Life LackaDaisiCal

Mary caught my eye when I first saw it on a preview of  +RowanYarns  Magazine 54. I was intrigued with the short rows.... Although I had knit short rows before, I had never attempted something of this magnitude! It started out on the deck in the early summer..... But it seemed to take ages to finish. This was only because as usual, I stalled at the sleeves.... and life got in the way for a while there too! I'm glad it's finally finished... in time to wear this Fall/Winter! The shades used in this design suited me perfectly, so I didn't contemplate for a minute changing them....until I saw a couple of other colourways on Ravelry! Look at this stunner. This is AnnR from Ravelry and her Mary is here .... While you are there, check out her other projects! And look at this one!  Bernadette's Blues are gorgeous! You can see her Mary here ! Be sure to check our her other projects too! These are seriously talented knitters! I...

The life of a model....glamorous, exciting, thrilling......exhausting, tedious and perhaps even a bit boring! We don't really think of modelling as hard work.......professional models make it all look so darn easy, don't they. When I finished the Mary design from Rowan Magazine 54, I thought it might be fun to photograph it as a homage to the original photo...which is a bit edgy, a bit pouty....not at all me! My friend Renee accepted the challenge....so with camera in hand....and me doing my darndest to follow direction.....lights, camera.....shoulder up, knee out, suck it in.....hold it! This raised shoulder pose was very odd and with the out-turned knee...frankly uncomfortable... But it does give a bit of life to the short-row stripes... I decided to go for striped sleeves.....I picked a sequence that I liked...and repeated it. They  tie in with the stripe detail at the shoulder, don't you think? This sweater is a lot...

Rowan Magazine 54 has a gorgeous design in it - Juliet by lisa Richardson, using  +RowanYarns  Fine Lace yarn.  It's a gorgeous sweater, knit in two pieces - left front, arm and back, then right front, arm and back, with a crochet band which joins it all together to create a truly unique sweater! Isn't it gorgeous?  Look at the styling of this photo - the hair up, the velvet skirt, the fabulous tapestry or wallpaper in the background.  So elegant and formal.  Knit in Fine Lace.  Absolutely Spectacular. Now Fellow Rowan Ambassador Ute, decided she would knit this for herself....but she wanted a more casual look....so she knit hers in  +RowanYarns  Fine Art hand-painted sock yarn! I LOVE THIS VERSION....I LOVE the way the Fine Art pooled in different patterns with the change of width of each piece.  I LOVE the way Fine Art works in the crochet piece. This is great example of how to perhaps modify a design that you LOVE, but...

I love social media...but it can be a serious time gobbler! My blog is for big stuff....reports on knitting progress, vacations (I still have to blog about Switzerland...on the to do list!), things I want to actually talk a little bit about. I have a FB Community page Life Lackadaisical where I post quick links to things I find on Facebook that I think might be of interest to other knitters. A lot of people are not on Facebook - surprising but true!  They avoid social media....and I can't blame them.  You have to spend a bit of time getting to know how Facebook works, how to set your security settings, to be confident in knowing who can see what you share. How to marry the two....blog readers are blog readers....they don't want to be bothered with Facebook. Fans of Facebook like it's ability to bounce from one page to another reading updates, but yes, it can be a bit frantic. So......... May I present Flock ...a gathering of wooly friends... my on-line ...

When the +RowanYarns  "Tweed" collection was published, I immediately put "Merrion" in my queue... and I proceeded to acquire... Rowan Fine Tweed ! Unfortunately my LRS ( Local Rowan Stockist ) doesn't carry this particular Rowan yarn (although she does carry A LOT OF ROWAN!)  so I had to go to one of my favourite on-line stockists... Churchmouse Yarns & Teas ....with a few clicks of the computer....a few days later.... My yarn had arrived! Churchmouse packages their yarn so beautifully, and Susan included a thank you note..... "The colours are so beautiful - this looks like a lovely box of Candy" Susan said ....and I have to agree! Look at the gorgeous shades, the size and shape of the balls......yummy! This yarn has been safely stashed ever since.....then the unthinkable happened! The Nepal Wrap, Magazine 54 by Kate Davies... Kate wrote a wonderful blog post about this design...read it here ..... ...