Sewing

My sewing room is a disaster.  I have SO much fabric (collections from a previous life).  I cleaned attacked the studio a few weeks ago, and found a number of projects I had cut out a long time ago.  Lucky for me, I'm still the same size (or smaller).  Here's what I managed to create:

I think this is a New Look pattern,
but it no longer had the instructions with it

Loes Hinse Tuscan Blouse out of
Silk Georgette

Loes Hinse Bianca Sweater

I also mended a huge pile of clothing that had disappeared into the vortex of the mending pile.  I'm hoping to get back to the sewing room this weekend to sew some summer clothing for myself before the summer is over!

Mini-Vaca!

What a wonderful weekend.  Hot, muggy, and perfect weather to play tourist and hang out at the beach.  Thursday night the girls and I packed up and headed down to London area for a long weekend.  Friday we did some groceries to stock the cupboards, then went to play.  Our first stop was at the Little Red Mitten in St. Thomas, where we spent a few hours.  I am starting to research spinning wheels, and the lovely proprietress, Joan, spent quite a while with me, explaining the various components and types of wheels.  And I got to play on one!!  On boy, I'm going to need some practice with this, but it feels so soothing to sit and feel the fibres in my hands. I also purchased two skeins of sock yarn (I can't show you one - it's for a Round Robin I'm involved with).  The other one I don't have a picture of yet, so you'll just have to wait.  But, I can tell you it's gorgeous - Tanis Fibre Arts.  Oh yum.

After the Little Red Mitten, we stopped for iced coffee.  And cake, of course.

Peanut butter and chocolate goodness

Our next stop was the Quai du Vin Winery outside of St. Thomas. We enjoyed tasting and learning about a variety of wines.

We returned to our summer home, tired and happy.  We sat on the deck, savouring a glass of wine, and cooking this for dinner:

BBQ ribs, roast potatoes and coleslaw

Of course there was some knitting.  I'm so happy with the way it's turning out:

Summer of Trinity Shawlette 2

Saturday we packed up the Jeep and headed to the beach at Port Stanley for some sun and surf.  What a lovely way to pass a very hot afternoon!  We returned home and created more goodness on the BBQ, this time chicken with the leftover roast potatoes turned into salad.

Saturday evening was spent on the front porch, watching the fantastic lightening show, and listening to the amazing amount of rain come down.  We were not upset at all by the rain, it was very much needed!

Sunday, we headed to Winter Wheat outside of Sparta.  What a fun place that is - with the gardens and art made out of found object.  I purchased a snail made out of metal and a large stone, to remember our day by.

We then headed back to Port Stanley and found the Kettle Creek Inn, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch on their gazebo in the courtyard.

I had the Greek Lamb Burger and splurged with french fries.  One of the girls had a lovely salad.

After lunch, we headed back to the beach for some relief from the very very muggy weather.  After a few hours in the sun, we headed back to the summerhouse, packed up and headed home. What a wonderful weekend with my girls.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Melting in the Heat

Wow, it's HOT outside.  35*C, plus a humidex so it feels like 41*.  My garden is very thirsty after days like this.  I can't remember when we last had rain.  I BBQ'd dinner last night in an attempt to keep the kitchen cool, and ended up feeling as drained as though I had run a marathon!

After BBQ'ing, I went to Knitting Night at my friend's last night, and stayed till late.  I knew I would pay for it this morning, but it was SO worth it.  I cast off the Summer Sherbet Trinity Shawlette.  I'm SO pleased with it (I can only find an error or two, and not the ton of fudging I actually did). No pictures yet, but soon!

So, I immediately cast on this:

Summer of Trinity Shawlette 2

I'm using my new yarn from See Jayne Knit in NCIS McGee colourway.  It's so lovely to work with!  And the colourway is a blend of some of my favourite colours.  Who am I kidding, I love most colours :)   I'm taking it with me on our mini-vaca this weekend, so hopefully on Sunday I'll be able to report more progress.

Oh My. Bad Blogger

How on earth did this happen?  The past two weeks feel like they've been sucked into some type of time vortex.  I look up, and here we are - July 20th already!  Work got a little busy, and that's what I've been doing with most of my time lately.

However, there has been some knitting.  Just a little, a row here and there, mostly as a stress release.  I get a little cranky if I don't get my fix.  It's been HOT HOT HOT, so I took some time in the shade of the backyard to start this:

Trinity Shawlette, Chart 1

And, it's grown to this:

Actually, it's grown even more, but I don't have the photographic proof quite yet.  I'm using the sparkly no-name yarn from Knitting Three Together that I bought while I was on vacation. I wish I knew what it was - I absolutely love this stuff.  Soft and squishy, with a hint of sparkle.  I figured it was much too pretty for socks. I've got it to the point where I'm working on the border chart. My knitting is FULL of errors, but it looks pretty just the same.  My knitting friends tell me that it looks lovely and they can't find the errors.  I can see them plain as day, but I guess that's how we always are, finding our own faults.  Anyway, the plan is to cast on for the next version (only using Chart 2) as soon as I've blocked this one.

And, there was some frogging:

My Vampire Boyfriend is no more

The My Vampire Boyfriend socks. Ah, yes.  *Those* They've been hibernating for, ahem, a while.  So long ago, I don't even remember when I started them.  Before Christmas, I think.   I couldn't figure out where I was in the chart and decided this was the easiest way to deal with it.  I cast them back on, though.  I'm doing them two at a a time, cuff down.

I've also been working on my Toe Up Plain Vanilla Version 2.2, but again, no photographic proof.  They're coming along nicely. I'm working on the gusset increases right now - following one of Wendy Knits' patterns.  They'll make great beach knitting when I'm away this weekend.

I got this in the mail:

Lovely yarn from See Jayne Knit.  I can't wait to get started on something, *anything* from this yarn.  It's all SO lovely!  I'm thinking maybe the Trinity 2.0 from the yarn on the left.  I'll have to wind it tonight to make sure I can take it with me on our mini-vaca this weekend.

One last thing - I'm thinking of purchasing a spinning wheel and have started doing the research.  If anyone out there in bloggerland is actually reading my blog and spins, I'd love to hear from you.  Please let me know your experiences and which wheel you chose and why.  I'm saving up for one, and hopefully will be able to have it in my yarn room by Christmas.

Another Project Completed!

Hooray!  I finally finished my First Ever Toe Up Socks.  Finally.  I only started them in January - same calendar year at least!  WOW.  I had lots of time during an appointment yesterday to work on them, and zipped right on up the leg.  I squeezed in a bit of lunch time knitting today, and I finished the cuff and cast off.

These socks lived through a couple of iterations and design changes, even a frogging, but I'm very happy with the way they turned out.  I am also very glad that I had the help of Wendy Johnson's books, which were easily able to walk me through the heel.  Yay Wendy Knits!

Next up, I'm moving those Vampire Boyfriend socks from "Hibernating" status to "WIP" status.  Perfect knitting for watching True Blood.  I'm an Eric kind of girl.  Which team are you on?

Back to Reality

I'm back from vacation - falling unceremoniously back into the real world.   I spent a week camping with my girls and my parents at Arrowhead Provincial Park, which is near the charming town of Huntsville, ON.  The park is beautiful, with private sites, hiking and biking trails, and very clean washrooms (big points for that one!)  We had a week filled with bugs, cold weather and rain, but these all made the bits of warm sun in between feel that much more surreal.

There was hiking!

There was swimming! (At least by some of us)

There was good food cooked over the fire!

Corn on the cob,  "Special Potatoes",
and mushrooms sauteing in butter.  Oh Yum.

S'mores - Oh Delish!!

And...there was knitting!

Plain Vanilla 2.2

Cafe Curtains 

I even finished the Cafe Curtains ankle socks for Mom, but there was a bit of drama when I was trying to weave in the ends...

Oh, darn!

...and the local shops there didn't have any darning needles in stock!  Sorry for the lousy cellphone picture, but it was all I had access to at that moment.  So, the socks are almost complete, but not quite.

I also worked on my First Ever Toe Up Socks (which are kind of an oxymoron at this point, considering I've finished three other pairs since starting them).  When I pulled them out of my project bag, the foot of the second sock looked huge, and I had absolutely no idea where I was with it any more as far as the pattern or construction goes.  I also didn't like the fact that they would not match due to the planned heel pattern I was going to use for this one, so I took the plunge and frogged it back to the toe.  Yup, A-L-L the way back.  No biggie, I'm learning that I'm starting to be more of a process knitter.  It was actually quite liberating!  No pictures yet, but soon.

We visited Knitting Three Together (www.knittingthreetogether.com) which is a lovely little knitting shop in Hunstville.  I had visited there this past April when I had a conference at Deerhurst Resort down the road.  At that point, I had purchased some Sirdar Click yarn in a pretty hot pink colourway, which I promptly started knitting into a quick summer cardigan.  The plan was to make it to the high hip length, with 3/4 length sleeves. My progress came to a screeching halt when I realized I wouldn't have enough yard to complete it to my liking.  So, much debating and waffling ensued about how to finish it, and it hibernated.  When we returned to the shop, they still had some more of the yarn in stock!!!  Oh yay.  Super excited.  I picked up four more balls which should be more than enough to finish my cardi.  I also bought a skein of sock yarn with metallic bits in it.  The colours range from yellow to light green with some soft pink in between.  It had already been wound into a cake without a label, but it feels soft and squishy, and I just couldn't leave without purchasing some souvenir sock yarn.

I had a lovely email waiting for me when I came home.  Now that the Canada Post strike is over, SeeJayneKnit emailed me to say that my recent purchases from her are on their way!  Despite the fact that she was not responsible for the strike, she has sent me a lovely note telling me that she's sent them on their way by Expedited Post!  I've been hanging out by our mailbox every afternoon, eagerly awaiting the new yarn.  Not sure why, it isn't as though I'm without ANY at home!

And so back to the reality of daily life.  I am very much looking forward to this weekend.  I'm hoping to spend a bit of time cleaning, tidying and organizing, as well as some time in the garden, but I'm really looking forward to pulling out my sewing machine and whipping up some new summer clothing.  Linen and rayon knits are calling my name.  I'm hoping to base my casual clothes on the Loes Hinse pattern line.  I'll try to map out a bit of an achievable plan today.  The real trick will be finding the specific fabrics in my storage area, which may be kind of like a needle in a haystack I think.  You think I have a lot of yarn...you should see my fabric stash!

So far, so good, though - no new yarn purchases in July!