Life LackaDaisiCal

"Yell", Rowan Magazine 58 Colourspun I decided to call this "Hells Yells" because I truly, did not realize that the whole thing was knit in twisted rib....a twisted rib on both right and wrong side rows!  Honestly, my stomach lurched.....I thought it would be a twist on the right side row with a quick purl back! No way!  Trying to avoid the sleeveless body syndrome, I knit the sleeves first, and yup, as you would expect, the twisted rib became more comfortable as I went along, and eventually I was whipping those twisted rows out no problem! Don't you just love the Felted Tweed rib accent on this sweater? It really takes it to another level of sophistication.....just that little extra added touch that Rowan is known for! These photographs were taken on Wednesday, November 11. It was a cold and blustery day and Hubby and I, with the doggie kids, decided to go plane spotting! I'd seen a tweet to say that the Canadian Warpl...

Winter is my serious knitting time! Put on some Netflix or Acorn TV, or a favourite DVD!, make a cup of tea and settle down for some serious knitting! This winter I have joined two, maybe 3, knit-along type projects. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Sure seemed like a great idea at the time! First, when I heard about Marie Wallin's Fair Isle Blanket Club , well, I used to have the handle of FairIsleFanatic on Ravelry back in the day, so this just called to me. @Marie Wallin This is not a mystery club....you know what you are signing up for right from the beginning! Marie has designed 12 unique fair isle designs, one to be knit each month, that when sewn up will create a truly heirloom blanket. It's not too late to sign up..... Marie Wallin Fairisle Club ! The second is the  Kate Davies Seven Skeins club! @Kate Davies Designs This is a different sort of club...you sign up, receive your 7 skeins of yarn, and it's up to you how you are going to use those 7 shade...

In Part 1, I showed you  Yell ...which is the his, so here's D'Arcy, the hers :) D'Arcy by Marie Wallin in Rowan's Fazed Tweed Marie is a renown designer - known for both colour work  and cabled designs. I think she is  unique in her use of  knit and crochet combined. This design is sublime in it's simplicity. A little bit of rib followed  by a swathe of stocking stitch, straight up to the neckline shaping! The drop shoulder shape gives a relaxed look, that  is dressed up with these fabulous crochet sleeves! Fazed Tweed is a yarn like no other! Wool and Alpaca in a nylon net tube! 72% wool, 22% alpaca and 6% nylon Fazed Tweed is an interesting mix of wool, and fine alpaca, with a filled tube like construction  this yarn gives a soft blended tweed like knitted fabric.  (from the Rowan web site - link above) I decided to go for the subtle shade this sweater was designed in, Larch (002) and I am thril...

The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival! Known to all knitters and spinners as RHINEBECK! This has been going on now for 35 years! (So, I was 23 when this all started....that's quite a while....and I had never made the trek to this, reputedly the largest sheep and wool festival in the US. (I've been to Maryland and Taos....but never to Rhinebeck! What is wrong with this picture? I think it was the driving thing....I flew/drove to Maryland and Taos.) Every year there is a competition for the official logo and  2015 did not disappoint!  My first Rhinebeck commemorative photo. Well, give me an opportunity that took care of all of the details....the driving, maneuvering us across the border, more driving, relief stops, nutrition breaks, hotel accommodation, tickets for the fair, transport to and from the fair, transport to dinner and back, back to the fair for the second day, and everything in reverse to get you home safe and sound....well, I was in! ...

Yell, by Gemma Atkinson, Rowan Magazine 58 Knit in Rowan's Colourspun, shown here in Pen-Y-Gent (721) with the rib done in a contrasting shade of Felted Tweed - Tawny (186) I chose Semer Water (276) for my Yell (well not my Yell, but my knit of Yell for the hubby)  and Seafarer (170) Felted Tweed for the rib. Colourspun  is a blend of 72% wool, 14% Mohair and 14% Polyamide. The wool and mohair blended yarn is sublime to knit with. Each shade is produced by blending two printed and two solid colours together and then twisted with a printed binder (from the Rowan web site). While the twisted rib stitch was slow and tedious at first, I managed to get the hang of it and was soon doing both knit and purl rows easily! I was so thrilled with my progress, that I decided I could ignore my "one big project at a time" rule and cast on something for me... Next time! Until then, Happy Knitting, Anne x with Lackie and Daisy at her feet Post...

Watching the sunset is one of the attractions when visiting Saugeen Shores in Ontario...and the Southampton beach has quite the view. It was just a short one-block walk down to catch this sunset which brought to an end the Docknits retreat weekend. Last year I presented a workshop at the  2nd annual retreat . This year, Mrs. Tischell (my travel buddy) and I decided to go "all in" and booked into the  Chantry Breezes B&B  for the duration! I'd booked the "Garden Cottage" which is exactly that... it was adorable and I loved my tiny home for the weekend! It is Fall here in Ontario, but it was still summery this past weekend. Lucky for me as I was staying in the Garden Cottage....which while not insulated, was comfortable and reminded me so much of childhood summer vacations when the family would go to a cottage in Northern Ontario. The open beams and whitewashed walls were complimented by turquoise blue, slightly faded by summer sunlight. It wa...

Ser-en-dip-i-ty  : luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for let's star with the end...ten little creatures! I loved the round cheeks on this one!  my "CBC creation" I loved this one by Muffie, the writing on the apron fabric, and look at that hat! I am sorry that I didn't catch the name of the creator of this one....but she kindly said I could share it with you all here. The yarn dress, and how the red shoe colour is mirrored in the rose and on the fabric! sigh..... So here's the back story! I first became aware (vaguely) of Julie Arkell way back when ads for the yarn shop "Loop" started to appear in magazines. I couldn't help but notice the adorably cute (or adorably strange) little figure in the background. This figure attracted my attention so much that when Hubby and I were in London, I had to go find Loop ....in Islington. It was a bit of a trek, on the...