I thought I’d make an exception to my summer hours policy and post this weekend because – I’m knitting again!  And with a vengeance..

First up: the Felted Clogs (pattern by Bev Galeskas) for JJ. The knitting is finished but felting is as yet unaccomplished.  I’m a bit worried about the size…

… but hope that the felting will work its magic.  After some initial setbacks, I was so jealous of JJ happy about the pattern that I decided to make a pair for myself as well.

This, of course, entailed a trip to Knitomatic.  I was very glad to see that Haley has taken up a “Beautify our Community” project and trust she won’t mind if I reproduce her photo here:

(original photo at http://frayedattheedges.blogspot.com, by Haley Waxberg)

I went into the shop and picked up this Lamb’s Pride Bulky for my own Felted Clogs:

I also spied some new Handmaiden Lace Silk but left the shop with head held high, saying “I don’t need any more Lace Silk”.  However, I made it approximately one-half block before I went back in and bought this:

Haley’s comment upon my re-entry was “Well, that was quick!”.  But I will note that I showed great forbearance indeed – I only bought one of the three skeins in this fantastic colourway.  I don’t know what it’s called, but I’m calling it “Cool Aqua”.

(And yes, I know that I said recently I wasn’t buying any more laceweight.  Oh well.)

But where was I?! Oh, yes. I also discovered a brilliant use for those carry bags they’re selling at the liquor stores in lieu of giving you plastic bags:

You know the bags?  (Maybe those of you who live in a part of the world where liquor sales are not government controlled don’t… sigh) Well, check this out!

(And if any knitters living outside Ontario want these, they cost $1.99 and I’d be glad to post you one for that price plus postage!!)

Before I started work on my own clogs, I decided to try to assuage my guilt about letting JJ’s last pair of slippers get into the poor pathetic state that they had…

So, I decided to try to re-felt them.  The holes were clearly way too big to mend with yarn and needle, so I managed to find a crochet hook…

… and attempted with my lame@$$ crochet technique to mend them.  Here is the result, pre-felting:

I’ll let you know how it comes out.  And, if it actually works, I’ll splash out for some suede slipper bottoms, which clearly I should have done in the first place.

Anyway, I’ve already finished one of my own Felted Clogs – but I’m still worried:

I’m off to the laundromat later today to try to felt these things (my building only has huge front-loading washing machines at $2.00 per wash… and Amy kindly advised that it took her eight or so rounds in her washer to shrink these puppies down! The laundromat only charges $1.10 a load and have better options on the washers.  I must really talk to my landlord about providing adequate machines for felting… sigh.)

But I’m of half a mind, actually, to leave JJs slippers as is and make some nice tricorn hats instead:

Could we start a new fashion trend?!

Happy weekend.

I tend to refrain from shopping for yarn on Sunday, preferring instead to clean the house laze about, go out for coffee, knit, etc.  It is, after all, meant to be a day of rest (I am a subscriber of the “take what you like and leave the rest” school of religion, obviously).

Which meant, of course, that I had to go trolling for yarn yesterday!

Yes, yes – I was unfaithful to the Handmaiden yet again! I should be hanging my head in shame, not gloating about it over the Internet, I suppose.

But in my defence, I had the car yesterday and was in the mood to explore. So I headed up to a shop I had heard about some time back called The Enchanted Needle.

This shop is located in a city called Woodbridge, just north of Toronto:

Woodbridge used to look like this, apparently:

Now it looks more like this:

And it’s full of these:

Argh.  Let me tell you that the Enchanted Needle was the only beacon of light in what otherwise seems to be Strip Mall Hell.  It is a great shop, primarily focusing on needlepoints and tapestries.  I saw some kits for pieces like this:

I had to avert my eyes, because the last thing I need is another expensive and time-consuming hobby.  So, instead, I headed upstairs to the smaller space where they sell knitting yarns.

It is there that I found the Misti Alpaca Handpaints depicted above there.  Blue, turquoise and lime green – what’s not to like?!  I won’t tell you how many skeins I got there.  Suffice it to say that if I were to tie all the skeins together, affix one end to the doorknob in my apartment building and venture out on foot in Toronto, there are few places I couldn’t find my way back from.

For good measure, I threw these in:

2.25 mm knitting needles!  If you had told me I’d be buying such a skinny pair of needles a year ago, I would tell you that you had taken leave of your senses.  Instead, the senseless one is I.

I guess having new kilometres of yarn in the stash wasn’t enough, as I promptly arrived home and ordered the following from Blue Moon Fiber Arts: Blue Moonstone…

…and Star Sapphire.

Why did I have to take up lace knitting! It requires kilometres of yarn and every project takes a long time to finish.  This ensures that the stash will grow to brobdignanian proportions.

On that note, I think it’s time to go off and re-organize the stash.

But not before I explain the photo at the top.  That is a photo of Melina Mercouri, who was a famous Greek actress and singer:

The film she is probably known most for here in North America is Never On Sunday…

… where she played a hooker with a heart of gold who organized all the other hookers in Athens to stand up to the big bad bossman pimp, and led them in a strike!

A woman after my own pinko heart, clearly.  She later became a Minister of Parliament and they’ve even made stamps with her on it!

The whole country mourned when she died some time back.

Vale Melina.  I want to be you when I grow up.

Happy Sunday!