a week of sick days

phew, I'm finally feeling back to normal after a whole week of being sicky! I have to admit, however, that I slept in every day and managed to get quite a lot of non-dyeing work done. Though I planned to make a lot of progress dying yarn and some long long overdue fiber this week, the prospect of lugging heavy pots of water all over the place was too much for me to think about! So I sat around and worked on some housekeeping that I'd been neglecting for ages, and manages to come out of my sick week feeling rested and rejuvenated! Success!

I also finished these cutie pie socks...







...They are a gift for my friend's super sweet daughter. Her birthday is at the end of February and she asked for knitted gifts specifically! I'm not sure that she could be any cooler actually...
I knit these from Fancy Sock in a sort of broken rib stitch pattern that I just winged when I cast on. I really love how squishy, soft and cozy they are and can't wait to knit a matching pair for myself!

I've also been really trying to clear out some WIPs....blaaaahhhh. I dug out my granny square hexagon's this week as well. You may remember that I intended for them to become a vest-type thing? Well anyway, I looked like a maniac when I got the vest assembled, so I let it sit for months. Here's what it looks like now...



...soon to be a finished pillowcase! It's a really big pillow too, perhaps 80 cm square? My plan is to sew a case for it in canvas and sew the hexagons onto one side...we'll see. It's coming together though, something is happening!! Here is a pic of the original vest. So silly :)

Last week I went FABRIC SHOPPING!! The Workroom - certainly the best place in Toronto for fabric - had a sale, and I was there!!

Here's the best purchase by far...enough Liberty for a dress!! This is my favourite print, and it was the only bolt they had left in the shop. It was fate!

This stuff was just irresistible...I'm thinking shorts??

And a few little fat quarters, I really love the Batik on top. So pretty!

If only there were more time in the day!

KAL and a new sweater!

I know that I've been terribly negligent and all that. But I think that I may have just had a breakthrough that should speed up posting considerably (yay, love that!) Something that was reeeeally slowing me down, and preventing me from posting was the fact that my Flickr account wouldn't let me sign in. So sad. Anyway, the troubled times are over because I've ditched Flickr for Photobucket! That's right, I jumped ship, and I can now log into my happy new Photobucket account whenever I fancy. Just thought I'd mention that :)

Onto the first piece of news...There is a Viola group on Ravelry now! Hooray! I've been having so much fun chatting with folks about their Viola projects, and admiring stash pics. Come out and join if you'd like, I would love to see you there. Oh yes, and thanks so much to knitabyebaby for setting up the group! I was slacking big time on that job and she seriously helped out.

First order of business in the new Ravelry group is a knit-a-long! February 1st was the start date, so it's not too late to join in! It's so easy to participate too, just choose a project that starts with the letter "V" (for Viola, of course). The rules are rather loose, check out the KAL thread for all the details, and perhaps some project ideas too.

My project for the KAL is a design of my very own. Recently I've had almost too many sweaters hats and mitts bouncing around in my head...no human could knit fast enough to bring them all to life! The rules of our KAL helped me focus in on this vest idea (vest starts with "V"!) I'm not going to give away too much yet...keep ya posted. Here is a look at the mystery vest in the very early stages of it's life.



So far so good :D I'm knitting it up in M/C/N worsted, in a new colourway called Raven!

I've just finished up a WIP that was on the needles for far too long (and am in LOVE with it!) Toronto has been experiencing some very cold and snowy weather in the past few weeks, and I think it was mostly this that motivated me to finish my new favourite sweater. I think I may have blogged about it when I cast on...who knows?! Anyway, without any further adieu...


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i







...It was absolutely FREEZING when I took these pictures. Very kind and patient family members needed much tea to thaw their fingers afterward! It looks to me like I have a crazy grimace in a few of these shots, but who cares!? The pattern is simply called Bed Jacket. It's a Rowan design, by Jennie Atkinson. The pattern was perfectly lovely to follow, though there was a lot of seaming to be done. The pattern asked that the lace edging be knit separately and sewn on. To that I say BOLOGNA! No one should have to do that! I knit the lace edging on and it went quite smoothly.

Oh yes, and I used some spectacular yarn that I picked up at the Black Lamb in Port Hope. It's a wool/mohair blend. The colour, texture, weight, drape...everything was perfect for this pattern! I have no idea where it came from - likely mill ends. The skeins didn't even have ball bands on them! So thank goodness I have 3 left over, mitts and a hat I think!

And I just can't resist sharing a few pictures of the snowy lake I've been admiring every day...








...I love any excuse to use my Hypstematic app of course!