Done like dinner...mmm...dinner

Today was so tiring, and I am not sure why. I think it is because it was a cloudy, overcast day, which sort of drags me down a bit. I'm going to feature some garden photos to cheer things up a bit; these were taken recently in my garden.



Today I bought a nice little yay-for-me gift for myself! I purchased the new CEY pattern booklet, Make It Modern! I have been drooling over this magazine ever since I first laid eyes on it, and waiting for it to be put out on the sales floor. I was a bit concerned that I would miss out on getting a copy, as I did with this book. Today I finally broke down and asked the manager if I could please just buy it & she said yes! So yay for me!
I know some of you will be thinking, Nessa, you don't even use patterns usually. And if I am dying to own this pattern booklet, it is because the designs are so adorable that I just *have* to have them in my arsenal! I think I would knit pretty much everything in this booklet! Every design is *so me*. They are all quite feminine, pretty, and yet comfy looking. I can't wait to start knitting from it.



Also, as some of you already know, I have jumped on the Ravelry bandwagon and am knitting the E.Zimmerman take-off sweater. I am very excited about it, and I'm sure I queued this pattern the day she made it available! I'm making it out of dark teal Cascade 220 & it is knitting up pretty quickly so far. I think it will be a very wearable sweater, that I will use all the time.
Again, I wouldn't normally use a pattern, but the design is so loveable that I couldn't resist!



And, here are some pics of my friend Sarah, wearing her beret! I think it looks so fabulous on her, & it suits her so much more than it suited me :-)

Well, I think I'll toodle off & make some Vegetarian Garam Marsala. Yum!
~Nessa

yarn fiesta weekend!!

This weekend was the Victoria Fibre Festival! Aka, the stash got enriched!

First, a list:

1. The new banner & icon come from , aka Sarah McIntyre illustrator extrordinaire! It was her end of the deal for our art swap, which was blogged about in this post. Words cannot express how much I love this piece of artwork! The full pic is an original painting in watercolours and pen and ink, 8 1/2 X 11 inches approx. It is called The Yarn Tree, and yes that is me knitting with some sheep. My cat, Roo (seen in the icon), is knitting in the tree above.


2. Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, Seconds? Yes please!






3. Alpaca/Tussa (wild silk) roving.




Can you say yum? The soft soft alpaca is enhanced by the shimmery gold sparkle of the wild Tussa Silk!

4. I'm calling this one Spun Gold.


Gorgeous, silky smooth 100% rayon. This looks like it is spun from gold, and feels like silk!

What a lovely day! The sun was out and shining for a glorious spring day, the wind was a bit chilly but all in all it was nice weather for a fiber festival! Still glowing from my yarn purchases!

Happy yarn revelry (no not ravelry),
~Nessa

fun with fo's

Well folks, these photos are as good as it gets around here I guess. I have asked multiple people to photograph me wearing the Drops Cardi, and mostly the pics were not up to par. Blurryness, closed eyes, unoriginal & unflattering angles all caused me to reject most of the pics. However, I think these pics are alright, albeit a bit dark but I'm just going to post them and call it blogged.

The Pattern: The Drops Asymmetrical A-line Jacket

The Yarn: Cascade 220, in heathered brown

The Mods: Crazy math skills were utilized in order to knit a sweater of medium measurements in a smaller gauge than the pattern called for. I ended up knitting a size XL stitchwise, a SM lengthwise, and ending with a petite size M overall. This is what I wanted, but I think I could have even gone to a size SM overall since the jacket has lots of positive ease on me. However, I still love it because the design is flattering, and the yarn is cozy & soft.



The second FO to show is Sarah's beret Caliente!



Project Notes are Here
This actually turned out alright. It was touch and go for a while, when the beret turned out to be massive, and I had to felt it down a bit. This, even when I ACTUALLY BOTHERED to KNIT A 4" GAUGE SWATCH! & my gauge was even giving more sts per inch than pattern gauge. I give you so many chances to just be honest with me, gauge, but you always lie to me! Why gauge? Why?


Anyways, now I am working on a semi-mystery project. As to how much of a secret it is, I have not yet decided. You may hear more sometime soon.
I am also working away on the Flower Basket Shawl, and I have only about 7 repeats of the main body lace to do, and an edging chart. When I knit this project, I have to really concentrate, so I work on it a very little bit at a time. I really should get my butt in gear on it though, because I have told myself I am not allowed to cast on for anything else, until I get these 2 things off the needles!

going for a spin

Yesterday, I finally procured for myself an Ashford Classic Drop Spindle, & some teal merino roving.



helped me start it up, and she pulled off about a quarter of one skein of roving. I have since spun the whole piece, and I guess I need to start on another quarter strip. I bought 2 skeins, probably around 50g worth of fiber, and I hope to make enough yarn to knit a toque. I might spin another colour and ply it with this one, but we'll see how this one goes. So far I am finding it pretty easy, although my yarn is a bit thick & thin looking, but let's just call that a "design element" :-)



HAPPY KNIT IN PUBLIC DAY!
Too bad Google doesn't have a knitting related icon for today!

happy public knitting,
~Nessa

Warning! Unbridled cuteness ahead!

So , aka Carolyn has emailed me some photos of baby Leah with her Ella Phint! I just had to share these adorable pics of our finished objects (her baby, my knitting).
I know I *just* posted pics of this project, but I couldn't resist sharing the cuteness!







there, are your cheeks sore from smiling yet?

AND a note to all you non-knitters, who recieve knitted gifts. Knitters LOVE getting pics of their gifted knits in action! It tells us we are appreciated, and also lets us know that our knitted object has found a good home :-)

~Nessa

Sarah's Beret Caliente

Pattern: Tweed Beret, by Kristen Tendyke. Interweave Knits, Winter 2006.

Yarn: Berocco Peruvia, colour "Caliente", one skein=160m. I used pretty much the whole skein to make the beret, and a gauge swatch.

Needles: 4mm - 60cm circular, & a set of 4mm dpns

Size: Large (supposed to be 22" circumference)

Project Notes: When it came off the needles it was WAY HUGE! I measured my head, which is 22" around & corresponds with the largest size in the pattern, and this hat is still too big for me!
So into the sink it went with a little soap, and some hot water & I hand felted it. It thickened up a bit, and finally shrunk to a more decent size. I think it will now fit a 22", or slightly bigger, head in a flattering way. I am waiting for it to dry now so I can try it on, and put the finishing i-cord onto the top. I will likely felt the i-cord to keep the look consistent.
Then this hot little beret will fly to the UK to be with Sarah!

Final Photos to come soon!



Pattern: Ella Phint, by Vanessa Carter

Yarn: Gallway in colourway Lavender. I used way way less than 1 skein, maybe 25m-50m.

Notes:I realize that I never showed you guys Carolyn's Ella Phint! The original Ella! I've made a couple of mods to the pattern since I made this first one.
Apparently, baby Leah loves Ella! Yay!






~Nessa

Toque Emergency!!

Several years ago in a fit of fandom, I knit a Jayne Toque. It was right before the movie, Serenity , came out and everybody was making them to wear to the premier. If you have never seen the show then the fabulousness of this toque will be utterly lost on you, as it is kind of a "you had to be there" sort of thing.



As all good Canadian Toques, it had a fluffy pompom on top. Jeff removed this soon after recieving the toque, as it was for him to wear. It was/is the warmest toque I've ever put on my head, and a bit itchy since it is made from Alafoss Lopi.
Despite all of this, I love this FO dearly as it was the first time I knitted with a friend, & my first KAL item. I actually knit this with Beth from the Vancouver knitting group! It was the first time I met her, we'd been friends online for awhile and I actually went to her house at night time alone. Jeffy phoned me when I got there saying "are you being held hostage?", and Beth and I have been friends since then.

So, imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered this!



yes, that is a HOLE in the toque!



and another one here!



and here!

What the heck? I don't know how these holes got there. The yarn seems to have been cut right along the ladders between the stitches. I looked for evidence of moths, ie. the little larvae, or cocoons, and there are none. Could it have been moths? Should I be looking for another perpetrator? I will debrief the hubby on the situation when he gets home, and maybe he will have some explanation for it. It kind of freaks me out to think moths could have done this, but I imagine raw icelandic wool would be like caviar to those little winged bastards!!! (ok, ok, I'm jumping to conclusions on the moth thing, it could be something else.... but what?)

Anyways, I don't have any leftovers of the yarn, so I might buy some more yarn to repair it. But is it worth it to buy 2 skeins of yarn to fix a toque that Jeff & I hardly ever wear?
What should I do?

~Nessa

"a box of chocolates"

I finished knitting these little boots several months ago, but didn't get around to weaving in the ends and adding the little buttons until a couple nights ago. I made these for a friend's new baby, and they are soon to be shipped out to Spain where he, and his new mum live.



I seriously love this pattern, but I think you already know that, since I've knitted these booties up many times.



The other night, Jeff came home and told me that he had gotten me a "box of chocolates" (his words). He handed me a box containing the above. No not the beret-in-progress, the fabulous skinny mac keyboard that I adore! The thing is about 1/4 inch thick, and has all kinds of cool buttons on it, like eject disc, wigets, play, stop, rewind, ffwd, pause, volume up and down, and screen light up and down. I feel like I can type faster with this keyboard (although that is possibly all in my head). This is almost as romantic as when he gave me my mac mini for my birthday a couple of years ago. Folks, when you're married to a tekie this is as romantic as it gets. <3 <3 <3

EDIT: I've been surfing UTUBE & ran across some pretty rad music I thought you might like to check out...

Death Cab For Cutie ~ Lightness This is one of my favourite bands, but for some reason I have never heard this song until tonight. I don't think it's new.

Metric ~ Between the Bars This is an acoustic cover of one of Elliot Smith's best songs.

Headlights ~ Cherry Tulips This is a band I've just discovered. I think this song reminds me of listening to oldies on the radio. Plus, they (pic yoinked from their site)

rainy Tuesday

I finished the Manos redux scarf. It is just a simple seed stitch, but it blocked out flat and super long. It is almost as tall as me when I have it folded in half! I am really happy with how nicely it turned out, and how quickly it knit up. I am surprised because I seem to remember hating scarf knitting because it always took so incredibly long to finish a scarf. Lately my knitting has become a lot faster, and now it seems I can pump out a scarf in no time. In fact, this simple project was my zen project for when I didn't want to concentrate on knitting.



This yarn is from a yarn dying kit from Louet that gave me for my birthday this past March. (BTW, you rock Mary!)
I finally dyed it last night at my friend Ursa's house. She very generously let me come over and use her dyeing space, and skillz to help me achieve this fabulous colourway, which I have dubbed Oceanus.



Ursa let me use some of her turquoise dye, which I used instead of the grey-blue dye that came with the kit. The other two colours that came with the kit were blueberry (the brighter blue), and cornflower (the pale blue). I LOVE how this turned out! I don't know what it will become, maybe a shawl? I will have to see how the colourway looks when knitted. I achieved this look by doing an overall pale dye with the cornflower blue, and then laying out the skeins and painting the other two colours on with sponge brushes.

In other news, on the needles right now I have a red beret

which I am knitting for a swap with my friend , aka Sarah. In exchange, she has used her fabulous illustrational skills to create a custom work of art for me!!! I am so stoked!
I am using Berocco Peruvia in colour 7135.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Tuesday, I'm off to do some laundry now.

busy, busy!

I guess it was a busy week, since I realize that I haven't updated the blog since last Monday!
I forgot tell you all, but recently my mom has started knitting!!



She is knitting on dk weight cotton, and 2.25 mm needles making bandages for the Leprosy Mission. It is her first knitting project! I am so proud of her :-) Her tension is so good. & she is also knitting mostly with one hand, because she had a stroke when I was a girl & she has partial paralysis down her right side. So she is knitting on tiny needles, and tiny yarn, and with one hand mostly, oh & she is doing it for charity. Mom, you're awesome!

And the drops Jacket photos are still coming, I just haven't been at home during the day with Jeff so he could take my pic!

~Nessa