Test Knitting the Forager Toque!

Well, I don't think actually getting to test knit something is something I would have predicted for 2017, but here we are. This crocheter actually knit a thing!

Kaeleigh asked me to look over her pattern, and I thought, hey, I think I could make this. This summer on a whim, I bought a set of Knitter's Pride Acrylic Interchangeable circular needles. I was definitely overdue to put them to use!

Sooo....cheeck out the hat I made!

Props to Kaeleigh for creating a pattern I felt confident enough to tackle! And while my girl can easily whip up two in a day, it took me three sittings to finish this bad boy. I am a SLOW knitter. Glad I stuck with it, with my comfortable, easy crochet blanket project within eye shot to boot!

A few things I learned making this hat:

1) How to knit with circular needles

2) How to use the 'magic loop' method

3) How to knit 2 together

And now I have a snappy green toque to help me through the prairie winter! If you've got a skein of chunky yarn, you could have one too! Kaeleigh even included a short stem or long stem option, so the Forager is 2 patterns in one :)

Happy Friday! Hope you all have ample time for yarn crafts ;)

Knitalongs and a NEW PATTERN!

Well if you're anything like Bernice, I think you'd agree this is an obscene time to be awake and about (in Central Standard Time, at least - for you GMT folks it's not so weird!). However, we're on farm time now, so it's a lot more common for me to have finished my coffee before a lot of people are even awake! I get a lot done...but I'm in bed before 10 most nights. It's a fair trade, I guess.

It's been so busy (still) here that I've barely had time to sit down with knits for myself, but I have had time to scroll the Insta feed and that means only one thing: maker's remorse. I signed up to all kinds of KALs before we moved, and between the international move, the chaos of settling, and the reappearance of the ganglion cyst on my wrist (yeah, GREAT to see that again), my knitting has taken a beating. I seem to have overshot my availability drastically, which means I'm watching with sadness as each deadline approaches...and passes...without my FOs. In order:

- The Salal KAL with Untangling Knots (Andi Satterlund)
  I had this in my queue for ages and when she announced a knitalong I was so pleased to have a very good reason to cast on! I got to the sleeves...and my pickup stitch counts were way out, so with the first sleeve, I had to do some Macguyvering, which I didn't write down. Second sleeve came along and I couldn't replicate first sleeve, and while I got it going anyway, I was off the counts twice. I've frogged the second sleeve twice, and since I've missed the deadline, I'll probably frog it again. I want to get it RIGHT!

- The Fall KAL with Joji Locatelli
  I knit the Starting Point shawl and if you followed along with that progress, you'll know it didn't go the way I wanted, though obviously it's a gorgeous pattern. It takes more mindfulness than I committed so that's my bad. ANYway. I decided to pick up on this KAL because I wanted to give more of Joji's designs a look, and she's got a huge library of incredible patterns. I picked Japan Sleeves (a pullover) and Fading Lines (a cardi) and actually managed to finish Japan Sleeves, though it once again featured my nemesis: picking up stitches. I used LottieKnits' Queen Bee 4ply and the sweater is so lush and silky! There's a pile of SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine waiting for its turn for Fading Lines...but it won't be soon :S

- TFA in Colour KAL with Tanis Fibre Arts
  I picked up Camaro during a pattern sale a little while ago and jumped in with both feet. I've got plenty of TFA yarn scraps from various projects and Palette bundles, and I've always loved Tanis's colour sensibilities, though with her rise in popularity, it means I've mostly been watching the updates come and go - everything gets snatched up before I can even log into Etsy! I got down to the end of the stripe sequence for the Camaro and had to wait for the body yarn I ordered, and although it's here, there's NO way I'm banging out that sweater before the deadline of the 11th. It's going to be an awesome sweater though, and I can't wait to finish it up and wear it all the time!

OK so there's my bulleted list of shame. Now onto more exciting things: today I've published a new pattern! If you've got a skein of chunky or extra chunky, today's your day; the Forager toque is live and ready!

It doesn't take long to knit up (I did two yesterday) and it's super flexible for both gauge and embellishment, so if you're interested in a new toque (that's knit hat, for those of you who don't speak Canadian), head over! It's just CAD$2 right now for the weekend :) Thanks to Bernice (and my mum) for looking it over, and my husband for modeling - he specifically requested the second one I made, so that's the price you pay around here.

Happy Friday!

Shopping frenzies and no internet

Well, long time no blog! But there's a good reason for it: we still don't have internet at the house - just our phones - and writing out blogs on one's phone is a special kind of torture. So I'm taking advantage of being in Bernice's basement right now (and her glorious wifi) to share a little of the last few weeks.
We've been settling in nicely at our new place and I'm finding the routine a LOT easier to get into than I expected. In fact, England is weirdly slipping away much faster than I anticipated and I'm sad about it, even though I like being here. I'll just have to print more pictures out and keep using British sayings as much as possible; I tried buying "British beans" here, and even though they're still Heinz, they definitely don't taste the same. Someone send Tunnocks, quick!
ANYway. Because we have such limited internet access, I'm mostly on Instagram, but even my small forays onto Facebook were crammed with Black Friday this and Cyber Monday that, and my inbox was just about bursting with stuff I was told I needed to buy. Now, I don't have a problem with sales -obviously! - but the problem in this case is that I can't take advantage of them since we're just starting out and it seems unwise to go blast my budget into Black Friday sales like a tree into a woodchipper. So watching all the sales come and go has been a bit sad this year but it made me stop and think a lot more about what this weekend is like if you're on the outside of all the merry sales. For one, I got to spend more time with our adorable cats; we've recently acquired two kittens and they are epic. For another, if you ignore the pressure to buy anything, this past weekend (and some of the weeks prior) was a phenomenal showcase of makers putting their best foot forward, especially in the case of those participating in local craft sales. It was really great to see all the photos of patterns, yarn, craft setups, and other finished products, and I felt really inspired to be surrounded by all of it - at least while I had my phone out, otherwise I'm usually surrounded by old books and National Geographics, since we haven't cleaned them out yet!
I guess the TL;DR takeaway is: even if you're not in a position to buy things - or you're choosing not to by things - on American Thanksgiving weekend sales, it's a great opportunity to browse, appreciate, and be inspired by the loads of talented people who are finding their voices and sharing. And you can probably just ignore the big box stuff, unless pictures of 60" TVs inspire you ;)
I'm working on a load of patterns; if you're following ThereandBackYarn on Instagram you know I've already got one in the time-out bin for being FAR too small. So look for some new publications in the next month! AND TODAY we get our stuff from England!! MY STASH IS COMING HOME!! (Clearly I should've led with this...I find it much more exciting :D).

Custom Crochet Home Decor

Wow! I've been feeling so proud of Kaeleigh this week for publishing her first pattern on Ravelry and for the great response she's received! In a month of big changes, she's already seriously making things happen. It's the beginning of something great, I can feel it!

I, too, have been off the radar for a few weeks. While I certainly haven't had as big a month has Kaeleigh has, I am certainly THRILLED to have her back within driving distance of me.

I'm just coming out of my busy season at work, but of course I've been hooking away in my free time. We recently renovated our living room, which opened up some exciting new crochet possibilities! What better way to match your curtains to your decor than to just make them yourself, right?

What is this...one big excuse to show yet another photo of one of my cats? Sort of! But also, Marian is lounging comfortably next to the pillow that was the inspiration for these curtains. I found a lovely hexagon pattern on Pinterest, brought my pillow with me to the craft store, found some pretty nice colour matches, and got to work! I worked a row of single crochets in white around each hexagon and crocheted them all together in single crochets. I had to improvise some half hexagons as well, so that I'd get straight edges. I then took apart the dusty old roman blinds that came with my house when I moved in and rigged the new curtains up so that they actually lift and lower as well! It was a pain in the butt but I feel really proud of that.

And here's the Easter Egg of this photo series...Marian is also lounging on top of a crochet creation of mine as well. You see, her brother Floyd really prefers to throw up on that very chair. I worked up a big old rectangle in linen stitch with a fairly closely matching yarn that I can lay down on it so that, should an accident happen, all I have to do is toss the barf blocker in the laundry instead of going through he hell that is removing cat vomit from furniture. And yes, it has already come in handy!

Forgive the poorly lit photo...taking pictures of curtains is hard! I also wanted to share a photo of a valence I whipped up. It matches my new chair nicely, and all I did was work up a pretty C2C shawl pattern I found on Moogly called the Fortune's Wrap....and instead of stopping when it was human size, I kept going and going and going until it was long enough for my window. I gave it a quick drape over my living room window and boom! It really completed the look of the room.

But, that's enough for now. It's Friday, and I'm keen to hang out with my cats, and HOPEFULLY finish up the sweater I'm crocheting! Enjoy your weekend!

Big moves

Well it's been a little...or long...while since I shared with you and boy, has it been a bonkers few months! I spent the end of September in the grip of an epic office cold, and October vanished in the blink of an eye as we sold, gave away, and packaged up our goods for shipping back to Canada. November started off with a short trip up to the Lake District and friends' wedding, and then we hauled our unwieldy suitcases on the bus for the last time: off to the airport for our flight back to Canada! And now we're home in the Great White North and it is indeed white; plenty of snow at our new home, and I've already had an hour of shovelling under my belt.
ANYway, I digress. The point is, where're the knits?! Well I've got a sweater and a cardigan on the go, but today I spent some quality time with my pre-move stash and although there is some truly obnoxious yarn in there, I found a skein of hunter orange, which is well-timed as rifle season started on Monday and I don't own a stitch of orange gear! Not so I can go hunting but so I can feel comfortably visible in my yard, haha. Our area is very popular with hunters and I want to know I can still go for walks without being a target! To that end, I'm whipping up a balaclava (gotta keep out that brisk north wind!) with my bright orange yarn, and releasing the FREE pattern today! It was inspired by seeing Tanis Lavallee's little guys in their adorable dragon balaclavas and although I don't have spikes, I'm sure I'll feel just as rad and cozy :)

WIP Wednesday - Done in Love Pullover edition

Whoa, I'm almost out of time this Wednesday! But here's a quick update on the Done in Love pullover I'm working on with the beautiful yarn I picked up from Cog Yarns at the Manitoba Fibre Fest:

I'm loving seeing how the colours work up when I transition from one to another - and I still have 3 more colours to use! This pattern is lovely and easy to follow. I cannot wait to see what the final product looks like...and to cozy up in it this winter.

I have to thanks Kaeleigh for recommending that I use 2 chairs to wind my skeins into balls rather than utilize my husband's arms for the task. The chairs complained WAY less and didn't fidget and cause tangles either. 😉 Plus, when I use the chair system, my kitties get to help by weighing down the chairs for me. Yep, all of this pre-amble is an excuse to share a photo of my cats yet again!

This system works REALLY well until one of them decides to start playing with the yarn as I wind it. All part of the fun of having cats though.

Looking forward to finishing up this beauty and sharing the final product!

A Tale of Two Jojis

I'm in over my head as usual, with projects, and I have way too many going on, but I thought I'd highlight two of them since they're quite popular, or at least the community aspect of them. Both are patterns by Joji Locatelli, a phenomenal designer with an eye for delicate details and interesting construction (hence the way the Starting Point wrap comes together!).

Starting Point wrap

I couldn't go ANYwhere (on Instagram at least) without seeing posts about this wrap! So I decided to join in the MKAL and thought I'd work on it whilst in Canada, as the clue release period overlapped with my trip.
Well that was clearly my first mistake, though there have been LOADS to follow - k2tog instead of ssk; wrong colour for the section; missing rows; and at one point I even managed to leave out a row and switch the right side to the wrong side of the entire piece (thankfully it's worked mostly completely reversible). As much as I've loved seeing the whole thing come together, I've found parts of it really tedious which is why it's taken me forever to finish (on my timescale at least). I like the effect of the stripes, even if I found them really dull; knowing I had to repeat them was a bit daunting, and that's probably at least a little bit of where all these mistakes come from! I definitely don't think this project was a good fit for me but now that I'm almost done, I'm really looking forward to blocking it and then using it all the time - it's SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine and Manos del Uruguay Alegria so it's incredibly silky and soft. As some sort of punishment, I'm already considering doing another one but NOT making mistakes...will I actually follow through? Stay tuned.

Japan Sleeves pullover
Thankfully I've barely gotten going on this one so there are fewer mistakes to report, haha. I'm doing this one as part of the fall KAL that Joji hosts every year, and I've got another one lined up - Fading Lines, a cardigan - but I'm TRYING not to start every project at once. This pullover starts with two lace panels, the tops of the sleeves, and then you pick up stitches from there (and cast on in between for the neck) before working the body in top-down fashion. I'm using some of my LottieKnits stash finally, after debating how to incorporate three gorgeous colourways together, and I sure hope I can pull it off without running out of yarn! I guess we'll see, haha.
I tried to pick up the stitches before my little holiday last week, and was eight stitches short on the first lace strip so unravelled it. And then tried again. And again. And AGAIN. And finally I gave up once I got 121 stitches (four short), and just kept that as my number and adjusted all the other counts in the pattern for it. I'm now into the body and row after row of stockinette and I would ordinarily be tired of it but the striping makes these two colours absolutely GLOW and I love them so much that I will stripe all day every day until my tension finger falls off. SO. I am loving it.

Once I can finally muster myself to finish my Starting Point, I can finally start on my Fading Lines cardi, yet another Joji pattern, and decide whether I can do another Starting Point...but properly this time, and with the attention that's clearly due such a detailed pattern. No phoning that one in! And the massive number of absolutely gorgeous FOs (check out the gallery here) just gives me needs. Beautiful shawl needs.

Memories of Fibre Festival

Last weekend I made my annual trek out to the Manitoba Fibre Festival, and I was happy to see this year was bigger and better than ever! I absolutely love that farmers bring in some sheep and alpacas to the festival. Being an animal lover, I always head right over to the animals to see who wants to be friends with me. I bonded with an Icelandic sheep who pretty much made my day :)

It was great to see local vendors who I have come to be familiar with the last few years all set up and doing brisk business! I also noticed that there were more vendors from out of town than I had seen in previous years. It seems our little festival is gaining notoriety, which is great! More choice is always a good thing.

I went to Fibre Fest this year on a bit of a mission to find something nice for the Done in Love CAL I wanted to work on. And when I saw the beautiful transitional skeins that Cog Yarns out of Saskatchewan had to offer, I knew immediately that I had to have em!

Of course, the camera never fully picks up how gorgeous these colours are...but here they are nonetheless. I've laid them out in the order I am going to use on the sweater, with the grey on the left at the top, and then ending with the charcoal on the right.

My husband has proved to be a pretty loud complainer when I use his arms to hold the skeins for me when I roll them into balls, so I've moved on to the chair method instead. It works quite well except for when my assistants get a little frisky with the yarn!

Thanks for holding the chairs down for me ladies! Ah, life is never boring when you have cats. So thanks to Fibre Fest, I'm now rolling on the yoke of my sweater and so far so good :) Already looking forward to next year's Fest, of course!

New Lookbook! Yarnspirations F/W 2017

Another week, another lookbook! One of our favourite sources for patterns, Yarnspirations is prolific for publishing and this time it's the Fall/Winter series. Shall we dive right in?

Cozy Crochet Hat
Not a bad-looking hat but a bit toooo long in the slouch for me.

Check Yourself Crochet Scarf
This one seems to continue in the vein of the blanket scarves we saw last year: wide and long items intended for lots of snuggling into when it's quite chilly. Not bad, but not revolutionary. And thankfully NOT as epic as most of the blanket scarves!

Box Stitch Knit Hat
I feel like the box detail on this is lost due to the size of the box stitch pattern. Maybe smaller boxes?

Dipped Cable Knit Pullover
This is a great-looking go-to sweater, and the "dip" contrast brings up the interest. You could also easily do this in a single colour or a tweed, which would show off the cables. Since the yarn is Caron Simply Soft, I'd suggest one of their new tweeds for this!

Sleeveless Knit Turtleneck
I love this one, but I'm all about high necks when the weather turns chilly. Sleeveless knits are a great way to help wardrobe pieces do double-duty.

Crochet Granny Cardigan
The sleeves look a little wide on this one, but I like the single-colour grannies in the front; it's a nice way to incorporate classic crochet motifs into a more sophisticated pattern.

Big Easy Crochet Pullover
I'd have to see this one in action to get a better feel, but for a casual bulky pullover, it looks pretty good. Nice to see this one done in crochet instead of knit, too.

Brioche Accent Knit Cowl
I was really surprised to see brioche - it's not often that free patterns push the boat out on technique like this! The colours don't wow me, but that's easy enough to change.

Big Collar Crochet Coat
This one could do with a wee bit more shaping, I think, as well as adding more buttons to have it close further up. Otherwise it's just a glorified cardi and not much of a coat, I'd say.

Crochet Blanket Ruana
I really like the plaid in this, though I often find ruanas to use a daunting amount of yarn. Still, I'd be quite tempted on this one!

Texture Mix Knit Tunic
This is not a tunic, but aside from that, it seems a bit busy with all the textures. I'd rather have three sweaters, each with one of the textures, because I like all three...but not together.

Great Curves Knit Poncho
While I don't know if I'd style this one with a maxi skirt, I'd enjoy it as a pullover item with jeans and boots. I like the quilted style of the stitch, and it seems like a nice classic piece.

Kaeleigh's stand out patterns:
Favourite pattern: Sleeveless Knit Turtleneck
Gotta make it for myself: Great Curves Knit Poncho
Makes me wish I did more crochet: Crochet Blanket Ruana
No thank you, please: Big Easy Crochet Pullover

Bernice's stand out patterns:
Favourite pattern: Texture Mix Knit Tunic
Gotta make it for myself: Crochet Granny Cardigan (but I'd modify the sleeves to make them narrower)
Makes me wish I did more knitting: Great Curves Knit Poncho
No thank you, please: Sleeveless Knit Turtleneck (Turtlenecks are NOT a good fit for my body type, haha)
And kudos to Yarnspirations for offering a good mix of knit and crochet clothing items!

Sweater Season!

With September arriving, I've noticed the weather is...changing. When the mornings start getting cooler and the nights come earlier, I start wanting to make sweaters. Lots of em!

I thought I'd share what I've got in my project queue for fall:

First up, I'm hopping on to this CAL. I'm a big fan of KT and the Squid's designs and have made a few of her cardigans: the Leudinghause and the Kram. Both turned out lovely but I have to say out of the two the Leudinghause is my favourite, I love the look and it was more fun to work up as well. This time around the CAL is of a pullover and I'm pretty pumped to give it a crack! I have a few skeins of Koigu yarn that Kaeleigh gifted to me that I think will make a beautiful trim for it, and I'll be on the lookout for a nice yarn for the body of this one at the local Fibre Fest coming up next weekend!

Next on deck is the Reminisce Sweater by the Velvet Acorn. Kaeleigh alerted me of this pattern, and while I've often admired her beautiful patterns, when I saw this one I purchased it IMMEDIATELY. I see myself making a few of these down the line. It's SO beautiful and looks mad comfy. I love that she designs her patterns in knit AND crochet. It's rare to see that!

And finally, I've REALLY been itching to work up the True North Knit Jacket by Yarnspirations. This one has been on my mind since we reviewed the Canada 150 Lookbook and last week I took the plunge and bought myself a Knitter's Pride interchangeable needle set in preparation for this! I think I'll hold out on this one for a little while cuz I don't feel very confident my knitting skills are at the right level to tackle this, but of course Kaeleigh is a great knitting resource for me. Hopefully with her help I can get through it! I couldn't help but spend a good portion of my daydreaming time yesterday thinking of what colours I'd like to make this one in.

So that's what's been on my mind as I start preparing for the long Canadian winter and all the extra time on the couch it brings! I'll be sure to share my progress with you as I go along.

My trip to TOFT Alpacas

Last weekend, I got to do something I've wanted to do for ages: head up to TOFT Alpacas! I've been eyeing up their crochet forever - Kerry Lord has a great classic style for her amigurumi, and the collection is vast! - but this was all about the alpaca (well, at least until the end when I popped into the shop). Wanting to get a better idea of actually owning my own alpaca, I thought attending the husbandry workshop would be a great idea, and it was such a good experience!

The workshop was run by the owners of TOFT Alpacas (separate from the yarncraft business), Rob and Shirley Bettinson, who are lovely and approachable - in fact, I'm pretty sure I tried to ask every single question that came into my head, but I'm sure they're used to it after 20 years!
We came in a little late (bus, train, bus, walk...) but thankfully Rob and Shirley held the start for us so it wasn't too bad. They talked about the background of alpaca and the difference between camelids (alpaca, vicuna, etc.), and then we went out and took a look at the maternity paddock and some lovely little cria. After that, a wee walk, some tea and cakes, then another walk but this time with the boys (stud males) who were up in a separate paddock.

Of course by then it was raining (welcome to England), but even still, it was such an awesome day. All the alpaca were pretty calm and easy to handle (aside from one girl who'd lost an eye, but that's understandable - if you can't see on one side of your body, it definitely makes you nervous!), and even their kicks weren't too hard to deal with.

The area was gorgeous as well, and it was so nice to spend a few hours strolling around with alpaca in that countryside, even if it did take us ages to get there and back. We also nipped into a local pub, the Dun Cow, for lunch on Shirley's recommendation, and it was excellent!
And of course, I did buy some yarn - DK wool in Mushroom, and laceweight alpaca in Mushroom as well - and I've already cracked into it for a test knit for Kalurah at While They Play Designs, so stay tuned for that FO; it's going to be gorgeous, I can tell already! If you're keen to check out my progress, you can find me on Instagram at thereandbackyarn :)

Mancrush Monday

Bernice:

Well, after a weekend of camping in beautiful - but HOT - weather, I know I am in need of a Monday pick-me-up!

While cranking some tunes to prevent a "case of the Mondays" I got to thinking about all the good times I've had this summer. Of course the biggest highlight of the season for me was getting to take a very special road trip out to Calgary with Kaeleigh so that we could see the Tesla, Poison, and Def Leppard tour together. These are three of my absolute favourite bands and I was actually lucky enough to catch this tour twice this year! It's been a summer of great music, and to be able to see my fave guitar player do his thing twice is not something I manage to do every year...although I have managed the feat twice, once in 2015 as well as this year. :)

So, who is he then? None other than Vivian Campbell from Def Lep. When he's not performing with them, he's also keeping busy with his two other bands; Last in Line and Riverdogs. These three bands all have very different sounds - a testament to his versatility as a musician, to be sure. Prior to joining Def Leppard in 1992, he was also an instrumental member of Dio. He's also done a lot of good work with other bands and musicians through his career. His habit of keeping busy means a lot of great music for me to enjoy - thanks Viv!

I've caught a few nice pics of the man in action over the years over the six or so times I've seen Def Leppard. They vary in quality depending on where I managed to snag a seat haha. I thought I'd share a few :)

At Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB June 3, 2017. It doesn't get better than this!

Vivian Campbell and Phil Collen at Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, SD April 22, 2017

At the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, MB April 29, 2015

I'd also like to share a few recommendations if you wanna check out what this guy can do on the guitar as well - Euphoria by Def Leppard, the Riverdogs self titled debut album, and Heavy Crown by Last in Line. EXTRA nerd points if you track down the tracks he performed on Lou Gramm's Long Hard Look album. I heard that tape a lot in my sister's car as a child, and I'm fairly certain it's the first time I ever heard him play! I'm still quite partial to that album to this day. That's a good start, and you'll be wise to keep listening from there haha. 

Kaeleigh: While I didn't know about Vivian Campbell until Bernice shared him with me, I am very glad she did - and the rest of the band too! (You'll find a lot of my hair metal knowledge starts with Bernice, haha!). I was SO excited to be on his side of the stage for the show this summer, and he's awesome to watch as they perform. As Bernice will testify, I love an Irish accent, and watching the Def Lep home videos with commentary on is one of the best things to do whilst yarncrafting; I love listening to Viv tell a story, and watching the whole band together in some of their candid moments is pretty nice! Of course I can't let this opportunity pass without sharing MY favourite pic from the show - I hope we didn't seem too nutty because we were all-in fangirling so hard he actually made eye contact and directed some guitar pics AT US. Probably to shut us up, which definitely didn't work ;)

In the pot, part 2

The bath has cleared, the water has been rinsed, and the yarn has (finally!) dried - check it out!

Although it's still not quite all the way there, I'm well pleased with how this round of dyeing went :D MUCH better than previously, and I pretty much owe 85% of that to my husband, who got me a PH meter for Christmas. Being able to accurately measure our PH means that I can actually get my acid levels correct, which makes the dye uptake much better. The orange yarn didn't clear the bath completely, so the yarn didn't take up ALL the dye, but the purple/red/pink one pretty much took up every ounce and I was incredibly pleased with that. I tried for a black to red combo and got more of a purple to pink, which isn't awful. I also tried for speckles and didn't really like the way it went when I tried the "dry dye" method. The orange variegation came from having the orange take up really well but then stay a little too vibrant - I threw on some improvised brown and it eased up to more of a "pumpkin pie" than "pumpkin," which I love.

Overall, I have a few lessons learnt here:
- It won't be consistent until I can use hotel pans (those big rectangular pans that allow the yarn to lie flat)
- This yarn still takes up the dye fairly evenly; this is a great characteristic UNLESS you're actually looking for tonal variation, which is then really challenging to achieve
- I should probably try speckles using the ol' "paintbrush" technique like we used to do in art class. I'm a little terrified it'll go all over the walls, but maybe I can be careful...haha!

I have two bare skeins left so maybe I can try my speckles on them. I also have a pile of "tonal" green that's quite bland; I think it wants overdyeing, so we'll see what I can get up to with those ones. So far, so good!

WIP Wednesday: Home Decor Edition

One of the things I love about yarn craft is being able to create things that are way more personalized and custom than you could ever buy in any store! I'm certainly enjoying working on just such a project right now. When we recently purchased a new couch, I became inspired by the throw pillows that came with it! I decided to try to work up some curtains that match. After a nice long trip down the yarn aisle at Michaels, throw pillow in hand, I got to work with the closest colour matches I could find!

I try to get a little work done on it whenever my buddy Floyd here isn't busy using it for lounging purposes, haha. My cats are big fans of my work, and I'm a big fan of them as well. The inspiring pillow is at the top of the pic. I'll be sure to share a photo when I've got them completed and hung :) Happy Hump Day everybody!

In the pot, part 1

Well I finally conquered my (pointless) anxiety about dyeing and got the pot out this afternoon. Why be anxious, you ask? I just hadn't met with much success - the dye bath would never clear properly, the colours weren't coming out the way I wanted, SO MUCH of the dye would rinse out after the dye...it was just very underwhelming, and I was tired of mediocre results.
But.
I have so many colourways in my head, and some big plans coming down the pipe, and I figured it's about time to get over these perceived issues and GET IT RIGHT. Plus Barney got me a PH meter so now I can unlock the secrets to acidity (important because I'm using wool, which needs acidic water, and acid dyes).
So I hauled out my dye equipment and got to it when I got home today. This is why it's so nice to get to work for 8am; I get a full chunk of time at home again after work and it really rounds out the day. Anyway. I dip-dyed four skeins of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes worsted weight in a black-red, which seems so far to have come out purple (but I kind of expected that, reading that blacks take some time and effort to really ring true), and then threw in some more red for variety (accidentally pouring some directly on the part I was going to leave white on one of the skeins, so then I just put the skeins all the way in), and even trying out some speckles...well, we'll see about those, but as long as all the colour doesn't rinse out, I'll be well pleased!
Right now the pot is cooling on the stove - it's strongly recommended you wait til everything is COOL before rinsing - so I'll clean it all up tomorrow and then rinse and dry the skeins. Stay tuned for some "after" shots...and then some more colours! :D

Hot off the Hook!

My tulip stitch baby blanket is done! Here it is!

 Kinda pretty, no? I love all the colour transitions and how it has a nice 3-D effect, as these close-ups show.

This blanket was an absolute blast to make...I think I will make another one with different colours one day.

And while I am sharing projects, here are a few that aren't QUITE so hot off the hook. I was looking for a way to use up a bunch of Pumpkin coloured Loops and Threads yarn I had, and came across this Nadie The Fox pattern. I decided to give it a try, and it turned out lovely! Of course, I ran out of yarn most of the way through, and had to buy another Skein of Pumpkin, so my stash is still in need of busting, but that's the way these things go, haha.

I love how it turned out. Looks like I'm well prepared for future baby showers!

I also did an amigurumi project that I spotted on Spin a Yarn Crochet... a crochet sloth for my friend who just happens to love sloths! I basically trotted off to the yarn store for yarn the moment I saw this pattern. I used the Bernat Handicrafter Cotton that the pattern recommends and it turned out just swimmingly! I really liked how this pattern was laid out so that you construct each body part and piece as you go...it took away most of the sewing hatred I have when doing amigurimi, haha.

So here's my version of this adorable sloth. I'm glad he's happy at his new home! He was hard to give away though....so cute.

And finally...I thought perhaps I should share a finished photo of those ponchos I talked about for weeks on end...

Here they are! I think they will look so cute on the girls I made them for. Now that they've been sitting complete in my house for a few months...might be time to get those in the mail so that they will be ready for action when the fall weather comes.

I hope you all enjoyed my recent finished projects! We'd love to see what you've finished lately as well :)

What do you stitch to?

And just like that, since our WIP post I've got about double the projects going on! Just the nature of the hobby :D The weather here has been glorious as well; perfect to sit outside all weekend and put in a lot of good work!

I finally got a chance to try out one of my handmade crochet hooks and it works like a dream! I always forget how quickly crochet works up (when you have an entire afternoon everything moves quickly, haha) and I've almost burned through my first 50g ball of yarn doing a self-designed shawl pattern. I've decided to "make up" the other half of it with different yarn anyway, so it'll be just fine. It's nice to test out this pattern anyway - I wanted to design something that you could either knit OR crochet and get a similar effect, so here's hoping I've got it to where I want it.

Anyway, my question today is: what do you do whilst you knit/crochet? I find myself just enjoying the weather outside and usually sitting in (relative) silence when I can get it, but when I'm inside, I usually feel I have to have something on TV - our TV kind of takes up the entire wall of our tiny living room, so it's just there LOOMING over me otherwise. But on the bus, it's all about music, and I've been enjoying a bit of a "memory lane" playback lately (especially at work): Lifehouse, Silverchair, Big Wreck, and magically, there are a few Big Shiny Tunes playlists on Spotify!

Not that I'm on the bus too often lately; with the weather so warm and pleasant, I cycle to work when I can. It's way faster and it allows me to get in way more cake ;)

AND now I see one of my favourite shows to stitch to, Stranger Things, has a release date for Season 2! Happy Hallowe'en!!

Projects abound! Our WIPs

Happy Friday! With the weekend coming up, our minds are mulling over the WIPs that we will be getting our hands on as soon as we get home from work. Here's what we're up to...

Kaeleigh: Well, if you read my Canadian holiday post, you know I have a few projects on the go - as always. I'm blocking the Creature Comforts cardi this weekend (and then come the arms, since it's cocoon-style), and still plugging away on the Starting Point shawl, which will probably finish sometime before Christmas but since the M is off the MKAL, to be honest I'm not that rushed. I've also finally started a Flax pullover for my husband since I've been trying to make him a sweater for three years and haven't yet got anything that fits him right. The first pullover was a wreck of ill-fitting sadness, and the cardigan was first, HUGE, and then once felted, too tight. Third time's the charm?

I also have in mind a cardigan for my Logan yarn, and I'm just desperate to get a few crochet projects going with the hooks that my father-in-law and I made together - that's right! We actually made crochet hooks; he's an award-winning wood carver and he let me loose on his workshop (probably too generous a statement; he taught me how to use a lathe and then I attempted to not ruin a few blanks, haha). All in all, I came away with five gorgeous hooks varying in size from I think 4.5mm to 6.5mm, and I can't wait to test them out! Bernice keeps me aware that a lot of the gorgeous patterns I see these days are done up in knitting, but I'm positive they can be "interpreted" in crochet, and a coworker of mine just brought over an Estonian knitting book that I will definitely be using for reference with some lovely colourwork charts! In essence, a very busy next few months for sure.

Bernice: Right now I'm working on a baby blanket idea I had been mulling over in my mind for quite some time - I wanted to make a blanket that utilized multiple different colourways of Caron Cakes yarn. What I finally decided on was a Tulip Stitch blanket. I decided that the four rows would be 1) a ground or dirt row, 2) the leaf row, 3) the flower row and then 4) a sky row. It took me a LONG time to decide on colours, but I eventually settled on Cookies and Cream for the ground, Lemon Lime for the leaves, Funfetti for the flowers, and Blueberry Cheesecake for the sky. I was kind of worried how it all might work out at first, but it didn't take too long before I settled into the rainbow coloured mayhem! The constant colour changes made this blanket a lot of fun to make, so much so, I had trouble putting it down and going to bed every night I worked on it!

There's a photo of how it started to work out! Once I got it to the appropriate size, it was time to decide on a border. Again I mulled over this for an incredible amount of time before I decided to keep leaning into the flower theme and went with a Rose Border. I'm using this border as an opportunity to hopefully use up more of the same colours I used for the main part of the blanket. Here's a little peek at how it's working out, now that I'm on the leaves portion of it:

The leaves are 2 triple crochet clusters separated by a chain of 5 worked into the same stitch. It is worked into the row 2 down from the leaf row and is creating a nice 3-D effect! I'm really happy with how it's coming out. Can't wait to share a finished product with you soon!

My Canadian Adventure

Well we've been on a bit of a post hiatus but it's been for a good cause: I was out in Canada for almost a glorious month of work-free shenanigans! And boy, did I keep busy!

First of all, I left my whole set of knitting needles on the coach on the way to the airport, which was BRUTAL whilst on the plane and wanting to make headway on my Creature Comforts cardi that I'd specifically chosen for the trip. Now don't get me wrong, I had two other projects on the go, but they were both too big for my carry-on, so I had to make do with sulking and loud angry music instead. My main project was a lush wedding present afghan in Lion Brand Homespun (a favourite to feel, but definitely NOT a favourite to knit as it's quite knobbly and hard to read) which I worked on constantly to finish by the end of our trip. I decided to upsize a baby blanket pattern published by The Purl Bee (Purl Soho's pattern-publishing arm) and it turned out really well...but I didn't take a single photo! Shame on me. It wasn't complicated but it looked awesome when it was done :)

My other project on the go is the MKAL from Joji Locatelli, the Starting Point shawl that Instagram was losing its collective mind over before it came out, haha. I caved and got yarn for it, all ready to tackle it over my holiday...and all my time was taken up with the blanket! So I'm still working on it.

For those of you keeping score, I had needles already in both of my pre-existing projects before I lost my other needles. And the Creature Comforts cardi starts off with pocket linings, so I had my 5mm needles in those still, but didn't have any 4.5mm, which you need for the ribbing. Alas. I bought some whilst in Michaels, and bought some new 4.0mm at Stash in Calgary for my Starting Point; although I already had one pair of 4.0mm circulars, some of you know that Starting Point has TWO pieces exactly the same, so I was using one pair already, and then had to use straight needles for the other piece...which was driving me batty.

Anyway, the trip was amazeballs, no two ways about it. Each part of it was awesome in its own way: we stayed at the farm with my in-laws (always excellent), then with my parents (of course I love being home with them), and then I went off to Bernice's and we took off to Calgary for a weekend of fantastic hair-metal mayhem and some family time with the Western branch of my family. My brother has lived in Calgary nearly twenty years but I'm afraid I can count the number of visits on almost one hand :S I love going every time I do though, and this time was definitely no exception - we hung out and had some beers, I got to play with my niece and nephew (well...I mostly just watched them play, which is more fun for them, haha), and then Bernice and I kidnapped my sister-in-law and made her take us up to Inglewood to Stash, a glorious yarn heaven near central Calgary. I restrained myself fairly well - I only bought four skeins of Logan, an Ancient Arts limited edition colourway, and another skein of an accent colour for a cardigan I have in mind, as well as some buttons and the aforementioned 4.00mm needles - but I did get a chance to pet the Lykke Driftwood needles I've been seeing, and I couldn't resist sending a picture of them to my husband. Hey, gift ideas, amirite?
But easily our favourite part of the trip (certainly more than climbing Tunnel Mountain) was the Def Leppard/Poison/Tesla show, which, from a front row vantage, was ear- and mind-blowingly amazing! I can't overstate it: the show was epic, and we came away with a pick from each band AND Bernice snagged a drumstick from Poison in the best catch I've ever seen in my life.

We had to head back to real life after that, and between some serious house renos at Bernice's and a wild wedding weekend in the country (I had to pull over for rain so hard it was completely white, and narrowly missed a tornado, and that was just the ride out!), the rest of the trip passed in a flash and we were back on the plane home all too soon, with overweight luggage and so many amazing memories. I love Canada deeply, and it was such a good feeling to be back in Manitoba, which will always be the home of my heart.

And as an awesome conclusion, I emailed again about my missing needles and they'd been turned in at the bus depot, so I picked them up, and now I ALSO have a gorgeous set of the Lykke Driftwood needles to back me up in case I'm so sleep-deprived I leave my needles behind anywhere else.

Happy Canada Day!

Wow! With the Canada Day long weekend coming up, Yarnspirations has dropped a Canada 150 edition Lookbook! The day it came out, Kaeleigh and I spent a fair amount of time looking it over and talking about which patterns we liked best.

With a nice variety of Canada-themed Patterns, I immediately felt the urge to make almost every pattern in this Lookbook.

The bad news about this for me as a crocheter is that it's the knit patterns that REALLY shine. There are three knit sweater patterns, all of which I want to make! There's the Canada pullover, and also also the beautiful Nordic Stag Knit Jacket and the True North Knit Jacket. Throw in the Loon Knit Pillow and you've got my favourite patterns in the Lookbook!

It seems the crochet patterns were all a lot more beginner or easy level patterns, and disappointingly, there are no crochet clothing patterns. I can see myself making the Lumberjack Crochet Throw or the Buffalo Plaid Afghan, they're both lovely blanket patterns.

Bernice's Stand Out Patterns:

Favourite Knit Pattern: True North Knit Jacket. I want to make both the knit jackets! It's looking like this winter I may be honing my knitting skills.

Favourite Crochet Pattern: Lumberjack Crochet Throw. It's cute AND cozy! I like the simple yet clever pattern.

No Thank You, Please: Croch-Eh! Throw Pillow. Haha, cute name, Yarnspirations. I'm kind over over the word patterns at this point. Also, eh should have a question mark not an exclamation mark after it, eh?

Kaeleigh's Stand Out Patterns: 

Favourite Knit Pattern: True North Knit Jacket. I love both jackets but this one wins because I'm not a fan of the moose on the back of the other.

Favourite Crochet Pattern: Lumberjack Crochet Throw, though to be honest this was a tough one as I loved the other throws too! I'm a big fan of the worksock similarities.

No Thank You, Please: Maple Leaf Crochet Dishcloth. As much as I do agree with Bernice about the Croch-Eh! pillow, I hate crocheted dishcloths. They are just not my jam. I'd be much more inclined to use this pattern as another applique, but definitely not as a dishcloth. It's not even a good shape for cleaning; what about a trivet or potholder instead?

Yarn Shop Day!

Kaeleigh: It's that magical time of year again: Yarn Shop Day! Here in the UK, we celebrate bricks-and-mortar stores on May 6th and get down to our nearest yarn shop to pet the wares and purchase a few appreciation skeins ;) I went to both of the shops in Oxford today (Darn It and Stitch on Blue Boar St and Oxford Yarn Store on North Parade Ave), but because I was in the market for very specific things, only picked up some yarn at OYS. After hearing about nothing but the Joji Locatelli MKAL that's starting up shortly, I finally caved and decided to join in - the palettes everyone is posting are just too beautiful and I want to avoid severe project-related FOMO for the next month and a half, haha. I went over and over my stash of 4ply almost obsessively, but none of the skeins were the exact right gauge to match up what I already have without buying anything new, so I had to buy new today. Check out my final colour choices!

The first clue comes out May 12th so stay tuned :D

Bernice: And over in Canada, I decided to check out one of the few independent yarn shops the city of Winnipeg has to offer. Wolseley Wool happened to have a Sidewalk Sale this weekend, with 50% off items out on the sidewalk, and 20% off items in store.

I had a great time perusing all the beautiful sale items! I was most tempted when I went inside the store and saw some neat new hand dyed skeins from Dye for Ewe, a local dyer who I can rarely resist! I nearly cracked and picked up a skein of their "Fairy Farts" yarn (click the link above to see what Fairy Farts look like), but in the end, I decided not to add to my daunting stash!

Wolseley Wool is not just a store, it also hosts 'knit nights' and various fibre art classes throughout the year! It really is the place to be for local yarn crafters :)

Happy Yarn Shop Day everyone!

Happy birthday, Ravelry!!

Today is the tenth birthday of Ravelry, the phenomenal yarncraft website that acts as a hub for knitters, crocheters, and even weavers (maybe some felters too!) to meet up on groups and forums, check out patterns, explore yarns, and pretty much all the other good stuff that crafters love to do! It's fair to say that Ravelry has been formative for thousands of knitters all around the world, and for us, it's been pretty darn important too!

Kaeleigh: I joined Ravelry in 2011, and started off pretty slow I think. It wasn't until I moved here to the UK that my library hoarding REALLY took off; now I have almost 600 patterns in my library, and goodness knows how many in my favourites (which is essentially a giant wishlist). I've managed to put up over 60 projects, starting with some rough earlier knits. My last FO (finished object) is my lovely Hearthstone sweater, and I'm keen to make my next FO my Crazyheart sweater - almost done the body! I also have a ridiculous queue that I don't really follow, but it does help to remind me what I want to do with the things I already have. I've also started stashing my yarns, and although I'm way behind, I definitely find it useful to have the site reminding me what I have available for the patterns I'm looking at. I'm not quite as active on the forums as I'd like, but I've enjoyed participating where I can, and it's been awesome to discover new designers, do test knits, and find great patterns for expanding my skills. Thanks for everything, Rav - I'm pretty much the knitter I am today because of you!

Bernice: Happy birthday Ravelry! I first joined in 2012, most likely from Kaeleigh's suggestion, haha. I don't think I used it very much at first, but over the years I've grown to absolutely love it! Just as I prefer lurking behind the scenes in most of the social media accounts I have, I don't get terribly involved in forums or even posting current projects. I LOVE it, however, for searching for patterns to use. The search feature that allows you to narrow your search down to the exact type of thing you are looking for has come in handy so often. I definitely see the benefit to stashing the yarns I have...maybe I will become that organized one day! I also really like looking up a type of yarn I have purchased and then viewing the photos of different projects other Ravelers have made with that yarn. It's a great way to get inspired! Ten years in, Ravelry is basically a never ending treasure trove for yarn-crafters. It's a great way to discover free patterns, and to find and support designers that you would otherwise probably never have had the opportunity to discover. Here's to the hours happily whiled away on Ravelry, and to the hooks and needles working away on all the great projects it has to offer!

We wish you many more excellent years!

Sunday links

Good afternoon and morning to all! And happy long weekend if you're in the UK and getting tomorrow off :) Today I'm already feeling quite accomplished since I put a 5 mile training run in the books (my other other hobby), and I'm keen to get into knitting for the rest of the day!

As a reward for my running, I often use yarn (unsurprisingly) and since LottieKnits just had a shop update yesterday with some deadly speckles, I had a little moment over there and picked up two gorgeous skeins. The dreaded cartjacking prevented me from snagging a discounted skein (it had a break), but I managed to get the last regular-priced one. I've actually never been cartjacked before, and if you've never heard of this, it's when you put something into your cart on Etsy and someone else checks out the same item before you can, so when you go to pay, it's gone. I see it A LOT on Tanis Fibre Arts shop updates, probably unsurprisingly because her yarn is ridiculously gorgeous and everyone wants in on that action!

Anywho, in addition to that, I've been loving up grey and speckles lately, and when someone in a Ravelry thread posted a picture of some scrumptious skeins, I had to find out who made them. Turns out, it's The Lemonade Shop, a place out of Colorado that, when I clicked through to their Etsy shop, BLEW MY MIND with their gorgeous colourways!! Guys. It's nutso. Get over there and ogle. Plus, their logo is adorable.

And now for some sort of lunch, and diving back into my current WIP (one of what, eight, now? Whatever, I love choice), a gift project using Lion Brand Homespun. A bit of a tricky one, but so squishy and very care-friendly! Enjoy your Sunday :)

Rock'n Road Trip

Well, I got to live my best life this past weekend! I traveled down to Sioux Falls, SD to see a triple bill of bands: Tesla, Poison, and Def Leppard, three of my very favourite bands!

Cruising down to see these guys meant about 7 hours of driving each way...perfect time to work on my poncho project that feels like it will literally never end!

Here it is, on the road somewhere in South Dakota. Sad to say that my slip stitch ribbing days are still not behind me, even after all those hours in the car. But the collar is now finished and so is about a quarter of the side ribbing. Soon this sucker will be done and I can blog about something new!

And since it's Monday, and I got such an eyeful this weekend, why not throw in a man crush! Kaeleigh knows I have been agonizing over who to choose for this edition for quite some time. I thought I had the right one selected, but then I decided it was best to hold off until she and I go on a trip to see this same concert lineup in June, since he is a mutual man crush!

And so today's man crush selection is Rikki Rockett of Poison! I've been a fan of Poison for many a year now, and I do admit that initially Bret Michaels held my affections. Rikki has over the years won me over though! When he's not playing music, he's an animal rights advocate, builds custom drum kits, oh, and he recently beat Stage 4 tongue cancer! Since he is the drummer, I couldn't get a decent shot of him at the show 😞. You can check out a cool Instagram photo that he posted from Sioux Falls, SD here though 😍

Needless to say Mr. Rockett is happy to be cancer free and back on the road with Poison. He's documenting this road trip by riding his motorcycle from venue to venue and taking photos along the way. It's really neat! You can check out his journey here.

Prior to this year, Poison hadn't toured together for five years or so, and I missed them on that tour, so it had been a long time since I last got to enjoy this old favourite of mine. I gotta say, they really delivered an exciting and fun filled show! And what's more, prior to their show, they played a video encouraging concert-goers to donate to support the immunotherapy trial that Rikki participated in. This treatment is why he's back on the road and back to full health! A great cause for sure, I'm so glad Rikki is giving back to this program.

SO, after all that, I better just wrap up and say all three bands were AWESOME. I unfortunately missed part of Tesla...the venue recently upped their security and it took a full HOUR for us to get past the security scanners and to our seats. Here's hoping you get your act together soon, Denny Sanford Premier Center! Luckily I have seen Tesla many a time, otherwise I would be full of eternal bitterness about that, haha. Oh, and knowing I'll see them again in June with Kaeleigh helps, too.

Oh, I suppose I should post a couple of pics from the show, eh? Here ya go 😊

 Hope all your weekends were just as good, whatever you were all up to!

WIP Wednesday!

Bernice: Who doesn't like to break up the week with a peek at what's on our hooks and needles? I hope you all got to enjoy as much crafty time over the long weekend as I did.

As you can see, I'm back to work on Poncho #2. Despite this little cutie's best efforts to distract me, I did manage to get a lot of crocheting done, and am now back into the never ending slip stitch ribbing portion of this project. Rest assured, once Poncho #2 is complete, I will never use this pattern again! Too much ribbing!!!

Kaeleigh: As usual, I can't settle on just one thing! And I sure did get a lot of crafting done during this long weekend - it was my birthday as well so I got some INSANELY gorgeous SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine: FOUR skeins!! Spoiled rotten, as usual ;)
I've got another Heart On My Sleeve sweater on the go; after my lovely Hearthstone turned out so well, I thought I'd go for a Crazyheart in SweetGeorgia Superwash DK and I'm about five rows away from being done the sleeves. I'm doing them two at a time, so it's even faster...in theory, anyway!

On Tuesday I cast on the Aperture Shawl by Ambah O'Brien, which I've been eyeing up for weeks (a little happy birthday to myself!) with some club yarn from Tanis Fibre Arts, a lovely skein of Purple Label which is a combo of cashmere, merino, and nylon. The pattern is going well so far, though I've made a few errors and had to backtrack a few times as well; not quite as easy to memorize as the Lilli Pilli but I love it just the same!

A man crush and some FOs

Today's lovely featured gentleman is one of my very favourites, Alice Cooper.

I missed a lot of years not listening to Alice but when Bernice asked me to go to Motley Crue and Alice Cooper in 2015, I said yes as fast as I could, and then started on my musical homework. What an excellent choice! He's got a lot of great standards, some definite personal faves, and so much range in the catalogue that there's probably Alice for every mood ever. My mom listened to Alice Cooper (back when Billion Dollar Babies came out...though when I offered her my copy, she politely declined - she's a little less hard rock these days!), so he can pretty cover off multigenerational groups too. And if you've ever seen Wayne's World, or you have the good fortune of tuning into his radio show, you know exactly how dry and sharp his wit is. We're not worthy!

***

In knit news, I've been burning through projects at a wild rate! I finished off my glorious Marian shawl, complete with little kitty pawprints, and in the last week I've also FINALLY used my fantastic SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine for another sweet design of my own; this one is called Mediterranean (gorgeous blues for the front and back), a cowl neck tank with lace back. The lace is inspired/based on the Ambah O'Brien Lilli Pilli shawl; I've been loving that pattern ever since I saw it and I've made it twice (with increasing proficiency, haha) and still adore the look of the lace! So awesome. I don't have good shots of my FOs - to be honest I should've shot them this weekend but it was so sunny I just had to sit and enjoy it! - so they'll be in a roundup soon, but in the meantime, I'm casting on another Heart On My Sleeve sweater (Crazyheart, I think!) with some more SweetGeorgia - Superwash DK in Coral, Hush, and Salt Air - and maybe I'll even do the sleeves two at a time because I'm crazy like that, haha. Party on, Wayne!

Crafty Weekend Getaway

Well, it seems there's not enough coffee in the world to wake me up this fine Monday! I returned last night from a weekend getaway at a fantastic 5 bedroom home that some friends and I rented on Airbnb with the mission of finding some extra time to work on our respective hobbies. I was somewhat the odd man out - I was a lone yarncrafter in a group of scrapbookers. But I found myself a cozy and well lit corner and got to work trying to finish up my purple poncho project.

I thought I'd snap a pic of my project resting on my favourite chair as the weekend closed. Note the sign on the fireplace - "I really need a day between Saturday and Sunday". I was all like "True that, sign!" 

Some notes on the poncho as I am close to finishing it up:

- The pattern suggests crocheting the collar and side ribbing pieces separately from the poncho and then sewing them on when you have the correct length. I personally am anti-sewing, so instead, I started the ribbing by joining to the work with a slip stitch and then attached each row of ribbing with a single crochet to the project as I progressed. I found it easier and the look is more seamless as well, in my opinion. Plus, I want to crochet, not sew!

- I read some of the comments on this design on Ravelry. One user mentioned instead of crocheting the ribbing pieces, she knitted them, and it went much faster for her. If you are prolific in both knit and crochet, I'd say this would DEFINITELY be the way to go. The crochet ribbing is made of slip stitches in the back loop, which is slow, tedious work. You also REALLY have to watch your gauge, otherwise it gets too tight really quickly. It's definitely slow going with the crochet method. 

- The pattern also suggests that you sew the side buttons through both sides of the poncho, and that the buttons are for looks only. I thought that working buttons would make putting this poncho on a child easier! So I improvised and crocheted 3 button holes on each side. I crocheted 17 rows of ribbing up the side from the bottom, then the next row, I did 2 slip stitches, then chained 3, then 2 more slip stitches. I spaced 3 button holes like this 15 ribbing rows apart. Now, I'll have to find some buttons that work with this project!

I'm so glad that I've nearly completed this poncho...the crochet ribbing is really getting so tiring to work on. Unfortunately, I do need to make another poncho in pink! I may have to do a small project in between as a palate cleanser before I start the next one though!