A Package..

Yay!! I received my lace swap package last night from Elli. WOW! What a beautiful job she did. Check it out - 6 skeins of Knitpicks Gloss (a merino silk blend) in the most amazing blue.. reminds of of the water at Kits Beach late at night in the fall... I can't wait to work with this wool. And, it's so soft that it will feel great against the skin. As well, she sent me some interchangeable needles from the Options Collection (which I have been eyeing up, coffee and chocolate (mmm), some really cool magnets and stitch markers - which is so cool, because I never splurge on them - I always have the plastic kind from Zellers.
And the pattern looks great Faroese Flower Shawl which comes from back East.

Thanks so much Elli - you did such a beautiful job and I feel truly spoilt :)

Some FO's

Thankfully, I never claimed that i was showing recent FO's! I actually made this last year, but realized the photos were still in my camera - I hadn't downloaded them.. It's from VK and it was great to knit. The pattern was easy to follow, worked in one piece (the body), which means minimal fuss and sewing up, and I think it came out fairly well. The only thing I would do next time, which I am doing often now, is add shaping for the waist. Although it hides me on the not-so-flattering times, it doesn't look as great as I think it could. But i like it and have added it to the list of things to make this fall.




RPM was a lot of fun to make. I am really getting into the whole sock thing, which is funny, cause everyone else is as well. I always seem to follow the trend, even if unintentional..

Still no photos...

... but they will come.

Finally, after ages of shopping (yeah, visiting yarn stores is so hard on me), i have found the pattern and the wool. It's a beautiful laceweight wool that is hand-spun locally and then hand-dyed as well - about 1500 meters, so that more than covers what's needed for this stunning pattern. In fact, I bought the pattern for my collection as well, and have some Knitpicks wool at home that may work well. Photos tomorrow....

Lace Swap

Wow!

It's been a busy week!

On Monday, my sister and I hung out in the afternoon and then hit the David Gray concert in Deer Lake Park. Like a fool, I forgot my camera - but that's okay 'cause it was so amazing that I wouldn't have wanted to take out the camera and spoil the moment. We got there early and found a great spot on the lawn - part way up the bank and overlooking the lake. The sun was beginning it's decent and so it was shady and cool.

I hadn't heard of the opening act - a singer from Toronto. She had a cool voice, but the tunes weren't really my style. My sister and I just chatted and I worked on a pair of JayWalker Socks , getting a head start on Christmas gifts for this year.

About 730 David came on the crowd was loving every minute of it. The music was fantastic, the energy was high, and we were just having a great time. The sun started to set as he finished up the set and by the time we were all on our feet for an encore, it was pitch black - just the smell of the wind blowing over the lake and the lights from the stage. Every song was better than the last, and the crowd got into it at the end, wrapping with a fantastic version of "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye", bringing both the night and the North American tour to an end... I've seen David a few times and this is right up there!

Also found some time this week to check out a couple local yarn shops for my secret pal. One was less than helpful - despite being fairly clear about what I was looking for (laceweight wool), the woman seemed to want to sell me self-patterned sock wool and the virtues of thrummed mittens!?!? After 5 minutes, I gave up and left.

The next shop had the pattern I had been searching for, and carries both Lorna's Laces and Fleece Artist. Helped me narrow down. One more shop, my favourite, near my place tomorrow for a final search and then I can send the package on Monday. Goodies are coming, my secret pal, they are coming!

Fall Projects

Managed to get a copy of the new Vogue Knitting this week (I don't know why, but often it takes a extra week to get into the bookstores here). And I am in love! There are a number of projects that I can see myself knitting and wearing - almost makes me long for that autumn weather. Ok, well maybe not - still enjoying some summer sun.

Works in Progress

For Christmas, my brothers got a me a gift cert. to Lewi$craft, which worked out well when they went out of business in the spring - EVERYTHING was on sale. I managed to get enough wool to make an entire afghan for myself with it.

I am using a simple double moss stitch pattern and changing the colours to make blocks (this way I avoid all that weaving in at the end) and it's simple enough to do while watching tv, etc. The only thing keeping me from finishing - well, except for the fact that I have startitis the minute I see something else - is that it isn't portable. Although the wool is very light, it's too bulky to carry a uniform for one job, a computer for the other job, and not fall over from the weight of the backpack!

As well, I am working on socks. Yep, about two months ago I fell in love with knitting socks. There are some really cool wools out there and the projects are small enough to be portable and if you can only get 4 rows done - well, it shows up faster on a sock! As well, i can splurge for some great wool, as the cost is still fairly reasonable!

This weekend is gonna be great - a friend is in town from Ottawa who I haven't seen in 2 years and who I am so excited to spend time with! We were roomies for awhile and she is so cool and funny!

As well, a friend of a friend is here from Dublin and looking forward to catching up with her.

Summer Time

Let me start by saying that i LOVE summer. I love the sun, and the hot weather, and the beach, and everything that happens here in summer. And this year has been fun so far...

In june, my sister's dragonboat team competed in a race (up to now they had been fun and not competitive) and very early on a Sunday morning I joined my stepmom to watch and cheer. They did well on the Saturday and qualified for the Sunday races, where they did so well in the first morning race that they qualified a group higher than they had started! not too shabby for the first competition.


In the final race, they pushed hard, and despite another boat veering completely of course and crashing other boats, they managed to stay concentrated and placed 4th!! how did they stay on track? Well, let's just say that my little sister and i share a competitive and loud drive that makes our place in the boat very obvious!

Every year, Vancouver has four nights of spectacular fireworks, which draws a huge crowd - including me! Although I couldn't make the first show, which was Italy, I am told that it is the best we have had in years. Not surprising that with the World Cup win, the Italians felt that they wanted to show up here to win as well.

Saturday's show was China and it was amazing. Very beautiful music, which went well with the dazzling display of lights. i tried to take photos, but alas, I used the wrong settings and they just didn't turn out. But trust me, it was amazing!

I started out the evening with my family at Bard on the Beach watching A Midsummer Night's Dream - one of my favourite plays. And WOW! They did an amazing job - we were rolling in the aisle at some of it. One of the best times I have seen this play.

And as an added bonus, one fireworks nights, you get the play, a great dinner and a booked spot to watch the fireworks after - i tell you, if it came with a prebooked spot to leave as well, it would be utter heaven. Cause we had to wait an hour for the traffic to die down before we could leave. And then it still took a long time to get home. I would have walked it (in about half the time), but my cousin had a suitcase with him, so it wouldn't have been fun for him.
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