Winter Bliss!

You must think What does she mean...Winter Bliss?? at this time of the year.

Let me explain.

It's no secret, that my favorite time of the year is the winter...the great northern winter with lots and lots of snow and just cold enough to put on all those cozy knits I work on all year.

Well, this time I say Winter Bliss for a different reason. I've ventured out to new pastures!
 

Finding myself with loads of bulky hand spun yarns this summer, I knew I had better start knitting this stuff before I ran out of bins to store it. Not finding a cowl pattern that I liked, I experimented with a simple design of a very comfortable and cozy cowl for the bulky handspun yarn I kept spinning.

With a bit of encouragement, I've decided to publish this pattern on Ravelry under the name of
Winter Bliss Cowl!

Now you know!

 

Curious to see what it looks like?

It's knitted sideways and has a back seam. Then folded over, it offers great protection from the winter wind and cold. The back of the cowl is narrow in order to reduce unnecessary bulk.

 

 

I had the pattern tested on Ravelry by some great knitters and they offered wonderful ideas and suggestions to make the pattern more accessible to the beginner knitter and a better knit for all.

Lot's of Winter Bliss cowl projects are already posted here.

One knitter even showed us how to wear this cowl as a hat. See here.
I thought this was such a cool idea!

If it's cold enough in your neck of the woods, you might want to make one for yourself sooner than later!
The cowl can be knitted in approx. 3 hours. Making one in an evening is possible.
You could even cross out a few names on your Christmas list.

 

And I leave you with a picture of Alicia, the most photogenic alpaca we have. She just loves the camera!

 



Tour de Fleece

Day 1:

Well Day 1 of the Tour de Fleece (TdF) went by without me...I did not get to my wheel on Saturday.

After a morning at the market with my alpaca products and soaps, hubby and I had a wonderful dinner at our dear friends cottage near Temagami. We came home late and my bed was calling me!

Day 2:

Great start. I have a wonderful box of mohair fleece from Wellington Fibre farm in a shade of blue. I already had about 50g spun and this morning I was able to spin about 160 g.

I have about 40g left to spin tomorrow and I hope to be able to ply it on Day 3 or 4.

My intention is to spin different blue fleeces during the TdF and combine all of them in a shawl such as this, or this.

Canada is 145 years old today!

I consider myself very fortunate to live here.

Long life to you Canada!

and tomorrow...my B day!

My muskoka chair

In our area, a very casual, comfortable outdoor wooden chair is known as the muskoka chair. It has wide armrests to place your cup of coffee (or better yet, a cold glass of beer). Low to the ground with a reclining back, you cannot help but to relax when you sit in it. I know that it's also known as the Adirondack chair in New York state. Whatever the name, it's the best way to enjoy the summer!
Muskoka is a very well known cottage-country area in northern Ontario, just two hours north of Toronto. Ordinary people, like you and me, have had family cottages for many generations on the 1600 lakes in the area. It's also well known that Shania Twain, Cindy Crawford and Goldie Hawn (to name a few) also have cottages in the Muskokas.

This chair is perfect for knitting and I've been knitting like crazy. Once again, the socks were put aside for something colourful, in my favorite colours...green and blue

I could not knit fast enough to get to the striped portion of this project.

And there's a picot edge on one side.

The shawl is Cameo by Paulina Popiolek. Even though I intended on joining the knitting frenzy and casting on for my own Color Affection shawl, I just could not decide on three colours to do it. But it was so easy to choose two colours to make the Cameo!
The yarn is my own hand dyed superwash merino/nylon blend.

And this is why I love blue and green so much...it's all around me!

What is your favorite colour combo?

Early morning birth

The window in our bedroom is low enough that we can see out to the pastures when lying in bed. I love looking outside as I wake up. Doesn't matter what season it is, the scenery is always beautiful.  This morning, I got up at about 6am and I could see one white alpaca was out of the barn. She was by herself. 

We realized that it was Alicia and that she was giving birth. About 10 minutes later, a white cria was on the ground.

We felt very lucky to witness this. What a great way to start your day!

We watched from the window as this newborn struggled to get up on his feet.

The herd quickly gathered to congratulate the mom and admire the little one.

Fernando came over to get a closer look and greet his new playmate.

A little white male, 17.4 lbs. 

I love the little pink nose.

He must take after his mom, I find Alicia very pretty.

We have not yet come up with a name for him.

(little dance of joy for more white fleece for me.)

On to a knitting update...

I went to my LYS the other day and had a look around...should have known this would be too tempting. But the damage is not too bad!

When I saw the colour combination of this skein, I knew I had to have it!

I certainly don't need more sock yarn but I just could not resist it.

Fleece Artist from Nova Scotia have the most beautiful colourways! 

Now I can't wait to complete the pair of super plain socks I'm currently working on...almost there.

I'll tell you all about this new short row heel I found on YouTube when I'm done knitting them.

Till then, stay cool. Certain parts of Ontario are being hit by a heat wave.

Introducing...

Carmella

A beautiful solid brown or black cria born to Cassa Blanca (white mom on the left).

Born on June 8th...my mother's birthday!

Carmella weighs a whooping 20 lbs 3 ounces!

My mother's name is Carmen, so I wanted to name this little one with something similar...so Carmella was the perfect choice.

Hubby will be so surprised when he comes home from his fishing trip!!!

Fernando is quite happy to follow her everywhere...finally someone to play with!

Fernando is  now 2 weeks old. Story of his birth here.

Now that I own a spinning wheel, I've decided to join a team on the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry this year. This coincides with the Tour de France, between June 30th and July 22nd. When they cycle, we spin.
I hope this will help getting my spinning mojo back. I've been ignoring my wheel for a few weeks now.
From hand dyed Romney fleece...

...as I watched Carmella by the window last night, I hand carded rolags...

 Rolags and batts are ready to be spun.

Have a great saturday!

Twice the fun

All done!
You saw the beginning of this project here.
I'm not an avid sock knitter but knitting 2-at-a-time did make it much better since both socks are done at once!

I love this mohair/merino yarn. It's perfect for socks.

This technique is tricky at first but once you have a few inches of knitting done, it goes much more smoothly.
Will this technique make me more eager to knit sock? You betcha it will.
I'll have another pair on the needles by the weekend!

Afterglow is...

...the title of a poem found in my father's wallet after his death.

Here is what it says:

Afterglow

I'd like the memory of me

To be a happy one

I'd like to leave an afterglow

Of smiles when day is done.

I'd like to leave an echo

Whispering softly down the ways

Of happy times and laughing times

And bright and sunny days

I'd like the tears of those who grieve

To dry before the sun

Of happy memories I leave behind

When day is done.

Helen Lowrie Marshall

I can only guess that my father was touched by the words in this poem, which is why he kept this newspaper clipping in his wallet...it was yellowed and a bit torn, so it probably was there for a few years.
After a search on google, I was able to find the name of the author.

A few weeks after this discovery, I was on Etsy looking for some hand dyed fiber to spin. I found myself in the Etsy shop of wildhare. Would you believe that I came across a polwarth wool top named Afterglow! I knew I had to purchase this fiber, no matter what.



Picture from the Etsy shop of wildhare

It took me longer than usual to spin this just because I had told myself that I would spin it only when I was in the right frame of mind to remember all those wonderful moments with my father and what a very very special person he was. I spent many wonderful afternoons, spinning in the autumn sun just remembering and knowing that my father had indeed left us with a wonderful afterglow of memories.

From this fiber, I knitted a cowl and a pair of mittens.

Pattern: Ripple cowl (free from Bernat)
Needles: 4.5mm
Yarn: handspun from Afterglow polworth wool fiber from wildhare shop
Modifications: I did only three repeats of the pattern because I ran out of yarn. But it still measures 9'' wide by 40'' long. Lot's to wrap twice around my neck.

Pattern: Top down mittens (free from Ravelry)
Needles: 3.5mm
Yarn: handspun from Afterglow polworth wool fiber from wildhare shop
Modifications: none
I love knitting mittens from the top down to the cuff!

Every time I take the cowl and mittens out of the drawer and wear them, my thoughts go to him...my father.

New Year's Mantra

Read this on Sheep Thrills Yarn's blog and loved it...thought I would share it with you here as it's a good way to start the new year...

May we break boundaries, tear down walls, and build on the foundation of goodness inside each of us.

May we look past differences, gain understanding, and embrace acceptance.

May we reach out to each other, rather than resist.

May we be better stewards of the earth, protecting, nurturing, and replenishing the beauties of nature.

May we practice gratitude for all we have, rather than complain about our needs.

May we seek cures for the sick, help for the hungry, and love for the lonely.

May we share our talents, give our time, and teach our children.

May we hold hope for the future very tenderly in our hearts and do all we can to build for a brighter tomorrow.

And may we love with our whole hearts, for that's the only way to love.....

My 2012 resolution remains the same as last year...live healthier. I'm keeping it for another year not because I didn't accomplish this in 2011 but because I believe being healthy is an ongoing process, there is always something more you can do to live a healthy lifestyle. So keep eating well, keep being active, keep meditating and being positive. I should add, to keep learning. It's a good thing to always stimulate our brains with new stuff. It's good to challenge ourself with a new technique and feel great about it when we master it.

About the babies...

Pups are thriving and keeping us busy...mom is super great with them.

They are now 1 week old. (you will count 11 pups as one did not make it the first 24 hours)

I revamped our kennel's website last week. Have a look if you are interested in learning more about our dogs.

I wish you a wonderful 2012 with good health and peace in your heart.

Thank you to all my readers, those that read and leave comments as well as those quiet readers. I appreciate your presence more than words can tell.

Cheers!