Kind of finished

Okay, just the knitting but I'm very happy to be that far. Still ahead of schedule.

One shoulder seam is sewn and I'm ready to pick up for the neck. I could do it tonight but have decided to work on Windward and sit down to finish Eos tomorrow evening. 

Speaking of Windward. I am just finishing the first ball. 202 rows are done and there are 390 rows in the scarf. Thankfully the number of stitches per row will start decreasing as the scarf tapers down to a point.

This picture is very true to the colour of the yarn.

The colour is so far off in this picture that it looks like a different project but I added it so you could see how the scarf is shaping up.

Someone conveniently went for a nap close to dinner time so it looks like it's up to me to make food or we won't be eating tonight.

Then The Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice. More knitting time. Will Windward be done for Saturday as well???

Tomorrow morning I'm heading to Toronto to visit some of my suppliers. They are holding Open Houses to see the new yarns for fall. I will post pictures tomorrow evening for you. Can't wait to see what is new! Debbie Bliss, Noro, Sirdar......

We've created a monster

Shadow is done. Blocked. Ends sewn in.

Pattern: Varjo (Shadow) purchased on Ravelry
Yarn: tosh merino light - 1 skein onyx, 1 skein red robin breast

Windward is growing. While I was working last night I took a picture of my pattern. It was hard to understand the construction but the diagram helps. You are working many sections at once. Some are garter stitch, some stocking stitch and some reverse stocking stitch. Right now I have 5 sections going at once. D, E, F, G and H.

There is a really cool thing on the pattern that I didn't even notice until I was done the first section.

The rows are written out and I was following those directions. Then it said to repeat the last 4 rows 3 times. To make it easier I was writing on a stickie note. When done I noticed this cute chart that the designer made up. All your decreases and stitch counts are written out for you. The moral of the story is to pay attention!

Beth learned how to Magic Loop this week and started on her first monster. She had to learn how to cast on, knit on double pointed needles, decrease and cast off.

She's quite proud of herself. We've created a monster. She doesn't want to do anything but knit now.

Snow on April 20. Come on! Let the sun come out!

20 stitches short

Windward is growing. In size and addiction. I can't stop. I had to leave it at home or I would have knit all day. Find your own pattern, yarn, needles..... I'm busy :)

I've been glued to CNN this morning. Last night Beth and I flipped to CNN just before bed and saw that the police officer was killed at MIT. We were very sad for his family but just thought it was random. Then this morning I was up early (7am which is way too early) and ran to get a tea and bagel. I put CNN on the radio and things weren't good in Boston and the surrounding areas. It's almost noon and the news isn't getting any better.

The only good part of being glued to the TV is that lots of knitting was accomplished this morning.

Last night I worked on Shadow.

Small problem. I was casting off while watching Elementary. Beth was upstairs and with about 80 stitches to cast off I yelled up at her. "I'm going to run out of yarn with 20 stitches to be cast off". She gasped and asked what I was going to do. I continued and with 19 stitches left I ran out of yarn. My goal was to block it last night so I put it on a thread. I figured I would block it and then finish the cast off with leftover black from my All the Shades of Truth. Then I remembered a tail I had left when I joined in the black. Just enough.

The stitches went back on the needle and I got it cast off. Then into it's bath.

Yuzu from Soak. My kitchen spells so good. :)

And my bathroom because it spent the evening in their laid out on a piece of styrofoam. Now it is rolled up in a towel because today the crew comes in to clean the house. I will pin it out tonight and it should be dry in time to wear on Monday.

And a few pretty pictures from my front garden. I'm looking outside now and the wind is blowing and the rain is coming down sideways. Can the sun please come out??

I saw this post on Ravelry and talked with the KW Knitters' Guild. They still have room and were happy to have me post here.

Driving to Toronto sound like a hassle? Then there is the parking? The Kitchener Waterloo Knitters’ Guild have the solution – we are arranging a bus on Saturday April 27. For just $10, check out the Frolic, save yourself the hassle and maybe make a few new friends enroute.

Pick-up 1: 8:30am north-west corner of the parking lot, Waterloo Town Square 
Pick-up 2: 9:30am carpool parking lot, Morriston, Hwy 6 and 401 (south side of 401)

Return trip leaving the Frolic at 2:30pm for return to Morriston at 3:30pm, Waterloo Town Square at 4:30pm

If you would like to go please email workshop@kwknittersguild.ca 
with your name, email, telephone number and choice of pick-up spot. Our lovely volunteers will collect your $10 and check you off the list when you board the bus. Bring your knitting friends along. Not a guild member? Not a problem!

Admission to the Frolic is your responsibility – the organizers request exact change if at all possible.

Sunglasses

I think we finally have the Frolic booth organized. Kind of. I finished my list of garments today and we have 21. 23. 25. I don't have enough mannequins! We didn't have enough grid either so I made a trip to Brantford today to pick some up. It was awesome being out on a sunny day. The grid are in storage along with the first 6 boxes that are packed.

I'm putting this in my post because I know that Jennifer reads the blog and I don't have her email. I just found your sunglasses in a basket of yarn.

Mr. Canada Post brought in a box from Prism this morning.

Saki in Titanium-a very light denim/grey colour. It is awesome and the colour is screaming SHAWL. From Laura Bryant (one of the top yarn dyers in North America)

• Content: 75% Merino Wool, 25% Nylon
• Put-up: 3.5oz / 440yds
• Gauge: 6 1/2sts = 1" (#3)

We searched high and low for this excellent sock yarn. Fine super wash merino is intimately blended with nylon for strength, resilience, color retention and wearability--not to mention washability! One skein makes a generous pair of socks. Saki is also excellent for any light-weight projects, especially skirts! Need we say more?

There was also lots of Stuff and Plume.

I didn't get any pictures of my knitting at the store so I took a friend home. After another issue on Windward last night (I switched to knit part way through a purl row so I had to take out some stitches) I'm back on track. There are stitches over her shoulder and a stitch marker at her shoulder. On the right side rows I am decreasing before and after the marker that will fill in the stitches. The construction of the scarf is very interesting and fun to do. Not too hard but you do have to pay attention.

It doesn't look like anymore has been done on Shadow but on the picture the other day the black was at 2". Now it's at 6".

The dogs love rolling around in the grass. This led to them running laps and then a bit of fighting-which is more like playing to them but if you saw them you would think they didn't like each other.

The Jays are on TV until Survivor starts. Who is going home tonight??

Unbelievable

I was up early today. Very anxious to get started on my taxes. :) I had to make a quick trip to the store, post office and gas station and now I'm home.

Here are a few pictures I took while I had a friend who would model.

And then a little something I started yesterday.

Windward (a pattern I purchased on Ravelry) knit in Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20.

We have stock in the store and are expecting a large shipment just before the Frolic. Yes, whatever we have left will be going with us to the show.

I'm not sure the scarf will be done for the Frolic but there will definitely be enough for everyone to see and feel how the yarn knits.

The colours are beautiful and the yarn is really, really nice to knit with.

We are out of this colour but will be getting something close in the shipment.

I said that I was going to work on Eos last night. Then I checked the weather report. It's going to be cold again next weekend so I don't think I will be wearing Eos. That gives me a bit more time so I went onto something else.

I also wanted to pay attention to The Amazing Race which meant back to Shadow. Did you see the St. Bernards? It brought back memories of Barkley. Some of you might remember her. She would be in the yard greeting you when you came to the store. I miss my friend. The brothers are going to be hard to beat. I think the only way they lose is if they make a dumb mistake. Physically they are above the other teams.

Last week we rearranged some yarns but I didn't get pictures.

Freia yarns now live in the worsted weight room. Putting them in the boxes really shows off the colours.

The undyed yarn is knit up on a knitting machine, dyed, then the knitting is ripped out and the yarn is balled.

From Tina who does all the work

• Each multicolor ball starts & ends with the same color, making adding a new ball a breeze with less waste!
• No sudden color breaks, no “wildlife” Our yarn is a soft, feltable, single-ply, 100% wool and is made in the USA
• These yarns knit up at the popular 4-5 sts/inch gauges, they are interchangeable with other self-striping yarns and can easily be used in any Knitwhits (or other) patterns suggesting self-striping yarns.
• Our yarn is carefully handpainted in small batches. 

Worsted Cotton and Skinny Cotton from Blue Sky Alpacas now live at the front door.

So it's many hours later. I've been back to the store to meet Beth. She picked up boxes that I packed for the Frolic and took them to the storage unit. I need them out of the way or customers won't be able to shop. :) Then onto Staples for some supplies and home to get back to my accounting. At 4pm I put the TV on to watch Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown. I'm a bit of a sports junkie and love hearing Bob's view on things. Bob wasn't on. Instead there are news updates about the Boston Marathon. Unbelievable!! My thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this.

Knitting deadline is approaching

I wanted to post earlier but have been glued to the TV watching the Masters. What an exciting finish. Cabrera was my guy (since yesterday afternoon) but I wasn't upset that Scott won. 

There was a lot of knitting last night and today. There are deadlines looming and I will get my projects done!

Shadow is growing. Since the picture was taken I have finished the last red wedge and am onto the solid black section. Now I knit every row (no more short rows) until I run out of yarn.

I also picked up Eos. The sleeve is cast on, the ribbing done and now into the pattern. I have 54 rows and then the sleeve is done. It's a busy TV evening (The Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice) so I hope to get lots done.

Tomorrow isn't going to be a fun day. Taxes. YUCK! But it has to be done so I need to suck it up and do it. Yes, I studied accounting and tax was my favourite thing but doing it for someone else is different than doing your own. And it's supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. Maybe I can drag the laptop outside. Think about me while you are out enjoying the sun.

Better late than never

I'm home from work and getting ready to post. I have to cross out the next bit because the new website isn't up now. For some reason the old site is showing up. I have sent messages to Korey but haven't heard back. Hopefully it will be back up tomorrow.

It's up. The new website has finally gone live. We still have products to add and there could be a glitch or two to fix. I'm sure there are going to be things that I see over the next few weeks that I don't like (mostly cosmetic) but I'm pretty happy with it right now. Korey did a really good job.

One small (or big depending on how you look at it) glitch was that my email didn't work for most of the day. I didn't realize how much I relied on email. Kind of scary.

I also learned how to quickly clean out my inbox. I'm not going to be happy about this in a week or so. My emails wouldn't come through to my computer inbox. I could get them on my iPhone and iPad. I deleted one email account from my computer (the main account) and then reinstalled. All my old emails are gone. Even my draft emails are gone. I hope there wasn't anything important.

I thought that most of today would be spent knitting (we were supposed to have bad weather which means no customers) but I haven't picked up my needles yet. The bad weather didn't really hit here and we had lots of customers in. Thanks for making the journey out. I would have been really bored with no one to talk to.

Here is Shadow so far. It looks much better on one of my friends. I'm getting very excited about this-can't wait to see it finished.

Seeing the picture makes me want to take it home tonight but I'm going gang busters on Eos. The front is almost half way done. It should be done by the end of the weekend (or maybe tonight if I go crazy) and then just one sleeve.

Crystal Palace Yarns just called. They have new colours of Mini Mochi.

We should have them in about a week and a half.

Crystal Palace has lots of free patterns on their website. Here are a few to check out in Mini Mochi
Easy Lace Scarf
Eyelet Ease Scarf
Fair Isle Hat and Mittens
Topsy Turvy Cowl
Springy Ring Mittens

Then I went to Ravelry. Here are a few more suggestions
Wingspan
Inspira Cowl

And guess what. These patterns are all free!!!

Beth's Inspira Cowl is done and it needs to be blocked I need to block it. Who am I kidding? She's going to tell me that she hasn't blocked before and I will do a much better job. I will do it because she is going to get dragged to Toronto to set up and take down our booth at the Frolic. Much worse than a little blocking. She also has one of her two Linen Stitch Scarves to 7" and she's bored with it so she has declared it done. So, she called me today and asked what she is going to make next. Can she do a cable? My answer was yes-she'll never know if she doesn't try. I believe the yarn of choice is Misti Alpaca Chunky Handpaint and the pattern will be Cherry Garcia. It's almost home time. I think the computer will stay in my bag and I'm going to knit.

Craftsy

This morning Beth and I headed out for a visit with Trish. The grey is gone for both of us. What a happy day.

I didn't know what I was going to write about today. My knitting is progressing (I did some at the hair salon) but not really enough to excite anyone.  I thought about skipping today's post but then an email came in that inspired me to sit down and write. Thank you Sue for getting me on track.

Last night I was writing a newsletter and started to research a knitting technique. I ended up at Craftsy.com.

Craftsy is a community of people who love to make things. We're learning from, inspiring and helping each other. We are dedicated to providing the best education and resources for crafters. Check out our courses in quilting, knitting and more!

We Learn.

We take online courses together from amazing instructors. We strive to be better at what we do, and to learn new techniques we haven't tried.

We Inspire.

We share our projects and take pride in what we make.

We Help.

We share suggestions, tips & tricks – helping other Craftsy members complete projects.

We Create.

We Knit. We Quilt. We Crochet. We Make Jewelry. We Sew. We Decorate. We're Creative. We're Unique.

Take a look. There are some awesome workshops for you to take. You can work at your own pace. And at whatever hour fits into your schedule. Rewind if you miss something. Send questions to the instructor. What more can you ask for?

I've signed up and downloaded the app to my iPhone and iPad.

I decided to show Shadow after all. I'm past the halfway point.

I will pick up Eos again tomorrow. There is an important basketball game tonight and I need to pay attention to that.

Shadow is growing

Last night we had dinner at my parents. Their friend Bea came over and made ham, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, peas, red cabbage, a sauce for the ham and an apple pie. We let her eat with us too. :) We have decided to hire her on full time to be the cook chef. It was awesome.

I did knit there and a bit more today.

Shadow is almost to the half way point. The first black section was 10 stitches between the wrap and turns and this one is 2. It's taking much longer to do each section.

I said that I was going to work on Eos today but that has been pushed back to tomorrow. It was a day for not thinking or reading a chart.

No Amazing Race or Celebrity Apprentice tonight. We have the baseball on right now. It might be bed time soon. Despite the nap I had this afternoon I'm still tired. And tomorrow is a big day. I'm seeing Trish to have my hair coloured and cut. Always makes for a happy day.

My dad and his helper

Yesterday afternoon my dad picked up the new sign for the store. The old one blew done in a wind storm and shattered so we have been signless for a month.

I thought he needed help putting it up but he figured it out...

...back the rack truck in. He was about to hit the house but Beth got him stopped just in time. He sort of hit the railing but we aren't talking about that.

Put some 2x4s across the truck to stand on and then you don't need a ladder.

With our pretty spring flags flying. Hopefully spring will arrive in Ancaster soon.

His little helper. Tui loves Saturdays when she gets to go in the truck with dad. 

While he was here he got rid of the pile of boxes in the yard. He likes this job. Stomping on boxes to flatten them gets out all his aggression. :)

I was up early this morning and decided to knit a few rows before heading to work. The pattern is easy to do and doesn't require too much thinking or counting.

We are having dinner at my parents tonight. I hope they don't mind if I knit while I'm there. I'm on a roll.

Tomorrow I'm going back to Eos. It's only 3 weeks until the Frolic and I better get moving if I'm going to wear it. Who knows. Maybe I can get Eos and Shadow done in time. DREAMER!!

Surprise

Berroco sent out a newsletter this morning with a great garment in Blackstone Tweed. Some of us take a long time to make anything so it's a good time to start a project and have it ready for when the cold weather hits in September/October.

Tamarind

This cozy accessory is worked in an easy rib stitch and combines elements from a scarf, a shawl, and a hood.

Tweed for the discerning knitter! This super soft yarn has all the rustic appeal of a classic tweed yarn but with a high dose of mohair and angora. With wear these garments will develop a soft and fuzzy halo. A joy to wear and a pleasure to knit.

Download the pattern...

Mr. UPS just came in with a box that surprised me. I had no clue who it was from and when I opened the box I thought it was meant for someone else. This was staring at me.

I was excited about popcorn but sad that I would have to return it to it's owner. Then I read the card. My friends at Lorna's Laces sent this to me.

I get to keep it. YAY!! The popcorn is really good. 

I totally forgot to write about a box that came in from Namaste this week. It arrived Wednesday morning as we were unpacking the madelinetosh and was pushed out of the way.

Devin Writstlets and Jemma Pouches.

I have all my 'stuff' (credit cards, money, keys, cell phone, medication) in a Devin Wristlet and there is still room for more. It fits inside my big purses or I can carry it when I run out and don't need a bag with me.

It's much later in the evening and I'm going to get this in just under the wire. Kind of like getting a paper handed in right at the deadline in university. I didn't leave the store until after 8 and then stopped to pick up dinner on my way home. After dinner we watched Fashion Star. That is important-kind of like research. I can justify anything. :) I finally hit the 8" mark and added in the black.

It's a bit stark right now but I'm hoping as I get more done it will calm a bit. Beth and I discussed possible colours and there aren't a lot of options with red. Grey might work. Maybe a medium brown. I'm going to still with the black for a few more sections and then reevaluate.