Christmas Crafts!!

I've been a busy little elf! Here's a family of hats.
Man's Cable Hat from Ravelry

Slouchy hat, also from Ravelry

And a slouchy beret (perfect for going over big hair!)

All of those were knit with Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick.

Next up is a shawl based on the first part of an icelandic shawl pattern. Knit out of knitpicks palette

I started painting some balls yesterday. My bells are a little off but it definatly looks homemade! (I've just started some more balls, stay tuned for the final batch, they are turning out really nice!)

Mom painted some penquins. Aren't they stinkin' cute?! I'm going to glaze them and sparkle them up for her.

I did up some bookmarks and wine charms. Overall I'm pleased with the results.

And I'm still knitting, painting and I haven't even yet started to sew. Yikes!

Lots on the go!

First I finished a matching hat before the 9th Annual Maritime Spinning Retreat but it was too warm to wear it.

I had a great time at this year's retreat in Fredericton, New Brunswick. When I came home I slept 12 hours Sunday night! I bought some alpaca from Last Resort Farms. Her name is Maya. She is the brown spun here. The white is kid mohair that we got in our gift bags. I'm going to make this into a falling leaves scarf after Christmas for me. I'm really hoping I have enough for a scarf and hat.

While I was at the retreat I started a pair of Maine Morning Mitts in Patons SWS. They knit up super quick and I like how the thumb gets incorporated. These will be a Christmas gift.

I was going to make a shawl out of the fingering yarn I won at last years retreat but after a couple of attempts I've decided these will be socks. Colourful yarn, eh? It's from French Hill Farm in Maine. It's wool, mohair and nylon.

I'm going to do an Icelandic Shawl for my grandmother out of some Knitpicks palette for Christmas.Mom and I went to the Christmas at the Forum Craft show last weekend and she picked up a ball of alpaca that matched an alpaca scarf Granny Tan gave her. So I knit her a hat to match her scarf.

I also have a red beret on the needles for mom that I'm hoping to finish by the weekend so she can take it to Cape Breton for a music festival. I have to stop giving her stuff now and start saving them for Christmas.

I'm also working on a pair of cabled booties for my great aunt that need to be done soon in case my mom goes to Newfoundland in early december.

I also bought 2 bags of %60 bamboo/40% merino, each 1/2 lb, one grey and one pink. I'm working on the grey now. I hope to have enough on to do a shawl from each. My Christmas list seems reasonable until I realized today that it is just 43 days until Christmas. Oh crap.

All for me!

I know Christmas is just over 2 months away but I've been on a kick of doing things for myself and I must say, it's been kinda nice! I finished the alpaca cowl I started. The pic is turned on its side for some reason. You can't see the colours well but it's brown and white and goes perfectly with my camel hair coat! The pattern is Lion Brand Lace Luxe Cowl

I have started a scarf out of bamboo and a novelty yarn. You can't see the colours well. The bamboo is grey and the novelty yarn is blue/grey/beige. I'll try to get a better pic when it's done.

So I finished the cowl for Nocturne at Night. I was warm and toasty! Oh, that may have been the wine...


I also finished the baby sweater I was working on. I just need buttons and it will be on it's way! It's Elizabeth Zimmer's baby sweater on two needles (but done like the adult version) with Debbie Bliss' Rialto Aran.

And now I'm working on a lacy cowl for me out of 100% Alpaca. 12 sleeps to the spinning retreat! Can't wait to see the Moncton crew!!

Wrist Warmers

This weekend I'm heading out to Nocturne at Night, which is an art exhibition spread all over the city of Halifax. Last year I missed the event so I'm really looking forward to hanging with some friends, seeing some art and maybe having a drink or two. Since the event is all over the city there will be a lot of outdoor time. It's getting pretty chilly here with the forecast for Sat. night Clear and +4 (that's about 40 degrees F). So I needed knitwear! Something with a little pizazz for a night out. I was planning on doing some wrist warmers for my step-sister in law to match a cowl I did for her last Christmas. I got one done and was going to do a set for myself but it didn't go as well with my coat.

Nice though, eh? Moonlight Mohair. Cast on 31 stitches, knit for 8 inches and sewed up with a 1 inch opening for the thumb

So I used some different yarn to do another pair for myself. I used moonlight mohair and paton's bling, bling (discontinued). It goes with my coat and I'm working on a cowl/neck gaiter to match. I'll get a pic with my coat when I'm done.

Dennis' Birthday Vest

Finally done! And I'm not yet 2 months late with it. Luckily it has just started to get cool enough to wear it so it's not like Dennis was looking for it before now. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!



I got the pattern from Granny Tan. It's from Knitter's Magazine 92, Fall 2008 and it's called Double Identity. I used Nature Spun by Brown Sheep Company in Blueberry. It's a little darker in person.

Memorial Socks

They are finally done! And it only took about 2 years.... These were the socks I was working on when my Nana was in the hospital, around the time of her funeral, when I went to Sweden to say goodbye to Harry and when Grampie passed away. This is why they are called my memorial socks. The yarn is 50% cashmere/silk and 50% alpaca from Belfast Mini-Mills. It's gorgeous. The pattern is from an old Paton's book that both my grandmother and my nana had copies of. Now I'm too afraid to wear them because I don't want to wear a hole in them! And since it took so long to knit them both, one is slightly smaller than the other which happens to me when I take so long to get the second sock done (yes, this has happened before...)


I miss you Nana.

Another Wedding Throw!

Once again I've finished another wedding throw. And I did it just before it got really hot! It's no fun working on something so big when it hot out. I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. I hope the happy couple likes it... (if not I'll willingly take it back ; ) Once again I used Knitpicks Suri Dream Alpaca and their Lace 1-2-3 pattern
Oh, and I had it done in time for the one year anniversary deadline. Too bad the happy couple STILL hasn't gotten it yet. The road to somewhere is paved with good intentions....

Spring Yarn

Granny Tan had given me some yarn some time ago that screamed "SPRING" so I finally knit with them this year. At first I thought I'd do a potato chip scarf with the green as the base and the pink multicolour as the trim. But then I thought a potato chip scarf for spring/summer may not be all that useful. I wanted a wrap that could work as a scarf too but would be light enough for summer. The green yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk. The pink yarn is a blend of 3 different novelty yarns. I went with a mesh pattern and was going to use the pink yarn to add on around the edge but once I got it done I decided the pink yarn would go nicely woven through the mesh.
I always get compliments when I wear it.

I had enough of the pink leftover so I made a short Montego Bay Scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. It's a nice accent piece. I had a hard time getting a pic that shows the real colour.

Wedding Throw

It's done! The happy couple has only been married for a year and one month (who, me late?!). I was worried about how it would turn out when I was knitting it but I am really happy with the end result. The yarn is Knitpicks Suri Dream Hand Dyed in Falling Leaves , the pattern is Lace 1-2-3 also from Knitpicks.

The colours pooled differently at the beginning of the throw even thought all the yarn was from the same dye lot. I'm going to say that is due to the hand dyed nature of the yarn. I love it.

Other Projects

I have been working on one knitting project which I still can't share. However I've done a few other things. Mom and I belong to a Christmas Ornament of the month club. The first month was painting.

Oh wait, those were some leftover ornaments from an older kit. We did them first. We still have 3 to do from this years club but they look quite challenging and the instructions are pretty scarce. We'll get to them later...

The 2nd kit involves ornament balls that you stick sequins and glittery bits into with pins. Mom may tackle those this weekend. The 3rd kit is a set of 5 cross stitch on plastic canvas oranaments. I did the first one and just need to trim the felt on the back and it will be done. It was quite fun.

Mom and I are eagerly the 4th kit which should be here any day. We're quite enjoying our craft time!

Mom's February Lady's Sweater

It's done! And I can finally blog about it. I still haven't seen it on my Mom as she picked it up while I was out. But I'm pleased with how it turned out. I knit it in Cascades 220 Heathers. My hands are shot to hell now but the end result is quite good. On to projects that aren't knit with wool!

Babies!

Little people in knit wear! (and a mommy with no knit wear...which now that I think about it is just wrong...)

This past November the world welcomed miss Allison. Miss Emily got a baby sister. Aren't they cute?! When Miss Emily was born I had just started knitting and so Granny Tan knit her baby sweater. Now I'm a more experienced knitter but I have never done a sweater so I thought tackling the heartbreakingly cute baby kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting would be a safe bet. It's a great knit. I'm thinking this would be cute in an adult size...

I don't know why the pic is on its side. It's not like that on my computer. I didn't take it sideways. This is a blogger issue. I could spend hours trying to fix it but just turn your head. It'll be way easier. I've let it go, you should too.

This is Miss Emily's hat. The yarn is soooo cute. It's Sirdar baby tiny tots bubbles. And like the sweater, I made them both big enough that they'll be able to wear them for a while.


See I've been knitting, really I have. I have one other secret project on the go and another wedding gift. I'll share later

Hand Spun Wrap

I wasn't feeling well a couple of weekends ago so I thought it was the perfect time to start my wrap out of the hand spun i've worked on during the last 2 annual spinning retreats.... As I was knitting it I realized how really bad I was at spinning. Some of the yarn was so tightly spun and then there were bits that were barely spun. And I think I should have used bigger needles.

It ended up more of a shoulder cape than a wrap but it is warm.

And the "not feeling well" that inspired me to start this wrap ended up being a full blown flu that lasted for about a week and a half. Next year - Flu Shot!!

A scarf and a purse

I hit a great sale after Christmas of Patons SWS yarn. It inspired me to attempt the stripped scarf spoken of so highly by the yarn harlot. It really is fun to watch the colours come together. Two different balls of stripped yarn, 2 rows each, 1X1 rib.... who would have thought! See, you don't have to use the very expensive Noro yarn, you have options!

I'm heading to Quebec next weekend for Carnival so I thought I'd knit something for the occasion. Granny Tan had given me this yarn that she had dyed and spun with some silver. It was probably enough for hat and mitts but since it's wool and I'm allgeric, I opted for a felted bag.
I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Perfect for strolling around inside the old city walls in Quebec City! I can't wait. See the silver flecks, that was the silver thread Granny Tan had plied with the wool. Very cool.

Post Christmas Summary

I hope everyone had a good holiday season. Mine seemed too short. And since I now sit in front of a computer every day for work, I didn't feel like looking at one over the holidays. I did knit but I didn't even get pics of everything I did. I was in a a "get 'er out" kind of mood. I did get a few pics.

I did a fingerless glove, snood and leg warmer set for my niece.

I knit another snood and fingerless gloves for my sister-in-law. Thing about the fingerless gloves.. they can be used on really cold days over you gloves or mittens to give you an extra layer of warmth. It's -22 Celsius here today with the wind chill. I wore my fingerless gloves over my mittens and I was toasty!

I also knit my great aunt another pair of cable booties because rumor has it the last pair I knit for her are almost worn out. It's a light colour for a slipper type sock but it was all I had on hand, the colour is pretty and I know they are nice and warm with this yarn (knitpicks wool of the Andes)

I also knit my mom a wrap, my step brother felted slipper socks and his wife a snood. I think that's it. It was a pretty short list this year. Next year I'm trying to convince everyone to take the money you spend on gifts for others and buy things for yourself that you really want. I am also starting to try and stock pile some FO items so I can be ready but we'll see how that works out.

I was determined I would knit something for myself over the holidays. I had this baby llama wool that was soooo soft. I don't think I'm allergic to llama so I knit myself a hat. I had a bit leftover so I made a headband too.

The pattern is out of a new book I got for Christmas, One Skein Wonders. I love books like this because how often to you pick up a skein or two of some yarn you really love without a project in mind? I do it all the time.

I have some great things on the go so hopefully I'll get a little more diligent about taking pics and sharing. So stay tuned!