Camera lost but found again

I haven't been blogging, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing fiber crafts.  I've been knitting up a bunch of little projects and wanting to blog.  I had lost my camera - or rather misplaced it.  It was in my Girl Guide hoodie, hung up in the closet.  It made a reappearance today, when I needed my hoodie for another guiding event - cookies. 


Here is a little neck warmer that I whipped up in less than 2 hours.  I've been making a real attempt to knit from my knitting books more.  I have so many books that are filled with great patterns, yet I keep knitting things from freebies on the web.  Thats not a bad thing, mind you, but I did buy these books for a reason.  This cowl is from the book by Sally Melville and Caddy Melville - Linkletter called 'Mother Daughter Knits'.  This is a great book, with many patterns that I like.  I'm not sure why this is the first thing that I've knit from it.  It needs buttons obviously, but its a really cute gift.

 

Next up are some little fingerless mittens.  These are from 'The Knitters Book of Wool'  A great resource book for spinners as well as great patterns.  These mittens are called Sweet Fern mittens and gave me a bit of grief at first, since the thumb placement was way off in the first mitt I knit.  This lead me to check for erratta, which, I should have done at first because, I would not have had to knit the right mitt twice.  Oh well, hindsite is 20/20 right?

I really shouldn't brag

I cast on for these way back in March.  I bragged about how quickly they were knitting up.  I loved the yarn.  Malabrigo - whats not to love?  I loved the pattern.  Colourwork robots!!  Hello! Fantastic.  But here it is, now September and I'm just finishing them.  What happened?  To put it quite simply - summer.  Warmer weather inspired me to knit lace and baby items, not warm mittens.  But summer doesn't last long here in Labrador.  Its actually chilly enough now to start wearing these in the evenings on my walks.

I suspect I may have a hard time keeping these.  I know Amy wants them.  But she isn't getting them this time.  Amy, you do understand that right?  These are mine, all mine.

A Thing of Beauty

I'm so proud of this shawl.  Its beautiful thats for sure, but the thing about this shawl is that it is totally all my doing.  I spun the yarn.  I knit the shawl.  I even 'unvented' (to quote EZ) the pattern.  I have this 'thing' about knitting with my handspun.  Its like no pattern is good enough.  No recipient is worthy of it.  So, all my handspun just sits in drawers waiting.   I've mentioned my reluctance to knit with handpun before.  I realize that I have to get past it, or really, I should stop spinning.  For some reason, I have no  problem with gifting the handspun yarn.  But, it has to be given to someone who I know will appreciate it.  I once gave a skein of 100% alpaca to my mother.  She started a project and frogged it.  Started another and frogged it again.  My poor handspun didn't hold up too well to repeated frogging.  I don't think my mother will ever get another skein of it.  I actually took that skein back. 

I knit this shawl for a swap partner - another knitter from Newfoundland.  On ravelry, the forum that I participate in most is the Newfoundland and Labrador Knitters and Crocheters.  I enjoy the discussions in this forum and even got to meet some group members last month when Amy and I went to St. John's for her tonsillectomy.  A swap was organized on the board earlier this summer.  I was the only knitter from outside the St. John's area included in the swap.  After meeting Leah in person, I knew that this shawl was well suited to her - and that she was definitely worthy of an item knit from handspun.  Pictured here is her total swap package.  A ball of Zauberball Crazy, a spindle (by Kev) and roving, handmade soap, shawl and shawl/hair stick and a scone kit - all packaged up in a breast cancer bag. 

Leah was pleased with her package and said it was like getting a gift from 'someone who knew her soul'.  What a great compliment.    It makes me want to knit with my handspun some more. 

Summer is ending

And I didn't blog a whole lot.  We've been really busy around here.  To sum things up...we took a trip, we had a baby born, we had a wedding, we had a surgery, I met some knitters, and I bought a new car!  Here are some photos of things I've done and knit this past little while - in no particular order.

Mom and Dad on Port Hope Simpson bridge

Nat and Blair's Wedding! Nat was stunning...Blair too, I guess, if a guy can be stunning that is.

Here I am teaching little Natalie to knit.  Natalie is my sister's niece.  Too young really, but hey, it doesn't hurt to try right?  We spent two nights in Melrose during our flying visit to my hometown to pick up mom and dad for the wedding

My first Citron (knitty pattern) this summer.  Knit in 3 days on the way to pick up Mom and Dad for the wedding and on the drive on the way back.  Blocked in the hotel at St. Barbe NL.  I almost have a second Citron finished.

Knitters!!  Amy and I spent more than 2 weeks in St. John's after she had her tonsils out.  Thankfully, there were knitters and crocheters from Ravelry who invited us out to supper.  I also went to their KIP at the Rooms.  What a fantastic bunch!

Here is Amy posing with my first Minty (knitty pattern) of the summer.  I made a second one for Jenna.  My sister Cindy came in to St. John's for a weekend while we were there.  It really helped to pass the time!   You can really see how sick Amy was in this picture.  The tonsillectomy was not an easy procedure.  It was significantly more difficult than the jaw surgery of two years ago.

A Minion from Despicable Me!  Amy, Jenna, Riley and I went to see this movie during my sister's family visit.  It was great.  I had to make one of these guys for Riley.  He really, really liked it.

This is a shawl made from Malabrigo yarn.  The pattern is from Knitscene and its called Oscilloscope.  I bought this yarn at my new favorite yarn shop called 'A Good Yarn' in St. John's.  The owner, Jenny, is super fantastic awesome nice!  If you go to St. John's, make sure to drop in.

My new vehicle.  A Rogue by Nissan.  I had my corolla for 14 years!  I hated to give it up.  Actually, I didn't give it up.  I have her parked for Amy to drive when she comes home from university.

Mr Colson Lethbridge.  Big ole boy of Heather's.  I can't believe Heather is a mom to two boys!

Jenna and Riley on Signal Hill.  Riley had a list of things that he wanted to do during his two days in St. John's.  I tried my best to get most of them in.

 Overall, the summer was way too short, as it always is.  You can already feel that nip in the air here.  It is Labrador after all.  But that's one of the reasons why I love it so much. 

The Tour has Ended

I finished the tour with a decent number of skeins this year.  Seven whole skeins of yarn finished.  I really put a big dent in my fiber stash too.  Here are the latest ones.  That final purple skein really surprised me.  I really disliked the look of the roving.  A customer of mine had given me some yarn several years ago and I had promised her a small skein of handspun in return and she really likes blues, so I thought I would spin it up for her.  This was a pencil roving and it had short repeats of navy, sky blue and purple.  It turned out to look like a tonal purple.  I wasn't expecting that.  And now, I'm not sure if I'm going to gift it at all, since it isn't really blue anymore.  We'll see.

Its Tour de Fleece Time!!

And I've been spinning up a storm.  I have no goals for the tour this year, only to spin through some stash.  Here is what I've finished to date.

I've even been spinning on my spindle that Kev made.  I'm really having a blast this tour.  No pressures. 

Cutting it close

This is how much yarn was left over!!

 Pretty scary!  I actually didn't have enough to complete the edging chart, so I omitted 6 of the final rows.  The pattern is called 198 Yards of Heaven and I only had 185 yards, so I knew I didn't have enough.  I think it still looks okay even with the missing rows.


Here it is unblocked.

And blocked (Spencer for scale)

The yarn is from esty seller Squoosh.  I love this sellers fiber.  Its the first time I've bought their yarn.  I think a sweater in this stuff would be stunning.  It has a hint of cashmere - about 10%.   The kerchief is the perfect size.   I can wear it with a little shawl pin.  Real pretty.