the big move approaches

 If you followed along with the Kickstarter campaign this winter, you already know that my current (soon to be former) dye studio is not so much of a studio, but a dark corner of a basement. Not ideal. I've made it work for a long time, developing a work routine that involves dodging paint cans, laundry hampers and stored Christmas decorations. Perhaps not what you would expect out of a work space, but I'm used to it. I'd like to think that I am pretty good at adjusting to strange situations and environments, sometimes I even think that I work better in them. So you can imagine the peculiar feeling I have about moving into a proper work space. One that I have designed to suit my needs...with light, storage space, work surfaces and drying areas that are not obscured by the Halloween mobile made of old turkey bones (I actually love this mobile) I know I'm going to get used to the new space. More than that, I'm sure that I will LOVE the new space...so long as I bring that mobile with me...

As the moving date draws near, I am scrambling to finish up lots of little jobs, clear out all the corners and generally get sorted. Starting fresh in a new space is just around the corner...

 Top priority is to move as little yarn as possible! I'll be dyeing up almost all of the yarn I have in stock for this update, which means big quantities in lots of bases. Sweaters for all (who want them, that is) I've been dyeing non stop for the past couple of weeks in preparation and yarn mountains are already forming on many surfaces about the house. These have become a common feature, but won't be around either once I'm into the new space.

 I'm hoping that this big update will tide everyone over for a wee while, as I will be taking a short break from dyeing once I make the move to Mooresburg - another reason for my frenzied prep. Not long, just a month or so.

 I will announce the date and time of this momentous and extra-large shop update very soon, along with some previews and my favourites (as always!) I haven't been able to share many pics just yet, but that hasn't stopped me from my usual project day dreaming and imaginary shopping. So stay tuned for more details...

For now, I am very excited to tell you that I will be offering a few items that are new to the etsy store...

...including NEW COLOURWAYS in sock kits, Mooresburg DK (woo hoo) and Viola meets Mooresburg totes for a start!  

In the mean while, the Sock KAL over in the Ravelry group is about to finish up. Just three days left to complete your Viola socks, which is lots of time! I have loved seeing the socks popping up over the course of this KAL, and am seriously excited about all of the sock kits that were knit over the course of the KAL as well. Thanks to everyone who has participated and shared their socks! I will be announcing the winner (chosen by random draw) in the Ravelry group on April 1st, so check in then!

Because I am obsessed, I decided to knit just one more pair for the KAL, so here's a peek at the first sock...

I'm using Mooresburg for the main colour, with, giant peach, dew drop and mustard seed contrasts!

 I've been knitting a lot of secret things recently, but here's one more that I can share....

It's a Garland pullover from Pom Pom magazine, issue 7. I have wanted to knit this thing from the moment the issue landed in my mailbox, and finally have cast it on! Inspired by Lydia and Sophie of the Pom Pom crew, who have both recently knit the pattern as well. I'm up to the armholes now, because I can't seem to put it down! Using Viola Mohair Lace...in an Eclipse colourway that I could not part with. So much fun!

Righto, off to finish up the foot on my second sock. Happy knitting!

finished laila

Last week my skilled camera friend Jeremy spent the day hanging out and managed to take some photos of me in my new laila jumper. He succeeded where so many others have failed to take a pictures of me with both my eyes open! It's a special gift that I have...pulling a dumb face and closing one eye exactly when the camera goes. Anyhoo, here's the jumper! I still love it and wear it every day, in spite of the climbing temperatures here in Toronto.

 

 

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!

a finished jumper

It's about time that I finished this little jumper up. I started knitting it at the beginning of the summer, almost immediately after I bought the yarn. I always feel so smug when I cast on yarn that I've just bought, it lets me pretend (just for a minute) that I'm one of those people who knits really quickly, finishes projects and doesn't accumulate more yarn than they could ever dream to knit in their own lifetime. That person is obviously me, but at least this little jumper let me pretend I was someone organized for a moment. 

The yarn is from Unwind. I tagged along with John and Juliet who were there with socks and yarn golore. It was SUCH a fun time, but I'm much too late to tell you about Unwind because all the organized people have already talked about it. 

I visited the Old Maiden Aunt stand late on the last day, and loved 3 colourways that remained only as single skeins. I love the challenge of making lots of little bits work, so I instantly decided to knit a bitty jumper combing all 3 colours. As soon as I arrived back to my North Devon home I set about planning the little jumper. And this is what I got...

 I love seed stitch. I love knitting it and I love the way it looks, so that was an easy choice! I also knew that I wanted to keep the shape simple, so there is a very slight 'A' line shaping in the sides of the body, and a super simple drop shoulder. I picked up stitches in the armholes and knit the sleeves down to the cuffs. Ran out of yarn at the elbow of the second sleeve, so there's a little bit of Viola merino fingering in Slate to finish off that last sleeve. 

I've been wearing this all over the place, and absolutely love it! It's inspired another crazy garment experiment...

....Which is this cardigan. I'm doubling Viola mohair lace with a 4 ply 100% alpaca yarn. Knit entirely in 1/2 brioche stitch, this crazy cardigan is going to have really deep batwing sleeves (in a different colour, because once again I have run out of yarn!) Shall keep ya posted on the mental mohair progress. Lots of great knitting going on these days!

 

I've finished something!

After a rather long spell of time in England where I was just not knitting much, I think I can safely say that I have my knitting enthusiasm back! Of course, I do not blame England, or any of my lovely friends and family there - no, they are not responsible for my lack of knitting. I put my knitting lull down to the fact that I wanted to enjoy my last little bit of time in the land that I love so much...knitting time took a dive while there were so many walks to go on, pubs to visit and adventures to be had!

Of course, one of the first things I did upon returning to Canada was to sort through ALL of my yarn...that's a lot. That's 2 country's worth of yarn! I quickly rediscovered 10 whole balls of Noro Kureyon!! It's a yarn that I love, but often the super-bright and totally mental colour combos are just too much for me (I spend most of my days collecting sticks, remember...they are mostly just brown...) But this, most fabulous colour way, I could manage, guess that's why I bought it! Anyhow, I set about deciding what to knit, and quickly realized that I wanted a cropped jumper that I could wear over top of my many flouncy frocks. I have lots of dresses and wear them constantly, but it's just too darn cold in Canadian winter to go without at least one wooly layer.

After lots of swatching and doodling and daydreaming I settled on a design. Deep raglan sleeves, a high neck (it's cozy!) little bobbles in a diamond-y pattern over the whole thing and (my favourite part of all) a brioche rib placket that is knit separately and sewn in. It's just one piece, all the way from the bottom hem to the cuffs! No need for bind-off stitches and grafting armpits and so on! Of course, I did knit the whole thing in pieces. I decided this was the only way to make the stripes do what I wanted...which was to be all higgldy-piggldy and not line up and not be the same thickness. I don't do too well with order or symmetry...

So after an awful lot of nattering, here is the jumper...

check out those side placket-y things!

over one of the flouncy frocks I mentioned

I really am this happy about my new jumper!

Of course, I cannot help but include a couple of pretty pictures. There have been some beautiful winter days by the lake recently...cold, but beautiful. There are just some of the textures and colours that I've been thinking about. 

Just look at that placket thing. I love it!