My Limozeen

Nah, I don't really have my own limousine....but I do have my own limozeens! A pair in fact.....

Let me back track just a little - if you all recall, last year in August there was a big dyeing party down at Mega Pond at The Bloomin Bog.

Well, I dyed my first ever KnitPicks 80% merino, 20% nylon bare sock yarn there. Remember this:


I know it's taken me 10 months, but I finally used the yarn to make a pair of Nutkin Socks.

I was delighted to find that my dyed yarn didn't pool at all, and that the Nutkin pattern is quite visible despite the heavy variegation of colour.

So, here they are:

Limozeen Nutkins

Hat Trick

Do they say that good things come in threes? Oh who knows, and quite honestly, who really cares anyway?

Oh, wait....

I DO!

I got a hat trick....a lucky trifecta. Three completed Ayla Backpacks! Each niece, her own. The first one I knit was for Jaycee Mae. Hers was sunny yellow with a big red and white flower on it. The second backpack was for Karlia. Hers was a beautiful ocean blue with a seahorse on it. And the last in the trilogy..... Emily's. Her's is a fabulous orange with a brown burmese cat on it.

This last and final labour of love is called Tangerine Ayla. I lined this backpack with a gorgeous quilting fabric - beautiful cats! I'm sure she'll love it.

Photo gallery:

Quickie

My life is a blur. Work, work, work, knit, sleep. Over and over and over. It's like that movie - Groundhog Day.....

My working life is totally interfering with my knitting life.

As a quick update regarding the Red Sock competition - I did not win a prize for my red socks, however, my friend Laura and another Londoner, Mary Jane, did win prizes! Good for them both!!

I have so many WIPs, and not many FOs. From mid April to mid July I have six birthdays that I knit for. These birthdays couldn't occur at a worse time for me in terms of my lack of time. However, I've been soldiering along and my production line is moving, albeit slowly.

Last week I sent off the Cerulean Blue Ayla (felted backpack) for Karlia. Her birthday is on 12 June, so it should arrive in Australia in plenty of time. It turned out really well, and I hope she loves it as much as I loved knitting it.

Cerulean Blue Ayla

Last week I also finished off the Gerlinde Wavy Feathers Wimple for my Mum for her birthday on 8 June. I already phoned her and apologised profusely for its late arrival. She was very understanding [smiling].

Gerlinde WFW

Yesterday I cast on the last [hopefully] of the felted backpacks! This one is for Emily (birthday on 16th July) and I have called it the Tangerine Ayla. Emily's favourite colour is orange, so I figured I would hand dye some Cascade 220 for it. Well, I should have stopped when I had a couple of very pretty skeins of orange, but noooooooo....I had to go spoil it all by sprinkling a bit of blue on it before nuking it in the microwave.

Although it's not HIDEOUS, it isn't gorgeous either. I suppose it's growing on me, but it just doesn't yell ..... Tangerine Ayla for a 5yr old little girl. So I bought some pretty orange Cascade instead.

Mouldy Oranges

And now I'm off to knit!

When is a Cat Not a Cat?

Once in a while something totally awesome happens that demands I stop what I’m doing and blog.

Q: When is a cat not a cat?
A: When it’s Cat Bordhi!

Friday night I had the incredible good fortune to meet an amazingly inspirational and very charming woman who goes by the name of Cat Bordhi. She is the author of such fabulous titles as: Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles , New Pathways for Sock Knitters - Book One, A Treasury of Magical Knitting, and A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.

What a super nice lady. So gracious, so intuitive, so down to earth and yet extremely high on my pedestal. I am in awe of Cat Bordhi.

It all began back in March with a pair of red socks I knit out of ShibuiKnits Chinese Red, and entered into the Shall We Knit Ruby Red Socks competition. Little did I know when I entered the contest that none other than Cat Bordhi would judge them! OH MY GOD! She was going to touch my socks!!

Although I don’t consider myself the kind of person to get all starry eyed and silly putty over someone, I would mention that I have never, in my very sheltered life, met anybody remotely famous. And now that I finally have, I think I am what I thought I was not! […oh for those of you who’ve lost interest, I mean I AM a starry eyed CB groupie]!

On 22nd May, I traveled to New Hamburg with Kat and Laura - a trip we’d organized way back in April. I decided it was time for the inaugural outing of my beautiful Vicky M Tempest sweater. What better occasion!

Our mission – meet Cat Bordhi for a book signing event at Shall We Knit, and later a sock presentation by Cat at Meme’s Restaurant. And all this for just $20! And even better – the entire proceeds for this fabulous event were donated to Breast Cancer Research.

When I approached Cat to sign my own copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters, I was so incredibly excited and humbled to be in the same space as her. I shook Cat’s hand heartily and told her how absolutely delighted I was to meet her.

She smiled happily at me and said “Oh I love your sweater, and I know I’ve seen it on the internet - in Ravelry perhaps”. I was stunned….and….without words. Not only is the famous Cat Bordhi signing my book, but she's telling ME….little me…..that she knows and loves my sweater. She went on to say how great it looked on me and what a beautiful job I did knitting it. We chatted about the yarn I’d used, and I was just blown away by her sincere and lovely remarks. [Quite honestly, she had me at “hello”]. She signed my book: Dear Isabella – wishing you endless sock adventures! She drew a love heart and signed her name!

I was so exhilarated and delighted that I rushed right off and bought two skeins of ShibuiKnits Sock 100% merino in the “honey” colourway.

At 7:30pm 40 of us were seated in Meme’s clutching a “surprise goodie bag”. Inside the bag, all sorts of little samples – chocolates, yarn, bookmark, 10% discount coupon for Shall We Knit, a notepad, a pen, a sample of Soak ™, and some E-Z bobs.

We all listened (and knitted) to Cat Bordhi give her sock presentation. My brain was buzzing with all the great ideas and information she gave us. Her sock architecture ideas were amazing. I absolutely loved a definition of knitting she shared with us (from an email she received from a fan):

KNIT THE PROJECT; NOT THE PATTERN.

During a small break in the presentation, a prize draw was held. And I won some yarn!! I never win anything! I won two lovely skeins of Cascade Fixation – 98.3% cotton, 1.7% elastic in the “light yellow” colourway. This will become a pair of anklet socks, and will serve as a constant reminder of my awesome celebrity meeting with Cat Bordhi.

Cat decided to take all the red socks and tea cozies for the Shall We Knit competition back to her motel, and that she would personally write a note to everyone who entered a sock!!! How amazing is that! I can hardly wait! An autograph and a note!!

I’m still flying high – thank you so much Karen (Shall We Knit) and all your staff for organizing such a fabulous event. Well done! And thank you Cat for a day I'll never forget!

Sign of the Times

If you build it.....they will come. So with that in mind, we built it, and they are a comin!

Customers that is....to our store! Yup, our once very sad Bloomin Bog sign is now repaired. The winter finally destroyed the 8ft x 4ft sign at the road, so Nick built a "make do" one. And just as we were all getting used to the white greenhouse plastic with the black "Bloomin Bog" graffiti! I do miss that sign. If nothing else, it had character and was certainly a conversation starter with our customers. Many laughs were shared. I'm still suspicious of the spray can control ..... I think I've seen the artist's work around town [laughing].

Staff around our new sign (pictured from left: Ian, Dave, Kim and I)

Our new sign at night (totally awesome....looks like an 8ft plasma tv!)

Knitting progress is slow at this time of year. April through July I basically eat, drink and sleep business. My knitting time is now restricted to the evenings around 11pm, and only if I'm not falling asleep.

I did cast on a pair of socks last week - two at a time on 2.5mm circs. I finally found a great pattern for my hand-dyed sock yarn (from last year's dyeing party). The pattern is called Nutkin by Beth LaPensee. Nutkin is an easy to memorize pattern with dramatic results. Although the pattern includes many YOs, the sock does not appear lacy. Given the bright colours in my yarn, I didn't want the patterning to get lost in the bright variegations - all that effort for nothing ya know?

I really love the pattern so far. The heel calls for short rows - haven't done a sock this way before, so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.....I'm so used to a heel flap and gusset.

Finished the legs and starting the short row heels on my Limozeen Nutkins

I hope to cast on soon for a felted kitty bed (cat pi) by Wendy D. Johnson. I've already dyed my yarn - Cascade Ecological wool. I spoke to my feline recipient, Sandi Pandi, and she loves the colours [phew!].

Dyed Cascade Ecological wool for kitty bed

And now it's 8pm, and I haven't started dinner. No surprises there. Not to worry though - one of my new staff [bless him] is a great cook, and he brought me a fabulous chicken casserole! I just have to warm it up!! Yep, he's scoring BIG brownie points with me [laughing]. His Indian dinner was fantastic, and so was his slow cooker chicken dish! Ooooooo! I'm getting spoiled.....possible sugar daddy you ask? Naaaah!

My Bluebird of Happiness

My bluebird of happiness does not fly. In fact, it doesn't even have wings! Or feathers! And it only has some blue in it [laughing]. But, it is adorable, soft and loves to be petted.

So, to unravel the mystery....towards the end of August last year, I received a lovely little plait of roving from Alana. She brought it back for me as a souvenir from the West Coast of Canada. I’m not quite sure whether it’s Corriedale or BFL, all I really know is that it had lovely 6in long staple length that was great for a beginner spinner like me!

The roving was already dyed beautiful shades or turquoise, grass green and mauve – really pretty. Yes, I should have taken a photo!

I used the Turkish Drop Spindle my Dad made for me for my birthday. Hours and hours later, I had it all spun up – not the most brilliant bit of spinning, but my first true attempt at making yarn. I had piddled around a bit with spinning before, but had never spun more than an ounce.

Once it was spun, I needed something to ply it with. So I chose some bare Louet Corriedale Top Roving I bought from Shall We Knit last year.

Once plied, I had to set the twist in hot water for five minutes and then dry my little skein of happiness!

And here’s the end result:

I call my skein Ozmium (get it??.....ozbambi…..ozmium….) OK…LOL.

Osmium is found in nickel-bearing ores of Sudbury, Ontario. The metal is lustrous, and bluish white – hence the name :-) Get it now?

I’m going to knit a hat from this skein, and since it’s only 134 yards (2.9oz), I will start at the top with some bare yarn, then do as much as I can with my Ozmium, and then the rim can be bare yarn again….or something like that anyway!

It's all fine and dandy to spin, but if you never knit anything from your handspun, then you'll never figure out whether you need to add more or less twist!

Oh and earlier this week, I cut my hair off! What was below my bra strap for the last ten years is now curled on my shoulders. My spring do! I love it – so easy to manage; don’t need to tie it up; no big tangles; faster to wash and dry; no scooping hair out of the drain, and it is light as a feather! It’s quite amazing how much hair weighs!

My next blog post will hopefully have some pictures of Karlia’s backpack. I’m just joining the bottom of the bag to the bag itself, and then I’ll attach the straps. Once that’s all done (hopefully by the end of the day) into the washing machine it’ll go for felting!

Another Birthday - But Not Mine!

Friday, 3rd April was a birthday celebration for my friend, Kata of Odd-ish Creations!

Some time ago, plans were laid to go to Alpaca Acres (Stratford, Ontario) and Shall We Knit (New Hamburg, Ontario) for Kata's birthday. Deb, Will and Kata picked me up around 5pm and off we set!

The day was rainy, windy and c-c-c-cold, but that didn't stop our fun and celebrations.

First stop was Alpaca Acres to catch up with Anne and Dan and their absolutely adorable alpacas:

Of course, I had to buy some yarn - another skein of Madison in a light sport weight @ 188yds:

Kat, Laura and Allie joined us at the alpaca farm, and from there we ventured on to Shall We Knit. Karen was a lovely hostess as always, and supplied us with paper plates, forks and knives and somewhere to do the whole birthday thing. Thanks Karen!

I baked Kata a Hummingbird Cake for her birthday:

And Kata and Will also baked - a Rainbow Cake:

While I was at Shall We Knit, I entered my Shibui Reds into the Ruby Red Sock Competition. Cat Bordhi is going to judge the winner!! PLUS, I'm going to meet her in person on 22nd May! Woo hoo!

What a great day. Happy Birthday Kata :-)

Chocolate, Cake and Yarn Part 2

Well my birthday has really and truly been celebrated this year! My sister's packaged arrived in the mail yesterday. Thanks Sonia !


Sisters are so awesome. Somehow they just instinctively "know" what you're gonna love.


Any my sister outdid herself this year. Not only did I get some exclusive birthday card designs from my adorable niece Emily, but I got a knitting book from Sonia! Whoot!


First the cards:


Now the book:


Classic Elite Knits - 100 Gorgeous Designs for Every Occasion from the studios of Classic Elite Yarns - 2008

This is such a lovely book - it has it all - women's, men's, children's and accessories. The Mosaic Patterned Pullover already has my attention, as does the Seed Stitch Blazer, the Mosaic Cable Pullover, the Wool-Bamboo Cabled Cardigan and the Diamond Yoke Pullover.


I wish I could post links to these beautiful patterns, but there are none on Ravelry. The Mosaic Patterned Pullover is featured on the photo above. It's on the bottom row, far left.

And now for something completely different....

I am finished my Shibui Reds! They are just lovely and fit beautifully.


THE END