Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Tag: new years resolutions

  • New Year

    New Year

    New projects, more plans, life goes forward. I have many plans but no resolutions, I seldom keep a resolution, but plans can be changed and adapted to fit the moment. How about you? Do you make or keep resolutions?

    I have finished knitting the Moebius and I am very happy with the result. I love a fringe bind-off. It takes an extra long time, but the effort is so worth it. I wore the Moebius to work on Thursday. It looked great, the feedback supported my thoughts on the matter, and felt good. I did not block it as I really wanted to keep it deeply textural.

    I will need to reknit the moebius with a different yarn for the workshop in March. Gathering Yarns Popcorn is not currently available, so I am going to use Fleece Artist Slubby Mix.

    Slubby Mix is a Merino/BFL blend, thick and thin single ply, and it will give me the texture that I really loved about the Popcorn. The pattern I designed I think will look good in a smooth yarn as the pattern is a very simple knit and purl texture. But it looks fabulous in a textured yarn that adds extra depth to the textural pattern.

    This full day workshop will run March 22, 10:00am to 4:00.

    The Year of Hats, a series of 4 hour workshops, will start in a couple of weeks. Each hat will focus on different techniques. Some will be easy, some will be more challenging. There will be homework to do before each workshop. The ribbing or band will need to be completed before the workshop so that the class time will focus on the technique being featured in each hat.

    Jan Cap
    Feb Cap – Beret
    March Cap – fair-isle beanie

    It will start with the Jan Cap, something a little simple to set us up for success as we work our way through the possibilities. This cap is a little slouchy with a seed stitch body, a slip st detail and is finished with a jaunty tassel. This workshop will run this January 25th from 11:00am to 3:00pm with a 4 hour workshop.

    The Feb Cap is a classic Beret. This Beret has a little bit of stranding for detail and a little I-cord loop as a final flourish. This workshop runs February 22nd from 11:00am to 3:00pm.

    The March Cap is a fair-isle beanie, the Sea Star Beanie. A 3 colour fair-isle band is topped with a textural knit and purl sea star crown. This workshop runs March 29th from 11:00am to 3:00 pm.

    Any curling fans out there? I will be going to Kelowna to watch the Brier, at the end of February. While in Kelowna I will be teaching a couple of classes at Kelowna Yarn and Needle Crafts.

    If you live in the area and want to take a class, or are coming to the Brier and want to add on something a little different, check out the information below and/or contact Kelowna Yarn. I usually bring a few extra samples to touch and wear so if there is something that you want to see…. maybe I can accommodate.

    First there will be a workshop on double knitting, and a then a class on knitting the perfect pair of gloves.

    I am designing a new double knit pattern for the workshop. Winter Florals, knit with Ancient Arts Superwash Merino DK in the Cranberry and Mineral colourways. I am very pleased with the way the pattern is knitting up.

    If I have time I will finish a pair of gloves that I have already started for myself. They feature a beautiful beaded cuff. The beaded pattern looks simple but is very effective. The beads are pre-strung and then knit in as the cuff progresses. The remainder of the gloves will be plain stockinette.

    This year I will be focusing on finishing some projects already started and hopefully expanding my designing skills. There are still so many things to share! I know you must have something that you want to make or learn how to make. Let me know and maybe a new class can be created.

    Around the house we have gone back to “normal”. The Christmas decorations are down and there is a pot of pea soup simmering on the stove. I don’t have any baking planned today. We are kind of taking a small break from sweets. I ate waay to much over Christmas and New Years.

    We do have a very big plan this year for ourselves! We are downsizing! Heaven help me! How will I fit all of my yarn into a smaller place!? That is a future problem that will take all of the next few months to figure out!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • Dec 1, 2024

    Dec 1, 2024

    This the beginning of the Christmas Season for many of us. Especially those of us in retail. As I work at my LYS I need to get my Christmas Mojo in place and be ready to help those who need my help, either with gifting ideas or help in sorting out problems with finishing those special things.

    I love this time of the year. It doesn’t matter what you celebrate or how you celebrate, most cultures celebrate the Winter Solstice in some way. Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Soltice or Saturnalia, they are celebrations of joy and sharing! And an acknowledgement that the longest night of the year has come and gone. So every year I like to share a pattern through Ravelry or here on the blog (now that I know how! LOL!) So here is my gift to you free for the month of December and running through early January!

    I was thinking about this and realizing that for the Southern hemisphere this will the shortest night of the year! Still any excuse to celebrate is a good one!

    I thing that Cyclone is a good basic hat pattern. Not too fussy, will look effective in alsomost any colour and it notes the kind of year that many of us have had! Chaotic and cyclonic. So I made it my Christmas pattern. It will be free for the month of December and going into early January.

    The stitch pattern is a fairly straight forward mosaic stitch. I love mosaic stitching because you are never working more than one colour at a time! No carries! Because of the size of the mosaic pattern there is really only one size, but notes are included to adjust the size a little up or down to accommodate larger or smaller adult/teen size heads.

    CycloneDownload

    Just to be different there will be a couple of free patterns this year. I turn sixty-five this month as well. So I am going to celebrate that too! And no, retirement is not part of my plans. After all, I am already working at what I love. So, I would like offer up another pattern for free for the month!

    Cozy Bells is a tea-cozy designed to celebrate Christmas every day of the Year. The bells will jingle softly as the tea is poured and your tea will remain warm for quite a white! I recommend printing this pattern in colour as there are many how to pictures to go along with the embellishing.

    Cozy BellsDownload

    Life has been rough for the bulk of the year so I am seizing this moment to share some joy! I hope that you like the patterns and will take this opportunity to try them out.

    On a sad note, Sophie, our beautiful beagle passed away last week. She was thirteen and had lived a good life. She was always happy, tail wagging at every greeting and never, ever, passed up a treat that came her way. She was loved by all who knew her and never met anyone she didn’t like. She is missed every day.

    At work we are starting to organize our ideas for next years classes. And I am going to offer up a “Year of Hats”. A series of workshops, each one about a hat, or headgear of some type. There will be different weights, different techniques and yarns to work with. Quite a few are already done. There will be a blog post, maybe next weekend, all about this project.

    I am really excited about the turquoise item below – the technique is colourwork slip stitching! You a never working with more than one colour! I am working with several colours of Patagonia Organic Merino. Wouldn’t it look great with the drops done in a hand-dyed yarn? What do you think?

    I am also going to resurrect a few of my older projects. Things that I really want to finish – either patterns or projects. A mixture of both! You can see that I am setting up my New Years’ resolutions as I work my way through this!

    Squared Away Blanket – I umm started it before Logan was born, 9 years ago. Maybe next year….
    And I really want to get back to my Dress.https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knit-a-dress-with-me
    And these gloves – there are so many patterns I need to finish!
    A Sweater for me…
    A new use for reinforcing yarn…

    I am playing with a new yarn – Cedre, by Waxwing Yarn Co.. This is an all Canadian endeavor. The yarns are sourced and scoured in Ontario. Then they are spun in Quebec.

    Cedre is a woolen spun single, I would call it a solid 4-ply in weight. It has a lovely roundness to it and is very springy. I am putting it through its paces while working this mini poncho. I started with a 2.75mm and have settled on a 3.75mm for the body. The stitch definition is crisp, even at this needle size and I can hardly wait to finish this project. I want to see how it reacts to blocking.

    So, Happy December!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • 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