Wednesday, 30 April 2008
On the road again ....
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Button, button, who has the button?
Friday, 25 April 2008
Hand-painted or not
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Quiet but busy
In my class, Diane is working ahead to next winter and finished a lace cowl for her daughter. It's to go with a matching hat and mittens which she's already completed. This is based on the Lace Cowl from the Kid's Knitted Hats book (www.cabinfever.ca/PKKH.html) , knit in chunky yarn over 50 sts. We worked out an excellent modification: 2" before the end she increased stitches (1 stitch in each pattern repeat) which created a flare. It worked really well and sits perfectly on her shoulders. Doesn't it look cozy?
Now it's time to get ready for the Spring Frolic put on by the DKC guild in Toronto (www.downtownknitcollective.ca) . I'm teaching on Saturday afternoon and have to get some samples together. I'm going to teach attached I-cording and a wonderful double knitted edging which does away with picking up armbands on tank tops forever. You can work this edge on a vest or tank top or shell where you need a finished armhole and it won't interfer with the stitch pattern in garment. You can even cast off with it. I used it on the circular tank (www.cabinfever.ca/P504.html) and the Lacy Vee shell (www.cabinfever.ca/P254.html). I love it, as you can tell, because it works so well.
I might even see what classes I can get into myself. There is always something else to learn.
-Deb
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Spring Fling!
I'm busy getting our stuff ready to show/sell at the Spring Fling on Saturday. It's an annual guild show (Downtown Knit Collective) and we always enjoy having a booth there. We know lots of people which makes it a lot of fun. It's weird but a one day show is almost as much work as a three or four day show. All the preparation that I have to do is pretty much the same, except in this case I don't have to worry about shipping stuff (and customs), just trying to squeeze it into my van.
You can see all the information for the show at http://www.downtownknitcollective.ca/dkc_frolic.html . This is a growing show so new stuff and new people to see and meet, and is primarily for knitting. Our kind of show!
Our "little" sister Heather often comes to help out at the show while Deb is off teaching classes and I look forward to spending the day with her. She is not a knitter (we've tried and tried) but she really likes the stuff and is remarkably knowledgeable about it for a non-knitter (she suggests that we kind of go on about it ... us??). I put the "little" in quotes because she is easily the tallest of the three of us. We're kind of in reverse order, oldest = shortest.
I've decided to showcase some of our baby blankets and afghans that are knit in our cotton blend. Plus our felted purses and bags which are always popular. I just did a "big bag" with two strands of our Cottage Colours and it's amazing. I'm so pleased - it has the look of a big Doctor's bag, well, except it's in blue! I put a magnet on it to close it and pretty buttons and will have a hard time leaving it as a sample.
I've been have a great time playing with shrugs this last week or so, mainly because I need one for myself, and have found that knitting in cotton or a cotton blend, even in this terrific heat, has been fine. I moved into a new (to me) townhouse last fall so this is my first summer with my new (tiny) south-facing backyard and it's HOT out there. So cool knitting is essential.
If you're in Toronto and free on Saturday, come down to the show and say "hi".
Lynda
Saturday, 19 April 2008
They are everywhere
I got there early because my husband is the treasurer and it's so beautiful out that I decide to sit outside on the bench and knit. A lovely young woman comes out, pulls out her knitting and sits beside me and begins to work on a beautiful lace stole. She is none other than the fiddle player accompanying Maria Dunn. FIONA COLL plays regularly with Fig for a Kiss (www.figforakiss.com/frameset_bio.html) and is a terrific fiddle player, and knitter of course. And would you belive it, I took my camera out of my knitting bag and left it at home - drat. I didn't expect a knitting photo op to arise.
But this knitting in public does attract other knitters. They are everywhere !
Tonight we are off to a benefit for ArtsCanCircle (http://www.artscancircle.ca/). A terrific group which takes musical instruments to isolated native communities. The BADASS (Barrie And District Assoc of Singer Songwriters) group will be playing, including my husband, and lots of our folkie friends. It's going to be a blast. I will be knitting and keeping a watch for more knitters going public.
It's not over yet. Tomorrow is our good friend Don Bray's CD release at Hugh's Room (www.hughsroom.com/page2.html) in Toronto. This is going to be a fun filled evening. We have a big table right up front. We will be trying very hard not to heckle him but I fear we will fail miserably. Supportive heckling, of course.
Knitting the music in,
Deb
Thursday, 17 April 2008
An Audible Click
Let me introduce you to Alana and her son Alexander in his new sweater.
Alana is now knitting an adult version for herself www.cabinfever.ca/P617.html and I can't wait to see what we can do with it. Definitely doing some waist shaping and maybe some decoration on the sleeve cuffs. I expect to see her starting to fiddle with the patterns very, very soon.
Alana is a jeweller and you can see her resin work at www.alanab.etsy.com . It's really colourful and the photo pendants are really cool. How would a knitting project look on a necklace? Hmmm. My latest sock?
- Deb
Monday, 14 April 2008
Deadline Knitting
Project # 1 Checkerboard Socks in Shelridge Farm Ultra
Friday, 11 April 2008
Some More Previews
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Yay! Done!
Sophy and I had a little mini show and tell this morning. Sophy's little sweater is in Lime and has a neat textured panel across the body with inserts up the back and sleeves. She's currently being cranky about the cast off. I expect to hear much about different ways of casting off over the next day or two!
I'd show you a picture of mine, it's done in Denim, Lime and Lemon, with a combination of garter stitch and slip stitch colour work, but Deb's "borrowed" my camera (which I suspect I may never see again :)
Now, itty, bitty, tiny socks to knit ...
Lynda
You want us to ship ... where?
I got asked recently, when Deb and I were down doing our talk on self-publishing at the Downtown Knit Collective in Toronto, who our customer's were. Well, you know how they say it's a small world? It's neat actually, how big the knitting world is! In the last two weeks we've gotten orders from Canada, the United States (by far the most), Malaysia, New Zealand and the UK! Not bad for a tiny little company in the "near North" of Ontario.
Lynda
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Preview
If you're new here this is what is happening. I have written a basic pattern (overexposed photo in gold below) which I wrote up and sent to the Cabin Fever crew of designers. They have been busy and silent !! about what they have been up to. But today Bernice and I went up to Sheepstrings Wool Store in Huntsville, ON and I got some preview pics.
The gold above is the Basic Cardigan in the 6-9 month size.
Karen from Sheepstrings Wool Store has done a unisex cardigan (preemie size). She's working a redo in orange for a girl. Can't wait to see the glow from that one.
Bernice's fascination with cables continues. Lovely big collar. See http://mommabearknits2.blogspot.com for more pictures.
Dana has the traditionalist covered here. Beautiful lace work.
This is my addition which is now almost finished and written up. Well except for taking the bottom ruffle out one more time and starting the garter stitch before the last buttonhole. This is absolutely the last time for the rip!
And what am I doing now? I'm knitting all 5 sizes of the basic cardigan to check the pattern and show what the basic can look like in different yarns. This is in Cara from Needful, cushy and lovely to knit with. I bought 2 other yarns from Karen so you will be able to see the difference the yarn makes in a plain sweater. I'm starting the largest size tonight and working down, keeping the most colourful one to the end, it's my carrot.
0-3 month size is done, check.
18 month size-better get to it.
I'm watching the Emma DVD tonight and I'll be looking for any knitted shawls. I don't think I saw one last time but I can't quite believe it so I'm watching it again.
-Deb
P.S. Thanks for the camera recommendation Pat (comments). I've borrowed a Panasonic to try for a week. I have also looked at the Fuji a friend has. On the weekend I can try a Canon for a day. Then it's off to the camera store next week.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Big Weekend
I went to Unwind (http://www.unwindyarnhouse.com/) in Newmarker, ON. Lovely store with lots of drop-in knitting going on which is wonderful. This is hand-dyed sock wool by a local dyer http://redcorsetdesigns.blogspot.com/ from Bradford, On, my new destination.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Send some Spring this way
Diane at Georgetown Yarns in, yes you got it, Georgetown, Ontario
www.canknit.com/members/dcrawford.html sent some photos in the mail of a workshop I gave at her store in February. I see that everyone is very hard at work. Believe it or not, I think they were having fun. And I'm standing there with my arms crossed because I forgot to bring something easy to knit on myself and I never know what to do with my hands. This crew is working on a V-neck cardigan (teddy bear sized) shaped using short rows.