London, and New Goodies

We had a very short stopover in London, just before we flew back to to Toronto:

I had the opportunity to meet up with Allison, who used to live in Toronto but now lives in London (lucky girl!). We met up for coffee, pastries, and a cruise through John Lewis and Liberty's haberdashery departments (she also very kindly took photos 4 and 6 in the above). We were originally planning on going to Loop, but it was much further away and more than a little awkward to get to with a stroller... so I'll have to save it for another time. But I did pick up some goodies:

Wonderland was purchased at John Lewis, buttons and measuring tape are from Liberty of London. 

Wonderland is a great little collection of stunning kid's knits, I'm really impressed with how stylish and lovely they are. And I like that they have a good size range (2-7 years old), I feel like if I don't get around to knitting some of my faves for a little while, it's okay.  I'm definitely going to make the Lovisa cardigan for Lila, as it features three buttons and will be perfect for my new Liberty buttons. A big thank you to Allison for making time to up and tour me around, it was fun!

Paris, and La Droguerie

 My favourite photo from Paris.

Towards the end of our trip, we spent a couple days in Paris- because really, if you're a short train ride away, why wouldn't you?! We had an amazing time. The food, the sights... ah, Paris.

I even had an opportunity to go to La Droguerie, one of the better known yarn and haberdashery shops in Paris. And.... it was an epic disappointment. And not just because one of the staff berated me for taking a photo. It's a very pretty shop, but it is not customer-friendly at all. Even if you speak fluent French (I had some help with the fluent part, I went with someone who was). The yarn that you see in the store is only display yarn (and it is a modest selection, but with a good colour range), so you have to ask someone to get you the yarn that you would like. Except you don't just find the nearest staff person and they are able to help you, you have to hover near the yarn (they provide benches for you to sit on), and wait. And wait. And wait. It is apparently the norm to wait around 45 minutes for someone, even if you can see three staff members at the back of the shop near the swifts chatting with each other. Even if the woman at the cash register is sitting right there by the yarn, in a booth. I assume that this is clearly a cultural difference. Obviously it works for them, or they would change it. But I left empty handed, and that was disappointing. They do have an impressive button selection, though. And it looked like you had a better chance of getting service if you were only buying buttons.

 It's okay, though. Who goes to Paris for the yarn, anyway? And it was the only down moment of the whole trip- otherwise I found that Parisians were generally quite friendly and helpful, and the food was spectacular. Plus that photo of Lila on Guy's shoulders with the Eiffel Tower in the background pretty much just made my year.

Bristol UK, and the Giveaway Winner

And the winner of the ISLAND pattern giveaway is....... Retha! congrats, Retha. I'll be in touch to get your mailing address.

Guy, Lila and I are in England for a bit, visiting family. I love Bristol, Guy's home town. The food:

The street art:

 

And just generally hanging out as a family: 

 We're going to be heading to Paris and London soon, so more photos to follow!

A Visit to the Mothership

Lila and I went for a short visit to Montreal to visit Tanis and Chris. It was a great visit, and went by much too quickly- TFA Headquarters is a lot of fun! For starters, there are fresh cappucinos on site:

The fall colours were lovely in Montreal, and the weather was stunning. Tanis and Chris were testing out this whole baby business with Lila (who is pulling a weird face in this photo):

  And of course, the great food:

 But let's face it- going to the mothership meant ogling So. Much. Yarn.

  Look at all that single ply cashmere silk drying on racks. Just rows upon rows of yarn. This sort of thing makes me weak in the knees, the way being around mountains of spices make chefs excited to get cooking, the way gigantic waves make a surfer want to paddle out to them. If it wouldn't leave such a tangled mess, I'd love to jump into a cushy pile of yarn like this!

FO: Holiday Cardi

Pattern: Amiga

Yarn: Americo Original 100% Pima Cotton Flame

Needles: 4.5 mm (US 7)

Mods: I always knit my sleeves flat, and seam them. I tapered the sleeves by decreasing two stitches on each side every 3 rows 3 times (so in total, 6 stitches decreased in each sleeve) about 1.5 inches from sleeve hem. I also did 4 rows of ribbing, since I don’t like rolled hem sleeves. I didn’t do the button or the button hole, and lengthened the cardigan substantially.

Notes: I cast on for this a few days before I went on vacation, specifically with the idea of having a nice stockinette knit to chisel away at while travelling.It was a great project for it, and I'm especially pleased with how the simple shape really makes the most of the slubby yarn, which had been sitting in my stash for two years, because I wasn't sure what to do with it. Unlike the many other things that have sat in my stash for multiple years- I tend to know exactly what I want to do with it (one day).

The only thing that I'm not crazy about is that the fabric stretches out at the elbows and gets 'elbow bag'. but really, that's a lot of sweaters, so... not a huge complaint. cotton yarn isn't known for it's elastic qualities, so I'm not that fussed.

I want to always have an FO while on a fun holiday. Because even though in these photos it's raining and I'm about 45 minutes away from going to bed for the rest of the day because I feel so rotten...  you can't tell- the landscape just makes the photos so striking. Yay for holiday FOs!

Holiday Redux: England and Croatia

I'm back! G and I had an amazing time, first with family and friends in England (Bristol, Wells, and Brighton were the stops this time). My only disappointment is that I got fairly ill about 4 days into the trip, and stayed ill the rest of the time, including losing my voice for a few days. Nothing quite like waiting a decade to go to a country you've been dreaming about, only to spend every day pieced together by will power and cold medication. Oh well, it happens. Highlight photos from our trip:

England:

Split, Croatia:

Hvar, Croatia:

Dubrovnik, Croatia:

Hvar was definitely our favourite, it was a lusciously slow pace and I'm not sure if I've ever seen such turquoise water before- just gorgeous. I didn't visit any yarn shops, but I did do a lot of knitting. I even got some lovely FO shots for a new knit, which will be posted this week!

New Yarn- The UK Wrap Up

Sorry it took me so long to get to this- I had the flu last week, and I was definitely down for the count! But all better now.

While in England, I only visited two yarn shops, and both were wonderful. In Bristol, I went to Wooly Thinking:

Which was a lovely little shop in the Clifton Arcade of Bristol. It's a fabulous area of the city for a wander, and the shop had a great selection of yarn, including lots of UK yarn:

And also stocked a great selection of handcrafted buttons:

I'm definitely planning on visiting this shop again the next time I'm in Bristol. 

And while In York, we visited Ramshambles:

I appreciate the patience of all the in-law relatives that had to stop and wait for me for about half an hour while I perused the shop, trying to decide what to buy! They had some amazing hand dyed local yarns.

So, in the end, this is what I bought in England:

I love them all. They are all buttery soft, and I was pleased to snag the hand dyed skeins of fingering (from Blue Faced Leicester sheep, apparently!) from Ramshambles- they are really amazing. I was also impressed by the grey UK Alpaca- it's sooo soft.  I have all this wonderful new yarn, and there are so many projects I want to knit- if only my wrists could withstand all the knitting I want to do every day!!

England 2010

We had an amazing time in England, mostly visiting friends and family. As G is from Bristol, that was our base, and we spent time in Bath and went up north to York, as well. It was my first trip to anywhere in the North of England, and York is stunning- I was so surprised I hadn't heard of it being a major tourist destination fro those visiting England, since it is so picturesque and interesting.

When in Bristol, I had a certain something on my hit list. I had recently heard of Pieminister,  a Bristol-based savoury pie company that makes ridiculously delicious pies.... of the deep-dish, personal-sized kind. I have never met a pastry I didn't love, so I was very interested in trying it....

and I was hooked. Guy and I loved the Mr. Porky, which is a lovely pork, apple and potato pie in a delicious gravy. I also love the Heidi Pie, which is a sweet potato, spinach and feta pie. So. Damn. Good! But above the tasty pies, I really support the mandate of the company, which focuses on free range, sustainably farmed and local animals and ingredients. Oh Pieminister, do you franchise? Because G and I talked quite seriously about opening one up here in Toronto. Except I'd eat the profits. I ate so many, I even got a frequent pie-buy card- I'm only 2 pies away from my free pie! When we're back in the spring, I'll finish it off.

I know I'm going on and on about pies here, but when we got a bit lost looking for G's friend's house, we needed to turn around, and guess what we found?

 

The Pieminister factory, of course!!! Look how elated I am in that picture. That's pure pie joy right there.

 

I have to share this hilarious (albeit blurry) photo of G's young self that he found at his parent's house: 

Doesn't he look like a extra from one of the Harry Potter films?! Fortunately he grew into his looks:

I bought yarn in England, I swear. Yarn post coming soon.

FO: Ravelympics Sweater!!

 Pattern: Twiggy Tunic

Needles: 10 mm circulars

Yarn: Mirasol Sulka

Mods: None.

Notes: I finished my Ravelympics sweater!!!!

At the beginning, I had a really difficult time understanding the pattern- I had it in my head that, because the sleeves are knitted first, that it was a top down construction (it's not). Silliness, I know. Once I figured that part out, it was smooth sailing. I love, love, LOVE Sulka yarn, it's so deliciously soft and cuddly. And all those FO photos of being outside in the snow? I'm actually not that cold. That's a toasty sweater, people!

 G took some WIP shots of the sleeves and yarn cakes out of doors:

And if you haven't already seen it, you must check out Eliza's tutorial on how to wind a perfect yarn cake with nothing more than a toilet paper roll. I actually prefer this method to using a ball winder- it produces a larger centre pull area, which I find allows for smoother pull without any tangles. it's how I wind my yarn all the time now.

 And for those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you've probably figured out that I'm at the cottage for these photos. G and I took a couple days off work to create our own long weekend, where we visited his parents at the cottage. I'm going to say something a little crazy here.... I prefer winter cottaging to summer cottaging.  There is a different kind of tone to winter cottaging. I love the peacefulness of it, the slowed-down moments of discovering deer tracks through the snow across the yard, or the fragrance and warmth of a crackling woodstove. And oh, the light- I am in love with watching the day's progression over the snow, the way it sparkles in the sunshine, the long blue shadows at dusk.

Plus, snowshoeing!!! My favourite. below, a few photos, including the bird seed cakes we made to hang off the trees for the winter birds:

That's not the cottage in the background- it's a barn.

FO: Reading Hoodie

This took longer than I thought it would to knit, but I love, love, LOVE the final result! It's perfect for many things, including a frolic with a cute pony. I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt underneath this, and I'm absolutely roasting!! Don't let the lace fool you, this is a toasty sweater indeed. (apparently I'm just showing off my underarm seaming skills, while putting my hair back) Pattern: Apres Surf Hoodie Yarn: Knit Picks Bare - Merino Wool/Silk Fingering Weight Needles: 3.25 mm circs Mods: Adjusted pattern for knitting in the round, instead of knitting the front and back separately. Notes: I spent a lot of time reading while knitting this, so I thought Reading Hoodie was a good name for it. I love the pattern, I love the final result. The experience of knitting it was a lot like knitting Thermal- it took a lot longer than I wanted it to, but the results were perfect. I will say that I regret knitting it in the round- I found that doing increases and decreases while keeping in the lace pattern really challenging (although I will consider that it may be due to all the reading while knitting...). When it came time to do the sleeves, I knit them flat and seamed them. Much faster; but then I've never felt put off by seaming. I never wear hoodies with the hood up, but here's the hood up back view. I found these photos on my camera, and thought I'd share. Here's one of my cats, Yarn, contemplating the hoodie in progress: "Hmmm, how hard is this whole knitting thing, anyway.... I'm sure I could do it!" "a long sleeved lace hoodie on 3.25 mm needles?! You must be nuts!" Erm, yup. But being nuts leads to lovely white lace hoodies!!! Now excuse me, I'm going to frolic with more ponies.

Vacation Redux, and a quick FO

I'm back! The cottage was, as always, wonderful.I finally finished my Reading Hoodie (whic is what I'm calling the Apres Surf Hoodie), but it took much longer than I thought it would. Two months!! I feel that it deserves its own FO post, which will come later in the week. For now, I'll leave you with a quick FO that I knitted up the day after I finished the hoodie and needed a quick fix/knit. Isn't it amazing how nature makes even a plain old hat photo utterly lovely? Pattern: Cabled Baby Hat Needle Size: 5 mm dpns Yarn: Plymouth Earth Mainland, 1 skein Mods: None. The pattern includes two different options, and I chose the ten cable hat, which I really love. Notes: The pattern was great, and the hat is so lovely that even G asked if I could knit him a grown up version. But my real rave review is that I. Love. This. Yarn. This skein came from a wonderful gift pack from The Purple Purl during the TTC Knitalong, and it is so unbelievably soft. One skein was the perfect amount for this little hat. I'm already planning to buy more, enough to knit myself a sweater. I can't say enough good things about this yarn!!

Going on Vacation!

Hi all! I'll be heading to the cottage for a week of relaxation, sleeping in, and knitting. I'm going into the mountains and woods of Quebec to a wonderful little cottage (my in-laws cottage), where there is no cell service and no internets.The cottage is here: Well, in there somewhere. Modification Monday will go ahead as part of our normal scheduling (hooray for the scheduled posting option!), and I can't wait to report back on some new FOs. Have a great week!! P.S. Has anyone seen the Vogue Knitting 360 Fashion Preview?! What a brilliant way to show all the patterns in the new issue. I haven't always loved VK, but the fall 2009 issue is pretty tempting. Check it out for yourself!