Spinning Karma

I was wondering why my spinning was progressing so smoothly this week. I believe it is because I enticed Rosemary over to the dark side! She's just started spinning and already she is producing beautiful yarn!


I'm working on a Polwarth blend from Joybilee Farm. I had been hoping to see them this year again at Fibrefest as I love their Peppermint soap. They aren't on the list of exhibitors, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Paying it Forward

I found this on Jacqui's blog and couldn't resist.

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Those of you who know me well know that knitting isn't the only thing that happens around here so if you are close by it could be baking (toblerone shortbread cookies?), preserves (homemade blackberry jelly), a softy or something knit (I tend towards lace and socks if you want a hint).

Any takers?

Finally, an FO.

I've had the Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today finished since the second week of September, but I have been fighting with my camera. Venus kindly stepped in and offered to do a little bit of picket photography for me. She made my shawl look so wonderful that she may have to do all of my blog photography from now on.


Project specs :

Pattern : Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today

Yarn : Handmaiden Cashmere 2-ply, 3 skeins

Needles : 3.5mm KP Options.

Notes : A super-easy knit, the border is a little bit tedious but the finished result is stunning.


3 cheers for Venus!

A weekend of green food.

The Flame and I spent our weekend driving, visiting with friends and eating green food.

We were lucky enough to meet up with Holly and Wade for a wonderful lunch on Friday at Shanghai Garden in Seattle. I didn't get a picture of our green noodles but there is one at the bottom of this post.

The drive South from Seattle was terrible. Everything we had heard about Friday afternoon traffic was true. On top of bad traffic we also managed to take a slight detour towards the Coast. Once we got ourselves sorted out, we picked up Denise at the Inn and scooted down the road to a very interesting, inspirational and fun evening of dessert and socks.


After all that dessert, I thought a green breakfast of Key Lime Pie flavoured yogurt and a hard-boiled egg would be a good idea. We took a scenic drive through beautiful countryside, visited with some old friends and made some new friends. A Hawaiian-style lunch, a quiet afternoon of knitting, some pizza and we were ready to turn in.

For more details, see Lara.

Alive!

Holly and Denise and Miss O came up this past weekend for good food and good times.

I'm blessed to know them and our lovely hostess Lara. I've been needing a gentle kick in the pants.






The Monkey received a special present from our visitors which will doubtless come in handy in the next while.

I am going South this weekend for Cat Bordhi's book launch!

Still no knitting

Instead I offer pinning,


Cake cutting,


And Dancing.

Running away

Dear Blog,

I have decided to run away and join the circus. It's been an interesting month and I need a break from you, my life here, everything.

I'm going to go to Black Sheep with Holly, Denise and Miss O. Looking forward to meeting up with Joanne and the professor (and everybody else).

See you Monday.

p.s. Lara, I love my new socks - Thank You!

Gnomed

Friends visiting friends cause the best kind of trouble.




I hope the neighbours like the new lawn art, I'm quite fond of it.

Sitting and Knitting and Winding

There was a lot of sitting in the car and knitting last weekend. Vancouver - Grand Forks - Trail - Grandforks - Vancouver, Vancouver - Seattle - Vancouver looks like this.

A Little Sit-ster from The Natural Knitter for Tricia.


Joanne's new hat design using Jessica's hand-spun. The details are blurry but this photo does capture the transition from dark purple at the crown to purpley-blue at the brim. It's a very subtle change and I love the way it looks.


No pictures yet, but Flame Socks v.2 are finished and I made some good progress on the Garden Path Shawl.

The trip to Seattle was for the first fair-isle
winding party. I still have 24 skeins to split up and wind (25 bobbins/skein) and I think Denise's present will come in handy. Surely I will be able to achieve a sense of Zen as I meditatively wind yarn and contemplate my potato.