socks, stairs and dog love

 Right, so there were lots of other things that started with an 'S' this weekend. Namely SNOW. Lots and lots and lots of beautiful snow. However, it seems that I only took photos of the dogs, so I chose to leave the snow bit out of my collection of 'S' words in the title. Sorry, I do become distracted by the dogs at times...

 

Leading up to Christmas, I was in a sock knitting frenzy. Happily knitting sock after sock whilst working on my favourite socks pattern and dyeing up colours for sock kits. At the end of it all, both my parents benefited from a new pair of socks, and I just got round to photographing them this weekend. Above are my dad's in a Bronte and Mustard Seed combo that I'm quite liking.

And below, if you can see past the dog, are my mum's. These were the inspiration for the Sea Storm/Ghost/Dew Drop colour combination in the kits...and that's just what they are!

After a few minutes of pushing dogs out of the way, I just gave up and clicked away hoping to get a shot of 2 socks in focus...I think there's at least one in there...

There are so many delightful distractions outside the window in Mooresburg; wind, leaves, falling snow, any movement or noise at all...

...and so, the dogs danced around in between the socks and the camera enjoying the little bits of snow falling from the sky.

Oh, here's one of the socks!

legs...

tails...

behinds...

it's all cute really, so I'm not going to complain. Silly dogs. 

So I did manage to get a few decent sock pictures, but I think I like the dog-filled pictures better anyway...

The sock KAL is still going on in the Ravelry group until the end of March, still lots of time to join in! It has been so much fun to see Viola socks popping up, and some really lovely versions of the Favourite Sock pattern as well!

Like these, knit by the lovely traceyrr. She kindly test knit the pattern for me and made these beautiful socks in the process! Tracey's colour combo is Dew Drop (main) with Titus contrast. Thanks Tracey!

I have a pretty great prize in mind for this sock KAL as well, and I'll be dyeing that up this week so that I can share it with you soon. Stay tuned!

As for the second 'S' in the title of today's post, hooray, stairs are in place! my little dye studio now has access directly into the proper house - such a useful thing when there's 4 feet of snow outside the door!

And this seems to be the best photo I managed to take of the stairs over the weekend. I must have been really distracted by the cute dogs. Happily, I also discovered a new vantage of the studio space. It's looking pretty good!

If the weather had been on my side, last weekend would have seen running water in the shed as well. As it was, the brave plumber was rushing about Grey County fixing flooded basements and frozen pipes all over the place. I'll just have to content with my stairs for the moment.

January Sky

January is almost gone (already!) It went by in a flash for me, likely because there were so many big and exciting things going on...shed building, fabric printing, sticker painting, yarn dyeing, mini skein making, pattern writing and book printing and...you get the idea. I worked like a maniac on Kickstarter rewards, and had a blast doing it! Amongst those rewards is the first ever Viola yarn club.

I am really excited about this club- it's very close to my heart. Members will receive 4 lots of yarn throughout 2016. Each package will contain 3 skeins of Mooresburg DK in a completely exclusive club colourway! Each of the four colourways will be inspired by the season in Mooresburg. The first installment was sent out just this week, a few of those packages may have even reached their new homes by now!

I've called this colourway January Sky, and I'm sure you've figured out why. When I returned to Canada last winter, my first memories of Mooresburg and Canada were silvery blue skies, full of snow and ice and wind and beautiful clouds. I love winter sunrises, when the night's frost sparkles in a hint of warm low light. Golden, pink and peach fading into mauve. Mooresburg has great big skies and amazing sunrises!

And so I set about putting all of those colours onto some yarn. There are tiny mauve and golden hints on a greyed out icy blue colour. January Sky is very subtle and soft, but just like a grey winter sky, is full of colour upon closer inspection. Hope all the club members out there enjoy it!

Next up will be Spring. I have a few ideas, but have to wait for the season to arrive before I will know what comes next. I'm having loads of fun with this club, what took me so long to get round to this?!

HAPPY 2016!!!

After a lovely holiday in Mooresburg, I've spent the past couple of days settling back into Toronto and work and the recent cold spell we're experiencing. My holiday time in Mooresburg seemed to happen in slow motion, and my return to reality has been even more jarring as a result. It's taken me the past 2 days to jump back in, but I'm here now!

My long and luxurious break provided lots of opportunity for exploring (yay!) and knitting (the best!)

 All the pairs of my Favourite Socks are finished. Ends woven in, photographed and ready to be given to their various recipients (not one single pair is for me this time, which feels pretty good I must say). If you can believe it, I still love knitting these socks. I've even got the yarn all ready for my next pair!

 

There was, unavoidable, a lag in studio productivity over Christmas and the New Year, but it was not completely without progress. The insulation is in, the insulation is in!!! Wahoo! I KNOW that if you had tried to talk to me about spray foam insulation a year ago I would have glazed over and thought about mermaids instead. All that has changed now. It's so cozy, so toasty and (my favourite bit) so PINK! I'm going to be sad to cover up that lovely colour...

As the weather in Mooresburg turned quite blustery and cold, my little shed remained warm and comfy even without the heat connected! I have my eye on a teeny little woodburner that should be just the right thing to heat this space. 

Next week a few local Amish carpenters are putting up these lovely wall boards. Can't wait!

Happily, I was able to explore a couple of new (to me) trails that are very close to the store. Both run through abandoned farms, sugar shacks and fields and are now protected land. Miles of beautiful stone walls, the remains of tiny cottages and old forest seemed to be everywhere.

 

I could go on with the pictures...forever...but I will stop there. It was so nice to take the time for long walks, fresh air and beautiful scenery. Back in Toronto, I'm jumping back into work feeling reinvigorated and ready to face the long to do list that is 2016. 

Happy New year to all!!

SNOW in Mooresburg

It's been a week since the launch of Viola meets Mooresburg, and what a week it has been! The number of people who have supported the campaign, and each person's generosity, has been staggering! I think I was a bit delirious...

I cannot say enough 'THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU' !!!!! So thanks a bunch!

My delirium is slowly winding down now, and I've just spent a lovely weekend up at the store working out the best ways to use the unexpected donations, and the first step was simple...insulation!

As Mooresburg and all of Gray Bruce was dumped on by our first big snowfall of the year, winter boots and down coats appeared in every Tim Hortons (non-Canadians, Tim Hortons is a cultural institution in here...you can google it, but you might not get what the big deal is) it became very clear that winter was officially here. With it...COLD. The cold weather is here to stay, and my little shed still has cracks in the walls and doors that I can see through. Not for long!

 When planning this project, we considered a couple of options; the normal, pink stuff...I always loved it just because it's pink. Certainly the most affordable option, but quite time consuming to fit into all the uneven nooks and crannies of my space. The other option was spray foam, certainly more costly but better R value (look at me using the lingo!) way faster, more efficient and critter deterrent! 

The choice is easy now - spray foam all the way! The studio space will retain hear more efficiently (and the reverse in the hot summer, of course). The job of insulating will be completed in just one day, no time to waste with the cold closing in around us. AND, spray foam is apparently like building a fortress against critter invasion! This aspect was very appealing to me, being in such a rural spot I'll take all the help I can get. There are lots mice and bugs up there, but they're not getting into my yarn!

So that's the latest studio news...

back in Toronto, I'm gearing up for a busy week of dyeing, knitting, pattern writing and organizing Kickstarter rewards. The Favourite Sock pattern is coming along very well, and seems to have given me the excuse to cast on even more and more and more socks. Not such a bad thing!

I will leave you with this lovely pile of natural Mooresburg DK, ready to get coloured in this week. I'm so excited to get working on these rewards!

the Store

I've been back in Canada for 4 months now. Time has passed quickly so far, although it still feels like I left Devon yesterday. Strange how that goes. Canada sure has been busy over these past months. Spending time between  two homes - good ol' Toronto and the new house in Mooresburg. My parents bought the house just over a year ago, and I have been enjoying as many visits as I can fit in. The house itself is beautiful (of course, I seem to have forgotten to take a photo of it...too distracted by sticks and snow). It used to be a general store, and is filled with beautiful old bits and bobs. Spending time there feels like stepping back in time slightly; cooking on the wood stove, entertaining ourselves without the internet (gasp!). Long walks and lots of wildlife. It's lovely!

So here are just a few of my favourite photos from my time at 'the Store'. The Mooresburg General store, that is...

Spilled potatoes by the side of the road...no idea...

The Amish schoolhouse. Brave folks were using the outhouse when winter reached -35!

Lucy the dog having just lost a precious stick in the snow. She was not happy.

There is a river running through the property. This is one of the many surprise bogs (that's what I call them) that I continuously seem to be walking into. Lucky it's all been frozen over recently

If I had been missing snow whilst in England, this winter in Mooresburg certainly made up for it. It's been seriously beautiful.

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!