Cascade Cherub DK

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Make It Monday ~ Late

I am introverting so hard the last few weeks – sorry for not being more interactive with everyone. Even posting feels like a chore lately.

I do have an FO. My ‘Gothic Starfish‘ afghan is finally finished and ready for gifting. Love the end result but so damn glad this is done! It started as a “let’s use this up” and quickly escalated to a “No-o-o-o! I need to buy more acrylic!” Anyway. It’s perfect for its new home and hopefully, I’ll have pix soon of this eclectic piece in its eclectic house.

I’m working on Le ScarabĂ©e Bleu and Brise d’Ă©tĂ© and loving them both. I can work in the back garden now – it’s tidy, old picnic table gone, shrubs shrubbing, flowers flowering and I have a pretty nook to sit at while I knit, hook and daydream – hence my absence from the Interwebs. I can’t recommend strongly enough unplugging, it’s such a gift!

Victoria Day weekend was amazing – more soul restoring with my Bestie and I’ve been getting my butt to the other side of town for ‘Sit ‘n Knit’ at my LYS, Yarn Forward. At this rate, I may even make it to Guild meetings!  I haven’t written a darn thing, nor do I miss it or care – not so much ‘writer’s block’ as ‘this writer don’t give a crap’ – so liberating! My books are still on Amazon and I don’t have to stress about the devolving of WordPress for poets and authors. More time to do the things that make me happy. Win!

Peek-a-boo!
Zen moments…
Don’t you… forget about me…
Rewards of a walkabout.
Maman’s allium.
Tiny succulents, shells and stones.

I hope your summer is humming along beautifully and feel free to say hi on Ravelry or Instagram – I’m there more often because they’re ‘quick and dirty’ for posting 🙂

À plus tard!

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Hi! :)

That’s as catchy a title as I can come up with and I agonized over it, believe me!

No FO’s just yet although my ‘Duane Park Triangle‘ shawl is blocking as I type – cursed thing. Remind me to never commit to a pattern that is all garter stitch again. Even the pretty Zen String yarns that I used couldn’t save my attitude by the end.

Happier WIP’s are my ‘Gothic Starfish‘ afghan. It just needs a few rows of black border and it will be out the door to live on my daughter’s purple sofa and my ‘Rheinlust‘ shawl, which I am madly in love with; all twisted stitches and Wollmeise goodness. This is not to say that I now love Wollmeise, I still prefer other yarn bases a LOT but it’s perfect in this pattern.

With spring finally here for real, I’m working hard on my little house and the gardens. Replaced the old mailbox with one that’ll match my new screen door when it goes up and the dead doorbell is on today’s agenda for a new wireless one. Good friends adopted my old wooden picnic table for their cottage and I now have room for an elf-size gazebo in the back garden. Lots of leafy clean up to do before that goes up but it’ll make a lovely outdoor retreat. My little office is coming along too, I just finished the assembly yesterday and am moving files, supplies and all that stuff that’s been living in my kitchen to its proper home.

Finally have my ‘Leaf’ set up and it’s keeping me honest about my exercise goals or err… honest about how much I fool myself! Apparently, knitting does NOT burn many calories… A terrible oversight on the part of our physiology IMHO. Saying goodbye to another dear family member and some irksome ‘girl’ health issues just lately have me wanting to get back to my former athletic self or a reasonable facsimile! I can say that deleting a few of my social media accounts has been a HUGE benefit in terms of stress relief. I mean really? How connected does one woman have to be, right?! 😉

With that, here’s pictorial ‘skinny’ on all of the things :):

Duane Park Triangle ~ ready for blocking
Rheinlust progress – working main section.
Duane Park… still in the naughty corner but getting there.
Just the border to go 🙂
Office desk and shelves, assembled. Yay!

Oh! And THIS! A month or so ago, I stabbed my finger with some wicked sharp scissors when I was lifting staples from the back of a painting… I couldn’t even look as I tugged them out and did the first aid thing. Knitting and blocking were really hard for a week or two and now I have a scar! Apparently, I haven’t outgrown this stage…

 

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Make It Monday

Another weekend flew by! I hope everyone had a lovely Easter. My home is chocolate free – I’m a toffee / butterscotch person and I spent the better part of my time hunting and organizing another donation to Goodwill. I swear some ‘bunny’ hides stuff in the closets when I’m not looking!

I’ve one FO to show for my crafty efforts, my ‘HeloĂŻse’ Shawl is finished and likely the last finished project for National Crochet Month. I’ve a ‘Critron’ Shawlette on the hook but the combination of laceweight and entirely single crochet stitch makes for slow going and cramping hands, even with an ergo hook. My stashbusting ‘Gothic Starfish’ Afghan is coming along, though as I’m winging the striping sequence, I need another skein of the purples to finish it up. This one’s an eye-popper but will be living on a deep purple couch – not mine – so stash busted and more ‘real estate’ on my yarn shelves 🙂

What’s up in WIP’s:

HeloĂŻse’s portfolio:

HeloĂŻse Shawl ~ finished 1
HeloĂŻse Shawl. Project #5 for National Crochet Month
HeloĂŻse Shawl ~ finished 3
National Crochet Month

I’m off to sketch a few ideas that have been percolating for a scarf / stole design – inspired by a recent purchase (shush now!!) of some Miss Babs ‘Caroline’. I’ll post the Yarn Porn later this week 🙂

Have a great Monday!

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FO Friday

I’ve finally wrapped the final test knit for MatinĂ©e II. This is a scarf version of the MatinĂ©e  Cowl and I had the joy of working this up in some of my friend Yvonne’s – of Yvieknits Yarn – merino silk bases.

Here’s MatinĂ©e II ~ Moonstone‘s portfolio:

Matinée II ~ Moonstone Finished 1
Yvieknits Yarn Merino / Silk Fingering – Ocean Mist
Matinée II ~ Moonstone Finished 2
Matinée II ~ Moonstone Finished 3
Yvieknits Yarn Merino / Silk DK – Pewter
Matinée II ~ Moonstone Finished 4

My local LYS – Yarn Foward Kanata – had a sale this Tuesday past and I took advantage to get enough Sirdar Baby Bamboo to finish my prototype and to work the test knit. The pattern is almost written but for some fine tuning – this design really wanted out of my head!

Progress on BW Wrap so far:

And though I should not buy any new yarn – as I’m currently reorging my yarn room and will post about that in the future – I had a flash of inspiration for a bistitchual project for a baby blanket and have decided to run with it. I’ll be using black for the background and the three colours for the motifs:

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Yes. I will be using acrylic / nylon. May the force be with me…