It's official!

Please feel free to visit me at my new home at ec.lecti.ca

It's a multi-categoried blog, so those who only want to follow the knitting journey may do so by clicking on the knitting category.
Please update your bookmarks, links, and bloglines subscriptions.

See you there!

Update....

Haven't posted much knitting, because much of it is for presents for people who sometimes read this blog.

I am moving, and stay tuned for my new website at http://ec.lecti.ca

Smiley Happy People

Update: People have been asking where these puppets can be dropped off. Aside from the locations at the IWK which Dorothy was kind enough to answer in the comments, you can also drop off your finger puppets at The Loop, on Barrington Street in Halifax (click on the link on the side), and IWK staff will also pick them up there.

Calling all HRM knitters, crocheters, and those talented to make something similar to what you see on the right. IWK has a shortage of finger puppets, and they called the fine staff of The Loop to ask some of their customers to make finger puppets for them. They give these to outpatients of their clinics and I think this is a very worthy cause.

The two multicolored crocheted puppets you see on the right were made by my 8 year old daughter, the yellow and blue/green puppets were knit by me, and the bottom 3 were crocheted by me.

All you have to do is knit or crochet a tube just a bit bigger than your own finger, and decorate accordingly. I don't have a pattern, as we just made these up ourselves.

pictures from a yarn trade

A good friend of mine from a sock knitting list participated in a trade with me. The 3 balls of yarn are rowanspun 4 ply. The skein is Jo Sharp DK yarn. The dark yarn is a gorgeous deep green that almost looks brown, but it's heathered with flecks of light brown in it. The purple and grey are also very lovely too. I received far more than is pictured: 3 skeins each of the purple and green, 2 skeins of grey, (enough to make a pair of socks each for my husband and myself, with grey heels and stripes or colorwork) and 4 skeins of the Jo Sharp. The yarn all feels so soft and gorgeous. As usual, if you desire to see the picture full-sized, simply click on it.

I'll say I am in yarn heaven these days.

The Big Cone of Yarn

Thank you all, and especially Frozen Extremities (another local knitter from KOL) for the comments and advice on the cone of yarn from my previous post.

My plan is that it will become a sweater. Still waiting on a few things to determine which member of our household will be the intended recipient. :) Seeing how my swatch turns out after washing will greatly help with this decision.

For the Yarn Voyeurs

Isn't it purdy? I'm going to make a sweater with it. It's a nearly 1200g cone of what I think is Rowan Donegal yarn. I purchased it at LK Yarns.

Socks from the road trip...

Yarn: Opal Gems sport weight, 2 skeins
Needles: Kertzer Collection 2.75mm bamboo needles
Pattern: My own
Recipient: My husband.
Gauge: 7 stitches per inch.
Level difficulty: easy.

Socks from the Road Trip is a variation of the basic sock patterns knit from the top down. The stitch repeat I used for the leg is k5, p2, k5 per needle (48 stitches). This centers it in the front of the leg.
I will write out the whole pattern when I have more time, and post a link on the side of the blog.

I was able to make this so that even knit from the top down, as these were, I used one entire skein per sock, from the casting on, to the kitchenering of the toes. Given my relaxed knitting style, I likely could have achieved the same gauge on 2.5mm needles, but didn't have any handy at the time I started. I did have to knit fairly tightly, but the end result is worth it, as my husband says they're a perfect fit for his US size 7 foot.