Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Tag: flowers

  • Hearts Ease Stitch Pattern for February Square

    Hearts Ease Stitch Pattern for February Square

    Make-A-Blanket – February Square

    February is the month we celebrate Valentines. It calls for hearts and flowers and all things romantic.

    So I went looking for a heart pattern. I found a stitch pattern called Hearts Ease. I thought it would be perfect for the February Square. Mostly because I could use the stitch pattern to create rows of multiple hearts. Also, because the name of the pattern had special meaning for me.

    Hearts Ease, also known as Viola, are my favourite flower. Johnny Jump Ups is another name for them. That is what my mother-in-law called them. They are closely related to Pansy flowers, of all varieties, all of which were derived from Hearts Ease. My Wedding bouquet consisted of Daisies and Pansies. My friend baked my Wedding cake and collected and dried Pansies. She then used them to decorate my Wedding cake.

    This pattern is a knit and purl textured pattern of repeating heart motifs. Each heart is centered in a square shaped textured outline

    Hearts Ease Feb SquareDownload

    And of course we would need some dimensional hearts as well!

    Soft hearts knit with Malabrigo Worsted in Natural and Very Berry. Perfect for embellishing the blanket corners.
    Hearts Feb Fancy Feb squareDownload

    I am going to call the little extra download a “Fancy”. I intend to add something small and unique each month. This addition is something that we could choose to use to embellish our blanket. Perhaps on the corners or along the sides. Or maybe as extra embellishments on the squares themselves, like the Sea Star from last month.

    For those who can crochet, here is an extra link. It’s a pattern from Knit and Crochet Daily. It features a pretty little crocheted Pansy. A few of these might be a fun addition to our blankets.

    Happy Blanket Knitting

    Lynette

    If you are as fond of hearts as I am, check out my heart inspired patterns on Ravelry or Etsy.

    Smitten – knit in worsted weight yarns, Santa Cruz in Palladium or Malabrigo in Very Berry.

    Valentino – Knit in B.C. Garn Bio Shetland, a light fingering Shetland Style wool.

  • Quickie 2

    Quickie 2

    The Hydrangeas are from my new garden – they are aging spectacularly!

    Note – I made a couple of changes the original blog post – stitch count is 370 at the end of the last row. I also suggested a different style of needle to make the first rounds work a little more easily.

    Here are the next two rounds. The body pattern should be ready by Wednesday.

    Transition Rounds

    Round 1 – * K3, YO, K1, YO, K1, (YO, K2tog) 3 times, YO, K1, YO, K3, slm, K2tog (YO, Ktog) 84 times, slm, repeat from * once more – 380 st. stitch count moves like this 19, 169, 19, 169. The long sides each lost a stitch.

    From this point he stitch count will increase by 4 sts on each end, every other round, 8 sts total and the side stitch count will remain the same.

    Round 2 – purl.

    My pattern Metro was knit using the same techniques as we are working with the Quickie pattern.

    The yarn was a Freia Shawl Ball x 2

    Other knitting play this weekend includes exploring a new (to me) dipp style stitch.

    The yarn is my hand-dyed wool for the spring shawl – which may now be sprinkled with flowers!

    Happy Knitting!

    Lynette

  • Mother’s Day Walk in the Hailey Rhododendron Grove

    Mother’s Day Walk in the Hailey Rhododendron Grove

    We started today with a walk in one of my favourite places in Nanaimo, the Hailey Rhododendron Grove.

    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.

    Happy Mothers Day

    Lynette

  • Oh Happy Days….

    Oh Happy Days….

    Just a friendly face from the Garden. They always make me smile.

    Have a Great Day!

    Lynette

  • Domestic Goddess

    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!
  • A New Year – New Resolve!? Maybe!

    A New Year – New Resolve!? Maybe!

    I Resolve that: 

    This is going to be the year of flowers. Floral motifs in my knitting – you bet! Flowers on my walls – always – courtesy of my mum! Flowers in the garden – we will see how green my thumb gets! 

    And flowers on my shelves!

    Pansies and Florals – Oh My!

    I am a collector – yarn (of course) – vintage knitting books – knitting books – yarn (did I mention yarn) and antiques.

    The antiques are mostly the small stuff. Silver things, porcelain posies, china and other small things.

    Many know about my small obsessions and every now and then I am asked if I would like some more items for my collection. Mostly my flower collection. It was their mothers or their grandmothers and really they have no use for, need of, or interest in them. And I get it, we all have our hobbies. And I on the other hand love all the things that mothers and grandmothers loved in their day. Especially the floral posies, in all my years of collecting I have not a single double, or repeat of a flower not even ones that are close. 

    Each pot is different, each flower is different. Certainly they are all the common flowers, roses, peonies, pansies, anemones, tulips or trilliums. But each one is hand made, hand coloured, and just like nature, each flower is totally unique from every other flower. Some flowers come with birds on stems, perching on a nest, or about to take flight. Some flowers come in silver vases – those are perhaps my favourites!

    I think that the fact that human hands formed each flower, placed each flower in the pot and a human mind chose the colours of glaze to finish each bloom, is what fascinates me about these china posies. Some of the older posies are true works of art, holding a moment in time as the breeze moves the flowers about.

    Posies are delicate, easily chipped along the edges of petal and leaf. Petals and leaves also break in half and are often poorly glued back together, again human hands trying to preserve something that they loved and valued. I find the love of flowers such a human thing, something that many of us share in so many ways.

    The posies I collect also go well with the many petit point bouquets that I have on my walls and shelves. All lovingly created by my Mother. She spent hours working on each piece. Somehow many of her floral pieces came my way.

    My Mothers work – she even refinished the frame to complement the work.

    I will most likely have to divest myself of some of the “things” I collect. We all usually have to “downsize” at some point in our lives. Until that time arrives, I will enjoy them, celebrate them and share that love!

    So do you collect? Have you got a stash of something special that means a lot to you? I would love to hear about it.

    Happy New Year, Happy Collecting, Happy Knitting

    Be well,

    Lynette

  • Walking in the Woods…

    Walking in the Woods…

    … Sitting in my garden

    They are my favourite places to relax and recharge at the start or the end of my day.

    Both give me peace and joy! Both help to still my mind and clarify my thoughts. They are constant inspiration for my designs, and life. Their scents and sights bring me great pleasure and are a powerful relaxant to my sometimes churning thoughts. They make me stop and take note of the small things that we sometime miss as we rush through our days.

    What are your places? Where do you find peace and joy? Are they one and the same or are they different?

    I hope that you have a great day! Be well.

    Lynette

    Neck Point Park
    • flowering snowbell
    Good Morning Garden! I wish you could smell the heady scents of rose and honeysuckle, damp earth and the incredible scent coming from the little weeping Japanese tree that is to the left of me as I sit in my chair. It is covered in very fragrant white blooms right now and is quite heavenly!

    Fragrant Flowering Japanese Snowbell

  • Another Week, Another Hat!

    Another Week, Another Hat!

    February is usually Retreat Month. Not this year – above is Kiwi Cove Saturday morning on the Retreat Weekend 2 years ago – perfect knitting weather.

    Instead of working on my Cathedral Sweater sleeve or the Serenity Waves Shawl edging – both of which are so close to being finished! I chose to work on another Bio Shetland hat, another fact finding exercise you might say! And I am very happy with the results. This one is called Dahlia. So Called for the beautiful floral crown.

    I have a thing for floral crowns. I have a thing for flowers. I am not particularly good at growing them. I am not much of a gardener. I find things that survive my somewhat indifferent skills and go with them. The basic rule is that I do try to find plants that either flower, or I grow herbs I can use in the kitchen.

    I surround myself with my mothers floral petit points and have collected a multitude of the floral “posies” made by Ainsley, Denton and Staffordshire. Flowers quite simply, make me smile, make me happy. They are small things that I note and enjoy, their colours, shapes and scents are all part of the lexicon of things I find enjoyable.

    I hope to have the Dahlia pattern up on Ravelry next weekend.

    I was really happy with the way the Classic Lapel Vest fit. It is just the right length and fit for me.

    I am short with a 44 inch bust and a little more weight than is good for me, but the vest is still flattering.

    Now to write the pattern for more sizes than my own. It will have to be a bit of a formula pattern I think. A few basic sizes and lots of information on making it for yourself.

    Today I am baking a classic lemon layer cake with blackberry jam in the middle and lemon icing all around. It is really just a white cake with lemon extract instead of vanilla extract and fresh lemon peel thrown into the dry mixture. Lemon icing is also simple butter icing (soft butter and icing sugar beaten together) with lemon juice instead of vanilla and milk. This makes the icing very tart and it tastes like lemon candies. Yuummm! If I am being fancy I will candy up some lemon slices to decorate the top!

    Ready to ice the sides. I noticed that I put the bottom layer down upside down – so the jam is oozing more than it should. I think that i will have jam in my icing, and I did!

    I love to cook and bake which is why I carry a few pounds to many. It also runs in the family, most of my cousins also love to cook and bake. And we all love to eat good food! Food is one of lifes’ most basic pleasures and with Covid rules dictating life all around we need to take pleasure where we can!

    I am still feeling the need to start something new so today I am going to start a shawl in some new yarn from The Small Bird Workshop.

    These are non superwash, Island grown Babydoll Southdown wool fibre, blended with Kamloops area mohair and sourced silk (70/15/15) fingering weight yarns. There is no more of this particular blend left, but a small bird told me that she is working towards having more next year.

    This yarn was milled at That Darn Yarn Mill, Kamloops.

    I am really looking forward to starting this project!

    Have you anything new on your needles? Or pulled out a long overdue project? Something for you to wear? You know that often what we make for ourselves is the last thing we finish as we are always knitting for others! Be kind to yourself and knit or finish something that is just yours!

    Be Well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

    PS – Did you see the moon this week? Simply stunning.

  • New Toy!

    New Toy!

    This weekend my fathers toaster died. It was old and it needed replaced. Well I took that as a sign.

    I had been wanting a convection toaster oven for myself for a while and it really wasn’t high on the “list”. But now – I could take my toaster downstairs to my father (he lives in a suite in my basement) and get that toaster oven for myself. And so I did!

    First thing I decide to make is Yorkshire pudding (something as finicky as Yorkshires should be a good test of the oven) to go with the supper roast beef! I had always make the Yorkshires while the roast sat. That made the timing never quite right. My husband was aghast. He loves Yorkshire pudding – what if it didn’t work!?

    It was a little tricky. The toaster oven doesn’t hold the heat as well as a regular oven and when I turned the heat down the Yorkshires all fell! I wasn’t happy, but I put the temp back up immediately and was relived to see them all slowly rise again and brown! So the oven will really cook just about anything that I want it too! I will need to take a little time to get to know its quirks, but I think that it was a good addition to my kitchen.

    I finished the tenth hat for 7 Hats More. This one is called Every Cloud… . It is a lined lace and beaded slouchy and I am very pleased with it. It has a lovely little bead loop pom-pom that just finishes it beautifully.

    It was my Grandson’s birthday this weekend. We drove up to Campbell River and had a lovely visit. In these Covid times everything seems a little more poignant as every visit seems that much further apart. My grandson and I played a little in the garden and I admired my daughters sunflowers and collected some acorns.

    It was a quiet visit, not rushed, yet I cherish these moments all the more now. He is growing so fast.

    Be Well and Knit Happy

    Lynette