Just a friendly face from the Garden. They always make me smile.
Have a Great Day!
Lynette
Category: photography
-
Bead Knits
On the subject of beads….
It can be said with some authority that I am more than a little obsessed with beads and the many possibilities they offer for embellishment on our knits. It is more than a pity that our society really isn’t so much into the glittering styles of the past! I would so rock those days!
Rhiannon – knit with Buffalo Wool Co Sexy yarn and 20,000 + 24 k gold dipped delicas and crystals. Knitting with beads – There are several methods for placing a bead onto knitted fabric: between the stitches, on one arm of the stitch or on both arms of the stitch. Some methods require that the beads be strung on the knitting yarn before knitting. Some are placed on the stitch as it is knit and others are added after the work is finished. The size of bead will determine whether it can be placed on the stitch or whether it needs a separate strand. If you are planning to use thousands of beads on a project, do work a sampler first to determine the most efficient method of working the beads. When stringing beads make sure that there are no knots in the yarn.
Pre-strung beads used for loops and beads placed between stitches in a garter stitch background. Traditional bead knitting -The bead is placed on one arm of the stitch. All beads need to be pre-strung and if using multiple colours they need to be pre-strung in reverse order.
Bead knit gloves, mitts, gauntlets and jewelery! 
A bead is placed on an arm of each stitch, as you are knitting through the back of the loop. This style of knitting will have a tendency to bias. This is not a problem if the fabric is knit circularly. (Which is the only way I will tackle it!) Most Victorian purses were worked circularly and the biasing was not readily noticeable. The other advantage of working circularly is that you do not need to work a purl stitch through the back (try purling through the back of a loop and placing a bead at the same time!) Bead knitting used to be worked with small (think micro) seed beads and silk or cotton thread and very fine steel needles. There are still knitters who work in this way.
I work bead knitting with small beads (not micro) and fine yarns – lace or fingering weight yarns (not threads) and small needles, anything from 2.0mm US#0 to 2.75mm US 2. I haven’t done any bead knitting for quite a while. I have taught both styles of bead knitting but always had a hard time convincing others that working traditional bead knitting was worth the effort!
I still use a lot of beads in my knitting but they are mostly placed with a small crochet hook, and not always pre-strung as in traditional bead knitting.
So, when I decided to knit a pair of gloves with some beautiful new yarn I also decided to knit myself a beautiful bead knit edge for those new gloves.
Beautiful Alpaca fingering weight yarn – a soft pinky/lavender grey melange. I am seeing a short beaded gauntlet with either short finger gloves or mitts! But maybe I won’t be able to resist the lure of a proper pair of gloves! These gloves are my “swatch” for the yarn. From this I can learn about the yarns strength, how or if it has a “halo”. How much will it stretch (alpaca has no memory – so if it stretches it won’t go back). And I have something useful at the end of the knit. Many of my hats are gauge swatches. A trick that Elizabeth Zimmermann suggests as a means to learn your yarn and create something useful at the same time!
The yarn is a breeze to knit with. And yes, there is a lovely halo. The yarn is also handling the weight of the beads without too much obvious stretch. So I will continue on, and isn’t it a beautiful colour?
I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a workshop this summer to learn how to bead knit…. I would love to lead you down the garden path and introduce you to another side of working with beads and knitting!?
Check out the Orchid! It is still kicking and has opened some new blossoms!
Happy Knitting!
Lynette
-
Free Patterns
Here are a few of my free patterns that I have loaded up onto the site just for you to download as you please. All gathered up onto a single page.
If the downloads do not work – please let me know. I have tested the links but things do happen.
If it is purple I designed the hats for the purple hat campaign. The orange poncho is called Tears for the Children. To commemorate the lost children of the Residential Schools.
The fair-isle hat, Filigree, was me playing with colours – as an exercise. I was so pleased with the results that I wrote it up as a pattern. The teddy bear vests were teaching opportunities. The Salmon Run hat was again playing with a new to me yarn – to see what it could do!
The Hurry Up Hat might be my most popular Ravelry pattern. For starters, it is free! And it is a very fast knit. Perfect for last minute gifts or for knitting hats for the homeless with your scraps. Practically Perfect is the same kind of hat but knit in a colourful worsted weight yarn and really designed for beginning hat knitters!
I hope that you find something you like!
Happy Knitting
Lynette
-
Domestic Goddess
I am not! Are you?
I have a friend who will decide to be a domestic goddess for the weekend and knock off her housework all at once! I am not that person. But I envy her ability just to decide to “do It”!
I – when I am feeling the urge – am a hit and miss type of house keeper. When the urge hits I will putter around and clean corners or objects very thoroughly. And then move onto the next thing that catches my eye. Seldom do I finish any one room all at once.
The last year has been more miss than hit.
But I am starting to actually feel like maybe I want to clean up and start fresh on some things. I got rid of the dead plants this morning… and bought some new ones. A beautiful white orchid and a small hydrangea. I will keep you posted on how well the orchid does – my history with them is very spotty!
I like to buy flowering plants instead of bouquets. They last longer and may actually continue to grow. Though I haven’t been paying enough attention lately.
It’s not that I don’t know how to clean house. I paid my way through a year of university cleaning professors homes. That included anything and everything. I polished brass and silver! Cleaned windows with newsprint and vinegar or with windex as directed. Washed floors and cleaned bathrooms! It really left me feeling like housekeeping is one of those unforgiving jobs. No matter how often or how well you clean the house, it never stops needing to be cleaned!
Any tips or tricks to share? I am all ears.
Tip #1 – I have been told by many that the trick is to never let it go too long between cleans. Then it is much easier. I get that, but I would rather KNIT! That is most likely the crux of my problem.
Happy Easter from my about to be cleaned up Home! LOL!
Lynette
Happy Easter! -
Glory in the Snow
Yarn is my Happy Place. Knitting with yarn is the perfect expression of my state of mind. Knitting with yarn that is new to me and often has been gifted to me is my idea of perfection!
I am in my heart a lace knitter – it is one of the most beautiful expressions that can be created by two sticks and some string. And right now I am extra Happy!
Yesterday Angela Beltane of Widdershin Farm, which is just outside of Duncan, gifted me with some of her BFL, Blue Faced Leicester, fingering weight yarn… enough for a large shawl. I am thinking a large Pi shawl! This yarn is soft and glossy and Oh so smooth!
The Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) is a remarkable breed of sheep that traces its origins back to the eighteenth century in Dishley, Leicestershire, United Kingdom. Let’s delve into the fascinating details of these woolly creatures:
- Appearance:
- BFL sheep have a distinctive blue-gray face, which gives them their name.
- Their ears are long, and their fleece is curly and fine.
- Unlike other woolly breeds, they lack wool on their heads and necks.
- The Roman noses of Bluefaced Leicesters reveal dark blue skin beneath their white hair.
- Wool Quality:
- Their wool is one of the softest among UK sheep breeds.
- Fleeces weigh between 1 to 3 kilograms (2.2 to 6.6 pounds).
- Although not heavy, their wool is lustrous and prized for its quality.
It is going to be gorgeous. I took the day off of my other projects – dress knitting, class knitting and future planning to play with my new yarn.
Umm, just ignore the mistake in the first round of eyelets! I am! LOL! Today is one of my day’s off and it is rainy and gray and the perfect kind of day to knit! Rainy days also produce some lovely photographic opportunities! Check out the Scilla (Glory in the Snow) from the garden. They are the inspiration, and name, for my Pi Shawl, one of my favourite shapes for a shawl. A PI Shawl is circular and can be as big as you can knit! It is going to be full of floral, water and leaf motifs!
I am going to work from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s basic Pi Shawl tutorial and fill it full of my own patterns!
Can’t you just see crystal beads on the shawl? Just like the flowers! Happy Days! Happy Knitting!
Lynette
- Appearance:
-
The Year Ahead
Last week we had one of the most colourful sunrises ever! My husband dragged me out and we raced down to Departure Bay Beach to capture the colours and light before the show ended! I hope that it is a promise of things to come!
2023 is already shaping up to be an interesting year.
I have signed up for the Sweet Paprika / SmallBird Workshop Yarn Box Club. This is a continuation of my own exploration into breed specific yarns as each box contains yarn, natural and dyed, from a specific sheep breed. Information about the yarn, breed, source, best uses etc. plus there will be zoom meetings about each box. I decided to join just as they ran out of the first run of boxes – of course! But this week they added some more subscriptions so I am in – I am very stoked about this.
Every two months there will be a new box with the first one arriving mid-February! Six new yarns, and new ideas always come with new yarns. Today is the last day to sign up for the full shot!
As well, Tom and I are going on a very small cruise – as in small boat, local waters exploration! The trip is around the end of May and we going to see and do things that we have never tried before.
MotherShip Adventures specialize in Kayak Cruises (I am not a kayaker – a little too up close and personal), but they also do a couple of smaller cruises for history / photography buffs. We are going on one of these. The history and geography of Discovery Islands, Bute Inlet and Desolation Sound will be the focus of our tour. Hiking, zodiak trips and small island adventures await us. Hopefully lots of whale viewing and other wild life encounters! This will be a unique opportunity for us to discover more about our environment and enjoy a very up close and personal journey into the maritime history of B.C.
The boat is the Columbia III and was originally a hospital ship that serviced the small communities that dotted the rugged coast of B.C. It was totally renovated and restored to become the tour boat that it is today!
Of course there is always knitting and designing. That will never stop. More patterns, more yarns, ie – the yarn boxes offer intriguing opportunities. I am developing some designs for Gathering Yarns. This is an exciting new opportunity for me, new yarns, working with a Canadian Co. I am the first designer that they have worked with and I hope that we both have a great experience.
Below are th new patterns that I will be releasing over the next few weeks! Multiple hats, a new Salish Sea Sweater Pattern – this one the Great Bear! and a new shawl, complete with a lovely wide beaded edging!
We will also be starting classes up again at Mad About Ewe! I do love teaching people to see the amazing possibilities that can be created by yarn and needles. So, as always, knitting will be the focus and creative outlet of the year ahead!
I hope that your Year ahead is happy and healthy and full of the things that make you happy!
Lynette
-
On the Topic of Buttons
Do you have a button box? Or better yet your Mother’s or Grandmother’s button box? Do you use them? Or simply admire them? I do both.
My Mother’s box was lost to time and just one too many moves. It was a huge glass jar that I loved to look through. She didn’t do much sewing, but she would knit occasionally. Like me I think that she just loved buttons.
But my boxes are pretty full. Collected over my time of sewing, knitting and well, collecting buttons! I love buttons! They are a fabulous item that can just add that perfect touch to your finished garment or they can be applied as embellishments. Adding buttons to button bands, or as design details is the one aspect of finishing my knitted pieces that I actually enjoy! I have also used shell buttons as embellishments in many of my knits – I love their sheen and the way they pick up the colours of the yarn.
My button collection! This morning I was busy finishing off a childs vest – Reindeer Vest – that I had Jana knit up in Patagonia Organic Merino as a store sample. I also got her to knit the doll vest – Mini Reindeer Vest – as well. The original set was my Grandson’s Christmas Gift a couple of years ago. The Mini Reindeer Vest is a free pattern and will fit most medium dolls or bears! The Reindeer Vest is 50% off right now until Nov 30. Use the code Reindeer.
It was a good thing I found a few button options for the vest as I was scrambling through my button box looking for some buttons! I started to sew on my original choice of button – I thought they were a nice bright red – I realized that the red buttons were really pink – bad early morning lighting! So, I went with another option!
Not a bad thing to have a button box at hand as buttons seem to be a little scarce right now!
It has been a good week, beautiful sunrises and sunsets at Departure Bay Beach. Roses still in bloom on the Promenade and always knitting.
Be Well and Knit Happy!
Lynette
-
There’s a Little Spring in My Step
It is official – Spring is happening here. The Indian Plum bushes are starting to green out and the birds are singing a bright and happy song. This is the time of renewal and rebirth; of flowers and leaves emerging from the dark earth; of ideas bursting forth from our heads and fingers in much the same way!
My brain is buzzing with idea’s tried and new ones waiting! I have yarn to knit and patterns to write – but the knitting is calling out more loudly. Old projects are begging to be finished and the new projects are waiting impatiently for their turn. While I contemplate how to bring order to my ideas I watch the world outside my windows change with the the advent of Spring.
Squash Blossom Dreams in Buffalo Wool Co. Sexy, hand-dyed by Lorna’s Laces is on the short list to be finished this year. The Robin’s next door are busy building their nest in the evergreen ivy on the tree out side the window and I love watching them flit back and forth as they bring bits of string, grass and tiny twigs that all disappear into the green leaves of the Ivy. These Robins have been coming back for many years – I imagine that they are the same birds – and build their nest in the same spot every year.
We walked around Buttertubs Marsh this morning. It was humming with life, birds, robins, starlings, chickadees, Canada geese, mallard and white headed ducks mostly, but I watched a fat brown squirrel as he leisurely crossed the path in front of us. He did a good job feeding himself over the winter! The people were out too! “Good morning’s” and “Hi’s” making the air happy, and the smiles on most faces, those smiles, making the heart happy!
I have just about finished work on a big project and I am starting to look forward to and plan the next project. I can’t say much about the big project – except that it involves a big yarn company, pretty yarns and quite a few patterns!
Butterflies and Bees Hat under construction. 
Butterflies and Bees Cowl The next yarn project will involve finishing up a couple of shawls. One I haven’t looked at for over 2 years and the other I started last year! In between I will be working on patterns for the hats I started last fall! Oh Yeah, and the Japanese Lace cowl and hat that I sort of snuck in there! No rest for the wicked! And I do so love doing what I do!
I have been receiving a great deal of support for my creative journey lately – and from some new and unexpected sources! Life is good!
I hope that you are all well and moving forward in your individual creative journeys.
Happy Creating
Lynette
-
Summer Things
July 6th was our 25th wedding anniversary and the Covid restrictions loosened just enough so we could have our celebration in the back yard. My husband had been working on this event for almost 2 years, continuing to plan and hope all the way through Covid! Many of the original attendees plus family and friends all came for dinner under a couple of tents. It was a wonderful time. We were all so glad to be visiting and sharing the ours stories from the last 16 months. For many, especially our senior relatives it was their first time out in months!
Then we went on a short trip to Kelowna in the Okanagan. We stayed at the Eldorado Hotel on the Lake and had an absolutely wonderful time. Swimming in the morning, reading or visiting in the afternoon and eating most of our meals on the Lakeside Boardwalk of the Hotel! The service was wonderful – there was a beautiful little cake waiting for us in our room! The room was comfortable and air conditioned – very important in the heat!
Our second evening we went out to Mission Hills Winery for a special dinner on the Terrace Restaurant – wine and good food – what a fabulous pairing! I really love the Mission Hill grounds. Every view is beautiful and there is Fine Art everywhere. It was what artists call The Golden Hour as we were leaving – so beautiful.
Their store is fabulous, full of unique items and of course wonderful wine. I purchased a new cookbook – Wine Lover’s Cookbook by Fiona Beckett It has great pictures (it has to have great pictures) and appears to have quite a few promising recipes. We also purchased some Rose for the wine rack.
On Friday afternoon I did a Show and Tell at the Kelowna Yarn and Needle Craft Shop! The ladies and I had a wonderful time! I showed off some of my knits and told the stories behind the items. The ladies got to play with the samples and try things on. It was a win/win for us all. I hope to go back in a year or so and maybe teach a workshop.
The only thing that we didn’t get to do was take a trip on the Kettle Valley Train. It was cancelled a few days before due to the high fire risk in the Valley, well all over B.C. right now. Sparks from the wheels and rails could ignite a fire! That will be a definite for next time!
I am about a week away (maybe a little more) from finishing the Sundail Shawl. The extreme heat we had delayed its progress and did the trip to the Okanagan, but it is looking great! I am organizing the prizes and can hardly wait to get the High Summer KAL started. I have been collecting pictures of my favourite flowers and have ordered another colour of beads for the shawl. Well if my idea works there will be some more beads added to the shawl. As you know, beads are always optional!
Be well and knit Happy
Lynette
PS The test knitter for Crystalline is working on the edging now! It won’t be long before it is released!
-
Tri Leaf Moebius
Tri Leaf Moebius is the twelfth pattern in the Just Playing Around Ebook.
The yarn is Schoppel-Wolle Cashmere Zauber, a lovely soft blend of merino and cashmere. The colour gradation is long and slow so that the lace pattern is not impacted by the colour changes, only enhanced.
This pattern would look great in a solid. A soft alpaca or cashmere from your stash perhaps.
A Moebius is a very entertaining knit. The cast-on and first round can be a little fiddly but the result is so worth it. The moebius shaping paired with a soft yarn creates an interestingly graceful cowl.
The garden is growning and the flowers are blooming. The Poppy is done, as is the Clematis, But the Dianthus is blooming for the first time ever. I moved it from the front yard, where the deer ate every bud just before blooming, to the back yard where this year it is putting on a stellar show.
The guilty party – isn’t he handsome though! He lives in the lot next door a great deal on the time.
Be well and knit Happy!
Lynette
