DEVON

As promised, here are some of my favourite photos from my recent visit to Lynton....I love them all really, but I've narrowed it down as much as possible.  I took advantage of every walking opportunity, walking is certainly my favourite thing to do in Devon! Hollerday Hill is a lovely little spot to walk, right in Lynton and I have spent lots of time stomping about up there. It's a beautiful big hill, with an Iron Age hill fort site at the tip top as well as the ruins of a Victorian mansion part way up. Trails curl around steep cliffs with beautiful views of the Bristol Channel. It's fab!

Many of these photos were taken on a day when the hill was covered in a giant cloud. Lynton below was clear and sunny, but at the top of the hill, everything was shrouded in a thick mist. It was beautiful!

Countisbury Hill, to the right, was under a similar shroud...

Whilst Valley of the Rocks to the left was snuggled into a pocket of sunshine. Pretty cool.

...and then there was YARNDALE! An unplanned adventure portion of my trip (not in Devon...but I'm moving chronologically here). How could I say no to a yarn-filled trip to Yorkshire?!

What a lovely time! Of course, I bought yarn...that I need so desperately (ahem). 3 skeins of Little Grey Sheep's new gotland lace, spun by the lovely John Arbon himself! I cannot remember the colour name because I tore the label off in a great haste to cast on a square shawl pattern that my lovely friend Frankie is working on...so far, it looks like this...

The lace is addictive and looking really great. Once I'm done with the center square, I'll be picking up stitches all the way round the edge to knit a seriously lovely border. Here she is, wearing her original shawl. I love it!!

More of my most favourite people ever, the lovely John and Juliet in their stand.

I had lots of fun doodling in the chalk boards on the John Arbon stand...

And the most beautiful surprise awaited us in the morning...a fence full of dewy webs. Beautiful!

That's about it. I will leave you with the Valley of the Rocks hotel roof. A very pretty sight.

lots of things happening

It has been quite a busy week around here. With Tuesday's etsy update, wrapping and packing till a million o'clock (which is super fun and I love doing!) - there has not been the knitting time I would have liked. We can't have everything, right?

Even though my fingers weren't knitting, it seems that my mind was ticking along and making some grand knitting plans. Most of these plans I am keeping to myself, only because there's less pressure to actually make them should I forget / move on...as I am prone to do. I have managed to channel my scattered creative energy into one new project this week, and it's a good one! 

I briefly mentioned in my post about the Viola Breaking into the Pretty KAL that my ambitious knitting list included a jumper knit in Speckled Mist, the colourway I designed for Loop. Well, it's happening folks!!! In my true fashion, I've already had to rip it out once...it's possible that I may have to again, but I don't mind a bit because I'm just loving the knitting! The yarn I dyed for Loop is Merino Fingering, and I've realized that I don't have a sweater knit in this stuff yet. Thank goodness that's about to change. I'm loving the super high twist springiness that's going on, and love knowing that it's also going to be durable because of it!

Once again, I am also making up the pattern as I go along (the reason for lots of ripping out). The trouble with me and creating patterns is that I have a vision of exactly what I want to make, but then I have to use math...and well, that's it. So I knit by trial and error; not the fastest, but it works for me.

Anyhow, here's the little bit I've knit of the neck so far...

...the plan is a simple (ha!) top-down raglan...still deciding what will happen at the bottom so stay tuned! I've also decided to use a variety of batches of Speckled Mist together in this jumper. This colour has a mind of it's own, let me tell you! I hung onto a little selection of skeins that are all quite varied, just because I loved them. Now they're all getting knit together. Sounds mental, probably. We'll all have to wait and see what happens!

 Another sad side effect of all my business is that I have not reported on the studio's progress in a while! Well, lots has been happening, but here's the big stuff...

...and I mean big stuff. Look at this truck! 

Last I mentioned we were all sweating away, digging out this hole (except Lucy the dog did not help, but mostly stood in the center of everything). The hole has since been filled in with gravel (lots of blisters later!) 

The hero of concrete day, Shane! A very handy friend who just so happened to totally know what he was doing; having worked on many a concrete floor before this one. The floor would not have happened without him. I'd still be poking dried up concrete with a shovel right now if he hadn't turned up!

...I have no clue what I'm doing here...

This big stick is called a Darby, so I learned something!

By the end of the day, I was covered in concrete and I barely did a thing!

Here's the finished floor. The change in the room is unbelievable! My brave father tackled the job of cutting lines into the dried floor. I decided to take photos of all the dust drifting out the door instead...

I almost kept this...

It's shop update time again. Always very exciting (and very busy) here in Viola-land. I'm really enjoying my new tradition of posting my favourite skeins from each update. So, without further adieu, here are the skeins that I almost kept from Tuesday's upcoming update...

Ok, oh man, this one was really hard. I'm just jumping in with my number one, ultimate, the best new colour. Phew. I'm calling it Cosmic...in keeping with the totally cosmic kick I've been on these days. This guy a prototype. There will be more, but it's going to change slightly next time round, so yeah. It's a big deal! The yarn is Merino Singles 4 ply and there are 9 skeins going into the shop. I want a saggy, oversized sweater knit in this...but I'm not keeping it ;)

Next in the ranks is this Blushy beauty, also on Merino Singles 4 ply. I'm calling this one an Eclipse as it's not close enough yet...but it's just about all of my favourite things all mixed together...dusty pink, coppery streaks and plum splodges. Phew, too exciting!

An old favourite. I can't figure out how it's taken me so long to return to Mineral, a colourway from the good ol' days of Viola. Here it is on MCN Worsted, and there's 10 whole skeins of it coming your way. cozy autumn jumper methinks.

I can't get away from it. I just love Ice Berg. Every batch I dye is captivating to me, it's only a matter of time before Ice Berg doesn't make it onto this list...Here it is on Merino Lace and there's lots to go round with 6 skeins total!

And last, it's Giant Peach. Yep, I'm back to this again. I've dyed it up this time on Merino Fingering, again, with lots to go round (10!) So get in there, this soft, subtle and warm colour is the favourite of all Viola team members...but we're be seeing you on Tuesday.

Tune into the etsy shop Tuesday, September 1 @ 4pm EST

Hope you enjoy!

 

a finished shawl and the beginning of a studio

Here it is at last, my finished Quill shawl! I rarely work on one project at a time...not sure that I've EVER worked on one project at a time before this. Anyway, it's happened. I put it down to the fact that I loved the yarn and the pattern, and the combination of the two of them together so much that I just was not interested in knitting anything else (like the gazillion important gifts that I should be knitting). 

I've loved this pattern from the very beginning, and when the beautiful Polwarth and Alpaca emerged from my dyepots I knew that it was meant to be. For a long time I had gone off of shawls entirely, or perhaps that was just the cold Canadian winter making me knit endless jumpers in an effort to survive. Whatever the cause, this project has brought back my shawl love!

The yarn is so light, soft and airy. Almost weightless, but completely cozy when knit up. I hardly even understand how such a wonder could be possible...and I ought to after working in the John Arbon mill for more than two years! I shall simply say it is some Arbon magic and not try to puzzle out this mystery any longer. 

I followed the pattern almost completely, initially intending to knit more stripes with more colours. When the time came to begin adding the stripes, however, I found that I loved the simplicity of the main colour I had chosen and opted to knit just 3 thin stripes around the very edge of the lace border section. I also chose to knit two extra repeats of this section, to ensure that I would have a very big and ultimately cozy shawl in the end. Success! The knit on edging was addictive and such a fun treat after miles of garter stitch. Phew, can you tell that I love this shawl?!

Just in case you're wondering where that lovely backdrop is, I shall tell you. It's the beautiful meadow at the store. My future home as well as the future headquarters of Viola. Pretty exciting stuff!

If you receive the newsletter, you may already know that renovations have already begun on the little shed that is to become my future dye studio. The week before last a little team of diggers helped to clear the old earth floor out and make way for the gravel that will eventually be covered by a new concrete floor. Who knew concrete could be so exciting?!

Much to my dismay, the digging did not revel any more buried treasures. It seems that the deer bones, rusty bits, old pepsi can and broken plastic comb will have to suffice. The only thing our weekend of digging yielded was a large hole and more rocks that I ever thought could possibly be in the ground. So many that I'm now distracted by wanting to build a stone oven! Anyhow, here is a silly picture of me with a pick.

The rather large pile of dirt that was removed from the shed is a satisfying reminder of all our hard work

And, here is the glorious hole that we dug! Doesn't look like much but by next week it's going to be a smooth concrete floor. To be honest, I didn't want the concrete and argued for keeping the charming dirt floor from the start. Turns out that there are some very sound reasons for all of this work, and I get to use a sledgehammer, so that's fun too.

I almost kept this

Things are busy around Viola headquarters today. Getting all the last minute bits and bobs in order for tomorrow evening's update (weee!)

So here's a little sneak peek of my favourite colours, because there are always a few that I almost keep...

 First up is a new colourway that I am rather excited about, Giant Peach in MCN Worsted. I keep having visions of a great big cozy pullover knit in this. I suppose it's the soft and warm colour itself that makes me want to bundle up on an autumn day...premature considering the weather at the moment, but it never hurts to be prepared!

 

And Garden Ghost in MCN Worsted. I'm still perfecting this colourway, but it is certainly one that will be sticking around as I seem to have planned an entire wardrobe knit in it... A variation of the Ghost colourway, I've added more speckles of all my favourite colours. If ever a ghost lived in a flower garden, this is the colour it would be!

While I often do not choose greens for myself, I love how light and fresh this batch of Lettuce Merino Singles 4 Ply is. I feel cooler just looking at it (and that's saying something because Toronto is a stinking hot mess at the moment!)

 Winterwood Merino Singles 4 Ply. I can't do anything about it, I just love brown. Especially cool, dark browns. This is another colourway that is still 'in development'. But there was something very lovely about this batch that meant it almost missed the update. It reminds me of dark tree bark after lots of rain.

And lastly, there are so many Eclipse colourways in Merino Fingering this time around that I am numbering them! Here is Eclipse # 4. I can't help but see a unicorn standing next to a pond with Monet somewhere near by. But that's a far too complicated name I'm afraid. 

All this and more is going to be in tomorrow's etsy update at 4 pm EST. 

Hope to see you there!

news news news!

I am SO excited that I can finally talk about a very special project that I am lucky enough to be involved in...

 Coming up this Autumn is Loop London's 10th anniversary (a pretty big deal I'd say)! Details of the exciting project they have prepared are gradually being revealed over on the Loop blog, so click over there to learn more about it. I am so happy to be contributing this bespoke colourway to the project! It will be available in their London shop once Autumn rolls around. You can also read more about this colourway, and it's inspiration in this little interview with me. Stay tuned as more project details are revealed. In the meantime, I'm going to do some swatching...