Knitting Feeds

A few weeks ago, friends of ours (we’re having them sainted later this week) offered us use of their cottage up North. We’re not idiots, so we jumped at the chance, and started organizing the family.  It took a lot of doing, but on Friday we caravaned up here in two cars, with Amanda, Sam, Meg (and her sidekick Elliot) and stuffed Penny the dog in for good measure.

We proceeded to have three glorious days with all three of our girls, and we had the best time. Swimming, sunning on the deck, canoeing, playing hours and hours of boardgames and stargazing at night.  (Sam and I saw a meteor that she called “life changing.”) They did each others hair like they were wee again, and took turns setting the table and serving.

It was nothing short of delicious and completely charming.  On Monday afternoon, Sam and Amanda had to go, but we’ve stayed on with Meg and Elliot, revelling in the luxury of being full time grandparents, and (hopefully) giving Meg a vacation of her own.

We’ve had friends to dinner, I accidentally dropped a ball of yarn in the lake (it dried, it was fine) and a huge thunderstorm missed us by an inch. We’ve eaten corn on the cob and we all saw a fox, and Amanda actually spontaneously uttered those epic Canadian words “hold my beer, and watch this.”

I couldn’t ask for anything more, except for longer days, and some extra of them before we need to go home. (Also, if Elliot wasn’t so obsessed with eating books, that would be cool too.)

PS. Happy Birthday, sweet Meggie.  We’ll do it all together when we’re home again.

I’m home again, and for the first time since I got here – it’s a day without a deluge. It’s been raining. Not just raining, but pouring – almost since I arrived back, it’s been tipping great gouts of water from the sky. Lashes of rain, flooding, spectacular curtains of water heaping down on the city, and all I’ve been able to think of is how different the Rally would have been if it were this week and not last. It really gives me the willies.

What a different sort of Rally we had this year.  Every year I feel like there’s a theme that develops over the course of the ride. It has been bravery, it has been endurance, it has been loneliness or difficulty, it has been friendship, and even love. It’s become so predictable, this idea that a theme will emerge, that I’ve started to look for it. This year, with my job on the Rally being what it was, I expected that the theme might be responsibility, or care-taking. I thought maybe it would be sacrifice – our time and work for someone else’s need, or good time – sort of like being the host of a really big week long party, metaphorically filling the bowls of chips and worrying about running out of ice.

There was some of that too. Every time I saw an ambulance I worried it was a rider, every time the weather threatened to be too hot or too cold or too wet, I worried it would be crappy for the riders and crew. I was very, very, very worried that something terrible would happen on my watch. There were meetings morning and night, and lots of extra work to be sure, but in the end, I didn’t see the theme coming, and it emerged just the same. It was luck.

I have spent so much of this last year feeling unlucky.  Unlucky that my Mum died the way she did, unlucky that Susan followed her so quickly. Unlucky about the stupid shingles and the way my hair always does that thing. Fill in the blank, and I’ve been feeling unlucky about it.

I have spent great gobs of time reflecting over the last year on the ways that I’ve been lucky too, trying not to sink under the sadness or feelings of poor fortune.  I’ve reminded myself that I have a wonderful family left, that Elliot came at exactly the right time for me to have something joyful to hold on to, that I am beyond blessed to have such good friends, and people around me who care, and that I’ve got friends who might let me sit at the edge of the self-pity pool and dabble my feet for a bit, but won’t let me jump in and swim. I know we are not supposed to talk about this sort of thing, but I have truly struggled for my happiness this last year. Genuine joy, however small, has been fleeting, and difficult to grasp – but this last week I found it again. Every time it didn’t rain. Every time someone wept from happy pride that they were accomplishing all this. Every time we met another fundraising goal, every time someone spoke about the work that PWA does and will do with the money and time we all gave them, every time we reflected on the privilege we have that gives us the time and energy to do something like this… every time we weren’t lost, or poor, or hungry, or sick, I thought “There it is. We are so lucky.”

It was there the very first day, when as we cycled across beautiful Ontario, in the bright sunshine, and I turned to my friends and said “look how lucky we are.” When that night, even though it called for thunderstorms, it just sprinkled, and then there was a rainbow – actually, scratch that. There was a double rainbow.

It rained a little in the night I think, but the tents weren’t even wet in the morning.  One of the days – who knows which one, they’re all a blur – we arrived in camp, Cameron showed me the weather forecast – and it was dire.  Rain, rain, rain – with little respite all night, and even more dumping on us the next day as we rode.  At the time I told him that I was opting out of believing it, that maybe it wouldn’t rain, and he cocked an eyebrow, continued putting a tarp over his stuff, and shook his head a little at my delusion. I knew it was crazy, but I’d long taken things I couldn’t control off my worry list, and the weather was right up there. Ten minutes later it sprinkled again, not even enough to bug anybody, and then cleared right up beautifully.

 

There were no ambulances. Nobody got badly hurt. We met a fundraising goal and didn’t raise it, feeling bad about moving the goalposts, and then were staggered when we surpassed it, and then surpassed what we’d secretly hoped for, and then surpassed that again. The fancy message from the Prime Minister we didn’t think would arrive in time did.  I felt great on my bike, strong and fast. The generator broke one night, but it was fixed really quickly. People got along- they made friends, I didn’t have to work so hard that I didn’t have time for some fun, and on the last night in spider camp, there was only two spiders on my tent and that is a freakin’ miracle.  It was warm, but just a little overcast so that nobody got too hot, and three days there was a wind at our backs, speeding us along. I have never been more grateful. Almost everything worked, even the things that I didn’t think were going to.  One night, as we slept, the worst part of one of the bike paths we had to ride was freshly paved – we didn’t even have to deal with the construction crew.

I am not going to pretend that there weren’t challenges. The whole thing is a challenge, that’s the point. I’m not going to say I didn’t cry on my bike a few times (the hills, holy wing of moth) or that there wasn’t a morning when we all ate ibuprofen like they were tictacs. I won’t tell you it wasn’t hard, or that there weren’t things that went wrong – and I’m also not going to fail to mention that a lot of what seemed like “good luck” was the result of a lot of people who worked really, really hard in the year leading up to the Rally to make it a great place for good luck to land – but overall, the fates smiled. (I still slept for about three days straight when it was over – and I’m not the only one. Ken was still sitting gingerly at dinner last night.) I am not going to tell you that this fixes everything- that joy and unfettered happiness are back in my life without restraint, but oh, it felt so good to have a success – to see everyone succeed, to see them so moved by it all.

When we arrived in Montreal, I stood up in front of all the riders and I told them the truth. In your life, if you are very lucky, you will get one hundred summers, and I cannot believe that they chose to spend one of them on this. I am so proud of them, of the riders, of the crew, of the committees who worked so hard. I am so proud of every single one of you too – Team Knit collectively raised $105,326.49 this year, and the Rally itself a record $1.73 million.  I have said it a thousand times, riding my bike to Montreal does nothing without you.  It wouldn’t make a single bit of difference without the donations and momentum you all put behind us.  The ride is just a metaphor – a symbol of our commitment, and without your actual commitment, we’re just some really sweaty people on bikes. You, my petals, are the thing that made it matter, and I am so lucky to have you.

When I asked for your help, you said yes, and helped as best you could, and now,  each one of those yeses, is going to turn into something amazing over the next year. They’re going to turn into times when someone enduring real bad luck walks into PWA and asks for help, and whoever is sitting at the front desk can say Yes, this is your lucky day.

Thank you.

(I’m going to knit something now.)

When I was a kid, geometry was one of my favorite classes. In fact, I distinctly recall completing a rather complex project where we were charged with representing a series of geometric shapes in a way that demonstrated our understanding of the underlying mathematical principles.

I used pins and colored string to create swirling, dimensional shapes that impressed my teacher (known for his tough standards) and won me a top grade. This was a very long time ago, and while I've seen similar things since then, at the time it was seen as fresh and unique.

Clearly, my love of textiles and geometry can be traced back to my childhood, so I guess it's no surprise that color, texture and crisp geometric shapes regularly surface in my knitting designs.


All of this is a long way of saying I have another afghan on the needles, and it's moving forward at a steady, satisfying pace. The first strip is finished, and it's patiently waiting in the background while I tackle the next one.



I confess, I'm rather excited by this project. It's fast and easy, a quality I treasure at times like this, when work (and life) are so complicated there's nothing more enticing than a simple, straightforward knit. 

It's also a true stashbuster. I'm using Four Seasons, a lovely cotton-wool blend by Classic Elite, yarn I've held in my stash until the right project came along. This project will put quite a dent in that precious reserve, but it will also move a fair amount of yardage out of stash, which is an ongoing goal.

Finally, I once wrote that in the US, red, white and blue where the true colors of summer, so it seems only fitting to be working on a project that features these iconic colors. And if all goes well and time permits, I may have it completed just in time for Labor Day, the last big blowout of the summer season. We shall see.

RELATEDI Heart Red, White & BlueSpotlight | Red, White & Blue Holidays


Connecting with the linkups in the sidebar.

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  Original Pattern: Heartstring Knitter Extraordinaire: Geraldine (Ravelry ID) Mods: Adjusted for worsted weight yarn instead of DK, eliminated the dotted design around the neckline, experimented with a checkerboard neckline instead, ripped it back, ad went with contrasting hem and cuffs. Details can be found on her project page, here. What Makes This Awesome: I

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Hello and happy Sunday, loves! How have you been since we last talked? This morning finds me knitting on my Let it Shine socks with a nice cup of coffee along with very grey skies. Bliss, I tell you. Can everyday please be like this Sunday? I finished some secret... Andi

It is very early in the morning, and I’m sitting here, drinking coffee, watching the day start – with the sun coming up, and Team Knit stirring as we get up and get going in four separate spots all over the city.  Funny to think that after this, we’ll travel together every day for a week.

(Yes. I am drinking coffee in the bath to save time. It’s efficient.)

I’m nervous.  I know I say that every year, and I know that people shrug it off – you’ve done it before, they say. You’ll be OK, they say.  The truth is that it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve done it, it just isn’t easy to ride your bike 660km.  (For my American Friends, that’s 410miles.) This year I compounded the difficulty by not training much.  There were so many times when I could do a job that would benefit the whole Rally, or just me (the training) and I opted for the former. I’ve spoken with lots of the former Co-Chairs, and they all say the same thing. They years that they embraced leadership were the years that they trained the least.  There just isn’t time, and opting for the Rally in general has absolutely seemed more responsible, right up until this minute when I’m thinking about putting my untrained arse on a bike and riding out of here.

There will be many times over the course of the next week when everyone on Team Knit steps up to a Leadership role, and each of us has our own reasons for doing so.  I won’t speak to the rest of Team Knit, but I can tell you that the things my mother taught me have been figuring largely in my reasons for riding my bike this year. My mum believed, wholeheartedly, that the world was  a different place for women than it is for men.  When I was a younger woman I thought that she was a tad extreme in these beliefs, but the older I get, the more that I see that it’s true. I feel now the way my mum did, that there is absolutely no reason to be bitter about this, but she was rather firm that you couldn’t just… ignore it.

So, when my mum died, I thought about giving up the Co-Chair gig. (Don’t tell that to Ted – the other half of Co-Chair equation) I thought that it wasn’t going to be my best self, and that someone else would be better at it, and I thought a lot about quitting, and then something started to happen.  I started going down to PWA. I started doing the work. I started looking around and listening and realizing that there was something going on, and that thing was that when I went to PWA? The place is full of women and children.

 HIV/AIDS is now regarded mostly as a chronic disease that largely has to do with gay men, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  While it’s true that we’ve got treatment now for a great many people who have HIV/AIDS, the regime is expensive, difficult to comply with, and hard to access for many people who are living complicated lives – the primary risk factors for HIV/AIDS are now poverty and lack of power.  (Here’s a great example, in Saskatchewan (that’s a province in the middle-ish of Canada) 79% of the new cases of HIV are in indigenous people.) We see this in the shifting client base at PWA. These days almost 30% of PWA’s clients are women and their children. The truth is that if one of the main risk factors for HIV/AIDS is poverty and a lack of power, than it is only going to continue to disproportionately affect poor and dis-empowered women since we haven’t solved that whole equality problem yet. I could (and have) go on forever about this topic, about how robust the solution to this problem needs to be – how diverse we have to think, and when I think that? I hear my mum. I hear her problem solving, her ideas, her knowledge that communities fix things, and investing in communities is always helpful, and her belief that if you have some money or power (or both) you have a responsibility to get firmly on the side of people who do not. My Mum wouldn’t have wanted me to quit being Co-Chair because she got sick and died. So, this morning will be the first time that my Mum hasn’t been with me for departure. Last night was the first time she didn’t call to see if I was ready, or text this morning to ask (for the 387time what time departure is. (Geez Mum it’s 9am the same every year.)  I’m going to go invest in this community, and I’m going to trust that investment to carry me.  I’m going to put my love and care in Team Knit, in Ken, and Cameron and Pato, and believe that they’re going to do the same thing, that we’ll get through it together, if we stick together. I love those guys, and they love me. Team Knit wants to thank you too for all of this.  Each of us is at our (public) goal, though each of us has hopes and dreams and a private goal we haven’t disclosed, and we’re still hoping to reach.  We have you to thank for it. We put our energy, time and money towards this problem, ad you did too – and we can’t thank you enough. You are the only reason Team Knit makes a difference, and we’re so, so grateful. We love you. Thank you. If you find an extra fiver hanging around this week, or you decide that something in your life can be rearranged a little bit to redistribute some power and luck in the world, Team Knit remains: Me                         Ken Cameron                Pato (PS. Kim at Indigodragonfly summed all of this up so well, when her fundraising colourways for the Bike Rally this year were to honour her mother, and mine.  Kim knows a ton about redistributing luck and power. She’s awesome.) (PPS. I don’t think I can blog over the next week, but follow me on instagram and I’ll try to show you everything. I’m @yarnharlot.)

I’ve lost all perspective on the world.  The world is the Rally.  The Rally is the world, or something like that.  This week, hours and hours and hours went to keeping the Rally on the rails, and trying to make it be all it can be. I hope I’ve done okay – it’s all just anxiety right now.  Today’s the last day before we leave. We all went to packing day, and… wait, have I told you how this works?  The riders are supported on this odyssey by the crew. Food crew, Wellness crew, Road Support and (most important for this story) The Rustlers.

Every rider gets two rubbermaid bins – not super big ones. You put everything in them that you’ll need for the week – your clothes, tent, chair, spare inner tubes, purse, yarn… and they move it from city to city.  Every morning we load our two bins up and take them to the trucks, and the rustlers drive them to the next city, and decant all the bins onto the campground. We pick up our bins, go set up our tents, do whatever, and then in the morning we pack it all back into the bins, trot (drag, limp) the bins back over to the trucks – repeat. The thing is that we can’t do this the morning of departure.  It’s way too complicated to check everyone in, assign them bins… we’d have to get there before dawn. (Remember, there’s 300 cyclists.) So the day before departure is packing day. You show up, check in, get your jerseys for the day or the week, depending on how long you’re riding, and you get bins and put all your stuff in, and put it on a truck and then…

Then the Rustlers have your stuff, and you don’t. I find it really stressful.  I can’t give them my knitting because then I can’t knit, but I can’t keep my knitting unless I can carry it on my bike the next day, because I won’t have access to those bins until I arrive in Port Hope tomorrow night. (Apparently that I am Co-Chair means very little in terms of bin access. The Rustlers are fierce. Some of them are even knitters and I still couldn’t budge anyone, though I didn’t try that hard. They’ve got a system.) Essentially, you can only keep the things that you can fit in your jersey pockets. (I kept more knitting than I should have. I’m stressed. Yarn makes me feel better. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.)

I came home and finished a pair of socks –

Pattern forthcoming, when I have time to do it… yarn is Ridley Sock Yarn from Sea Turtle Fiber Arts (I think the colourway was called “Imagine”) I said it when I started knitting with this yarn, and I’ll say it again, I love this sock yarn.  Durable, soft, super cozy.  I’m a fan.  I started a new pair of socks this week too – these ones to accompany me on my trip, since I knew the other ones would be finished soon. (No point in knitting taking up room if it won’t last the trip.)

This one is Electron Sock (80% merino/ 20% nylon) from Elemental Fiberworks in “Ring Nebula” (I think it looks rainbowish.)  I also freaked out and put an extra skein in my packing, because I got nervous that I’d (like always) suddenly churn out much more knitting than usual, and be underyarned in a campground somewhere.  The truth is that it’s not really likely, considering that it’s hours and hours a day on my bike (and I feel like if I instagrammed a yarn emergency one of you would help me) but you can’t be too careful.

I’m off to bed soon, because how much sleep you need to do this can’t be understated, but I thought I’d do as many Karmic Balancing gifts as I could before running out of time.  I won’t get through them all, some will have to wait until we’re back, but here goes!

Caitlin wrote the sweetest note about finally being in a position to give, and give she did, three lovely offerings from her stash and hands. Handspun SweetGeorgia Yarns BFL/silk (January 2014 club colorway ‘Night Owl’). Semi-woolen spun, 4 oz/about 200 yards, that will be going to live with Jess D.

Three skeins of Imperial Yarn Erin, one each of the Natural, Pearl Grey, and Quail colorways, Caitlin will send that to Heather B.

And last, but certainly not least two skeins of handspun natural fiber; lighter grey is Jacob, and darker is Corriedale. 4 oz/about 200 yards each for Diana Z, who is not a spinner, and I’m glad, because this one of the only ways she’ll get to enjoy how lovely it is to knit with handspun.

Robin Hunter, charmer that she is, has donated a free pattern for TEN knitters.

I have no idea how on earth they are going to choose from the lovelies in her shop, but good luck to Margaret G, Sarah M, Marcie R, Camb F, Miriam F, Beth D. Harriet B, Cheryl R, Kate D, Angela D and Beth D.

Gina has three beautiful things to share, and writes about her luck, and how she’d like to pass the love on. Isager Strik Spinni (Wool 1): 2 skeins, lace weight, 100% wool, colorway Gray 2S that she’ll be sending to Sarah J.

Twisted Fiber Art Opulent Striping: 2 skeins, DK weight, 50/50 silk/merino, colorway Mirage (caked up, no longer in skein) for Kathleen W.

Twisted Fiber Art Catnip Evolution: 1 skein, Aran weight, 50/50 silk/merino, colorway Boreal that’s going to live with Andrea L. Finally, and there’s so much more, but I have got to go to bed… Signature Needle Arts got in on the game again this year – and they’ve got not one, but two gift certificates for $50, one each for Lenny B, and Sarah S.  Lucky Ducks.  (I mean that, I do love a Signature Needle.  Like driving a Ferrari.) Good night petals, and I’ll try to touch in in the morning before I ride out of here, and try to catch up with my bins.

pattern: Mercury socks yarn: hue loco glitz sock in the eskimo colorway






First for the good news: I finished a pair of socks and I love them to bits! The pattern (handpaint highlights socks ) plays so well with the pretty colors of this highly variegated yarn by phydeaux designs. Definitely plan on repeating this pattern with other colorfully fun sock yarn in the stash.

Now for the not so good news: my sock wips appeared to have mysteriously multiplied overnight. I am not quite sure how this happened. {cue music for the Twilight Zone} Maybe some unknown law of quantum physics is at play. Or there could be the existence of an alternate universe where knitting projects self-propagate and then travel through the space-time continuum to land in our wips basket. A nefarious plot by elves and fairies? Regardless of how they came to be, I now have to accept their existence and come up with a plan of attack:

*take a much needed seaside vacation
*bring only sock wips
*do nothing but knit (and eat)
*resist casting on any new socks (at least until a few of these are off the needles)
*find fellowship and support from others who are in the same boat #knitwipkal

Sounds pretty simple right? Wish me luck!

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My Favourite Articles and Links This Week I went to a Banksy exhibit with a blogger friend (hi Loulou!) and she wrote an amazing piece about it. Reading this will be like you came along with us. Okay, I’m actually kind of excited to try this- in praise of drunk cleaning. The joy of missing

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"Growing apart doesn't change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I'm glad for that." — Ally Condie

This past weekend was surreal, joyful and bittersweet. I am so glad that I was able to travel back home to northern New York to see these old high school friends of mine. Didn’t realize how very much I missed them until I saw their smiling faces again. So many memories to revisit and new ones made. Laughter, tears and hugs. Until next time friends!
p.s. One of the best parts of the weekend was discovering how many of us were knitters/crocheters/quilters. There might have been some plotting going on for a crafty reunion. Oh how I hope it happens!

Note: I started writing this on Sunday and things went completely sideways after that.  For the record, this Co-Chair job is only picking up speed over the last week to departure, and the workload, while manageable, is constant. I’m so looking forward to riding my bike 100km a day AS A BREAK, and how crazy is that? It took until today to finish and post. Bear with me, my lovelies. Things are pretty wild over here. (PS Joe is not back yet.)

Joe’s away this weekend, attending a music festival out west – and it has left me happily and completely alone. Not to say that I don’t miss him (I do) and not to say that I’m not lonely (I am) but it’s left me able to focus almost completely on catching up on a million things.  I have a long to-do list, but wing of moth and tie of skein, I am actually getting it done.  I am mere hours away from being caught up on the housework – so close in fact that if someone were to ring my doorbell right now I’d almost consider opening it.  (Almost. I have to resolve the risk that they’d get stuck down to the kitchen floor first.)  The Bike Rally Co-Chair inbox is a single screen’s worth of panic, rather than pages and pages. I haven’t even opened my personal inbox, but tomorrow’s another day.

Yesterday I got up early, scraped a layer off the kitchen, poured a coffee, and sat down at my desk and worked on the Bike Rally stuff for five hours. After that amount of time I still had buckets to do and was feeling sort of defeated, looking wistfully out the window at a world where it seemed that everyone except for me was having a good time, and right on cue, I got a text.  It was Cameron, suggesting an afternoon at the beach with a few friends, and in a wave of maturity I can only describe as heroic, I declined the invitation. He pressed a little, and to be truthful, that was all the resistance I had in me. I folded faster than a laundry and an hour after that I was on a water taxi, headed across the harbour to the island. The weather wasn’t that great – the water was choppy and the sky grey, and a few times I thought about how stupid it was that I’d chosen to ditch work for a not-great reward.  I was wrong. By the time I’d walked to the beach on the other side, things were much better. Warm, and sunny (from time to time) and the water was glorious and the wind out on the lake had brought up big waves to play in (not ocean big, but still fun) and we played frisbee for a while (I retain my perfect record of never catching a single throw) and I knit.

It. Was. Perfect.  I was home before dark, finishing my sock on the streetcar, and got home in time to put the news on the radio and do about 87 more tasks before making myself toast for dinner and falling into bed.  At the time, I felt like I was shirking my responsibilities, but today there’s (another) Bike Rally function, and that rest yesterday did me so much good that I’m really looking forward to going to it. The idea of tomorrow’s meeting no longer makes me want to hide in a darkened room and knit garter stitch, and the level of hysteria I feel when I realize we leave in a week is almost manageable.

Seven Five more days, and while Team Knit haven’t yet met our (public) fundraising goals (we all have private ones as well) we’re still hoping to get there. I’ve got a while before I leave the house (again, even though it is now Tuesday) so let’s see how many Karmic Balancing Gifts I can get through.  If you’re just catching up with what’s up, you can read the post about how this works here, and because somebody always asks, here’s our fundraising links. Team Knit is:

Me                                    Ken

Pato                                 Cameron

(For the record, and in case I haven’t mentioned it, almost all of Team Knit is fulfilling Leadership Roles this year.  I’m Co-Chair, Ken is a Team Lead, Cameron is Co-Lead of Rider Team Leads, and Pato – he’s resting from being Recruitment Co-Lead last year. We’re really trying to make a difference, and we’re putting our time and energy where our mouths are.)

Onward!

Julie has a lovely 280-yard hank of worsted weight yarn from Spittin’ Creek Farm (www.spittincreek.com) in Xenia, Ohio. It’s an alpaca/merino/tussah silk blend, and the color is Bright Jade. Julie’s generous enough that she’s sending this along to live with Megan M.

Next up, a gorgeous handpainted double sock blank (462 yards, 100g, fingering weight, merino/nylon) from Anne, at the Twisted Fleece. The colourway is “Sittin’ on the Dock” and it’s part of her Summer Love series.

It’s so very pretty, like sunshine sparkles on water, and it will be winging it’s way to Robyn R.  Anne’s not done though!

That’s 1 skein of speckle dyed 70%baby alpaca, 30%silk, 875 yards (about 807 m), 190 grams. This is a fine laceweight.  Colorway: “Celebration” in honor of Team Knit and all those riding in and supporting the PWA Bike Rally. The Twisted Fleece (that’s Anne) will be sending that along to Stirling.

Amy is parting with this lovely book – Victorian Lace Today.  (I own this book, and I absolutely love it.)

She’s somehow going to imagine a life without it, and send it to Olivia P.

Here’s a big one – a tremendously generous gift from Tanja Luescher

She’s giving away not five, not ten, but TWENTY EBOOKS.  Recipeints can choose between Stories of Inspiration,

Selfstriping!

Hubby Needs Socks,

The Cat Collection,

or they can make their own e-book of any 7 of her patterns – excluding Daddy’s Prayer Shawl. (Tanja is ridiculously kind, and that one is dedicated to another cause.) The lucky knitters are: Elizabeth H, Jen G, Debra L, Lisa B, Erica TC, Lucy N, Dianne G, Lori B, Danielle D, Karen F, Sue, Sara D, Lynda K, Ruth Ann H, Annette A, Bridget K, Barb, Linda W, Chelsy J, Elizabeth L, and Brenda C. (Whew.)

Anik has 2 skeins of Cherry Hill Yarn Supersock Select (right from her cozy little stash)

It’s 840 yds (768.1 m) of fingering yarn in Riverbank, and it will be soon on it’s way to MIchelle R.  Thank you Anik!

Kate is somehow (I cannot imagine how she’s doing it) has FOUR gifts to give away.

1. Yarn Chef 75/25 BFL/silk, 4 oz- She’ll send that along to Kate F.

2. Becoming Art BFL in Dread Pirate Roberts, 4 oz for Raven J.

3. Mudpunch Slash Self-Striping Sock in Ten Percenter, a spectacular gift for Rachel M. 4. Stitch Together Stitch Skinny in Melted Peeps to knock the (future) socks off of Meagan. Next up, and as a writer, I love this one – Elizabeth Hall (who is an actual, honest to gosh writer – and a knitter) has donated a copy of her book The Music of the Deep. I have provided you there with a link to buy it, because it sounds terrific.  Beth says “It is set on a fictional island in Washington, and includes a group of spinners and knitters who welcome Alexandra Turner, after she leaves her abusive husband. It also includes the stories of the Southern Resident Killer Whales (orcas) in this area.” Good, right?  I do love me a novel with some knitting content. Elizabeth will be signing that for Linda L. Jessie McKitrick is a designer, and she’s donating a copy of her Chesterfield Slippers pattern (a Chesterfield is a couch, here in Canada) and she’s throwing in a skein of Lagoon DK (in the colour of the recipients choice.) That recipient is Annie S, and she’ll be picking not just the colour, but an extra pattern from Jessie’s shop as well. Thanks to both of you! That is, my little butterflies, more than thirty gifts, and a lot of emails.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be back tomorrow, I’ve got “a day off.” which we use here to mean that I don’t have to go to a meeting, just sit at my desk and try desperately to catch up. I think I can do it. I’ll try to post. I’ll drink extra coffee. Thanks for everything.

 

 

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Original Pattern: Freja Knitter Extraordinaire: LuAnn (Ravelry ID) Mods: Lengthened the sleeves and body of the sweater, as well as added additional waist shaping. Great details and more photos can be found on her project page, here. What Makes This Awesome:  I loved Freja when it first came out, but hte sleeve length seemed weird

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Hello loves! Yarn~ S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes with Aloe. Pattern~ Vanilla Happy Sunday! With all these summer storms in the U.S., I hope everyone is safe and happily knitting away. Knitting is happening here, it is hot but that is not keeping me from knitting all the things. If... Andi

With the last end woven and a light steam blocking, the rose gradient scarf is officially complete. It's about time, isn't it?!

Luckily, the end result was worth the wait. The 50/50 blend of silk and merino produced a light, fluid fabric that's the perfect weight for year-round wear. 


The fabric is reversible, so while each side is different, both are attractive. In the rolled shot below, you can see the fluted columns on the front (right) and the subtle ribs that decorate the back (left).
The five-stage ombre progresses from magenta to fuchsia and into light pink with marled sections in between to create a smoother transition between colors.


Rose Gradient ScarfPattern: In development
Yarn: Helen's Lace Solid (50% silk/50% wool, Lorna's Laces)Needles: US 8 (5 mm) and US 9 (5.5 mm)
Size: Narrow
Dimensions: 4 x 50 ins
Yardage: ~400 yards
After some swatching, I opted to carry two strands of lace weight throughout, using a US 9 to work the body of the scarf and a US 8 for the first and last inch to minimize the tendency of handknit scarves to flare at the ends.



I like my scarves on the narrow side, and the 50-inch length is perfect. It's long enough to be worn draped under the collar of a jacket, wrap multiple times for a cozy cowl-like effect, or fold in half and catch the ends through the folded loop. As an added plus, it goes with many of my favorite outfits, and will be the perfect accent for a rich magenta work jacket that's one of my winter staples.

If versatility is the standard for a successful handknit accessory, this simple scarf is an all-out win. With the subtle texture, vibrant color and multiple wearing possibilities, I can see this becoming my go-to scarf for work, play and everything in between.



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I’ve been in Prince Edward County this whole week on vacation and it’s been so beautiful, so relaxing, with perfect weather. I’ve been posting a bit on Instagram and in my Instagram Stories, but I will do a blog post on it soon! My Favourite Articles and Links This Week McDonald’s and Starbucks are joining

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It’s been a big week. So much to do, and so much of it a challenge.  For starters, last week I did my back-to-backs. 90km one day, and 100km the next, and I pretty much felt like a hero.  A very, very tired, sort of old hero that gets things done, really, really slowly, but a hero. The rest of the week was full of meetings – the closer we get to the Rally, the more time it takes to be Co-Chair, It’s cut into the time I would spend knitting or cycling, but frankly, I don’t think anybody looks back on their life and thinks “Wow. I really wish I’d spent less time helping out.” (If that’s true, don’t tell me now.)

So, there were meetings, and Joe and I tried to manage the family, and oh, after much planning and dreaming,  we put in a backyard pool for Elliot.

Finally found one within our budget range. We are living the dream, people. Midweek, and completely out of necessity because we were out of time,  my siblings and I put on a mad push, and emptied our mother’s house.  Ian, Erin and I were there, and my brother Jamie called, and it was as close as we could come to being together.

Erin and I stayed late, ordered pizza, had some wine, and as a parting shot, we put on the family theme song (“You can’t always get what you want”) and we made our way through the house, dancing in every room, thinking of all the times we’ve danced up a storm in that house.  At one point, Erin said to me, exactly as I was thinking it, that it felt like we were letting go of so much with that house.  “It’s all of them” she said, and I know just what she meant. It was a goodbye to Janine, to Tupp, to Mum, to Susan… with the sale of the house we felt a little untethered from the lot of them. When Erin and I left the house after midnight (with a big bag of rocks and a few odds and ends) we closed the door behind us on the way our family used to be.

This might be okay. I mean, I guess it has to be okay, because that’s the way it is whether we like it or not, but maybe now that the house is gone, we’ll stop trying to hold things the way they were. Who knows, because if there’s one thing that I’ve figured out over the last bit, it’s that I have no idea what’s going on most of the time, and that doesn’t matter, because I’m not actually in charge of much of it. (I can tell, because if I were in charge, all of the people listed above would have come quite a bit closer to the average Canadian lifespan, and there would be a lot less left to do for the Rally.)

My house still looks like a thrift shop, and I continue to have no plan at all for two china cabinets, but at least I’m relaxing into it.

I put yarn in one of them.

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Original Pattern: Flax Light  Knitter Extraordinaire: Jurga (Ravelry ID) Mods: Adapted the Flax Light sweater pattern to feature a honeycomb eyelet stitch on both the front and back of the sweater. The stitch is from “A Treasury of Knitting Patterns” by Barbara Walker. What Makes This Awesome:  Flax is a fantastic, simple pattern that can

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Hello loves! Yarn~ Spinning Fates Twisted Sisters in the color Lady Meux Tea~ Taylors of Harrogate Sweet Rhubarb. Happy Sunday! whoo-hoo, we made it to the weekend. :) The week flew and now thankfully the weekend feels like it is moving nice and slow. I am totally savoring it. Some... Andi

Between a rapid series of deadlines and the normal turmoil of life, knitting has been occurring in slow motion. Yes, it's happening, but headway is so gradual you could blink 20 times and not miss a thing. 



In spite of this turtle-like pace, progress has occurred. The fifth and final light rose section has been finished and bound off. 



Now, I'm weaving the ends at the color transitions and prepping the scarf for blocking, which means the end is in sight.



The fabric is light and drapey even in its unblocked state, so I couldn't resist. I had to take a few minutes, pat it into place, and admire how the marling technique helps this five-stage gradient fade smoothly from solid magenta to fuchsia and then light rose. 

The next time you see this project, it will be finished, blocked and ready to wear, but you certainly haven't seen the last of this yarn. I have to confess, I'm so enamored with this particular ombre effect, I'm already experimenting with fresh possibilities. Stay tuned.

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Summer Blooms Marling & Me


Connecting with the linkups in the sidebar.

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My Favourite Articles and Links This Week Love, thy name is slow roasted onion dip. A love story with a recipe and a happy ending. On recycling plastic. This online interactive paper art thing is strangely compelling. Turn your sound on low and give yourself about 5 minutes to play with it. I love these

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