Echo of Bells

Pattern: Echo of Bells by Anne Hanson as December’s Fall in Full Colour Club project

Made for: still unknown

Size: Tall

Yarn: Great Northern Yarns 70% Mink 30% cashmere yarn in Rhododendron

Needles: 3.5mm circulars

Started: Dec 24/11       Finished: Dec 31/11

This was the last project of 2011 that I officially finished as it was blocked on New Year’s eve.  This is a keyhole scarf which makes use of a small amount of luxury yarn. There is also a set of wristwarmer that go with the pattern and enough yarn leftover to make them.

This yarn is absolutely delicious but is a bit deceiving about it’s true nature. It doesn’t look all that special when you start working with it except that is unbelievably soft. But after a nice blocking it gets this beautiful halo of fuzz that is just sumptuous!

Frankie was kind enough to be the model for this project and was very good about not licking the yarn.

a hoodie

So last year this lovely pattern by Fiona Ellis came out in the fall issue of Twist Collective called Gwendolyn. It is a cabled sweater with a hood that can be either a pullover or a cardigan. I fell in love with it immediately but held off on making it because I had so many other things on the go. I still have many things on the go but a nice aran-weight sweater fills an empty niche I have in my wardrobe now that we have Frankie. And since I am going to be spending many hours a week standing outside watching her play, I need a sweater that will keep me warm and Gwendolyn fills that need beautifully while also looking stunning.

I decided on using Tanis’s green label. The main colour I chose is the Shadow colourway which is nice light grey with flecks of ice blue (the yarn cake on the left) and the accent colour is the Atlantic colourway which too me looks like a richer version of blue in the first colourway (yarn cake on the right).

I am making the cardigan version and have already finished the two sleeves and am close to finishing the right front. I ended up blocking the right front on the needles a couple repeats in as I was worried it wouldn’t be big enough and wanted to know before going any further. Turns out it blocks out to the measurements perfectly.

In other news…… Sean has discovered that the Pampered Chef apple slicer does a great job slicing apples into wedges (he made me come and take a picture) and then of course when reminded that it was very sharp he proceeded to cut himself on it.

And Frankie’s training is coming along as she just mastered the down command today and is getting a lot of attention every time she does it.

And last but not least Piper has mastered Frankie’s name and is constantly calling her. Frankie has her tuned out very well.

Unexpected, unplanned hiatus is over

I can’t say I had planned to disappear for almost two months but that does seem to be what has happened. Nothing super exciting has happened but a lot of knitting has happened. There is a handful of finished objects that will be gracing the blog over the next little while that will give you an accurate picture of what I have been up to knitting-wise and some that might have to wait as they are gifts that have yet to be given.

I have reached a bit of a milestone as I have finished 13 projects so far this year and there are still at least three more months of solid knitting time. Last year I managed to make it to 12 finished objects which is a pretty big number on its own for me. I guess that means I am getting much better at finishing the projects I have started.

I’m sure I’ll be updating over the next couple of weeks so I will leave you with a picture of Frankie who has grown quite a bit!

There is something lovely….

….about cloudy days with a bit of mist. Piper, Frankie and I went for a lovely walk today after work, partially in our neighbourhood and partially along the trails in the ravine/park area.

Sadly I did not take a camera to show the prettiness so pictures of the animals (both ours and one we are petsitting) will have to do.

It been hot & sticky out there

It has been a very hot and humid week here in the city. We are luckily enough to have air-conditioning in our unit and although it does not make our apartment freakishly cold it is a nice 23- 24C with no humidity. Luckily I have recently started a bunch of small projects that don’t take up a lot of space on ones lap which would make knitting unbearable.

Over the Canada Day long weekend I had started Sean’s socks and have made good progress. Then they went into hiatus for a little while and will be taken off hiatus as I have received some of the requested flowers I require to continue.

I also started my Dad’s holiday socks this weekend so I can switch between the two pairs if I need a break from one of them. I am hoping I got the sizing right as both Sean’s and Dad’s socks are being made from a pattern and not from my mind.

I also started on Almost Ovals shortly after the TTC knitalong with the lovely Indigodragonfly merino/silk I bought at the Purple Purl. Since the yardage of the yarn is much more generous than the pattern requires I have added another repeat and will most likely be making it much longer than recommended as well. I might also have bought another skein of said yarn in another colourway because I enjoy knitting with it so much.

I have also recently finished another shawl but need some more pictures before I post the finished object post. Frankie was checking it out.

Frankie

Frankie is the newest member of our little family. She is a boxer/Burmese mountain dog mix and is almost 9 weeks old. We picked her up from a nice family on our way home from Sean’s uncle’s cottage where we spent Canada day and watched an excellent amateur fireworks display. I expect Frankie will be making periodic appearances in the blog just like Piper does from time to time.