Pictures for Mom

My dad is home from Myrtle Beach for a couple of days to attend some business meetings. Mom stayed in Myrtle with the dogs. We have a rule that she must call when she leaves the house and again when she returns. This way we can keep track of her!!! Dad will see the truck tonight at dinner but mom won't see it for a couple more weeks so here are some pictures for her.

If you look at it by itself it looks white but if it is sitting beside a white car, you can see that it is the colour of white chocolate.
One really cool thing is that the back door can be opened with the key fob. You press a button and it opens up-great for when your hands are full.
I couldn't get too close for pictures of the front because I drove it to Toronto today. I have a bit of a lead foot so there are a few bugs splattered on the front-it is going to have its first car wash tomorrow morning.

Not much knitting to report. Just working on my Noro sweater-mindless work in stocking stitch.

Lots of pictures and amazing news!!

I have been busy trying to get the store back in order after the CreativFestival. Cathy worked while I was away and did wonders straightening the shelves. Cathy is a neat freak and hates to see balls of yarn out of order. Classes resumed this week which didn't leave me much time for writing.

Jane Ellison was in the store on Wednesday teaching a workshop. I forgot to take a picture of Jane but here are some of the students working with the Noro yarns.

We received new colours of Noro Transitions in the store a few weeks ago and I have been trying to decide what I was going to knit. I decided on Holly from the cover of Jane's book Naturally Noro. I am using colour 22. So far I have finished one sleeve and am half way up the back.

Unfortunately we received another yarn that I had to knit with. Debbie Bliss has brought out a new yarn called Donegal Tweed Chunky with a new book. I am knitting the cover sweater called Kilcar in the chocolate brown (colour 3). I knit the sleeve in 2 days so the jacket should go quickly.

Yesterday morning I received a phone call from the Ford dealership. MY TRUCK ARRIVED!!! I picked it up after work today. My mom and dad are in Myrtle Beach and when I talked to mom tonight her first question was 'When are you going to get pictures on the blog?' I told her that unfortunately it was dark and rainy here so they won't be up until tomorrow. The colour is amazing. Someone tried to convince the dealership to let them buy it yesterday.

I lived through the CreativFestival

Just a quick note to say that I made it through the CreativFestival. This is 5 long days (4 for the show and one setting up) of commuting to Toronto. The show went well and we got our name out to lots of people who didn't know we existed.

Congratulations to Wannietta who won the title again as 'Canada's Fastest Knitter'. She really killed the competition.

I spent this morning making our class schedule for November. Tonight I am going to start knitting a Moebius. Since I am going to teach Cat Bordhi's cast on I should know how to do it in my sleep.

There is still no sign of my Expedition. Over the weekend I put nearly 1000 km on the loaner!! I don't think they are going to be happy.

I have a vehicle

This is a wild scarf I made yesterday afternoon while watching football. It is made using a 'Loopa'-something new from Sirdar. It is a small frame that makes the great loops. No knitting required. I used Yosemite from Trendsetter and the scarf took 2 skeins.

I have a vehicle. Not my vehicle but a brand new Expedition to drive until mine arrives. It has all the toys that mine has so I am getting to play.

This is the map on the navigation system pointing me to home.

This is the Sirius satellite radio-tuned to the '80s station of course.

Lizard Ridge has been put on hold for a bit. 7 squares are complete but 1 won't work in the finished afghan. The colours are too pale and it looks out of place with the others. I steam blocked one square last night and it is lying perfectly flat. The others will be done tonight and sewn together so I can show what it looks like so far.

I have been busy getting ready for the CreativFestival this weekend in Toronto. I haven't done the show in a few years so it will be interesting to see what sells. If you are at the show, please stop by. I am in booth 729/731 with Village Yarns.

Saturday night Beth and I went to the Leaf game with our friend Andrea. The game was good except the wrong team won!! It is unbelievable how expensive everything is at the ACC. A medium draft beer was $9. A Smirnoff Ice was $7.25. I can buy a case of 4 for $8 at the liquor store!!

Lizard Ridge

I am finished 4 squares and the 5th is almost done. So far I have ripped out one finished square because the colours didn't work out. Now I am going to rip out half a square because there was a knot in the ball. Of course they didn't join the same colour!! For those of you who know me I don't like to rip out.

If you are working on Lizard Ridge here is another tip. Roll the balls before you start. I am going to roll 2 small balls and this way I will find any knots and can adjust the colours accordingly.

How about the baseball playoffs? The Yankees are out!! I always root for the underdog and whoever is playing the Yankees. Maybe George will learn that you can't buy a winner.

I have decided to do the CreativFestival in Toronto at the end of the month. You might know this as the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival-they have changed the name to allow more crafts into it. I haven't done the show in many years but with all the new knitters out there it is important to let them know about my store.

Jane Ellison will be teaching in the store after the Festival (Wednesday October 25). So far she hasn't given me a description of her workshop so I sent her a proposal.

A workshop about working with self-striping yarns

-how Jane comes up with your ideas for a sweater and deciding which yarn to use

-what stitches look good in a yarn-we could have balls of Noro there for people to play with and do different stitch patterns, for example some lace, cables, knit and purl patterns

-talk about felting the Noro yarns

Done

Color on the Side is finished. I have even sewn in all the ends!!! I will take a picture of Sarah wearing the jacket on Saturday-it looks much better on a human.

Here are a few of my squares for Lizard Ridge. I have the pattern memorized so I am a bit bored with it. Luckily every square is a different colour to keep me interested. I have decided to use any colour that includes browns or greys.

Off to another night of knitting class. Then Survivor!!

New Project

You are probably saying that I mentioned a new project a few days ago. I am not knitting the Jane Ellison sweater-Jane is going to knit it for me.

Color on the Side is almost done. I was finishing the sleeve last night and ran out of yarn. It is a long way to the yarn store (okay, just downstairs) but I didn't feel like going so I set it aside. Hopefully tomorrow. Here is a picture as I was starting the sleeve.


This is my latest project. You can find the pattern at knitty.com. It is called Lizard Ridge and I am using Noro Kureyon but in earth tones instead of the bright colours. You knit 24 squares and sew them together. The square is knit from both ends of the ball to give the striping pattern.

I had to rip out my first square after it was finished. One thing the pattern doesn't state is that you need to make sure that you don't have both ends starting with the same colour. There is more yarn in a ball than needed to make a square so you can cut away some at one end so that your striping works out. You need to be careful if you are going to do this. The pattern calls for 21 balls but I would suggest 24 and then you don't have to worry about the striping. Another word of caution about the pattern. You are doing wrap and turns (not my favourite because they never look neat). The pattern reads

Working Wraps Together with Wrapped Stitches:
Work the "wraps" at the turning points of the short rows, together with the stitches they wrap, as follows:
When working a RS row: Knit to wrapped stitch. Slip next stitch from left needle to right needle (ADD-LIKE A PURL), use tip of left needle to pick up "wrap" and place it on right needle, insert left needle into both wrap and stitch, and knit them together.
When working a WS row: Purl to wrapped stitch. Slip next stitch from left needle to right needle (ADD-LIKE A KNIT), use tip of left needle to pick up "wrap" and place it on right needle, slip both wrap and stitch back to left needle, purl together through back loops.

We had a very long weekend with little sleep. At 3am Sunday morning I heard a huge crash. I ran for the phone and was dialing 911 while looking out our front window. Someone wrapped their mini-van around a tree across from our house. Beth went to see if the person was alright-I couldn't go because I don't do blood well. The man was alert and Beth talked to him until the police/ambulance/fire trucks arrived. They had to totally cut the mini-van up to get him out. First the doors, then the sides then the roof. They took the seats out and then slid him on a spine board. From the time I dialed the phone until he was in an ambulance took 2 hours. It was another hour before the tow truck left and had the road cleaned up. I got back to sleep around 7am and slept until football-not a good subject-our fantasy team SUCKED this week.

Off to watch Vanished, CSI Miami and the football game.

Quick post

I wrote a long post yesterday but for some reason Blogger isn't showing it. I am hoping that by making a quick post, no pictures, yesterday's will show up.

I am finished knitting Color on the Side. I am now doing the edging and should have that done tomorrow.

Off to knitting guild.