Life LackaDaisiCal

I can't believe 2006 is over! Time does seem to go faster every year -- my Mom used to say that and I'd just laugh! Hmmmm ......... Shades of Shetland was started in 2006, mainly to help keep me on track with my knitting. I've met a lot of great people through their blogs, and I really appreciate their views on knitting and life in general. I started She Ewe Knits in 2001 -- so 2006 was my 6 th year -- and it's been a great way to meet other knitters who are fascinated with traditional Fair Isle knitting, just like me! By means of a highly scientific study.....I've ascertained that only 1.5 percent of knitters are true Fair Isle knitters -- by true I mean......they use traditional Shetland jumper weight yarns ( Jamieson's or J&S), at the traditional gauge, knit in the round, with steeks to be cut open later for armholes and necklines. There are many "stranded" knitters out there -- and there's nothing wrong with that -- but it's not

Rae Compton's "The Complete Handbook of Traditional Knitting". I've been trying to pick up a copy of this for a while. I'm a follower of Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swansen -- I love their style of knitting. Meg Swansen , in her Fair Isle Vest video, gives an overview of the various books that cover Fair Isle knitting -- I had them all, except this one. So it became a personal challenge to get a copy. Now, thanks to a little book store in the UK, I have this one too! It covers all of the "traditional" knitting techniques, and has a chapter on Fair Isle knitting, and a couple of patterns. Not a "must have" book -- if you're looking for a good book on Fair Isle, that's still in print, try "Sweaters from Camp", or Ann Feitelson's "Art of Fair Isle Knitting" -- still in print and readily available.

I've been trying to post for a few days -- I had a favourite link set up to go to the bega blogger page -- it's been telling me that it couldn't process my request??? I just noticed this morning that the Beta part was crossed out, so I went to the home page and lo and behold, I can log in -- it's a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! At Christmas, I like to watch all of the movies (both old and new) that have Christmas as part of the story.....so of course I watch oldies like "Scrooge" and "White Christmas" -- but I also watched "Poirots Christmas"and "Love Actually" -- definitely different views of Christmas there. I really wanted a nice Christmas photo for the blog. So I went out and bought one of those crunchy bags (this one looks like a very long Santa hat) for Caelee to play with, hoping to get some cute photos.......her comments are below! (I did have to edit them, because, well, after all it is Christmas!) You want me to what? To go in ther

I've finished the Alcea body -- done the neckline shaping. Here it is! (Have I told you how much I love this pattern? I'm really enjoying this - usually after I've finished one repeat, well, my attention starts to wander to the next fair isle!) With the front and back neckline steeks, it's a funny looking thing, but all will become clear when the steeks are cut and the shoulder seams are bound off -- yes, I'm going to 3 needle bind off the shoulder seams -- that's the shoulder stitches and the "edge" stitch from the armhole and neckline steeks -- I keep the edge stitch live and bind them off together to make the line of "edge" stitches complete up and over the top of the shoulder. For those of you who are following along, making a 7 repeat Alcea into a cardigan, here's my math so far....... I'm talking here actual sweater stitches, I don't include steek stitches in my counts. My steeks are always 10 stitches, an edge st (always do

I don't know about you, but everything has to be "right" for me to really get the most out of my knitting. When things are "right", I get great joy and peace out of my knitting. But things have to be right.... when my TV goes out 4 days prior to it's 1 year purchase anniversary, things aren't right! when it takes almost 2 weeks for the Sony Authorized Service people to come to fix it, that's not right! when the Sony Authorized service man makes up excuses to not come, that's definitely not right and it really annoys me! Fortunately, the Sony man came last Friday and things were better...... but then, Daisy decided to go on a little trip, on her own. Well, not on her own -- with her new friend "V". Who is "V" you say? Why did she come between me and my Daisy? Well, Daisy spent this week in the big TO (Toronto if you didn't know) with a bunch of high flier type TV people....well, they are commercial people....and she, along

You are 100% Canuck ! You rock, you are an almighty Canadian through and through. You have proven your worthiness and have won the elite prize of living in a country as awesome as Canada. Yes I know other countries think they are better, but we let them have that cuz we know better than they do, eh? How Canadian Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz As a first generation Canadian, I'm proud to be 100% Canadian through and through! Thank you to Marina for pointing me towards this quiz. KAL's There are so many KAL's going on right now - you can find one for just about anything. There's the Stranded Colorwork KAL that I joined. Lorraine and Jewel are getting together to host a Dale KAL -- I've never knit a Dale. There are lace KAL's , sock KAL's , KAL's for projects from a particular book, and KAL's specific to a particular design that everyone is knitting. Anything that helps you to keep focused and make your project an FO (Finished Object) is

I'm joining STRANDED, The Colorwork Challenge group. Why? you say? Because all stranded knitting is good knitting as far as I'm concerned. Just to get us all going, they ask the following questions.... What are your projects for this knitalong? Well, I'm working on Alcea from the Simply Shetland 3 book, done in Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift at the gauge of 8 stitches to the inch! I also am going to do one of the Starmore stranded sweaters from the book "Celtic Collection" as my personal winter project. I'm still deciding on which one. Is this your first colorwork project? If it isn't, what was your first, and has it survived the test of time? I originally started out with a Philosopher's kit way back in the late 80's (well it seems like a long time ago now), the "Colour Your Own" design. I knit two of them -- one for me, one for DH -- to wear on a trip to the UK. They were bright and colourful, a little on the rugged side. Upo