Close to my Heart

Energy

I'm having an awesome week, for a number of reasons:

1.  I feel extremely happy and well rested. I have more energy than I've had in MONTHS!
2.  Skating was awesome Monday night.  Newly sharpened skates make such a difference and improved my skating considerably.
3.  I've had some of the best sleeps I've had in AGES.  Two nights in a five day period where I didn't have to get up during the night.  I NEVER sleep through the night!
4.  Back to my noon hour workouts.  Feels SO good!
5.  Finished my second pair of socks this month:

They're made of Opal 6 Ply 1711 and they knit up really, really fast.  More socks for Joe, who is so very appreciative of them! And with all the blue white,and gray, these definitely are my February item for Project Spectrum. Just noticed that these colours run for March as well, I guess I didn't need to rush so much!
6.  I feel like I'm getting my knitting mojo back, and know exactly what projects I plan to cast on in the next few days (but am actually going to lengthen the Malabrigo Cardi sleeves first, which in itself I'm thrilled that I really want to do)
7.  I'm having fun Stamping and getting to know that online Community.
8.  I sold something on Etsy this morning within MINUTES of listing.  Made me very very happy.  It's a knitting related item, and I have another set available:

(Click on the picture to go to my Etsy store)
9. The days are getting longer.  Spring is coming, and I even saw a couple fat robins this morning.  Never mind that it has snowed a bit today!
10.  Life is GOOD!   

Neglectful Blogger

I think I've only been posting here about once a week lately, bad me!  I've been much more regular over at the Paper Craft Blog, Island Crafts, if you're interested in seeing what I'm up to.  I seem to be in a bit of a knitting slump.  I think there are a few reasons for that.  Number one is that my creative juices are being channeled into the card making at the moment, which I'm really enjoying.  Number two is that I feel that it is between seasons a bit.  I have plenty of warm winter cardis, and am not really interested in starting another at the moment.  Yet it feels a little too early to knit for spring and summer.  That being said, I'll probably start a simple lace shawl very soon.  And there's always socks.  Not only do I have socks on the needles, but I acquired more sock yarn yesterday. 

First the new stash.  Yesterday was our community's now annual Sewing and Needlework Show, and Fun Knits had a booth.  I was excited about seeing the Sweatermaker Floral Spectrum Sock Yarn that Shelley has been blogging about, so not surprisingly came home with two hanks:

Absolutely gorgeous yarn, pretty and soft.  I'd highly recommend visiting the Fun Knits Web Store and getting some for yourself.  I know that some of my regular readers are easily tempted by sock yarn, and I'm always happy to enable! I'm looking forward to either knitting this yarn or carrying it around just to feel, it is that nice.

And finally, here's this weeks knitting project, socks for Joe in Project Spectrum Blue for February.

I always try to knit a pair of socks in the Project Spectrum colour, and am hopeful that I'll finish in what's left of this month.  Since taking this picture yesterday afternoon, I've now finished the gusset decreases for one sock, and am ready to knit the heel flap on the second.  Yarn is Opal 6 Ply, which is a sport weight yarn, so the knitting is going quite quickly.

And that's about it for me today.  Hope your Sunday is going well!

SO Spoiled!

First time in a while that I've gone all through the work week without a post.  It's been a busy week, and I didn't have anything to tell you that I considered to be blog-worthy.  Until today that is.  I came home from work to find a parcel in my mailbox.  It was from Morgan of Fibre Addict.  Morgan and I were partners for the June Project Colourswap (Blue Month).  Morgan has been dealing with some family health issues that have very understandably made it difficult for her to get her package out.  But was it ever worth waiting for!

The first thing I pulled out was this beautiful scarf, all the way from Paris. 

It's so beautiful and soft, and is large enought to wear as a shawl.  I will feel like an elegant Parisienne when I wear this scarf.

The box then seemed bottomless as I pulled out all of this wonderful yarn.

Phildar Recif

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport

Crystal Palace Chenille

All of these yarns are from Make One Yarn Studio.  I want to go to Calgary just to visit this store.  I've been reading the store blog for some time, so it was neat to get items that came from there.

And probably the best item, some of Morgan's first handspun yarn:

Gorgeous colours, soft yarn.  I'll have to find the perfect project for this yarn.  Joe thought it would make great slippers, he may be right but I'll wait to see what it tells me.

Thanks so much Morgan, I feel SO spoiled.  And what a great way to start the weekend.  Looking forward to rest, relaxation, and knitting, what more is there? 

Number Two

Updated August 10 8:10 pm PST to add modelled picture, by request of a couple of my commenters.  Scroll down if you really want to see it.

After enjoying knitting my first CeCe so much, I was inspired by Margene's beautiful verigated sweater so decided to cast on using some stash yarn in July Project Spectrum Purple.  And although I'm just showing you this sweater now, it was indeed finished on the very last day of July.  I think the lace pattern is somewhat lost in this yarn (I like Margene's better) but I know I will still get lots of use out of it. It is purple (my favourite colour) after all!

I had Joe take some pictures of me wearing CeCe 2 after I wore it to work the other day.  Said pictures are completely dorky though, and will not be shown on this blog.  Instead, here she is modelled by Miss C. Hanger, snuggled up against Mr. Birch:

And another closer shot

And finally, here's - a not quite as dorky as the previous pictures I wouldn't post - modelled shot.  If you really want to see it, you'll have to click.

Pattern: CeCe by Bonne Marie Burns of ChicKnits (but everyone knows that by now anyway)
Yarn:  6 Balls Elann Sonata, Purple Print Colourway
Needles: 2.5 mm for the ribbing, 3.0 mm for the body
Modifications: None
Started: July 7
Finished: July 31
Comments:  I made two of these sweaters in a row.  Suprisingly, I actually enjoyed knitting every stitch of both sweaters too.  In fact, I may even have enjoyed knitting the second sweater more than the first, as I was more "one" with the lace pattern.  Definitely fun knitting!

A Day at the Filberg

Today's Saturday sky is brought to you by the Filberg Festival:

I think the picture turned out kind of neat, with the sun and the jet stream.

It was a lovely sunny day to meander around the Festival.  One of my first stops again this year was the Sweatermaker booth.  I bought a kit to make a simple garter stitch shawl. 

(All of the pictures in this post are clickable.  And you should click on them too, because everything is very beautiful, if I do say so myself.)

What first caught my eye was the hank in the middle, which is 50% silk, 50% merino.  It is truly gorgeous.  The other yarns are a mohair and a mohair loop.  I love Sweatermaker yarn, I think it is as good as Fleece Artist, plus she is a local artisan and I like to support anything local.  Just to refresh your memory, I knit this shawl with yarn bought from her at last year's Filberg.  The Diamond Fantasy Shawl that I've been neglecting is also Sweatermaker.  You can purchase her yarns through Fun Knits, if you are interested.

The setting of the Filberg is gorgeous, it's a garden-like park near the ocean:

And a couple more of my purchases:

The beads in both the necklace and earrings were from the same artisan.  I am calling the necklace my Project Spectrum August necklace because of it's neutral colours.  And the purple earrings were just so gorgeous that I couldn't leave them.  Both of these items were very inexpensive too, so I didn't break the bank at all.

I'm tired now from spending the day in the sun.  Time to relax with my knitting now.  I may very well wind my new yarn and cast on for the shawl this weekend.

A Sock Knitting Dilemma

I had kind of thought I might get two pairs of Purple Socks knit this month.  Despite casting on these socks, made from Regia Cotton Surf Colour on July 1, I just finished them last night. 

I carried them with me all month, but in the end, found very little time to knit on them.  These socks were knit from the cuff down, with a Band Heel and Round toe.  I think this has become my favourite sock formula.

Now the question is which yarn to use for my next pair of socks.  I have quite an extensive selection of sock yarn, and one day I will get brave and count and itemize each skein.  For now, these are some of the yarns I'm considering to knit next.

From the top down:

1. Online Caribbean
2. Online Fun
3.  Melenweit Magic

and

From left to right:

4.  Opal Acapulco
5.  Lorna's Laces Sherbet
6.  Trekking XXL

And here's my other dilemma.  I prefer my socks to be mindless knitting, round and round I go.  But there are some great patterns out there, some of which are not mindless at all, and certainly not conducive to being a take-a-long project.  Some of the patterns are still pretty simple, could still work as a take-a-long project, but I would have to be a bit more watchful of the pattern and which row I am working.  Now, if I knit with yarn 1 or 2 above, I'd stick to a simple stockinette sock as the self-striping is already doing so much.  If I knit yarn number 3, or 6, I would probably pick a fairly simple pattern, perhaps a chevron-type design.  For yarn number 4, it would be  Hanauma Bay or the Eagle's Flight Pattern.  And for yarn number 5, I'm thinking of the RPM socks from the new Knitty.  I think the last option would look great, and are not super difficult, but may not be the best option for a take-a-long project.

So, if there's anyone out reading out there on this Summer Saturday (although I might add that it is now raining here) please help me decide.  I'm feeling quite indecisive.  At the moment, I'm leaning toward Yarn number 4 with the Hanauma Bay pattern, but do reserve the right to change my mind at any given moment, perhaps as soon as I hit the publish key.  Help!

And I know it would help if I quit buying sock yarn.  As if that is going to happen though!

Pleasing Purple

Today's work day found me in another city just over 2 1/2 hours drive away to attend a meeting.  It was a beautiful day for a drive, made much more pleasant by the company car's A/C.   The meeting went really well, and was followed by a yummy late lunch.  I then took a few minutes to do a quick browse of some of the shops located in one downtown block.  I hadn't been to the downtown of this city in many years, and really enjoyed looking around.  There was a nice shoe store, and I even found the yarn store.  I showed great restraint though, and didn't by shoes or yarn.  I then found myself in one of the nicest consignment stores (clothing, jewellery and other accessories) I've ever seen, and only wish I had more time to really look.  I did find something though.Can you guess what is inside this Purple bag?

Inside was a too-good-to-leave-behind bargain, for just $10:

Can a girl ever have too many purses? I love all the compartments:

I think one of the side compartments will be perfect to hold my current sock WIP.

In other purple news today, I came home to find my July Project Colorswap Parcel, all the way from Randi in Denmark:

Lovely purple yarns, the most wonderful smelling purple soap, beautiful stitchmakers hand-made by Randi herself, and tea that I know will be fabulous when the cool weather returns.  Thanks so much Randi, it was so great to come home to this wonderful parcel.  I mailed your package at the beginning of last week, hopefully it will arrive soon.

I hate how my digicam makes the purples look rather blue.  I assure you everthing portrayed in this post really is Purple!

Bloglines took close to 72 hours to update my last post.  Let's see what happens with this one!

A WIP and A List

SO glad that tomorrow is Friday.  It's been a dull dreary week here weather wise, which I find really affects my energy level.  The weather is supposed to improve for the weekend, I sure hope it does.  We've had unseasonably cool temps here on the West Coast this week.  We've needed the rain that has fallen, but come on, it's the middle of July after all!  I'm writing this entry wearing my flannel nightgown.  That is just so wrong for this time of year!  My family teases me about being ready for bed so early in the evening, but why not get comfy?

As far as knitting goes, I've started my second CeCe.  I was inspired last week by Margene's beautiful sweater, so decided to cast on using Project Spectrum Purple Print Elann Sonata that has been in my stash for about three years (love using up stash yarn!).  I'm pleased with how it is turning out, and hope to make great progress this weekend.  It looks much nicer and the lace pattern is more evident in person than in the picture (but you can see it better if you click for a bigger view).  Thanks Margene for the inspiration, I would never have considered using a verigated yarn for this lacy sweater.

Finally, because I have nothing more to blog about, I've decided to show My LIfe's To Do List, as seen on many other blogs lately.  If you want to see how boring I really am, you can read the extended entry.

I Heart Purple

Since joining Project Spectrum, I've been eagerly anticipating July, now known as Purple Month.  Purple was at one time my absolute favourite colour.  The majority of clothes in my wardrobe were once Purple, and in fact, many years ago, when I visited my favourite clothing store, I was automatically shown the new Purple arrivals.  My wardrobe has since become more diverse, but my fondness for Purple has always remained.  When I married Joe over twelve years ago, our wedding colour was Lilac (which is really light Purple).  And my toenails are currently painted Purple.  Despite owning purses in many different colours, I don't currently have a Purple one.  I think I might have to rectify that this month.

Imagine too my shock when I went through my Knitting Galleries to find all the Purple items to make a blog collage, and all I found was two or three piddly pairs of socks, and this cardigan.  That will have to change, and what better time to start that than during Purple Month.

I next went through my stash, and was pleased to find some Purple Yarns:

(Some of the yarn does look blue in this picture, but trust me this is all Purple goodness)

Not sure how much of this yarn will be knit, but there will most likely be a Soileil with the solid Purple Sonata, and perhaps Branching out from the Mango Moon.  I've already started one pair of Purple socks, using the Regia Cotton:

I've since finished the heel and gusset decreases on this sock. 

(Sidenote:  Picture taken on the blocking CeCe)

And I do reserve the right to purchase more Purple Yarn this month too!

One Day Late

June was such a busy month for me that both knitting and blogging were very mininmal, and so my Project Spectrum blue knitting post is a day late.

I've been trying to knit a pair of socks each month in the PS colour.  The June socks were knitted out of a new yarn so kindly gifted to me by Shelley at Fun Knits, my awesome LYS that I haven't visited in too long.  The yarn is Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo, and I used colourway number 5763.  The yarn seems thicker on first examination, but knits up like any sock weight yarn.  There is a bit of elastic to it, and as a result, I think these will be very comfortable socks.  There is a strand of blue throughout the yarn, and some subtle change in the other colour.  Here they are, first on my feet:

And another picture on the grass, so you can better see the pretty colours:

To see other colours of this yarn and to purchase your own, you can visit the Fun Knits Web Store here.

Another June Blue project was something you haven't seen on this blog for a LONG time, crochet.  A co-worker had a baby boy a few weeks ago, and I always make the new baby a blanket. 

I'm using Bernat Baby Boucle, and the Teardrop pattern.  Not really enjoying the yarn at all (its hard on my hands), so am taking my time.  No shower scheduled yet, so I'm not in any rush.  It's just over one-quarter done, so it shouldn't be difficult to finish once the shower date is announced.

Phew, now I finally feel caught up.  July should be a lot quieter for me (I hope) so hopefully more regular posting will resume.  And it's PURPLE month, my favourite colour, and I'm really looking forward to some new PURPLE projects.

In the meantime:

Hope all my fellow Canadians are having a great Canada Day!