Life LackaDaisiCal

I've been in total love with Rowan yarns and designs for a long time.  It all started when I saw Rowan 11 at my then LYS. (I had just started knitting seriously....having learned to knit from my Mother when young....but my life had never supported "me" time......but the planets had aligned wonderfully and I went back to knitting.) Oh my!  I was hooked.  Even though the cover sweater was way beyond my knitting skills at the time (fine cotton, intarsia), I walked out of that store with Rowan Magazine 11 and the yarn required for the cover sweater.   I went on to collect all of the earlier Rowan Magazines, and to develop my knitting skills by taking workshops, joining guilds (at one point I was going both to the Kitchener Guild and the Toronto Guild), reading books (Elizabeth Zimmermann) and watching videos on PBS on Sunday mornings (Knitting with Elizabeth and Meg...and the Glorious Color Video with Kaffe Fassett). Although I have strayed from my Love of Rowan............

I'm doing the sleeves for Finn in the round - using the magic loop method. One cuff is done, and I'm half way through the other........

Before I start Orkney, I must finish Finn first! The body is done - and I'm loving it! The sleeves - I think I'll do them at the same time - that will make them go faster!

What is this?  Is this another young more common species?  Some kind of sparrow? It is bigger than the little Sparrows we see all the time..... He doesn't move when we are on the deck....sits frozen.......any ideas?

Yesterday, my morning started on the deck as usual, with my camera...... a young Starling was having a bath.....a Starling - not so unusual, but look at the markings on it - how gorgeous! I knit a few rows on my current project - Finn from Rowan 36 - modified to knit the body in the round, with a bit of shaping to add a feminine touch to this man's sweater design, done in a beautiful shade of Teal in Rowan Felted Tweed Aran..... Then it was off to The Needle Emporium - a friend needs a shade of Rowan Felted Tweed that is nowhere to be found in her part of the world - it seems funny to be sending Rowan yarn to the UK....but there you go.....Julie had lots! Then it was a visit to the Red Red Bobbin Quilt Shop in Brantford - a wonderful quilt shop in an old Brantford home, rooms and rooms of fabric - lots of lovely lovely fabric.......but I went for this.... A ticket to a Kaffe Lecture in October!  and I picked up this..... I'm on page 76....... I'll never forget watching hi...

I've lost my Fair Isle love recently......coincided with a general decline of interest in knitting.....but I think this project will bring it back..... I'll be wanting a plaid skirt next! 

I guess I'm not a Mystery KAL type of gal..... I thought I had enough yarn per the instructions - but yet I ran out of yarn....wayyyyyy short..... When Clues 1, 2 and 3 were finished, I had 63 grams of Colour A and 33 grams of Colour B.... One arm finished, I have 22 grams of Colour A and 7 grams of Colour B.....hmmmmm not enough to finish the other arm of the shawl to match. Yes, I could scrounge around on Ravelry and find these yarns, buy more yarn, and finish the second arm of this shawl.......but yes, I see other knitters have come up with inventive solutions to this problem. You can add another yarn into the mix!   Well, I just don't have anything that I could mix in with this without it looking totally like an add on. Make the second arm shorter - hmmm, I could do this....I suppose.... OR - don't do the other arm at all - make it an asymmetric shawl!   I like this idea!  So I finished the other edge of the main body of the shawl with an icord to match the rest of th...

Clue 4 of the Stephen West 2012 Mystery Shawl KAL came out last Friday......I was excited.....I was waiting for the e-mail announcing an update to the pattern in Ravelry....I'd become addicted to the Friday clue.  There it was - the e-mail I'd been waiting for!  I immediately downloaded Clue 4.... A quick read told me that it was going to be a relatively simple garter stitch knit - alternating between colours A and B - with I cord edging - giving two "arms" of stripes to finish the shawl off. Each week the clue was unusual and quite interesting to kit....I admit I was a little disappointed with clue 4. Well, even though I've admitted here that I didn't LOVE (in capital letters) this shawl, I did find it an engaging knit - and was happy to get my clue, knit it up.....and wait patiently for a week for the next clue to arrive.  Boy have the last 3 weeks flown by!  (Obviously I need to get a life right?!?!?) Anyway, even though I didn't LOVE this shawl, I star...

It seems I can't knit anything else while in the middle of a KAL....so while I'm waiting for clue 4..... I was playing with my set focus "portrait" lens.....well, they are portraits of my Hibiscus, which I love (and photograph) every single time it blooms.