DK weight...

...in pretty colours. Just waiting on these to finish drying and then will re-wind into 50g skeins.

The rain has finally stopped here. It's a comfortable 22C and I think I will head out to the stoop to work on my latest project.

Happy Knitting!

Sunday morning...

....pancakes with our maple syrup, fresh melon from our garden and coffee.

Perfect! :)

Getting ready for winter...

...these last couple of days here in Eastern Ontario have felt more like late Sept. rather than mid-August. 

And to be sure that they are ready, a couple of friends have asked for a pair of gloves each from yours truly. :)

They left all choices up to me. So armed with hand sizes, I went looking for patterns on Ravelry.

The first pair are a fair isle pattern by Rob Clucas. Knit in a fingering weight, they are a perfect choice for hand-dyed sock wool! I'm using the remains of the last pair of socks I knit.

So far, they are knitting up fast, but will probably be a different story when I get to the fingers. I've only ever knit gloves in a single colour til now.

Happy knitting!

Happy Socks

My sister requested a pair of socks that would make her happy when she wore them. She chose two colours and I dyed some sock wool for them. A wide stripe pattern is what she wanted. Between each colour change, I worked two rows of alternating colours to soften the transition.
And now the knitting is finished. All that remains to be done, is weaving in the ends. A lot of ends! :)
Happy Knitting!

Gardening....

We're starting to get a garden! It's been a challenge this year. The very late & wet spring. Flooding of the river that runs alongside , and for awhile, over our garden. As well as the reed canary grass that still threatens to take back what it had claimed as it's own these many long years. 

We've tilled and mulched & weeded. And things are finally growing in a nicely laid out garden! Woohoo!

These beautiful plants (one is a zucchini) are volunteers from last year.

Onions and tiny Tim tomato plants.

Potatoes.

Corn.

The melon and cucumber and squash patch.

Last years carrots are blooming while this years are growing.

The next bed waiting under a thick layer of mulch. 

I'm planting every week more beets, carrots & greens for use into the fall. 

Enjoy!

Solar dyeing....

....no time for spinning or knitting today. But I did take time to set up some jars for solar dyeing. 

3 of the half gallon size held a 100g skein of fingering merino/silk yarn.

The gallon jar held 100g of Romney cross roving. 

I let them sit in the hot sun all day and by this evening they have fully exhausted. I'll drain & rinse them and hang them out to dry.

Enjoy!

Sunday, Sunday...

....a beautiful day to be outside doing yard work & gardening :)

Papa Bear cut & swept the yard for the precious clippings. We use them as mulch around the apple tree and in the gardens. This year we started right off by mulching all the beds. Usually we end up overwhelmed by weeds and spend many long hours weeding and then mulching. Hopefully any weeds that do come up through will be easy to pull. Plus it just looks a lot tidier with the mulch :)

Finally, we have our own asparagus bed! In a few years, we'll be eating our own fresh asparagus for dinner. Can't wait!

Tomatoes & lettuce.

More tomatoes & romaine lettuce. We love fresh, sun-ripened tomatoes straight from the garden :)

Sweet peppers. 

Our garlic crop - we didn't get it harvested last year and will enjoy lots this year!

Volunteer onions from last year.

And a few carrots coming up.

We've also moved the meat chickens into the big barn. More room and the coolness of the cement floors is much more practical. In a day or two, they will spend their days outside in a big open run. Much healthier for them and a lot easier for us as it keeps most of the manure outside. We lock them up only at night for their protection .

Enjoy!

Catching up...

....on the spinning front - 50/50 wool mohair roving on the spindle. This fibre is from Wellington Fibres in Elora, Ontario.

And on the knitting front, a pair of socks using the new line of sock wool from KnitPicks. Hawthorne - 80% superwash highland wool/20% polyamide.

And on the farm front - we've filled up the incubator with quail & pheasant eggs.

Hopefully in 21-25 days, we'll have a successful hatch!

Enjoy!

Getting ready....

It will soon be the start of another season at the local Farmer's Market. 

I've been knitting socks to have available in my booth. Handknit socks are always popular items - not often have any left by the end of the season. 

Right now I am working on fingering weight socks - have quite a few pairs worth of wool in this weight. Then I will move on to worsted weight wools. These will work up quite quickly compared to the finer yarns.

Once the weather warms up, I'm wanting to get some dyeing started. Both yarns and fiber. But for now will have to be content and dream about warmer days while knitting in front of the picture window. :)

Keep on knitting!

Sunshine....

....feels like spring this morning. And while we still have a few weeks of winter left, we can certainly enjoy these brief respites. 

Managed to persuade the flock to leave the shelter of the coop and to eat breakfast outside. I'm hoping the increase in sunlight will give me more than the one egg a day that I an presently getting.

Enjoy!

One mitten...

....nearly finished. After a few false starts and restarts, mitten #1 is finished except for it's thumb. I'll do the second mitten and then I'll do the thumbs last.

It took a few tries to wrap my head around what was supposed to be happening in this pattern. I've found that to be the case with all the mittens from Robin Hansen's collection of patterns.

The unusual but highly effective techniques of the women that originally designed these mitts, turned very functional items into objects of art as well. How they came up with the unusual inc & dec is beyond me but they are really neat - once you figure them out! Lol!

I love the colour work too. The effect of light against the dark - stunning! And the end product - mitts of double thickness designed to keep one hands as warm as possible.

Snow and more snow....

.....and cold. This winter has been more like the winters when I was young. Though I don't remember it seeming so bitterly cold. As I type we are getting yet more snow....after probably 4 or 5" yesterday. 

The upside of a return of winter is that I have lots of time for knitting. This weekend saw me finish the Sawtooth mittens for my Dad. I used KnitPicks Wool of the Andes for them. They turned out a bit big and so the next pair of mitts will be knit on a size smaller needles.

I also was able to knit up a pair of heavier weight socks for myself! Yahoo! These were knit with some of my hand-dyed wool in a worsted weight and knit at 6sts/inch to make a fabric that will hopefully wear well.

I also had lots of time for reading and was able to read through Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting. Lots of history on the development of Arans. Lots of food for thought. Plus beautiful designs that I'm just itching to knit. :)

The snow is falling now...the house is quiet as the girls are in bed as is Papa Bear ( he'll head out at 3am to do more plowing)...and I've got some time to myself. A quick hello here and then knitting. On the needles?

Candlelit Window Mittens. A pattern from Robin Hansen's "Ultimate Mittens"

The wool? KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted weight.

Here's a pic of the snow from yesterday 

Take care, keep warm & safe and keep knitting :)

Yet another hat....

....finished another quick hat. This simple rolled brim knits up quickly but will be warm. I used a superwash/nylon fingering weight sock yarn doubled and knit at about 5 1/2 sts/inch. 

This one will grace the head of a young miss as she heads outdoors in this snowy cold Canadian winter.

We've gone back into the deep freeze here in Eastern Ontario. The temps plunged to -31 with windchill factors making it seem closer to -40. 

Brrr...so important to keep bundled up if you need to be outside. Otherwise, indoors is safest. That's where the littles and I are today. The playroom has south facing windows and is sunny & cozy.

I'm even getting a few rows of knitting in.

Keep warm & keep knitting! Wool is warm!

Sunday morning....

....Papa Bear has been called out this morning to plow yet more snow. And the girls are having a lazy morning, leaving me to spend mine in bliss. :)

Listening to a cozy mystery from Audible

While listening, I'm knitting on a hat for a young girl. Using hand-painted fingering weight superwash/nylon doubled. And knitting it at approx 5 1/2sts/inch. I'm going to a rolled brim to create a fun, simple hat. 

I finished two more hats this week, both are sized for ladies. One is a simple cuffed hat, knit in a hand/dyed worsted weight wool. The turned up brim means that ears will be nice & warm against the blustery winds of winter.

And the other is an ear flap hat. I found this pattern on Ravelry. Norwegian Star Earflap Hat by Tiennie at http://tiennie.com

I knit this one with a double strand of fingering weight wool and a gauge of approximately 5sts/inch. It was requested by a teacher that wants to wear it while on yard duty. I hope it helps keep her warm!

Enjoy your day - it's snowing here and after a bit of tidying, I've got the day to devote to knitting. 

Projects.....

.....finished.....

A hat & mitten set as my part of a trade over the holidays . I hand-dyed a pure wool with two slightly different shades of pinks. 

and the eleventh owl hat!

This pattern is from Repeat Crafter Me and is easy to follow. All my girls, granddaughters and nieces have one.

....and unfinished. On the needles are...

socks. These are being knit with 2 ply wool from Cottage Craft. I don't think they are in business now - they were based in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Shopping the stash!

.....and....

....mittens. These are for my Dad and will be a late Christmas gift. The pattern is Sawtooth - a Nova Scotia pattern and a nod to his former home province. I'm using pure wool in a worsted weight and will be adding leather palms and thumbs for grip. 

It's Friday night and I've got some uninterrupted knitting time. 

Enjoy and keep knitting !

Knitting by candlelight....

The hydro is out in our community for whatever reason. So I'm waiting it out by knitting by candlelight, just like our great grandmothers did . Not as easy as the books make it sound. :)

First bin....

This is just one of my many bins & bags of yarn in my stash. :)

An emptying out shows a lot of wanna-be projects.

I see a hat, a couple of shawlettes, three pair of socks, a pair of fingerless mitts, and odds & sods for stripes and colour patterns. 

I also see a pattern for some toddler hats that I would like to do. And at the very bottom of the bin was the blunt wool needle that I've been looking for the last two days. :)

Follow along as I work through these delightful projects .

Project progress...

This hat and mitt set is my part of a trade. In return I received a beautiful shirt, a bar of handcrafted soap and a lovely CD. I received my part of the trade on Christmas Eve day. Lisa is patiently waiting for me to finish the knitting.

A couple of hours knitting will finish the set. I'll wash and block them and then get them popped into the mail.

Happy Knitting!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2014!

Like many people, the new year feels like a new beginning to me. A time for resolutions - ones that I never seem able to keep. :)
I also always feel inspired to start new projects - but like many knitters , I still have projects left to finish. Lol!
So this year I'm hoping to start taking control of my crafting life. Unlike many knitters, instead of feeling inspired by an enormous stash, I feel overwhelmed. I've tried to convince myself that having a large stash  of wool available to use is a good thing, but truthfully it's not. Not for me. So I am on a mission to work my way through it, buying only what I need to finish a project. Hopefully as the stash dwindles and I'm free to start buying for specific projects, I will still feel inspired.
Time will tell :)
To start the reduction - I'm spinning up this bag of wool/mohair from Wellington Fibres. Can't remember if it's the 50/50 or the 60/40. Either way, it's going to be enjoyable to spin as it drafts so smoothly. The finished yarns will either go into my market bin or become a project on my needles. Follow along.