Blocking

Kate Atherley just sent me an email - she has a new class going live on Wednesday. Blocking.

Blocking brings out the best in your work. With knitwear designer and author Kate Atherley as your guide, learn how blocking makes your stitchwork pop, your knitwear fit, your projects feel soft to the touch, and so much more. Kate will teach you about blocking, drying, and caring for a huge range of fibers, as well as how to protect your projects and supplies from moths and pests. Kate will even demystify using blocking wires to create perfectly straight edges, and pinning projects to form the shape and size you desire. Plus, Kate will take you step-by-step through blocking mittens, hats, lace scarves, lace shawls, one-piece and multi-piece garments for the fabulous finish they deserve.

Do you really need to block? That is the million dollar question.

Here is the Guernsey Wrap that I am knitting. You can see that the edges are not straight. And the stitches aren't lying flat. Blocking will make all the difference.

When we get a project done we want to wear it right away but a bit of blocking will make your garment look that much better. Blocking isn't hard but Kate will share many tricks with you to make it that much easier. I asked Kate what she blocks with and her preference is my preference, Soak.

Click to see all the information on the class and to sign up with your 25% discount.  

The discount won't last forever so don't delay. You can buy the class and then watch it as you have time. There are 9 sessions - Kate is going very in depth. Give your projects a professional look.

Sambuka

I saw this patten on Ravelry yesterday. LOVE IT! I emailed the designer, Svetlana Volkova, and she gave me permission to share the pictures with you.

The cowl is called Sambuka and you can buy the pattern on Ravelry. If you like it, hurry. The pattern is 20% off until the end of September. 

This cowl is fun to knit and to wear! It is very versatile and could be worn in so many ways. And it is completely reversible.

The yarn is madelinetosh dk-1 skein each of two colours. Merino dk would work as well. I haven't picked colours yet but will tomorrow.

Cherry Garcia is finished...

...and blocking.

My kitchen smells great. Yuzu!

It's a busy TV evening. The Amazing Race. The Mentalist. And a football game. Lots of knitting.

Cherry Garcia

Thursday nights dinner was a huge success. We raised a lot of money to be sent to Honduras. Beth did a roast of my dad and the other people who help with the fundraising. Everyone in the room was laughing including my dad which is a good thing.

I'm still trying to get the store in order after all the packing and unpacking. It's almost done and the updating of the website is almost finished. There was no time yesterday to write during the day. After work last night we had dinner with my parents and then came home to watch Grey's Anatomy. Doing a blog post didn't work into the schedule. Sorry.

I started a small project yesterday. It's time to start thinking about the Woodstock Fleece Festival and some new samples. Cherry Garcia. I'm using one skein of Serenity Chunky from Zen Yarn Garden. 70% merino, 20% cashmere and 10% nylon. The yarn is a dream to knit with.

The back yard is pretty full right now. Fall orders, Knitters' Fair and Camp made for a lot of cardboard. My dad's coming today to trample them down and taking them to be recycled.

And a small surprise from Rowan. Coming in November.

Tonight I'm sitting with my feet up and probably tomorrow as well. Beth is golfing tomorrow which means I have to do the flipping between football games. It really cuts into the knitting time. I should have Cherry Garcia done tomorrow and then back to the Guernsey Wrap. I see lots of knitting in the near future. :)

great little gifts to knit

Jean Moss contacted me recently about her new book - and what a book it is.

Would I be willing to preview the book as part of her blog tour? Of course, I'd love to. 

See all the projects in the book... There are four sections - Baby, Hers, His and Home.

What really grabbed my attention was the Wensleydale Tea Cozy. Way too cool. What a great gift!

Of course I had to start one. I'm using Rowan's Kid Classic.

The pattern is well written and easy to follow. The pattern says that you can make it in a weekend and you definitely can.

Here is what Jean has to say about the book

Every project is totally different, making the book from the outset an unknown voyage of discovery for me—in fact, a teeny bit scary. If I’d known then what a delight it was to become, I wouldn’t have been worried at all. My only regret is that time constraints prevented me from exploring each path to its natural creative end. However, whenever possible, I’ve included extra colorways and different yarn options to further illustrate the potential of each project.

The idea of creating a book of gifts is something that appeals to
my overactive sense of celebration. Births, engagements, weddings, namings, housewarmings, anniversaries—even funerals—can celebrate a life and help us remember all the things we loved about a person. Gatherings and parties remind us of the good things in life and give a sense of perspective to the difficult times. Giving makes you feel good, and this feeling of well-being allows you to relax and regenerate, opening up new possibilities for the future.

The book is arranged into four chapters, each relating to the recipients of the gifts. Some are personal favorites I’ve previously knitted for family and friends, but the majority are brand-new designs, chosen because they’re ones I would love to give or receive. In Baby, you’ll find booties, hats, mittens, cocoons, a blanket, and a toddler jacket. I’ve gone to town in Hers, with amulet purses, fingerless gloves, a shrug, leg warmers, a turban, a hat, a beret, zebra mittens, a stole, a shawlette, and a backpack. His offers socks, a hat, a head wrap, a guitar strap, a belt, a scarf, and a smartphone cover. The collection’s rounded off with Home, comprising cushion covers, seat covers, place mats, napkin rings, a doggie jacket, tea cozies, and a celebratory toran or door hanging.

No matter how long you’ve been knitting—whether a month or a life- time—there are projects for all skill levels. Many projects are mini work- shops in certain knit techniques—great for expanding your portfolio while working on something useful.

I hope Great Little Gifts to Knit will bring you many hours of enjoyable knitting and that your gifts will be loved by all who receive them. My wish is that your creativity and generosity will be rewarded, not in the financial sense, but by the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from making beautiful handmade gifts, heirloom pieces for friends and family to enjoy and cherish.

—Jean Moss

And it gets better. Jean is giving away a copy of her book. You can have a hard copy or digital download. Please leave a comment on this post (scroll to the bottom of the post and it says Post a Comment - I have to manually post them so it might not show up right away) and I will pick the winner by random draw. Leave your first name and city (in case we have duplicate names) and I will draw the winner on Monday, September 30 at 8pm EST.

Purchase the book...

See the complete blog tour.

Mon 2 Sep       Wendy Knits Wendy Johnson

Wed 4 Sep       WEBS    Kathy Elkins

Fri 6 Sep          Getting Stitched on the Farm Kristin Nicholas

Mon 9 Sep       Stolen Stitches Carol Feller

Tues 10 Sep     Knittedbliss Julie Crawford

Wed 11 Sep     Black Bunny Fibers Carol Sulcoski

Thur 12 Sep     Rhythm of the Needles Joanne Conklin

Fri 13 Sep        Tiny Owl Knits Stephanie Dosen

Mon 16 Sep     Just Call Me Ruby Susan Crawford

Tues 17 Sep     Zeneedle Margene Smith

Wed 18 Sep     RedshirtKnitting Erika Barcott

Thur 19 Sep     A Friend to Knit With Leslie Friend

Fri 20 Sep        Craft Sanity Jennifer Ackerman Haywood

Mon 23 Sep     Connieleneknits Connie Lene

Tues 24 Sep     Knitsofacto Annie Cholewa

Wed 25 Sep     Ulla Bella Anita Tormoen

Thur 26 Sep     A Really Good Yarn Julie Schilthuis

Fri 27 Sep        Urban Yarns  Alexa Ludeman

Sat 28 Sep       Linda Marveng  Linda Marveng

Mon 30 Sep     Yarnings Jen

Tues 1 Oct       Tentenknits  Margaux Hufnagel

Thanks Jean for bringing us another fabulous book!!

Pearly Temple

The newest Soakbox arrived today.

Boot toppers - knit in hand dyed yarn from Lorna's Laces in a pattern designed by Fiona Ellis.

Knit them up and put them back in the box. What a great gift.

I'm sitting at the breakfast bar with my MacBook (using it to write my blog post and paying bills online), my laptop do write some cheques and my iPad waiting to get more lives in Candy Crush.

Beth is on the couch rehearsing her speech for tomorrow night. It's the big dinner that is held every September to raise money for Honduras. My dad will be going again in November on a mission trip. All money raised at the dinner goes to Honduras-none is used for travel. They build wells or schools or community centres. Anything that will help the people who live there. This will be his last trip - or so he says. We have heard this for the past 4 trips.

Here is a picture that my mom received last week.

This is a well that my parents sponsored. It is 24 meters deep – hand dug to 18 meters, and drilled the final 6 meters. Imagine having to carry buckets of water back to your house.

It's time to sign off, watch Criminal Minds and get a few rows knit. Survivor was on while I was working. I didn't really follow but did see Colton pulling his garbage again. I hope he gets voted out soon. 

Candies

The neighbours are taking down an old dead tree today so our parking lot has been blocked off. Didn't want it falling on someone's car.

It was a bit of a mess back there. They didn't get as far as they thought today-tomorrow it should be finished. Our parking lot should be cleaned up too.

I walked to Tim's to get lunch and look what I came home with.

I didn't really want them but they followed me home. :)

I can't say that I'm happy with my sister Beth, Beth Casey from Lorna's Laces and Josh Bennett. While we were at Camp they introduced me to Candy Crush. I've been holding off but they talked me into it.

I'm out of lives on my iPad and my iPhone. Yes, there are tears. I'm going to knit until I have more lives.

Beth and I missed the first episode of Survivor so we hope to watch it later tonight and be ready for tomorrow's show. There is the finale of Big Brother to watch as well. Speaking of TV I hope you watched The Blacklist last night. Very good!

Back to work

Working today had some benefits over Camp. Breakfast was at 8am so we were up at 7. Three women sharing a bathroom meant starting early. I slept in this morning until 8:15. Unfortunately breakfast wasn't waiting for me.

Gail came in as we were leaving for Camp with her Arizona Dream Colinette Throw. It turned out awesome.

I love the broomstick lace.

Kim brought in her current project today. She was busy while I was away. This is the cover jacket from the new Noro book.

This colour of Obi is back in stock again. I'm really liking it!

We are getting ready for the start of The Black List so I need to sign off and get some work done like emptying my suitcase and doing laundry. I want to give my full attention to the show. I have a feeling that James Spader is going to be great in it.

There is still room in Kate Atherley's classes on Saturday. Don't miss out on a great opportunity to learn  something new from a great instructor.

Home again

We're home from another great Knitting Camp.

We might have had too much fun. I'm really tired :)

The sun came out today but it wasn't a warm sun. Definitely sweater weather.

Thank you to all the students for making it a great weekend.

Fiona Ellis, Beth Casey and Josh Bennett were awesome. I think that the students came away with their heads filled with lots of new knitting knowledge. And lots of inspiration to get their current projects finished so that they can start something new.

Here are some pictures from Beth's dying class this morning. The ladies made really pretty string.

Just as we were leaving the plane was heading out. We joked that this was Josh leaving Camp.

Keep watching on the Camp blog. There were ladies taking pictures throughout the weekend and I hope they will send them to me so that I can share with you.

Rainy Day

It's pouring rain at Camp which makes it perfect for knitting.

Here are some pictures from Fiona's class.

Josh's class has a Do Not Disturb sign out so no pictures right now. Beth's class is dying yarn but they are in a different building. I'm getting up the courage to run through the rain. :)

Everyone is having a great time. While they're learning I'm starting to plan 2014.

Fiona and Josh

This morning's class is doing cables. Fiona's favourite topic.

Josh hasn't made anyone cry yet.

They are learning the Josh Bennett cast on. It is extremely in depth.

Friday at Camp

Thursday evening at Camp is our fun night. The instructors are very competitive.

The ladies are in class this morning.

Camp

More pictures from Camp

Blogger is acting up so I can't add a lot of pictures at once. Here are a few more.