Randomness

Well hello blog. Its been a while. I'm sticking to my story and blaming it on Instagram. I still knit, I still craft, I still take pictures of it all and I still want to share it with the online community. Like I've said before, it seems Instagram is filling that need. I don't even put my projects up on Ravelry with any regularity any more. Shhhhhhhh! I know, CRAZY!!

My whole desire to blog came about years ago as a way of documenting swap packages that I had made and received on Craftster. I can't tell you the last time I went on Craftster. I can't tell you the last time I was involved in a swap. Then the blogging more or less became a desire to document my crafting - a journal if you will. I keep telling the girls that when I'm gone (a long time from now hopefully) and the things that I've made for them are used up and worn out then at least they will always have this record to look back on. My digital footprint left for all my ancestors to see what an enterprising person their great great granny was. I still feel that way, and I still resolve to keep blogging even if I only have 9 followers.

So in that vein, here is what I've been up to the past month.

I knit a headband. The pattern is from Mel Clark's book Knitting Everyday Finery and I love it! This promises to be my most utilized knitwear to date. I wear it a lot because my hair is in a mess a lot. Its alpaca and silk and so far not too hot (mind you, we had snow yesterday, so everything is relative)



I blocked some finished projects. The stripey socks you'll recognize. The others are a cute little baby vest destined for some baby girl. The pattern is Milo and so versatile. Totally worth the few bucks that it cost. I love the little heart cable and I'll definitely be making this little pattern again. The orange beret is called "Meret". I did this as a KAL with some of the ladies on Instagram. Its made from my handspun. Its rather large on me but would likely fit my larger headed offspring no problem. I will likely gift this to her at some point.



I bought yarn! And OHMYGOD!!! Its all Socks that Rock. It is so beautiful!! All I want to do it look at it. Now thats wrong I know. I feel like buying a shadow box and framing them. I'm not sure what I'll make but right now I'm just enjoying the gorgeous colours. I think I may have fell down a rabbit hole when I joined that socks that rock club. I don't really want to knit with any other yarn. This could become dangerous.



I fixed a miss crossed cable on my Hope Springs Eternal socks from my Socks that Rock Club. I thought I could live with it, but 10 rows later it was still bugging me. I dropped those 6 or so stitches back and fixed it all - no problem. Pretty pleased with myself there.



And I finished spinning this beautiful yarn. This was spun from Rolags that I purchased from Blue Mountain Handcrafts on etsy. My first time spinning rolags and I really liked it.



Well thats my randomness for today. Hope all is well in your crafting world!

Apparently Its Spring

I'm having a hard time believing it myself. When I look outside and see that the yard is still covered in snow and I see snow in the forecast, I have a hard time believing that the calendar is correct.

I do realize that I live Labrador and that I shouldn't be surprised by the weather, but each year, I'm a little surprised by how long it lasts. People are still going out on skidoo!!

But there are reminders of spring or at least some signs of it. For example, my latest shipment from the Socks that Rock yarn club!



Isn't it pretty? Its called 'Hope Springs Eternal' and to be honest these spring colours are just what the doctor ordered. They will be socks of course, and most likely the socks that came with the club. They are very pretty and feature a picot cuff which charms me to no end.

I've also been doing some more baby knitting. Again, for a girl! This pattern is called "Milo" and is a clever little vest that allows you to use different cable details on the front. I've chosen hearts. Pretty sweet!



I have one finished object to share with you all. Its a 'For Good' hat by Megan Williams of the Stockinette Zombies podcast. I love the hat, and I love the buttons - a very good match I think.





The buttons are from etsy seller "Woodenheartbuttons" out of London, Ontario. She wrote me the sweetest note telling me her family is from Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Small world!

Knitting and Spinning

I've mentioned on more than one occasion that I struggle with finding the right pattern for my handspun. There is an exception however. Its Loop batts. No sooner does one come off the wheel than I have cast on a new pattern using it. Case in point - see this gorgeous handpsun?



Its Loop batts Raindrop colourway one plain and one sparkle plied together. It is gorgeous. And of course I cast on right away and knit Glacier Sweep by....wait for it.....Stephen West! Its a bummer that I don't have enough to finish all 5 sections, but I think I will buy some commercial yarn in a worsted/aran weight yarn in black to finish it off. I'm very happy with it, but want it done - like now. Why is that?



I just finished spinning this very pretty two ply and I love it. But I bet it'll be forever before I end up knitting with it. Its Fractal Roving from etsy seller Hilltop Fibers - and she's Canadian!




I'll leave you with a cute kiddie photo seeing as its Easter weekend. Happy Egg hunting to you all!

Sweet Things

It seems to me that certain types of babies are born in batches. I don't know if its something in the water or what it is, but there is a phenomenon afoot. For the past 5 years it seems we have had an abundance of boy babies being born. Any coworker who had a baby - turned out to be a boy! Young friends - all boys. Family members - all boys. We have 3 grandbaby boys to prove it!! But lately, I've been noticing a shift. It started with Lisa (a coworker) in January. She had a little girl. I was so happy to knit for her!! Its been forever that I knit anything for a baby girl.

Next up was a young friend of Kev's. They too had a girl. Kev requested something special for this young couple so I set to work knitting. Now, this baby is also the great granddaughter of my local LYS owner! I had to knit something special!!

So I set to work. I picked out a special yarn. Its a club yarn no less - supposedly destined for a different project, but this is superwash (which is important for new moms) and the colour was outstandingly gorgeous (which is important for impressing your local lys owner) The yarn is by called Andrea May by Studio June on etsy. It was a club colourway from Ann Hanson's Fall into Full Colour Club. Ann's pattern for this shipment was lovely, but I could envision this baby sweater so clearly. It just spoke to me.

The pattern I chose is Cascade from the emagazine Petite Purls The reason I chose this pattern is in no small part due to Jasmine of the Knitmore Girls podcast fame. She has been knitting her daughter this little sweater and talking about it on her podcast. She has also been posting pics on Instagram I've been smitten.

Now, to push this little sweater into even more awesomeness, I sewed a grosgrain ribbon into the button band. The Knitmores have been big advocates of this. It makes the garment more special and it has the benefit of preventing the button band from stretching out and pulling out of shape.











It is a special little sweater and I couldn't be more pleased. If you are interested in sewing a grosgrain ribbon into your cardigans, I highly recommend checking out the Knitmore girls video tutorial! I am certain that you will learn something!

Next up - booties. My coworker Jody is having a baby....and yes, its a girl. There is something in the water, I tell ya!

I lied

As you can see from the date of the last post and the date of this post (an entire month later!) that my pledge to blog more and to take more pictures was in fact A BIG FAT LIE. What is it that they say about the road to ....somewhere being paved with good intentions. Yeah. Well, it seems that I'm heading down that road. But enough about that....lets get to the knitting. Because yes, I have been knitting.

Its baby time around these parts. I showed you the little hat that I'd knit for Lisa's baby Addison. Shame on me that it hasn't been gifted to her yet. Good thing that she's teeny tiny and it will fit her for a while. And to make matters worse, we live on the same street now. So, even though Lisa is on maternity leave and I don't see her as much, there is absolutely no excuse why this little hat and sweater set hasn't been given to her yet. Well, there is an excuse I guess. I haven't sewn on the buttons yet. Yikes!! I've had them for over a month now. Procrastinate much?

I was very excited that I joined Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club in January!! I think this must be one of the most well known knitting clubs around. I didn't sign back up for Ann Hanson's Bare Naked Knit Club this year. I enjoy her clubs. I've done two of the Fall into Full Color Clubs and one Bare Naked Knitspot, but when I evaluated what I had knit from each club, I decided not to sign up for the Bare Naked one. As interesting as it sounds, it has nothing to do with knitting bare naked, but the yarn was in fact bare naked. That is completely undyed and in its natural colour. The yarn was beautiful as were the patterns, but I was craving colour during this long long Labrador winter. Hence the switch to the Rockin' Sock Club.

My first shipment arrived and it did not disappoint. The yarn is a medium weight sock yarn and it is so plump and round. I loved knitting with it. There was also a cute bumper sticker and some buttons proclaiming how proud I am to be a sock knitter. This yarn is very well known and well loved. I can't believe its taken me this long to knit with it. I forsee a big order in my future. I'm not sure if I can wait for club shipments. All my other sock yarn now feels.....I don't know ....almost flat in comparison to this. And the two patterns that came with the shipment were great too. I had a tough time deciding which one I would knit, but I had promised Morgan some socks. So here they are. The colour is called Portland Plaid and I am smitten. So is Morgan. After trying on the first sock he demanded that I finish the second one right away. He wanted to sleep with the one sock on and I had to fight him a bit to get him to take it off so I'm calling it a success.

Here they are. Gorgeous aren't they?

Blogging difficulties

I seem to have reached a point in my blogging life, where I have stalled out. I'm pretty certain that I know the reason for this. Instagram!

I've gotten in to Instagram big time. It seems to fill that need to document things that blogging was doing - but faster and with more instant feedback from viewers/readers. I'm sitting here realizing that I have several projects that I haven't blogged about and I'm noticing that I haven't even downloaded the photos to my computer. Its because I'm uploading to Ravelry directly from my iphone and I'm posting the photos to instagram as well. Its sort of like microblogging.

In any case, I do pledge to try to be better. To blog more often and to take more and better pictures. So, in that light I present to you my latest two finished projects. This tiny beret is from Hannah Fettig's book Mabel's Closet. I mentioned it in the previous blog post about the little cardigan - which, by the way is finished, I just haven't sewn on the buttons yet. Good thing the recipient is itty bitty and will be able to grow into it. I'll likely have gotten around to finishing it by the time she is big enough to wear it. I think this little striped beret will look very cute with it.

And here is a pair of mitts that I knit for Amy. The patters is from November Knits. I really like this book a lot. There are a lot of patterns in this book that I would like to knit. These mittens were challenging for me. I've never been very good a knitting mittens twisted stitches. Also, I'm pretty certain there is errata in the charts for the cable cross overs for the back of the mitten. I had to make up my own thing in order to get them to cross and look like they did in the photo. The sad thing is, I didn't figure it out until I was on the second mitten. Oh well. I think you would have to look very closely to see the mistake. Amy likes them and thats all that matters right?

A New Beginning

Its the New Year already. I swear time seems to speed up the older that I get. I had every intention of posting a list of fiber resolutions of sorts, but I just couldn't get around to it. I don't know what it is, but ever since the fire, I seem to have lost my knitting ambitions. I guess its because the majority of my stash is stored in the shed (still not washed) about 5 miles from where we are currently living. And the place that we are living is so small that its really hard to organize the stash. So, there will be no fiber resolutions for me. I honestly think it will take until I'm back in the new house for me to feel the same way about knitting and my stash.

Now, that didn't stop me from acquiring new yarn...no. See this stuff? Its Veronique Avery's yarn. I bought this in Montreal!!

Amy has moved there and is taking some phycology courses from Concordia. I'm really happy for her, because she was getting pretty miserable living in a small town after being a city girl for the duration of her first degree. But, I miss my girl!!

This darling little cardigan was my New Year's Eve cast on. Its for a coworkers baby who showed up a few weeks early

It needs buttons yet, but I plan on picking some up today. The pattern is from Hannah Fettig's newly released booklet called Mabel's Closet. This little book is so sweet and the patterns are completely charming. I've also knit a little striped beret from the booklet to go with the cardigan, but haven't taken any real photos yet.

I knit the cardigan out of Quince and Company's Chickadee. Its my first time using this yarn, and I must say, I really liked it. The yarn is reasonably priced, though by the time duty was charged, I'm not sure that it was that reasonable. I did like the yarn. It was very soft and almost doughy. I also have a sweaters worth for myself. I haven't knit myself a sweater in a lightweight yarn before, so we'll see how that pans out. Seeing as I still have an aran weight sweater languishing on the needles I won't be holding m breath. Lol.

Well, happy knitting and happy New Year!