Totally Done

I just finished Tiny Tea Leaves. All ends are sewn in. Buttons are sewn on. Done!

You can see all the project details on Ravelry.

My mom called a few minutes ago offering to come and sew buttons on the cardigans I showed yesterday. I'm too busy to think about them today but she might regret it next week when I drop them and the buttons off at her house.

I sat down this afternoon and worked on my vest. I kept finding new things to pack for the Frolic and I had to stop because I'm afraid everything I have won't fit into the booth.

The first side gusset is finished and I have about 10 rows to go on the second one. Then one round of crochet across the bottom to make a nice finished edge. Oh yeah, then there are ends to sew in. I'm thinking I might put a sign on it at the Frolic stating "Please don't look inside. I didn't have time to sew in the ends."

Blocking

When I got home from work last night I took out Tiny Tea Leaves to block. I found some of those magic yellow clothes in one of our kitchen drawers. You see them on infomercials all the time. I'm not writing the name because it will probably bring even more spam comments here. I decided to put the sweater on it when I took it out of its Soak bath. This is the imprint it left. I had to take a picture because it was cool. The whole imprint of the cardigan. I'm not sure that I'm going to suggest that you run out and buy them but they did soak up a lot of water from the cardigan.

I finished the last square on the Trendsetter vest this afternoon.

Now the front bands and the side gussets. I purchased Season 2 of Top Chef last night so that I can sit in front of the TV tonight and get the vest done.

Not enough sleep

Beth just called to make sure that I was awake. There wasn't a lot of sleep last night. I was up until I finished the front bands on Tiny Tea Leaves. Yes, front bands. I had to pull out the band that was already done-there were too many stitches and it was wavy. The pattern says two stitches for every three rows. I ended up one stitch every two rows in the yoke and then two stitches for every three rows in the body. This worked much better.

Just after 5 this morning Melo came into my room. I told him to go get his mother if he wanted out. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later Beth was waking me up because the batteries were dying in the smoke detector upstairs and it was beeping. Roko was freaking out. FREAKING OUT!! I had to take the dogs outside so that Beth could change the battery. Back in bed around 6 and then the alarm went off at 7. We were having our back yard groomed this morning. The dogs have trampled the artificial grass and it needed to have a bit of life put back into it. I can't wait to get home to see how it looks.

Beth just emailed me a picture. It looks great and very clean. Beth picked up a pail full of socks and toys last night. The dogs will have it littered again by the weekend.

Austin Hoodie kits in the
new colours of Solemate

I could be tired because I unpacked lots of boxes today. The final box from Lorna's Laces arrived. The new colours of Solemate are great. Four of six boxes from madelinetosh came as well. Mr. Canada Post wasn't happy with me this morning-he had a lot of boxes to carry in. There is one more that I didn't even get to from Crystal Palace that has Mini Mochi, Chunky Mochi and Sausalito.

It is a super busy TV night - Survivor, American Idol, new Revenge (finally), baseball and hockey. If I thought I was tired today it is going to be worse tomorrow.

Today's letter is T

This morning I was out the door early to see Trish. A trip to the hair salon is always a great way to start the day. I would go every day if I could. Tiny Tea Leaves came with me and I got a few more rows done on the sleeve.

I also did some running around for mom and dad to look at appliances. The kitchen will look empty without them. 

Friday night Beth and I went with our parents to Applegate and James Furniture in Caledonia. They picked out their couches as well as a chair for mom. At the back of the store there is a selection of bar and counter stools that you can customize. We picked them out a great counter stool that is so comfortable. So comfortable that I ordered three for our house as well. I don't know how it happened but we picked out a fabric (which is so perfect for our house) and the colour of the legs and then it was written down. Unfortunately it takes 6-8 weeks for them to come in. I want them now!! The stools in our house have had a lot of wear. Beth and I sit on them every day and they are starting to look a bit beat up.

The letter T 

It is tax day. I need to get my personal tax return done as well as my HST remittance. The next few weeks are going to be busy with the Frolic so it needs to be done today. I don't think Mr. Tax Man will take the Frolic as an excuse for me being late. :)

Dreaded A Word

We had a great dinner at Aunt Rene's last night. Lots of turkey and all the fixings!! Thankfully Aunt Rene lets us eat dinner in front of the TV-we didn't want to miss the finish of the Masters. Bubba was a popular win with the crowd.

The body is almost done on Tiny Tea Leaves. I had to put the knitting away during the Amazing Race-they are in Africa and I had to pay attention. All those animals. What a dream to see it in person. It was good to see Lou get fired on Celebrity Apprentice. He liked to complain and if I heard that he gave 110% one more time I think I was going to scream.

I brought out the laptop this morning that has my accounting on it. Normally I work on a Mac but the accounting program that I have used for many years only works with Windows. I know that I can put Windows on my Mac but that caused major problems once before and I lost all my accounting. I was going to spend the day working on accounting (the dreaded A word) so that I can finish my tax return. Beth ran out of paper at work on Saturday and forgot to take some with her this morning. I got up and rushed a pack out to her. Then the shopping started. Bouclair Home was the first stop. I bought some book ends for the upstairs bookshelves. There were stops at Limeridge, a few stops in Oakville and then Burlington before getting home. I was starting to look for things for my parents house. I'm doing the scouting and then taking them back if I see something I think they will like.

The knitting content today is lacking so I borrowed some pictures from my supplier (Deep South Fibers) for a few of the patterns that we received last week.

Concetta Cardigan

from The Brown Stitch-knitting patterns by Elizabeth Smith

Concetta has top-down raglan construction and is worked in one piece. Sleeves are split at the underarms and the body is worked in one piece to the hem. Sleeve sts are then transferred to smaller circular needles and worked in the round to the cuff (with slight bell-shaping). Stitches are picked up and worked in 2×2 Rib to create the neck ribbing and button bands.

The cardigan is knit in worsted/aran weight yarn-tosh vintage, Cascade 220, Berroco Blackstone Tweed, Naturally Aran Tweed...

Abbi Shawl Collar Cardigan
Another great design from The Brown Stitch

An easy and fast knit sized from XS-2X, this cardigan has raglan construction, worked from the top down, and completely seamless.Stitches are picked up to create the front bands and short rows are worked to create shawl collar. Pattern instructions are to make cap sleeves, but you can easily make the sleeves longer if you prefer. Worked up at 2.5 stitches per inch, you can start and finish this project in a week or less.

This is knit in a bulkier yarn-Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed Chunky, Filatura di Crosa Charly, Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky...

It's time to put my feet up and get to work on Tiny Tea Leaves. I need it done right away so I can back to the Trendsetter Vest. The Frolic will be here very soon and I have to have it done.

Happy Easter

I hope you are enjoying a day with family and/or friends. Beth and I are in the middle of making desert for dinner (we are heading to Aunt Rene's in a bit) when we ran out of milk. Beth has run to the store. One of the benefits of living above the yarn store was having a variety store right beside us. Cookies are out of the oven and now we are onto no bake cheesecake. Not quite Cheesecake Factory but still good.

I took this picture at work yesterday afternoon. Tiny Tea Leaves with the stitches for the sleeves on holders.

When I got home from work last night I played on the computer while watching the golf. Then a bit of knitting. I was too tired to quilt and later in the evening had to put the knitting away-I could barely see the stitches. Pictures tomorrow-maybe the body will be done.

Holiday

I'm ready for the day. Mail is done and ready to go. Once my post is finished the computer is going away and the knitting is coming out.

I have my iPad with me and the TSN Masters App is downloaded. There isn't TV coverage of the Masters until 3pm (you wouldn't want to show everything) so I am watching online until then. I could watch on my computer but this way I can watch and work at the same time.

Tiny Tea Leaves-the yoke is almost done. The pattern is super easy. We were talking about Tea Leaves in class last night. Sarah and Lynn both knit the adult version. Once the yoke is done the body can be considered boring knitting. You can also think of it as great car knitting. Lynn travels many weekends to the cottage and she got the cardigan knit while driving - okay she was sitting in the passenger seat :)

Sarah brought me her Gnarled Oak. I was afraid to take it just in case something happens but she is okay with it hanging in the store. We are taking it to the Frolic and Lynn will be in charge of it there. It will also be Lynn's job to get it back to Cathy who will be traveling to England in May to see Sarah.

There is a pile of patterns to be priced but I'm calling holiday and setting them aside until next week. I will post them as I price them.

Enjoy your Good Friday tomorrow. I will try to post but there is church, knitting and quilting on the agenda.

Scalene

I mentioned a box of patterns yesterday. We now have print copies of Scalene by Carina Spencer. There is a sample in the store knit using Freia's lace weight yarn.

Scalene is an asymmetrically shaped, triangular scarf that features both horizontal and vertical keyholes for several styles of wear. This gender neutral design looks great on women and men of any age.

This 5 page pattern is written in one size with directions given for three gauges to accommodate lace - worsted weight yarns. Directions are given for knitting this scarf with or without striping throughout. Knitting is simple enough for an adventurous beginner, but interesting enough for knitters at any skill level.

If you live out of town you can buy the pattern on Ravelry...

I knit the scarf in Liberty wool from Classic Elite but currently can't find it. Hoping my ghost will return it soon.

I also did some moving around yesterday. It's time for garments to be rearranged.

The mannequin clothes have been washed but I left the shirts in the dryer over night. Now they are so wrinkled that I need to spritz them and run through the dryer again. I could iron them but realistically that isn't going to happen.

The next few days I am going to have sports on in the store. The Blue Jays season opener is tomorrow afternoon and this weekend is the Masters. I gave myself permission to start Tiny Tea Leaves so that I have easy knitting while watching.

I'm using a new colour called Volga. Why blue for a girls cardigan? It isn't a colour I normally have samples knit in so it will look good hanging in the store. I could go purple but that is so predictable. There is pink but still predictable. I like this one and it is going to look great when finished. Also, little girls can wear blue-just ask my sister. She wouldn't wear any colour but blue when she was young.

The ladies are going to arrive soon for class. Sarah is home and should be here-it will depend on how tired she is. Survivor and Idol tonight. With all the TV watching in my near future I could have Tea Leaves finished by the time I come back to work on Tuesday.