Hats, Hats, Hats

Knitting toques, when the temperature is 32 degrees doesn't really make sense, but that is what I have been doing the past couple of weeks.

Remember this hat?

I knit it earlier this summer, just to have something on hand, if I needed a baby gift.

Well, one of my dear ones has friends who are expecting twins. So here is the twin hat.

It is amazing that they are from the same ball of wool, but look so different. Obviously fraternal twins.

They are the same size, but they need to be blocked.

Meanwhile, my little Knitting Club have decided to make hats for a local homeless shelter. I used some yarn, that was left over from a sweater I think I made 15 years ago.

This is my first hat made on a circular needle and I must say, I love it. No seam, and only one needle to be concerned with, it goes very quickly.

I needed something to make the hat stand up, so Grumpy Gorilla volunteered (there were no cats willing to model today).

I told him he could have his picture in my blog too.

I love him, because he reminds me of my dad, who my kids called Grumps!

Falling Leaves

Cheryl over in the Kingdom of Coco created a pattern for a shawl, that she calls "Falling Leaves". She allowed me to take it for a test drive, and put up with my daily (or somedays, hourly) questions.

After much angst, my shawl is complete.

I had a hard time taking the picture, the camera did not want to render the colour properly.

The colour is somewhere between these two, but neither is quite right. the yarn called "soft grape" and is a sort of greyed purple. 

Okay, the really neat part! It has beads!

Another version of the purple, but you can see the beads better.  The beads are a mix of metallic purple and amethyst glass beads with a few silver lined clear beads, because they look like dew on the leaves.




I am not sure who will receive this work of art. Somebody special, considering the work.


Thanks, Cheryl, it was a wonderful challenge.


That is the first item I have completed on my Ten Things for Summer List.

Blockin'

I have finished my second shawl (the first item on my 10 things list to be completed). So today, I decided to do some blocking.
I have read the instructions for blocking and I discovered that they missed a few things.

They usually tell you to start with a sink of warm water.
They missed the steps that come before that:
1. Empty the dishwasher.
2. Move the dishes that were left in the sink, because the dishwasher hadn't been emptied.
3. Clean the sink, removing the tea stains.
4. Fill the sink with hot water.

I have seen it advised that you add a bit of hair conditioner. Off to find the conditioner. Which do you think, the volumising or the colour guard? I decided on the volumising.

Next soak for about 20 minutes. Of course, if you have already put the coffee on, you can have a cup of coffee, while you wait.

Gather some towels to squeeze out the water.
1. Go to the linen closet to look for towels.
2. Discover that your adult children helped themselves to the thickest of the big towels, as they were moving out.
3. Double the number of towels required, since none of the available towels are very thick.
4. Note to self: Pick up some bath sheets, next time I am at Costco.

Spread the knitting out on a flat surface and pin into the desired shape.
1. Find a space in the house that pets don't consider they own.
2. Cover with a foam mattress pad to protect the hardwood.
3. Find more towels to cover that mattress pad (see above).

Finally, stand back and admire!
Here is Wingspan, completed.

There is a second shawl, but I am waiting for it to dry before the big reveal!

Quilts On The Tay

I took a field trip today, to Perth, ON, to see Quilts on the Tay, by the Lanark County Quilter's Guild.

This must be the place!

There were lots of lovely quilts, both traditional and modern.
Here are some of my favourites.

A Zentangle. I think I would like to try this.

I loved this applique quilt.

I have this pattern in my saved file.

I couldn't stand back far enough, so I had to take a picture, to see the Blue Jay.

They wanted me to vote for one quilt for Viewer's Choice. I'm sorry, I couldn't pick.

Thanks to the Lanark Guild for a lovely afternoon. The show continues until Sunday, if you want to go.

Ooops...yarn happens!

Every year, the big truck from Spinrite Yarn rolls into town, with some incredible bargains on discontinued products and colours. I haven't used all of what I bought last year. Although, as I look at the picture, I have done pretty well at using things up.

I wasn't going to go this year, because my bins are nearly full. However, a friend called this morning, asking me to go with her and help her at the sale by telling her what she could use the yarns for. After a number of years of not knitting, she has just gotten back into it.

So I foolishly joined her on her morning's adventure.

I came home with this.

Only 12 skeins, that isn't too much is it? At least I managed to leave all the sock yarn there. There is 6 balls of worsted weight and 6 balls of a baby DK, and I think I know what I am going to do with most of it.

I made these gloves with the baby DK, and I am thinking that I might need to make more. The worsted will be used for hats. More on that later.