Blue Skies

I can't quite believe that it's now day 6 of my vacation. Somewhere around 9:23 Monday night I managed to begin to decompress and detach. Not checking work e mails on my iPhone helps. I can't really be that important.

Royale by Glenna C is blossoming into a beautiful sweater. I'm working with an Aran weight yarn by Indigodragonfly in the colourway "Then Buffy Staked Edward...The end.". It's a lovely, smoky teal with kisses of a purple veil. I'm alternating skeins to ensure an even distribution of the variegation. This is a semi-solid shade but I

like to ensure that pooling is mitigated by alternating skeins. This project and I had a few false starts. It was totally me. The pattern is just fine - very well written. I just kept losing my focus when I cast on. First I dropped a stitch and then tried to pick it up and didn't like it. Then I used the wrong size needles for the ribbing. Next I twisted the join and didn't notice for several rounds. I think I made every mistake twice and the sixth time I cast on seemed to be a charm. I'm zipping along and all seems fine. The twisted stitches are lovely and I can't wait to finish it. I had a chance to try on Glenna's sample a couple of years ago at Rhinebeck. It's one sexy sweater!Every morning I've taken to trekking down to the waterfront near where dad lives. The incline is about 80 degrees so walking back up offers a nice workout. This morning I decided to go and sit by the water and listen to my favourite knitting podcast Knit 1 Geek 2 whilst working on Royale. Knit 1 Geek 2 is hosted by a couple of my knit night buddies Karen and Maggie. If you haven't listened to it yet - go for it. You'll enjoy it I promise.

I took a few glamour shots of Royale by the ocean. I'm taking advantage of this time to play with my camera a bit more. I have a D3100 by Nikon. It's more camera than I need right now but I'm hoping to grow into it. I took this shot of this lovely orange flower because I liked the way it looked next to the rocks. I'm playing with depth of field too - hence the slightly out of focus background. Here is Royale beside the orange flowers just to tie it all together.

I ended up sitting by the water for a couple of hours. I say it was the fabulous view, podcast and knitting project but truth be told - I was not looking forward to the walk back up.

 

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Gone Fishing

 

I'm a bad,bad blogger...but then you knew that already. Life continues to roll at warp speed. I fall down the rabbit hole at regular intervals. I work - long hours and have a busy family life. My fibrey pursuits often take a back seat to duty (sigh).

Currently, however- I'm off the grid. I've flown to Vancouver Island for a week to hang out with dad and sleep and knit. Dad prodded me earlier today to blog more so as I sit on a sunny coffee house patio it occurs to me that this might be a bloggable moment. Here is my sock. Yes...you read that right. A. Sock. I've only ever finished one pair and I gifted those when I needed a last minute present. I believe that the holy trinity of pattern, needles and yarn make for a successful finish. If the pattern is too boring or too complicated- other things will attract me. I think I've found the right combo. Here I have Turtle Purl sock yarn in the Purple Purl anniversary colourway. The needles are the lovely Signature double points (expensive but worth it) and the pattern is the Vanilla Latte sock by Virginia-Rose Jeanes.

Blissfully alone with the sunshine, my latte and my knitting. Life's good.

 

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La Kane

I used to wear a lot of red in the eighties. I guess it was the Nancy Reagan effect. I've settled into a nice easy world of blues and greens in recent years so when I saw Derica Kane by Chic Knits...I was surprised to realize I wanted it. In red.

I found a lovely rose red in Tosh DK in a shade called Byzantine at the Needle Emporium. This is my first Chic Knits pattern but it certainly won't be my last. It's just interesting enough to keep your attention yet repetitive enough to take along. I enjoyed every stitch of it.

I bought some lovely Michael and Sheila Ernst buttons at Rhinebeck last year which truly make the sweater extra special.

This was my Rhinebeck sweater this year ( more on that trip to come soon) and it was fun to show the Ernsts their buttons on the sweater.

I'm having a blast wearing it with my red Fluevog boots. They are the Operetta Hjordis from last year.

I'm quite pleased with the number of FOs under my belt this year. Could a new sense of focus and dare I say project monogamy be afoot?

 

Nah. Life's too short for an equally short queue.

 

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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.