Day 15 - The Fuzzy Yarn Becomes a Shawl

After spending a few hours in Ravelry trying to decide on the right pattern for the lovely Rico Glitz Aran yarn I finally decided on Sumac Leaf Shawl by Anna Dalvi. I purchased and downloaded the pattern and got off to a start in the wee hours of January 15th.





The yarn is so incredibly soft! And the colour is lovely. It looks like spun gold! Here's the image of the yarn for a second time:




I didn't knit much on Saturday night (this post is from Saturday, just didn't get to it until Sunday) but I did get two full repeats of the pattern done plus the initial repeat so there's three repeat so far.



I love the way it's working up. I might, however, find I hate this yarn. It's seriously a magnet for dog fur and if you know anything about me, you know that I have 4 very sheddy dogs! So even though I LOVE the feel of this yarn, I might give this shawl away :o(




Well I'm putting the shawl to the side for a bit while I cast on the Ear Flap Hat that matches the Lofty Cable Mittens that I just made. Hopefully I'll have enough yarn.

Later peeps.


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Day 14 - Finished Mitts and Fuzzy Yarn

Well I think we hit most of the yarn stores in our general vicinity this week. Today Brenda and I decided to take a road trip to a place I saw a while back that just had a sign that said Antiques and a little sign hung under that that simply said Yarn. Mmmmm, Antiques AND yarn!! A little slice of heaven right there!

We drove for a bit because I had only seen this place a couple of times, this is on a road just west of Owen Sound. I marked the place with a push pin. It was called Back To Basics Farm but unfortunately, they were closed today.



Well, seeing as that place was closed, we decided to head on over to Owen Sound to Riverside Yarns. (http://www.riversideyarns.com/)

Colleen always has some stupendous deals going on and today was no exception. I needed a long circular needle to work on a shawl so I got myself a 3.75mm 80cm long Addi-Turbo. Ooooh, I love my Addis!

I of course couldn't pass the bin of sale yarn, neither could Brenda. We both got three skeins of Rico Glitz yarns. She got the copper colourway, I got the gold. I think I've selected the shawl I'm going to make. I found Sumac Leaf Shawl by Anna Dalvi on Ravelry for $8.00 so I purchased and downloaded it. This yarn is Aran weight and this shawl will be worked on 6.5mm needle. I have lots of 6.5 mm Addis in all different lengths from working on the worsted weight Girasole.

Here's the yarn:




It's Rico Design Glitz Aran. It's mostly acrylic with a little Kid mohair (45% acrylic, 45% polyamid and 10% Kid mohair) And here's a close-up of it:




After I spent a couple of hours in Ravelry looking for the right pattern for that yarn, I promised myself I would finish the mitts first before starting the shawl. I want to make the ear flap hat that goes with the Lofty Cable Mitts so I downloaded and printed the pattern for that. I might start that on the weekend. Sigh, too many projects I want to do, so little time in a day.

Here is a pic of the finished Lofty Cable Mitts:



All-in-all, it was a good week. I spent a bunch of time with my friend Brenda, my dogs and the big old 4X4 truck traveling the snow-covered back roads of mid-western Ontario in pursuit of the almighty fibre.

From Listowel to Camilla Valley to Owen Sound and Springmount. What a fun week! Now, my mitts are finished, what do I cast on next? The shawl? The hat? Something different? Decisions, decisions.

Good night and good knit all!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad, photos taken with iPhone 3.0 running OS4.0. Map is screen capture from Google Maps.

Day 13 - Kertzer Tweed Montage Bulky Hat & Mitts

I finished the hat the other night but I haven't done the edging yet. I think it's a bit big and floppy. I think I'll do a little swatch of this yarn and see if it will felt a bit. There's also the option of lining it or this hat could become the lining of another hat. Not sure what to do yet but I just love this yarn!





Today I finished the first mitten and got halfway through the second one. They feel really good on. I can't wait to wear them!






The pattern is really well written and easy to follow. It's called Lofty Wool Cable Mittens by Crystal Palace Yarns and is available on Ravelry for free. They're worked on 5.5 mm DPNs (US#9).

There's also a pattern for a matching hat. I wish I'd seen that before I knit the hat above. Hopefully I'll have enough yarn to make another hat. If not, I see another road trip to Listowel to grab some more of this yarn in my near future.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad, photos taken with an iPhone 3 running OS4.0

Day 12 - Hand Creams for Knitting

I love the winter but with the nice wood heat comes very dry hands. Dry hands and knitting is not pleasant. But worse than dry hands when knitting is hands with greasy hand cream so I'm always on the hunt for a good hand cream that moistens my hands without leaving a nasty residue.

Brenda hooked me up with a tube of this cream. She tells me quilters use it because it doesn't leave a greasy residue that would then be transferred to the quilts.



I really like it but the other day I stumbled upon a different cream that meets not only the requirement of non-greasy but also it's Canadian made, less than 100km from us (78 to be exact), and is natural.








I googled them but they don't seem to have any web presence. I did buy this lotion from a Mennonite store so maybe they aren't online. I thought it was an odd spelling of the name Reid but it's apparently a mistake on the label. I was curious to see where they were so I used google maps to find them. I feel even better about buying this cream now. It appears that it's manufactured right on the farm!





The store where I purchased this cream is Misty Meadows Market, located in Conn, Ontario. Not open on Sundays. They do not accept Debit or Credit cards so take cash.

Conn is located on Hwy 89 just east of Mount Forest.

I didn't have much time to knit today because it's Wednesday. I did, however, make a big supper of Prime Rib for my hubby and one son. I knit for a wee bit on the mitts, here's a pic of the progress as of tonight:




The cables stand out more in the lighter areas. I am totally in love with this yarn.

Well, tomorrow morning my guys head back to the city to work so I should be able to get some knitting done.

L8r peeps.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad, photos taken with iPhone. Map is a screen shot from Google Maps.

Day 11 - Camilla Valley Farms

Today Brenda and I and the dogs headed off to Camilla Valley Farms to check out their yarns and knitting needles.

http://www.camillavalleyfarm.com/index.htm

It's a great little place on a farm on the Blind Line just south of 20 Side Road in Amaranth. They are a weaver's supply house mostly and I've been there once before to buy hand cards but this time she had LOTS more yarn. I didn't take any pictures in there this time but I did buy a few things.

I got a skein of sock yarn.





Because you know, I don't have near enough sock yarn but I do have a great weakness when it comes to 1) Sock yarn, and 2) things that are blue & green.

I got a cone of 2-ply waste yarn for the sock machine for $2.00! That's a lot of yarn right there for $2.00.






And I spoiled myself with a new pottery coffee cup.







Not ceramic, pottery, made by Pine Ridge.





There's just something about drinking from real pottery and the glaze on this cup is nice and smooth. I've only had water in it so far but I'm looking forward to having a cup of tea in it in the morning.

I finished knitting the ear-flap hat but I haven't done the edge yet. I did cast on the first mitten that I'm knitting with the same yarn. I've gotten past 2 full repeats of the cable pattern. I find that the dark yarn hides the cables a bit but I'm still loving the way it's looking.







I'm actually not feeling too great right now. My stomach has been doing somersaults for the last while so I took a dose of Pepto-Bismol and brought my iPad and knitting upstairs. After I finish this blog entry, I'll either knit for a bit or just crash out. Hopefully I'm not getting sick like so many around me. Fingers crossed for the morning!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad, photos taken with iPhone.

Day 10 - Bulky Ear-Flap Hat

Well hello. The thing I thought might happen happened. Weekends are sometimes busy around here and I neglected my blog this weekend. I was thinking about just taking a couple of photos from an archive and making a blog entry but I didn't.

Today Brenda and I headed over to Listowel to Spinrite. That's the Bernat Factory Outlet that's about an hour from where we live. It was a beautiful, sunny but cold winter day here. The roads have lots of snow on them but we were in the big old 4X4 with my two younger dogs, Penny and Bear.

I went on a purple yarn buying spree. I got two large balls of Kertzer Tweed Montage (bulky weight) in a self-striping purple and blue. I got 2 more balls of Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo in the SAME colourway (grape purple) and dyelot as the other 3 balls I have of it so now I can make the Bitterroot shawl with it. I got 3 balls (buy 2, get 1 free) of Freedom Spirit by Twilleys of Stamford in a beautiful purples, pinks, and blues. I also bought 7 balls of Bernat Jacquards in the natural colourway for a sweater.

I finished the Boneyard Shawl tonight, even ran in the ends! I don't much care for that part but it's done and I can wear it next time I'm outside to keep my neck warm.

I noticed when I was out the other day that most of my hats and all of my mitts are acrylic and there's no two ways about it, acrylic is NOT warm. Thus the purchase of all the purple wools today. I'm going to make stuff for me to keep me warm out here on the farm.

Tonight I started a Bulky Ear-Flap hat. Here is the start:




After I took that picture, I did finish the second flap. The self-striping is gradual on this yarn so both ear flaps are blue. I'm LOVING the feel of this yarn. It's 56% wool, 40% acrylic and 4% viscose. It is ever so soft and squishy! Hand wash, lay flat to dry...oh well..It's still worth it!

Well, it's around -20°C tonight. I'm feeding the fire and knitting for a while before I hit the hay. Even the dogs only go outside to do their business and then they're right back at the door.

Until tomorrow...


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Day 7 - Finishing the Boneyard

Well, I think that's one of my fastest projects ever. I casted-on the Boneyard shawl on January 3rd and I could bind it off now but I might do one more 12 row repeat. I finished the second skein tonight but I thought it needed a bit more size to it so I wound up the 3rd skein I have of this yarn. Whatever is left over will be awesome for making some toy clothes.




I think I'll take it to our Breakfast Club meeting in the morning and get the opinion of my friend, Brenda, who is a much more experienced knitter than I am.

The designer of this shawl, Stephen West, talks about using Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind off so I want to research that before I cast-off as well. This shawl will be used as a scarf really. I don't like when my face and neck get cold when I'm out walking or out on the snowmobiles.

It was quite cold today and I stayed in for the most part. I spent a lot of time on Ravelry today trying to pick a pattern for the laceweight yellow yarn and another friend posted a pattern in Facebook today called Batik Shawl By Kitman Figueroa. It's so beautiful and uses a 4-ply fingering weight yarn. I'm wondering if I have enough of the Baby Bamboo to make this....

Well, I have my hubby home for the weekend so I don't know what the plans will be but I suspect there'll be some knitting involved.

P.S. I've been goofing around with the design and layout of this blog. I need a specific background that I can't find in the predefined ones and any custom one that I try to put in messes up the way the blog looks. I'm still on the hunt but for today, I like this one.


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