Stash Enhance

Back from a trip to Calgary.
We attended a friend's wedding and spent lots of nice, quality time with my family. Also, there were yarn stores. Yes. Yarn stores. *glee!*


I was at the Knitting Room and I snagged a couple skeins of Sea Silk by Hand Maiden in this gorgeous colorway.

Next was this Misti Alpaca. I love how the purple is flecked with bits of blue and pink. I have lace shawl plans for this stuff. Posing on top of the skeins are my first pair of Addi Turbo's.

Some caramel-colored sock yarn with no plans as of yet.

Lastly, some yarn my mom picked out that I plan on weaving into a scarf for her. The black is Piccolo by Lana Grossa (merino/polymide) and the teal-blue is Ultra Alpaca by Berroco (alpaca/wool).

I went to check out Make One Yarn Studio as well. What a pretty store! They had a couple knitting bags that I drooled over but refrained from purchasing. I picked up a shawl pattern intended for the purple Misti Alpaca but *sigh* no yarn.

Anyway, now that I'm back home I hope to get some FO's out soon. The only time I really had to knit was on the plane ride there and back.

Friends with Mo Hair!

On monday I got an email from a friend who had done my hair up in dreads. (About two months ago.) She was asking about how my hair was holding up and...... would I like seven balls of 70% mohair/30% acrylic that she found in her closet for free? Boy would I! And it's such a pretty color too! I had to showcase the newest addition to my stash.

I'm off to Calgary for a wedding and to visit my family. I will also be making my first visit to Make One Yarn Studio. I am very excited about all of this! I'm off to bed now. You know how an hour and twenty minute flight can be so tiring! *snicker, snicker*

Gray Flames and Rainy Skies

I don't really know if I am making things harder than it has to be. I've had this idea for glove-mitts with flames on them kicking around for a while. I haven't found a pattern I liked so I decide to make it up. Not just the pattern for the flames but for the glove-mitts themselves. I am very, very excited about this project. Especially after reading a book on Twined Knitting, by Birgitta Dandanell and Ulla Danielsson. It was published in English in 1989. It covers what they call a Swedish folkcraft technique. ( There is more on this technique at Knitty.com.) I realize now that the twist stitch I was using on my circle shrug is this very technique. It makes for very sturdy, even 2 strand knitting. Perfect for what would have been messy, uneven fair isle glove-mitts. I'm only about an inch and a half in but I already love how it is looking and feeling.

You can see in the reverse side picture (below) the results of the technique. I am alternating twisting over and under each round or so to keep the yarn from turning into a huge knotted mess. The only thing is that I have a third color to add to the pattern, but I will sort that out later on when I get to it. The flames

were inspired by one of my favorite graphic novel artists, Junko Mizuno. Specifically from her book The Princess Mermaid. I've drawn out sketches and graphed out the flames and I am hoping that I have laid it out properly with the increases I'll have to do. I'm just holding my breath until I reach a snag. But so far, so good. *fingers crossed!*

This project is perfect for today. It is gray, cold and rainy out. I love weather like this when I am indoors though. It makes me feel cozy. And it always smells fresh when it's raining. I used to live in Calgary and it hardly ever rained there. It was always dry, brown and dusty. Now that I live in Vancouver, there is definitely no shortage of rain. Mmmm.

(It's not a very glamorous photo but it gives you an idea.)

Eye Candy Friday

First a peek at what is currently on the loom...
(Baby Monkey, Fleece Artist and Drops Alpaca)

And an FO!
(Almost, I just have to twist the ends to finish them off.)

~Specs~

Pattern: My own (66 ends)

Yarn: Moda Dea (green)/ Red wool (my own handspun)/
Mystery blue boucle(I think that was a thrift store find)

Reed size: 7.5 dpi (30/10cm)