Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Tag: photography

  • Summer Things

    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!

  • Time and Tide wait for No Man (or Woman)!

    Time and Tide wait for No Man (or Woman)!

    I think of that proverb often as I am something of a procrastinator! Never mind something of a procrastinator – I can and have at times turned it into a fine art!

    Procrastination, practiced properly is a time management tool that works to my advantage as I tend to work better when under just the right amount of pressure. That is what happens when I practice it consciously. When it sneaks up on me and I get distracted by the new toy – usually yarn – it can cause a bit of a disruption, which why I am releasing two patterns today – I, ummm, kinda missed last weekend somehow. It got lost in the sands of time and distraction.

    It wasn’t that I have been doing nothing. Just not the planned things.

    Two Versions of the bento box. So called because it is a little boxy with options, just like a bento box. PS – that is me in the Lapel version of the vest!

    Today’s releases are the Bento Box Vest and the Garry O’ hat. They represent totally opposite ends of the knitting spectrum.

    Garry O’

    The Bento Box Vest is knit with big needles, 10mm, (I used my super sparkly ones) and super bulky yarns and can be knit in a couple of days if you have a little time. Garry O’ is knit with much smaller needles, 2.5 and 3.0mm, and much finer yarns and will take a little time. Both are very satisfying knits for very different reasons!

    Today has been very busy! The first jam of the season – ummm, strawberry was made and Elise and I had a great photo shoot. Below is a sneak peak at some of the upcoming patterns for the Just Playing Around ebook.

    Some upcoming additions

    I hope that you have had a couple of great weeks. Working in your gardens or knitting up a storm, even working. Life is starting to feel just a little more optimistic.

    I have picked 8 whole strawberries from my pots so far – and I am seeing lots more forming. The peas are coming up almost faster than whatever bug is eating them and the beans and tomatoes are looking pretty healthy.

    It is the flowers that give me the greatest joy! Peonies, Poppies, Roses, Honeysuckle and Lavender are all blooming the thyme and sage as well. The bees are ecstatic and the humming birds as well. We are getting lots of rain right now which is good as this last Spring was way too dry. How does your garden grow?

    Be well and knit happy!

    Lynette

    A sneak peak into a fall project.

  • Drawing the Big Leaf

    Drawing the Big Leaf

    Video is approximately 3 min long. Watch and learn how to “draw” the motif for the Big Leaf Maple Cowl and Hat.

    Big Maple Cowl and Hat is worked in a “drawn” stitch in that the contrast yarns are drawn through an eyelet pattern created in the rows or rounds before the contrast colour is introduced. I was really taken with this technique as it creates another layer of colour over our base.

    This technique is some times called knitting into stitches below, though I think that drawn stitches better describes the technique as we are not really creating stitches, just loops. The yarn used is not really knit to begin with, just pulled through holes in our knitting and then knit together to gather and close the stitch.

    There will be a few more patterns in the Just Playing Around Ebook that will feature this stitch.

    Heading into Fall

    It always amazes me how much certain knit stitches can look like like flowers, or leaves or other natural shapes. Norah Gaughan really explored that concept in her book Knitting Nature.

    The Big Leaf Maple is a species of Maple that we see on Vancouver Island. I see it on all of my favourite walks and at all times of the year. It is truly a beautiful tree at all times but its leaves are immense – more than 12 inches across and perfectly formed, just as nature intended.

    This stitch was just a stitch until one day I saw it as a maple leaf now that is all I can see. I hope that you see it too!

    Turn on your speaker as you watch the video and you can hear my explanation as I knit and a little cursing as I correct myself!

    Be well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

  • It’s Been a Long Haul

    It’s Been a Long Haul

    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!

    Be well and knit happy!

    Lynette

  • Happy Valentines Day!

    Happy Valentines Day!

    How do you celebrate Valentines Day? Do you mourn lost loves and hold those memories close to your heart? Do you gather your family close to you and hold them dear? Where does your heart lie?

    I do them all. My family keeps my heart. Husband, children and grandchild, all are loved equally well in different ways.

    My Father is still with me and loved as well.

    But my Mother and Grandmothers and Grandfathers are all gone. They are always loved and always with me in Memory.

    Granny Baptie would approve of the Scottish themed Greetings for the Day.

    I have always found Valentines Day awkward. It usually speaks of only one kind of love when we know there are so many other kinds of love out there – family, friends, activities, yes activities! How much time and effort do we pour into all those things that we love and enjoy!? I know my heart and it lies with many.

    Do we love those things for only the one day? No, but we do make that special effort to love them all harder I think. We take the time to contemplate life without them and we mourn those whose love is lost to us.

    Mother on the right and Grannie Baptie to the left, Myself and Beth, 34 years ago. Three years later both my Grandmother and my mother were gone. So many memories.

    It is snowing here. A serious snow, coming down hard, not the kind we usually get, big lazy flakes that melt as soon as they hit. This snow is lying and accumulating at an amazing rate. It is a wonderful day to stay home and contemplate the energy of the skies as they send snow down upon us.

    Snowy days are perfect for hats. We don’t get that many of them here. And yesterday I was lucky enough to get pictures of hats in snow on Elise for some new patterns. A couple of those patterns were released today and the others will be released over the next few weeks.

    Todays releases are Valentino and Dahlia! Two fabulous (well I think that they are fabulous!) fair-isle hats with beautiful crowns. Fair-isle hats are very satisfying hats to design.  While they can start very plainly, they almost always finish up with a bang, a pop, a fabulous farewell in the design of the crown.  Usually, the name of the hat comes from the design that ends up on the crown.

    They are part of what I am calling a Hearts and Flowers Special. Purchase Valentino on Ravelry and use the code Sweetheart to receive Dahlia for free. Happy Valentines day.

    It will be blackberry pie today – the berries are thawing right now.

    The rest of today will be for my family and my other love, knitting. Working on some fingerless mittens to go with the FlatIron hat.

    FlatIron in the Snow.

    Be well and spend the day doing what makes you happy and loved. Love your friends and family as you will and task yourself with only the things you love to do. If that is PJ’s and coffee – so be it! Do it with all your heart!

    Love to all! Lynette

  • A New Pattern on the Way!

    A New Pattern on the Way!

    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?

    Be well and knit happy!

    Lynette

  • 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.

  • Working on Serenity

    Working on Serenity

    The title this week is perfect on a number of levels:

    a.) I am finally able to work on the edging of The Serenity Wave Shawl. I have had a back issue for the last few weeks that required pain killers and muscle relaxants. Apparently drugs, knitting lace edging and adding beads to said edging do not work well together! Who knew!? So the shawl edging had been on hold for a couple of weeks. I got back to it this week and I am at about 40% of the edging done. I can hardly wait to finish the knitting and block the shawl.

    b.) I have been working on my own Serenity. Peace of mind in this crazy time has not been easy for any of us. And I had been having a rough time of it lately.

    So I took this last week off. I napped. I rested. I knit. I visited one of my favourite relatives, my Aunty Evie, and really tried to work on looking after myself. It has been a good week.

    My auntie and I share a love of sewing and fabrics. So I had to show her my new purchases from Gala Fabrics – the best fabric store and another reason to visit Victoria. They have this vintage woolens section…. $10 a metre. It was so much fun!

    My back is starting to feel better, my shawl edging is finally under way and my ebook, 7 Hats More is slowing growing.

    I added a new pattern on Tuesday, Diagonal Spin and will be adding another one tomorrow.

    Usually my knitting keeps me sane, but some weeks are more challenging than others. I have been feeling challenged lately.

    Do you have tasks or activities that you indulge in that helps you look after your sanity?

    For me – I knit – first in line. I bake and/or cook – second in line. And I love to walk on the beach or in the woods – third in line. And lately harder to do, harder to make time for, simply harder.

    Perhaps because it means leaving the house – leaving this very safe place and entering a not so safe environment. I use up all my courage heading out the door every weekday morning to go to work! Don’t get me wrong – I love my job, but in these Covid times everytime we step out our doors we are adding a little risk to our lives. I am newly risk adverse. Well not newly – I am not much of a risk taker in any way, but I have never before considered walking out my door risky business.

    Perhaps I am channeling my inner Bilbo.

    “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.

    Lord of the Rings

    So I am determined to add a walk to every weekend. We will see how I do. The payback is worth the risk.

    Earlier this week, between the rains we went for a short walk at Departure Bay Beach, just down the hill. It was the morning after the big windstorm and there was debris, shells and leaves on the beach. The skies and views were still very grey, so that the colours of the leaves and shells popped!

    I also practiced a little yarn therapy. Never heard of it? I thought not. It is also called retail therapy. I bought some new yarn. Technically I ordered new yarn and it arrived this week.

    Kate Davies is one of my favourite knitting writers and she also creates wonderful yarns. Schiehallion is her new yarn and it is a bouncy, wooly, dk weight yarn that comes in all of my favourite colours (I added a little extra purple as well)! How could I resist?!

    I hope that you manage to find some serenity in your life.

    Be well and knit happy!

    Lynette

  • A Busy Weekend

    A Busy Weekend

    It all started with a glorious Saturday morning walk at Piper’s Lagoon Beach. In front of us we saw the sun rise through the low clouds and spill across the Georgia Strait and behind us the moon was bright full above the ridge line. The birds were singing on the branches and the mist was low across the lagoon. It was so calm and quiet that even the waves meeting the shore were only marked by the low sibilance of the pebbles moving against each other beneath the lazy waves. It was a powerfully relaxing time that set the tone for the day.

    …. And the day just kept getting better.

    Some weekends, usually the quiet weekends end up being special nowadays just by being quiet. There were no plans, just what I felt like – which was – you guessed it – knitting, pattern writing or something to do with knitting!

    I worked on patterns. Got some good photo’s of some of the hats on Elise just as the store was opening, knit a little, maybe knit a lot, and basically had an awesome quiet day at home!

    Today, Sunday, is a little different. My morning has been full, I finished the small sample for Textured Toppers, my next release for 7 Hats More. I also finished adding the final small notes to the pattern. I am making split pea soup from a ham bone for my lunches this week. And I am planning on making a roast chicken for dinner – with stuffing etc. – a tune up for next Sundays’ Turkey – I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is almost already here! And Tom requested a Pineapple Upside Down Cake – so I will be baking as well.

    I still need the front page for 7 Hats More and I will need to start a Table of Contents as well. That is this afternoon’s task, in between the other things.

    I released 7 Hats More on Thursday Oct 1 as planned. It was a very quiet release. But I was happy. Tomorrow morning I am going to release the second pattern, Textured Toppers, and suddenly my ebook is no longer a single pattern it is now becoming a small book. A book that will grow every 4 days with a new pattern until there are over 20 patterns! This is so exciting! Which is why I now need a Front Page and Table of Contents!

    Meet the Toppers – a family of chunky knit hats and my next release for the 7 Hats More ebook. Textured Toppers in 4 sizes! I love embellishments so they all have Pom-poms but you could leave them plain or add a furry topper or a tassels or a button or whatever you can think of. They are fun and quick to knit! The baby version took only 2 hours! Not including the pom-pom, that took another hour!

    Soup is done so I have lunches for the week, the cake is out of the oven and the chicken is ready to go in, Time to relax with a little knitting. A full and satisfying day! I hope that you had just the kind of day you wanted as well!

    Be well and knit happy!

    Lynette