just another raveller

After my week in Wakefield, I tottered off to Montreal and situated myself on this garden swing. My entire vacation was punctuated by visits to yarn shops and knitters. You know the kind of thing - you tell yourself that you're only on the look out for yarn which comes from the vicinity in which you find yourself. Kind of like beer drinkers, I imagine. Either you get carried away or you don't. In Ottawa, I bought 7 skeins Diamond Yarns Luxury Collection Zen (Soy/Bamboo/Cotton) at KnitKnackers on Bank Street, enough to make this summer top. This is the first thing that I've knit for myself since February. I liked knitting with this yarn. I am amazed that it isn't heavy feeling like so many Bamboo yarns are. Also, the price was right - $4.99 per skein. In case you are wondering, I knit this sideways - stocking stitch with lace insertion on the miccle front and under the arms. Shaping only for the neck. Finished with I-Cord knit on to smooth the edges. I'm glad that ...

I'm in Wakefield, Quebec this week, knitting by the Gatineau River. The river is slow this year. Held up at the dam upstream for some purpose or other. The reduced current makes it easier to swim, but reedy in places. When the wind is still, the water is like a mirror. Yesterday morning, I got up early and went canoeing with my sister Frances. She let me sit in the front of the canoe. Here's how the water looked rowing to the northwest, toward town at about 8 a.m. And here's what it looked like rowing to the south east, towards the sun. In knitting, I am working on 2 projects. Here's the beginning of a Garter Stich Catharina from Stahman's Scarves and Shawls. I also have the hazy beginnings of a new summer top which is not yet worth showing. Mary Lou, the Wakefield Bakery is still in existence, though I understand from the locals that it caters mostly to the people who come for the day on the steam train up from Hull. The really good bakery is Pipolinka around the ...

Between packing lunches and tidying up before leaving on holiday, I managed to block the Blue Fir Cone. Here are the photos that turned out... When we crossed the border at Ogdensburg, we saw this sign and turned left.

Hot. Holiday. Blue Fir Cone. Family. Potato Salad. Chaos. Heat. Fireworks. Dark crowds. Daughter. Sister. Waldorf Salad. Mine has carrots. Work. Games. Suitcase. Space. No place to block the Blue Fir Cone.

Thank you all for your comments. The Pink Blaze is simply a very traditional pattern writ large by using worsted weight yarn. A plain knit centre with feather and fan border and scalloped edging. Shandy, let's face it, mohair always sheds, it just shows more on black. But some of the new mohair yarns don't seem to shed as much as the older ones. This was from a cone that I acquired in a the Guild auction. It had probably been hanging around someone's stash for decades. Maybe I will knit another one, but it's time for a break from the feather and fan. A long break. Here's a preview of progress on the second Fir Cone shawl...more on this soon.

Finally! Funny how you can talk yourself into a state about things. I had all but convinced myself that this knit would never be done. The last eighth of the edging took about 2 weeks to finish. I worried that the change of yarn weights between the centre square and the border would not work out. I worried that it was too pink. I worried that the slightly darker colour of the centre square would make it look like a baby had pooped on it and it wouldn't wash out. But I was tired of it as my couch companion so I finished it off and gave it a wash. This is for Bronia and Zoe. May it give you years of pleasure. My only warning is don't get near it if you're wearing black (it sheds a little) and don't kill each other fighting over it. My husband's remark this morning was, "Why don't you make anything like that for us?" Yarn for plain knit centre square: Pingouin Jarré (cotton, wool acrylic) Yarn for border and edging: Cascade 200 Heathers knit with myste...

What's a blog entry without a photo? Here are a couple of pics of a swatch that I have done for the border of the second Fir Cone Diamond centre. I used the leftover pale green yarn for the swatch below, but the shawl in question will be of the dull blue gray colour of the same yarn - Karabella Lace Merino. Same stitches, different colour. The inner border is the Candlelight stitch From Sharon Miller's Heirloom Knitting. It looks sort of like the Fir Cone stitch. The outer border, which almost looks like an insertion before the edging, is the Cat's Eye stitch and the edging is the Traditional Scalloped Edging from the same book. I think they'll fit well together with the Fir Cone. The pink blanket is still with me. It just needs one more push to finish the last 1/8th of the edging.