Breast Cancer Scarf

I bought this kit from Jimmy Beans Wool. Its the first time I've ever shopped there and I was curious as to how it would go. They were fast, and the shipping was reasonable. I will likely be buying from them again.

The first thing you have to do with this kit is to cut the yarns for the fringe. The kit is 5 different pink yarns held together. Its a simple lace pattern knit on size 19!!! needles. It was a bit like knitting with turkey basters. It was super fast, and I think the results are quite nice.

$5 from the sale of this kit go to support Breast Cancer charities. I'm going to donate the finished scarf to our local Cancer society. Every Christmas they hold a soiree. They have a silent auction and there are usually loads of local items that have been donated. This time I'm going to have something there too. I'm curious as to how much it will bring in.


Its going to be kind of hard to give up really. I think it looks quite stunning with my black jacket.

Adventures in Felting

I've been wanting to make myself a pair of hand knit slippers for sometime now. We have very little carpet in our home - mostly tile and hardwood. In the Labrador winter this can lead to very cold toes. In my quest for the perfect hand knit slipper I came across this little gem of a pattern called French Press Felted Slippers. The pattern can be found on raverly and is worth every penny. I sometimes find that felting patterns can be so unpredictable. And slipper patterns often may look cute, but be so impractical. But these are cute and practical. They stay on over the heel and they felted to just the right size after two washes in my front loading washer. And let me tell you, they were huge. I jokingly showed them to Kev prefelting and told him that I thought there must be an error in the pattern because they came out a little (a little!!) to big. Try 42cm long. See??? Huge.


But boy, oh boy are they ever cute. I'm wearing them now. I'm debating a little needle felting to embelish them a bit, but for now, I'll leave well enough alone because they are just so cute!!

This is what happens when we buy a skidoo

Seriously. I know that we pretty much live north of everywhere. Not quite north of 60 but pretty darn close. We bought a new snowmobile yesterday. Kev promptly comes home and checks out the weather channel. He tells me (I thought jokingly) that we were gonna have 30cm of snow. Not joking! (Oh, and isn't Morgan just the cutest thing with his new haircut?!)


All of this snow has put me in a mitten mood. Considering all the other moods that I could have chosen from, I'd say a mitten mood is pretty good. Then again, I'm always in a mitten mood. They remain my most favorite thing to knit. I'm thinking the second pair my end up being sent to Warm Hands.

The fair isle mitten is called 'Fiddlehead' mittens. I bought these from Tanis fiber arts off of etsy. I love her yarn. I've bought several skeins from Mouline in Montreal. The pattern is from Hello Yarn. I've been coveting the pattern for quite some time now. When I saw the pairing of one of my favorite yarns with this beautiful pattern, I just couldn't resist. These will be mine. The great thing about these mittens are that they are fully lined. Essentially like knitting two pairs of mittens, but oh so warm.

The second mitten is called 'Mittens Interupted'. They are an Interweave pattern written by Eunny Jang. I've been meaning to knit these for some time too, but never had the correct yarn. I got a knitpick order this week and it had some Wool of the Andes Bulky. So, I cast on right away. Two pairs of mittens on the go at once. One pair is TV knitting (specifically Criminal Minds, my new favorite). The second pair requires a little more concentration. I must admit to enjoying both patterns immensly. Enough to knit them again maybe. (Easy to say that when I've only gotten about 1 mitten done on each right?) Isn't that slipped stitch pattern very sharp looking? There is not much stretch to it. Its almost like a woven fabric. But very dense and warm. Great for all that snow.

Magnificant!

At least I think they are. I said earlier in the year that my knitting goal this year was to do more colourwork. Here is a fine example of this. They are called Smargagdi mittens - a free pattern that I found through Ravelry.


They are knit in Noro Kuryeon sock (thats the self striping part) and Knitpicks Palette (the grey part) The pattern actually calls for both parts to be knit in the Kuryeon but in all the finished mittens that I saw on Ravelry that used just kuryeon looked very different. That is, each mitten was beautiful, but looked nothing alike. Fraternal twins if you will. But, I wanted identical. So I used the Palette as a base. I ended up have to hack and slash away at the kuryeon to make the second match, but I think I did a pretty good job. Except..... they are exactly the same. And of course our hands are reverse images of themselves. So I have one mitten with grey diamond print on the palm and the other has the grey diamond print on the palm. The inverse image on opposite sides. See what I mean?



I should have realized that when I was so meticulously trying to match the colour runs. But its okay. They are still beautiful. They are even beautiful inside out.

Of course we have reason to be wanting mittens. This is the view of the mighty Churchill River from my workplace. Beautiful! A bit early for this crap, but beautiful nonetheless.

And Now for something totally different

Fondant. Marshmallow fondant. No, I didn't make it. My friend Karen did. She even made the cupcakes. I got to play with the fondant. Here is the result.



She says its not too hard to make. But I've been fooled by Karen before. But those cupcakes were dead easy to decorate. With results like that, I might be foolhardy enough to try making the fondant on my own.

Some sets of things and other stuff

Been a while since I posted. Who knew? Well, remember that stuff that was on the bobbin? Its now off. I can now officially say that I can spin with a backwards long draw. Not well, mind you, but I can do it none the less.

Here is proof.
















Also, I've been knitting a little. I will admit to a decline in the knitting mojo. I don't know whats going on. Its fall. That time of year when knitters just about go crazy with desire to knit. Not me. I haven't knit a thing on the vine yoke cardigan since I came back from vacation. Instead I've been content to fritter my time away with knitting little projects on huge needles. Instant payoffs. Oh, and crochet. Proof again.















That's a crocheted version of the 'Bainbridge Scarf'. And here is proof of some quick bulky knits. These are from a free pattern off of Jimmy Bean's website (who I just placed an order with for the first time) called Neckies.














They are cute. Here is what they look like when worn. I love bulky neckwarmers. Especially if garter stitch is involved.















Cute or what?

A spinning post

Its been a long time hasn't it. Its almost as though, now that I actually own the wheel, I don't feel compelled to spin as much. The year that I leased the wheel from RGB I was a spinning fiend. I felt that I had a year to spin the yarn that I wanted and that I had better get in as much spinning as I could. Now that the wheel is mine (I should name her don't you think?) I'm of the opinion that I can put off spinning until the mood strikes me.

Well, the mood has struck. When we were in Montreal, I purchased Amy Kings new book 'Spin Control'. This book is all about taking control of your spinning and spin using different techniques and tensions to get the yarn you want, instead of just letting the yarns happen. Up until now, I've been letting the yarns happen. I've gotten comfortable with my technique of predrafting and short forward draw. All my yarns essentially were turning out the same, unless I plied them differently. They were almost all 2 ply, almost all sport weight. Here is my most recent example of my standard handspun.















Its pretty mind you, but basically just like every other yarn that I've spun. (Except for those bulky thick and thins in the beginning, that I couldn't repeat now to save my life)

Until now. I think that I've finally grasped the backwards long draw technique. I'm super happy about this as it is so fun to do and you end up with a bulkier, loftier yarn. I came across a bump of roving that I deemed destined to become a bulky single and set about following Amy's advice and practised until the technique started working for me.

Amy recommends finishing a bulky single by shocking it a bit to felt the fibre a little. It helps the lofty single hold together better. In my inifinite wisdom, the roving that I'm using is superwash merino, so there will be no felting it. But, I guess the point is all about practising. Here is what it looks like so far. It is an absolute joy to spin this way. Totally relaxing too.