Tech Knitting

I was reading about a new left leaning decrease today on Ravelry. The link can be found here. I don't know what the name of the person is as usual but wow what a lot of work has gone into these posts. I've now put the link on my desktop.
Happy knitting, I'm off to bed. Have not knit a stitch today. Darn.

Semi-Solid Why do I love thee???

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post why I like Sundara's Yarn so much. Self-Striping yarn is all the rage but it's very hard to find patterns that compliment it except plain socks. Now I have nothing against mindless knitting:
1) you can watch TV and knit
2) you can talk on the phone
3) you can ride your bike while knitting:)
And the list goes on.....
When we travel I take too many projects. Some of them don't even come out of their bag. I take at least one mindless project so I don't have to count stitches and rows while I'm talking. And of course never do as much knitting as I think I should. But you must always be prepared....
With a semi solid yarn you can do intricate stitch patterns that show up beautifully. There are designers out there who are churning out patterns for self patterning yarns.
Suzi's Knits is one. Go look, she has some gorgeous patterns. There are at least 3 that I will probably purchase at some time.
Cookie A's patterns are to die for. She does use some self patterning yarns but they are subtle. She has a few free patterns on Knitty. I think her most famous sock pattern is Monkey which you can find on Knitty. Monkey is on my list of to do patterns.
Archiknist also has some very nice patterns. I don't know her real name, key hole socks is also on my to do list.
Since joining Ravelry I've found even more free patterns. Really you don't need to buy any if you're trying to save your money for sock yarn:)
The Yarn Harlot says you don't count "Sock Yarn" as part of your stash:)
I think Stephanie is one smart lady:)

Arrived in the Mail

Lorna's Laces in Chocolate, and Dream in Color Smooshy, Black Parade all from the Loopy Ewe.

Season's Yarn Club from Sundara Yarns, Prickly Pear on the top and Jungle Boogie on the bottom.

I'm spending too much time on Ravelry checking out 2 groups, Sundara Yarn Love and the Seasons Yarn Club. I'm not getting as much knitting done as I would like. Sundara has a new website and no longer tells us when she is updating the site. If all of the Sundarian's signed on at the same time we would probably crash the site. She is working hard at tweaking the site, we'll have to patient. In the last year I've tried a lot of different sock yarns but I'm totally obsessed with Sundara's Yarn. I have not snagged an update since she changed the site. I thought I was being very decadent signing up for 2 seasons, spring and summer and find out later that some have signed up for six???

I've been slowly updating my stash on Ravelry, takes some time but is fun to go and look at it. Also been posting a few projects, when will I get to all of them?

So much yarn so little time:))

Take a picture when yarn arrives

I'm sitting in my office and it's still bloody raining. Oh well, at least I won't have to work hard in the yard today. Bad weather saves the wear and tear on my body:)
I've made a promise to myself I will not wind yarn into cake until I've taken a picture.

Took a bunch of pictures today using the flash as it's too dark outside to get any decent pictures. Here are pictures I promised yesterday.

These are Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding in the Silk Lace in the Tulip colorway by Sundara Yarns.

These pictures are Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin done in Sundara Yarn Sock in Brown over Cocoa. The pattern is very easy to follow. The only thing I might do differently if I knit again is when you start the heel flap you have to increase 2 stitches on each side which seems to pull a bit and make small holes. I'll try and increase the stitches in previous row so as not to pull.

These 3 kits are all from Van Calcar Acres Farm. The Yarn Harlot created quite a bit of chaos in Jennifer's life after she posted about the kit. It took quite a while to get the kits but she did warn me.

Every time I post a picture it goes to the top of the page and I have to reposition everything, darn frustrating. When you preview pictures are not where you put them. So that's it for me today. Think I'll go and see what's happening on Ravelry.

WWKIP day in North Bay

June 14th was World Wide Knit in Public. The weather looked a bit gray but the day turned out great. North Bay has a population of about 56,000 and about 12 of us were there in the morning. It moved down to the waterfront in the afternoon, not sure how many showed up.

I'm working on Mad Color Weave, a free pattern.. in Brown over Cocoa by Sundara Yarns. I will try and post a picture soon. The weather here is only good for ducks at the moment. Sundara has a new website, go check it out. She's not posted any new yarns but I always check. I'm waiting for my Seasons shipment being mailed out any day now. I joined up for the Spring and Summer Seasons. I'm a winter person but seem to be changing as I get older, go figure. I think it has something to do with the styles and fads.

I finally decided what to do with the Silk Lace from Sundara. I'm knitting Siva Harding's Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I've done about 6 repeats to the pattern and have at least 6 more. I'm using a 2.75 mm but should be using a 3.75 mm. I wanted it to be finer, as well I have a 1000 yards, don't want any leftovers. The darn stuff is worth it's weight in gold:) The pattern calls for 750 yards. The neat thing about the pattern is you work the edging as you go along so very little finishing.

Another cool sock blog to check out is Dave from Ottawa, he does not post as much as I'd like but he is obsessed about socks and designs his own. I'm also finding out that life interferes with things we'd like to do more of:)) Drat.

Off to make supper, hopefully will have some pictures soon. Rain, rain go away, come again another day.

Away for 3 weeks

Martin's father had a fall and so off we flew to England. We arrived on the 2nd of May to lovely weather. Martin and I have visited the UK many times but not in the Spring.
I managed to finish 2 pairs of socks, the Burning Rings of Fire and Marie Antoinette.
Once I've sorted out my pictures I'll post some pictures.
I'm glad to be back. Mom and Dad were here for a visit and drove off to Ottawa today before they fly back to Chemainus. Now gardening is calling my name, knitting may not be my main pursuit:)
Darn.....