So, It's Been a While

It's been a whle, Crocodile... and life marches on regardless of my blogging.

I have been busy, but for the life of me I cannot recall what I've done during the last two weeks!

Certainly there was...knitting!!

I attended a fairisle workshop taught by Joan from the Little Red Mitten in St. Thomas.  This workshop was four hours in total, and held on two consecutive Thursday evenings.  I went along with my lovely friend Barb.  The workshop covered two-handed fairisle knitting, learning to knit continental style (yarn in the right hand) and steeks (cutting your knitting).

The end result was a cowl that was knit in the round with steeks.  I then cut the steeks and sewed them under using whip stitch.  The closing is a button with an Icord loop.

Fairisle XOX Cowl

Background:  Malabrigo Silky Merino DK (teal)

Foreground:  Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend (Stellar Night)

Last week I finished knitting a pair of Kitty Selbu mittens designed by Terri Shea. The pattern was gifted to me by my lovely friend, Laurie, who wished to help Terri, and who knew I loved cats.

This traditional Selbu style mitten was inspired by Terri’s cat.  Her poor Baby kitty suffered heart failure - at only three years of age!  Baby is recovering beautifully, but the vet bills totalled over $2500.  These mittens were designed as a charm or prayer, to strengthen Baby and help her to recover.

I owned a beautiful Chocolate Burmilla that I lost to cancer some years ago. The vet bills were exorbitant! So these mittens are a tribute to my beloved “Tallon”.

Burmilla Kitty Selbu Mittens

Background:  Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Socka (cream)

Foreground:  Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet (browns)

My MIL celebrated her birthday last week, so I whipped up a  cowl for her using the ever faithful and very interesting Labyrinth pattern by Roxanne Wood.

Labyrinth Cowl

Yarn:  Fleece Artist Scotian Silk (wine)

I also finished a scarf; the Dark Mark Illusion Scarf by Lindsay Henricks.  I had wanted to try "illusion" or "shadow" knitting for some time, and after seeing a scarf project at Little Red Mitten, I knew I wanted to cast one on!

Dark Mark Illusion Scarf

Background:  Cascade Yarns 220 Wool (granny smith green)

Foreground:  Heaven's Hand Wool Classic (chocolate)

 
I've also been designing a fair isle vest pattern.  I'll have photos and hopefully a pattern by next week!
 
In other news, I've been spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook, re-uniting with friends from school that I haven't seen in almost 30!!! years!  There's a class reunion being planned for later this year, and I'm hoping to attend.
 
My MIL has been very sick, so I've been spending an hour or two a day (for the last 9 days) at her house, helping her with cleaning, cooking, looking after her cat, and washing.
 
Til next week then....unless something totally awesome and blog-worthy happens in between!