We went for a walk at Hemer Park this morning. Hemer Park is beautiful all year round. Ducks, Swans, Yellow Iris, Indian Pipe, Beavers and birds, so many birds. But this the time of year that the Swans start to show up!
I had been hoping to see a swan or two this morning, I had seen them many times before, but that was not to be this time. We saw a few in a field driving home from Duncan on Wednesday! So I was hopeful.
It was beautifully sunny in Nanaimo as we headed out. But as we got closer to the south end of town and Cedar it got foggier – like pea-soup fog!
So instead of swans we saw a different kind of beauty. Fog enshrouded tree tops, ducks floating across invisible water, modern art as interpreted by drowning trees, burbling water across dead marshland and that awe inspiring quiet that comes with a foggy day!
The sun was trying its best to clear the fog, but the fog remained, grey and all encompassing. So quiet and so serene.
The fog was all encompassing,it was above us,and all around us.The sun almost made it through.The only noise was the burbling of water.The ducks seems to float across the water.Fungi emergingA green goddess bridge, fallen and twisted.Natures crown – lichen.Reflections and reality, modern art on the water.Still foggy as we left.
The colours made me want to pull out a range of yarns, in greys, blue grey, green grey, golden grey and every shade in between. Those colours, they could be the base of a new fair-isle hat design, that seems to be floating around my head.
Right now I am working on a few different ideas. A cabled hat, a dress and a shawl (both have been hibernation for too long), a headband, a couple of sweaters, and way too many others projects that need assessment!
I think this one exceeds the sum of its parts! What do you think? More pictures below.
Quickie Update
Well it is obvious that Quickie needs a new name. For starters it really wasn’t that quick and really it doesn’t suit the beauty that this project turned into! It is blocking right now – and I am rushing it along with a few blasts of warm air from the blow dryer so that I can share some pictures.
So lets have a little competition. I am looking for a name for this very pretty, textured, and quite happy shawl. It has beautiful stripes highlighted with waves of lace patterning and is finished with cheerful, bouncy bobbles! I think that it has quite the playful vibe. The winner can pick one of my patterns on Ravelry and I will gift it to you! (You would need to be on Ravelry for this as I would need a rav name to send it to!) So put your thinking caps on and come up with something that you think appropriate.
I cannot say enough great things about the Poema Stripes yarn that I used for this. The colours move beautifully and the merino is very soft and bouncy. It made for a very satisfying knit. This yarn is not cheap, but at 150 grs and 450m, there was value for the cost. It is a non superwash which was important to me as well. Some other things on my knitting list (you know the one – it is never ending), were pushed to the side while I played with this yarn. The way this yarn has been spun is amazing. The average yardage in 300grs of worsted weight wool is approx 600m or 660yds. Poema has 900m, which makes for a very light, but cozy shawl.
Basic Stats: 300 grs, or 900M worsted weight yarn, 5.5mm US#9 long circular needle. The bind-off round took almost 35 -40grs (approx 100 – 120 yds) of yarn. I had only 13 grs left after the bind-off. Bobbles do eat up yardage. The pattern will need to be updated, but that might take a while. It was approx 50 inches by 18 inches before blocking. After a relaxed blocking; it was wet blocked but not pinned or stretched, just smoothed out onto the towels. After a relaxed blocking it was 68 inches long and 22 inches wide. Each lace pattern measures 4inches across.
The bobbles as a closures was a complete fluke! But it looks deliberate! Sometimes in design things just happen!I chose bobbles for the border simply because I think of them as happy and fun and a little playful. Which is how I think of this piece.
Next Year at Mad About Ewe
I have been working on the theme for next years classes at Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns and I think I have come up with a bit of theme. I am going to spend the year looking at socks. I haven’t designed any in a while and there seems to be a renewed interest in knitting the more interesting kinds. So are you interested in socks? Did you try them and go “never again”, or did you become hooked?
When I started knitting socks I think I knit over a hundred pairs of heavy socks to give away, sell and wear. Once I move onto 4-ply socks the knitting slowed down, but I still have over 20 pairs in my sock drawer that are worn in rotation. This way very few of them wear out. I also have a few pairs umm, only half done or some just started – It is the way of socks.
There are sooo many options for socks; different heels, classic, dutch, afterthought, short-rowed and toes, box, blossom, grafted; different ways of construction including top-down and toe-up, with double points, long circs, short circs etc. Tube Socks (perfect for kids), Spiral Socks, Work Socks, Dress Socks, Slip-Stitch Socks and even the lowly basic sock, which takes on a new life in all of the fabulous socks yarns we have today.
I love the Fall, the changing of the leaves, the cooling of the temperatures and even the way the skies darken so much earlier. Even in the Fall the lingering flowers have great beauty. I have been watching the hydrangea in my new place slowly fade as the cold progresses and isn’t it beautiful?
Last Wednesday I was out at Rathtrevor with a friend. It was glorious, the wind was howling, the waves had whitecaps and the clouds were racing across the sky. There were a couple of kite surfers on the water and we watched them for a while. The eagles and gulls were gliding on the winds and the small birds were darting around the tangled rose bushes. It was an amazingly exhilarating walk! It started to rain just as we left. What a day.
Are you a soup person? I have noticed that some people don’t like soups. I love soup. I could easily have soup every day for lunch, even in the Summer. Soup with crackers, soup with bread, soup with croutons – just soup!
I baked a ham earlier in the week so I am currently making a stock with the bone and vegetables and herbs. I will most likely make a pot of split pea soup this evening. Something for lunches this week at work. There should be enough broth for me to freeze so that I can make a pot of split pea soup another weekend. Ham, at the end of the day, is a very economical purchase and now-a-days that is important. It does dinner, breakfast and lunches and then offers up a couple of meals of soup!
Happy Knitting! I am hoping for a few good names to show up!
It is time to start thinking about Christmas Knitting. I made a few of these Shetland Stars last year. I think that I will knit some more this year.
Well I am at that point where a decision needs to be made! I have enough yarn to cast-off nicely or I need another ball to make a bigger shawl.
I am really leaning towards another ball. Right now I am at about 12 inches wide and about 5 feet long, without minor blocking. I really do not want to block it at all! I will lose all of that glorious texture – so make it bigger so I do not have to block at all!
While I have been considering my options – I was also knitting the November Hat for the Year of Hats. Meet Bobbity, especially created for Angie who really wanted to learn how to knit bobbles! I think this will fit the bill!
Bobbity was knit with Estelle Yarns Highland Alpaca Tweed Chunky. A lovely alpaca/wool blend chunky, new this year.
This morning we went for a walk around Neck Point Park. It was the perfect morning, perfectly clear skies and a gleaming sun reflecting off the water. Neck Point has long been one of my favourite walks. We lived close to it when we first moved to to town, 35 years ago. It wasn’t even an official park then. I used to take the kids there when they were little and we would have picnics. Such a beautiful place.
I hope that you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving Day as well1
2025 is fast approaching and I am looking forward towards a calmer year, with less sadness and more joy, with more opportunities looked for and more chances taken.
1/4 inch tall this small treasure caught my eye as I walked past a trunk with a large opening at the bottom was this flash of white. Turned out it was this tiny mushroom, glowing white in the shadows.
Now sure where this month went. It has flown on by since my last post, which was the first of the month and now it is close to the end of the month.
I turned 65 this month. Not sure what that means to others, but for me it is a reminder that life is getting shorter. (I have been told that it means I am old! LOL!) So, If I want to try something new I should do it sooner, seek it out, rather than waiting for it to show up! It also doesn’t mean quitting working, it does mean changing how I work. I am lucky to have a job I love. The same job I have been working for the last 24 – 25 years. Working at Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns in Nanaimo, helping, teaching other knitters to stretch their skills and take the chance to create what they want. Teaching, sharing my knowledge and experience of working with different yarns, to help others chose the best yarns for their projects. And always playing, there are always new tools, needles and yarn to try.
Perhaps this is my knitting Motto!
Working at Mad About Ewe has brought so much joy and so many opportunities. While working, I was encouraged by my customers to try new things as well. I joined Ravelry thanks to Liz who thought that my teaching patterns would work well on Ravelry! She had to suggest it more than once, and she brought in her friends to add their support of the idea, as I was reluctant.
Liz and company were correct. Through posting my patterns on Ravelry and the feedback garnered there, I gained confidence and continued to expand my designing reach.
I entered competitions and expanded my reach in that way. One competition lead me to designing for Vogue Knitting and another started me designing for the Buffalo Wool Co. Others offered up only experience – sometimes the best of the options.
I want to do more, try more, and work with more yarns. I need to reach out more, take more chances. I started in a small way this year – next year I will try more.
I have been asked if I will retire, not yet, perhaps never! Retirement – who needs retirement – by some standards, doing the job you have always wanted when you retire – I have been retired for the last 25 years! One change to the job is that I only work 4 days a week instead of 5. That was supposed to give me more time to knit! But life this last year had other plans!
I will never stop knitting – so working in a vanguard store – one that brings me new yarn and opportunities is not something to give up.
Next year – I will add more things, more ideas, more plans!
I didn’t walk much this year – that will change. I will make the time. I found I really missed the walking and the grounding it gave me.
Next Year, it is waiting for everyone! Change is waiting! Joy and hope are waiting! What are we waiting for!?
This morning Tom and I went for a walk around parts of Bowen Park, mostly around the Millstream River. We wanted to see how the heavy rains had affected the flow! And had they ever!.
I have wonderful friends, many made through my work. One friend, Angie, did this fabulous sketch of Sophie, from one of my photographs. I had it framed. Thank-you Angie. Such a wonderful gift.
There has been a lot of knitting this month, mostly gifts.
December is the month that I devote to the gift making part of knitting life. Not everyone gets the gift I want to give, sometimes, most times, I have to pick and choose who gets a knitted gift. I make many hats and small accessories, and I love to make Christmas ornaments. This year I am making Shetland Stars.
I wanted to make a garland for my daughter, but I have only made a few. So I will make a few more next year.
Stars before and after blocking.
Have you noticed that there is never enough time to acknowledge to ones you care for in a way that means something to you both?
I think that the best gift is time. It is the hardest to find and the most expensive to give. It is also the gift most treasured by both the recipient and giver! Oh for more time!
I hope that you have had a great year. I wish a wonderful year ahead. I wish you the time you need. I wish you nothing but happiness!
It was a very productive, very busy long weekend here. We were Grand-dog sitting and I was working on a pattern. We binged some tv and generally had a quiet weekend.
In the past I created the charts for my patterns with the Word program on my computer. I beat it into submission (maybe it beat me into submission! LOL! ) and learned how to create charts for cables and colourwork. I considered it an Ok system, not perfect, but serviceable!
A few years ago I discovered Stitchmastery and It is much more than serviceable! Stitchmastery is a software tool for designers that allows the designer to create beautiful charts. The learning curve was a bit of a challenge at first. It still is, but I am learning more about what Stitchmastery can do every time I use it!
So this weekend i decided to work on a set of charts for my next release in my Salish Sea Collection, Spirit Bear! The transfer is going along fabulously. I took the biggest chart, the back, it required 4 pages to create with word and took it down to one page using Stitchmastery! I was so thrilled with those results! The rest of the pattern will go much faster as I learned all the shortcuts as I worked on the back chart!
Maybe I will finish the rest of the charts for Spirit Bear off this coming weekend!
We walked the dogs, Sophie, our 13 year old beagle and Alfie, my daughters 3 year old, at a beach every morning this weekend, Piper’s Lagoon, Neck Point and Departure Bay beach. Every morning was glorious – grey and foggy and sometimes even a little wet! The tide was out and that gave the dogs so much beach to run on every morning. It was a great start for them and for Tom and I.
Check out my walk around Neck Point on Sunday, always one of my favourites. We were there around 7:00am. See the beauty of the fog, the soft greys of the sky and the colours of the foliage. See how calm the sea was. It was a beautiful morning.
A profusion of Turkey Tail Fungi!My favourite view in the park, always!The skies might be varied shades of grey but check out the mix of fall colours in the foliage.The poA lone eagle in the distanceThe point at Pipers Lagoon and Shack Island through the fog.More fall foliage!Beach debris.I do love the Fall foliage! I never seem to tire of the shades the nature creates, just by changing the temperatures!
On Monday I made a blackberry pie with some frozen berries. It was like a little bit of Summer had come for a visit!
We still have five batches of berries frozen for pie. It will keep the Winter at bay.
How as your long weekend? Was it productive? Or was it lazy? It is sometimes hard to decide which is best!
The link above will take you to Walk B.C. review of the estuary, which includes a map. Their information is a little outdated, as a great deal of work has been done to restore the area back to the natural state of the estuary. There are new, informative signs and a couple of lookout areas. The blackberry bushes and man made berms are gone.
This how we started our morning. From the glorious sunrise outside our door to the perfect last bit of blooming Queen Anne’s Lace. I hope that you enjoy the walk…
We always try to get there around this time of year to get the best effect from these amazing trees. While there are some small rhododendrons, many of the plants here are very old, as the Grove was started back in 1960’s. Most of the trees and flowers tower over my head!
The colour and aroma of the flowers are myriad. The shapes of both flowers and trunks are interesting. The trunks are very smooth and a little twisted. You can see how they grew extending out towards the sun as they went.
Some of the flowers here are hybrids that may not be seen anywhere else. The range is remarkable. While The Grove shows best from Mid April to Mid May, some of the flowers start in late February and others show in June. You can see a carpet of glorious pink petals in one of the pictures I shot, even when the blooms are finished they leave a beautiful reminder! In amongst the Rhododendrons you will see companion plants, such as ferns, hostas, camellias, dogwoods and azaleas. Joy for the senses all around you!
The park has many levels. There are stairs and pathways up, down, and around the trees. So many beautiful plants to admire.
I hope that you enjoy the walk as much as I did! Click on the arrow to move the pictures along.
The last few pictures are a meadow across from the Grove, next to Millstone River.
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.
I know we are all saying it, but I am going to say it anyway – I am so tired of Covid!
The First Camellia of the Spring
March was a bad month, My computer died, several files were corrupted. I lost all my contacts, all my original pattern charts. I had to re-load the pattern program but that didn’t remake my original charts. Many Thanks to StitchMastery for their help. I felt totally frustrated and overwhelmed for a while. I even didn’t feel like knitting.
I am, I think, back on track, much more my normal self. April is turning out to be not too bad!
Good morning from Maffeo Sutton walk way sometime last week.
For those of you who were at the Mad About Ewe Retreat 2020 – Diamonds are a Knits Best Friend – please contact me re receiving the finished, fixed and updated pattern.
I took this last week off of work and knocked a couple of things off of the too do list.
I finally released last years Retreat patterns – they are half price on Ravelry until April 21, Diamonds are a Knits’ Best Friend. Use the code Retreat2020.
We built and filled two small raised garden beds and we are going to finish off the brick paths in the herb garden I started quite, ahem, a few years ago (never did finish the bricks then). No plants as yet, it is still a little chilly but next week I am planting spinach and pea seeds. I like to cook, maybe it is time to grown a few fresh vegetables to add to the table.
I rested, went for a few walks, read a little and planned at lot. I may or may not have knit a little!
We were walking at Morden Colliery Park yesterday morning – what a gorgeous walk. The weather was perfect. There were still raindrops on the Trilliums, and the happy Skunk Cabbage was in full bloom. They have just finished a bit or restoration on the tipple – well worth the time.
So …..what’s next?
I am working on another e-book. This one about colour and texture, working with hand-dyed yarn, stash busting and various takes on those themes. The projects will include hats, shawls, fingerless mittens, cowls, a vest, and a tea cozy. The techniques will include cables, stranding, lace work, embellishing with beads and buttons, knitted embellishments in the form of fancy stitches and of course full on three dimensional knitted embellishments. Tea Cozy anyone?
The focus will be on Stash Busting to use up either single hanks of yarn, or single hanks paired with other single hanks. Stash busting up bits of left over colours in the same weight. Stash busting odd balls of yarn in unusual colours or textures for special effects.
What are the most prolific odd balls in our stash – well in my stash – they are the hand-dyed yarns. The absolutely gorgeous colourway that you fell in love with or were gifted with or have for what ever the reason, it sits in your stash waiting to be used, maybe one of these patterns is the perfect one!
There will of course be exceptions! And you know that the first rule of stash busting is that you generally have to purchase more yarn! LOL!
As well as the patterns there will be a couple of written articles about the yarns we could be using and about the techniques I am sharing – so I am expanding the scope of my efforts to include some real writing – I will try not to bore you all!
Why knit one hat when you can knit three?! I have really been loving knitting hats lately! And I can’t seem to stop – though I have this new idea for another shawl niggling in the the back of my mind!
I love the new wools I have been playing with, BC Garn Bio Shetland and now this new one from Ancient Arts Yarns, Lascaux Fine. I knit up a little cabled hat this week, I think that I am going to knit up some co-ordinating fingerless mittens as well!
Lascaux Fine is an intriguing blend of Manx Laoghtan wool and Punta Arenas Wool. Manx is an old breed – lots of horns and brown toned wool. Punta Arenas is a new breed and is a merino variant.
Together they create a wool that handdyes with a heathered brown undertone. Very rich and deep colours that blend beautifully!
Aren’t they wild?
Flatiron – cables and twisted mini cable flat ribs. Check out the brown heathering.
The colour is very hard to capture with a camera, it is really more green than blue. But I think that you can see the richness. Ancient Arts is having a sweet giveaway of this yarn right now on facebook and instagram. It is open until midnight tonight!
There was no baking this weekend. I did contemplate brownies, maybe next weekend. But the knitting, and the Superbowl (a great excuse for knitting) won out.
I am working on another hat in the bio shetland (this will be my third hat in the Bio Shetland) and I really want it done for next weekend – its called Valentino for obvious reasons – but why is it when you set yourself a deadline – everything conspires to make sure that it will be a challenge. My next move on the hat will be frogging the last 7 rounds. Such is life.
Valentino under construction – before ripping back!
It was a gorgeous day yesterday we went walking at Divers Lake. They have done a lot of work there recently. The Cedar walkways were so fresh and aromatic, they added a lovely scent to the air. Blackbirds were singing and darting from tree to brush and the ducks were just hanging around. There were squirrels overhead scolding us as we walked by and the air was crisp! I love the marsh right now, the dead growth is just as intriguing as new growth, sometimes more so!
I hope that you had a great weekend as well. What were you up too? Were you knitting, sewing, baking, or something comepletely different? Are you a walker? Or a more serious hiker when a glorious day shows up?
