Cerasifera shawl

I finally can show you Kirsten Kapur's newest shawl design. Cerasifera shawl, which I was lucky enough to test knit for her, was released yesterday.







I loved the main part with the mesh stitch pattern. But first I had to get some addi lace circs in the right size. The ones I had before where too blunt, and a pain to work with.



The yarn is 50/50 merino/silk, and has a wonderful drape. I love the feel of it, when I have this shawl in my hands.



There's Maggie whizzing by in the back ground. That girl is always on the move.


Since this is a rather small shawl, I'm going to use it as a scarf. (it might go to Hannah though, she likes my grey shawls, and I'm going to let her pick and chose one).



Kirsten's patterns are always so very well written, and easy to follow.



pattern: Cerasifera shawl by Kirsten Kapur
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns Slinky Cat , I used 1.08 skeins = 469.8yds. (unfortunately the shop is closed right now, until Canada Post strike/lockout is resolved)
needles: 4.5mm addi lace circs (very much needed for this shawl)
size after blocking: 23" x 54"
start-finish: May 31 - June 4, 2011

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And just a little fact about the pups. They made me laugh again this morning. With three dogs, it happens that the water bowl gets dry from time to time. Once that happens, instinct kicks in, and Denny (or Maggie, not Happy so far) dig in the bowl for water. While I was filling it up again, I saw Maggie digging at the spot where the bowl usually stands. Maybe Denny had it wrong, and the right spot is under the bowl?
Next time I'll tell you about Maggie's accident yesterday, I want to show you something, but don't have the photo on this computer yet. Let's just say, she'll live, but she scared the hell out of us.

***

FatcatKnits TdF 2011

FatcatKnits TdF 2011, a photo by FatCatKnits on Flickr.

I've never participated in such a thing, but today I've decided I want to give it a try. So I signed up with the FatCatKnit's TdF group on Ravelry.



This is just a reminder for myself : Start July 2 - Finish 24

We'll see how much FatCatKnits fiber I can spin during that time.

Handspun Friday - Time Lord

Yesterday was a beautiful day. Just the right temperatures. Of course the dogs enjoyed a swim or two. Denny destroyed another floating toy, and Maggie got some swimming lessons. First we had to put the boys inside. I had to put a collar on her, so I could grab her. I picked her up, and put her in my son's arms, who was waiting in the pool. She did not struggle at first. I must say, she's not a natural swimmer. She pawed the water in panic, and ALWAYS went for the edge, instead of the stairs. We tried it three times, she can swim, but does not enjoy it so far. Anyway, we'll try again another day. She obviously had had enough for the day.



After everybody got good and wet, we go upstairs to sit on the deck for a while to get dry. It can get pretty hot up there.

I had to go back down to get something, and when I returned, Denny made some god awful noise, as if I'd been away for a week. I wish you could hear him, it's embarrassing sometimes, the way he yaps on, and on.





I'm not spinning as much these days, but sure would love to do more. I still get things done, although at a slower pace.

This is Time Lord, a Southern Cross Fiber May 2011 Fiber club offering. It's oatmeal BFL.









I chain plied it, and got 314yds.
I'm working on the second colorway right now. This should make some nice socks some day.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

***

A June morning ...

Yesterday morning, after we had breakfast, after I trained Maggie (and Denny, and Happy, because they watched her, and were eager to go through the motions as well), after horsing around for a while, they finally settled down for a couple of minutes.


Maggie was chewing a bone, and the boys just chilled. I think Denny is a little under the weather from the shots he got last Friday.
We've removed the old sofa, which Denny destroyed, and rearranged the crates, and the red sofa. The two little ones get to be in the Giant sized crates when we are gone, and Happy uses the sofa, but all of them sleep on it during the day. We hung some black fabric in front of the back window, to keep the heat out. They now have a lot more room to run around inside, which is especially great on rainy days.

***


I've also finished another shawl. It's Cladonia by Kirsten Kapur. A pleasurable knit, which begs to be repeated. So many color choices to choose from, hard to decide.



I was told, that this shawl looks old fashioned, but even if it does, I think it's still nice looking.



I really like working with grey at the moment. It's so easy to pair it with other colors.



pattern: Cladonia by Kirsten Kapur
yarn: Wandering Cat Yarns in WCY Slinky Cat (light grey), WCY Alley Cat (dark grey), and WCY Slinky Cat (natural), and some green left over from another project.
size after blocking: 23" x 53"
needles used: 4.5mm

It's got super drape, and feels wonderful. Slinky Cat is 50/50 merino/silk, just lovely.


The loopy edge took some time to knit, and I didn't mind (it's the same I used for my Mohana shawl btw), but if I knit this shawl again, I'll just do a simple picot edge or a crochet one. Other than that, it's another beautiful pattern by Kirsten, and well written.

***
Now I'm focusing on getting some gift knitting done, like socks, mittens, hats etc. I finished my June socks as well, but it was hard to work on them, I didn't feel like doing colorwork at all.

***

What to do on a rainy day?

First, bake something, like a pan of double chocolate brownies!



Delish with fresh, hot tea!

Amongst other nick names this is my double fudge "Brownie", watching the world go by.


And my sugar hon, has the most wonderful brown eyes!



***

Handspun Friday - Gemstone & Absolute Gecko

I've finished these yarns some time ago. Even before I've finished my first Taygete shawl, I started spinning for a second one, but now I don't know if I really want to knit another one.

The fiber is Spinning Awesome Good, merino/tussah silk, Aboslute Gecko and


Gemstone in merino/tussah silk.


I've decided to spin them together, 2-ply, 256yds,

and 447yds,


plus 188yds for the lace part.


I like seeing them together.


I've also finished, and sent off Hannah's birthday socks. They are nothing special. I used Regia Bamboo, they are so soft, and shiny, and machine washable, which is a big bonus. I don't really like the colorway, but all my nice looking yarn is not machine washable, and since I have a lot of
Regia in my stash, it needs to be knit up as well.

They are knit with 56 sts, with ribbing on the back of the legs. They will be useful, and hidden in boots anyway. I hope they'll arrive on time.

Today's a doctors day, with one appointment in the morning for me, and with Happy and Denny in the afternoon, for booster shots. Bleh.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

***

Splish-Splash

I finally thought to take a camera outside with me to get the boys on camera, doing what they always do, once the back door opens. Maggie still doesn't go into the pool on her own. The few times she fell in was all. So far she likes to be sprayed with the hose, and she runs around, and around, and around....
Notice Denny on his rescue mission halfway into the video.



And then Happy almost drowned Denny. And it went that way: Happy was swimming happily with his favorite rubber toy in his mouth. Denny was watching him, hoping that he'll come out, where he usually waits at the stairs to take it away from him. Happy didn't want to do that, and swam around in circles, until Denny ran out of patience and swam to him. In the deep end, they struggled, tucking on both ends of the rubber bone, while Happy was flapping his front legs like crazy, dunking Denny totally under water in the process. Once Denny came up for air again, he thought twice of continuing the fight, and swam as fast as his little legs would let him to get out of the pool.










Did he learn his lesson? Of course not, they repeated the same Spiel today, and will do so tomorrow I'm sure.


I also have to thank Jodi of Eternal Arts & Crafts, because I won a gift certificate of my choosing on her blog. I got me some more Wandering Cat Yarns. I know the photo sucks, but the yarn goes very well with my SmokingHotNeedles colorway. This is called Mystic Dawn, WCY Alley Cat. Thank you! I'm very lucky!



***

June 5th

I realize that everybody and their grandmother are taking pictures of flowers right now. I just love it when something in our garden blooms. We don't have that many flowers, or bushes, and trees that do, and besides it's pretty.

The weekend was lovely. Lots of swimming going on, and relaxing afterwards. I put some blankets on the sofas, because the pups are continuously wet at the moment. They were so tired! Denny of course had to get himself an additional towel to get comfy with.



I didn't even know these bushes are the blooming kind. They were planted last summer, and did not bloom then. What a lovely surprise!


They look very pretty, but don't smell of anything. The total opposite are those tiny white flowers on an old bush we have. It smells really sweet, and attracts lots of bumble bees.


I've no idea what this bush is called. It looks unremarkable after it's finished blooming.
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Handspun Friday - Green Tea

I just finished this yarn yesterday. It was so windy, it dried in record time after its bath.
This is Perendale fiber from Southern Cross Fiber shop update, 4oz.


When I saw this fiber in the shop, I really wanted to try it; I've never heard of this Perendale (from New Zealand) before. Well, I've got to say, it will be a one time experience for me. I haven't pre drafted my fiber in a long time. I used to think it's necessary before spinning, but it's not. This however needed it desperately. It's rough fiber too, not for next to skin, not for me anyway. The colorway however is just gorgeous. The shades of green, so pretty, I really like it a lot. I'd like to get it on a different fiber some day. I have no idea what I'm going to knit out of this scratchy lot.


I've got 282yds, chain plied out of it.


Plus it's a little over twisted. Not even the bath got it all out. The last two photos show the true color.
***
In other news. We didn't get Maggie to be x-rayed after all. She did not limp all week, not even a little bit, and needed no medication. Thursday morning we decided to call it off. We can always do it, if she's limping again, but for now she's like her old self, a pup full of energy, wanting to get it all out. Running like a lunatic, jumping, and by accident, swimming also. She fell in the pool again. I didn't see how it happened, because I was just picking up the hose, when I heard a splash, but Denny was chasing her, so he might have something to do with it, or not, she's very clumsy too.


So, the other day was lovely, after days of rain, it was finally just cloudy, and a little sunny. I took that opportunity to sit on the deck for my afternoon tea.

Maggie was there.

Happy was there too, still being Nanny to her.

Denny, who shall be called Peeping Tom from now on, was there too, watching the neighbors daughter sunbathing. He stood there at least for 15 minutes, without moving a muscle. I don't know what's so fascinating, but he sure was interested.

As I said, I was there having my afternoon tea. I really wanted something sweet to go with it, but didn't even have sugar to bake something. The only thing I had was a very ripe banana, so I made myself a Banana/Almond milk smoothie. Does it go well with tea? Not really.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

***

So, that was May

Here's a photo of the yarn I've spun in May.



I've some Perendale on my wheel right now, and it's going slow, because it's not easy to spin, and my fingers start to hurt fast. I wish I had it off my wheel, because I've dyed some merino/bamboo/nylon myself, and am itching to spin that.


I had this handspun yarn in the same dye bath as the fiber, but not all fiber take the colors the same. I LOVE this shade of green!

Even though all my handspun yarns get a hot water bath after finishing, this one puffed up quite a bit after half an hour in the dye pot.

My May socks have been done for a long time. I'm not quite happy with them.

After I've knit down the leg of the first sock, I was ready to rip out the needles, and frog it all. I took a picture of it though, because I wanted to ask for opinions, and after seeing the photo, I decided to just go ahead and finish them.


The multicolored yarn gave me a hard time. I've tried to use it for several patterns, but nothing worked out. This is the kind of yarn, which looks fabulous in the skein, but is hard to work with.



It also bled out quite a lot, and it made the white yarn look dirty.



Did you know that corrugated ribbing takes forever to knit? Boy, those where the longest 2o rounds I've knit - twice!
***
So, yesterday was the hottest day this year so far. I let the boys swim until they didn't want to swim anymore. Then we bunkered down inside with the A/C. I'm glad it's fixed. In the evening I let the dogs out again, to rinse and repeat. Since they carry out a lot of water every time they went in, I had the hose hanging in the pool to refill. Happy loves the hose, as you've seen in pictures before. He went to where the hose was hanging in the pool, and stuck his head in to get the nozzle out, dragged it all to the lawn, and played with it until the nozzle separated, and the fun was over.
Wait, what was it I wanted to say, ah yes. Maggie had to take it easy the last few days, and she was bursting full of energy. She got pain meds until Monday, nothing yesterday, and she did not limp, so we let her outside, to run around a little. Boy did she ever run! She still does not go into the pool on her own, so we just hosed her down to cool off, and sent her inside early. She's still going to get x-rayed, because I think the pain meds are still lingering in her system.

***
Oh, and I've knit another shawl, it's a tiny one, so that went fast. Here's a pic as I was working on it.


It's the Shaelyn shawl, and it's done. Just have to take pictures. This is the most easy shawl I've knit in a long time, but at the same time a lovely one. I think I'll knit this one again, it was just too much fun. I've used some handspun of mine.

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