New sock pattern

For the past couple of years I've always given my dad a pair of hand knit socks for Christmas. This is a new tradition that I hope is going to last forever! He just loves his knitted socks, and I love knitting for someone who I know appreciates all my hard work. It's a win-win situation! This year dad is getting a custom pair of socks that I'm designing just for him in my Midnight colourway!

I've got the first sock done, and I love it! I hope to finish the second one this week and then write up the pattern.

And just because I'm so lucky to have such a snugly dog and such cozy blankets to snuggle under, I thought I'd share this latest picture of me and Stella.

A lesson in stash management

The other day I decided to buy a couple pairs of new knitting needles. Nothing particularly exciting, just some sizes that I was missing. I went on to Knitpicks and decided that while I was buying needles I might as well take a peak at their new stuff, no harm in looking right? Well, it didn't take long before I had not only bought my needles, but I had also bought a ridiculously elaborate kit to knit myself a Russian inspired old lady purse.

Naturally, I chose the blues colourway. I'm not convinced that it's the nicest colourway, but I'm pretty sure that I'll never actually carry this purse around with me because A) it's not really my style, and B) if I ever finish it I will undoubtedly have put way too much blood, sweat and tears into the thing to ever risk bringing it out in public and getting it dirty. I figure I'll knit it and then just hang it on a doorknob in my apartment where I can admire it. Don't get me wrong, I think it's gorgeous, just a bit excessive.

Anyways, so that's why I chose the blues, because if I'm going to spend hours knitting something that I'll probably never use, I might as well be using colours that I love, regardless of the final outcome. And I do love these colours!

For me, this will be an exercise in process. The pattern is really quite complicated. It incorporates colourwork, short rows, steeking, intarsia, duplicate stitch... some techniques I've never done before. It will be a learning experience, and without the pressure of having to be able to wear it, or make it fit properly, I think it's the perfect vehicle!

So, that's all great, I'm not sure when I'll get to it, with Christmas coming up and TFA taking up most of my time, this will probably languish in the stash for a while.

A while ago I read a post by Glenna which highlighted how much palette yarn she had in her stash. I commented on how I thought that she did in fact have a lot of palette, and how I had a bit as well, but not nearly as much as her. This morning as I was putting my bag kit in the stash next to the other "little bit" of palette yarn that I had I realized that I'd been kidding myself.

I have 59 balls of palette yarn! Many of them are duplicates, a few of the blues are even triplets! It's silly! Especially since I've only ever knit one thing in palette!

But my, they are lovely, aren't they!?

Little Miss Greenjeans

Last week, after frogging my Beaumont Beanie, I decided to totally ignore my list of Fall knitting and cast on for something totally unplanned. Three days and only 2 skeins of Green Label yarn in Peacock later, I had this lovely little number. (Sorry about the off center composition!)

Little Miss Greenjeans by Amy Swenson. I was so excited when I saw this pattern on Ravelry, not only is it adorable, but the sample was knit in my yarn! It was a lovely surprise. I won't say who I knit this sweater for, because her mom is a regular visitor to my blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise for her, but I will say that it's a size 4, and I know that the recipient will look adorable in it! I kind of feel like I should get her these knee highs to wear with her sweater, it would be too cute with a little jean skirt!

This sweater was a really quick and totally cute knit. I love how far 2 skeins of yarn can take you when you're knitting for kids. I wish I had more little girls to knit for, little girl knits are definitely the sweetest.

Kits are back!

After patiently waiting for what felt like months for more yarn to arrive, I finally got my yarn! Which means that I'll be spending every waking hour of the week dyeing, winding and kitting up more Baby Shane Blanket Kits and Fiddlehead Mitten Kits.

I know that a lot of you have been patiently awaiting the return of the kits. To get one of your own before they run out again, visit my shop!

Gypsum Leyburn's

I've finished my second pair of Leyburn socks. They're pink and purple and really pretty.

I'll definitely be knitting more of this pattern. I think I'll take a break for my next pair, but this pattern will for sure be in heavy rotation around here. It's jut so simple yet so perfect. A new favorite. I find the resulting socks super comfortable, which is key, some socks end up looking beautiful, but not fitting as well. This sock fits me exactly how I like. The pattern is supposed to be knit toe up with a short row heel, but I like knitting top down (only because I've never knit toe up) and I prefer a heel gusset, so that's how I made mine.

And just because it's nice to look at, I leave you with a photo of some recently dyed Tussah silk roving. So lustrous, so lovely!

Shop Update

My superwash merino roving has been added to my shop.

It's so great to finally be able to share it with everyone!

Collection complete!

After months of working on my rovings I've finally got samples of every single one of my colourways dyed and photographed in my superwash merino! Until recently I was missing only these last two, my new colourways, Lemongrass and Deep Sea:

Now I just have to take some time to get them listed and I'll have superwash merino rovings for sale in my Etsy shop.

I'm also very close to having a whole bunch of kits ready to list. I wasn't prepared for how popular they would be and ran out of yarn really fast! But more yarn should be here soon and I can start dyeing, winding and kitting up plenty of kits, so check my shop in a week or two to find Fiddlehead Mitten Kits and Baby Shane Blanket kits available for purchase.

I've been knitting a bit too, I almost finished my Beaumont beanie, but wasn't happy with it so I frogged the whole thing! I'll try again on smaller needles, and maybe with only 2 colours instead of 3, I didn't like the way the colours I chose were working together. The yarn is lovely to work with though, so I don't mind trying it again.

Happy knitting!

Weekend

After writing a couple posts about all the things that I would like to make this Fall, I decided that I had done enough talking and that it was time to start making! So yesterday I sat down and spun this lovely little skein.

It's Fleece Artist 50/50 merino/silk roving in the cosmic dawn colourway. I had never spun a silk blend before, so that was neat, I didn't find it that difficult, maybe it was a little bit more slippery but also a little more shiny which makes the slipperiness worth it. I tried a different spinning technique, normally I don't plan, I just start spinning singles, and then ply them together however they end up and that's that. This time I attempted to match up the colour changes, so instead of having a muddy multicoloured barber-pole style yarn, it sort of works through the colour changes in waves. I was actually pretty successful! I was shocked at how well the colours in my two single lined up when I was plying, I'm looking forward to knitting with it to really see how the colour works. I've got a 50g skein with 123 yds of light worsted weight yarn. Lovely and soft.

Speaking of lovely and soft, I also cast on for the first of several hat projects I have planned for Fall. My blue Beaumont beanie.

The colour change from one blue to the next is not as subtle and gradual as the one pictured in the pattern, so mine will be different, but hopefully still nice. I think that with a little bit of wear the angora in the yarn will start the fuzz up and blend the colours a bit more. It's a fun knit, the yarn is really nice, but I'm worried that the beanie size may end up being too big for me. I've learnt that I'm not much of a slouchy beret person. I've tried and knit slouchy hats, but then I never wear them... At least Chris has a big head, so if this ends up too big for me, he can wear it!

Fall

Chris and I drove to Hamilton and back and were able to enjoy some beautiful Fall scenery along the way. Lots of the drive is done on not so scenic highway, but every once in a while we would encounter a gorgeous display of multicoloured Fall foliage. The most beautiful Fall tree I've seen so far this season is the one right outside my window. I took this photo from my balcony this morning, and I know it doesn't do it justice, but this tree is perfect and round and a really bright fiery red at the top and deep amber at the bottom. It's stunning.

Which of course leads me to Fall knitting. Below I've put together a little collection of yarns I'd like to knit with this Fall.

I'd like to knit Jared Flood's Beaumont hat in Classic Elite Fresco in shades of blue. The incredibly soft skein of Punta Yarns Merisoft in colourway HP62 is destined to become a Koolhaas. This yarn is so decadent, dare I say even more buttery then Malabrigo? The 2 balls of Sirdar Baby Bamboo in the luscious cherry red colour plan on becoming a Shedir. I knit one a couple years ago and have worn in faithfully every since, I think that another in a livelier colour would do very well. And finally I have 5 skeins of my own Yellow Label dk weight yarn in my new favorite colourway Deep Sea, that I'd like to knit into this sweater that I've been thinking about for months.

My second pair of Leyburns, this time in the Gypsum colourway are coming along nicely, I've completed the heelflap on the first sock and with a couple more nights of staying in sick and knitting I'll have them finished.

There are so many other things I'd like to make this Fall, and not all are knitting related. I'd like to make an upholstered headboard and an ottoman. I'd like to sew Stella a fleece lined jacket. I'd like to do more drawing and painting. And I'd like to spin! I haven't done any spinning in months, and I'm really missing it. Hopefully sometime soon I'll have a weekend free to sit and spin and make things.

Lots to catch up on!

The past couple of weeks have been pretty chaotic to say the least. I attended two beautiful weddings for two fabulous couples, one in Canmore, AB and one in Hamilton, Ont. The first was in Canmore where my cousin Sean married his long time love Heather. Check out their photographers blog to see a couple amazing shots of their wedding day, it started off as a beautiful Fall day, and by afternoon was a winter wonderland! Abby wore her lovely flower girl sweater and looked perfect in it. Of course I don't have a good photo of her in it. It snowed the day of the wedding, my hands were too cold to fumble with the camera, but my mom sent me this cute shot of Abby and I before the ceremony. She is wearing her sweater, you just can't see it very well.

When we got back from Canmore I had a couple of days to get myself organized and then promptly headed off to Hamilton for Jenna's wedding to her man Jeff. Somewhere between Canmore and Hamilton I came down with a really bad cold! The day before the wedding I had absolutely no voice, I could barely even whisper. I spent every afternoon of my week there napping, I went through boxes of Kleenex... it was not fun. I'm almost over it now I think, but as I type I'm still sniffling. Despite my sore throat, cough and runny nose I still made it Jenna's wedding and though I wasn't able to dance like I had the previous week, it was still nice just to have been a part of it.

In the above photo it sort of looks like Chris and I are being cute, but in reality my eyes were red, my nose was raw, I could barely speak and Chris was holding me up. My shawl looks great though right!?

Feeling a little bit better by Monday my gracious host and nurse for the week, Sara, treated Chris and I to a day trip to Niagara Falls. It was my first time seeing the Falls and they were amazing. I think that the fresh air did me a lot of good too, I started feeling better on the drive home.

Somewhere in between all the traveling and the weddings I managed to get a bit of knitting done. I finished my first pair of Leyburns on the plane to Calgary, and then in the couple days I was home before heading back on the road to Hamilton I knit Stella her new Fall sweater.

It fits her like a glove, it's her best sweater yet by far!

Now I'm back home and have no plans on leaving again for a while. I'm looking forward to getting back into my work routine. Fall is in full swing here in Montreal and my cold has finally given up so I feel a new urge to cast on for wooly Fall projects. Maybe a new hat to start Fall's hat wearing season in style!

Weekend knitting

This weekend I'm going to Canmore, AB to attend my cousin's wedding. I can't wait! My whole family will be there, which is awesome, I've never been to Alberta, so that's cool too, and Heather and Sean are so happy and in love that celebrating their wedding is going to be a really great time. So of course, a weekend away means that I've got to get all my travel knitting organized. I'll be bringing my second Seastone Leyburn sock, it'll be finished in no time. The second sock seems to somehow be decidedly more yellow then the first... these crazy socks just got a little bit crazier!

Because there's a good chance that I finish this pair even before we take off, I've got another skein of STR lightweight wound into a cake ready to be cast on for the next pair of Leyburns, this one in the lovely and slightly more restrained Gypsum colourway.

I'm also planning on casting on for a new sweater for Stella. I'm torn as to what yarn to knit it in. I've narrowed it down to 2 stash options, I'm pretty sure that both will eventually become Stella sweaters, it's just a question of which one first. Option number one is my own aran weight yarn in an "accidental" colourway:

It's very similar to Stormy, but with a brighter blue, I quite like it, and think that it would make a lovely sweater. The next choice, which is what I had originally intended to use before I remembered that I had the above skeins, is Araucania Yarns Magallanes, 4 skeins that I picked up on super sales at Elann a while back.

Is it just me or are those 4 skeins pretty dramatically different? I knit a swatch with it and it knits up quite nicely, really subdued turquoises and browns. I think I'll probably make Stella's sweater out of the second option, it's already wound into cakes and is all ready to go, and I can't really see myself knitting anything else with it, so this is just the use for it.

And just incase you've forgotten how cute my little Stella is, here she is sitting with me as I eat an apple. She loves apples and sits like this every time I eat one. It cracks me up!

Crazy socks

I've been wanting to knit the super popular Leyburn sock pattern for a while now. I have a couple skeins of multicoloured sock yarn that needed to be matched up to the perfect project, and I think that this is definitely it.

This is BFMA Socks that Rock lightweight in the Seastone colourway (not available at the moment). To tell you the truth, it's a little nuts. Somehow in the photo the sock looks calm, very colourful, but reasonable. In real life they are screaming bright! I think it's the yellow that's a tad overwhelming in this colourway. The blue, green and purple all play together nicely, but the yellow really stands out. It's all good, I think my sister likes to make a statement with her socks, so these may get gifted to her. I've got a couple slightly more subdued skeins of STR in the stash that will make great Leyburns. I think that this is a perfect pattern to yarn pairing. It's so hard to find a good pattern for variegated yarns, this one definitely fits the bill.

Before I could cast on for socks, I had to finish my Flower Girl Cardigan.

And I did! It's lovely and adorable and sparkly and all the things I thought a Flower Girl needed for her big day. My cousin's wedding is this coming weekend, hopefully I'll get some good shots of Abby wearing it.

Happy knitting!