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!

 



How was your weekend?

I had a very productive weekend!

The dyepot was full all weekend...

From lace weight to super bulky yarns.

On Friday, I test knitted these cute little fingerless mitts for Masi Knits.

Olivia was quite interested in my own fingerless mitts and I know she'll love to have a pair of her own!

Pattern: ASL fingerless mitts

Rav project page

Last week, Olivia left with one of my cowls! She went into my drawer and picked one and asked if she could wear it to go home. Of course, I agreed knowing right away I had to make her one in her size.

Off I went searching for a child size cowl and found a very nice pattern on Ravelry (I love Ravelry!).

As you can see, I have lots of pink yarn and this was made in pink also.

I can't wait to see how it fits her.

Pattern: Hearwarmer

Ravelry project page

And I also had a bit of time to card and spin more of Ginger's cria fiber.

This is the second batch of carded fiber.

I plan on making a 2 ply yarn once I'm done spinning the singles

and using it to knit a shawl.

It's amazing what you can get done when the man of the house is not around!

And he's going ice fishing again next weekend.

YAHOO!!!

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.

Work in Progress

winter = long evenings=knitting =movie watching

That pretty much sums up what is happening around here lately. I have a few knitting projects on the go at the moment.
Let me show you.
The knitters guild I belong to has challenged us to try a new technique in the new year. That was just the push I needed to get going on learning to knit 2-at-a-time socks.
I had this wonderful sock blank in 50% mohair, 50% wool from Wellington Fibers just for this.

And I had the 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes to teach me just that!
I must admit that this is not an easy method to master at the beginning but I'm happy I stuck with it because after the first inch or so is knitted, it gets much easier. I have a feeling that I will be knitting my socks this way from now on. It will be nice to have both socks done at the same time.

Also on the needles for a few weeks now is a cardigan kit I bought last fall at the K-W Knitter's Fair in Kitchener-Waterloo. The pattern is called Whisper. Designer is Linda Benne.

It will be a very lightweight cardigan, great for spring. The green stitches you see will become a sleeve once I'm done with the back and front piece.

When I knit projects that are done on small needles and are going to take some time to knit, I usually need something fast to give me a feeling of accomplishment, so I found a great cowl to cast on with a worsted weight handspun yarn I had. This was a two evenings worth of knitting...very satisfying!

It's a very loose cabled cowl, knitted sideways then kitchenered stitch. The green stitches you see on the end is the provisional cast-on that will be taken apart to give me the live stitches needed to do the kitchener stitch when I'm done.

As soon as I'm done, I be back with info on the pattern and there's a story that goes with this handspun...

Before I let you go, I have to show you what I've found!

I used to travel a lot to Toronto for meeting and conferences. I loved it when our meetings were downtown because I could then take a nice walk in the evenings to the Eaton Center and other shops in that area.

There was a Fossil store in the mall that had the most beautiful purses. But I would never pay the $200 to $300 they were asking for these. But I still loved to go in and look.



Most of the purses that caught my eye had a combination of leather and fabric...beautiful fabrics.

Imagine my excitement when I found such a purse in a recycling / reuse operation called Rebuilt Resources!!!

Isn't too cute? This bag will be a project bag. It might be a summer bag too. I have no idea how old it is or the $value. It's in mint condition. I paid $3 for it.
Had my hubby been with me you would have heard me yell: Start the car! when I left the store.
Love those kind of finds!

Just in time

I completed this wonderful alpaca yarn cowl a few weeks ago but could not find the right buttons. Isn't that often the case?
But last week I found these wooden buttons in the perfect shade.
I sewed them on last night while the wind was howling outside and the snow was accumulating at the front door!!

The cowl is from Alana of Never Not Knitting blog. It's called Shawl Collared Cowl.  It's very thick and with the cowl collar, it fit very high and tight around my neck. Great for any winter storm coming my way.

I used yarn is 100% alpaca from Misty Haven Alpacas. I fell in love with the colour right away. It's a little heavier than what the pattern called for but the pattern could be ajusted easily to accomodate the chunky yarn.

 I also made a pair of matching mittens. They were such a quick knit, completed in two evenings. I could not find a mitten pattern for chunky yarn so I ended up making one up. I really like the feel of chunky yarn, especially when it's alpaca chunky yarn from Misty Haven Alpacas. I really must get more of this chuky stuff!

I even had a chance to try it on today out there in the wonderful winter wonderland.



Keep on knitting!!

Méli-mélo

Méli-mélo is a french expression meaning a mish mash of things. For example, the french version of the snack mix of Bits and Bites is Méli-mélo.

This post has a bit of everything, hence the name of Méli-mélo as title.

I don't think I've talked about my dogs much. We have Golden retrievers. The best breed there is. Very gentle and people friendly. We actually have a few of them. We are involved in Obedience, Agility and Conformation shows with our dogs. We take them with us everywhere.

Here is Anouk (Tibsen Tiger Lily). She probably feels that she's attached to my hip because she always follows me around...everywhere I go, she's there.

She actually sleeps with her toy under her chin but tonight she still had it in her mouth and fell asleep that way.

Anouk became a Champion very easily. Lots of fun when that works out ! It's a lot of work, time and money to show a dog.

On another post, I'll talk to you about Bjorne and the others.

I've completed one Christmas gift for bébé O. It's Plain vest from Pickles website. It looks like it will fit her with room to grow.  Still looking for the right buttons to add the finishing touch.

I have a matching hat made as well. I'll be back with pics after Christmas.

My Shawl collared cowl from Never Not Knitting is done as well...well, not quite done, since I have buttons left to find and sew on.

I love it. I made it with 100% alpaca hand painted yarn I picked up from Norma from Misty Alpacas. The yarn is bulky and a super fast knit.
The colour is called Autumn Rose, a blend of pinks and golds. So nice and super soft.

And this last picture is for Norma! See what I have on top of our cookstove?

Alpaca softness

I picked up some wonderful worsted weight alpaca yarn from Misty Haven Alpaca farm this spring. The reason for a visit to the farm was to pick up a birthday gift for my mother (and a little something for me too).



Hand dyed in a rich denim colour.

100% alpaca = pure softness

The cowl is Foxglove. Available on Elann.com.



I modified by casting on only 108 stitches instead of 144. I prefer my cowls to fit closer to the neck.

Now, I 'm not wishing for the cold weather to come, I am enjoying this warm summer way too much! But when the cold wind does start to blow, I will be ready!

Are you ready?