -- a little bit thick and thin, spun tight in some parts, fluffy in others. Since KBoW is a celebration of wool -- real, woolly wool -- and since Prairie Rose called for less than 400 yards, it was a perfect match.


So I knit, and I knit, and I knit. I watched TV (Kramer vs. Kramer was on, and then loads of reality shows). I cuddled with Mooky. And I knit. And then I knit on Sunday, too, between cups of tea and hankies full of ... well, I was sick. But I knit and knit, and by Monday evening, I was blocking my Prairie Rose Shawl. And I was feeling better.


Now, the pattern calls for 370 yards of "fingering" (though the shawls shown are knit in laceweight), so I thought I was safe with my 400 yards of heavy lace, but I ran out. I had to knit the final row and do the bind-off in another yarn; fortunately, I had a ball of Plymouth Baby Alpaca laceweight in the same shade of grey. And it actually worked out well. I think the Last Resort wool would have made a bit of a thick edge, while the baby alpaca is finer and made for a more delicate edge. So all’s well that ends well. (Still, be warned!) Maybe I ran out because I went up a needle size (pattern calls for 3.5 mm; I used 3.75 mm) to get a slightly larger shawl. I was cutting it pretty close.

As with all Evelyn Clark shawls, the construction is simple and logical, and the finished product is lovely. Plus, my cold is pretty much gone. Plus, I can recycle that conference paper. My pie charts will live again!

In list form

1. Rhinebeck (NY Sheep & Wool Fest) is this weekend, but I'm skipping it this year. (I went in 2007, and I had so much fun; I went in 2008, and I froze my ass off.) There are lots of people I'd love to go and see, but I can spare neither the time nor the cash this year.

2. I defended my dissertation proposal last week, so I'm finally whatcha call ABD. (Remember I submitted the proposal back in July? Well, it took three months to actually get three academics in the same room to talk to me about it.) So that's a big step. I'd feel more excited and relieved if I wasn't in the middle of writing a paper for a conference that's only a week away.

2. b) My conference presentation is going to involve pie charts, and they're going to look awesome. If you need to make pie charts -- which, I recognize, is unlikely -- I can recommend this site.

3. I got my copy of the beautiful Knitter's Book of Wool, and I am sorely tempted to drop everything (including the pie charts) to cast on for Evelyn Clark's Prairie Rose Shawl. It's beautiful. (Why can I find no photos to share with you? Hmmm. Just keep checking Ravelry.)

4. I've become obsessed with Babybel cheese -- those little red wax-covered ones. I love them. On the packaging, it just says they are "cheese." What are they?

5. It's getting cold here. In response, I am working to finish a bulky wool/alpaca cardigan vest: the Heather Hoodie Vest. Mine is neither heathered nor hooded. It's a solid orangey-red. When I get it done, I'll post photos here. If this doesn't take place within the next couple of weeks, it probably means I've gone ahead with the Prairie Rose Shawl at the expense of all other knitting. This is a distinct possibility.

6. I am now going to resist the temptation to make a pie chart outlining the percentages of my thoughts currently occupied with the Prairie Rose Shawl, my conference paper, and Babybel cheese. Time to get back to work. Have a nice weekend, with or without Rhinebeck!

Which ewe am I?

A Thursday afternoon distraction for you: Which ewe are you? The quiz is part of the promo for the much-anticipated (by me, and probably by you, too) Knitter's Book of Wool by Clara Parkes.

(Remember how many yarn-related quizzes there used to be for knitbloggers back in the day? We were always finding out which stitch pattern we were, or whether we were a pair of socks or a sturdy cardigan...)