My friend Kimberly gave me a good-sized ball of Jaggerspun Zephyr at SNB on Tuesday. She has had bad luck with it (said it was cursed) and was reduced to giving it away. I've been wanting to knit with this stuff for a while so I was really excited to get it. It's a pretty silver-grey colour.

This is the first time I've ever knit with laceweight yarn. I'm trying to enjoy it, but I think I need to come to terms with the fact that I really, really don't. It's just too fine. It makes me feel like I have giant meat hands and the yarn seems way too delicate to be knit by a sturdy woman such as myself. It makes me nervous as well; my hands get sweaty and grubby and I end up struggling.

I started off with Eunny's Print O' the Wave stole (although a much narrower version) and after a couple of pattern repeats I decided I didn't really like the motif. So I cast on again to make a really simple vine lace scarf, but I'm not sure if I like it. The pattern looks okay as it is, but when I stretch it out to mimic what it'll look like blocked, it seems too airy to be able to see the pattern. This stitch pattern itself is a breeze to knit and very easy to memorize, but the knitting doesn't flow because I barely feel like I'm holding anything in my hands. And why are my hands getting so sweaty?

I'm going to keep trying because I have visualized the finished laceweight scarf around my neck and now I really want it. I'll give it a few more hours of work before I decide.

Also at SNB, I got to see the new Knitpicks needles firsthand, as Rochelle brought them in with her. They're just fabulous. I love the pointy tips, the joins are wonderful and I am ready to sell my child for them. I keep thinking that perhaps this laceweight would be a lot easier to knit if I just had some new, pointy needles, because my Addis are so painfully blunt.

Natalie and David got engaged earlier this year and had their party on August 6th. It was beautiful and a lot of fun. Unfortunately Natalie didn't think so, she was so busy running around greeting guests and making sure everything was running smoothly, so she didn't really have a chance to enjoy it. We don't get to see many of our cousins very often, so it was great to spend some time with them. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious and the booze was plentiful, thank god. The back garden looked great...my mom and sister did a lot of work to make it look good, and they should be really proud. There are a few more pictures up at my Flickr site.

I almost finished that sock last night, I've got only the toe left to knit. As I mentioned, that will make the fourth individual sock without a mate that I've made. I know it's wrong, but I'm itching to cast on for a fifth instead of completing a pair. I have some Fleece Artist sock yarn in my stash that's been there for over a year, and after using Regia and Meilenweit, I just want to knit with something really soft.

At SNB last night, we missed the company of our friend Rochelle, who had gone to New York to visit her daughter. She'll be back with us next time, along with her new Knitpicks Options needles. I can't wait to see them in person. I hope they're as great as everyone says because I want a set, too.

I whipped these up as a birthday gift for Astra, whose party I talked about here. I used most of two balls of Noro Shinano, colour #9 from my stash. They're knit from my own pattern on 5mm needles. I didn't discuss them while I was making them because they were a surprise. I've got a few pictures from the party posted here at Flickr.

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. I let my Non Soleil fall by the wayside since I realized I wasn't going to finish in time to wear it to Natalie's party. Instead, I completed my first toe-up sock with gusset and heel flap.

Knitting this way is kind of fiddly. I knit my socks using magic loop and I wasn't quite sure how to align my gusset stitches on the same needle while I was turning the heel. I used dpns, then transferred them back to the circular when it was time to knit them to the heel flap. Now that I've done it once, I see how it works and for the second sock, I'll be able to forego the dpns. While I'm pretty impressed by the construction, I still prefer to knit the gusset and heel flap the other way; I feel like I have a lot more control in terms of altering the size on the fly when knitting from the top down. However, I'm still going to do the other sock the same way because I don't want them to feel different on my feet.

I've got SNB tonight, and I'll be finishing up another sock that I started a while ago. When I finish this sock tonight, I'll have four individual, unmatched socks. Why can't I just knit two of the same socks in a row?

Tomorrow: Pictures from Natalie's engagement party!

I decided to finally spend some time organizing my photos from the last couple of months. I put my Canada Day photos here on Flickr. The photos are from the butterfly conservatory and our party. Enjoy.