to a dear friend, with love.

A very close friend of mine needed a toque for the winter months in Toronto. She had seen one in the Maritimes that she loved but hadn’t bought it so was doing without a toque. If you’ve been watching the weather channel this past month, you will know that all across our dear country, there have been very cold temperatures everywhere. Right now in fact, it is snowing outside … in Vancouver … in February. What the ?*!& ?

In January, I ordered some yarn to make her a much needed and deserved toque. She had seen my Selbu when we were in Toronto in November and had commented on it, so I cast on as soon as the yarn arrived and finished it last week. We headed to Tofino for a week of relaxation and I mailed it from Nanaimo … it hasn’t arrived yet … so I can’t post this yet! If you are in fact reading this post, then she has received it … finally :)

It was freezing when we were taking these photos in a playground in Nanaimo but the sun … it was gorgeous.

Although these are far from the colours I would have chosen for myself, Sam is a dark brunette with large dark eyes so the Salsa Heather and Oyster combination will look amazing on her. I didn’t make any modifications to the pattern – I used the 2.00mm and 2.75mm circs called for to get gauge. That’s the beauty of knitting a pattern again – I knew exactly what to do!

I stretched it over on of our 10 inch Ikea dinner plates and dipped it into a warm soapy bath. Gently draining the water off, I left it on a towel to dry. Every evening I just flipped it over to allow it to dry on the bottom. I am really happy with this knit and I hope Sam will wear it and wear it and wear it .. and wear it and wear it and wear it …

-r.

ps. Isn’t the blue sky beautiful? I love Vancouver Island so much …

tofino.

A much needed break that came to an end too soon.

We are home now but sand, sea and walks are still occupying my head.

Break.

Last year we were able to get up into the mountains of the Upper Fraser Valley (north of Hope) for a serene get-a-way in the middle of winter. This year we decided to jump at a window of 5 days off for each of us and run away (more like sail away) to Vancouver Island’s most beautiful shoreline: Tofino. With world-renowned surf and gorgeous weather, we walked Long Beach for hours with the dogs, who tonight are finally tired out … just in time to go home tomorrow morning. This is Charlie-boy watching the surf in this afternoon’s sun:

For myself, getting away in the winter is a good mental break for me since I find that by about February 1st I am getting pretty sick of the rain and grey. I love the Vancouver rain but getting a change of scene really helps me to feel refreshed. Also, it’s great for getting bodies of Aidez sweaters done … but more on that later :)

-r.

anniversary.

Yesterday was my 2 year blog anniversary. I can’t believe it! Through all of my crafting and creating, this has been a great venue to air out ideas and discuss my projects. Thank you for reading and commenting – I really appreciate it! Here’s to another year :) Cheers!

I hope you are surrounded by piles of yarn and stash-y goodness,

-rach

+1.

For a while we have known that we were going to be getting a second dog, we just didn’t know when we would be able to take her home as ours. I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our little family:

Please meet Charlie-girl, to be known as Chuck (she’s on the right, Charlie [boy] is on the left). She was already named so we decided that rather than re-naming either/both of them, we would give her a perma-nickname (especially since she will be seeing her original owner (the breeder) all the time who will still call her Charlie – and, honestly? It suits her just as much as it suits our boy Charlie).

The cool thing about these two is that they are pretty much identical in personality and disposition. The draw-back to these two is that they are pretty much identical in personality and disposition! haha … I think that’s why their names suit them!!!

Chuck is Charlie’s Aunt – her mom is Charlie’s grandmother, which is very cool. She is 3 years old and, like Charlie (1 year old), takes after her mother (his grandmother). They are the same colour and size although she’s “fluffier” than he is – she’s a little bigger but part of that is he’s still growing. Like him, she’s always smiling! Although she has a huge tongue … :)

What can I say? We love ‘em!

Sorry for the crappy phone-photo – they will not stay still so I had to click a shot when I had treats in my hand! I hope you are enjoying your family as much as we are ;)

-r.

mistakes.

Before we moved I cast on for Aidez by Cirilia Rose. It’s a gorgeous pattern but I read one of the charts wrong. Once I figured out that it was actually double moss stitch, I liked the single moss stitch better (by then I had half and half). But what to do? I had two different stitch patterns and I knew I would always see it in the future. The sweater would never be worn if I didn’t fix it … I took the plunge and ripped the section out:

Here’s the thing: Why leave something and not fix it when I know that while it’s fiddly to get it right, it eventually will be right? I hate ripping and re-knitting but I have done so much of it that, yes, I just take a deep breath, say a prayer and frogged.

All 20 rows.

But guess what happens when it’s fixed?

Happiness. That’s what :)

ruby blue.

Around Christmas I mentioned a sweater I finished in mid-December for a secret/special someone. That secret/special someone is my mom – it was a gift for Christmas. Between you and me, this was a very stressful knit for a couple of reasons. First, it wasn’t the type of knit that took a few evenings. If it didn’t fit, it was kind of a big deal – there would be no easy fixes. Second, I had evening after evening to work on it. This meant I sat there stewing about the fact that it might not fit and wouldn’t look nice. Third, and perhaps the most agonizing of the whole project – what if she didn’t like it when I gave it to her? Thankfully, I worried in vain. There were no such disasters.

I bought Kim Hargreave’s Breeze collection in the Fall after looking through it many times. My favourite patterns in the book are actually Daisy and Georgie but I am saving each of them for rainy day knits – and I am not casting on any sweaters for a while. Ruby caught my eye because I was looking for a cardigan with simple lines, a belt and a shawl-like collar.

I didn’t actually modify the pattern much – I used the stitch counts provided (although I didn’t have gauge so I had to adjust for my gauge). The difference was I knit it in one piece from the bottom-up. The sleeves were too baggy for what my mom would want, so I changed those using the instructions from Laura Chau’s Amelia cardigan in Knitty’s Winter 2008 issue (which is in my queue for 2011 as one of 3 sweaters I would like to knit).

Unfortunately the photos aren’t great but I think you can see the sheen of the Berroco Lustra [colour 3156] in the photo above. The yarn was quite difficult to work with since it splices often. The effect of the yarn, however, makes it worthwhile to deal with the splitting since the sheen and drape is irrefutable.  I was hoping to get some photos of Mom actually wearing the cardigan so I will continue to work on that – it did fit her well, though.

Overall, I am very happy with this sweater. I would sort of like one for myself but I’m not sure I can cope with all of the St st again. I enjoyed working the raglan decreases in one piece – it made the finishing work minimal since weaving in ends doesn’t take long. I loved that the button band was knit along with it – no picking up for more finishing work at the end. You can tell I was anxious to have it finished!

One note about this colour of Lustra – it bleeds. As I was knitting, it stained my wooden needles and a cream shirt I was wearing while it rested on my lap. Beware! I have instructed my mom to wear dark colours underneath until I can get some colour-seal wash for it.

-r.