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...


g




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!

Atelier - the world's coolest sweater!!

Hi folks!

I'm here, back again after my seriously long break. Though I've had the very best intentions, my poor little blog has been neglected for quite some time. Sorry!

But here's some exciting news...I just finished knitting a Miller's Hat!! It is just so freaking great! The yarn I knit it in is pretty amazing too; a beautiful, rustic natural gray/brown worsted weight that was a gift from isabelle-c on Ravelry. I think my crunchy yarn was a great match for this textured pattern. The cables are perfectly defined! The contrast colour is just a little odd ball of Dream in Colour Classy that I had kicking around. Love it, I'm so happy with it!



And now onto the really exciting news...
I feel so so lucky to have had my yarn knit into my new favourite sweater, Atelier! Kate (torontoknitter on Ravelry) was chosen to be in the group of test knitters for Atelier, Heidi Kirrmaier's latest sweater design, woo hoo! The contest results were just posted tonight, and Kate won in the Best Feedback category : D

Here is a look at her beautiful sweater...






...It's knit in my Merino Fingering in the colourway Graphite. I can't say enough good things about this lovely pattern. I was so happy to help out with photos (which meant I got to try on the sweater too!) Of course, I have to knit one of these for myself...but what colour?! Not an easy decision at all...will keep you posted there. I just can't resist those amazing pockets!



Well, that's all for now. I'll surely be back again soon, I have lots of projects to talk about and always lots of Viola news : D

Happy knitting!!

Knitting!!

Since recovering from the frenzy that was the Knitters Fair I've managed to get quite a bit of knitting done.

I'm nearly finished my over the knee socks, and love them!






I haven't quite figured out just how I'm going to wear them, but I'm determined! They come up to mid-thigh area, so these are some serious socks! I've started into the ribbing on the second sock, so I'm in the home stretch now.

I whipped up a chickadee cowl in one of my new yarns, M/C/N worsted






And I have to say, I'm going bonkers for this yarn! It's a blend of 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon. It's amazingly soft and smooth with a beautiful sheen and great stitch definition. The colourway is new as well - Graphite. It was a really easy and fast project, and I love the way linen stitch shows off pretty hand dyed colours :)

I also knit up up a Boneyard Shawl in Fancy Sock. Another super quick and fun project!



But I'm so excited to show off my latest bit of spinning. It was so long ago now that I don't even remember if I mentioned this little 4 oz bump of Hedgehog fibres merino/silk...well take a look at it now...





...It is a single ply lace weight, and I just can't wait to cast on a great big stinking shawl!! I've no idea how much yardage I ended up with. I'm sure not about to count each tiny, frail little strand either! So my plan is to knit a simple triangular shawl and keep on going until I run out of yarn. Woo Hoo!

I have just one complaint with this lovely fiber; the colour TOTALLY ran when I soaked the yarn to set the twist. The I haven't taken pictures of the post-soak yarn, but most of the green and gold is overdyed with black-y/purple. Sad.

Knitter's Fair

Yippee, Hooray! the Knitter's Fair this past Saturday was not only loads of fun, but also a great success! My little booth was abuzz with yarn and fiber lovers; I was so happy to see familiar faces and to meet some new knitters as well. And can't wait to see some new Viola projects pop up on Ravelry :)

I took loads of pictures of my booth - sadly there are all under icky fluorescent light - but hopefully you'll get the idea...



My sister Sarah, adjusting something important, I'm sure...


Roasted Carrot sock kits (remember those?!) design by the lovely and talented Kate Atherley!





There's me, knitting away on my chickadee cowl (now finished :))



Cute! Socks supplied by my sweet friends who also helped out in the booth for the day!

This bittersweet was green in the morning, but the heat of the building caused it to pop and reveal these lovely orange berries! I love bittersweet so much that I'm planning a tattoo...details to follow...



...The booth design and layout was so much fun to come up with! My family and friends helped out so much, and we managed to get everything assembled quite quickly in the morning. All in all great fun, and I could not be happier with my first-trade-show-ever-experience!

a quick hello

As promised, I've been running around like a crazy person for the last couple of weeks. Preparing for my first trade show (Yay, Hooray!) has been quite a lot of work. The knitter's fair is less than a week away now, and I'm just finishing up little bits and bobs that I've forgotten/neglected up until this point.

I'm bringing 2 new yarns that I am quite excited about...

CASHMERE! who on earth doesn't get excited about cashmere?!





Because it rained this afternoon I found time to get some non-dyeing things scratched off my list. Amongst these was making my cashmere tags...I think they are just about the cutest things I've ever seen!

and a lovely and squishy merino/cashmere/nylon blend in a shiny soft worsted weight. I love this stuff! Just tonight I cast on a quick little cowl in it (the sun was already down, so no pictures...sorry). It's knitting up beautifully; can't wait to wear it! The colour pictured is new, and it's called graphite.



And take a look at this...A very sweet customer has offered her knitting as a sample for the show! It's the cedar leaf shawlette by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting





She knit it using just 1.5 skeins of Silky Dk in colour Marigold. I finally managed to grab a few photos tonight. Love it, thanks Jacqueline! Check out her Rav projects here .

And I've managed to finish something amongst all the chaos...my fingerless mitts (still nameless) are done and photographed, and I quite like them.







That's all for the moment. I'm heading to bed and hoping that tomorrow is a little less soggy :)

news!

Hey folks!

I've neglected the blog quite terrible lately, but there are a few very exiting reasons for it!

Just in case you haven't heard, the lovely ladies at the Purple Purl are planning a Featherweight KAL using MY YARN!! Whoa!

You may remember my featherweight cardigan...



...it may have given me a bit of attitude while I was knitting it, but was entirely worth while in the end. I love it! I want to knit another, but can't seem to settle on a colour...life is full of such difficult decisions!
Anyway, I've been hard at work dyeing Fancy Lace for the KAL, and just have a few skeins to go. It's really fun dyeing to fill an order, scratching colours off the list as I go along. Here is a peek at just a few of the skeins that are soon to become featherweight cardigans...


I'm planning to knit another featherweight along with the KAL, but may just want to knit it in Fancy Sock this time around...hmmmm...

The second piece of exciting news is that I am feverishly preparing for the Kitchener Waterloo Knitter's Fair this September 11. It's going to be my first ever show, and preparations are in full swing...more or less that means that yarn covers every surface in the house. I'll be bringing lots of all my tried and true yarns, some spinning fiber (yay!) and just a little taste of 2 new yarns! Hope to see lots of familiar faces there, and some new ones too!

Amidst my frantic dyeing I have managed to knit a few things. My Peasy is coming along really well. The body is almost finished, and it looks quite lovely. I've also knit these cute little socks...






...They are a test knit for Kate Atherly, and may just make an appearance at KW...stay tuned! The pattern is inspired by carrots, so I decided that I'd knit some purple carrots (an especially tasty variety I think). The colour is violet and I used my merino/nylon sock base.

And here are some pretty yarn shots. I think I have to keep all of these (such a greedy guts!) Think I've already planned projects in all of 'em

Silky DK in Juniper

Sock in a new colour (that I'm totally in love with!) Sugared Apricot

Fancy Sock in Nosferatu

and, my new greatest love, Fancy Lace in Sea Storm!

and last, I can hardly believe it, but I've been blogged about! Check this out...a whole post about me. I'll try to make sure it doesn't go to my head :)

Hope to be back again soon, but if I don't return soon know that I am buried under a mountain of pretty yarn.