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.

Peasy at long last!

I'm so happy to finally be knitting Peasy. It's such a pretty and simple pattern, and great fun to knit as it turns out!
I'm knitting Peasy as a gift for my mom, and decided to knit it in my merino fingering. It's the same yarn I used for my lovely Charlie sweater, and I just can't seem to get enough of it's soft squishy texture. Peasy is meant to be knit in a DK weight yarn, so because I changed my gauge I decided to knit a size larger than I needed. So far everything fits perfectly and looks amazing! My mom chose "Mineral" for her sweater, and I'm loving the way it's knitting up. Mineral is such an interesting colour; sometimes it looks green, other times bronze or gold. I'm quite blown away by it actually! Oh yes, and we've decided to make our (I'll be doing some sweater borrowing for sure!) Peasy a henley instead of a cardigan. There are some really pretty Peasy henleys on Rav, and I firmly believe that nothing beats a good henley.








I've been knitting quite a bit on my over the knee socks as well, and am completely in love with them. In fact, I haven't stopped knitting long enough to take a picture! I decided to work on both at the same time, so I have both socks knit to a good 5 inches up the leg...one significantly into calf shaping. They look fantastic and I just can't wait for the finished product!

That's all the knitting news for the moment. I just updated the Etsy store with a few new things. I'm really excited about a new colour series that I'm working on called LAYERS. It need not be explained that these are all overdyed colours. At the moment, I'm really just in the experimental stage, but I plan to have consistent colours just as soon as I can!

Here is a look at the latest...



Fawn in fancy lace 2



Nori in fancy sock. There was much debate over what this colour should be named. It also reminds me of a deep and dark forest, of course it would be enchanted :)
Whatever it reminds you of, I think it's lovely!

Shetland Triangle. Blocked.

At long last something is entirely finished...man, such a great feeling!

I knit a beautiful Shetland Triangle for my mother's birthday last weekend. Man, what a fun pattern...I'll be knitting more for sure! And now this cute little shawl is sitting neatly blocked with it's ends woven in just waiting to be worn. Here are some pictures I took this afternoon...














Oh yes, and there are a few new things up on Etsy. Some of my favourite colours in the merino/nylon sock base as well as just a tiny bit of Silky DK...

and I'm back!

well, I never actually left...just neglected the blog for a couple weeks. Sorry folks!

First off, I just posted a small update the the Etsy shop! Mostly sock yarn in some very fun colours (I think). I've been in a bit of a neutral place lately, but still could not resist a bit more orange. I'm still getting used to my new "job" (really doesn't feel like one) so please bear with me. My plan for the very near future includes much more frequent shop updates!

Check out this incredibly exciting news! My Silky Dk yarn, a 50/50 blend of superwash merino and silk, was featured in the latest Knitty roundtable! And they liked it, WOO HOO, YAY, HOORAY! You'll have to scroll down just a bit to find me, but I'm there. What fun, thanks to Amy and Kate and Jenn and Miko...and of course all the lovely people who liked my yarn!

Speaking of my new favourite yarn, I've been trying to pick a project for six skeins worth. The colourway is "mushroom" and I'm kinda in love with it. Should I knit a jumbo swallowtail? Another sweater (I might be loosing steam on my 12 sweaters plan...just maybe), who knows?




I don't really have any big knitting news to share. It seems that I've been knitting little bits and bobs on my many WIPs, but not finishing a single thing. I'm certain that this means I have to much on the go, but am choosing to ignore that and continue casting on with vigour! The lovely gray sweater that I talked about last time has stalled out...serious frustrations getting the eyelets on the back and front to line up.

The one thing that I have started and finished is a little birthday gift for my mother. I finally knit a shetland triangle (a pattern that I have admired for so long). I really think that this is one of those magical patterns that makes just about any yarn look good. It is also simple enough that it can be knit in a pretty bold yarn and not detract from the yarn's awesomeness. Fact. So the yarn I chose is the cone of Habu Tsumugi Silk lace that I picked up at this year's Knitter's Frolic. This yarn is amazingly beautiful! I'm going to block it tonight, so hopefully I'll have some pretty finished pictures by the weekend!





until then, here are a few progress shots.

I ran a 1/2 marathon!

I meant to mention that this was happening in my last post, but totally forgot; I just ran a 1/2 marathon!

This past Sunday I was up out of bed at 6, and lined up on the starting line (or rather, one of thousands crammed into "start corrals") by 9. And by 11-ish the whole thing was done - for me anyway.

It was the Ottawa Marathon weekend, and it was so much fun!! Up until this point I'd only visited Ottawa for swim meets, I had almost believed that Ottawa was just one big pool (joking!). But we ran through so much of the city that I feel like I've made up for lost time.

I ran the race in 1:59:39, which just barely squeeks me into my under 2 hour goal. But I'm pretty happy with it, and next time around hope I can chop off a few minutes.

So here I am looking a bit crazy with my little sister.



And here are some much prettier pictures:







I can't be happier with the way this sweater came out! Now I just have to wait for the weather to cool off to be able to wear it.

I just couldn't get gauge with the yarn I planned on using for my next sweater, so it will be quickly knit into a simple little t shirt; Joelle's favorite yoke sweater
For the mysterious test knit sweater I'm going to use the same yarn as the designer, and it is coming all the way from Europe! Yay, hooray, yippee!

Paper Dolls amost finished!

Yippee! This time around, my paper dolls sweater has knit up quite easily. At the moment, I have only to graft the armpits and weave in just a few more ends...and block of course, but I never count that part.

I knew I had to take action to counter the lumpy yoke issue from last time. After knitting the body I quickly decreased from the size 8 to size 7. I knit the chart up to the doll's shoulders (or thereabouts) and then decreases in between their heads. By the time i was at the pattern's first decrease round I was already well below the given stitch count. And hooray! It fits me perfectly! I really think that the yoke needs to fit quite snug in order for it to look its best. The dolls all sit flat and smooth, and there is not a pucker in sight!

I'm quite amazed with how quickly I knit this sweater (2 weeks I think), and it has given me hope that I may still be able to knit 12 sweaters this year...so long as most don't have sleeves....





...I am SO excited about the colours I chose! I found that I loved them more and more as I knit with them, and I really like seeing the speckle-y yarn knit into stocking stitch. All the wacky colour changes really stand out, which I love!

The next sweater on my list is a test knit for a friend on Ravelry. Its an adorable little t shirt with puff sleeves and thin stripes...so cute!
I'm planning to knit it in my Merino Fingering, a soft and squishy superwash merino fingering weight yarn. I THINK I've narrowed down the colours, but can't seem to settle on even the most simple decisions recently...we'll see. At the moment, the selections are a more-gray-than-usual robin's egg and a new brownish-green colour called Woodland.



I haven't been spinning at all, I've only had time to feel guilty about not spinning! The mohair/wool I talked about in my last post is lovely, but there is just to darn much of it. I'm losing interest! Of course, this spinning slump has NOT prevented me from doing some fiber shopping! The latest purchases are from an Etsy seller called Cloudlover69. Here is her lovely shop. I scooped some superwash merino in Calico






and alpaca/merino/silk in illustrus. So pretty!



That's all for now!