Life LackaDaisiCal

If you are participating in this Mystery KAL and are a member of Ravelry, the Stephen West Mystery KAL 2012 Group......then you have seen all of the lovely colourways used for this "mystery" shawl....not so much of a mystery now....... It has been determined that "Rockefeller" hints at the inspiration for this shawl.....The Radio City Music Hall (if you google this and click on images ......you'll even see why Stephen West picked the shades he did for his shawl). Being my usual conservative self, I picked two yarns that are similar in saturation, so they don't have a lot of contrast.  This is either a good thing or a bad thing......I like a lot of the high contrast shawls that fellow Ravellers are knitting......but it's good that my yarns aren't high contrast, as I made a couple of mistakes in my Clue 3 knitting.....but they aren't all that obvious so I'm going to leave it as is..... Now how is this going to be finished off?  We'll have t...

While up early this morning to get my Clue 3 of the Steven West 2012 Mystery Shawl KAL.......having tea on the deck in the coolness of the morning.....who did I see.....luckily caught him with my iphone camera so not the greatest photo....but..... A Blue Tit! I found this video on you tube....this isn't my video.....but I do hear this in the yard, so he's been around for a while, just not visiting when I'm out there..... Clue 3 - interesting - I'll give you a spoiler photo when I've done a bit.... Happy Knitting!

Not totally in love with this....but must admit it is an interesting knit.  It might just be the yarns I chose - a hand-painted and a solid Opal sock yarn.  I really wanted to use a skein of Tosh.....but didn't have anything worthy of putting with a Tosh as yarn B.    I can't be the only one who is shaking their head and wondering where this is going... There are 2565 projects for this KAL on Ravelry.... There are 4559 people in the Ravelry Forum discussing this project....I'm thinking that a lot of those people just want to see how it is developing....waiting for their opportunity to buy the pattern when it is released when the KAL finishes -  August 10 I think.

Another on-line project that I'm doing is... HURRY, HURRY, HURRY on over to Craftsy - right now it's offered at half price! (This window shows the Canadian Price - it's a flat $40/$20 US) Why don't you join me on this virtual world adventure.  The great thing about it is that there is no class schedule. The class is available 24/7 on your computer, so you can work at your own pace with as much or as little input from your instructor, Mary Jane, as you want! Please note:  I am in no way affiliated with Craftsy....ok? Happy Knitting!

Its too hot to be outside now, so it's time for knitting.....

I don't know if it's getting older or being retired....you can really get lost in things....to go back if you want to....whether it's through books, music or movies.  Right now I'm reading..... Add caption Carol is 70 now and thinks that her days of making music are over.  I hope not.....but she likes the idea of retirement and I can relate to that!  With one book that took 12 years to write, perhaps in "retirement" it won't take her so long to write her second book. I used to come home from High School and watch "The Monkees" - now there is something to admit to!!!  I thought they were wonderful.......my favourite was Peter Tork - he seemed quiet and shy, and he was tall! Turns out "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was written by...you guessed it.....Carole King!  I didn't know that at the time. Anyway, reading "A Natural Woman" is letting me revisit the music of that time. "Up on the Roof" is a particular favourite of m...

I'm doing an on-line watercolour lettering workshop - run by Val Webb....her blog "The Illustrated Garden" is wonderful. This is a set of tutorials - for every level of artist - including rank amateurs like me - and started with the basics.  (A lot of the participants seem to be professional artists of one sort or another - I am in good company!) Here are my two exercises from the first lesson... We first learned how to draw in block style - then the challenge was to create a personalized block style. This second piece was an exercise in watercolour brush control - draw the ovals, draw various forms of a single letter in the ovals, fill in the oval - leaving the letter white (negative painting). As basic as this lesson was, I learned a few things from it....things that I didn't learn in the watercolour workshops I've taken....so I'm happy.  I MUST find a pencil that erases easily....the pencil I used for these two projects didn't erase easily....it was a ...

Who would have guessed that knitting could be so fun when you have NO IDEA what the finished project is going to look like. The first "clue" for the Stephen West 2012 Mystery Shawl KAL was released on Friday - and I got down to some serious knitting......it was strangely compelling to complete the clue 1 knitting and be ready for the next clue to be released this friday.......here's what it looks like so far..... WARNING - SPOILER ALERT! close up - both Opal sock yarns - a solid and a variegated.... Clue 1 completed! In the garden, with the heat staying in the 80's, the bird bath is getting a lot of attention....especially for you Bev  - I caught these photos the other morning - at about 5:30 - before it got too hot! The male Indigo Bunting has been hard to catch in a photograph  - but I think he's getting used to me out there with my camera and the telephoto lens....... The female Indigo Bunting spends a lot of time in the bird bath too! Daisy and Lackie need a h...

Want to join in on the fun? I've never done this before.....I'm a KAL Virgin you might say (laughing out loud).....so when a friend asked me if I'd like to join this KAL, although I have way too many projects.....I decided "what the heck" and signed up via Ravelry. Yes, it's a Stephen West Mystery KAL - for a "mystery" shawl.  "Rockefeller" is the name of the shawl - and it needs two shades of a light fingering weight yarn - 410 and 421 m. While I originally thought Tosh, the yardage would have been dicey and I only have one skein of each shade in my stashed 3 shade combos. Then I thought Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift - as I have a bit of that around (ahem). But honestly, I just couldn't bear the thought of moving those boxes of Spindrift to get to box 6 and 8 which are down a bit....so I got rooting around in my sock yarn stash and came up with..... Two Opal Sock yarns  - I think these might work really well - only casting on and k...

Who would have thought that it would be so hard to paint trees.....