Ashling and Annisa

Wannietta finished this amazing shawl and brought it to us at the Knitters' Fair.

Pattern: Ashling Shawl (free on Ravelry)
Yarn: 2 skeins of Mrs. Crosby Reticule in Magnolia

Ashling is a lovely and lightweight shawl to keep you both pretty and warm. It has a little lace, a lot of garter stitch and two sizes - just pick up the one you have enough yarn for!

I did a size larger than the ones indicated.
I repeated rows 1-4 (63) times more, 394 sts.
In the lace patterning, I repeated
Rows 5-8 (20) times more, resulting in 9 lace pattern repeats overall.
Then I finished with a picot bind off.

I finally blocked my shawl and I love it.

Pattern: Annisa Wrap (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: Mrs Crosby Train Case - 3 skeins

Fun to knit and wonderful to wear, Annisa is an asymetrical wrap that will let your creative side out to play. Team a solid with a gradient, speckles or bright yarn for playful stripes, add a bold or subtle pop for the eyelets and let Annisa be a perfect reflection of your colour passions.

Now back to the packing. We've unpacked from the Knitters' Fair and now things are going into boxes for Camp. I don't want to jinx it but I think we're ready. A few more things to pack and a bit of printing and I'm done.

All Nighter

The ends are sewn in. Now I need to block it.
Pattern: Annisa Wrap (purchased on Ravelry)
Yarn: 3 skeins of Mrs. Crosby Train Case
I knit the shawl on a 4mm needle.

Last night Beth and I watched an episode of The Good Wife and then I was going to bed. But my knitting was growing and I was in a groove. Two more episodes and then I called it quits. I wanted to keep going but knew that I had to work today. When I was younger there were many Friday nights that I knit from when I closed the store until I opened on Saturday morning. When you're feeling it you don't want to stop.

Dad brought me lunch today and someone came along for the ride. She loves going for rides.

She's back at home with Beth and the boys. They are Lucy sitting while mom and dad go to a wedding. She looks huge in this picture. 

It's quiet at home so I'm going to sit with a tea and do a few more rows on my wrap.

Done

Well, almost done. The knitting is complete. Now I need to block my shawl.

There is a small problem with that though. I had a big piece of styrofoam that I lay my work out on for blocking. Last Sunday Beth took that piece of styrofoam and cut it up to make steps for my parent's back yard. Lucy couldn't get from the grass up on the deck. By Tuesday she was hopping up no problem. Hopefully dad can find me a new piece this week. I want to get the shawl blocked so that I can wear it.

Now I'm back to my Meadowside Shawl.

Back at it until Tuesday when I get to work. There could be another Ambah O'Brien project in the near future.

Almost Finished

You'd think that if you watched a baseball game for 6 hours you would progress further on your knitting. This is all I accomplished yesterday. There were many phone calls between my dad and myself. Have the Jays heard of something called a bunt? Seriously. It was 6 hours of frustration!

Roko and Melo aren't really enamoured with Lucy right now. Beth dropped them for a visit while she went grocery shopping. Things are getting a bit better with every visit. Roko and Melo need to watch out - Lucy is going to be bigger than them.

Dad weighed her last night and she is up to 20lbs. She looks like a little angel lying here. Don't let the picture fool you :)

Happy Canada Day

I hope you and your family are enjoying Canada Day.

It's raining here in Ancaster which makes me very happy. Our new sod is loving it. Beth isn't - she is supposed to be golfing in a few hours.

Go subtle or go bold with this fun shawl. Opt for gentle stripes for a neutral shawl, perfect for any occasion, then knit another in your favourite brights, neons, gradient or speckled hues teamed with a strong solid for a show-stopping accessory.
Kallara features a slightly asymmetrical, shallow triangular shape with long tapered ends. Sitting comfortably on the shoulders without too much bulk, it’s adaptable enough to be worn as a wrap, shawl, or scarf.

Ambah has a new pattern - Kallara (purchased on Ravelry)

It's a restful day for me. My Annisa Wrap is growing and I want it to grow further. If I can knit fast enough it should be finished by the end of the weekend.

Improvising

Classic Elite's weekly Web-Letter just arrived. They are combining Santorini and Bella Lino (two yarns that I really like working with) for a Summer Sleeveless Turtleneck (download the free pattern)

Two strands held together make the knitting of this top, worked from the top down in one piece, extra quick. Short rows are worked to shape the neck. Santorini and Bella Lino, both multicolored, blend and mingle adding texture and depth of color.

The top is knit on 5.5mm needles which makes it a quick knit.

I'm working away on my shawl and hit a small issue. I thought that I did something wrong on Saturday and it turns out that I did. For the lace row I'm supposed to start with K2 but then the lace doesn't work at the vein. I am now doing K3. I have the correct number of stitches. The vein is looking good. Sometimes you need to improvise because ripping back doesn't sound like a good idea.

Annisa is growing

For some reason the lace section seems to be going faster than the striped section which is impossible because 7 of the 8 rows are exactly the same.

I'd like to introduce you to Lucy. No, it didn't take long for her to be up on the couch.

She likes the toy that we bought her. Right now it is bigger than her but it won't be for long. Right now she weighs 13 lbs but the breeder says that she could end up at 180 lbs.

An email came this week from Skacel - the distributor of Addi Turbo needles in North America.

Supporting your local yarn shop with both your presence and purchasing, is vital in securing its status as a shared source of inspiration and community. As a thank you to all LYS supporters, skacel would like to give back a little something special. When you purchase three addi® Rocket circular needles at your LYS, skacel will send you one free addi® Rocket circular in your choice of size/length. There is no limit to the number of free needles you can earn, so start building your collection today! This promotion is limited to in-store purchases only, through your authorized skacel addi® dealer.

For every three addi® Rocket fixed circular needles you purchase inside a North American LYS, you will receive one FREE addi® Rocket fixed circular needle of your choice by mail.
The three addi® Rocket circulars may be obtained at different times and through different brick and mortar shops (online purchases excluded), but must be purchased between June 15th, 2016 and November 15th, 2016 to qualify. All requests are to be postmarked by November 30th, 2016.
The original, shop-generated sales receipt/s clearly itemizing your addi® Rocket purchases and prices paid, must be submitted for each of the three needles – a single receipt containing multiple needles is acceptable.

What a great deal. I'm knitting with the Rockets right now and really like them. They are quite a bit sharper than the original Addis.

Meet the addi® Rockets, a line of circular needles that combines the best of addi®. Styled after our popular addi Turbo® Lace, these extra-pointy tips feature the same great nickel-plating that gives the classic addi Turbo® its incomparable zip.

Here is the link to the form that needs to be mailed with your receipts...

Now it's time to relax. Pizza is being delivered and I'm putting my feet up. Of course there will be some knitting tonight :)

Starting the Lace

It might be hot outside but when you are sitting in an office or in a restaurant it can be cold with the air conditioning. Classic Elite has a solution for that. A simple to knit and simple to wear poncho.

Simple stockinette stitch is elegant and drapey in Bella Lino's sophisticated colorways. Easy to knit and to wear, this is the perfect project for mindless summer knitting.

Knit in pieces and sewn together, you’ll want wear this light as air poncho all summer long.

Pattern: Summer Poncho (free from Classic Elite)
Yarn: Bella Lino

We have new Color Sticks from Bonnie Bishoff.

Why does this stick pin look so short ? A tricky new design creates an extra snug to your simple stick pin. The top curls around to hook onto the layer of fabric that you have held together with the stick pin.

The Shawl Pins and Stick Pins are designed and handmade by Bonnie Bishoff and her husband J.M. Syron. They feature colorful inlays of polymer clay in white bronze and lead free pewter settings. Some of the polymer based pins encase metal armatures in their structures. The hooks are made in the USA, of nickel silver, exclusively for her designs.

The pin is perfect for my new shawl. I guess one is coming home with me :)

I've been working away on my Annisa Wrap. I thought that I had made it to the end of stripes and was ready for the lace section. Not.

I had the correct number of stitches on my needle but I needed to do 8 more rows. You are supposed to have a certain number of stitches before and after the vein that is running up the shawl. I had too few stitches before and too many after. By doing the 8 extra rows I am correct and have started working on the lace section.

Halfway There

I thought that I was finished my first stripe section but I'm only half way there. The pattern says 80 stripes not 80 rows.

Here are some more colours coming from Hedgehog.

Concrete

Crystal

Ghost

Naive

Pilgrim

Secret

Velvet

Did you know that the free patterns from the blog Spud Says (Spud & Chloe) are now available to download on Ravelry?

These Baby Mitts in Sweater are way too cute.

Wouldn't Ribbit make a great gift?

Ribbit is knit up in the fabulous Spud & Chloë Sweater in the Grass #7502 colorway and you only need one skein. The added twist is that inside of the body is a tennis ball! This means that Ribbit bounces when tossed! How fun is that? The bounce is softened because of the knitted enclosure but this makes it even better for indoor play.

I'm putting the needles away and heading to bed. I'm not sure why my Mondays off are so tiring. And I didn't do anything today.

Splattershot

It's hard to believe but there are still pictures from TNNA that I haven't shared yet.

There will be new yarn bowls and mugs coming later this fall. I've ordered them in green, denim blue, purple and grey.

 

This shawl is knit out of the new Woolstok. The yarn and pattern should be here in a few weeks.

An awesome child's sweater knit in Spud & Chloe Outer.

This picture came from Lorna's Laces yesterday. It beautifully shows the new colours for fall. We have ordered them in Shepherd Sock and Solemate.

We have created a new dye technique that we're calling Splattershot! We launched the line with ten colors named after places we yearn for. Sometimes that  yearning is for somewhere we've never been other times it is to return to a well loved spot.

I've finished a few more rows since the store closed.

It's 9pm on a Saturday night and I'm ready for bed. I can barely keep my eyes open. And the US Open starts at 7am so I'll be up early.

Annisa Take Three

In yesterday's post (which is now correct) I gave the wrong name to our new shawl. It is the Elder Tree (pattern purchased on Ravelry).

The Warrior Shawl is beautiful and would work well with the Revive as well.

I've been working away on my shawl and came to the decision that I don't like my colours. My stripes are two splatter colours but you can't differentiate them. I've taken it back to the solid purple and am using a solid with a splatter for the stripes.

I'm much happier with how the colours are working now.

One of the purple splatters is out and green is in. I like this much better. No more ripping out.