I lost all my workshop samples during our move last Fall. I kept on hoping the bag of samples would turn up under a pile of boxes. No such luck. So now I’m reknitting intarsia samples for my workshop this weekend with the West Coast Knitters’ Guild. I’m using some of the Nashua Handknits superwash that I picked up at Dressew and it’s behaving really nicely for intarsia. Earlier this week I picked up some yarn at read more
I took these pictures ages ago and they’ve been patiently waiting for me to write up a tutorial. I did a lot of experimenting with applied i-cord when I was designing the Ruby hoody. Because the i-cord is a contrasting colour to the hood, I wanted to make sure the wrong colour wasn’t poking through the i-cord when it was complete. Most of the ones I tried were messy. I finally found the one that I use in my designs. It neatly encases the selvage edge inside the i-cord tube. read more
Our trip to New York was wonderful. I ate up every minute of it and so enjoyed wandering through the various neighbourhoods. Absolutely no knitting was accomplished on the trip because I hardly sat down, but I did manage to pop in to a few of the LYSs. They were all selectively stocked with exquisite handpainted and luxury yarns. There weren’t any overfull shelves or tottering piles of yarn up to the rafters. Considering the smaller locations, it was interesting to note that they seemed to offer a much narrower selection per square foot than many other shops I’ve visited. read more
… you to Jeff Joey Jr and Miss Kitty. The girls in my crochet class this time around are real characters. I designed a dog for them to crochet and adapted a LionBrand cat stuffy. Immediately they all fell in love with the dog and wanted to name him. It’s going to give the girls a special thrill when I had out the pattern instructions next week and they discover that the pattern is called Jeff Joey Jr!
You know, when I knit someone else’s design I always knit a gauge swatch. When I develop a new design myself, I always knit a gauge swatch. But when I knit one of my own designs using sock yarn I must confess, I never swatch. Big mistake this time. The little pompoms on the Regia sock yarn I’m using have thrown my gauge all out of whack. I didn’t notice until I went to block the sweater. It’s a full size bigger than I intended. Luckily the proportions are pretty read more
We’re headed off to New York later this month. It’s been 21 years since I was last there. I’m lining up all my favourite museums and areas of town to visit. I’m really excited; this is the first trip we’ve taken without Devan since he was born. Lucky Devan will have his Grandma staying with him for the week. I’m sure he’ll be perfectly spoiled by the time we’re back. I know there are several yarn shops in Manhattan and I’m looking for feedback on the must sees. I probably won’t have a chance to see them all–oddly that’s not read more
My rubber boots have sprung a leak. This is a problem in rainy Vancouver. I found these shiny red patent leather rain boots on sale on the weekend. Can’t go wrong with Cole Haan.
I know, Christmas is long over, but I wanted to show you the gifts I knit for my two neices. I must confess, I was a little behind with my Christmas knitting and the girls finally got them for Chinese New Year. Chloë asked for gloves for Christmas and when her other aunt asked her what size, I suddenly felt very territorial. I (nicely) made it quite clear that this was my domain while I quickly whipped out a piece of paper and traced Chloë’s hand. While I was at it, I traced my older read more