Happy New Year

A lot of craft bloggers are writing about resolutions it seems. Even the podcaster are doing it. A lot of them seem to be talking about themes. Jasmine of the Knitmore Girls is adopting a theme of "less is more". Dayna and Brittney of Just one More Row podcast are adopting a theme of "mindfulness".  

In the past I've made lists of things I would like to accomplish in the upcoming year. It always sounds something like this 

1. Knit more with handspun

2. Knit more from patterns in books that I own

3. Spin for a sweater 

4. Don't buy any yarn until .... Whenever. 

The point is, I rarely keep up with my resolutions crafting or otherwise. So I'm resolving to carry on as usual. I'm resolving to enjoy what I'm doing. I guess what I'm trying to say is that my theme for this year will be "happiness". It's my hobbie and it's my very valuable free time so if I don't enjoy the yarn, the pattern, the process - then I resolve to give it up and start something I'm crazy about.

And speaking of something I'm crazy about ......

I got this pattern last year. Tincanknits did a free pattern giveaway to welcome in the new year in 2013. They offered up many many beautiful patterns. There isn't anything that these ladies write that I wouldn't knit. The choice was tough. (Truth be told I picked one pattern and bought several others). My pick was called "Pop Blanket". Over Christmas I placed an order to Knitpicks for their yarn called "chroma". Ever since they introduced this yarn I've been wanting to try it. I've got a box full of the stuff - more than enough for a blanket. 

As soon as I knit the first square I realized  something about this pattern!!! It's potato chip knitting - at its finest. 

The smallness of each square almost makes me feel as though I've finished a project each time. Almost instant gratification. And of course I am smitten with the gradual colour changing yarn. I keep wanting to knit until a different colour slowly emerges. And then there's the way these squares look together. I keep rearranging them in different ways. 

I've never been one for self denial. I work very hard at my real life job.  So when I see something I want. I buy it. Rarely do I have any moments of regret. I've been wanting a trindle for some time. Probably ever since the first time I heard about trindles. This one is so beautiful. It has an ebony shaft with three purple jade beads. It spins forever and I'm in love. I've been spinning punis from Gourmet Stash on Etsy and it is pure luxury. I should have more to post about that next time. 

Have you seen the latest Knitty? OMG if not stop what you're doing and run right over there now. So many great patterns. I'm a big fan of knitty and I love when new issues go live. I especially love it when there is a new pattern there that just speaks to me and I think about it all the time and I stalk the item on Ravelry to see who is making it and in what yarn and I what colors and what their opinion is on the pattern. It can become all consuming. But I love it!! Princess Franklins Plaid Collar was such a pattern for this issue of knitty. I'm crazy about it. I've finished all the knitting. It was sime garter stitch. Now I'm doing some top stitching. The result is a collar that very much looks like woven plaid. I love it when a knitting pattern strikes me this way. That is my hope for 2014 - that everything I knit or spin or crochet or weave or craft - will make me feel like this little plaid collar does. 

Cheers!! Happy 2014!

Crazy about Crochet

When Kev was in Montreal earlier this month, he brought me back a new book. 101 One Skein Crochet Wonders by Judith Durant. I haven't been crocheting in a long while. And for some reason, my knitting mojo has reached an all time low. So this was just the thing I needed. There are so many really cute things in this book and I'm sure its one I'll turn to time and again when the mood to crochet strikes me. One thing I noticed about this book is that it seems to make use of yarns like Noro that utitlize long repeats of colour. Those are some of my favorite yarns, and I have a lot of them in my stash - single skeins that I'm not sure what to do with.

I couldn't resist crocheting up this cute bunny. He seemed to progress so quickly. I couldn't stop crocheting the little pieces. They came together so nicely. And notice how the colours line up so perfectly on the different parts. This was a happy accident! They yarn is acrylic - Bernat Mosaic. Not a yarn, I'd normally chose but for a toy, I think it works perfectly.










And in other news I finally finished the Leaflet sweater that I started back in November. I like it a lot and I'm not sure why it went into the 'hibernation' pile.





And I'm still plugging away on these Hope Springs Eternal Socks. I'm enjoying the pattern and the yarn. These will be finished soon! I just love how the colours are pooling and swirling around the leg of the socks!

Mystery Solved

So here is the finished shawl from the last blog post. This was such an engaging knit. If any of you out there haven't done a mystery KAL yet, I strongly encourage you to do it. There is a certain leap of faith involved - and I would only do it with a designer that I really really like. To date I've done four mystery KALs - two with Lee Meridith and two with Stephen West. All shawls now that I think of it. And I've been very happy with all four designs.

In other knitting news - I've started a sweater. The pattern is Leaflet from knitty. A top down raglan in an aran weight yarn - Madeline Tosh chunky. I'm enjoying the knit, but I fear that I've committed a grave error. I know that you are supposed to alternate skeins when knitting with this type of yarn, but for some reason I didn't. I only had one skein balled up and I just wanted to get at it. Now that I'm on the second ball, I think I can see a difference. Actually, I'm halfway through the second ball and I'm certain I can see a difference. So now I'm alternating skeins. Lets see if it works. Keep your fingers crossed for me.





Next up is a slouchy hat pattern from the new Noro magazine. It is knit with two alternating skeins of Noro. I love it!! I'm thinking I may knit this pattern a lot. I have quite a bit of different colours of Noro kicking around and Christmas is coming up. I know several people on my list who would love this stripey slouchy hat.

And finally I would like to show off some yarn. These first three skeins are the colours that I'm contemplating knitting Stephen West's new design - Geysir Stretch. I love Stephen's designs and this this one is no exception. Its in worsted weight yarn and so it will be quick quick quick!!! And I'm going to knit it in Mmmmmmalibrigo!!! Lovely stuff.

And these two lovelies are all the way from Iceland. Authentic Icelandic Lopi yarn. Amy's friend Liz just got back from an internship in Iceland and Amy gave her some money to buy me some Icelandic yarn. Sweet daughter I have there, don't I?

Knitting and Stress

Needless to say, the past month or so has been very stressful. Dealing with contractors and insurance adjusters hasn't been fun. I found myself very stressed - too stressed to knit even. I know, shocker. So, I've been thinking was I not knitting because I was stressed or was I stressed because I wasn't knitting?

I'm starting to think the answer is the latter, because I've forced myself to make a conscious effort to knit a little every day and I no long feel quite as stressed. I'm able to cope a little better.

As a result, I have some amazing FOs to show off.

First up, is this great little shawl. Its from the Knitspot Bare Naked Club. I loved knitting this shawl so much. It was knit with Brooklyn Tweeds Loft yarn in all natural colours. I predict I'll knit more of this pattern. I've always been a big fan of feather and fan lace.

And this beauty is my first forray into beaded knitting. Its called "My Hope" and it was designed by Laura Linneman of the Knitgirllls podcast to be used as a fundraiser for the Make a Wish Foundation. I enjoyed knitting this as well, but I totally messed up the beaded bind off. My fault for not reading the pattern correctly at all. I've put off weaving in ends because I've noticed several mistakes and I'm debating try to fudge/fix them or take it out and do it again. We'll see how it goes. But isn't it gorgeous? The yarn is Tanis Fibrearts blue label and OMG - Look at that purple. It nearly glows!

And my final FO is another Minty (Knitty pattern). This is the third minty that I've knit. It remains my daughter's favorite hat pattern. I started knitting this with her in mind, but it turns out that she isn't a fan of the variegated yarn. Oh well, I loved it. And I think it will likely be a gift for someone. The yarn is very unique. I've lost the tag (it came off in the washing of the stash that I could save because of the fire) but I know it came from a stall at the Farmer's market in Halifax. It came from Lismore Sheep Farm Wool Shop and it was a part of their "Easy Scarf Kit". Nat gave me this for Christmas last year. I'm not an easy scarf knitter, but I loved this yarn so much!

To make up for the disappointment that Amy felt with not having the hat that she wanted (ie solid) I started knitting Amy a Honey Cowl. She really liked this handspun (even though its not solid. Whats up with that Amy?) Its one of my Loop Batts. And boy, am I ever enjoying knitting this one. I think I'll be knitting more Honey Cowls this season. Maybe for Christmas gifts. I can see all my girls wearing these.

So, to sum up....lots of knitting going on....less stress. I can't say no stress because that would be nearly impossible - but certainly less. The moral of the story is to knit more, knit often, take lots of knitting stress breaks. Its good for your health.

Its not so bad

I cannot figure out why this post is placed in 2015. This post was originally written on November 2012. 

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am an optimist. Yes, the glass is always half full and yes things could have been worse. I've put off writing this post until I was in such a frame of mind whereby I didn't sound sorry for myself.
You see, we had a house fire! A bad one. It seems my beautiful house is condemned. We are now living in an apartment over the pharmacy where I work. Things could be worse....I could be totally homeless!
My tenants too, are without a home and I feel so bad for them. They didn't have insurance. See, things could definitely be worse.
The fire started in the day - when no one was home - not even my little dog Spencer! If it had been in the night time, if Amy had been home (it started outside her bedroom door!) I shudder to contemplate how worse things would have been then.
The first firefighter on the scene was our son in law, Blair. Because he knew the layout of the house, he was able to get the fire out quick enough so that the house didn't burn to the ground. I am now able to sort through the belongings and list the contents of our home for the insurance. The adjuster tells me this is much harder to do from memory. Again, something to be grateful for.
I'm handwashing some of my more precious skeins by hand to try to get the soot and smell of smoke off of them. I've bought more Soak this past week than I have in my entire knitting career! Others, I'm replacing as I need them. Because, they are replaceable!! The things that we lost in the fire are only material things. And this fire has made me realize (I kind of knew this anyway) what a wonderful community we live in and what wonderful friends and family we have.
This weekend, we are moving out of the drugstore apartment and into a mini home - complete with craft room! I'll try to post some pictures when we get more settled. Until then, I'll have to show off pictures of my recently completed Gemini!

Knit with Classic Elite yarn Classic Silk that I purchase years ago from Webs. This yarn has been languishing in my stash forever. This little sweater was a quick easy knit. Great first sweater, if you've never knit a sweater before. If I were to knit this again, I would start the neckline with 4 rows of garter stitch first because as written the neckline has a tendency to roll. I avoided this, by crocheting a single crochet edge entirely around the neckline. It works, but I think the garter stitch would work better. I've already worn this sweater a couple of times and I must admit to liking it a lot. Kind of surprising given the colour of the sweater. Its definitely not something I would normally chose. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought it years ago.

My first Commission?

Yeah right!! Lol. Amy approached me some time ago about an idea that she (and her classmates) had. This is Amy's last term at Bishop's! And she wanted to get her voice coach Gail, something special. Several of her classmates felt the same way and the idea was born that they would commission me to make a shawl. I had been texting Amy quite a bit about this shawl. Issues like shape, colour, fiber content, yarn weight all came up. She was planning on getting her friends to answer most of these concerns and get back to me, but they never did! So I took it upon myself to just go for it and hope they would like it. I decided that handspun would make it more special and I decided that the colour purple was in order since that is the official colour of Bishop's university. Its knit from that first loop batt that I spun up in the colour Plum Pudding.

Then I had to pick a pattern. The latest knitty had just come out and there was the perfect semicircular shawl. Afternoon Tea. I loved knitting this shawl so much. But it turns out I was short on yardage. I ended up having to dye some yarn to match - I was a little concerned for a bit that it was brown not purple, but overall, I'm very happy.

Here it is pre blocking. This photo was taken at night and I almost had myself convinced that the edging was brown. I was in near panic thinking that I would somehow have to figure out how to dye the edging over or that I would have to rip back and knit the edging again.

Here it is blocking. The edging is actually closer to a maroon colour. My knitting room is in an obvious state of confusion. That shoe was put there so I could give Amy some sense of size. Lol. She is happy with the shawl and she is certain that Gail will like it.

But in all honesty, I don't think I'll be able to charge a bunch of college kids for knitting this.

What happened to October?

Was that ever a fast month! But then again, I always find that time seems to speed up in the fall.  I guess, I've been so busy with work, and girl guides that I haven't found the time to blog.  I've been knitting though.  And some other things too.  I even did some painting. 

 Last weekend the Big Land Trefoil Guild went to Lake Alexander for a fall camp.  7 of us attended.  We each had to bring a craft or activity.  I figured the girls could handle some silhouette painting.  Here are the results.  I think they turned out very nice!  I particularly liked my friend Karen's.  She did the Inukshuk in the sunset.  Gorgeous!

 I was busy with knitting Halloween items for Heather's baby, Colson.  I made him the knitted duck feet from Knitty.  These were just about the trickiest things that I've ever knit.  Turkish cast on, applied icord, stretchy cast off, shortrows.  This little pattern had it all!  But boy, oh boy, were they ever cute.  Just look at that little duck!  The crocheted hat was a cinch in comparison.  It only took about 2 hours to finish.  Talk about a great little pattern.  Its from speckledfrogcrochet on etsy.  You can buy it here.  What a great seller, and a great pattern.  I'll be making this again.  And she doesn't mind if you sell these hats - if you ask!

 I've been making a very concentrated effort to knit more with my handspun.  Its hard.  A project has to be worthy enough, a recipient has to be worth it too.  It has to be a special project for a special someone.  I'm trying to relax those standards somewhat and just knit it already.  (I'm really starting to build up a stash of handspun - my regular stash is bad enough).  I'm also trying to knit more from the books in my library.  This argyl hat is knit from two different colours of my handspun.  The pattern is from All New Homespun Handknits which is a really nice book with the patterns calling for small amounts of handspun.  I just love the resulting hat.  I've already cast on for two more.  Stay tuned.

Last weekend

Still loving the Crochet

I finished the little dress, which turned out to be adorable.  I donated to the Girl Guides fundraiser silent auction.  I know the lady that bought it, so I will be secretly watching her child this summer to see if she wears it.  This was such a cute design, and the designer couldn't be sweeter.  She contacted me on Ravelry to let me know that she liked my rendition of her design.  I did use a heavier gauged yarn than recommended and consequently ended up with a size to fit a 2 year old even though I crocheted the smallest size.


And here is my progress on the rhubard scarf.  What a great pairing of stitch pattern and yarn!  I'm loving the result, though I'm getting a little tired of scarves.  I just finished knitting Summit from the most recent issue of Knitty.   I modified mine to make a more narrow version because I didn't have enough of the yarn to make a full sized version.  I used Knitpick's Stroll kettle dyed in the auburn colourway.  Overall, I'm happy with this as it resulted in a nice spring scarf.  Blocking was tricky though!

I think I may start a tradition

I was getting kind of bored with my knitting.  Not that the stuff that I'm currently knitting isn't challenging, because it is.  But, its just not ....... fun.  I seem to need a fun project on the go all the time to keep my knitting fresh.  Otherwise knitting sometimes looses its appeal.  Now that statement is  probably a little too strong.  It will never loose its appeal.  Knitting will always be my boyfriend. But I like knitting things that I see progress quickly.  I love self striping yarns.  They always keep me entertained.  You should see my stash.  It is crazy.  And the amount of self striping yarn is ridiculous.  I actually got a Jimmy Beans order today.  The whole point of the order was that Jess and I wanted some Malabrigo worsted to make the Love Bytes mittens.   Since we had to pay about 14$ shipping, I decided to throw in some Noro Kuryeon.  I also wanted to try Mini Mochi.   No pattern in mind - just because.

Sorry, I've kind of gone off on a tangent there.  The title of my post is about traditions.  My daughter's best friend since forever is Lucy.  Lucy loves interesting hats.  In fact, I've made Lucy a mohawk hat, a princess Leiah hat, a Tepes Hat and now this year for her birthday she will be receiving the Dead Fish hat.  I think she'll like it.  Morgan does.  He looks pretty cute with it on too.  Well, he looks pretty cute with it off too, but I'm biased.  Pattern is Dead Fish Hat from Knitty and the yarn is Nashua Handknits Wooly Stripes.  I needle felted on the eyes.  So much easier than sewing.  Great pattern.  I highly recommend it. 

2010 Goals - Knitting and Otherwise

Knit some lace - in lace weight yarn. Note - may have to work up to this...errrr...down I guess really. Meghan (of 'Stitch It' podcast fame) likens it to knitting with nose hair. We shall see. My one attemp at knitting in lace weight was an unmitigated failure, but that may have to do with the fact that I was too cocky to use a life line. Won't be making that mistake again.

1. Knit more EZ patterns. (That would be knitting royalty Elizabeth Zimmerman to you non knitters out there). I've been lucky enough to acquire 2 more of EZ's books in 2009. My hope is to have the all some day. I now have 3. I've knit only 4 of her patterns so far. A baby surprise jacket, 2 pairs of mitered mittens, 1 ganomy hat, and one baby surplice jacket. She was brilliant. I want to make a tomten jacket and maybe the seamless hybrid sweater in the future.
2. Continue exploring colourwork. 2009 was a good year for colourwork for me. I am now a convert. I want to continue in this vein and perhaps even knit a full adult sized fair isle sweater.
3. Blog more and include more photos of non knitting stuff. I'm not a photographer and I'm not about to convince myself that its something that I'd like to do or even be able to do well. But, I am living in one of the most pristine places on the planet. I'm not sure for how much longer I can continue to say that sadly. Development is occuring here at too rapid a pace. I'd like to document some of the beauty of Labrador for the next generation to see.
4. Get rid of some of the crap in my home. I'm a pack rat. I've come to terms with it, but the time has come to start getting rid of some stuff. I'm running out of room for my yarn. My china cabinet could really hold alot of yarn. Right now its full of a bunch of crap that is of no value to me - sentimental or monetary. And imagine how pretty a china cabinet full of yarn will look. Especially all the handspun thats tucked away.
5. Knit with my handspun. Really, there is too much of it tucked away. Its too, too precious not to be doing something with it. Even if it is, displaying it in my china cabinet and admiring it. There is a new knitty pattern called 'King of Confidence', that is just calling out to me.

So, that about sums up what I'd like to accomplish in the upcoming year. In keeping with goal #5 here are some photos that I took while at my cabin this weekend. It was pretty frosty.

A Hat for Muggles

I was pleasantly surprised when the new summer knitty came out and it had winter patterns in it. The powers that be have done this to help us prepare for the holidays which is just a scant ... gulp ... 5 months away. I love it! There were several patterns there that I love. There is a beaded lace shawl that I've been eyeing for some time. But I couldn't resist this little baby. I ordered the exact yarn in the exact same colours as the designer. (Wooly Wormhead by the way - fantastic!) This is something I rarely - if ever - do. This hat is knit in a combination of stripes and intarsia using short rows on a straight needle. Genius. I've even purchase the yarn to make this into a 'Labrador' hat. Here Amy is modelling it on our front lawn in the much too hot for woolen hats weather that we have been blessed with.

I thought I'd include a bonus shot of the fleece. I don't know how many more pictures of dirty water that I can post, but I am slowly making my way through the 6 pounds. I've spun and finished a total of 160 yards of the stuff so far. Notice the slightly different colour? I'm not sure how to fix that. I guess I have to wash all of the stuff first and then card and then spin. But, I'm going to stick to my method of washing bits, carding bits and spinning bits. I think I've gotten about 2 pounds done so far. Just keep at it right?

Coffee Filter Yarn

Last night I was reading Amy Singer's article in knittyspin. She was talking about a trip that she took to Arizon in February, and how she met with a spinning guild there. She met a lady that was spinning coffee filter - used and straight out of the package. She briefly gave a description on how it was done, so I decided to give it a go. Now, everything I've ever learned about spinning, I've learned on animal fibers. Spinning involves two things - drafting and adding twist. There wasn't a whole lot of drafting going on here. The resulting yarn is surprisingly strong.

Here are my supplies. The markers, because I couldn't bear to spin such bland colour.



















Here is a coloured coffee filter.




















Cut into shreds.


















Attempting to draft.


















Result.

A New Hat for Spring

Its officially spring now. Can't you tell? Just look at the view out of my front window. Spring in Labrador.



Ignore the sarcasm. Its been a long, long winter. I actually love, love, love 'spring' in Labrador. It is warm enough to go outside and enjoy the snow. In keeping with the springy feeling. I knit a spring hat. Spring knitty just came out and I was immediately drawn to this sweet little beret called 'reverie' by Amy Swenson.






This hat is knit from yarn by tanusfiberarts that I picked up in Montreal. Colourway 'stormy'. I really, really love it. I actually think I have enough yarn leftover for a second beret. Which is great, because I'm sure Amy will end up with this one.

Ron Weasley

He is one of my most favorite characters in the Harry Potter series. I chose to immortalize him in fiber. He is needlefelted onto a knit and felted brown bag (pattern courtesy of knitty) I've given him to Amy because she is as much a Ron fan as I am, and I have no use for a brown lunch bag and she does. Or she might. This may be my last felted project because we bought a front loading washer. I love the washer. It takes a nice large load, but apparently one cannot felt knitting in a front loading washer. I'm sure I'll give it a go at some point. I have heard of successful cases, but I'm not sure if they are urban legends or not.

I've got cowls on the brain

Seriously, ever since I saw a link to Sara Palin wearing a quiviut cowl, I've been wanting one. As a result I've been trolling the internet for cowls, neckwarmers, gaiters, scarflettes, etc. I had almost forgotten about this little gem from knitty called Tudora. Its going to be a Christmas gift because yellow isn't my colour. I love the idea of a simple buttoned neck band. I have an idea for a pattern of my own thats been ruminating too. I'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, here are some pics of my tudora knit in (I think) Berella Muskoka superwash merino (Its that or Paton's Classic). Super fast easy knit for anyone looking for some last minute gifts.