Friday, February 25, 2011

FO - Lavender Grey Cowl

Here is my first cowl! B says 'bah it's a neck warmer', but I say it's warm and squishy and fun. I love the colour and the buttons work perfectly with it.



I won this yarn from Tanis's blog a few weeks ago. She sent it to me super fast, like within the week! I couldn't resist casting on. The pattern is called Button Cowl and is free on Ravelry. The knitting itself flew by and I lightly blocked it before I sewed the buttons on.

I wasn't sure I'd get any decent pictures because it's bitterly cold here but the Superstar managed to get this one, and I kind of like it, minus the no makeup part.

Here are a few more that I snapped in the house. I like how the colour seems to shift and move. It's just so pretty.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Bookclub - Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral

OK, I didn't read this book. I thought about it and decided to skip it. January was busy, I know it's a lame excuse but there you have it. Robin did a most excellent job hosting the meeting though. She put together a fun and perfectly themed night for us, complete with chauffeurs, flowers, games, munchies and a journal.

First stop, the Wooden Nickel Saloon in Indian Head. We had a drink, opened discussion on the book, gave a bit of an outline of the evenings schedule and basically caught up with each other. We admired Sheryl's red shoes that smelled only a bit of spray paint and laughed at Tara's thieving of her son's red beaver scarf.


The next stop was Erin's house. She just had the cutest little girl a few months ago and had her own schedule to maintain. Harper is a little elfin doll complete with pointy chin and old world eyes, she is such a lovely baby! We got to play a few games, drink a bit more and break into the munchies. Thanks to Jim for putting up with a room full of women!

Our drivers were a couple of fantastic men who braved the weather (it was typically bad winter driving) and took us to our next stop, the Katepwa Pub. We had another few drinks, and some more book chat. We talked about friendship, regrets and funerals, a rather potent combo that kept us going for good while.


Robin had us write down our regrets to take to our next destination. We followed a path to one of the lovely cabins on the lake. She started a fire and symbolically threw all those slips of paper in.


The next stop was back in town at Andrea's reno. We wandered around admiring all the dust and hard work that's gone into it, and it's potential to be a lovely home soon. We opened wine, lit candles, broke out the munchies and started another game or two.



Our last stop was at Janice's recently reno'd apartment. I must have been getting lazy because I didn't snap pictures there. Too bad, it's a beautiful apartment with great rooms and a view of Grand Avenue. The story of that place is a long one full of laughter and friendship. It made for the perfect last stop on our trip.

I had a blast and stayed out way too late. But the memories are fun (Robin doing cartwheels), the pictures even better, and these ladies... well, they're the best.

I had to add my favorite picture of the night.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

tournament of hearts


Such a belated congrats to the Superstar on her basketball tournament victory. They placed first and played well, and had fun (so did I). I loved the team spirit and how it touched the entire school and us fans too.

Way to go Broncs!

I'm looking forward to districts in a few weeks!


Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Queue Revue

today we are taking a sneak peek into my never ending queue...

Today I have another mitten for you, although this one is of the fingerless variety. Oak Grove Fingerless Mittens are a lovely take on a theme that Alana Dakos of Nevernotknitting fame has explored with her patterns. I love mittens, she loves leaves. This pattern combines the 2.


photo by alana dakos


Monday, February 21, 2011

FO - Prime Mittens







Yup I finished my third pair for the 11 in 2011 challenge. I blogged about them here. I think they turned out great. I love the peacock colour. It's one of the nicest teals I've seen in a long time. The chantrelle was a great light grey/brown/cream and did the trick as a good contrast colour.

I made them originally for B, but he tried them on last night and told me that while they're very nice, he isn't really a mitten guy. So now I know where I'm sending them tomorrow (today is a holiday).

I like them so much I'm already knitting them again, this time for myself.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

look at this!

I started! I'm so excited! I love this yarn! I've wanted a cream cabled cardigan for so long now!


I also seem to have thing with exclamation marks today, whats with that?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Queue Revue

today we are taking a peek into my never ending queue...



photo by spillyjane

We all know I know I have love affair with mittens. I like to knit them, I like to give them away, I even like to wear them (good thing since winter lasts a long time around here).

This pattern is a recent find for me, even though it was released in 2008. Phedre is a pattern by the infamous spillyjane (a canuck mitten knitting genius!). It's based on the books by Jacqueline Carey. I read this series many years ago when the Superstar was little. Warning to future readers: this is a graphic dark series. I loved it!

These mittens are a reflection of that darkness, from the black rose tattoo to the blood red mitten. They are perfect!

Monday, February 14, 2011

WIPs - Prime Mittens

I've been working on these mittens by Brooklyn Tweed. I've talked about them in a previous Queue Revue and I bought some yarn for them before Christmas. I'm knitting them as part of a challenge in Nerd Wars (a group and game on Ravelry). I'd like to enter them in the Prime Numbers Challenge, hence the name.

It's been fun trying to note down the prime numbers as they come up in the pattern. There are far more of them than I thought at first. Thank goodness, I thought I'd have to stretch to make it all work.



I'm still struggling with my colourwork. I find that it looks all bunchy and lumpy and I'm not sure if blocking will help or if I just need to practice more. I'm knitting them with Quince and Co Chickadee in Peacock and Chantrell. The yarn is lovely and squishy, just like the thicker weight Lark I used to knit Marsh.

I really love this yarn, and can't wait to try the Tern I bought to make these mittens for myself. Maybe by then I'll have this colourwork tension thing figured out.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Tanis Fiber Arts Yarn Club Part 1

I'm so excited about this!!! I joined my very first yarn club. It was a combo christmas and birthday present to me, from me. I was really excited to hear about Tanis Fiber Arts on Julie's blog Knitted Bliss. I like yarn, I like supporting small dyers, and I really like that Tanis is a Canadian and she does beautiful work.

Just look at this yarn I got in the first installment of the Year in Colour Club!


Tanis has chosen to call this colourway Frost and I can see why. It's very soft and the yardage is a generous 420. She also included a fabulous scarf pattern with cables and lace. It's long and delicate, and super pretty. I'm not ready to cast on for it yet, but I'm so excited about it!


Tanis also included 4 amazing blank cards with the most stunning pictures of her yarn on them! They are bright and cheerful and I think I may hoard them. Although I should do my part to spread the word about her amazing talent and send some off to yarny friends. I think I was most pleased by this thoughtful extra. They really are lovely to look at.


I'm so excited about the next installment!

Oh, and if you're interested in joining, it's not too late. So far Tanis is keeping this club open.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Friday, February 11, 2011

the prettiest mittens ever

No really, they are. I think they are prettiest thing I've ever knit. JoAnn says they are the prettiest mittens she's ever seen. So I'll take her word for it.



I do love them, they have cables and lace and teeny tiny stitches. But... right now, as I'm typing this it's -27C outside and these mittens have lots of holes all over. Pretty in lace, not really smart in the winter.


I've blogged about these mittens before so I won't go over those details (like what the pattern is and yarn, etc...). I did want to say how much I enjoyed knitting the first mitten. How challenging it was to keep track of lace repeats and the cable twist and the increases for the thumb gusset. I wanted to wax on about this all came together perfectly while knitting the first mitten. A real pleasure.

Then, I started the second mitten. I don't really know what happened but all my good knitting mojo flew the coop and I had problem after problem. It took me a month to finish these. A month!

I was listening to a Knitmore Girls Podcast  one evening in bed and knitting this cursed 2nd mitten when realized I was having one. A big one. A giant, big, "when knitting attacks" and I laughed out loud causing B to look at me funny (he was in bed too reading Stephen King, how he falls asleep after reading that stuff I'll never know). I started to write down all the mistakes I made on the back of the pattern.


Yup. It happens to everyone. Still, I'd knit them again, they are really pretty mittens.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Queue Revue

today we're taking a peek into my never ending queue...

Today we are talking chickens. Yes. I said chickens. Knitted chickens to be precise.

Who wouldn't want a flock of these?


photo by Susan B Anderson

Now I don't think I'll ever have backyard chickens of my own (the real, egg laying variety) so I'll have to make do with these girls.

Seriously, I have a slight obsession with these knitted chickens.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

FO - Rootbeer Hoodie

Hurrah for another finished project this year! I'm up to 3 officially and so close to a few more!

I've blogged about this sweater and given a few peeks at the progress but here is the finished hoodie.





This is such a fun explosion of colour! The knitting went super fast and the pattern was straight forward and easy to follow.

A few notes and mods:

I knit the size small and it was perfect.

I omitted one of the colour bands. I wanted the colourwork to be lower than the pattern suggests.

I knit an extra 1.5 inches of stockinette at the waist area to add more length to the torso.

If I was to knit this again I would decrease the arms more to make the shoulder seams shorter. The shoulders are bit too broad even with the hood turning part of the fabric back.

If I knit this again (I can actually still do this if the mood strikes) I'd knit short sleeves. That way I could ignore the above point because it wouldn't matter.

I striped the hood. I thought I'd run out of the brown so I knit 1 inch stripes (worked out to 6 rows of each colour) alternating colours until I reached the length stated in the pattern.

I didn't do pompoms, I did tassels. We'll see how they stand up in the wash.

I knit all the ribbing on 4mm needles, the rest of the hoodie on 5mm.



I'm going to enjoy wearing this one with jeans. I don't think have shirts that match though! I need to go shopping for an orange, lime green and electric blue t-shirt. Never thought I'd need some of those!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

New Addition

Yup, we have a new addition to our family. I hope it's destined to be a helpful contributor to our physical and mental health...



And I bet you though I was getting a puppy!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Queue Revue

today we are taking a sneak peak into my never ending queue...

Today I thought I'd share another wrap/shawl pattern that I love. I can't wait to start this one, but I'd like to knit it with Brooklyn Tweed's new yarn line called Shelter.  I love many of the colours but I'm stuck on Soot and Faded Quilt for this wrap.

Oh ya, the wrap! I bet you want to see it...


photo by brooklynn tweed

Now I'm sure I've posted about this wrap before. I've had it queued for a year or more. I just love Brooklynn Tweed's style. What I really love about this wrap (other than the utter coolness!) is the warmth. It looks warm and cozy.

It's exactly something I would wear around my drafty old house in the winter, or on cool spring mornings, or crisp fall afternoons...

Maybe this project will grace my needles this spring?

Something to look forward to!

Little Sheep Virtues

Happy Friday! I'm pretty excited to be sharing this cross stitch project with you all. Pattern: Little Sheep Virtues 1-12 by Litt...