Soaked

And now for something completely different.

Our house is 23 years old. I seems like yesterday that we stood in the builder's showroom choosing these cabinets and fixtures. Everything has been looking tired lately so it seemed like the right time to renovate and update the bathroom.

I envisioned shifting from the neutral earth tones we have here towards a rich, luxurious and dramatic colour palette.

I found a grey floor that I loved and from there pulled in subway tile and mosaic tile in natural stone tones of grey, burnt red, wheat and clear glass.

The tub , sink and too are white ( bye, bye almond tub and sink) so the contrast will be dramatic.

Day one, the tub and tile came out and the new tub was set in. We're coming up to one full week without the tub but showing at the health club has worked for all of us so far.

Hopefully, tomorrow it'll be done!

 

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On a Roll

I have another finished object! My shawl for our 5 Counties Guild challenge came off of the loom one week before the event.

I've used a fine neutral warp with Classic Elite lace weight and my merino/ silk hand spun for the weft. The pattern is overshot the blooming leaf pattern.

This was a challenging project as the warp was very fine and sticky. I really struggled with it. In the end, the weight was perfect and the shawl draped perfectly. The displays looked beautiful as each guild was asked to choose an historical Time period to use as inspiration. Art Deco, the Arts and Crafts Movement were two time periods honored.

Our Guild chose 1812 to nod to the bicentennial of the war. The display looked great- my co-chair designed the display.

Our keynote speaker was Judith Bowden, an amazing designer for the Shaw festival's production of My Fair Lady last year. She was kind enough to bing a few costumes for us to see. She shared with us her creative process. I immediately wanted to dust off my sewing machine.

 

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A Special Delivery

The Willie sweater is done and has been presented to the expectant mom.

I love the little ear flap, the way the graphic wraps around the body. A YouTube video showed me how do a chain stitch for the collar.

I highly recommend this pattern. It's fast, cute and fun to knit. I can't quite believe that I got it done before the baby arrived. It feels good o have an FO...now onto my project for the 5 Counties weaving/ spinning competition this weekend.

 

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Chunky yarn...small recipient

I rarely knit for others because most people just don't "get" the effort and care that goes into knitting something. I also often can't finish things quickly due to my work schedule and babies do make their appearances eventually and grow quickly. However, I know a young lady who is expecting a baby soon and she " gets" it. I've been wanting to make the Willie cardigan by Pamela Wynne for some time now so when I was in BC I grabbed the yarn and cast on.

It's been great knit night and take-along knitting. I love its Parisienne vibe. The Intarsia dog wraps around the body with an ear flap and embroidered chain for its neck still to come. The yarn is Patons Shetland Chunky super wash.

I think a jaunty beret would finish the ensemble nicely so I'll be looking for a pattern for that next.

 

 

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La Kane

Well, hello again!

My absence fom blogging is largely due to my technological ineptness. You see- I started blogging from my iPad and then had trouble posting. This is my attempt at getting back in the game as it were.

I'm knitting, weaving, spinning and sipping great wine. My front- burner project is Derica Kane by Bonne Marie Burns. Here's Judy modeling the body. I've since finished th sleeves and am working on the yoke.

The yarn is Tosh DK in the Byzantine colour way. I love the design and the yarn is delicious to work with.

I'm sipping lots of Trius Red 2010 these days. The 2012 harvest has just begun and bodes to be another amazing one. I guess rich, bold reds are in my glass and on my needles.

 

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Toot,toot, tootsie hello.

 I bought some Toots LeBlanc merino/angora at Madrona fiber festival last year.  Given the length of my knitting queue, I figured that it stood a better chance of becoming an FO as a woven object.  I was supposed to create something for a competition ( eventually cancelled) using 3 colours from the OHS tartan.  I chose azure, brown and white.  I had to overdye the fawn shade with the azure and it came out the perfect shade.

In my zeal to get the warp on the loom, I neglected to tie off the crosses and ended up with a tangled mess.  Had it not been Toots LeBlanc, I might have given up.  I took a few weeks to slowly sort the threads and to put them in place.  The warp is brown and white, the weft blue and white.  The pin wheel design is fun and beautiful.  I got the pattern from the Handwoven best of scarves collection.

The cloth is beautiful, the yarn bloomed perfectly.  

Colour me happy.

 

Blankie

I'm trying a new blogging app so we'll see how it goes.  This is the baby Shane Blanket from Tanis Fiber Arts.  

It's a fun knit.

Trust the colours- I had second, third and fourth thoughts about the colour combos but when they all fit together, they sang.

Find the beauty in miles of garter stitch - the border is epic but it's the unifying  force.

Whatever you do, don't start well into the pregnancy like I did.  The baby was 2 months old when she finally got it.

Summer

I think I promised all of you pictures of my finished backyard. Well, suffice it to say I thoroughly enjoyed my patio this summer. Here is the patio with interlocking brick and the patio set.

I also covered the pergola with some canvass sewn together with my serger. I placed some pretty tea lights under the canopy to create a ceiling of stars.

The plants are small right now but will fill in eventually. I got a Bloomerang Lilac (blooms 3 times a year apparently) but I fear it hasn't taken well. We'll find out in the spring.

August saw me attend Ontario's first Dinner en Blanc in Niagara on the Lake. It was spectacular.

I also managed to finish my Maritime cardigan. The pictures aren't the greatest but I'm so pleased it's done at last! It's hard to believe that November is almost here. Perhaps fewer distractions outside will help me focus on blogging more regularly!

Knitting Al Fresco

It would seem that one large home improvement project per year is the way we roll around here. Two years ago it was the roof and last year...windows. Those were great but when they're done, you don't get anything new out of the deal just updated versions of what you already had. This year is different. As of tonight, I have large machinery in my back yard.

For the last couple of years, I've plunked down a cheapo gazebo - the kind you get at Canadian Tire. It's been a great place to hang out on warm summer nights and surf the net or to knit. I had little white tea lights suspended from the roof of the gazebo to make it just a bit more magical. When it collapsed last fall, I decided to invest in an oasis of my own and to do some proper landscaping. So, this year - we're installing a patio, pergola and some gardens.

I had a very talented young landscape designer create the plan for me and now, we execute it. Here is day 1. the digging has commenced and all looks good. The patio will be this brick and the pergola will look like this. I'll be buying the plants later this week and completing the final installation myself on Canada Day this Friday. If all goes well, I'll be sipping some of our new Trius Rose on my new patio this long weekend whilst working on my Kowloon cardigan. I did complete my Maritime cardi so look for pictures of that soon!

Stay tuned for an update as this oasis progresses.

Time Machine

I wish I had one. Wow - my last post was Jan. 30 so here I am four months later finally posting again. I have a new job managing a winery with the same company I've been with for the last six years. It's exciting and busy...hence the lack of blogging. Hallet's Ledge is coming along nicely and the second sleeve it about 2/3 done so just the button and neck bands to do after the arms are attached.

Spring has been slow to arrive but now that it's finally here - I'm jonseing for some warm weather knits.

In particular, I'm quite taken with the new book from Fibrespates called Scrumptious Knitting. This lovely cardigan is made from some laceweight. I have some Hepburn from Abstract Fiber in a shade called "Big Girl Pink". This is the pink that was mentioned on the Knitmore Girl's Podcast. Now the two skeins are quite differently shaded so I'm either going to have to alternate every other row or shade from dark to light.

I also love this lacy cardigan from the same book. My stash of Green Stinkbug Skinny Bugga will be perfect for this one too. I bought it to make the Austin Hoodie but ended up getting the Tosh Merino Light anyway.

I'm plugging away on a garter stitch vest called Desert from the Savannah book from Rowan. The lilac shade is so pretty and the strips of garter stitch are a welcome diversion when my brain is fried. With a new job there's lots of information to cram in so many nights - I'm only good for garter stitch. The strips are knit one way and then the other way with a yoke of short rows to finish it off.

I'm excited about my trip to BC in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for lots of nice pictures as I hook up with a couple of knitting buddies in Vancouver. I'll certainly need to learn how to blog from my iPad.

Out on a Ledge

I do enjoy blogging - really I do! You'd never know it from the infrequent posts last year but it's been a busy but good year. Amongst all of the craziness is still yarn. And although I dabble in several fibre arts - knitting remains my first love. I fell head over heals in love with Hallett's Ledge from the Fall 2010 Twist Collective. I find cables so soothing and zen - I always find myself thinking I must do more when I'm working on a cabled project.

I do so love the Rowan Felted Tweed and couldn't pass up a chance to use it for this design. I got a new Nikon D3100 for Christmas so I've been playing with it a bit. I'm no Jared Flood but here are my attempts at showing the beautiful texture of the design as well as the flecks of caramel and icy blue that highlight the ivy shade of Felted Tweed. I've actually manged to remain monogamous since crawling out on "the ledge". It's just that satisfying.

The body is done in one piece and I've pinned it to Judy just to get a sense as to how it will hug the body. It spurs me on to keep at the sleeves.

I'll be going to Madrona in a couple of weeks and I'll be taking a photography course with Franklin Habit so fingers crossed - hopefully there will be some better shots to come!

Sheep to Haul


This past Friday the Canadian fibre contingent headed up to Rhinebeck NY for the sheep and wool festival. The weekend was a whirlwind but the highlights are as follows:




First Place in the "So Cute I Want to Steal You" category: These Australian Shepherd Puppies. I'm sure they're chewing somebody's slipper as we speak.









First Place in the "So Beautiful I Want to Steal you while your Maker is sleeping" category: Dr. Steph's Swedish Heartwarmer Shawl. Of course since she was providing the passage back to Canada - I chose a ride home over a life of crime but isn't this shawl amazing??? I'm still knitting away on mine but I'm inspired to keep going after seeing hers.




First Place in the "So Beautiful I want to buy more yarn and cast on this second" category: Glenna C's absolutely stunning cabled pullover Royale. She was nice enough to let me try it on and I couldn't click that Pay Pal link fast enough!! I'm eyeing up a nice Indigo Dragonfly yarn for this baby.



My spoils included several stops at the Jennie the Potter booth and I got a beautiful mug so each morning as I sip my coffee ( OK, more like gulp and I'm usually running late but a girl can dream) I can remember my wonderful weekend at Rhinebeck. I also got some buttons from Jennie the Potter and from Sheila and Michael Ernst but I'll blog more on those later.





Gotta run. One more weekend of weaving seminars and I'm through the most intense of the fibre activities for the fall!!

Monkey off my back



Yesterday was the Five Counties guild competition and as usual, I was finishing my entry at the last minute. Most years, I end up putting the last touches on during the car ride to the event. Since I was driving this year, I thought my passenger would appreciate an earlier push.












The pattern is the Sleepy Monkey Blanket from Twist Collective. It's really two blankets knitted in the round, steeked and then bound together wrong sides in and finished with two seperate borders (backing on each other). A final garter round seals both sides and makes the blanket totally reversible.






I spun the yarn on my Schacht Matchless and then Navajo plied it to a triple ply. The roving was superwash merino and the colours were dictated by the guild challenge. I had to use orange and green but could add other colours too. You can see the two sides here before I bound them together. The back side is quite colourful. I opted for a garter stitch border instead because it is reversible and I would have had to spin more yarn to do it as indicated in the pattern. Time didn't permit however, I'm pleased with the garter finish. The blanket is very cushy so if you make this, it's almost like a flat pillow.


The theme of the competition was "energy" so my very talented guild mate suggested we make felted balls and create an energy transfer machine ala physics class. You can see them here behind the mesh holding the display items. People did play with our machine which is what we wanted but alas - the judges didn't think it was the most "eye catching" so we're bridesmaids again. However, I loved seeing all of the entries and was so proud of the talent in our guild.

The Sleepy Monkey will be resting in my cedar chest. I can't bear to give it to anyone because there's so much of me in it. I think it will go to the first grandchild. NOT ANYTIME SOON!