Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Thanks Jean, I had lots of fun with this toy, Check out Elizabeth




And Katherine
Well I also had trouble doing her picture, and it was dragging the computer down to dial up speed so I gave up.

K

Friday, July 27, 2007

I'm back......

A whirlwind tour of the maritimes and some of New England, in 5 days, 4500km to be exact, Ontario, through Quebec, New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia, back through New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
We did a lot, saw a lot, drove a lot, and had a lot of fun. My only regret was that I wasn't able to connect with Arrianah in Nova Scotia, I had internet troubles prior to leaving, I didn't get her email until I got home. I have lots of pictures, so so many. I totally loved N.S. It rocks!

I will do a bigger post about the trip tomorrow, I am still all tuckered out even though I have been back for a day.

K

Thursday, July 19, 2007

More Princess

Well, I dug out Princess, I rescued her from the swampy bottoms of the knitting basket, where some knitting has gone, only to never be seen again!
I am valiantly trying to revive her.
I have managed almost two centre panel repeats in the past few days.



Here she is just after restarting.



A little bit further on, I put her onto three long circulars, it's still hard to get a photo.



The full length, what I have done, and what is left to do.



Last night, almost two full repeats added.

You are not mistaken, it is not a trick of the eye, the thing does not seem to grow, it is inhaling thread at a good rate now, but does not seem to grow, the only thing I am seeing is all those poor waiting stitches on the needles getting dirtier and dirtier. I remember Laritza's washing picture of the WRS, it is disturbing how much dirt is on the knitting, I wish I could wash her right now. Jean is absolutely right about my deadline of November, I do still have an alarmingly large amount of work to do, even when I have finished the centre panel, there is the break pattern between the edging and the panel, and then the edging again, I remember it being 85 points on the two edges, so I guess it will be about half or slightly more along the top. The edging took me about an hour a point, that was when I had nothing on the needle to hamper progress.

I have knit other things, like MS3, I have finished part 3, eagerly awaiting part 4, I have made a hat for a friend going through chemo right now, a top for Katherine, and almost finished Elizabeth's cardigan, all quick knits though.




We did finally finish the Polar puzzle, some pieces missing, that didn't surprise me.




The girls have been busy this summer, making scones, candles, soap, some tie dye stuff, Elizabeth is in a class this week for painting.

I just deleted the tie dye photo by mistake.



There is a constant supply of foamies, paint and other kid friendly stuff flying around our dining room and living room. It's keeping them busy though. The weather has been iffy the past week, so I have been thankful for the indoor activities we have to keep them occupied.
Elizabeth has been doing lots of knitting and some hand weaving. Katherine is still trying her hardest to knit.

We are off on a trip to the east coast on Saturday, so I won't be posting until after we return, but hopefully I will get lots of pictures of Nova Scotia to show. I have never been there so I am excited. We will spend a bit of time in New Brunswick and Quebec too.
We only have a week, so it will be busy, busy, busy.

Later

K

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Princess.

I feel a re-devotion coming on, I reckon a day with the Princess might get me back on track, it feels right!

I will post piccies soon as I haven't posted one in such a long time.

The weather has finally cooled down some, the past two days have been suffocating. I can get back to knitting the Raku too, mohair on days like that is impossible.

At the memorial of a friend last year her sister was telling the story of the day they were all in a car, much on a day like the ones that have just passed, and Ann was knitting a mohair sweater, in a car full of people, on a day that feels like the pits of hell, she was trying to make her sister try this sweater on. At that point a few of the ladies from my guild turned and looked at me, as if to indicate that that is the same kind of irrational behavior that I show towards knitting. I took it as a compliment, Ann was a superb knitter, one of my inspirations that turned me to weaving.

However, I do draw the line at knitting with mohair on a day when the air is so thick that the fibre sticks more to your hands than it does to the thread it is supposed to be attached to.

Monday, July 09, 2007

The summer of lace,and A-longs....

I am busy, busy, busy, busy as a bee, what with this, and that, and everything else.

Knitting, cross stitching, crocheting(not), weaving.

Too much going on really. I have ton's of pictures, but need to get them organized, so will try to get that done here, if only for my own peace of mind.

Busy thing the first.

If you haven't already heard about it there is a KAL going on for the third Mystery stole. I made the first one two years ago, joined last year but didn't actually make it as I was even busier this time last year. So I promised I would actually KAL with this one.

It's lovely, so lovely already that I am contemplating a second one, I am knitting the first in Misti Alpaca rose colour I think.
The second one if I start it will be white or black with beads.



End of clue 1




End of clue 2.



Thing the second.

The thing that has been occupying so much of my time is the Mystery X with Chatelaine, the cross stitch.
I started in April, so was already three months behind.
I caught up one month finally in June.






Month one
Half way




End of month 1




Part way through month 2




Bit more of part 2




Part two finished and 3 finished.





This is where I am now, working part 4 and 5 at the same time.



I also got my beads and started to add them too.


Thing the third, crochet 88 snowflakes, no advancement on that, at all, I am stuck at February.

Finally, all the lace other than MS3.

Raku Suri stole



Still working on panel one, there is a few errors in the chart, so i am slowly trying to work through this and correcting the chart as I go. Wool used is a Kertzer mohair, in a colour I think looks like Raku pottery.

Forest Path stole, I have no good pictures of this yet, as I am still early on in it, due to the nature of entrelac it's tricky to get a piccie!


Princess still stalled, but it is getting closer to the top of the pile as I worry about finishing it by November.


Oh, and lots of cotton spinning, no matter how much I do, it never seems to get bigger on the bobbin, I must have a good 1000 yards on it, but am still at about half a bobbin. Of course that 1000 is in my opinion, it's probably way less than that. I am thinking of winding half onto another bobbin and plying, just to see how much is on there already, that and the fact the twist is already probably set in since it's been on the wheel so long.





Weaving, I almost forgot.
I borrowed the 8 shaft loom from the guild, finally did my my first 8 shaft project. While debating cutting off the first item I spotted a threading error, that convinced me it needed to come off so that I could fix the error.





I love this last picture, it makes the linen look like old linen, from a mummy or something.....

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

I would shout this out, but I am Canadian, so I modestly offer this interesting article.

As a British transplant here in Canada, I sometimes feel like a phoney, saying I am Canadian. To anyone listening, they will clearly hear I am actually British.

However, my life reads like that of a Canadian. I am modest, I don't like to be the centre of attention, I don't demand thanks for everything I do. I quietly go about my work, doing what needs to be done.

Today though, I read a great article, it makes me even more proud to be Canadian, even more than I was after reading the Harlot's annual thanks to Canada on Canada Day.
I quickly adopted to life in Canada, I adopted the way of life in about 2 short months. I have now been here almost eleven years.
I feel like I have been here long enough now not to feel like a phoney saying I am Canadian. I am after all a citizen, I got that as quickly as I could.

So, my point, I am Canadian, I am proud, and I feel like these are my country men.

Salute to a Brave Man

Sunday, July 01, 2007

What have I done now.....

Ok, here is part of what has been distracting me so badly recently.

My new business, Fibre to Fabric.

I have been a stay at home Mom long enough that I should have done this sooner. It is something I have always wanted to do, and this most recent need to have a yarn store has been pestering me for about two years now.

I have decided to go with a blog shop for a while, to see how things go, I may end up with a "proper" shop if all goes well. I am familiar with the blog way of working now so it seemed to make the most sense.

It may well be a bit sparse and messy looking right now, I hope that changes soon. I may need to enroll some help to get things organized!

I have been busy scanning, photographing, editing, posting, enrolling, updating and basically re-inventing myself today after an exceptionally busy day yesterday too.

I certainly hope some of the people that check in here regularly will at least take a look and offer any thoughts on where they would like to see improvement.

I know the payment issue is a little bit odd right now, but once I get into the swing of things I want to switch to paypal buttons, I still have to figure out the tax problems there. In ontario we have the two taxes, and all of Canada pays one lot of those, and some other provinces also get to pay the GST. Once I can figure out the shipping bit I may be able to figure things out a bit better, at least from how they are now.

If anyone knows how to work that out for the paypal buttons please let me know. My mind is frazzled from everything else today and just doesn't seem to want to digest the Paypal info. I think my mind is just overloaded, and I need a break.

Yes I am stressing a little.

I aim to make the store comfortable to navigate and browse through, I also want to have that cozy yarn store feeling that is missing from big online yarn companies. I had thought about setting up a yahoo group as a place to meet and greet potential customers. I love yahoo groups, I have met a great deal of fantastic people though them, and now have met some of them in person too.

I only have a small amount of inventory right now, but once the week is back on track I will be ordering further items, so will have to go through all the categorizing again.

Anyway, I make it sound like I can't handle it, don't worry, I think I can!!!

My aim is to stay with laceweights although a few other things might just appear as if by magic that aren't lace weight related.
I will also venture into fibres and spinning accessories when I am feeling more comfortable in the skin of a yarnstore owner.

I feel that as a Canadian first and foremost I have to offer the finest lace products from this great land. Top of the list to me is Fidllesticks designs, so I have a great amount of patterns from Fiddlesticks, as well as Zephyr and some Country silk. I have some Lucy Neatby lace and shawl designs too.

Later this week I will hopefully get an order in with another top of the list, yarn company, now, come on, I know you know who I mean.......


They are a bit further away from me though so shipping will take longer.

Well anyway, i have to get back to work now. Sorting through all these fantastic designs is driving me crazy, I want to knit them all!

Wish me luck on what could be a crazy adventure.