Merry Times...

...from the sanctuary to you!

Apiarius; Or, Flight of the BumbleCanary

Pattern: Apiarius
Yarn: KnitPicks Stroll Kettle Dyed Sock Yarn in Timber and Gold

I knew what I wanted this sweater to look like - of course, nary do my plans come to accurate fruition. I'll put this one down to a lack of foresight, but there are other aspects of the knit that I'm quite pleased with.


Happy about: this being the teeniest-gauged sweater I ever did make. It didn't really take as long as you might think. This is rather encouraging, and methinks there are plenty more sock-yarn sweaters in the near future.

Unhappy about: the fact that the honeycomb doesn't line up all nice-like. This is because I had a brain blip and didn't factor in all the raglan decreasing I'd have to do. I think I was a little more focussed on designing the fracking honeycomb pattern :p
You can see this boo boo pretty well in the pic on the left.

Happy about: the yarn. Once again, KnitPicks comes through and makes purty yarn with purty colours work very well. I've slipped the sweater on a few times now, and it feels super awesome to have a sweater in this gauge. I'd encourage one and all to give it a go.




Unhappy about: my lacklustre attempts at colourwork. I've done it a few times now, but clearly haven't polished those skills off yet. There's also a place or two where I mussed up the honeycomb, and haven't decided yet what I'll do about that (truthfully, probably nothing!)

Happy about: my bottom-up raglan construction. I actually made the sleeve caps sit decently this time! Very pleased with that.

Happy about: the photoshoot!
I went out earlier today with a willing photographer (I've recruited my mom this time) and had a lovely brunch by the waterfront and frolicked around while the snow happily fell.

If you look real close at the photo below, you can even see some pre-melty snowflakes sitting gracefully for their portrait.


We were also joined by a sizeable number of mallards, a seagull or two, and this paddling swan.



I really enjoy the subtle colour shifts in this Tonal yarn; you can sort of see them at work in the honeycomb, particularly the ones that I "filled in".






I now have a considerable amount of these two shades leftover.
I believe they're heading for bee-striped sock territory!

And yes, I am *that* much of a geek that I purposefully wore my bee locket necklace for this here photoshoot.
Along with something of a goofy grimace :p







And finally, the detail I added because it makes me smile:
there's a bee on my left arm!

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Samia Buchan
Blog: fkdiary
Website: French Kit
Etsy Shop: Sassy Knits
Rav ID: frenchkitty
Some Great Designs: frenchkitty's Rav Designer Page

With a last hurrah until 2010, I end the year with the textural cable fun of frenchkitty's designs.

Pictured you see Bliss, a saddle-shouldered classic-cabled fantasticness. For all my ravings about my love for the beautiful cabled sweater I've still yet to make one; this one, I must say, is very high on my list!

Frenchkitty's cables can also be flowing, organic and very modern - witness the chic Crazy Cables. I love that this sweater and Bliss have come from the same designer! The ability to plot long, meandering cables like this makes me a touch envious.

She also has great examples of lacework, and Discovery is a very pretty, retro-esque design that makes me want to dig through both my yarn and my ribbon stash (indeed, I have one of those too!)

I've highlighted a few sweaters here, but take a moment and check out her rav designer page - she's also got some very pretty mitts, hats and other accessories!

Jingle Jingle; Or, Sugar Delivery!

Happy December Holidays to Everyone!

This month hasn't brought me my Christmassy weather,¹ but my oven has certainly been delivering results.

I've had something of a cookie factory going on here for the past couple weeks, and it'll continue to chug along for a week or so more. This is how I'm accounting for the lack of original knitted-related content.
I thought I'd try a bunch of new-to-me recipes this year - my favourite so far are the "White Chocolate Dream" cookies, a tasty collision of oranges and white chocolate chips. Yummers.

Quick poll: if presented with a cookie that had chocolate-covered coffee beans in it, would you be

a) happy and gobble it up directly!
b) politely accept said cookie but nibble around the coffee beans
c) have a mini tongue-revolt in your mouth at the thought of ingesting such a bitter "treat", and turn down said cookie (with all due formality and politeness, of course.)

I've made me some of them this year; I think they're quite fantastic and a little "sophisticated" (if a cookie can be said to be so). My concern is that many people won't really be a chuffed as I am about it, and my impulse is to warn every cookie-recipient that they may be biting into a coffee bean sometime in their near future.

¹Incidentally, if there's any Houston area readers, I'd much appreciate if you'd send your snow this way. I understand this precipitation has lost its way and in a rather unusual move migrated to the southern US.

Indie Designer Day

Designers: Anna & Heidi Pickles
Blog: Pickles
Rav ID: picklespatterns
Some Great Designs: picklespatterns' Rav Designer Page

Serendipitously¹, our profilee for this week is the talented pickles.
Here pictured is the lovely ensemble of Hello New York - Scarf, Hat and Mittens. I love the simple combination of an unexpected colour combination, along with the variation in pattern and texture. This makes the three patterns "go" without being matchy-matchy. I'm very inspired!
(Incidentally, I recently heard that 'you can always tell a knitter because her winter accessories never match'. I must admit I'm guilty of this charge meself. Perhaps this holiday season will see me make up a lovely set of Hello New York accessories!)

Stylish, casual and interestingly constructed, the Baggy Bolero made my list of pickles patterns to point out (amongst the many wonderful ones she has). Perfect for this time of year, and easily adaptable to the warmer weather, this knit is simple and attractive.

Finally, I'll also draw your attention to her Warm winter mitts. The wee bit of colourwork along the cuff gives these winter essentials a subtle touch of class.

Check out her designer page on Rav - it's bursting with loveliness!
_______
¹You can read about the supposed German Pickle ornament of legend here.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Kayla Dyches
Blog: The Yarn Bearer
Etsy Shop: The Yarn Bearer
Rav ID: TheYarnBearer
Some Great Designs: TheYarnBearer's Rav Designer Page

For a long time I've admired TheYarnBearer's designs. I knew I'd found a kindred spirit when I read the sub-title on her blog, "In yarn, we lust."

First is her shrug Gaia (pictured right). With a brain-teasingly beautiful construction, this simple, multi-directional knit is lovely and wearable.

I'll also draw you attention to the comfy, cozy (and free!) Darkwood Cardigan. With bulky yarn, a seamless design and interesting cable details this cardigan is a perfect accessory to holiday-time fire-side maxin' and relaxin.

Horizontal cables always catch my eye, and TheYarnBearer's Elfin Cable Cardi is a wonderful example of how to use this technique to very pleasing ends! Personally, I can't believe there's only 5 people who're knitting it on Rav. It should be up there with the superstars of sweet indie-designed patterns.

Finally I'll mention the sweet wee Spritely Hat. While the image is of the child's version, fear not; it's also sized for adults, and will be available in the 2010 pattern-a-day calendar.

The Riddle of the Interlocking Honeycomb Pattern

Myth: You need good math skills to design yourself a sweater.

Fact: They would certainly help.

I laboured an entire evening trying to figure out a simple geometric colourwork pattern. It took several incarnations, but finally I arrived at the appropriate honeycomb shape.
Subsequently, I have incorporated said laboured-over chart into a sweater I'm currently knitting up, fancifully titled Apiarius.

As of this moment I've gotten up to the arm joins (Apiarius being a bottom-up yoked sweater), and now have only to cross my fingers and hope the honeycomb pattern will line up nicely when all sweater bits meet.

Being the lazy, math-fearing knitter I am, I have laughed in the face of preparedness and scorned the preliminary work of creating an accurate chart as to placement of said honeycomb patterning for the entire yoke section.

This post, it must be added, is implicated in aforementioned preparedness-scorning, and may very well be scorned itself when the knitting gawds get wind of my haughty trot into the wild unknowns that are colourwork yokes.

You'll be able to tell how I've gotten on with this sweater by the number of creative Shakespearean curses I do, or do not, include in my next post.

Til the morrow!

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Brigitte
Blog: bridorangi
Rav ID: bridorangi
Some Great Designs: bridorangi's Rav Projects Page

This week brings a splash of fruity whimsy with the knitter bridorangi's lovely design, Banana Socks.
I'm telling you, if I were a sock knitter, these would be the ones for me!
I love how she's combined a simple design with some very creative dyeing to create a lovely foot-warming replica of a ripe banana :)

Her instructions: "I knit simple yellow socks (knit 7, purl 1) and later painted them with ashford dyes."

Another wonderful use of colour can be seen in her manipulation of the genius of Noro in Abhilfe gegen Eiszapfenfinger.¹
I always enjoy seeing how people get creative with simple patterns, and this marriage of flip-top fingerless gloves and Noro makes me smile almost as much as her banana socks.

¹btw, babelfish tells me this title translates as "Remedy against icicle fingers". Awesomesauce.

Noro Smile Times Strike Again

In what is most certainly my speediest yarn-purchase-to-FO turnaround time ever, here be a wee post about my nifty new armwarmers.

When I visited a very lovely yarn shop on Friday, I picked up a couple skeins of some purty Noro Silk Garden, and, being inspired by The Knitting Siren's Arm Warmers, I knit up this pair right quick - only took me 2 days!

I guess that's what happens when you're procrasti-knitting.

Incidentally, I have to reveal that the fact that the top-most part of the warmers have mis-matched colours does indeed rankle with me a bit. I'm working through it.

CanaryKnits Ravelry Group

I’ve been cooking up a few more design ideas as of late, and thought it would be a good idea to have a place where people could go to ask questions, get advice, share experiences and show off their work!
Here be the badge for the Rav Group I created this week:

My plan is to maintain it as a useful compendium of FAQ, helpful advice, my numerous errata and correct-ata, updates, test-knit opportunities and the like.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Lucy Sweetland
Blog: a black pepper
Rav ID: zebraknits
Some Great Designs: zebraknits' Rav Designer Page

A visit to zebraknit's blog is a delight for your eyes. Hers is one of those blogs where you find yourself aweing in awe and twisting with envy at the cleanness of her design, the classic wearability of her knits, and the beauty of her photography!

Take for example the pictured Lillian. The sinuous structure and flattering shape make this a knit that can be worn for many years - I can imagine this pattern flattering people of all ages!

And speaking of sinuous cables, I think I might be in love with the slouchy loveliness of Anemoon. I really have something going on lately for the chunky cable, and this hat appeals for its shape, detail, speed of completion and obvious stylish wearability.

Now we've covered your torso and head, you can't forget to keep those arms and hands toasty warm with some gorgeous Emerald Fingerless Mittens. I really like the clean, geometric features of this knit, creating visual interest and texture with simplicity.

Srsly though, pop by her blog. It's currently transporting me to a lovely autumn day with golden foilage and the atmospheric sensation that makes your fingers itch to hold those needles.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Eline Oftedal
Blog: From the High North
Etsy Shop: From the High North
Rav ID: elineof
Some Great Designs: elineof's Rav Designer Page

I love a good pattern/lace marriage, and this week's designer elineof gives some great examples with her Lacy Leaf Capelet (pictured) and Ocean Blue Collar. They're both very lovely, it's a difficult choice to say which I like more!
The fineness of the Ocean Blue Collar is very attractive - I can easily imagine wearing it beneath the wool winter coat which has just recently lumbered out of storage for its seasonal debut (probably within the next few weeks!)
The ribbon is a nice little touch, allowing for some simple modification of style and shape.

This designer isn't just a master of the lace - she's also got her colourwork down!
Wonderful White Top and Nordic Rose Top are knit in bulky yarns, but through the magic that is good design and palette work give off an air of delicacy.

She also has an etsy shop where she sells both finished objects and patterns. Check it out at the link listed above.

Out of the Loop; Or, What Knitting With Other Knitters Does for Me

The blame for the posting sparseness as of late falls upon the shoulders of what I will grudgingly refer to as "real life" (indeed. It does rear its nasty head once in a while).

Between work-travelling, wedding-planning, exhibition-researching and course-enrolling I've had my hands full. Added to the mix is canary mourning; Mats died a few days ago, and now the canary population round these parts has dropped to three.

So basically, I've had a couple weeks away from my regular knitting night.
That whole "you don't know what you got til its gone" thing is way totally true. I always look forward to my Tuesday nights; but now that I've missed two in a row, the benefits of sitting and knitting with others have really become clear.

And so, here be my list of why knitting with people is way cool:

1) Talk shop. Getting the newest knit news is very important. One must keep up on these sorts of things.
2) Ogling the knitting of others. In the very best of ways. Seeing what and how others knit is always fun and interesting. Great example: while not a sock knitter myself, I get to live vicariously (and snag some inspiration from) a great sock knitter friend in my knit group!
3) Encouragement. It's always nice to have someone look at your work with an eye that's not nastily critical like you always are about your own stuff!
4) Does any non-knitter understand the distress of a dropped stitch? You need those around who get it so that you can vent. And, conversely, who else are you going to share the joy and excitement over a luscious yarn or adorable pattern with?
5) And of course, catching up on that world outside of knitting, where you and your friends have to, for better or worse, live most of the time.

Do you have a regular knit group? What makes your knit night happytimes?

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Tracy Laliberté
Blog: Fanciful Flights
Etsy Shop: Fanciful Flights
Rav ID: Plucky
Some Great Designs: Plucky's Rav Designer Page

As I sit here on a borrowed lap top, I have that familiar mix of lamentation and excitement at the first sprinklings of snow. I happen to be away for an educational program for work, and so have moved a latitude or two further north and am enjoying a cloudy and chilly Ottawan November.

While Mr. Winter is tentatively beginning his trudge across the months, I thought it would be nice to post a wee post about a flower-designing designer.

Here you see Pluckys lovely I-cord Lily, a pretty and delicate reminder that winter will indeed eventually make way for Persephone.

Make sure to check out Pluckys links provided above. There is plenty more to see on her etsy shop!

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Zoë Scheffy
Blog: Seaside Knitting
Etsy Shop: Seaside Knitting
Rav ID: Luome-Cloudberry
Some Great Designs: Luome-Cloudberry's Rav Designer Page

Evocative of oceanside beauty, tempests and mists, this week's designer Luome-Cloudberry presents us with a lovely catalogue of attractive knit designs.

Her Agean Sea Shrug (pictured) gracefully mimics waves and texture; I can almost feel the undulous gathers and bumpy stitches beneath my fingers!

By now I'm sure everyone knows about my extreme love of autumn, and Luome-Cloudberry's Enchanted Forest Fingerless Gloves are perhaps the most beautiful of their kind I've ever seen. There's been many-a-time I've wanted to incorporate various lace trim into my knitting, and I think these gloves are the perfect solution.

Lastly is the lovely Box-Pleat Top. The shape and texture are so interesting, it's fantastically graceful.

Make sure to stop by her Rav Designer Page, as there are many other of her designs to ogle!

If you really love her work, she's published a volume of 9 patterns at Blurb.com
You can preview the first 15 pages at Blurb.com or through a link at http://www.seasideknittingpatterns.com.

Bird Love: Bird Hate; Or, Canary Personality Profiles

Generally things don't change in the bird world round these parts, but every once in a while the urge to share feathered cuteness overwhelms.

Herein is writ the fascinating personality profiles of my wee feathered dudes.

My good bud Butters.
He's made several appearances on this blog, since he's the most patient of all the boys. Sweet tempered, loves to eat, and has an annoying habit of never taking baths.

Butter's orange neighbour, and constant posturing opponent, Ives.
He has no time for humans, and instead likes to stay in his cage and (during louder times) bark territorially at Butters. He has zero patience for cameratime, and so had to be held for this here portrait. And, as you can see, couldn't even keep still (yes, this was the best of the entire session).

The pretty-boy Mats is all squawk no action.
I think he knows he's pretty, since all he ever does is wash his face and sit moodily on his favourite perch. Here you see him pouting for the camera.

The Greatest Escapist Hilts.
Being the tiniest, perhaps he has that "little dog" syndrome - feels he must compensate for his size through toughness. He's always one to fly out of his cage, any chance he gets.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Ashley
Etsy Shop: Oh Ashley Love
Rav ID: ohashleylove
Some Great Designs: ohashleylove's Rav Projects Page

The gorgeous atmospheric photography employed by this week's designer, ohashleylove, is wonderful in its mood-setting abilities and complimentary qualities for her attractive and fashionable pieces.

Working in crochet, ohashelylove creates designs of my happiest crochet dreams. Pictured here is her cozy cowl - never before has a simple garment done so much on its own!

Her adorable little round owl is certainly worth a boo, and the sienna cowl is a different and interesting take on the autumnal wardrobe staple.

A teasingly small photo of her puffy slouch hat displays her very cool aesthetic.
And check out her etsy shop - full of beautiful work!

Nom de Plume; Or, How I Like Palette

Pattern: Nom de Plume - Leggies
download now
Yarn: KnitPicks Palette (Cream - 2, Suede - 1, Brindle Heather - 1, Doe - 1, Camel Heather - 1, Bark - 1)

I really love the look of swatches of colour. I have, indeed, since I was a very wee one. I can recall tagging along with my dad to the hardware store, gleefully claiming various bright and tempting paint sample cards for my very own.

The same impulse takes over every time my new KnitPicks catalogue arrives. Hooray! I think.

I mean, mostly, the colours and yarns stay the same, but oh, the swatches! The hues! The Palette!

And so, I have a bit of a Palette collection - not every colour, certainly, but many. Probably more than I'll use any year soon. But my big plans most recently included creating peacock feather inspired knits using the same intarsia chart, but with different colour schemes.

First came the cream/natural shaded leggings.

They mostly turned out how I wanted - though I was disappointed by their lack of willingness to stay up.
The remedy came in the form of some savvy ribbon usage, threaded along the inside top ribbing.

I knew I also wanted a more true peacock-esque scheme, and tried that one out on the arm warmers.

Pattern: Nom de Plume - Arm Warmers
download now
Yarn: KnitPicks Palette
(one each of Black, Suede, Cornmeal, Teal and Navy)

These ones, one the other hand, turned out just as imagined. As per usual, I'm too lazy to add thumbs to the armwarmer tube itself, and instead just left some cast off stitches as an opening.

I tried to plan out the colour placement based on the KnitPicks site. Dicey, I know.
And verily, mistake I did make.
There's supposed to be a third colour surrounding the central "eye" of the feather. But the yarn I chose for that purpose, Pool, clashed something awful, and was thus axed from the knit.
You can see the missing part much better on this close up.

I'm planning on publishing the chart, and if anyone wishes, I could give the pattern(s) a go as well.

I'm also hoping that some day I push myself to make the fiery orange ones and soothingly green ones that I've sketched out in the numerous balls of Palette still sitting patiently in the yarn city that is my cedar chest.

But for now, I'm off to knit on my new knitty crush - the sock yarn sweater.
More to come on that one soon!

Apples Apples Everywhere (and a Canary)

Being autumn, the many lovely apples growing happily on my dad's farm are ripe and ready to be plucked from the nefarious clutches of various voracious birds and critters and delivered to my now very sweet smelling kitchen.


The wonder that is Ravelry gave me a hankering for apple butter, and so I whipped up a few jars of that, along with some applesauce (well, much applesauce. So much that I need to invent ways to use it. Any good applesauce recipes?)

Here I play with a selection of the jarred purée, accompanied by a few apples and my wee Butters.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Asami Kawa
Rav ID: winterwren
Some Great Designs: winterwren's Rav Designer Page

With gorgeous designs related to nature, it was knitlove at first sight with the patterns of winterwren.

Pictured right is her Chamomile Tunic (this version knit by Rav member rarato), a wonderful example of her fashion aesthetic (also comes with a matching design for children, Little Chamomile). The delicate gathering details around the neckline, waist and sleeves makes me want one. Right now.

One can never get enough lace shawl eye candy, and Feathered Wings Shawl fits the bill perfectly. With yarnny wings like that, I think I might even make my wee yellow-bellied pets envious :)

Her Perseids design is what my Rowan Kidsilk Haze dreams are made of. All I can think of when I look at it is stars dancing across the night sky.

As always, check out the designer page on Rav. She has many more lovelies that I haven't mentioned!

Turkeymen Go Marching On

Thanksgiving happily brings me excuses to knit and bake.

Here you see three of six happy and adorable turkey dudes I knit up for the family dinner I've just had tonight. You can find the pattern here on Team Knit's blog. I wanted them to join us on the table, and so stuck them on small sticks and jammed those into pretty squashes.

Hope your weekend, whether holiday or no, was frantastic.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Betsy Farquhar
Etsy Shop: Good Egg
Rav ID: elf518
Some Great Designs: elf518's Rav Projects Page

I'll make notes along the way when I'm looking into who to profile for these here Indie Designer days. The initial notes I made for this kickass designer were:

So Funky and awesome
need a micro sweater NOW!

And how :)

Our fashion-creator extraordinaire this week is elf518 - a person with incredible style, bright aesthetic and items that she wonderfully sells on her etsy shop (listed above).

Pictured is Ume Blossom Shrug, and believe me, it was difficult to choose which pattern to post a photo of. On her profile page on rav she sort of denigrates her photo-taking skills (using the timer is so what I do too!) but I don't think she could have chosen a better background and top to wear for the showing-off of this cool wee shrug (there's also a version of this beautiful item in monochrome, so check out the project page).

Riffing on the same fair isle shapes but in different garments are Cotton Candy and Lemon Drop Stem and Leaf Cowl and Stem and Leaf Sweater. I don't think I can say how much I enjoy her colour palette.

And now to the Micro Sweater. Clicking on that link will show you why it's way awesomecool. Her idea of knitting a sweater in parts is innovative, unique and fascinating. Check it out in the notes on that project page too.

The pretty Faux Bois Cowl Natural is so inspiring - I find all her work inspiring!
Please have a look at her etsy shop, projects and designer pages on rav. They're brimming with eye-candyful designs.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: veera
Blog: 100% Rain
Rav ID: veera
Some Great Designs: veera's Rav Projects Page

Despite its summery name, August (pictured) is a perfect example of what caught my eye about veera's wonderful designs.
Browsing through her projects page shows you garment after garment of classy, fuzzy warmth!
For a long time now I've been semi-obsessed with big sleeves, and August is pretty much perfect with its deep ribbing and herringbone texture.

Modern Garden is a very cool use of big wool and big lace. I find it particularly fantastic that she utilized the added stitches of the YO lace to step in for increases and decreases. I need this cardigan right now.

There's also the adorable and aptly named Dipped in Honey. Garter stitch cuffs with great buttons and colour-change detail make for a quick, functional and beautiful knit.
I'm planning on a big stash dig to find yarn for all three of these! Veera, you have incredible taste :)
(and as a side note: her Oct. 1 /09 blog post has the most adorable felted acorns. I need to find me some acorn tops so that I can have these for my very own!)

Stag; Or, How I Love the Local Video Rental Joint

Pattern: Stag (my own, improvised, and rather uncreatively named!)
Yarn: Berroco Inca Gold, 8 skeins

I've made a habit of issuing myself yarn challenges, and, as of late, it's been bouts between me and yardage. This round of playing chicken with the yarn turned out just dandy.

I wanted to see if I could make a tunic-length, cowl-necked, long-sleeved sweater - with cables, no less. And indeed, I did. Though it ended up a touch shorter than envisioned, and the sleeves were a smidge tight, they still work! And the upside? The snugness of said sleeves disguises the unsightly "ladders" left behind from my sloppy in-the-round dpn work (the trick to avoiding that is pulling tight on the stitches when switching needles, correct? I must remember to try harder next time).

Incidentally, this be the first (as well as the last) long-sleeved sweater I've ever made. The second-sleeve syndrome was avoided through a good supply of dvds (including the Indiana Jones hotness mentioned in an earlier post, as well as the first 3 seasons of How I Met Your Mother). Without those dvds, I'm afeared those sleeves would still be unfinished.

Stag Constructions, for those Interested:
In the round, bottom-up raglan. I'd never attempted a sweater in this particular manner before.
Because of my playing chicken with the yardage, I decided to do a provisional cast on when it came to the sleeves, so that I could assess the yarn situation after I had begun the cowl and see just how long I could get away with making said sleeves.
I do not suggest this construction, or at least, not on a single set of circs. It was extremely awkward and tight the first 5 or 6 rows after joining the provisional-sleeves.

Also, the sweater would have benefited from my thinking through what I would do with the cables when I got to the sleeve juncture. I could have made the transition much more smooth by altering the staghorn cable pattern slightly, and turning some knit stitches into background purl stitches (see the second photo in this post. The slightly awkward decreasing around the armpit is visible there).

For waist and bust shaping, I simply hid my increases and decreases directly beside the cable pattern.
The cowl is a progression of 3 different needles sizes, getting larger as you near the edge of the neckline. I wanted it to be a bit bigger and floppier, but with only the 8 skeins I knew I'd have to compromise.
The greatest upside to this project? Stashbusting!

At the "photoshoot", I frolicked among the gardens of a nearby historic home and civic museum. I got a few cool snaps, and wanted to share.

On the gates in the garden yard. The pineapple was a symbol of welcome that was in vogue in the 19th c., when this home was built.


Backyard water tap, with some cool weathering, hiding among what's probably close to the last bits of green green sprouts of '09.


A pear tree has been dropping its fruit, and the bees have been feasting.


Lovely beautiful snapdragons. Nature has an amazing sense of colour.

Indie Designer Day

Designer: Maggie Vremec
Rav ID: basicmag
Some Great Designs: basicmag

I'm choosing to say goodbye to summer and hello to autumn with this week's featured designer, basicmag.

First is the very pretty Burning Sand (pictured) top. Once again I'm won over by a simple shape with interest created in texture. I can totally see myself in a very comfy mood in this top.

The cable and yoke aspects of Summer Nostalgia add visual interest and continue the designer's style of wearable, knittable and fashionable knits.

Another favourite of mine is Fields of Gold. I've always felt like a fangirl of autumn, and this sweater embodies the spirit of the season quite wonderfully. The wee texture that resembles wheat, the golden hue of the yarn itself, the simplicity and layerability of the piece all come together to create a perfect season in a lovely sweater!

As many other knitwear designers, basicmag has many other beautiful garments. Check out her designer page on Rav!

My Brain, She's Finished Developing!

According to the smarties that know such things, brains develop in a particular succession which reaches completion with the prefrontal cortex.
This region is responsible for our adult responsibility!, and regulates all that un-fun grown up stuff like paying attention, predicting the consequences of our actions, planning for the future and moderating behaviour.
This bit of our noggin doesn't finish developing until the mid-twenties.

Mid-twenties! Zounds and egads. I guess that means I'm officially a grown up now.
According to my own subjective measurement of the line between mid- to late-twenties, I've now exited my brainal development era.

It was kicks while it lasted.

And so, it's my birthday! And herein I present a taste of what I've been doings on this week I've had off:

-Visited the Dead Sea Scrolls at the ROM

-indulged in one of the first, and more recently opened, Anthropologie stores in Canada

-bugged Butters with portraiture

-baked cookies of gingerbread

-enjoyed the marigolds back home at my parent's place

-Indiana Jones watched

-plant purchased, including an ornamental pepper and a wee spruce tree whom told me to call him Bob











-Felicity hat knit, this time in golden

-and generally enjoyed the last few days of being 26.

Hello 27 - I wonder what I'll knit next...




...incidentally, Indiana Jones is hot. Yes, I said it. Hot.