Tuesday, October 09, 2007

October 9 of 31

A while ago my swift broke. I finally got some time (yeah, what's time? I don't know anymore!) to pull out my wood glue, and clamp and fix it. I think I did a good job with the surgery, my swift will recover just fine. Right now she's in the ICU, but will definitely make a full recovery. No doubt about it.

This afternoon Jenn & I went to a cafe just off the island of Montreal to meet up with two other mommy knitters. I had lunch there, and even shared some desert with the girls. (Above, the gorgeous looking plate of gelato before it was dug into)!

On the couch Jenn, Jakob & myself knitting. Sean was a good boy today and chilled out in his carrier for the entire time I was there. Everyone was impressed. The trick? Keep feeding him strawberries and banana and Cheerios. He likes those. He was very giggly and in such a good mood, it was such a pleasure. And he actually allowed me to get a lot of knitting done!

And on the couch across from us (on the very comfy couches in Cafe Igloo), you have Tara and Maxime (who happens to be 3 days older than Jakob!) and the very pregnant blogless Kate. Kate's working on her very first sock above, and Maxime didn't really allow Tara to knit today, maybe just a few short rows she got done. Both ladies are mommies to two children - well Kate will be mommy to two next month! We had such a good time today, that we're planning another knitting date shortly after Rhinebeck! (Tara is going as well!)

Sean was such a cutie today with his cute faces and smiles! I love spending everyday getting to know him as his personality emerges.

Here is the almost finished Irish Hiking Scarf for my father-in-law. (Couldn't sleep last night so I was up until 4 am watching Poker after Dark as well as some Dog the Bounty Hunter Marathon episodes and knitting on this project!) Today I was waiting for my sneaky mother-in-law to measure my father-in-law's current scarf. His current scarf happens to be 7 inches wide by 80 inches long. EIGHTY INCHES? For real??? The new one I've just made him, is right now almost 60 inches long. I wasn't planning on making it any longer than that.... but now I'm wondering if I should? And my scarf is 5 inches across since the cables and the ribing pull it in. Grrr.. I'm going to finish the hat first, and then decide what I want to do with the length of the scarf. Right now he can most definitely wrap it around his neck once... but will 20 extra inches make it wrap around twice?

I am using the Irish Hiking Hat pattern by Nik Knits. Her files are currently not working off her website - not sure why - but I messaged her on Ravelry about it. Anyhow, I have until Thursday and I think it will all fall into place for this gift!

18 comments:

Arianne said...

Hello! I just wanted to say that I have an 80in scarf and I can wrap it twice but the ends are pretty short when I do...Maybe he'd prefer it longer?
Also, can you block it out to be a bit wider?

(P.S.- What flavours of gelato are those? The red and green look especially nice.)

(P.P.S.- See, I'm being a good commenter now.)

Anonymous said...

I didn't measure a scarf for reference or anything, but I wouldn't want a scarf to be too long, either. Especially one with a right and wrong side, I'd worry that too much scarf would take away from the simply loveliness of it. But then if you're going through all the effort of making it for your FiL, you might be more inclined to cater to what he's used to!

Anonymous said...

For the scarf, it depends on how he wears the one he has already, no? If he's used to wrapping it twice, than the extra length would be good. But if he's used to wrapping it only once, then if the new one is a little shorter, it won't matter much. It also depends on how tall he is.

BTW, I do have two Lang Jawoll in BLACK - let me know if you want them!

Barb said...

the scarf is looking great, I still need too make one of those, I love the pattern :)

Ali P said...

OH my gosh Cafe Igloo looks soooo great!
Maybe we could get together sometime? hint hint!LOL Its only about 15 -20 minutes from here.:o)
Sigh...if only we had a Laval Knitters club.

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Sounds like you all had a good time at your knitting date. The little ones are so cute! Sean and his adorable smile...he's going to have a lot of girls after him when he's older! He looks like his hair is getting a little curly...so cute!

Tara said...

I had a fab time yesterday (even if Maxime didn't let me knit!). It was great to meet you both and I'm really hoping we can make our meet-ups a regular thing.

As to the IHS, I like me a longer scarf myself, especially when it's for a man. Go with Jenn's suggestion, now that it's technically long enough, make the hat, then keep working on the scarf until you either run out of yarn or time :).

adrienne said...

i am definitely a dessert person. that red gelato looks positively yummy. what flavor is it?

i don't know about the scarf. if his older scarf is a "thinner" fabric, then you might want to go with a shorter scarf. won't the cabling make wrapping it twice around his neck too thick? and maybe uncomfortable?

i don't live in a cold environment so am not familiar with scarf "etiquette" when it's freezing outside.

Tsuki said...

I'm making three of those (eek!) for my parents and FIL. I'm about half-way through mum's and I'm likely to run out of yarn at around 50"
I think that 60" is plenty long enough for a scarf, the patterns are always so long - I don't wrap around though, I knot (fold in half, poke tails through loop, knot around head) but I don't have a nice hand-knit scarf yet (the one I made as my first project is way too wide, it's 10" or so! I might have to frog it and re-knit it (maybe another IHS for myself...)

Anonymous said...

I may be blogless, but I can COMMENT (mwa-ha-ha). I had a great time too yesterday, and I think Cafe Igloo took pretty good care of us. Thanks for stocking the Louet, Robyn - I've been surrupticiously (sp?) fondling it all day.
Re the gelato....red, raspberry - green, pistachio - brown, Toblerone with a twist of orange (I kid you not) - white, lemon sherbet (mmm) - creamy, vanilla and mocha, well, mocha.
I'm with Tara and Jenn - do the hat - then knit the rest of the scarf until you run out of yarn or time (or patience..since it's probably long enough any time now)

Anonymous said...

That is great that Sean was being a good boy for you while you at your group. The picture of him are too cute!

The gelatin looks good! What flavor did you have?

The scarf looks great!

kristo said...

I think that just because his current scarf is longer, it doesn't have to mean he wants it that long. He probably wraps it twice because he has to. I asked my husband and he said 60" is about average for any knit scarf he's ever had. ??? Good luck with whatever you decide.

Laura said...

The scarf looks really nice! I mailed your yarn today so hopefully you'll get it soon!

Wendy said...

How fun:) The gellato looks delish! I haven't tried that before...

Ivywindow said...

What a great-sounding day. I like Dr. Who long scarves, so I say go for as much length as you can stand. If you are there already then that is perfect.

PS. Is it wrong to love Dog the Bounty Hunter? Am so jealous that you can get it in Canada, and we lack in the UK... sigh.

Firefly said...

Hey, did you ever send off thas "package" we talked about?

Kathy said...

I absolutely love your Irish Hiking Scarf. I have some handspun wool from Vermont just waiting to be knit into that scarf! And I'm amazed at how fast Sean is growing!

g-girl said...

the gelato looks so yummy! your poor swift. i hope it makes it out of the icu soon! wow, jakob is getting so big! glad everyone had a good time!