I just need an itinerary

This week is going to be a little fancy.  I see that now. We have family friends in from out of town,  and Mum and I will be giving them a little tour of the best of Toronto (sadly, I think they have little interest in yarn shops) and my sister is going out of town for a few days so Hank is coming to stay with us, and I’m going on three training rides this week, and I have two Bike rally meetings in the evenings and… it’s going to be fine, because I am going to get a spreadsheet and an itinerary, and I am going to make magic happen. (Likely I’m also going to finally manage to warp the time space continuum, but it was only a matter of time.)

To that end, I got up very early so that I could do my work and this blog before heading out for the day, and I am now in a position to give you the first official blanket report.

blanket1 2015-05-25

Lo. It is begun.  This blanket begins with the centre, and when it’s all knit, I’ll pick up all around it, and knit the border, and then the edge. You’ll see how it works as we go along.  That blue down there at the bottom is the provisional cast on.  I’ll unzip that later to reveal live stitches, so that both ends have the same amount of stretch.  (I suppose the other way I could get them to match would be to cast on at the bottom, then cast off at the top, and then pick-up stitches all around, but then they wouldn’t be the same as the sides. This is better, I think.) I’ve got a decent chunk of the thing done, just under one balls worth – but Joe was out of town, and I had a big chunk of time.  Expect progress to slow to glacial pace this week.  I have to follow the chart still – though I won’t soon, I can tell that I’m starting to memorize it, but until that happens, this isn’t going to go as quickly. Once I have the pattern in my head, then I can pick it up and do a little here, and a little there, and it will be much faster. (Said she, nervously looking at the date.)

Shall we do Gifts? Absolutely. I’ve got an inbox full, and don’t want to fall behind – I’m going to do as many as I can before I go out the door.  If you don’t know what I’m on about here, read this post, and consider helping Me, Jen, Ken or Pato. Anybody who helps can email me at stephanieATyarnharlotDOTca, with the subject line “I helped” and be on the list for gifts from other knitters. (Don’t forget your name and address. It’s helpful.) We’ll do our best to earn it.

Onward! The first four gifts today come from Deborah F, longtime friend of the blog, and she’s got some beautiful sock yarn to send on to new adventures. First this lovely skein of Pansy, in the colourway Bingo, from Indieway will be going to live with Laura B.

Indieway Pansy Bingo 2015-05-26

Next up she has a very, very pretty skein of Sunshine Yarns, Ardennes and that’s on its way to Shanna H.

Sunshine Yarns Ardennes 2015-05-26

Ah, an old favourite – Two skeins of Koigu KPPPM: PS0465 (I love their romantic colourway names) will be going to live with PJ J.

Koigu KPPPM PS0465  2015-05-26

Finally, I hope Clara B loves self striping sock yarns as much as I do, because this skein of String Theory Continuum in “Exoplanet” will be arriving in her mailbox soon.

stringtheoryextraplanet 2015-05-26

Next, a beautiful shawl kit from Stephanie at Dirty Water Dyeworks.  This is her Brush Creek Shawl Kit,

dyeworksdetail 2015-05-26 dyeworkswholshawl 2015-05-26

and Kendra M will be choosing her favourite colourway. (I love this one.)

Laura, over at The Stashbuckler has a beautiful skein of handspun to give way.

stashbuckler  2015-05-26

It’s 346 yards of a lovely sport weight, and I hope that Katherine T is so happy when she finds out it’s coming to her stash.

Maybe a few patterns would be nice? Wendy O, Lauren P and Lilac will all be choosing their favourite sock pattern from Kino Knits. She has the lovely Simple Cables,

simple cables 2015-05-26

and the gorgeous Four Points Socks. Enjoy, knitters!

fourpoints 2015-05-26

Jocelyn at Decor Noir has a wonderful gift, one of her amazing knitting T-shirts,  either Knit for Brains,

knitforbrains 2015-05-26

Or Knit your heart out will be going to Nancy P in the size of their choice.

knityourheartout 2015-05-26

Whew! That’s ten gifts, and more than I thought I would get done today, and fewer than I’ll do on Friday. I’ve emailed all the recipients, so if you think your name is here, look in your inbox. Thanks for all your support Knitters.  I think you’re great.

(PS. If you sent me an email about giving a gift, and you made the subject line “Karmic Balancing” then I got it. I’ll work my way through, roughly in the order they were sent, and I’ll email you the day before, or the day of when I’ll put it on the blog. It may be a few weeks, so don’t panic early – and thank you.)