Life LackaDaisiCal

Pattern:   Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West  - a free Ravelry download! Yarn:  Americo Original - 100% Superfine Alpaca - (I used 2 balls - 480 meters) This is a great free pattern on Ravelry - there are 2711 projects listed on Ravelry - lots of great inspiration there. If you read the pattern - there is a garter stitch ridge every 12 rows - I did 10 sections before finishing off with 5 garter stitch ridges (10 rows). I LOVE THIS! - see how it can be worn in different ways? I LOVE THIS! - this is gorgeous yarn. I LOVE THIS! - but I don't wear black, and DH refuses to wear "a shawl" LOL!!! so, I guess I'm going to have to gift this. For more detail and individual photos, check out my Ravelry Project Page - "These Old Bones" I'm fairly sure there is going to be at least one more Boneyard in my future. Happy Knitting!

To VERMONT! Yes, Lackie and Daisy are now international travelling Doggies!  We drove to Vermont - crossing the border in Cornwall, Ontario - then we were in New York State, heading for Vermont! Yes, last week we were actually on a mini-break in Vermont.  (My definition of a mini-break is something longer than a weekend, but less than a week!) We stayed in the Trapp Family Lodge , an Austrian style lodge in Stowe, Vermont - yes, owned by that family, the Von Trapps of "Sound of Music" fame. It's a lovely resort, and it has pet friendly rooms - so Lackie and Daisy went with us!  Our room was in the back wing, on the 4th floor, but because the resort is built on the side of a mountain, our room opened out onto a small patio on the side of the mountain - very handy when you have dogs! Our room also overlooked one of the cross-country ski trails - it was great watching the skiiers come streaking around the corner and down the hill.  Lackie and Daisy were quite intrigued!...

I've finished my Kidsilk Haze Stripe scarf......these are quick do it yourself photos, but they give you the idea. When I picked up this yarn in the UpCountry Store in Holmfirth last September, it was so new that Rowan didn't have any patterns read for it yet.  They did offer a free scarf pattern on their web site....let me go see if I can find it....yes, it's called Kidsilk Haze Stripe Scarf ! When I'd finished it, I tried it on, wrapping it around my neck and typing it different ways.  Then I thought, why not join the ends into a ring, and make a cowly thing of this, and then you just have to loop it over your neck! So that's what I did - and I can always put it back into a flat scarf if I want to. Here are some quick do it yourself photos taken in my bathroom mirror of how I can wear this big loop! Clockwise from top left - looped 4 x,  looped 3 x like a necklace, looped twice, looped 3 times evenly - my favourite! This scarf is VERY WARM!!!! and I love that I ca...

So here's the inspiration for our second project..... Bull rushes in the foreground - late in the season - they are dried out....and in the background, trees that have lost a lot of their leaves? and it looks like dead trees you see in marshy areas.....mostly just trunks and bare branches - some of them falling down. First though you have to decide on the perspective you want for your painting. Quick perspective sketches help you to visualize what you want your finished painting to look like. 1/3 bullrushes, 2/3 background - horizontal orientation 2/3 bullrushes, 1/3 background - horizontal orientation 2/3 bullrushes, 1/3 background - vertical orientation 1/3 bullrushes, 2/3 background - vertical orientation - the winner! The next step is to play with your palette of paints - and come up with the shades that you want to use in this painting...... FUB, VB, WG, BS, QG, IB, WG(SG) - 7 shades will be used to mix all of the shades for this painting. Something that I was quite surprised ...

off my yarn diet LOL!  I did make it through January LOL!!! I knew it was not a good idea to go with friends to THE NEEDLE EMPORIUM (say it loud with an echo)...... The lace tips are about 2" shorter than the regular Addi Click tips - and you can see that they are pointier! (very technical description) You can buy them separately, as well as 16" and 20" cords - these short cords don't work with the longer tips! I had ordered some Addi Turbo Lace Needle tips......I didn't want the whole set, just a few of the shorter lace tips to use with my Addi Click system, when knitting smaller circumferences.  Julie ordered them and they were there, ready for me to pick up. I asked some friends if they wanted to join me on a road trip to Ancaster........5 of us in total went happily off to Julie's shop of yarn enchantment......me hoping that I could shop vicariously through my knit buddies (I know - seriously delusional!). I have to admit it, I AM SO WEAK LOL! Have you s...

I knit.....A LOT I read....A LOT I have 2 dogs that like to play, with me, A LOT I have a hubby, he likes to be fed....occasionally....... then there are the normal things like grocery shopping, dusting, laundry, well, you know..... it seems that each day goes by in a flash....like it's already February 2012 - where did 2011 go? So, do I need another hobby???? I have always wanted to try painting with watercolours.....so when the new Milton Arts Centre in town opened with beginner and intermediate Watercolour Painting....well, I signed up.....once a week for 10 weeks. The beginner class happened before Christmas......it was frankly a blur - lots of technique info packed into each class.....frankly, too much info for a total beginner like me.....but I did realize that I liked it, and I wanted to do more. The winter schedule offered both beginner and intermediate classes again - unfortunately the beginner class didn't fill up, so I bumped myself up to the intermediate class.........

seem to go together. So many of us knitters are avid readers......I love a good book and will stay up very late reading.... I was really looking forward to this book as I love P.D. James, and I really enjoyed  Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The idea of a sequel to P&P sounded fabulous.... Unfortunately the book itself isn't that great - sorry P.D. - but I found this totally boring...  with minimal interaction between Darcy and Elizabeth...and precious little story,  with an ending that just pops out of nowhere.....no hints, no intrigue, no nothing......for me that is. Any of you read this - what did you think? I just picked this up yesterday at Indigo's in Milton - it's great to have a big book store only 8 minutes away! I have read every Inspector Lynley book by Elizabeth George....I LOVE HIM, er, I LOVE THESE BOOKS.   I love Lynley in the books...I am not overly fond of the character as portrayed by Nathaniel Parker in the BBC "The Inspector Lynley Mys...