Oh dear.

I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday. I WILL finish this present before Friday.

Good gods.

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! That's what happens when you don't have access to the interwebz at home. That situation has been rectified - yay!!

Except that now we enter that time of year where I am knitting so fast that I'm about to give myself carpal tunnel, but I can't post anything because with the exception of my father, anyone for whom I may be knitting reads this blog. Can't spoil Christmas!

So there is an FO*. It is lovely. It is straight off the Fashion Week spring 2012 runways. Well, inspired by. And the person better love it. Actually, I really don't want them to love it. Because if they don't, I'll offer to take it back. It looks great on me. tee hee.


* Finished Object, for you non-knitters, or at least those of you not familiar with the knitterly dictionary.

Et voila!

All done! Love, love, love it!

Please ignore the cheesy myspace mirror shot. I can't find my camera tripod.

Wow.

I had no idea it had been so long since I last posted! I still have no Internet at home, so that would be why.

I'm still chugging along on Inara. It's at the boring part, where I usually lose interest when there is no colour or cable pattern, but not this time! I'm knitting like a fiend because I really want to wear this!

I am loving this yarn. It's such a lovely cotton, easy to work with and check out this stitch definition:

And look at this - clever use of short rows to make the lace edging curve around the back of the neck. So smart of the designer! And here I thought short rows were just to give the girls some extra room.

Ta-dah!

It's done! Triinu, the lovely Estonian lace scarf in that amazing purple silk is DONE!! And boy oh boy do I love it.

I left off the lace edging for 2 reasons - 1, I didn't have enough yarn, and 2, I liked it better without!

Here she is, a blob of wet silk:

Here she is, all pinned out (well, folded in half) and drying. I must get some blocking pins if I keep up with the lace stuff. Hint, hint, family members.

All dry and gorgeous:

Closeup of a nupp. Not bad, eh?

Yarn Shops iz ebil!!!

So while I was down in London visiting the parents, I made my annual trip to The Little Red Mitten in St. Thomas.

It made me want to cry. SOOOO much beautiful fibre, and I was on a tight budget. I could live there. Seriously.

So I only bought 2 projects worth, a pair of needles, and the latest Interweave Knits.

I got some lovely Egyptian cotton from Diamond Luxury to do the beautiful Inara wrap sweater from Alison Green Will. I bought the pattern ages ago, but just finally got the yarn now. The colour is called ecru, but that boring name doesn't really do it justice. It's more of an antique ivory, I'd say. I was reaching for the purples, when I realized that I knit in purple quite a bit. It is my favourite colour, after all. But it can be pretty limited in what you wear it with for a cardigan. So I went with a neutral. The pattern called for Euroflax linen, but I don't really like linen. It's on the same list for me as noro - The Ick List.

Then, I beat my mum to it! I scooped 2 skeins of amazing silk laceweight from Zen Yarn Garden in a soft sage green rather whimsically called 'sprig'. I showed it to her while wiping drool off my chin, and I knew she would do what she did last year and buy it for me for Christmas while I was in the store. But I can't wait that long for it! So I scooped it. It will make a gorgeous shawl.

Oy Flippin' Vey

I am having such internet problems the past few weeks! So knitting is totally happening, it just ain't being blogged.

First FO* of the summer: Louisa tunic. Here it is without the ribbon around the neck. I chose bright green to go with the green flecks in the yarn. I will post a pic of me wearing it whenever the hell I feel like it. It's a very pretty sweater, and I love the yarn, but I can't for the life of me figure out why it turned out smaller & shorter than I had anticipated. This is why I rarely swatch. They lie. My swatch was perfect in width and a little shorter in length, so I added some extra pattern repeats in the body before starting the yoke. Didn't matter.


One of the reasons I love living in Muskoka: this is the walk to my favourite beach. Ten minutes up the road and then a 10 minute walk along this beautiful path.


And this couldn't get any more Canadian - knitting on the beach! I actually showed a girl how to purl. She could only knit, and she had nobody to show her how to purl. I doubt she'll remember, but at least I showed her. I offered to let her try, but she didn't want to screw up my knitting, so she didn't. Very wise of a beginner, don't you think?


And the newest summer project: Bird Socks. Check out that pattern. The leaves & birds are embroidered on afterwards, and the tree branches are intarsia. They'll look so cool with a skirt!