Must Be The Weather ....

This unsettled weather made me bunker down today and finish some projects. No pictures, sorry.

First up I finished the feather and fan toe-up socks. Loved the pattern, and am happy to have made toe-up at last. They are blocking from their wash now, and I am hoping that the washing softens up the yarn, as it was a little crunchy almost when knitting. Will keep you posted.

Second up I have finished two ball-band dish clothes for A's teacher. Always a good gift, and fun to make.

Third up, although this was actually from the week-end, I finished the back on my red lace cardigan. Today I cast on and got about two inches knit on the left front.

But it has all caught up to me tonight. I am working on the cotton striped baby blanket, and I keep knitting where I should be purling. I'm blaming the rain, myself ....

What a Fieldtrip

So we went to hear herself speak in Victoria Saturday night. We all made our way to Victoria and met outside the James Bay Community Centre (with Sunmi cutting it close to the wire, but phew, she made it). We got seats at the back, because we're just that kind of group.



My best estimate is 150 people, although I could be way off base there (girls?). [EDITED TO ADD: Sunmi thinks over 200.] What a riot Stephanie is. Her delivery, humour and wry wit had us in gales of laughter. She also often had us saying "Yes, exactly!" I think that is the delight of hearing her speak. Not only is she very very good at what she does, but also for at least an hour you truly feel like here is someone who GETS IT. This person gets why knitting makes us all crazy, and why it draws us. She knows what we worry about, what we think about and what we wish for (at least when it comes to knitting). I laughed as hard as, well, as I do some knit nights. And that is a wonderful thing.

We all worked on knitting while we sat there. Here is Shan, who cast this on just before Stephanie started speaking. I never did ask what it was!


All in all it felt like a delightful and successful field trip. I hope there are more in our future.

Shout out to the Group

Sorry, ladies, for using the blog as a message board...but I am having trouble sending email and accessing my address book.

SO:

What are the plans for the Yarn Harlot pilgrimage next weekend? I am arriving back in town on or about Wednesday. The speech at James Bay is on Saturday evening, and the knit in Saxe Pt Park on Sunday afternoon. Are you all planning to attend both events, or only one? And if you are only attending the evening speech, are you planning to drive back home the same night? We need to think about travel and accommodation plans.

I have a friend in Rockland who will put the kids and me up for the night, if we are planning to stay for the Saxe Pt event. Alternatively, if you had hotel fun in mind, we'd need to make plans PDQ and get some reservations and talk budgets.

If you want to go back home on Saturday night, I could leave the kids at home, since we'd be returning at around 1:00 AM.

Let me know what to do...I have to arrange kid stuff if we're going to be in Victoria overnight.

See you soon!

Someone Else's Knitting

This blog is about a group. Some of the group don't have the access to a computer right now to allow them blogging time, so I am here to help out!



Sunmi is our free thinking knitter. She dreams up a pattern and begins to knit. She is quite capable of ripping and reknitting until her pattern works the way she wants it to (or the way her amount of yarn dictates).



This lovely little cardigan is a perfect example. The red wool was Kool-aid dyed. She took it, paired it with a grey and white, and created this adorable sweater. It has been reworked a few times, but now is closing in on being finished. Remember folks, this is all with only the idea in her head!

The poor quality of photos is totally my fault. You can't see the variegation of the red well, but it is so pretty with the grey.

The amazing thing is Sunmi has three other projects like this, just being thought up as she knits.

Way to go Sunmi!

Spring is in the Air!

Woo hoo, spring is here at last! The garden is all abuzz with new flowers every week, and the sunshine sure feels nice. Last year I added alliums to the beds, scattered here and there. Aren't they awesome? The bees really like them as well.

I have started two new projects. One is a secret, so you just get a peek for now .... red and white!













The other one is a baby blanket for yet another baby at Mr. Kate's work. This is being made in CottonTots (Bernat) and will be randomly striped. Mr. Kate is quite bothered by the sudden baby boom at his work -- he thinks he better not drink the water for a while!











I hope to have some knitting from other members of this group in the next couple of days, there are some lovely little girl clothes being put together!

It Rained and Then the Sun Came Out

What a fabulous long week-end! It did rain Saturday and both Friday and Saturday night, but Sunday and Monday were sunny. And we don't mind the weather, it all adds something to the experience. We really love Ralph River ... let me show you why.







The lake (Buttle Lake) was really low, although not quite as low as last year at this time. I love these old stumps -- it all looks so prehistoric.

There was a fish caught! The pontoon boat didn't get into action as it was a long hike to the water, but they did manage to catch a fish today.

Walking along the lake past Ralph River. This is where we like to swim in the summer, although the water then is much higher!

And what's this?

What, you thought I might forget the sweater? Note how well the neckline turned out, I simply picked up in the round, purled one row and then cast off in knit (to get a two row garter edge). I love it.

In the salal of the campsite, we find the sweater at home. Warm, cozy and oh so stylish (ha ha). Fits just as I wanted it to.
to recap:

pattern is the incredible custom-fit raglan from woolworks (see link in an earlier post)

yarn is 100% unknown fibre, bought at Z*llers for $4.99 for 454 grams. Didn't use the whole bag, so cost was about $4.25.

time to knit, about three weeks I think, once I started to knit it seriously (cast on a while ago). I'll have to start taking better notes on these things.

Happy Victoria Day!!

Greens and Blues

The sweater is done! Finished weaving in the ends this morning. I will take it to Ralph River and see if I can do a photo shoot that produces green with my blue (heh heh). I really really love this $5 sweater, it fits perfectly and is so comfy.
Pictures next week!