Life LackaDaisiCal

Hibiscus body, on a 24" circular - viewed front to back you can see the steeks and the neckline opening pouches. The last round at the shoulder line is the centre row of the main motif - and on this round I cast off the 8 steek stitches, leaving the two edge stitches of each steek live. Here's I've put the front/back stitches on separate needles - again, you can see the neckline stitches on their holding yarn - big pouches of stitches. So the shoulder "seam" will be the centre row of the large motif - I lengthened my Hibiscus as I am tall, and worked it so that this is where the shoulder seam would fall.

Vera, by Marie Wallin This is THE ONE!  I adore this - dolman sleeves an all LOL!!! Vera, byMarie Wallin, also in the Russian Doll Collecction of Rowan 48. It is knit with Wool Cotton and Kidsilk Aura . Way back, it was not unheard of to have many different types of Rowan yarn in one project.    Wools, Cottons, Chenilles,  Silk and Mohair -  all mixed together.  Ah,  the good old days! This sweater, although it uses only two yarns, does combine the properties of wool, cotton, mohair and silk! How luscious is that!

Lackie and Daisy - with their new hair cuts! They are so adorable - of course they can sit on the furniture! Lackie's manners didn't improve with the hair cut!

Dominika, by Marie Wallin I love the funky look of this jacket -- just throw it on over whatever and you are making a statement. Dominika, by Marie Wallin, part of the Russian Doll Collelction in Rowan 48. Dominika is done in Rowan Felted Tweed Aran -- like my Shetland jacket. I LOVE THIS YARN! I WISH IT CAME IN MORE SHADES! (are you listening Rowan?) But, that's the thing with Rowan.....they change their shades up from season to season. That is why you have to "yarn up" for a project whether or not you intend to knit it now or later.....because later you might not be able to find all of the original shades.....and frankly, although people do recolour Rowan designs, I think that you really need to knit them in the originals.....after all, these designers are genius! (Just my opinion of course -- feel free to knit your way -- that's the great thing about knitting - you always have a choice!)

Wayfarer, by Lisa Richardson, Rowan 48 This design intrigues me...... When I saw the preview on line I expected some sort of Moebius construction. Look at how one shoulder is covered in smaller cables, the other in bolder cables. You'll have to get the book to see the actual construction of this. Wayfarer, by Lisa Richardson, also from the Nomad Collection of Rowan 48. This is also done in Cocoon. It seems that there will be a lot of Cocoon in my future.......I do hope that someone is over the Cocoon phase.   Remember this? I'm hoping that I saved that ball somewhere and that I can do a swatch with it....I never did get around to swatching at the time LOL!!!

Rambler, by Marie Wallin, Rowan 48 Aha! Fooled you, didn't I! I bet you expected me to pick one of multi-coloured garments in this book. But I anticipated that this is what you'd expect LOL and decided to change it up a bit.....so I'm showing you this one first - only one of my many favourites in Rowan 48 LOL!!! Rambler, by Marie Wallin, part of the Nomad Collection in Rowan 48 - done in Cocoon.

Click to go to the Rowan website Rowan are extremely generous in that they give you an on-line previous of the designs in each of their Magazines and booklets. I've got my favourites picked out already - can you guess which ones I will be yarning up for? (Yarning up - obtaining the yarn whether or not you intend to knit the garment immediately.)

They had expected a yarn kit -- like the last gift -- a scarf kit. Personally I love the bag........because the catch phrase on the back is exactly the way I feel...... Relax, Hand knit, Create........... Although someone once referred to me as a "prolific designer", I only knit 2 or 3 major projects a year.....by major project I mean adult size sweaters .....and definitely does not including any quick knit I may do for friends or family (like scarves or hats). Of course, if I am trying to do an original design, that takes up A LOT OF TIME and cuts into my knitting production time. It's a totally different way of knitting....you're thinking what if, let's try this, and you feel like you are lost in a maze. Finally you have the aha moment when you just know, you feel it deep inside, that what you have come up with is "worthy"........and by this I mean good enough that you feel that it's worth while putting it all down on paper for others to follow.

I've been waiting ever so patiently.....well, maybe not so patiently LOL!!! The "Free Gift" with the Rowan International membership this year is this Rowan Jute bag.......a lot of RI members on Ravelry were quite vocal about how they felt ripped off.......

Daisy and Lackie went for a hair cut today....... Here's what they looked like last night...... Daisy (L) and Lackie (R) before.... . I wanted to post an "after" photo -- but they both politely declined....they want to wait a couple of weeks so that they don't have that "just cut" ( ie baldy ) look! edited because I just noticed that I'd identified the incorrectly -- Daisy on the left and Lackie on the right LOL!!!

It turns out that all three of the Stieg Larrson books have been filmed in Sweden. Swedish Author, Swedish Story, Swedish Actors - makes sense to me. Noomi Rapace plays Lisbeth Salander, and after seeing this first movie, it's hard to imagine anyone else in this role. Of course, Hollywood wants to get in on the action -- after all, these Swedish films have taken in more tha $100 million worldwide. Columbia Pictures has made a deal with the Swedish production company and with the Father and Brother of the author - who now own the Stieg Larrson book rights. Rumour has it that the Director will be David Fincher - I've never seen any of his movies - Fight Club, Se7en and Alien 3??? Casting rumours are Carey Mullligan or Natalie Portman for Lisbeth Salander....and for the male role - the big 3 - Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Brad Pitt for Michael Blomkvist. Oh dear, I see a disaster coming up here LOL!!! I read a comment suggesting Daniel Craig for the Michael Blomkvist part -- y

I didn't realize that the first book, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" had already been made into a movie....a Swedish movie.....until I read Julie's blog post. Of course, I wanted to watch it, and called my local Rogers video store -- sorry, all of their copies were out! Unheard of for a foreign film........but I guess not so unheard of when you consider the popularity of these books. Two days later, I got the call........your copy of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is reserved and waiting for you to pick it up. Yeah! Right from the start I knew this was going to be a great adaptation of this book..... You can watch it either in Swedish with English sub-titles, OR you can turn on the English dubbed track - it's a little weird if you watch their lips too closely, but you get so wrapped up in the story that it doesn't matter after a short while.

I had heard about the Stieg Larrson books, about how he wrote all 3 of them before he approached a publisher, about his activist life, about how he died unexpectedly at the age of 50, and about how these books were published posthumously to great acclaim. These books have sold more than 20 million copies world-wide.  Check out the link above for fascinating information on the writer and his life. I bought the first book - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo to see if I liked it.......followed by the second......and I had to get the last one that had just come out in hard cover.   I usually save hard cover purchases to the authors that I collect.....but with 30% off as a best seller and an additional 10% because of my Chapters card, well, 40% off made it just a bit more expensive than a paperback! The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was a compelling book -- even though I was disturbed by parts of it, I had to keep reading.   If you don't like graphic violence - don't read this book.

The end of the story? The peace and quiet on Sunday morning was the perfect time to finish Ann Cleeves' Blue Lightning....the fourth and final instalment of her Shetland series.  I could never have guessed what was going to happen - it stunned me, and I was glad to be alone - to think about it and to reflect on how life can change so quickly.

Curled up at my feet......... It was so cool, on Sunday morning, that I was curled up with a blanket on the deck, Lackie at my feet......

Just one of many........ Early - very early on Sunday morning.....before the heat starts to build......trying to sit still and catch on of these little fellows at the feeder......... DH is out early himself..,...and we're all alone, Daisy, Lackie and I.

Alice Starmore, IKnit weekend 2009 It seems that Alice is coming out to play again this year at the IKnit London event in September. It was great to finally meet her last year at this same event.......when her "Fair Isle Knitting" book reprint was released. This year the IKnit people have managed to confirm that they will have copies of the reprinted Aran Knitting available at the IKnit weekend.......so it will be a great opportunity to get a signed copy for anyone that is over there at the time. For about 1/2 hour today I was seriously considering jumping on a plane........but to make the trip worthwhile, we'd go for the previous weekend to attend the O Gauge Convention in Telford, and then a week later I'd want to be in London for IKnit......what to do in between LOL.....so it turns out that a two week vacation was needed to fill in the blanks LOL!!! Every year I say I'm not going to the UK, then something happens like last year.....I couldn't resist Alice..

It was supposed to be HOT this pastweekend, too hot and humid to enjoy outside, so I stopped by the video store on Saturday afternoon for a movie or two......turns out the heat was delayed a bit and it's now soooooo hot......but I did get to watch a couple of totally different movies this past weekend. We watched Green Zone first - because Matt Damon was in it -- we both really enjoy Matt Damon movies -- this was a good movie - but very disturbing to say the least. When I'm watching a movie like this I wonder how much of it was taken from reality, and how much of it was fiction.  If this was based on reality.....scary. Matt Damon did a great job as the dedicated soldier who has to go rogue to get to the truth.  Greg Kinnear - gotta love how versatile this guy is - well, you have to watch to see what role he plays.  Brendan Gleeson is a CIA agent - I loved him in The Tailor of Panama ...he plays these kind of parts well. Then it was time for something lighter..... Percy Jackson

Hamilton Place, June 5, 2010 - fabulous show - great venue - we were in the 8th row! These shots were taken with my Nokia phone -- silly me I forgot my camera LOL!

I've reached the armhole steeks -- the steek is marked here with my little sheep stitch markers. You can see that I am multi-tasking -- reading the third Percy Jackson book when I take a break from my knitting. One thing I have to say here -- I'm usually not a big fan of charts done in colour -- but kudos to Simply Shetland -- this chart is big, the colours are easily distinguished from each other -- I can read it easily while I'm knitting......thank you Simply Shetland for a terrific job in the printing of this pattern. It's Sunday - it's hot - I've spent the morning outside but it's time for a break. The Queen's Plate race is on TV - HRH Queen Elizabeth and hubby are here visiting Canada and will be there -- so I am going to sit down with my knitting, watch the parade of hats and yes, watch the race LOL! Check out Deb's Hibiscus Cardigan at her blog - she's finished~ yeah for Deb! Happy Knitting

Nina in the Northwoods !!! Please contact me with your mailing address please. Edited to add that Nina has contacted me and "Sweater Quest" will be on it's way to her next week. Thanks for reading Shades of Shetland. Knitting update soon -- honest LOL!!!