I realize I haven’t blogged in a really long time! That said, I have still worked on knitting projects and have been reading!
I also have decided to create a new blog where I hope to review the books I’ve read, and when I pick up knitting again–my knitting projects. You can find it here at: Wool & Words I hope to blog regularly again!
My apologies for my long delay in posting. I guess without Ginny’s Yarn Along every week I feel sort of lost. I haven’t given up knitting, however, or reading. Currently I’m in the throes of knitting a shawl with Madelinetosh Pashmina wool–yarn I purchased with birthday money last month. I absolutely love the texture, feel, and colour of this wool! It’s gorgeous and well made, as it should be for the price I paid! I’m looking forward to wearing the shawl this summer. The pattern I’m using is called Silverleaf by Lisa Hanes and it’s my very first Raverly purchase.
I’m farther along on my shawl then the picture shows, as I meant to post a while ago, but never did. I wanted to take a picture of my shawl with my Grandmother’s Royal Albert tea cup she recently gave me for Easter. It took a while to get the picture in the right position, and by the time I was done my tea was cold.
I am currently reading The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy. It’s a very engaging read, covering from the early origins of the Ukraine to 2015.
I decided to attempt a sweater as my next knitting project. I’ve never knit one and have been wanting to for a long time. My Grandma gave me this massive ball of yarn a couple of years ago when she was cleaning out her drawers and barrels full of yarn. I chose an easy child’s sweater to attempt. As you can see, I’m not very far along..
I finished the Leaves and Cables hat last week and was disappointed with the size of the hat, as it doesn’t fit Mum. The size seems to be more for a small child. It was a great project though, and I enjoyed learning new knitting techniques.
Our family has been on a gaming streak. We just learned Dominion and it has become one of our family favourites. These are the collection of games we have been playing this week, 7 Wonders fast becoming another top favourite.
Mum has us girls doing Alisha Gratehouse’s You are a Masterpiece art lessons. This week’s was a watercolour lesson on painting a bird of our choice. I thoroughly enjoyed working on a Painted Bunting. 
Joining Ginny this Wednesday for Yarn Along.
Leaves and Cables Hat is still in progress, with eight more rows to go before completion. It is much easier to knit than at first, and I don’t have to concentrate as much on the pattern. I’ve enjoyed learning how to knit leaves and interlocking cables.
The weather has been gorgeously spring-like these past few weeks (with some cold spells). I am quite eager for spring to come and don’t fancy the idea of any more snow, though admittedly there has been very little snow in these parts this winter.
Our art project this week was Chalk Board art. It was part of Alisha Gratehouse’s You are a Masterpiece art course. It was quite fun. Now we just have to find frames for our artwork.
I haven’t been reading much lately, though I did start Wuthering Heights last week.
Joining Ginny on Yarn Along.
I’m a little bit further along on my hat. This week Mum bought a online art course, We are God’s Masterpiece by Alisha Gratehouse at Flourish Designs. The first project was to make your own She-Art girl, which is supposed to be a representation of you.
The decoupage sewing pattern behind it illustrates God’s design for our lives. The course is also accompanied by a little devotional.
You also get to decoupage your favourite book page to the head. I’m not a fan of ripping out pages from books, even if they are really old and falling apart, but I did take a page from one of my favourite’s, Jane Eyre.
I was hesitant to try my hand at this, since I’m a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to art. However, we had a great time and I’m pleased with the finished products.
Joining Ginny at Yarn Along.
I’m making headway on Mum’s Leaves and Cables Hat, after having to rip the band out and start anew. I’m enjoying the challenge of the leaf motif along with the interlocking cables. It’s quite fun and keeps me focused. However, it’s a project that calls for complete silence and no interruptions and I’m not too pleasant if I lose my place.
I’m not sure what the brand of the yarn I’m using is, though I know the wool is Aran. Mum had bought it up north when we were at our cottage in June, and since then it’s lost the label.
This post is called The Cat and the Hat, because it contains pictures of my thirteen year-old cat, Peppy. She is a dear and has taken to sleeping with my sister’s stuffed animals, particularly this cat Beanie Boo which looks just like her.
I am currently reading a collection of books. I chose to picture Gilead in this post. I saw Ginny’s recommendation and decided to try it. So far I’m only a few pages in. I’m also in the middle of a novel about Cecily Neville, the wife of Richard Plantagenet who tried to claim his right to the crown from Henry VI, but ended up losing his life for it. It’s a confusing time period with so many cousins battling for the crown and so many characters, that I’ve started reading a non-fiction book on the Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones to sort out who’s who.
Joining Ginny this Wednesday at Yarn Along. Happy Knitting!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted so I’m playing catch-up here. Mum and Dad bought me The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp for my St. Nicholas Day stocking. I loved it. This has much more of Ann’s testimony. Mum and I got to hear her speak for the first time this past November, sitting only 6 rows behind her, with mum having the great urge to move up and tap her on the shoulder and embrace her. But she settled with obediently sitting still and allowing Ann some space.
I tried my hand at knitting fingerless sweat pea mitts as a Christmas gift for one of my sisters. She happened upon me knitting them once and asked what I was working on. I replied, “an experiment,” which wasn’t a lie since I truly hadn’t attempted mitts before. She took that as a satisfactory reply, though I found out later she suspected–and was excitedly hoping–it was something for her. My heart swells with happiness when the receiver of knitted gifts shows pure delight as was the case here.
I was also asked to do a paid project, knitting up a poncho-type shawl for a friend’s Christmas gift for their daughter. The pattern was cable capelet made with Loops and Thread Country Loom Yarn. I used Solarium for the colour choice.
Lastly, I decided because these capelets are fairly easy to knit up, that I’d make one to donate to the Ronald McDonald House and allow them to choose a mother currently staying there to give the shawl to. I’ve been volunteering there bi-monthly in the kitchen and thoroughly enjoy being able to give back to a place that was so monumental in our lives in a very difficult time. I hardly had time to begin my work that day when a staff member came to let me know they gave the shawl to one of the mother’s who was very grateful to be the receiver of it.
I’m now working on a winter hat for my mum, who had high expectations of doing it herself this winter, but she kindly passed it along as something I might do better at.
Joining Ginny this Wednesday on Yarn Along.
Currently on the needles is number one of the Sweet Pea Mittens. I love the vine lace design used in this pattern. It is easy to follow and shows up beautifully. It also doesn’t have too much lacework, which is probably good seeing as this is only my third project featuring lacework.
I purchased this book by one of my favourite authors. It is one you can’t find in the commercial bookstores or libraries and I was delighted to discover it in a newly opened bookstore in town. I am also reading a non-fiction book on Geoffrey Chaucer.
Joining Ginny for a very short Yarn Along Post the Wednesday.
November has come and with it a surge of knitting ideas and projects for the long winter ahead. I have many Raverlry patterns favourited with the hope of knitting them one day–there are SO many gorgeous knitting patterns and arrays of beautiful (and costly) yarns. I could go on dreaming up (and looking up) patterns I would like to knit. Currently, though I must finish the projects I have started.
My Solarium Caplet is almost at completion with the last ball diminishing in size and the cowl almost at its required length.
Sweet Pea Mitts are an exciting new addtion to my knitting projects. I just began them two nights ago and am looking forward to working with lacework again, while my fingers adjust to Size US 1 needles again after working with Size US 13. I am using three double pointed needles instead of two circular needles as it seems Michaels doesn’t sell that size and I’m used to knitting in the round with double pointed needles. Many thanks to Marilyn and her notes on her adjustments to Sweet Pea Mitts.
The yarn I’m using is Patons Kroy Sock Yarn. I had orginially planned to used the yarn choice suggested–Brown Sheep Wildfoote but after discovering no local yarn shop sold it and the only option was to order online with a shipping price of more than one ball of the desired yarn would cost, I opted for a cheaper deal at Michaels.
I am currently reading Barbara Willard’s The Lark and the Laurel, a delightful book we found in a new local bookshop.
Also, enjoying the beautiful fall weather while it lasts, and wishing Autumn would stay more than a wee bit longer.
Joining Ginny this Wednesday for Yarn Along.
The long delayed Yarn Along post is finally here. I must admit I’ve tried numerous times to compose a post, alas to no avail. My Almondine socks, however, made better progess with their completion about a month ago. I love their design and adore the wool, yet am fearful of wearing them without slippers in case of dirtying them.
I also knit my first beret this summer for a friend. I was absoluetly thrilled with the end product after washing and shaping it in a dinner plate.
Currently on the needles is another Cabled Caplet, this time in Solarium.
Martin Chuzzlewit has made it to my stack of literature reads, however, I can only manage short increments as Dickens is slightly long winded. After an excursion to our local library I was delighted to discover a collection of The Love Letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. I’ve only read the first few, but am already in love with the eloquent way they express themselves. How I wish we wrote like that now-a-days.
I also picked up a biography on Sophia Tolstoy, having read both of Leo Tolstoy’s famous novels, Anna Karenina and War and Peace, and wishing to know more about him and his wife.
The book pictured above, Harvesting Color is another delightful library find. I’ve been quite intrigued by Ginny’s naturally dyed yarns, and this books gives an introduction into the dyeing process and what types of plants used for various colours.
Joining Ginny this Wednesday for Yarn Along.
The Northern Knitter 