Time to wear a cowl it -snowed today

 I haven't any interesting pictures of the snow yet. It is an early snow and caught most of us unawares. I just pulled out my geraniums yesterday and yes they were still blooming. We were out for a walk-I love walking in the snow-and we noticed some people have their lights up already! It sure is cheerful and pretty to see on a snowy evening.

I finished this cowl last week. It is the Embers Cowl . It is a great pattern to knit using two different colours of yarn. I used The Madtosh DK in Vermilion and Black Velvet. This yarn is so pretty and so nice to work with-sigh.

It is a modified feather and fan pattern and the contrast colour is carried up along with the main colour. Although I don't have a pic of it, the inside or private side of the cowl is really pretty. That is an added bonus!

The only mod I made is that I made it 12 inches long and not 18 as suggested in the pattern. I just needed a neck warmer and that's when I ran out of the main colour! Perfect!!

The problem is when you are around creative minds and beautiful yarn a lot, knitting sometimes gets the upper hand !

Hat-a-pallooza

 Well it is fall and it is getting colder. We all know it will get even colder-so time to knit hats!!! It seems lots of knitters I know are knitting hats and lots of them. Hats for themselves, hats for family and friends and hats for Christmas gifts.

Barb and Jen are wearing hats knit up in Malabrigo Rios, I am not sure of the colourway. Jen, on the right , is wearing a hat she knit with a pattern Barb cobbled together using 3 different patterns. (It was her second or third project!!) The original hat was knit with the Rios in the winter white colourway.These two just started knitting last year! Barb, on the left, is wearing a hat Jane knit from a 1970"s vintage pattern.

These two fashionista's keep me on track and very kindly do "glam" knit pics for me! They are both so nice and fun to be around.

  On Saturday I had the pleasure to be with another group of knitters.Cathy is on a major hat knitting odyssey (follow the link and check out her Rav project page). She has knit and designed several hats recently. They are lovely hats and are destined to be gifts for some lucky recipients! She is doing a lot of gift knitting and was seen happily departing with a lots of beautiful yarns for all of her projects. I can't wait to see what she has done next week. I must say I find being around other knitters who are pumped about their projects really a lot of fun and super stimulating. I get really excited too and want to cast on so many things...all at once!

Cue the bagpipes

 I recently finished Highland Fling. I loved knitting this pattern. It is a crescent shaped shawl/scarf. It is started at one corner with a cast on of 2 stitches and increased from there  The body of the scarf is knit in garter stitch with a sawtooth border. Although this looks like a knit on border the scarf/shawl is knit all in one piece. What's not to love about that! I love the bobbles too.

I am really starting to appreciate garter stitch.It really makes a nice squooshy stretchy fabric. I find a long scarf/shawl knit in this stitch is really comfortable and easy to wear-it always lies so nicely.

Barb very kindly did the modeling for me -thanks Barb!! I knit this scarf using Malabrigo Rios in the Azules colourway. I am totally smitten with this yarn. It is sooo nice to knit with and the colours-oh my! It is a superwash which is an added bonus. I think I have knit 3 projects recently with this yarn. Barb has knit some really nice hats with it too. We are all fans !

Log Cabin Knitting Redux

  It is a wet gloomy day today. At one point it was sleeting-yuck. We still have leaves to rake up and I haven't done any garden clean up yet. I always find it hard to pull up the annuals and trim back the perennials. I work so hard to get them growing!
  I found a new Noro blanket pattern thanks to these
ladies again. I found the pattern in the book Craft Activism. It is a great book with a collection of some really great fibre projects. There are also profiles of some really interesting designers. I should have of taken a pic of the finished blanket from the book. It is called The Fussy Cut Blanket. The afghan is composed of garter stitch knit blocks in a log cabin style of design. Each block is knit separately using a different ball in a different colourway of  Noro Silk Garden. Of course anything done in Noro is pretty special. This will be a fill in project for me as I will knit blocks in between my other projects.Well at least that is the plan!

 It is the season of  artisan and craft fairs. Unfortunately they all seem to happen on a few weekends in early to mid November-I always seem to miss something interesting. This weekend I went to Fabulous Finds an artisan/craft show at a local winery. Wow, there sure are some really talented people in our community. I was especially happy to see a booth with a huge collection of vintage buttons.

  I purchased a couple of buttons that I will probably use on something. There are so many cool cowl, hat and chunky scarf patterns that feature buttons. I am not sure what I am going to use the big rhinestone button for but it really appealed to my inner crow!!

  I have finished knitting some more projects but it is too dark to take pictures now. I will get some of my glam knitter peeps to do some pictures for me. Some people sure know how to wear clothing!

 I was washing my dishes a few mornings ago and I looked up and there was a deer in our backyard-a big deer! She was happily munching away through my garden. She stayed all day eating and eating and eating. Don't get too comfortable Bambi !! My neighbour's cat was stalking her-go Ninja!!

 Here are some of the last dahlia blooms from my garden.

  I am sure going to miss all the pretty colours.

Rock your boots

I love all the seasons-even winter! Of course all of us knitters are just hitting our stride in fall. We can finally pull out all of our knit finery!! Yippee, comfy warm socks, cozy cardi's, pretty scarves and shawls and there is nothing nicer than wrapping yourself in a warm handknit throw at the end of the day. Simple pleasures are just the best! I had forgotten I had knit these last winter for a friend.We were out together recently and I am glad she wore them. They were fun to do and knit up quite quickly. I knit them with Berocco's Ultra Alpaca Fine in the Ocean colourway. The pattern can be found in the book Gifted by Mags Kandis. I am definitely going to knit a few more pairs for my gift box.

Cute Kitties

Last week Lori came in to the yarn shop with a plastic tote filled with little kitties and other amigurami animals. We all went kinda cuckoo over them, They were just so cute! She crocheted them using a 1 mm hook-(way beyond me) and they are beautifully made.Unfortunately she has just moved away but hopefully will start an Etsy account. I did succumb and bought these two-one is destined for a life in Calgary.You just can't help but smile when you look at their happy little faces.
 There sure is something special about making, giving and receiving hand crafted gifts.  Maybe that is my own perspective as that is what I like to do. I always make things for my family  but I am finding gifting to other friends who are also handcrafters really a lot of fun. Of course I am preaching to the choir on this one!I really am trying to support crafts people and local based businesses a lot more now.. especially now with all the economic and financial turbulence many are facing.For many of us that whole creative process is such a necessary component in our lives-be it knitting ,cooking, knitting, quilting, artwork, woodworking ,knitting, jewelry making...etc. I  was listening to a radio program on the CBC the other day and there was a blurb about how some anthropologists had found some" tool kits" used for cave drawings in India that were estimated to be tens of thousands of years old. Interesting. So my friends keep knitting or painting or gardening or doing whatever makes you feel good-it is important!!

Back in the saddle again.....

Wow it is the middle of October already. It gets dark by 6:30 now. Definitely apple crisp season-heh heh. My garden is still hanging in there but it is supposed to go below freezing tonight. It is always sad when all the flowers and veggies are done for the season but then it does free up some time for our favourite activity-knitting!!!And finally there is some actual knitting content today.

No this is not me-unfortunately! This is Jen from my Thursday morning class modeling a cowl I have just finished. We all love this one . It is the Alameda Cowl from the Fall 2011 issue of Knitscene. I knit it using Malabrigo Rios in the pupuras colourway. It is knit on the bias and buttons up on one side. As you can see it is very versatile. There are so many ways you can wear it.It is double sided so it is super cozy and so soft. Now what else can I use to knit this one again...... I have started another project but haven't taken any pictures yet-it does involve some Noro yarn (big surprise)!

 I will finish with some more garden pics. We always let a lot of rogue sunflowers grow wherever in our garden. They always look good and they attract so many birds. Fortunately our old kitty Puff is quite deaf and losing his eyesight so there is no problem there. Mind you he has always been strictly ornamental!

 I planted these morning glories at the base of some old wooden ladders. I planted them in late June and it looks like they are going to freeze before they really hit full bloom-rats!! There's always next year. Have a good knitting weekend everyone!