Yellow Roses

On a snowy winter day, yellow roses. A gift from our neice Betsy who is staying with us for a few days. The lovely blooms were a thank your for clearing the driveway yesterday morning, enabling her to get her car up our hill. My wedding bouquet was yellow roses, a sweet sunny colour.

Caora

Meet Caora, a Blue Ribbon Scottish Blackfaced sheep, who has decided to reside in the Knitting Room. Caora was a Valentine/Anniversary gift from my wonderful DH Bill. She is enjoying her new lifestyle and has found a friend in Noir (our cat) who is intrigued by this none moving "dog". If you were wondering about her name Caora is the word for sheep in gaelic.

Tee's Socks

These lovely socks were knitted by Tee Flemming. They are knitted with the Sweet Georgia Chinois yarn that Tee was gifted through the yarn exchange organized in December by Connie at Pick Up Sticks.
Tee knitted the Fancy Silk Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Tee lives in a small town in Northern Ontario, and as you can see from the picture, knits beautiful socks. I am extremely envious as this September, Tee will be attending Lucy Neatby's knitting adventure on Salt Spring Island.

Blueberry Bunnies

Finished bunnies. I highly recommend Susan's Spinning Bunnies, it's a 3-ply 50% super wash merino and 50% tencel. It is a joy to knit with, the feel of the yarn, and the soft shine make is a pleasure to knit with. The colour is Blueberry Patch, they are dyed 3 skeins at a time in small dye pots, each skein contains 430 yrds., loads of yarn to knit a really nice pair of socks. I purchased the yarn from Connie at Pick Up Sticks. I will certainly buy this yarn again.

Some Snow, A Valentine, and a Wee Bit Burns

Winter arrived the other day, a little over a month late. Two inches of snow have fallen since yesterday and another two inches will arrive by tomorrow morning. A respite from the snow until Saturday but not the temperatures, it is bitterly cold, and we are now steadily moving through our wood pile and will be reording our second cord to get us through the winter.
Islay, our precious six month old shih tzu, has become the "outdoor dog", when we went to pick up her up Bill (in an attempt to be funny), was asking "is she a guard do", "will she run the fence line" and similiar unsuitable questions for a companion dog. Little did I know that his questions were a prophecy waiting to come true. She loves the great outdoors (or at least our back garden), romping with her two brothers (one large, one small), barking at intruding birds, blowing leaves, and errant snow flakes, and yes - she does run the fence line. I could not resist taking the camera out this morning and capturing our girl in the snow.

Wishfully I look and languish In that bonie face o' thine,

And my heart it sounds wi'anguish,

Lest my wee thing be na mine.

The Bonnie Wee Thing, Robert Burns, 1791

O wad some Power the giftie gi us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

To a Louse, Robert Burns,1786

I have been productive over the last few days, I have finised a sock mate (Bunny Blueberries), grafting the toe this morning and blocking the afternoon, and I have turned the heel on another. I have also completed my Valentine Exchange - I think it turned it rather well.

LIZARD RIDGE

My 12 completed

Lizard Ridge squares, and the yarn needed to complete the blanket.

The pattern is very easy to follow and actually fun to knit as the squares knit up rather quickly. It's short row shaping, lots of wrap and turn, although I am not picking up the wraps, my personal choice. When the squares are completed you join them using Cascade and pick up and knit a border all around. When you see the completed picture on Knitty you will have to knit this blanket, the colours and flow of the pattern are amazing. It can be knitted two ways, 24 individual squares or knitted all in one, pattern directions for both are on the site. I know that there a some knitters who are not fond of the way Kueryon knits up, the constantly changing colour, but for me that is the appeal. When I started during the summer I had enough yarn to finish 1/2 the blanket, I held off finising as only one of my LYS sells Noro, and it's about a 45 minute drive and they only stock a few colour choices. Early in January Rams Wool, had a 2 day 30% of everything in stock sale. I took advantage of buying the Noro and the Mission Falls 1824 that I needed to finish and start both blankets. I am almost 100% sure that I will finish the Lizard Ridge before I begin the Log Cabin. If you are interest in the Lizard Ridge there is also a KAL that you can join while you are in the process of knitting.

Sometimes out of the blue.......

.....the most unexpected happens. I had intended to post pictures of the twelve knitted squares for my Lizard Ridge Afghan, and the Noro I purchased to finish it, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I received an email from my Uncle Alex, who isn't really my uncle but my dad's cousin, which makes him my second cousin on my dad's side. He, my dad and my Uncle Tommy (another of dad's cousin), were the best of friends when they were lads. The email totally caught me off guard, Uncle Alex received a scanner for Christmas and is transfering some of his slides onto computer files. This is what he sent me. The lady in the blue cardigan is my great-grandmother Agnes Walker, the lady beside her is her daughter, my Auntie Chrissy, (Uncle Alex's mother), Uncle Alex is in the front holding his daughter.
I only have a few pictures of my great-grandmother so this is truly a wonderful gift. I am sure she took her glasses off for the second picture purely out of vanity. My grannie was very special to us, she and my Granpa Jake raised my dad, they were his surrogate parents, and because she had been a dancer my dad became a dancer and she paid for his lessons. By all accounts my father was a wonderful tap dancer and eventually became his dance teachers partner. She bought my sister and I party dresses to go to an Esso Christmas Party and took us to see Jack Milroy as Buttons in the panto Cinderella. She lived well into her 90's and never lost her sharp tounge (for she had one) or her sense of humor. These pictures have brought back a wealth of memories, on one of my trips back to Scotland she gave me her amber necklace, which I still have tucked away. When she was in her 90's and our son was a baby we took him to meet his great-great-grandmother, as she held him in her arms, tears came into her eyes, she looked at him and then she looked at me and said "I never thought I'd hold another baby". We all thought that she would live to be 100 and receive the letter from the Queen, but unfortunately she fell and broke her hip, this limited her mobility and she began to decline. She was a force to be reckoned with, she was little but she was mighty.
(the age of the pictures - at least 40 years)

One Sock Monday

Of late I have developed a pattern in knitting which, like a vacumm, nature abhors!

ONE SOCK WONDERS!

The sock on the left is my father's birthday sock (until the other one is knitted he will not have a pair). Lovely emerald forest colours in a very nice diamond pattern. The yarn is Mysical Creations, which has wonderful yardage. I was drawn to knit the center sock due to the wonderful sheen of the yarn. Spinning Bunnies from Pick Up Sticks, since it has turned out far to small for my feet it will be gifted to a great-neice. The sock on the right is waiting for a mate in order to be felted, they are gifted charitiy knits and will most definately be finished by the end of the month as they are to be posted.

I am not sure if this abhoration is due to my feeling under the weather or is it mearly the January slump after the holiday season. All that knitting leading up to Christmas, the task of knowing that I had presents to finish, block, and ship, now that January has rolled around and the weather has turned undesirably dreary am I also slumping.

I don't mean to say that I haven't been productive, for I have, but my productivity seems to wain when it comes to the knitting of mates. I have three one sock wonders completed and another in the progress however, I cannot spur myself to dive into the casting on of any of their mates.

Are they to remain dateless all their sock ridden lives,

only the casting on will tell?

Football Sunday

What a perfect day for playoff Sunday. Our weather is incredibly cold with intermitent flurries. We started the fire this morning and it has been blazing most of the day. My heart goes out to New Orleans, it would have been wonderful to see them go on to the Super Bowl. As you can see from the pictures that every member of this household is a football fan.

Banff likes to watch the game while sitting on the couch.

Islay likes to take in the game from the the floor, with her football by her side.

During half time she likes to take a nap.

LOG CABIN

I have been looking at the Log Cabin Blanket in the Mason Dixon book and drooling. I have seen the multitude of blogged Log Cabin's in various stages from center strip to finished and blocked and it was just a matter of time before I started one of my own. In my stash I had some wonderful Mission Falls 1824 Cotton that I had purchased two summers ago to knit a pleasant cardi, just never got around to it, then last month I saw Connie's finished Log Cabin knitted in 1824 and decided that was the impetuses I needed to spur me on. I ordered some 1824 from Connie and rest I needed from Rams Wool (they had a wonderful two day sale last week - 30% off everything in stock). The cotton arrived yesterday, along with 8 balls of Kueryon to finish the Lizard Ridge from Knitty (I am 12 of the 24 squares already knitted). Now I have to finish two pairs of socks, 2 charity hats, 1 pair of mittens, and two knitted hearts before I can start, will I last you ask, I doubt it and you will probably see pictures next week of started Log Cabin. I love my choice of colours - what do you think? I am still abiding by the Stash Knitting rule, this was yarn I needed to finish a project I had already started or was about to start.

FLOCKSOCK

Last week most sknitting blogs were consumed with the terrible situation that BMFA was faced with when their bank backed out of the Rockin Socks 2007, claiming that it must be a scam, because who ever heard of a sock club. Since then there has been an overwhelming interest in Sock Clubs. I am sure that potential ksockers were faced with the fact that the majority of sock clubs have been closed for the season, reopening in September or even January of 2008. If you have been a seeker and failed to catch the snitch the Tsarina of Tscocks has a solution for you.

Lisa Grossman, AKA the Tsarina of Tsocks, has created a treat for ksockers, THE FLOCKSOCK Club is now OPEN! To join the club, Jennifer at vanCal Acres Sheep Farm can help you out, it sounds like it will be an exciting 6 months of sock knitting (kits run from February to December - 1 kit every 2 months). I recently ordered the Tsarina's Kitri Sock Kit from VanCal and I excedingly pleased with the product. Lisa's sock patterns are like no other sock pattern you have ever seen - her sock design talent is beyond compare. If you are reading her blog then you are aware that she is developing a pattern for a Swan Lake Sock The Kitri Sock comes with a pattern booklet, very nice for taking on the road, fifteen pages, clearly written instuctions, colour pictures and the charts are large and clear to read. The yarn (400 yards) is a lovely dyed colourway (Crimson), soft and springy to the touch, and the beads are pre-strung (hooray) on black Jaggerspun. If you want to see the knitted socks check out YarnHarlot's post of December 27th.

If you are not a sknitter and are jumping to get started the Tsarina also has a Tsocks 101 kit that comes with everything you could possibly need to teach yourself, intstruction book with colour pictures, needles, and enough yarn to knit 2 adult pairs and 2 children's pairs of socks.

I have a cold, cough and tight chest, I have chicken in the slow cooker for dinner, and I made a cranberry pudding cake for dessert, I am off to put my feet up, skitting, tea drinking and watching Little Miss Sunshine on demand. A year ago I would have bunddled up, left at 5:50 am and been at school by 6:00 am - YEAH!!! I love retirement.

Socks X3

As promised new socks.

Dad's birthday socks, he should have them by the end of the month. The pattern is The Gentlemen's Sock with Lozenge Pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. Yarn is Mysical Creations Sock Yarn in Emerald Forest. I love the yarn and the pattern is turning out very nicely it's a simple 10 row repeat. I measured dad's foot when he was here at Thanksgiving, so I now they will fit. I wanted you to see my "inside out" knitting in the round. I turned all the socks the right way around for the pictures.

My Spinning Bunny Blueberries, simple straight forward stst, I take them to my weekly WW meeting, I needed them to be mindless knitting while I listen to the leader. Very pretty colour and I love the sheen to the yarn, the yarn feels wonderful in your hand as you knit. (Yarn bought from Connie at Pick Up Sticks)

The socks that I am sending to Connie of Pick Up Sticks. She kindly donated the WW multi yarn, and I am using odds and ends to fill in as I hope to knit socks and mittens from the donated yarn. I am making the pattern and colour changes up as I go along. Once knitted they will be gently felted. Should be finished by Wednesday will let you know how the finished product turns out.

If you are a sock knitter and looking for a way to support the wonderful girls at Blue Moon Fiber Arts, after the terrible situation that their "bank" placed them in earlier this week. Check out Sonya's inspirational button, and post it on your blog.

Thank goodness, that the situation has been resolved and we can once again knit socks without suspicion. SOCK KNITTER'S RULE!!!!!

Sock Knitting Friday

I have 3 pairs of socks started. An emerald green pair with Mystical Creations, a wonderfully shiny pair for me with Spinning Bunny in Blueberry Patch, and a pair that I am knitting as a donation (yarn donated by Pick Up Sticks) for a women's shelter, I have to mail them to Connie soon, so she doesn't think I forgot. I don't have any pictures but will tomorrow, as the camera is downstairs and the socks are all upstairs and I am not in the mood to go get them. I will explain the patterns along with pictures tomorrow. You will be amazed by my sock knitting, when I knit in the round I knit inside out, I have tried the other way and I cannot do it - all thumbs, it is something that fellow knitters always comment on "you knit inside out". I knit all the way down to the toe graft and then turn the sock right side out and graft. I am also IMing son, he is enjoying his new home very much. They had 2 inches of snow last night, but do not salt the roads for environmental reasons, they use gravel. Don't have pictures but he promised some, so will post one or two for one when I get them. Pictures of Islay, just because, sorry they are a little dark and it looks like she has no eyes, but that's how it is when you own a devil dog.

Posh Socks for Nidhi

Socks for my son's New York roomate, Nidhi. They are Posh Yarn, Lucia, colourway Highland Fling (70% wool, 30% cashmere), hand painted by Dee. Now that James has moved on to Colorado, I wanted to thank her for her generosity and kindness, I hope she knows how much it was appreciated. The yarn came from the Loopy Ewe, the funny thing is it was the exact same colourway that Connie of Pick Up Sticks choose to include in my December Sock Club.

I took this picture yesterday, and as you can see we had a little snow. The tree is a Harry Lauder Walking stick, and its branches curl that way naturally. It has been growing in the same spot for almost 20 years, and looks much more interesting in the winter than it does in the summer.

I finished this little felted lingerie bag the other day, it's my first attempt at fully lining and it turned out rather well. I just finished felting an old striped jumper of James', and will move on to bigger bags now that I am feeling more confident about the lining.

THE BOY'S IN COLORADO

James drove all the way through from Indianaplois to Boulder. We had asked him to stop at Junction City in Kansas, but he felt he could do it. He called along the way and finally at 9:40 EST he called to say he had arrived. I spoke to him this morning and after unpacking the car he is off to find a bank, grocery shop, get his barings and generally settle into his new home. The next step in this new phase is gainful employment, will have to keep you updated on that. I will post later with project pictures and of yes, we have a little snow today.

Feeling much calmer than I did on Monday.

This picture was taken last year when he was the face of Denison Track.

Special Gifts

Finishing up two projects today, so no knitting pictures, instead a few pictures of Christmas gifts I was so happy to receive this year.

Hot chocolate and cake. Three wonderful pincushions from the very talented Betz White. These were a Christmas gift to myself after looking at them for ages on Etsy. One of the cups did come from Etsy, the other from the Wool Shack (in Australia) and the cupcake came from Inspireco. They are constructed from recycled sweaters that have been felted. Betz has a book coming out sometime next year, with 30 felted projects, if you every need inspiration check out her blog, you will leave it feeling rejuvinated.
Two spectacular gifts from my husband. This book is a little costly but a portion of the proceeds benefits The Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund. It's marketed as an Illustrated Biography but it's as if you were looking at her scrapbook. It's a treasure trove of pictures, playbills, even a birth announcement for her first son Sean. The cadid and professional pictures of Audrey are spectacular and her beauty inside and out will take your breath away.
This gift was a total surprise, not the kind of thing I would ever expect Bill to buy. The original Dr. Who with William Hartnell, I remember sitting in front of the tv that November night and being captivated by the Dr. and his grand-daughter Susan. Who would have thought that 43 years later the Dr. would still be captivating.

I found this book purely by accident at Borders while browsing for Christmas gifts. I had to buy it, and actually went back and bought another to send to my mother. It is absolutely charming and if you are a Beatrix Potter fan you will adore it. I am hoping to find the time to see Miss Potter soon.
For any child this book would be a wonderful introduction to the world of Beatrix Potter. It's full of drawings, letters, cards and journals as it weaves through her life. At the back of the book, under a secret compartment, is a copy of The Tales of Peter Rabbit.
This is a joyful book that you will rediscover over and over again.

The Adventure Begins

James, begining the rest of his life!


He left this morning for the long drive to Colorado, he hopes to be there on Wednesday afternoon. His car is loaded to the roof, and beyond, the only space left was the drivers seat. The rain stopped and the sun began to shine as he stepped on the driveway, a very good sign. His furniture will be shipped and should be with him in about 2 weeks, until then he will be sleeping on an air mattress.
He will be gainfully employed, as soon as he finds a job, we have no doubts about that.
Bill and I both got a little upset (ok me more so), and so did James but this is truly what he wants, and we support him 110%. I couldn't stop myself and had to take these pictures (every mother out there knows exactly why).
Today is the beginning of James new life, and my fathers 73rd birthday, truly a special day and a day that we rejoice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!!

Yarntini

Yarntini arrived in the mail yesterday from Sheri at Loopy Ewe (it sold out within 4 hours). Three beautiful colourways Loopy Blooms, Three Rivers and 4-8-15-16-23-42. I will wait for before I knit them into socks, as I am not sure if I will be able to buy this again, and would like to admire and hold them for awhile.

Noir has taken a shine to the yarn and kept pulling it out of the basket as I was trying to take the picture.

Who can blame her when you have yarn so delictable to play with.

James and Bill are packing up the car for tomorrows start to Colorado. We shall miss him, but when you decide what it is you want to do with your life you want it to start now, no waiting. He has strong wings, so we will let him fly.

FELTED SOCKS

I knit these socks ages ago from skeins of KnitPicks sock yarn in Memories ,Geranium but they were huge on my feet (my gauge wasn't off - sometimes it just happens). I had planned to give them as a gift, but then thought why not felt them (about 15 minutes in very hot water) and wear them as bed socks when my feet are freezing, so the other day I did. I actually like the colour better felted, not to mention that now they fit and that they are nice and toasty on my feet.

Red Scarves

3 Red Scarves for The Red Scarf Project, I will mail them on Monday along with Starbucks Gift Cards and some imported chocolate bars.

This has been a fun project, I know they say to make them generic so either a male or female could wear them, but I strayed from the path. I have 2 very girly scaves, and 1 rather male. The one on the far right is fluffy and even has a little fun fur down the middle. The center is the male scarf, it is reversible, its a knit row, and a p1, k1 row. The cherry red on the left is a soft fun fur with flecks of yellow, blue, green and purple, it has a fringe of red and white i-cords. I have enough red in my stash to knit a red scarf every other month this year, I hope to mail 6 scarves in January of 2008.

To see more Red Scarves take a trip over to Norma.

DOGS, DOGS, and more DOGS!!!!!

It is raining today and we should reach 60 degrees. Two theories, that this weather will continue and we will never see winter (except for that Thursday in early December when we had one day of snow), or that we will wake up one day and be digging out until April. I decided to tell you a little about the 4 legged family members that we share our lives with.



Banff (9 year old lab/bloodhound - adopted from the Humane Society when he was 12 weeks old). I took this picture on our only "snow day" so far this winter. As you can see he loves to rub his face in the snow.

Scotia (7 year old shih tzu - adopted from Humane Society when she was 3 - poor baby had a very hard life - now she lives in luxury). There will never be any pictures of Scotia in snow, as she does not like the great outdoors, and goes outside only when it is absolutely necessary. Scotia is my baby and why I love shih tzu's, if I did not have Scotia I would not have gotten Seil or Islay.



Whistler (8 year old terrior mix - adopted from Humane Society when he was about a year old). Loves the great outdoors, in all kinds of weather, and would gladly give his life to protect what he loves most - his family and his home. A watch dog to be reckoned with. (only fear - the vacumn cleaner).

Islay (you met her earlier), arrived in October when she was 10 weeks old. She will have her 1/2 year birthday on January 13th. Islay came from a breeder near the Maryland border. This is the first puppy we have bought in over 10 years, but we had a very sad summer and lost two beloved dogs, she was a gift from my husband, and she is a joy, and an absolute clown.



Jasper, who we lost to cancer in early June. She was 10 years old and was much loved, because she gave much love. She will be with us always.

Seil, a lovely wee shih tzu who we had for the briefest time, but loved dearly, we lost him to epilepsy in August.

If you are wondering about their names, they are all named after places we love, in Canada and Scotland. Our son started this trend when he named Jasper after his favorite place in Canada.