Life LackaDaisiCal

Ooohhh, the squares are piling up and I AM LOVING the KAFFE KAL! How about you? The Kaffe Klatch meeting this week was fun....we got together for virtual Afternoon Tea.   Ros was the hostess as she couldn't leave her house guest home alone. Yes, that's Pickles' foot...she was holding the square cheat sheet that Ros made up for her squares! Isn't that ADORABLE! Once you have knit the squares following the pattern a couple of times....all you need are these handy cheater sheets. What, you want a cheat sheet too?  Well, lucky for you, Sarah, one of the Rowan Ambassadors created a cheat sheet for herself - she is doing the Brown Colourway and you can find it here on her blog, Nottingham Knitter !   Then Anja (another RA) modified the cheat sheet for each of the other colour ways too! Get them at the I Am Snow Fox blog! Week 3 - Brown Colourway Even with her house guest, Ros has finished her Week 3 squares and she was wondering if 4 of each woul...

Thank you all SO MUCH for entering this draw! I went through each and every entry, looked to see if you had mentioned Emley (the sweater I am knitting) and if so, you got a bonus entry. This made it a bit hard to set a random number generator....so I went with the old fashioned kind of draw....names on pieces of paper, bonus draws had a star on them, gosh my writing is absolutely horrible these days (who actually writes any more? I dictate on my iPhone and make grocery lists, everything that way...what is the world coming to?!?) ha ha ha....the draw.... I wrote each entry on a line of a note book, cut each line into a slim, long, entry folded them all in a little knot put them in my lovely new yarn bowl  ( see my K-W Knitters' Fair post for details) and picked a name! The winner, will receive 5 Absolutely Gorgeous Skeins of +RowanYarns  Fine Art Aran, in shade Conga (545) (courtesy of Rowan Yarns - thank you Rowan!) I had promised myself that...

It seems crazy to say "Week 2" when the colour way "clues" are released every 10 days or so....but that's how I think about it. Our Life LDC Kaffe Klatch is a bit late...but here's the update! Finally!  Ann's Turquoise colour way yarn has arrived! I am sure that at this moment she is busily knitting to catch up! Darlene is finding that  knitting her pastel colour way squares  for the small pillow cover  is just perfect for her busy schedule! Ros is warming up to the Brown colour way :) Chestnuts always make me think of sitting by the fire...you know "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" ha ha ha..... that reminds me - I MUST ORDER WOOD! Hoping that there is NO repeat of last year! The big ice storm of Christmas 2013! The past few weeks have been a bit of a trial here, personally and of course to the Canadian culture! Thank goodness for knitting, as it really does soothe the soul in times of trouble. While I did f...

You've heard of having a Coffee Klatch - when you invite your friends, or perhaps neighbours over for a coffee and a natter? Well, this is the Life LDC Kaffe Klach! I have invited my friends over to Knit Kaffe and Klatch!  Unfortunately, we are on opposite sides of the Atlantic, so meeting in person is going to be troublesome.  So this is going to be a virtual Kaffe Klatch here on the Life LackaDaisiCal blog, reporting on each "Week" of the  +RowanYarns  Kaffe Mystery Afghan KAL! Week 1 Darlene is knitting the cushion in Kaffe's Pastel Colourway She wrote... "Ahhhh...memories of those fun lazy summer days while sitting on the porch and enjoying a large bowl of neopolitan ice cream.  Knitting the pastel square is addictive and brings back those childhood memories.  In the midst of blocking my squares...can't wait to see the new pattern on the 10th!" Ros is knitting the afghan in Kaffe's Brown colour way.  She did some desert island ...

OK....settle down knitters....this is a long knit-along and you don't want to burn yourselves out! There are a few things that you have to know - here is a check list for you! Are you a Row@n Member - if not, join here . You MUST be a Row@n Member to be able to download the weekly clues! Got your yarn?  If not....here is the shopping list for the 4 different colour ways! The Week 1 Clue is UP!   BEFORE YOU CAST ON!!! Please read the Tip Sheet !  Rowan has provided TWO versions of each square - a M1 increase or an Increase version.  What is the difference you might ask?  Read the Tip Sheet and decide which version you prefer! Rowan has done videos for all of the techniques that you need to be able to knit these squares! There is a Kaffe KAL Playlist which shows them all! It helps if you watch these videos on a bigger screen - they are ok on my iPad, but great on my Mac screen! (It is worth going to your computer to watch them!) I would ...

This past weekend was the 2nd Annual Fall Docknits Retreat Everything about this weekend is fabulous!  A wonderful knitting shop in a unique lakeside community, with a terrific staff who teach classes and hold workshops on all sorts of fibre topics...then add an enthusiastic group of knitters! When I was asked if I could do a workshop for the 2014 Retreat, how could I resist? My family traditionally vacationed each fall in the Port Elgin/Southampton area because my Dad loved to fish there in the Saugeen River....so while I hadn't been here in years....it had a nigh nostalgia rating with me! The subject of the workshop was "Colour Play in Stranded Knitting". We were going to take inspiration from art work from the Southampton Art Gallery, or a photograph brought to class by the knitter, pick shades, and using the Kaffe Fassett "Magic Ball" method, play with colour while knitting a motif that I had designed especially for this weekend. Yarn Dominance in ...

Faraway Seashore A light and frothy scarf knit in alternating sections of Stocking and Reverse Stocking Stitch......inspired by the waves while on vacation at the English seaside. Scarf size:  approximately 200cm/80in in length, the "body" is approx 30cm/6inches wide (lightly stretched) and the Kidsilk Haze ruffled edge is 8cm/1.75inches Gauge: 15 sts to 10 cm Needles:  4.5mm, 100cm circular needle, or the size you need to achieve gauge Yarns: Yarn A: Rowan Finest, 2 balls shade Cool (067) Yarn B: Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe, shade Frost (203) (I used a half a ball leftover from stash) Using Yarn A, CO 300 sts Although there is no right or wrong side on this scarf...it is important that you identify the "right" side to make sense of the stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch sections. Stocking Stitch (SS) - the all knit side is the right side Reverse Stocking Stitch (RSS) - the all purl side is the right side ...