A Labrador Spring

Spring is one of my favourite times of year in Labrador. Most people in North America herald the arrival of spring with the melting of snow and the growth of new flowers. Not so in Labrador. 

Here is a photo that I took last night from our backyard. Yes, that bit of fence peeking through is a six foot fence. 

We mark the coming of spring by ice fishing!! It is at long last finally warm enough to go outside and enjoy all that snow. Easter weekend is a time in Labrador when everyone seems to be on the ice. Fishing, riding skidoo, games, a boil up (Newfoundland and Labradors word for a picnic) are just a few of the things that most families tend to do around here. 

My son in law Blair is drilling a hole in the ice with his gas ice auger. There is an extension on it and he still just barely made it through the ice. 

 

This is me with two of the trout that I caught. We had such a good time. It was so nice to be outside after being inside all this long cold winter long. 

I accidentally stepped into a fishing hole that was covered in snow and slush and I went over my boots. My feet stayed warm because I had on a pair of my hand knit socks. But I wished I had taken a second pair of dry socks. Kevin told me to take some too. Oh well. 

I did finish knitting another pair of socks. These will do into my sock drawer. And they will keep my feet warm and dry the next time I go ice fishing. 

I love them. They are DK weight which is a little heavier than I like but they are sure to work well inside a winter boot.  We (Newfoundlanders and Labradorians) call short thick socks like these vamps. I think this is word is unique to this province but I could be wrong. I need to knit more of these. For myself and my whole family. 

I think I may be in love

With this combination of yarn and mitten pattern.  I'm not usually a person to use the recommended yarn.  I almost always will try to substitute based on what I have in my stash.  I certainly never knit with the exact same colourway.  Except this time.  I purchased the exact same yarn brand - Malabrigo, in the exact same colours - Emerald blue and Carrot as the pattern is recommending.  And oh my, how I love it.  These mittens are so fun, they are practically knitting themselves. 

In other news, I joined a yarn club of sorts.  Its Leethal Quick knits Club, by Lee Meridith.  I love her patterns and her work.  She is genius.  She uses mostly recycled/reclaimed yarn and materials, which I love, love, love.  Her patterns are quick, quirky and fun.  I really wanted to support her work and join this club.  So far, I've received March's mail out which had a photography theme.  When I grow up, I want to be a photographer.  Some day I'll own a good camera, but for now, I love my little Canon Power shot.  The package included two mini skeins of yarn, two fun little patterns and some extras - one of which was this neat little mesh thingy that you hold over your camera lens to produce a nice twinkly effect with lights.  Here is a photo taken in my kitchen.  I suspect there would have been more twinkling if all lights in the fixture were working and if it were indeed dark enough to require lights.  And yes, that is a big pile o snow outside my window.  Late March does not equal spring in Labrador (even though we have had the mildest winter on record)


I'm not sure what is going on with Blogger.  I used to be able to somewhat format my photos, now they are just going in here all helter skelter like.  Oh well, I'm sure it makes sense to someone. 

Mmmmm....Malibrigo

So I've had this yummy Malibrigo yarn in my stash for some time now. I wasn't sure what to do with it because ... well, its Malibrigo. I only had one single skein so it had to be made into a small project. I put it aside and forgot (almost forgot) about it. Until I saw the fall cover of Vogue knitting. I fell in love with the druid mitts on the cover. I fell in love with cabled mitts in general. Not being able to purchase Vogue knitting locally, I did a ravelry search for cabled mitts and came upon these. The Chevalier mittens. Lovely aren't they?



As an aside, I bought two...yes, two copies of Vogue knitting in my haste to knit the druid mitts. I ordered one from www.yarn.com (or webs) and then on my trip into Corner Brook there it was in a little book store, and I didn't yet have my webs order. And of course, I couldn't wait. By the time I got home, my webs order was in. But its all good. I gifted my second copy to a new knitter friend. I have the yarn picked out for these babies. My lys (Distinctive Knittin) has new yarn in. So I'll be making them in a wool/silk blend.

Drum Carding

Can you tell how enthusiastic I am about spinning. 5 posts this month. I blame it all on the tour.

So, I'm leasing a drumcarder from a lady who isn't sure she has a use for it anymore. She was doing some pretty funky stuff with it. She was spinning caribou hair (mixed with wool), knitting it up, then felting it. It was a giant experiment involving the Labrador craft marketers group. They ended up using a commericial felter in the end and forgoing the knitting part. Anyway the carder was a mess of caribou hair and gummy who knows what. So yesterday, I spent the better part of two hours cleaning the thing. Then, I carded my very first batt! I feel like a new mom.

Take a look!

Pretty filthy pre cleaning eh? I now have it on my kitchen table and there it will stay since Kev is out of town for at least a couple of weeks. I've had this carder in my possession since April and only now am using it. I really didn't want a big dirty drum carder on my kitchen table. Kev would not be amused.