Flowers

I think we found spring. What a beautiful day. I drive by Terra on my way to the dentist and keep thinking that I need to go in. Today was the day.

The big pots at the entrance are gorgeous.

A spring planter came home.

There is a beautiful Hydrangea living on my kitchen counter.

This is the pot that I chose. I am obsessed with the colour of the tulips.

They had pots of tulips that I brought home. Beth just planted them in the planters. The planters lived on our front steps but they left awful marks on the concrete. Now they live in the front garden.

Della Q needle cases are leaving the US tomorrow. According to FedEx they should arrive on Thursday but I have learned not to rely on FedEx. My guess is Monday or Tuesday.

New to della Q comes the Circular Needlecase. Created in our durable canvas with faux leather and brass accents, this carryall needle case conveniently opens up accordion-style to reveal eleven separated pockets for any size circular needles. A sheet of stickers comes standard so customers can label each section with whatever needle sizes they desire. The zip closure keeps needles secure and in place and the faux leather handle makes it easy to grab and go.

I will get these online tomorrow or Thursday.

There will be a new Train Case in the box as well.

The Jays and Leafs are on so it’s time to say goodnight.

Nordic Summer Nights

Laine Summer 2022 will be launching on May 6th. The book has been added to the website for preorder.

“Walking barefooted on a meadow wet with morning dew.
A call of a bird echoing over a silent lake.
Wandering home through the sleeping city at sunrise.” 

Issue 14, summer 2022, is inspired by the light Nordic summer nights – gentle, delicate and carefree. Our beloved summers are so short and sweet, that even the wee small hours feel too precious to spend asleep. The 10 designs featured in our summer collection embody that summer night’s magic and explore colourwork, texture and delicate details.

• 148 pages
• 10 knitting patterns, beautifully photographed and illustrated (both charts and written instructions provided)
• an interview with knitwear designer Aleks Byrd whose debut book is published in May 2022 by Laine Publishing
• an article about Sisters United
• an article about vegan knitting
• a column about the challenge of running into a creative rut by our regular columnist Päivi Kankaro
• a column about how to find comfort in learning a new craft by our regular columnist Jeanette Sloan
• seasonal recipes
• book reviews
• Laine Favourites section.

Designers featured in this issue: Pablo Aneiros, Isabella Clark, Evgeniya Dupliy, Lindsey Fowler, Katrine Hannibal, Anna Husemann, Ema Marinescu, Claudia Quintanilla, Maria Walters and Sylvia Watts-Cherry.

After I packed my boxes this morning I did a bit of shopping. 

The new colours of Le Petit Lambswool have arrived at Biches & Buches and our order has been placed. Biches is usually quick to ship so we should have these next week. 

Meet Hidden Place - the newest colour of Dream State from Spincycle.

There was a restock on Dyed in the Wool as well. Above is Wololo and below is Bruised Ego. This Bruised Ego is amazing!!!

Wallflower.

I put together a few more kits for The Shift.

#10

#4

#1

#3

There wasn’t much knitting over the weekend. I sort of tidied my knitting area yesterday. That meant taking storage bins and filling them with yarn that was in knitting bags, or plastic bags or in baskets. One bin is full of needles. That is another days problem - they need to be organized properly. 

The bins came from a late night shopping spree on The Shopping Channel. I should learn to stay away - Curtis Stone cookware and OrganizeMe storage always gets me.

I’m going to try and get a few rows knit tonight while watching the Jays.

Where is Spring?

It’s always a good day when we get a new store sample.

Diana knit Birds of a Feather in Hedgehog’s new colour Bandit. You need 2 skeins of Skinny Singles and 1 skein of Kidsillk Lace. I love the colour!!! The shawl is very lightweight and can easily be worn year round.

Starting at a single point and growing and shifting from ethereal mohair to silky smooth single ply into a piece that begs to be wrapped up in.

You can purchase the pattern on Andrea’s website.

I will get outside pictures next week but it’s cold, rainy and dreary today and my mannequins won’t go outside. Where is spring? It feels like winter!

Beth and the dogs went to the dog park this morning for a run. Beth wanted Boscoe to be tired because he was spending the afternoon with his grampy. Jackson started school. Jackson is good but Beth wants him to learn to properly walk on a leash and other small things. School is also for socializing your dog but Jackson’s got that down pat. He is around other dogs all the time. During class they wanted to see if the dogs pulled when walking on a leash. Poor Jackson was so tired that he was 4 steps behind Beth. Definitely no pulling.

Trio of Colours

My post is very short today because I spent the afternoon at the dentist. Two hours in the chair. My mouth is a bit sore. After receiving the shipment of Tosh Merino Light with lots of pretty colours I was looking back at some of my projects that I knit in TML. This is from 2017.

I used Tosh Merino Light to knit Ambah O’Brien’s Xanthe. Ambah’s shawls stand the test of time. You can knit it today and no one will tell you that the pattern is five years old.

Xanthe Wrap is an invitation to play. Choose a trio of colours to express your style, the varations are endless; stripe two neutrals and add a lace colour pop, or keep it neutral for a classic look. Use your wildest speckle yarn striped with a solid and co-ordinating lace colour for something as fun to knit as it is to wear. The stretches of garter stitch make this a perfect project for travel or mindless knitting while beautiful lace keeps it interesting. 
Xanthe is knit on the bias which results in a rhomboid shape; it is easy to wear and will fast become a wardrobe staple. 

Pattern includes fully written instructions accompanied by a chart for the lace section.

You can purchase the pattern for Xanthe from Ambah on Etsy.

The colours are Cactus Flower, Prairie Fire and Medieval.

When Lucy was smaller and able to fit in the front seat.

I have a lot of suggested posts on Instragram about St. Bernards. I save them and show them to dad and Beth at dinner. Many of the dogs have the same traits as Lucy. 

Spring Shawl

Coming soon - a brand new colour of Dream State. This is Hidden Place. 

I’m dreaming of another Pressed Flowers. A spring shawl with a light colour for the background.

I knit this Pressed Flowers with Dream State and Roan. I will have to wait until the yarn arrives to find out what my background will be.

I loved making this shawl. It is Mosaic knitting - you are only using one colour in a row. Once you get going the pattern is easy to memorize. You can make the shawl as big or as small as you want.

Here are the pretty skeins of Uschitita. 

Joji’s Lightweight Hipster takes one skein of fingering weight yarn and is knit on 4.5mm needles.

Do you remember the original Hipster Shawl pattern?  

And if you don’t, do you have a bit of time and just 1 skein of fingering weight yarn around you? I promise this is the coolest quickest and lightest shawl you’ll ever knit (and you’ll feel instantly transported to the coolest, little known coffeeshop in town)…

You can purchase the pattern on Joji’s website.

It’s cookie time!

We were sitting down to dessert last night I forgot to bring over dog cookies. Lucy looked up at me with a dirty look on her face. I think if she could talk she would have called me a bad name. She was much happier when I was feeding her.

Jackson sits very close to Lucy in case she drops crumbs.