A little unfaithful!

Knitters are often very faithful to their craft and don't think of picking up a hook to manipulate their yarn. They stick to their needles.

But I did just that for a quickie project.

I put the needles aside and picked up a crochet hook.

But I used a very different kind of yarn.

I had collected several chenille bedspreads over the years. I had many plans for it all. But when I was cleaning the my stash room the other day, I came across a few boxes of chenille fabrics and I decided that since I had not yet done anything with them, it was time to let them go and send them to a recycling store. I guess that this thought scared me into action because that very same night, I started ripping strips and strips of chenille. I had so much chenille fluff at my feet, it looked like I was walking in snow!

I made several balls of rag yarn, some with chenille, some with flannel fabrics.

After viewing some videos on Youtube, I was ready to go.

If you would like to give this a whirl, I highly recommend Cassandra Pook's videos.

She made three videos to explain the whole process from ripping your rag yarn to crocheting the rug.

 This is the first video.

 

 

The rag rug was done in a few evenings. It's really a quick project.

I'm not the only one that likes it. Bjorne loves it too.

It's big enough for him to stretch out on.

I had cut all of my strips 4'' wide (as the video suggested) but quickly realized that this was too wide for the thick chenille. So I ended up ripping them down to about 1½''.
At this width, it was much easier to crochet.

I find that this first rug is crocheted a little too loosely and I plan on making the next one at little tighter. 

Yes, there will be a next one, probably done with all the blue fabric I  have around here.

You can use old bedsheets, curtains, and fabrics of all kind to make a rag rugs.  

I'm also interested in making one out of t-shirt material so I'll be on the lookout for that too!

So much for clearing out the stash room...sounds like it will get full again!

The deep deep freeze

Everybody is talking about it.

It's all we hear on the radio and the weather channel.

We have just about had enough of it. 

The only good thing about it is that the sun has been shining brightly for several days.

It's darn cold out there and it's been this way for several days now!

Last night was another night of frigid temps

-34C

See the small number in the bottom right hand corner. That's the lowest it went to last night.

 

Add a bit of wind to this and you end up with -40C!

Did you know that -40C is -40F?

 

But we cannot say that we are cold in our house.

Thanks to this in our kitchen.

 

The fire in the cookstove is going all the time.

The wood from the wood shed is making it's way to the house at a fast pace.

A little too much at times!

If you check the above themometer again, the small number on the bottom left hand corner says +27C! That was the high in our house yesterday! Well, if not the whole house, in the kitchen at least. At one point, I realized it was -27 outside and +27 inside. After a few hours working outside, hubby came in frozen and loaded the stove up and we ended up with a tropical heat wave.

When it gets this cold, I think of those people that are shivering outside or in poorly insulated homes. I think of the children that do not have warm clothes to face the cold every day.

I'm very grateful for our warm home.

 

I've been busy with some house cleaning.

I've also been prepping a guest bedroom for a fresh coat of paint.

And there has been some knitting going on as well.

Antler is coming along. I joined the sleeves to the body and have started on the yoke. I was so eager to get to that part. After miles and miles kilometers and kilometers of stockinette knitting, I was looking forward to the cables.

Once that's done, all that will be left is the button band and sewing on a few buttons.

I'm really excited about this cardigan.

 

I walked into a Roots store last week to purchased a .50¢ shopping bag!

The salesperson would probably have liked me to have a look around the store before purchasing an empty shopping bag. But all I wanted was this bag.

 

 

It's become another one of my knitting project bags.

Cool, eh?

 

With Antler almost completed, I'm already planning the next project.

That's it for now.

Stay warm!

Milo 2

Having knitted the cute little Milo vest for Loïc in a size 12 mths, I looked forward to knitting another one in a size 5 for Olivia.

It's a great tv knitting project because of all the stockinette stitch involved.

I've knitted this one longer so it fits more like a tunic. 

And I chose a different cable than the first one I knitted. But I guess I was distracted (by the tv) and did not follow the directions for the Aran cable very well. I came up with something very different. I noticed my error at the very end and decided that I did not mind this version.

Since every little girl likes sparkly things, I added a row of beads on the cast-off. 

Olivia was very happy with the beads.

And now that this is done, I'll have more time for my Alcyone and my Antler cardigan.

To live with it or not

No matter how I look at it

No matter how good or bad the light is

 

 No matter how I place them

They are just too different for me to live with it.
(It's worse in real life than what my camera can pick up.)

I tried to convince myself that it was all ok.
I tried to tell myself that they were not that different after all.
I am ok with hand dyed yarns that vary slightly from skein to skein. I'm ok with parts of my knitting not being identical. This is why I enjoy hand dyed yarns.
But when I look at my two sleeves I don't notice the beautiful colour anymore, I just notice how they are not matching.
I know that we should always knit from two skeins of hand dyed yarns in order to even out the colour. I had planned on doing just that for the body of the cardigan.
I had hoped to get away with it for the sleeves.
I've decided to frog up to the ribbing and start using a second skein from that point.

Sigh!
 



Off and on the needles

I don't think I've ever had so much time to sit and knit quietly.

These projects are quite straight forward (at least for now) except for one of them. There seems to be a prevaling colour scheme going on too.

Let's start with Milo. All done. A perfect little knit. We tried it on bébé Loïc the other night and it fits him (with room to grow) just right!

Project page

 

Loving the first Milo, it's only natural to want to knit a second one.

This one is for Olivia. She came to the LYS with me the other day and picked her colour.

Now, why am I not surprised we came home with purple!!

The plan is to knit this one a little longer than what the pattern calls for so that it fits more like a tunic.

I was at her house a few days ago with my knitting bag in tow. She came over to me and asked what I was knitting and I told her that this would be hers.

She went on to play with her books and came back to me about 10 minutes later asking: Are you done yet?

LOL!

She also requested that I put a flower on it. I'll have to think about this for a bit and see what I can come up with.

Project page

 

This shawl project is the one that requires more attention.

I have done chart A and Chart B. It's going well but I do need to count and follow the lace pattern very closely.

Project page

 

And I have a third project on the needles.

This photo shows how too large the sleeve was on me so I frogged it and am doing the increases further apart. I've knitted up to the elbows and I'm much happier with it now.

This is mindless rows and rows of stockinette knitting for now. A good project to work on when the shawl is too much.

 

I don't usually work on three things at once. I prefer to focus on one project and maybe a second one at the most. But I expect to be finished with the second Milo in a few days and I will be back to two projects.

 

There will be some car knitting at the end of the month. After waiting for 7 mths I finally have an appointment at the allergy clinic four hours away from here. The doc that will see me specializes in people with headaches and migraines caused by allergies. I'll keep my fingers crossed but won't hold my breath. I've seen too many doctors about my migraines and I'm more cautious now about getting too hopeful. But still, positive thinking is best!

 

New books

No knitting news today but...

look at what came in the mail yesterday!

I ordered two books from Amazon and it took only 5 days to get here.

 

I listened to doctor William Davis speak about the issues with the wheat that is produced today on the Doctor Oz show a few weeks ago and he convinced me enough to purchase his book and read more about it.

He writes ''Eat more healthy whole grains'' is among the biggest health blunders ever made in the history of nutritional advice.

I'll read this book and try some recipes and let you know how I feel about his claims.

 

But this book is the main reason why I placed an order on Amazon on Christmas Eve. We watched a movie on DVD and like all DVDs it starts off with a whole bunch of soon-to-come-out movie previews. One movie really caught my attention. The movie is called The Intouchables.

 

This memoir, written by Philippe Pozzo di Borgo served as the basis for the film.

(Taken from the back cover)

As the descendant of two prominent French families and director of one of the world's most celebrated champagne houses, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo was not someone in the habit of asking for help. Then, in 1993, right on the heels of his wife being diagnosed with a terminal illness, a paragliding accident left him a quadriplegic.

Passing his days hidden behind the walls of his Paris townhouse, Philippe found himself the modern equivalent of an ''untouchable'' - unable to reach out to others, as others were afraid to reach out to him. The only person who seemed unaffected by Philippe's condition was someone who had been marginalized his entire life - Abdel, the unemployed, uninhibited Algerian immigrant who would become his unlikely caretaker. In between dramas and jokes, he sustained Philippe's life for the next ten years.

I look forward to time spent by the window reading this book, preferably with a cup of tea when there is a huge snowstorm going on outside.
It always seems like such a great time to sit by a window and read.

Then I'll go rent the movie!

 



After knitting the little Lovebug booties last week,

I decided to cast on for a little baby knit that I've had my eye on for a very long time.

Milo is a sleeveless top made from the top down with no seaming whatsoever!

My kind of knit.

 I've been knitting on Milo on and off during the many days of Christmas fun.

 

I have about 2 inches to knit BUT do you see that little ball of yarn on the left hand side? That's what is left of my skein and I am going to run out anytime now. I'll make a trip to the LYS tomorrow to see if they have another one. Guess I should have made the booties after the vest.

 

Tin Can Knits is giving out one free pattern of your choice from their pattern collection. You must choose yours by Jan 1st. The coupon code is available here. Let me know which one you got!

I chose Antler Cardigan. The size range in this pattern goes from 0-6 mths all the way to 4XL!!  And I have the perfect yarn to knit myself this cardigan.

 

This yarn was purchased as a kit to knit the Imogen cardigan. But I will use it to knit the Antler cardigan instead. It's a great colour that changes from grey to a dark blue depending on the light. Since I'll be putting the little vest aside till tomorrow (or until I find another skein of yarn), I guess I have no choice but to cast on the Antler tonight!

 

After 5 wonderful days of family gatherings and celebrating, it feels like luxury to sit down and knit!!

 

Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas dinner last night.
With two adult children and their partners in the workforce, it's bound to happen once in a while that they cannot be with us on the 25th.

So we decided to celebrate yesterday and call it our Family Christmas Day!

Lots of food, wine and good laughs made it a wonderful day.

Not to mention the wonderful thoughtful gifts given and received.

I can now show you the few knitted items given to the two grand children.

These little booties were knitted for our little 7 mth old grandson. A very quick knit, knitted in one piece, so no picking up stitches anywhere. Only a seam on the bottom sole but this is done as a three needle bind off so no problemo! Project info here.
I will be making him more of these.

Our grand daughter's favorite hat at the moment is one I made her last year and it's clearly too small for her now. But she loves it because she can put it on by herself and there is no ties to bother with.

I hoped that a sparkly light purple yarn might be fun enough for her to want to put aside the old and accept the new!

I like this pattern because even though it doesn't have ties it has short-rows earflaps.

The tassle was a big hit with her. Project info can be found here.

And a pair of mittens to go with that hat, of course! Project info can be found here.

 

Life has been quite busy these past few weeks. Hubby had surgery for a hip replacement at the beginning of the month. He's now progressed from the walker to the cane.

He's a strong-willed man very determined to get back to doing what he loves.

Being quite young for this type of surgery, his recovery is going very well.

I must say that I've never quite felt this much anxiety before, I hardly slept for the first two weeks after his surgery. Just worried I guess.

Hubby is hardly ever sick and to see him coping with limited mobility and pain was not too much fun especially since he's the silent type, the type that prefers not to say anything.

But words are not always necessary when you've lived with someone for as long as we have.

 

So the farm chores are all mine for the time being. The fun ones, like talking to the alpacas and being greeted by them when I step outside and the not so fun ones, like poop scooping.

 

 

Who needs a gym when you're carrying hay to the feeders twice a day, cleaning the dog yard, carrying wood in the house and shovelling heavy wet snow?

  But I'm not complaining, we are lucky and enjoying the quiet times together, making plans for next spring and next summer. Down time is not always bad if you decide to make the most of it.

 

Have a peek at what I received yesterday. It's made by a local artisan. I just love the colour and the fact that it's made with rock and sea glass found on the shores of local lakes. Now to find the perfect spot to hang it.

 

No news yet

About the photo limit, I've found out very little about it except for what they have to say on Blogger:

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Some users are reporting that they're hitting unexpected image quota limits when uploading an image from Blogger. We're investigating the issue and will report back when we have more information to share.

 

So far, no news. Hopefully they correct this before too long and before I decide to set up camp somewhere else!

Grey Cup weekend

I'll state it right away, I'm not a football fan!

BUT

hubby's cousins have been planning a reunion for a long time and they're all going to the Grey Cup, a boy's weekend.

This year, the game is in Toronto. 

So this means a weekend with the house all to myself, my own schedule, the remote control and the meal planning all left up to me!

So I do declare to love the Grey Cup weekend!

 

On the knitting list, I'm working on a scarf.

 

Well, seems that I've gone over the limit for photos with Blogger...I need to look into this before I can blog again. I'm not too interested in paying a monthly fee.
Be back when I find a solution!