Wednesday, April 29, 2015

lots of knitting and reknitting

I believe that I mentioned in a previous post that I have been SUPER inspired with the knitting these days. I suppose that dyeing yarn again, and thus being surrounded by yarn most days is bound to inspire...if not I ought to be thinking of a job change. Phew, a sign that I'm on the right track! 


I seems, however, that I have become slightly over confident. All of a sudden, I think I can knit a new jumper every week...at the same time as socks, shawls and I don't even know what else. The result of this enthusiasm has been a lot of making mistakes, ripping back, re-knitting, ripping back again, re-knitting and so on. Oh well. Meanwhile the to knit list is consistently growing and growing and growing. 

Rather than grumble about it (more than I already have done just now) I think it would be much more fun to share some of my wonky knits and knitting dreams. So here it is, comin' at ya. All the knitting thoughts that have kept me awake at night...it's all too exciting!


First off, my Norn! I've loved this pattern for ages, well since the magazine came out (2012!) and just never got round to knitting it. I realized a couple of months ago that I've been hoarding Pom Pom magazines since the beginning, but not knit a single project from any. Well, I can say with certainty that all of that nonsense is about to change! I love this simple little crop top. Garter stitch, a little cable, hand dyed yarn. I love it all! The pattern calls for the Uncommon Thread DK. I have some, I love it, but I chose to knit this is my own MCN Worsted. These 3 skeins of Raven were sitting in my stash when I came home. They had already been knit into some failed projects and I felt it was time to give them a good home...final resting...shape, if you will. The pattern is simple and clear, I thought I'd be able to knit this up in a couple of days. Well, I have messed it up countless times by now (all because I'm not paying attention and/or rushing). Here she is, in what I hope is going to be her final stage of re knitting. Fingers crossed that the next photos of this project will be on me, finished.

My next tale of woe is a great one. I shared some progress pictures of this mohair cardigan a little while back, in this post. Well it was a slog to knit...but I pushed on because I was so excited about having a brioche, mohair, batwing, colourblock cardigan (as anyone would!) Here is the cardigan, almost finished. I just had a wee bit of sewing up left to go when I tried it on at last...and learned that the sleeves hang like giant, pucker-y, crumpled, lumpy capes. Sad. So I have now begun the painstaking process of pulling out all of that knitting in mohair and am pondering what on earth I can do to use the little bits of yarn that now remain. Sad day.


There has been a success, I knit this lovely Lila jumper in Noro Silk Garden Solo. I wore my Lila to the Toronto Knitter's Frolic this past Saturday and  attracted rather a lot of attention. Never have so many people wanted to stroke me before! It seems that many people have been slightly dubious about just how this beautiful colour would knit up. I'm feeling well chuffed with myself for being the bold person to go forward and knit an entire mental birthday cake jumper in the stuff!

Plans for this afternoon are a fun adventure walk to the lake and taking some proper photos of me in my 'mental birthday cake jumper' !



Next up in the cast on queue are a couple...a few shawls that I've had my eye on...

I couldn't help but hold onto 2 skeins of Dusk Merino Lace that I dyed up for the Knitter's Frolic...sorry folks, but it was my favourite.


So, the lovely merino lace is going to become one great big Halligarth shawl! It's been ages since I did any serious lace knitting, so I'm really looking forward to getting into this one.


Next up, some Wellington Fibres 3 ply. It's a lustrous, soft and fluffy combination of their own beautiful mohair and wool. I could not leave this behind when I visited the mill and farm at their open weekend a little while back ( more to come in this later). Anyhow, I cannot wait to cast on a 006 in this yarn...garter stitch AND tassles. I cannot want for anything more!


And last, but not least I have specially dyed some of my favourite colours of Polwarth and Alpaca to knit up a really, really big Quill Shawl. I have wanted to knit this pattern since the beginning of time it seems, but never had enough of the right yarn. Well, I've finally fixed that problem by MAKING exactly the right amount of the perfect yarn!

There are so many more ideas and projects to share, but you must be getting a little bored of me by now. I shall save it for next time!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Knitter's Frolic Time!


Knitter's of Toronto know that the end of April is an exciting time - it's time for the annual knitter's frolic! I've been rather sad to have missed the last 2...I think it was 2...being in England. In my Canada days of yore, spring came along with the added excitement of spending a day surrounded by lots and lots of yarn, super cool knitters and other fibre-y bits and bobs. Well, I am very pleased to be back in the right country at the right time of year and am SO going to be there!

Even more exciting, is that I've managed to dye up a wee bit of Merino Fingering and Merino Lace to contribute to the lovely selection of yarns that the fabulous folks of the Purple Purl are bringing along. Here's a few sneaky pics to tide you over until Saturday.

The Purl folks will be in the same spot as they always have...right inside the entrance. I'm going to be joining them first thing on Saturday morning, and I would love to say 'HI!' to any and all who are about! Hope to see you Saturday!



Thursday, April 9, 2015

shop update time!


At long last, the time has come for new yarns and goodies to appear in the shop. It's been a very busy month. Lots of plans are starting to take shape and lots more are appearing all the time! Perhaps the surge of creativity and inspiration here at Viola home base is due to the spring weather that is inching it's way back into our lives. Or maybe it's just because we love yarn and knitting, who knows!?

The next shop update is scheduled for...

Tuesday, April 14th @ 4pm EST

...details of the new Alpaca + Polwarth yarn, as well as the spinning fibre are both in previous posts. I could write another long post about how much I love that alpaca polwarth, but I will spare you the waffling. Also making appearances will be the lovely Merino Lace (an old favourite) and it's new big sister, Merino Singles 4-ply. The same soft and lustrous superwash merino, but a little bit thicker. I can't wait to  knit myself a dainty little cardi out of this one!



The happy task of labeling has already begun, made even better by the fact that I spent this week doodling and designing labels for the new yarns!





Just a couple of my favourite merino lace colours.