Andrei & Patrick

I'm finally getting around to adding some new colourways to the shop.
First off: Mr. Andrei Markov.

For Andrei I wanted something rather quiet and subdued, like the man is himself.

And I decided I needed some more goalies, so I did a Patrick Roy.

Patrick is rather more colourful :)

Both of these yarns are a new base yarn I've been working with. It's a wool/alpaca/nylon blend sock yarn, machine washable. Can't remember the percentages off-hand, but have it listed in the descriptions in the shop.

There won't be a heck of a lot of new listings for a bit, I have some sock yarns ordered, some worsted weight ordered and am waiting for one of my suppliers to get some more merino superwash sock yarn in stock. When the base yarns start coming in, I'll be dyeing them up.

Marvin the Marvelous

Today I had to do a terrible thing. My cat has been having respiratory difficulties for a few weeks now, so I made an appointment with the vet for this afternoon. It turned out to be the worst possible thing imaginable. A chest x-ray revealed tumors in his lungs. There was nothing that could be done. So I had to have him put to sleep.

Marvin would have been 14 years old on May 20th. I had been asked if I would temporarily foster his pregnant mother. She gave birth to three kittens in my bedroom closet. I fell in love with one little guy and decided I would keep him. I initially named him Merlin, but as his personality became more apparent, it was clear that this cat was no magician. He was a big, goofy, klutzy cat and I changed his name to Marvin.

I have loved that cat more than I ever could have imagined was possible and he loved me right back. He was Mama's big boy and I can't imagine what my life will be like without him. I love you Marvin, wherever you are and I miss you terribly.

I Don't Blog Enough

I've known this for a while but always managed to be too busy to blog. But seriously, would it really be that hard to write just one post a week? No, of course not!

This past weekend I had the chance to meet someone I've known through the Go Habs Go group on Ravelry for close to a year now. Caroline, who blogs over here, and I met for coffee and knitting and much talk about two of our favourite things: hockey and knitting. It was great to finally meet her!

This month there's been a Hat Trick KAL at the Puck This! group on Ravelry and this weekend I finished my hat trick.

The Habs hat was goal #1 and the pattern is the Flying Ace Aviator Hat. I liked this pattern, easy instructions to follow and there's plenty of room for coming up with your own variations. Tis pattern is a keeper and I'll be using it for any future ear-flap hats I may want to knit. I got the Habs patch from someone on ebay since they are impossible to find around here.
The middle hat is just a simple improvised hat. I did 2x2 ribbing and then knit plain stockinette, did decreases and added a pompom for that certain je-ne-sais-quois. The yarn is my own, worsted weight wool in the Emile "Butch" Bouchard colourway. It was originally intended to be a Hamrlik colourway, but I changed my mind.
Hat #3 is also my yarn in the Jacques Plante colourway. The pattern is the Hurricane Hat with some mods. I made the ribbing a fair bit taller and turned it up so as to have that extra layer of warmth for the ears, made the whole hat a bit taller so that it slouches a bit, and added a pompom (can we see a trend here? what's up with me and pompoms lately?)

I also finished the Shalom Cardigan this weekend. It's currently blocking and I just need to pick out a button from the button stash for it once it dries. Excuse the horrible picture, but the light in here is bad, when I use the flash it comes out a BRIGHT red, which it is not, and it's raining outside (yes, raining in January in Montreal, wtf?) so I can't take it outside. Better picture to come when it's dry.

Meanwhile, I have cast on another cardigan, this time it's Liesl which I've been wanting to knit for quite some time. I'm using some Manos del Uruguay yarn that I've had in the stash for too long. Liesl's designer, Ysolda Teague, is currently donating 80% of her pattern sales to Medicins Sans Frontieres till the end of January. Although I've made it a habit to not buy patterns until I'm ready to knit them, in this case I'm going to make an exception. There's a bunch of her patterns I'm in love with, so now is a very good time to get them.