I'm Ready for the Park...

Central Park that is..... wearing my newly completed Central Park Hoodie! Woo hoo!

This was a great TV knit. Simple yet effective cables turned this somewhat mindless knit into a rather enjoyable one.

This project emerged from humble beginnings. I bought some undyed Blue Faced Leicester Aran from a lady on Ravelry - 4 skeins totalling 1640 yds. It was perfect for this project - amazingly soft and springy and not scratchy or itchy at all.

The next step was to dye the yarn. I knew what colour I wanted - a mustard/curry semi solid with a hint of olive/brown. I started mixing and finally had the perfect shade! And just enough dye for my 16oz of yarn. I had to dye in two stages since I had so much yarn and only a 3 gallon stock pot. The yarn came out fabulously [shameless horn tooting].

The last step was to swatch. Gauge on the first attempt! Woo hoo! This hoodie was meant to be!

Timeline:

Dyed BFL - 11 August, 2009

Cast on Project - 19 August, 2009

Back Finished - 24 August, 2009

LH Front Finished - 30 August, 2009

RH Front Finished - 2 September, 2009
Sleeves Finished - 7 September, 2009
Washed and Blocked - 8 September, 2009

Hood Finished - 12 September, 2009

Edgings Finished - 13th September, 2009

Button Loops, Buttons and Seaming Finished - 14th September, 2009

Modifications:

Back: One extra pattern repeat to lengthen by 1.75ins. Cat Bordhi’s Wrap, Turn and Conceal Short Row shoulders and three needle BO (since the cable crosses occurred on a short row, I did the cable on a purl side; one row earlier). Contemplated using kitchener stitch to join shoulders, but was worried about the strength of it and the weight of the sweater.

Left Hand Front: One extra pattern repeat to lengthen by 1.75ins. Cat Bordhi’s Wrap, Turn and Conceal Short Row shoulder.

Right Hand Front: One extra pattern repeat to lengthen by 1.75ins. Cat Bordhi’s Wrap, Turn and Conceal Short Row shoulder.

Sleeves: One extra increase under the arm (= 2 sts). Made the sleeves one inch longer.

Hood: Since I did short row shoulders, I had live stitches on the needle for the hood. I didn’t have to graft together, pick up stitches.

Edgings: my pickup ratio was 4:1 (14 times) then 3:1 (36 times) for a total of 328 sts. I increased to 164 sts each side because of the extra length of the fronts and back.

Buttons: I used 6 buttons and did the crochet loop closing option.

This fits fantastically. I made the 36ins version even though I’m 37ins. The only things I would do differently if I knit it again is (a) to make the sleeves a little wider….about 6 sts; (b) knit the sleeves in the round; and (c) add some waist shaping.

And now for the pictures:

Fibre Frenzy

We counted down the sleeps starting at about 16! Sleeps until:

THE KITCHENER/WATERLOO KNITTING FAIR

Saturday, 12th September had been firmly etched into our psyche since the year before. Lame? Possibly..... Crazy? Absolutely!

Where: Meetup at The Bog

When: 7am

Breakfast: Compulsory

Destination: Bingeman's Center, Kitchener

With Laura at the wheel, the London gals set off. Kat navigated brilliantly! In back, Barb and I knit away happily, while Allie played with her game thingy - Barb worked on socks, and I worked on a scarf.

Once inside Bingeman's Center, OMG! A fibre frenzy. It was absolutely fabulous! There were more than 70 vendors! Of particular note: Alpaca Acres, The Black Lamb, Dye-version, Dyed in the Wool Handmade, Fibre Isle Fine Yarns, Philosopher's Wool Co., Pick Up Sticks, The Purple Purl, Serenity Knits, Shall We Knit?, Sheep Strings, Shelridge Farm, Spun Fibre Arts, Wellington Fibres, Yarn Indulgences, Van Der Rock, and Zen Yarn Garden.

Here's my haul:

(From left back: 5 x Creme Pinguin Tempo DK (for some preemie knitting), 1 x Pink BFL/Nylon Sock Yarn (Christmas knitting), Promethium Merino/Nylon Sock Yarn (my stash), Teal Mohair/Wool Light Worsted (Christmas knitting), 3 x Children's Lizard Mitts kits for my nieces). (From left front: 6 x Red Heart McIntosh Worsted (Ilderton Fair Knitting), 6 x wooden buttons for my Central Park Hoodie, 5mm Addi Turbo, 4mm Addi Crochet Hook, and a stitch counter)

I also picked up a Lendrum Niddy Noddy:

And earlier in the week:

Undyed BFL Worsted Weight 1600yds

Frog Stitch Markers

Another fair over....... what a fantastic day! Thanks girls :-)

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Dooooooo!

No, it's not Muriel's Wedding, it's Maria's wedding!

Saturday 29th August, 2009 - Maria and Dave finally tied the knot! An absolutely beautiful wedding at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Stratford.

There were tears in my eyes as Maria and Dave exchanged vows - they had waited such a long time for this very special moment, and in front of their friends and family they declared their love and were united in marriage.

Nadine has also blogged about Maria's gorgeous day on her blog here.

Maria wore a beautiful hot pink crepe backed satin dress made by her mother-in-law, together with an absolutely gorgeous silk/bamboo version of a vogue knitting pattern - Lace Shrug from the Spring/Summer 2008 edition.

The struggle with gauge and numerous errata were more than worth it! The shrug was fabulous and looked stunning on her! Everybody was talking about it!

I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

Congratulations Maria and Dave! May you both enjoy a lifetime of love and happiness together!

Maria and Dave

The Shrug!

Maria and Dave

Barb, Maria, me, Nadine

Nadine, Bob and me

Barb & Bob

Maria

How do you top the TOP?

What a top week! It had everything: knitting, dyeing, felting, pics from home, and a wedding! Crikey!

Let's talk yarn first. I finished two knitting projects this week; my Green Anacardias (On Your Toes sock yarn) and my Double Trouble Cat Pi (Cascade Yarns Ecological Wool).

My Green Anacardias (pattern: Summer Sneakers No.2 "Anacardia" by Wollhuhn) turned out really well. I love the colours, but am not sold on the yarn:

My Double Trouble Cat Pi (pattern: Kitty Pi by Wendy D. Johnson) turned out fairly well. Next time I think I'd use the yarn held doubled for extra thickness and sturdiness. Although, my sweeties don't seem too worried that the kitty pi is a litte squishy:

Last Monday a package arrived. It was, of course, full of yarn! Whoot! My Blue Face Leicester Aran yarn had arrived! I ordered this yarn from a lovely lady on Ravelry (weetsie). I needed four skeins of it, and didn't want to spend $40 a skein plus shipping. So I bought bare yarn and dyed it! Each skein holds 410yds! So I had to do the dyeing in two stages. The whole process took me FOUR hours, but the results were worth it. I love the colours - very subtle semi-solid. I call this colourway Ozmoss:

Oh, and I suppose you're all wondering what I'm going to knit with it? Well, I bowed under pressure and bought the Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky pattern. I'm going to start swatching tonight!

On Friday, 14th August, a very special event was held at TBB. A wedding! And not just any wedding, but Kata & Will's wedding! What a fabulous day - sunny and warm weather, lovely setting beside the ponds, a very talented flautist who played so sweetly, beautiful and meaningful vows, stunning knitted ishbel, one handsome groom, and one beautiful bride:

Roxanne and I made some topiaries for the wedding, and they turned out so well! They looked gorgeous beside the lovely archway that Kata and her Mum decorated:

And then yesterday an email from my sister-in-law, Theresa. She sent me some wonderful photos of my beautiful nieces in the snow! Not only are they wearing the hoodies I made them for Christmas 2008, but they are also modelling the backpacks I felted for them for their birthdays! Awwwww:

(Karlia in blue; Jaycee in pink)

There's only one other thing that could have topped this week....but I won't tell. A gal has to have some secrets [smiling].

Etsy Shop

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later, and so without further ado, my Etsy presence:

OzB's Corner

I only just opened the store today, so there's very little available - just a few zippered project bags and a couple of project grab bags. I hope to get some knitting in there too, but that'll have to wait until later in the year when I have some spare [ha, ha, ha, ha, ha] time.

I already have a load of lovely fabrics, linings, zippers and zip pulls. My sewing machine needs a good service, and I think I might get that done later this month. Once October hits and the [ahem....I'm sorry to say} snow starts flying [according to the weatherman], I'll have time to sew and knit!

Oh mercy! Does life get any getter than this!

Bagmania

I've been bit by a bug! The bag bug. I've been sewing little project bags and needle bags, and they are such fun.

I've been knitting too - got some new socks on the needles. So, of course, I had to sew a project bag for them [laughing]. Then I needed a project bag for my Jewel Lacy Top. And then I needed a ONE big knitting needle case cos I was sick of searching endlessly through all my little make-shift needle cases.

Then my friend, Roxanne, jumped on the wagon, and asked for a bag for her tapestry threads. She loved it so much she asked me to make her a knitting needle case too.

So, here's the results of my labour:

Project Bag 3

Project Bag 4

Tapestry Yarn Bag

Knitting Needle Case 1

Knitting Needle Case 2

I'm quite the pro now. Maybe I should go into business?? If only I didn't already own one [laughing].

Yesterday we held our end of season staff break-up party. We had a fabulous bbq, and a great night! I baked dessert. What do you think I made? Yup, my signature pavlova:

That's it; that's all :-)

Life in the Creative Lane...

Despite work bogging me down [punn intended] I had time to do some much loved things this last week.

On Monday I planted! A grass garden for around our Inuksuk [glorified bird house]. I chose native grasses because of the birds, and designed the garden to look like a snake. The Inuksuk is of course made of wood, but he does stand over 8 feet tall!

On Wednesday I baked! Nothing fit for royalty, but none-the-less some good home-style baking. I made some chocolate chip muffins. There's a funny story behind the chocolate chip muffins. Every time this year that I made muffins or a birthday cake for one of my staff, Dave (salesman extraordinaire) always askd "where are the chocolate chips"? So, with this in mind, I made him the world's biggest chocolate chip muffin! Of course the staff hassled him and complained about favouritism and brown nosing [laughing].

On Thursday I shopped! Our mission was to get to Cannadale Garden Center's Customer Appreciation Weekend. And we weren't disappointed. We got some fabulous plants, and our staff built this lovely little garden from them. Total cost: $100 (including the cedar chips)!

On Saturday I sewed! Yep, I dragged out my old faithful Singer and whipped up some totally awesome knitting project bags. I found some great fabric - chocolate brown with knitting needles all over it! What was a girl to do but make project bags.

On Sunday I knitted! And much to my delight, I finished off my Seagreen Easy Goings socks. I used Lornas Laces sock yarn in the Huron colorway. This is the second time I knit a short row heel and love it! Thankfully I don't have a high arch, so the short row heels fits me just fine. I also improvised a little and added a bit of cabling to the instep.

Then on Monday I baked again! This time I built a pavlova for a pot luck dinner. It was delicious, as was all the food! Knitters sure can cook well [smiling].

Of course the week was not all fun. Afterall, I have a business to run. But, quite honestly, I don't remember a more creative week. And it felt GOOD!

These Socks Were Made for Walking

...and that's just what they'll do.....

My new socks that is. I cast them on last week, and completed them last night.

So, OK, they are only shortie sneaker socks, but another project is completed and ready for wearing [smile]. And it's still summer....or is it??

This was an easy knit pattern. Although a five row pattern repeat, it was simple to remember. The most notable thing for me is that this is my first short row heel with wraps! And I must say that I LOVE SHORT ROW HEELS. Up until my Shibui Reds, I'd always knit a heel flap and picked up stitches for a gusset. Somewhat painful when knitting two socks at a time on circs.

With this pattern, I did knit a short heel flap since they are short little ankle biters. The pattern, Summer Sneakers No.1 "Lotta" by Wollhuhn, called for a short row heel of my choice. So I followed along with Cat Bordhi's - Wrapping & Turning, Concealing Wraps YouTube video. It was brilliant!

I'm a convert!

Since these socks were knit from Lang Jawoll Color Aktion (cotton), I used the supplied reinforcing cotton and held both strands together for the heels and toes.

So, without further ado, I present to you my Jaywoll Sneaker Socks:

The next technique I'd like to learn is toe up socks. Maybe over the winter months when I have room in my head for something new [heh!].