New Project

Happy Easter. I hope everyone is having a great day with family and/or friends. It is sunny out there but the temperature could go up a bit.

I caved and started something new last night. My first thought was this pattern.

Beth was going by the storage locker yesterday and I asked her to pick me up a couple of skeins of the merino/silk, dk weight yarn. We couldn't decide if the purple (wild huckleberry) and green (boston fern) had enough contrast so I asked her to bring vintage port as well.

The three colours worked very well together. You know what that means? A linen stitch scarf. One day I will make the Pine Bough Cowl.

It's time to make desert for tonight's dinner. While the cookies are in the oven I'm going to start sewing buttons on the the little girls cardigans. It's an unfortunate way to spend time on this great day. :)

The cookies are done but not the buttons. I worked on two other tasks. I sent yarn to Ann for a cowl but she had limited time to knit before heading on vacation. I finished up the cowl this afternoon and it is blocking. Then there is a shawl that Beth knit. She was whining while casting off so I said that I would do it. Normally my cast off is fine but this one was way too tight. Then I remembered Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off. Here is the video.



In case the video disappears (it's been happening lately) here is the link to it...

Have a great dinner. We'll be at Aunt Rene's feasting on turkey and watching the hockey. Does it get any better??

Just a few more rows

I'm into the third colour on the shawl. There should be some growth tonight. I don't think I have any work so I can knit all evening. I'm not going outside. That's for sure. It's cold out there. It's only the beginning of December and I'm already complaining. When is summer coming?

My plan was to take this outside but it was dark before I had a chance to think about pictures.

The Linen Stitch Scarf in Malabrigo Rastita. When you see this scarf in real life it looks woven. The Rastita has more yarn on a skein than some of the other yarns that we have used for the Linen Stitch Scarf. That makes this scarf wider - almost like a shawl.

We received another shipment of the colours that I used this week.

The colours are hand dyed and the ones in the new shipment are slightly different than what I used for my scarf. Now I want to do another one!

I'm going to experiment with this one. Instead of casting on lengthwise, I'm going to go widthwise. We'll see how it looks. If it doesn't have the woven look to it then I will start again casting on the 450 stitches.

I've been knitting for most of the evening. The third section is almost done - B & C. The next section is double strand of C.

 I really should think about bed but maybe a few more rows....

The air was blue

I sat down last night to work on Eos and got far enough to start the shoulder shaping on the back. The first side was done and then I had to cast off 25 stitches (for the centre back) before shaping the other shoulder. There were WAY too many stitches on the needle. Darn Rowan. The pattern was wrong. I counted and recounted and the numbers didn't add up. There were bad words coming out of my mouth. Then it hit me. SORRY ROWAN-I AM AN IDIOT!!!! I took out the armhole shaping because I wasn't sure the sleeves would be wide enough. Also the sleeves are a lace pattern and I wasn't sure if the top would be stretchy and hard to sew in. Their numbers were correct and I forgot about the 11 extra stitches I had on each side. Instead of ripping out while watching The Amazing Race I cast on for the front and got the ribbing done.

My Linen Stitch scarf is done. Blocked. Ends sewn in.

Pattern: Churchmouse Yarns Linen Stitch Scarf
Yarn: Rastita from Malabrigo
Needles: 7mm

There were a few more bad words this afternoon when I found out that the madelinetosh won't be arriving until tomorrow. My day was planned and I don't do well when things don't go as planned. I spent the time working out the booth for the Frolic. I think it is figured out. I needed some more mannequin clothes which I ran out and bought. Now I need some more grid. Then we are set. Kim will be in the store tomorrow and I will be in the storage until unpacking yarn. :)

Now it's time to take out the shoulder shaping. I will never make that mistake again!!

Happy Easter

I hope that you and your family are having a Happy Easter. Beth and I made our desserts for Easter dinner and will be heading out to Aunt Rene's in a bit.

Last night I cast off the Linen Stitch Scarf. I really like how the colours played out.

After a bath in Yuzu Soak it is lying out to dry in my bathroom. I don't think it will be dry enough tomorrow for pictures but you never know.

Mr. Melo hates thunder. HATES. Shakes and has to be sitting on top of someone. We have tried rubbing him with dryer sheets (a few customers suggested this) but it doesn't work. Our vet suggested a Thunder Shirt which we picked up in Myrtle Beach. We decided he should have it on a few times before a storm hits and we can't get it on him. He isn't upset while it's on but he isn't happy either.

There was an unfortunate TV problem last week while we were in Myrtle Beach. We taped the Amazing Race (in Ancaster and Myrtle Beach) but didn't tape the show after it. It didn't start at 8 but sometime after 8:30 so we didn't get the whole episode. This afternoon we tried to watch online but kept getting an error. Beth has it taping tonight - along with the show after just in case. We won't make that mistake again.

I was just getting ready to hit Publish and jumped to Ravelry for a minute. Big Mistake!! Laura Aylor is having a mystery KAL (knit-a-long) for a shawl. I have knit her All the Shades of Truth (twice) and we have Derecho hanging in the store. I really like her patterns. Easy to follow and look great when done.

Here is the link to Ravelry. If you are thinking about joining then do it quick. The pattern is just $3 until April 4.

There are 526 skeins of tosh merino light arriving tomorrow. I think that I will have fun going through boxes and coming up with colour combinations.

Don't forget that Spring/Summer hours start in the store tomorrow. We are closed on Mondays until September.

Casting Off

I'm in the home stretch on my Linen Stitch scarf-the cast off is almost finished. I wanted a picture before I left for the day so it's still on the needle.

I think I could have added two more rows (I hate having yarn left over) but I was afraid that I might have calculated wrong and would run out part way through one of the rows. That would have been worse than having left over yarn. :)

It's actually more of a shawl than a scarf which isn't a bad thing. I'm going to have fun picking shawl pins to go with it next week.

All ends are sewn in. DONE.

Pattern: The Lonely Tree Shawl (free on Ravelry)
I added in an extra chart (Chart D) which isn't on the pattern but you can download here.

Yarn: 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Haymarket in the colour Daley

Needles: 5.5mm

It was a beautiful day in Ancaster today. The sun was shining (as you can see from my pictures) and it felt like spring. Beth called to say she was going grocery shopping and what did I want for dinner. Steak and baked potatoes on the barbecue won. Dinner was great but now I need a nap. But I can't because I want to get the scarf cast off and pull Eos (my white cotton sweater) out of the bag. It's only 4 weeks today until the Frolic.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Beth and I thought we would golf after church. No such luck. Here is the view when we left Cracker Barrel.Thank goodness I had my new kick around shoes and I wasn't in my good leather shoes. There were puddles lakes everywhere.

We ran a few errands and are on the couch knitting and watching TV.

Here is my Linen Stitch scarf so far. I had an extra circular needle with me so I divided up the stitches to get a picture.

The actual colours of the scarf are closer to the picture below.

Last night Beth and I headed out to Murrell's Inlet for dinner at River City Cafe. It doesn't look like much-from the outside or inside but the burgers are awesome.

And Beth is pointing to something very important on the sign. Not to me but she had one.

We have been eating here for over 25 years.

We're heading out to run a few errands and drop stuff at my parent's for them to bring home on their next trip. Dinner and then The Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice which are taping.

Beth's Knitting

For the girl who doesn't knit, Beth has done a great job on her projects. I'm going to block them for her tomorrow and then sew in the ends. She will pay dearly for this service. :) She already bought me golf balls this morning and she has a list of towels that I want as well. She still has tonight, tomorrow and Monday morning to shop so who knows what else I will come up with.

Pattern: Churchmouse Linen Stitch Scarf
Yarn: Classic Elite Liberty Prints - 2 balls each of 3 colours
Colours: 7821 Caribbean Tidepool, 7868 Sonic Lavender and 7865 Violet Glen
Needles: 7mm 80cm

Pattern: Inspira Cowl from Ravelry

Version: Steampunk

Yarn: Classic Elite Liberty Prints

1 ball of colour Rainbow Riot

2 balls of colour 7899 Cloudy Dawn

Needles: 5mm 60cm

We cast on 150 stitches but for her next one we cast on 138.

6:45 is way to early to start the day. :) I was up at that awful hour to make sure the dogs were fed and had lots of play time before I came to work. I hope they are sleeping now. I'm going to run home soon and let them out and then they will have the afternoon to sleep again. They are going to be active when I get home tonight. I hope they let me knit. I have the back cast on for Eos and want to get into the chart tonight. Hopefully I get enough done for some good pictures for tomorrow's post.

Linen Stitch

I picked up my Linen Stitch Scarf last night. People were in yesterday buying yarn for the scarf and it made me want to work on mine.

 I'm totally addicted to this stitch. I can't get enough of it.

We received bad tosh news today. Canada Customs is holding my boxes (it's a really long story) so I need to get my broker involved. Maybe next week the yarn will be here.

Mr. Canpar just delivered a box with some Malabrigo sock and Knitter's Pride knitting needles.

 Piedras

Playa

100 grams per skein, 440 yards per skein. 100 % superwash merino wool.  Needles US 1 - 3 or 2.25mm - 3.25mm Gauge 32.0 sts = 4 inches Machine washable, gentle cycle, cold water, dry flat

On Monday afternoon I put the TV on after our road trip. It was time for General Hospital. I haven't watched in a really long time. Many of the old favourites were back. I had to watch all week to see everyone. It's like old home week.
-Anna
-Luke
-Laura
-Scottie
-Frisco
-Felicia (not a favourite of mine but she's back-Frisco could do so much better)
-Duke
-Lucy
-Heather

I came to work today with a suitcase full of my clothes for tonight. Dinner is at 6pm and I won't have time to get home and change. Don't people have to work? It just hit me that the suitcase was in the car. I better bring it in to warm the clothes up.

Grey's Anatomy tonight. Is the sale going to go through?

The Night Before

It's the night before the night before I go. There are many last minute chores being done. Laundry. Accounting. Packing boxes to ship. Getting more yarn transferred to the new website. You know, all the fun things. I'm making a list and checking it twice.

There was a surprise waiting for me when I got home tonight. My shawl is dry. I don't know how. I was sure that it would be damp when I packed it tomorrow night. I could have gone to bed at a decent hour on Saturday night. :)

I considered starting to sew in the ends tonight but then I remembered the HST payment that is due before I go. The last hour was spent entering numbers and happy dance, it is done!

Beth is upstairs knitting (GASP) while I am working. A voice just said "I'm a really good knitter." "It's very even" For those of you who know Beth, the knitting part is making you chuckle. She would rather hand yarn to Wannietta, Lynda or Ann and have them make a sweater for her.

She is working on a Linen Stitch Scarf in Classic Elite Liberty Wool. She came in the store and chose/stole her colours. I had nothing to do with it.

While I was working on my accounting I wrote a cheque to the Woodstock Fleece Festival for our booth. Mark Saturday October 19th on your calendar. It is a long way away but think how fast January has gone. It will be here before you know it.

Writing cheques. Sugar. I forgot to write one to Lynda. She needs more knitting. I'm warming up the computer (it is old and slow) to make a cheque so that I can get some yarn to her tomorrow. Now I need to figure out what to send. I'm thinking something from one of the new Rowan books.

Gotta run. There is laundry to be folded.

Scarves

My knitting didn't make it out of the bag last night. I got caught up in the website. The more I add the more I like it.

I was going through the pictures in iPhoto looking for Offhand Designs bags to add to the site and I came across a few scarves.

Pattern: Thendara from Westknits Book 3
Yarn: tosh pashmina-1 skein cove and 1 skein curiosity
Needles: 3.5mm 80cm circular

It is hanging in the store right now but not in a way that shows off the yarn or pattern. I'm going to rehang it on Monday. Stephen West's scarves and shawls have interesting shaping.

Then this picture

Frosty Cowl
Yarn: 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky
Needles: 15mm, 60cm circular

There are 4 rows to the pattern. Two are knit and two have twisted stitches.

Another quick cowl to knit in a few evenings. There are 4 rows to the pattern-two are knit rows and two have twisted stitches-kind of like baby cables.

The pattern is free when you buy the yarn.

A bit of knitting has been done in the store on a Linen Stitch Scarf. I would guess that I'm a third of the way through the scarf. The yarn is Rastita from Malabrigo. This scarf is going to end up wider than the ones done in madelinetosh because the Rastita has about 75m more on a skein.

Beth has run to get us dinner. Pizza of course. Neither of us wanted to cook. Then I am going to sit down and knit. While watching Barrett-Jackson and picking out cars that I would like. :)

Welcome Home Sarah

Cathy and Sarah dropped in this morning. It was great to see Sarah again. Life in England is agreeing with her! She brought me an amazing shawl pin that she bought at a knitting show in England. It is perfect for Kilcar!! I know what I will be wearing to church in the morning.

I've been packing projects to take home. I won't be back in the store until Thursday so I need to have all my bases covered. :) And there is supposed to be snow on Wednesday. Lots of it. What if they are wrong and it comes on Thursday and I can't get to work? I need to have something to do while I'm at home.

I didn't get as much knitting done over the weekend as I had hoped/planned. Here is the Linen Stitch Scarf so far.

When I got home from work I laid it on the deck to get a picture in natural light.

The dogs decided it was play time. That didn't last for very long because it is getting really cold out there. I know that some of you are suffering from really cold weather and I shouldn't complain.

I just talked to my dad-my parents are in Myrtle Beach. It is 16 C there today and he just finished golfing. I think he called to rub it in. :) He has a small problem though. He went into our house and didn't put the security code in correctly. The alarm went off and the security company called. Unfortunately none of us know the magic code the security company needs so he is now waiting for the police to arrive. I don't think he will ever make that mistake again. I better give them a call after Christmas and get that magic code.

Hope you are having a great afternoon with family and friends or maybe an afternoon with your knitting/crocheting.

Earth Stripe

Kim came to work this morning wearing a beautiful wrap that she knit. I tried to 'borrow' it from her but she wasn't going for it. :)

pattern: Earth Stripe Wrap by Kaffe Fassett
yarn: Kidsilk Haze knit double strand

From the book Rowan's Greatest Knits and Rowan magazine #42

I started the new Linen Stitch Scarf last night. This is 3 hours of knitting. Casting on and just over 1". Using these numbers it will take about 27-30 hours to make the scarf.

The picture below is closer to the colours of the scarf. I wasn't sure about them after the first few rows but as I get more done I'm starting to really like them. It isn't as constrasty (I know it isn't a word but I like it) as my madelinetosh and Noro Linen Stitch scarves. It's closer to the Shepherd Sock kits that I put together.

I knit the last row onto a much longer needle so that I could show the colours. I have to go back to my other needle because this one is one size smaller than I am supposed to be using-it was the only one I had that was long enough.

Are you ready for some football? Beth and I lost our fantasy football last week so we are playing for 3rd place this weekend. A Saturday night game is great-especially since we don't have any hockey to watch.

The fireplace is on and I'm going to sit by it and knit. Hope you are warm and cozy this evening.

Two more sleeps

Beth and I are almost set to leave for our little adventure. Almost because my car is in the shop today. It went in last Friday with tire problems and the light came on again at 6 last night. It should be ready this afternoon. We are leaving very early Sunday morning, going to the hotel and then heading to the football game. Green Bay is in Detroit. Monday is going to be zoo day - at least that is the plan right now but it could change depending on the weather. Tuesday shopping. Wednesday could be more shopping. Originally we were coming home on Wednesday afternoon but we made it Thursday night. That way we can see the Houston Texans play in Detroit on Thursday-American Thanksgiving. Beth and I didn't really want to stay (just joking) but my dad is making us. He could be more excited about us seeing two games than we are.

I did something last night that I have never done in my life. Ripped out knitting and scrapped a project. I like the yarn - Freia Fingering. I like the pattern (Drop City) but they aren't meant for each other. I'm going to put the yarn on hold until I get home and then will find a better project for it. The colour repeats are very long (which isn't a bad thing) and I think they are meant more for a shawl than a scarf. Drop City is going to be done in a hand dyed sock yarn or maybe a Noro sock yarn.

Mr. UPS brought in a box from Dream in Color-Everlasting Color is here. Good timing-one of these colours will work for Drop City. :)

With its distinctive multi-ply construction and smooth twist, this base provides the ideal canvas for our vibrant, subtly-layered colors. The fiber content, combined with our unique dyeing process — developed especially for the Everlasting bases — gives Everlasting Sock its deep and lushly-shaded tones. Knitted at a firmer gauge, this yarn forms a dense and hard-wearing fabric that’s perfect for socks and cold weather accessories, while knitting at a looser gauge yields a fabric with sensational softness and drape.

100% superwash merino wool
100 g & 420 yds.
7.5 – 9 sts per inch
U.S. 0 to 2 needles

$29 a skein

This isn't all the colours. That would make a very long post but I will say that they are amazing and choosing is going to be hard. We started with 2 skeins of each colour. I wanted to see the yarn before I ordered a really big shipment. It is very nice and I will be getting more.

I brought the Linen Stitch Scarf with me today. I'm almost done the first ball of each colour and will be joining in a second ball of each for a really wide scarf-more like a shawl.

Since it is only two more sleeps I better start thinking about what I am going to take to wear. More importantly, what am I going to take to knit??