Sunday, July 29, 2007

Not Much Knitting

This is supposed to be a knitting blog.

Are you surprised? I wouldn't be surprised if you were since there has been very little knitting shown on here lately. I seem to be knitting and knitting and knitting but I don't seem to ever have anything to show.

I am in the great hole of knitting! Help me!!

To help myself out a bit I decided to knit a pair of mitts from Mission Falls Smittens. They are a quick knit since Mission Falls is Worsted Weight Wool. I am almost finished the second mitt so I will have them modelled for you soon. I am doing the pattern Dizzy but of course I have chosen my own colourway and I am flipping the colours on the other mitt.



So the top will be orange and the bottom will be blue. Mission Falls is fabulous superwash wool and I am enjoying knitting with it. I may be doing more in between diving into the knitting pit of no results.

And since that is all I have to show you I would like to show you my sister's scarf. All she has to do is add the fringe and she is done. It is from a book I have in the shop but I can't remember which one I will post it as soon as I find out.

It is so soft! Knit with 3 yarns together. The 3 yarns are Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, Collinette Silk and Collinette Mohair.

Yum!




I just love this close up! Doesn't it look luscious! OOh....I want to touch it now. I guess I will just have to make one for myself


....sometime....I feel the pull of the pit! No! I will not go into it until the second mitt is finished and I have taken dozens of stylish photos!

Off to the beach on Georgian Bay tomorrow. Heat wave escape for sure. Will I knit?
You will have to wait and see!

Friday, July 27, 2007

A Big Thanks!

Today a new customer to Kniterary told me that she found out about the store by a local (to me) blogger who thought very highly of my store and chose to write about it on her (his) blog.

I want to thank who ever that was!! I want to thank anyone else who has sent people my way too!!

Summer at Kniterary is going smoothly and if this is the slow season for knitting I am very excited to get to the busy season!

Fall yarns will be arriving starting in mid-August so keep checking the web site!

I am almost finished planning fall classes as well. So keep an eye open for them too!

Again, thank you so much for spreading the word!!

Friday, July 20, 2007

My Haliburton Creativity

After finishing the last post the computer hard drive decided it was time to leave this world. Finally, after a quick burial and replacement, I was able to download the few pictures that I took in my Haliburton class Knitting - Inspiration and Beyond with Fiona Ellis.

The Haliburton School of Art is affiliated with Fleming College in Haliburton Village. The campus itself is amazing. The class I took was not located at the main campus but during the Thursday evening walk about I got over to visit it. It is full of light and great studios for printing, jewellery and glass blowing and more.

I was at the high school and luckily the class was in the air conditioned portion of the school. My daughter was in a non-air conditioned portion and it was very warm.

The week was very full of inspiration and information. It was exactly what I was wanting. It covered creativity, surface design development, swatching and guidance in developing the surface design into a finished item.

One of the first things we did on Monday morning was head outside with our sketch pads to look at trees etc... From what we saw we were to choose something that inspired us and make a quick sketch for reference. Since I have been looking at trees and seeing cables for the past three (or so) years that is what I did. The original sketch is on the page in the middle of the below picture.


From that sketch I blocked out 1 area I wanted to develop and went from there. It grew into a graph which I swatched in the yellow yarn then in the white yarn as a sweater idea. With Fiona's help I was able to keep the process moving forward so that I actually ended the week with game plans for 3 garments in different weight yarns and with different mutations.



Fiona and student.
Fiona is wearing a beautiful silk shawl that she knit.

As I write about the week I am realizing that there doesn't seem to be much to impart. Believe me that my brain was near to exploding with info and development ideas at the end of the week. Writing my own patterns has always interested me and now I feel as if I will be able to move forward in that direction more easily.

Right now I have all my sketches and swatches put up around me in me store office. I just purchased some Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed in colour 04 to do the sweater swatch in once again.

Now the trick is to be able to be inspired while living life instead of the rarefied environment of the Haliburton School of Art.
Thank goodness Fiona also gave us tips on sparking creativity! I am going to need them!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

The Memorable Camping Experience

When I last posted I was off to enjoy a week of camping and knitting in Haliburton.

The knitting with Fiona Ellis was inspiring, invigorating and extremely enjoyable.

The camping in Haliburton was... memorable....to say the least.

I will tell you about the workshop and the incredible Fiona next time.
This time...camping....
On Sunday we arrived at our camp ground in good spirits and with great plans.

We were informed that a black bear had been visiting the camp site in the evenings and if we observed the bear etiquette (do not corner it and do not get between a mother and its cub) we should be OK. Bears are shy of humans and will not attack if not put in a position to defend themselves.

Then I asked why there was a great big hole in the ground beside the main office. I was told that this was the last year they would be operating as a campground and that construction on the model for the cottages that would be for sale next year was under way.

I says to myself..." OK...Bears and construction....We can deal with this."




So on we go to our assigned campsite to pitch the tents. Jim to pitch the two sleeping tent and the children and I to pitch the Kitchen tent. Things went well for us for about 20 minutes. Then while pounding in the Kitchen tent stakes Patrick hits a water line. Water starts gushing up from the ground like oil flooding our campsite. The problem was reported and fixed within a half and hour. Whew. We finish setting up, have a bit of play time and supper. Ah the good outdoors life!





Once darkness started to fall we lit a camp fire and got out our marshmallows to roast.




And settled in for a relaxing evening. (The knitting project bag there on my chair is all you will see of knitting in this post.)



The children had eaten a good half a dozen marshmallows when we heard a fellow camper yell, "BEAR". We turned around and there it was lumbering across the open game field. Probably about 4 feet high on all fours. We picked up the bag of marshmallows and high tailed it to the kitchen tent, realized that having marshmallows was not a good thing so Jim ran and locked it in the car while the bear was across the camp ground.

After standing in the kitchen tent for about a half hour watching this bear amble around we decided that we would forgo our nightly ablutions and rushed into our sleeping tents to tremble unseen by the bear.


Then the Thunderstorms started. Loud, Loud, Loud thunder and blinding lightning and a bear wandering around. Compounded with one leaking tent. Sleep? Not much.


Day one.... Water, bear and thunderstorms.

Day two...Construction, early to bed before the bear arrived,rain.


Day three....Bear wanderings, I get stung by a wasp two times while on a late night bathroom visit so lie awake afraid I am going to swell up like a balloon or stop breathing or be eaten by bear.


Day four...Construction, early to bed again before the bear,Thunder storm (with a tornado watch in effect)
We find out on this day that the resort that is right next door to our campground has three garbage dumpsters that never get closed . Up to eight bears visit them nightly. We also find out that some idiot in our campground did not dispose of his food correctly so the visiting bear has had a feast of steak and corn and cookies and strawberries. The bear is sure to keep coming back.


Day five....We awake to find damage done to our kitchen tent by the bear. We left a bar of soap in the tent he smelled it and investigated. After Rhea and I go off to our day of fun and learning Jim finds claw marks on the top of the tent as well. Yes, standing up the bear is about 8 feet tall.


Jim is a practical man and had had enough. He booked us into a motel for our last evening in the area. The only room left was a room with a hot tub right beside the heated pool. We cleared out our stuff but left the tents standing for the night. We spent the night relaxing and learning to laugh about the tense last four nights.

Ahh Beds.



Day five...Jim and Patrick went to break camp while Rhea and I went off to our last day of fun and found a further damaged kitchen tent.
We will have to throw it out.
Thank the gods we were not there.

To summarize: Construction, broken water pipe, bears,wasp stings, thunderstorms, tornado watch, tent damage.

We took a vote...no more camping for us.

Stealth Bomber Moth


This moth took up residence in the men's washroom one day at the camp ground.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Mary Maxim at the Museum!




.

On our last day in Winnipeg we visited the Manitoba Museum and I finally got some knitting content! They have one display on Mary Maxim in the Manitoba crafts section. She started her yarn company in Sifton Manitoba. That is all I can find out about the history of Mary Maxim. I remember that her catalogues regularily came to our house when I was a child and I would scrutinize them from cover to cover. The sweater jackes seen hanging in the display are the main type of pattern associated with Mary Maxim.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Patrick The Graduate

Back on June 21st Patrick made the leap out of primalry school! Next year grade 9 and High School! He got his first suit and dress shoes and looked very handsome indeed.


Pat with his Grade 8 diploma!


Last year Rhea was taller than Patrick. He had a year of growth spurts along with his growing maturity and deepening voice. My babes are becoming adults. I am so proud!



Ok, someone tell me when he got taller than me! I knew he was taller than Rhea but I am the Mommy!! I am supposed to be taller! This will probably be the last dance I have with my son until he gets married. Sigh,

Congratulations Patrick!

Winnipeg Assiniboine Park

We were off to Winnipeg on June 28th and took time to visit Assiniboine Park on the 29th. I took quite a few pictures of the flowers and sculpture by Leo Moll.

Here are 2 pictures of the many. Next post I will show you more. The garden is a beautiful part of the park.



Water Lily



Close up of an Alum flower.