Some Knitting Advice

 I learned to knit when I was about 6. Since my mother didn't knit, I had multiple teachers, and books as my guides. Some things I just had to figure out for myself.

Interestingly, the thing I knit the most is socks and my sock knitting is entirely self taught. I bought a book, then another book, and worked it out from there. My first pair looked a bit odd, and I didn't think anyone would wear them. However, my big kid thought they were perfect and wore them happily. So now I am a sock knitter. 

One thing I was slow to learn, was how to keep track of the notions I use over and over again. I have more than one project bag and they could be in any of them, or some in one and some in another. 

Last year, I made this little Dumpling bag. It sat for awhile, wanting to be useful. Then I realized it was the perfect size for my sock notions.

It easily holds my little scissors, my tape measure, the case with my yarn needles, a little double ended crochet hook, and a bodkin. The case is small enough to fit into my project bag. Now I can quickly finish a sock and cast on the second sock of the pair.

It is currently moving between my sock bag, and my mitten bag. 

This is the start of the September socks.

These are in DK weight sock yarn. They knit up quickly.

This is the current mitten.

And the pair from the last blog are finished.

The needles are flying!

We are enjoying the last truly summer weather. The days are pleasantly warm and the nights are cool. The garden is flourishing.

The bees are really enjoying the sedum.

An End of Summer Field Trip

Much of my summer has been spent in the company of my grandson. We celebrated the end of summer with a field trip.  At his request, we went to see different Rideau Canal locks than the ones we visited last year.

This is Hogs Back. From here to the Ottawa River, the Rideau River is separate from the Rideau Canal, with the canal moving calmly toward Downtown Ottawa, and the Rideau River rushing over rocks and rapids to meet the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls. You can read more about it here.

https://www.rideau-info.com/canal/history/rideau-route/hogsback.html

Here we can see wild rushing rapids, as they pass over rocks that were compared to giant hogs in the river. The rapids have been transformed, by a dam, into beautiful waterfalls.

In the midst of this, we saw ducks sunning themselves on the rocks.

Find the ducks!

After climbing to the top of the dam, and walking across, we climbed down to the river and calmer water. It was a gorgeous day. 

We did watch the boats lock through, in the channel to the west of the dam, but that wasn't as exciting as the rocks and the falls.

Some knitting was done. My August socks have been finished.

Because this is Canada, and we know that summer will soon give way to cooler days, I started knitting mittens.

I was gifted this gorgeous yarn and a bunch more like it, so I expect I can make a lot of mittens.