Life LackaDaisiCal

On my last post, I was so excited that I jumped right into what I wanted to knit from Rowan Magazine 59, before I gave you a proper look at anything! Magazine 59 features two design stories.... Coastal  (easy to wear casual designs) and Kyoto (spectacular designs with a Japanese influence, knit in luxurious yarns!) Beautifully photographed in amazing locations! Here's a link to  Magazine 59 - enjoy! I've spent January knitting on my Thursford and want to have it finished this weekend.....because the Martin Storey Knit Along 2 has started! and the Marie Wallin Fair Isle Blanket 4th square  pattern has arrived! and I want to knit something in Rowan's new Softyak Yarn!  So, upcoming posts.... Thursford, my January Sweater! Rowan's Softyak Martin Storey KAL 2 update! Marie Wallin Fair Isle Blanket update! Gosh, can you tell this is an exciting and very busy knitting time? Yes it is! ...

As a subscriber, you get your Rowan magazine earlier than the shops....if you avoid the "spoiler" photos that start to appear, you get the joy of opening and seeing this... (Hear the squeaky toy in the background...that's Daisy helping :) ) Did you see the hesitation? My eyes had already glimpsed the design that I HAD TO CAST ON, RIGHT THAT MINUTE! Thursford, by Amy Herzog in Rowan Denim! Rowan's Amy Herzog Options knit-a-long  gave you just that, options. I was a bit knit busy, so while I didn't knit a sweater, I participated virtually on this KAL, and picked up a few tips and tricks. You might want to click through the link and watch Amy's videos.   I learned a couple of interesting things from Amy.....and when I saw Thursford, the combination of this gorgeous raglan design, with highlight sleeves, combined with the Amy touch, well, I was down the stairs to my yarn room in the blink of an eye.... The joy of having a stash :) Th...

I've wanted to share my D'Arcy for a while now....but taking photos is problematic at the best of times...trying to get myself together, the hubby in photographer mode, the right light and the planets aligned. Can't be too tired or too rushed...or it just doesn't work. So today, I said to heck with it, and took some selfies. D'Arcy , Rowan Magazine 58 This design incorporates both knit and crochet (a signature style of Marie Wallin) knit in Fazed Tweed , a unique yarn which I blogged about previously .  Fazed Tweed yarn is absolutely wonderful to knit with, and the resulting fabric is so luxurious! This sweater knit up quickly...then there was just the crochet sleeves to go.  I'm a novice crocheter....learning the stitches is one thing, reading a pattern is another...so I must have ripped out my first sleeve at least 4 times! Luckily I had extra yarn, so I decided to abandon my first effort and start over with fresh yarn to comp...

"Harry Harrods" has already claimed the new blanket in the house! See my PS for the story of how Harry came to live with us! Marie Wallin has started a twelve month (yes, a year long) Fair Isle Blanket Knit-a-Long! When you join, you are sent your first square, detailed yarn requirements for each block, a beautiful portfolio (to store your patterns in) and a lovely project bag! Each month thereafter, you receive details of the Fair Isle block for the month. Each block when finished measures 18" square. The yarn used is  +Rowan Yarns  Felted Tweed. Twelve 18" squares over Twelve Months - I'd say that was EPIC! While Marie's design calls for the squares to be knit flat, I've decided to knit them in the round. You can see the steps of my process here in my Facebook photo album...where I will continue to post updates. A 12 month fairisle blanket knit-a-long! design by Marie Wallin Designs. Knit in Rowan Yarns Felted Tweed. Posted by...

"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...