Love this

:: Really interesting article on how the happy and the meaningful life differ

:: Neato iphone photography tricks

:: This fabric, and this, and this too... Swoon!

:: This little cardi is so pretty (free pattern!)

Have a very nice weekend!

I put some birds on it...

I love everything about this material -- the dove blue colour, the flocks of fleeting birds, the gentle drape of the organic canvas.

I loved it so much I bought three metres of it from Greenwood Quiltery so if you have a birthday coming up, chances are probably good that you'll be getting one of these totes :)

Twinners!

In the continuing theme of birthday knits... Some mitts I made for my pal KW. I made a pair for myself during sock summit and a second pair when I got home. 

I do love how Manos stripes -- I think these will be good and cheerful gloves for this fall. 

Happiest birthday dear friend!

The details: Manos del Uruaguay Allegria

Needles: 2.5 mm

Pattern: Improvised tube with a thumb....

Henslowe, again

And now, Henslowe for my pal Johanna's birthday. Love this pattern so much - so pretty and elegant. Happy birthday J!

The yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts cashmere and silk singles, frost colourway

The needles: 3.75 mm

Ishbel, again

Another Ishbel - this one for my pal C, who celebrated a special birthday recently. Full credit to my other pal Johanna, for being my life coach on this one when I got impatient in the lace repeats. (I hope you all have a Johanna in your life telling you it will be worth it in the end). And I also hope you have a friend like Miss C, worth knitting an Ishbel for....

The yarn: Madelinetosh prairie in Tart

Needle: 3.75 mm

Moc making

I took a moccasin making course a few weeks ago at Crown Flora (wow - what a beautiful space -- every corner filled with handmade wonders). I was curious to see what it was like to work with leather and well now I know... It's maybe not the best thing for my weak little hands. But I did finish my shoes and they're pretty neato. I just have to spray and stretch them and they'll make cute little winter slippers.

Gloves galore

So this summer was spent making a lot of fingerless gloves. Without going into all of the sad details, there was lots of turmoil at work and when the going gets tough, the tough get knitting. I know that for new things to happen, old things have to end -- but man, sometimes you just wanna hang onto the old. 

In any case, I made gloves for friends who have moved on. Some things I learned: layering one pair of gloves over another is a good idea, grey is great (as if you didn't already know that), and baby llama is basically the best thing ever.

Ok September, it's go time. Bring on the cold weather, my friends and I are ready for ya.

Travelling woman

A shawl I made earlier this year for my pal Deb.

The pattern: Travelling Woman (free!). This is a really lovely pattern with lots of modification options but I did it as instructed in the smallest size.

The yarn: Becoming Art (hoarded from Sock Summit -- eep. Gotta use it sooner or later)
The inspiration: Lovely SteelNeedles who has made so many lovely versions of this shawl.

Weekend workshop

Some snapshots from a natural dye workshop at Toronto's Contemporary Textile Studio.

Among the lessons learned: how to extract dye from natural objects (we used onion skins), how to prep your fabric, how to modify colours, how to create a colour palette, how to use contact paper to create your repeats, how to use screens to print on fabric, and how to steam and set your pieces. 

Not surprisingly, my favourite sample to print on was wool (the top shot with the multi-coloured circles) -- the wool feels great (obvi) and is really porous. My favourite dye - cochineal, which is also one of my most favourite words to say. Cochineal. It might be my warrior name.

So excited to tart up my quarters with some embroidery and maybe make some totes (magotes!).

Penny's sweater

A classic cardi for little baby Penny... I am going to admit that I was pretty pleased when I sewed on the buttons.

Pattern: Little Coffee Bean Cardigan (but obviously unstriped) (free)

Yarn: Cascade Superwash

Buttons from MJ Trim

Love this

St. Julian's, Malta. March 2014

:: This vestigial sock pattern (free!) and also these fingerless gloves (also free!)

:: I really like watching Vitamix videos on youtube, even though I don't have one... (because I'm weird). These popsicle recipes make me want one even more.

:: This fettucine with walnuts and mushrooms recipe looks delicious.

:: Boyhood... Really solid film, made me feel sad and hopeful.

Have a really good week friends!

Knit camp recap

Hey y'all. Hope you're enjoying a nice long weekend. 

My pal Lynn did a fantastic recap of the fun we had at Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp.

I was going to be lazy (who, me?) and leave it at that (because honestly, Lynn did such a nice recap AND she even cut a video of the steeking adventures) but I'll go just a bit beyond my lazy inclination and share some cool things we happened upon:

:: We were lucky enough to sit beside Ted, who made THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BLANKET EVER. He used 10 skeins of Icelandic unspun to create a blanket that is at once lofty and light but snuggly and warm. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

:: On the other side of us (we were the middle in an awesome sandwich), sat the lovely Robin Ulrich. Her patterns are beautiful -- and I'm determined to make Greyhaven hats and cowls and boot toppers this Christmas.

:: The more or less right formula for increasing evenly across a row (explained here by Ann Budd). 

:: For a better SSK (slip, slip, knit) - try this method: Slip the first stitch as if to knit, slip the second stitch as if to purl, then knit the two together. The result? The second slip is hidden neatly behind the first. Technical gems tossed out all day long at knit camp! 

:: Wisconsin has deep fried cheese curds, and they're a really good idea.

::  If you ever flip out at a sewing machine when you're lining up your steek, Lynn is a very good person to have beside you and finish up the job. Really, I'm not a theatrical person, but I started to sweat and get dizzy when I put the needle down in my knitting. Lucky for me, Lynn got the job done. She also always has a chocolate bar tucked away for emergencies.

Oh deer

Some zips I made up for my crafty pals. I held on to these lovely fat quarters from Greenwood Quiltery for quite a long time and then decided to set them free in the world.

My friend Johanna made me an awesome pouch like this for Christmas using this tutorial so I followed her lead. It's nice to add a bit of cush to the bags.

Summer snapshots

Some snaps from the summer...

Top shelf - Lovely Marshfield, Wisconsin - home of Meg Swansen's Knit Camp.

Bottom shelf - The T-dot, on my way into work.

So clearly, these two pics have been filtered and filtered and filtered again. I read this article about Mextures, was inspired by the story (about the power of good ideas and hard work!) and bought the app. Fun stuff... but totally easy to get carried away. 

UGH, The definition of cute

Hi friends. Thanks for the welcome back :)

These booties are destined for a dear friend's new little lamb. I love the little scalloped edging and the rows of garter stitch goodness.

The yarn: Rowan organic yarn

The pattern: Stripy bootees (but without the stripes) from Zoe Mellor's 50 Baby Bootees to knit

Kiri, at last

Hey y'all. I'm back (sorta). I kinda lost my blogging mojo and am still not so sure I have it back. Some fun things have happened - I went to Malta and Wisconsin for knit camp... My friend Lynn did an awesome recap. I've posted some pics on instagram (Come friend me! I feel like eventually the knitting blog stuff will migrate over there.) But, until then... 

This one has been in the works for years. Like from back in the day when people were still knitting the Birch, or Kiri shawls. And back in the day when I thought I loved this shade of purple. At the middle point, I vowed never to do this again. But when I finished, I did seriously consider casting on another. But then, I got serious with myself.

The details: 

Yarn: Rowan Kid silk haze

Needles: 4 mm

Graham + Bella

These are some knits that entered circulation before they were properly photographed. It's been that kind of winter where the knits go from the needles directly to the head and hands immediately.

Patterns: Hats - Graham, Mittens - Bella

Yarns: White - Rowan Angora, Grey - Cascade superwash + 1 strand of black mohair, Black mittens - Patons Classic Merino + 1 strand of black mohair

Modifications: I followed the hat patterns as directed but I came out with a weird little know at the end. Ripped it back so it wasn't so long and it's now perfectly rounded and slouchy.

Off for a little vacay ... back next month!

Perrrrriwinkle pop

A periwinkle scarf for my dear pal Darci's birthday.

The yarn: Naturally Kid Silk Merino Mohair that I had been hoarding in my stash for way too long.

Pattern: Just straight up plain weave on my mighty rigid heddle loom.

February knits

February was dedicated to fingerless gloves. I think I could dedicate a year to making these and not be bored. 

The yarn: From left, Koigu, Malabrigo, Diamond Luxury Merino (x2)

The pattern: From left, Just your basic tube with a thumb gusset, Ferryboat mittens (x3)