Knitting blog

The knitting machine adventure is on indefinite pause. The machine in question is an Elna EK2300. If you are up on your knitting machines (and I knew nothing about them until my recent, self-imposed, crash course), the name Elna is not usually associated with knitting machines. You probably associate it with quality sewing machines. For me, Elna conjures up (for unknown reasons) the phrase, "German engineering" but of course it's a Swiss name, and this particular knitting machine is actually made in Japan. It is, more accurately, a Toyota, which it was also briefly named. Elna's foray into knitting machines appears to have been short lived. Their "about us" page, although it gives a thorough timeline from 1940 to present, doesn't even mention knitting machines. It appears the Elna EK2300 has been reincarnated at various times as a Toyota, a Singer, a Studio, and a Silver Reed. It's current rendition is the Silver Reed SK155 I think.

Oh hello there. Happy Friday!

It was so cold yesterday that a warning was issued by The Government Itself.  That sounds dramatic, but Environment Canada puts out alerts, watches and warnings all the time. I believe the phrase used in last night's warning "Warning: Frigid arctic air may cancel Nickelback concert."

Hello! How's winter treating everyone? It's still snowing here. I'm digging my way out of the studio after a massive project. I can't say much about the project for a while, but it is book-shaped, and it involves sweaters.

It was with some relief that I waved goodbye this morning to all three males of the house as they set off for school and work (no offense boys). Two weeks of winter holiday with three large boys and their xbox, odours, walking dead marathons, and candy consuming is just about my limit. But I love them dearly.

Well, Megan is still AWOL so I'm writing the blog. If she doesn't look out I might just take over... except that I still don't know anything about knitting and I expect that might come up at some point.

Well, it's been two weeks and then some since Megan wrote anything in her blog so I'm taking over for a while.

I've got this big, mystery book-sized project in the works. And it gets to be so big sometimes, with so many moving parts and deadlines and numbers and yarn requirements, that it's nice to do something small just for the sake of doing something small. So last week, I played around with a new slip stitch pattern, trying to come up with something that works with two colours. I'll tell you more later, but the resulting fabric is dense, deeply textured, reversible, and very easy to work. I'm sure I didn't invent it, but I don't know what it's called. The yarn is Quince & Co's Owl in Abyssinian and Amethyst. Owl is such a nice little yarn, I know I'll be using it again. It's tweedy, wooly, and blooms after a good long soak.