Translate

Thursday, August 30, 2007

And Now In Blue

I really get a lot of use from the water bottle covers I crocheted a year ago. When I recently bought a couple of new bottles, this time in blue, (Propel Fitness Water*), I decided they needed coordinating covers.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Blue = hand dyed merino Natural = coopworth


Like the others, these are crocheted in handspun, hand dyed wool. Go HERE for the free pattern. These two have been "fulled" in the washing machine for a snugger fit.

* Like this sports drink reviewer, I really like the bottle design of Propel Fitness Water, but find the "fitness water" nothing more than water with added hype (and artificial sweetner). Makes a great sports bottle to refill with tap water though.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Me's a Meez

Now if I could only figure out how to use this animation as my header picture. Michelle, you're good at adding pictures to the header, have you got any tips?


I'm wovenflame!



wovenflame

This is the 3D me.
Make your own,
and we both get Coinz!


Make a Meez







If any readers are planning on making a "Meez", tell 'em wovenflame sent you. I could use the "coinz". I'm saving up for the weights. Heh.

Monkey's Back!

Well waddya know? Look who's back!

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

If you're a fan, you'll be happy to see his face again after a long dry spell. If you're not yet a fan, you soon will be. I mean how can it get any better than a knitting and spinning blog with a cute little monkey as co-host?

My daughter's old blog, "Buster n Me", has been scrapped and Monkey now has his name "up in lights" at "Knitting With Monkey". Go have a look!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Knitting On Vacation

As I mentioned in my last post, the One Stitch Cardigan, this time done in handspun, was my vacation knitting. The night before we left on a road trip to Alberta to visit my mom and her husband I had the pocket linings done and the cast on and a couple of foundation rows done. Over the next several days quite a lot of knitting was accomplished as we drove and drove and drove.

Here we see the sweater, in its infancy, enjoying the view at a rest stop just outside of Osoyoos, at lunch time, on our first day. With both side-fronts and the back being knit in one piece on a long circular needle, the progress looks slow but is coming along nicely.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

At days end we checked into the Prestige Hotel in Nelson, BC. Here the cardigan basks in the sun warming the balcony overlooking the lake.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

The following day my husband drove and drove and drove some more while I knit and knit and knit. He prefers to drive, and I prefer to knit so it works out perfectly. We arrived at my mom's condo in the early evening and for the next two days I completely forgot to use my camera. Oh, I thought about it a few times, but the camera was always left back in the guest suite. That means I didn't get any pictures of my mom and her husband, their new condo, our walk along the paths at Henderson Lake, or Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden . The clickable links will have to suffice. After three evenings and two days enjoying family we headed toward home again. In the late afternoon we stopped for the night, once again in Nelson, BC, a convenient halfway point. This time we stayed at the ancient old Hume Hotel which has been renovated more than once.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

These two pictures, above and below, are from the hotel's website. Although the one below is not our exact room, it does show the decorating style of the room we stayed in on the fourth floor. One very noticeable quirk of the old hotel is the very warped and unlevel wooden floors in the hallways and rooms. Although we found it quite entertaining to be walking uphill to look out the window or staggering sideways on the way to the washroom, I think it might be quite hazardous to elderly or tipsy patrons.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

And then there is the elevator. I stayed at this hotel years ago (named "The Heritage" at the time) and one ride in the jerking, shuddering, closet sized* contraption has made me vow never to step foot in it again. This time I happily jogged up the 4 flights of stairs numerous times to avoid even the suggestion that I step inside that claustrophobia inducing nightmare. While we were bringing in the luggage and a few valuables that we didn't want to leave in the car overnight, I wheeled the heavy suitcase as far as the elevator, left it in my husband's care, and met him on the fourth floor just as the doors to the elevator opened there. Yes, I was able to take the stairs faster than the elevator was able to lurch its way up the four floors.

Despite the way it sounds, I really enjoyed my stay at the Hume Hotel. Sure it's quirky, but it's not a cookie cutter duplicate of every other hotel out there. It has a unique personality that you won't see anywhere else. It's also super clean, the staff are friendly, and a nice breakfast in the lovely little restaurant is included at no additional charge.


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Another progress photo of the cardigan. Here it lounges on the desk in our room. The pockets are in place and the shaping for the dolman sleeves has begun. From here on out the rows get very, very long. At their longest point there will be 504 stitches per row.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

This is the view out our little window. The building across the street used to be the Post Office, but now houses the museum.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

* When I say "closet sized" I mean it. Apparently during one of the renovations an existing closet was refitted as an elevator.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Packing Essentials

Packing for a road trip requires careful thought. The right knitting project is essential. It must be large enough to last the whole trip and easy enough that I appear to be "enjoying the scenery" (for my husband's benefit) with my eyes on the surrounding countryside rather than my knitting. It also helps if it is something I actually want to knit.

Last night, despite other unfinished projects, I cast on for another "One Stitch Cardigan". I've done this one as "road trip knitting" before, only in a cheap acrylic. Once I determined that I liked the style and the fit I vowed that I would one day knit it again in nicer yarn.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

This time around it will be knit from the huge supply of 3ply handspun wool I've been trying to find the right project for. I've tried this wool for a few different things and nothing ever seemed just right. I tried cables and textures but they were lost to the beautiful "ragg" effect of this handspun. Plain stockinette didn't impress me either. When I knit the garter stitch gauge swatch I knew I had found the right project. Add in the beautiful antler tip* buttons I was given a while back and I think I'll have the look I was wanting, a plain cardigan that should play up the handspun look.

*note: antlers are shed annually and no animals were harmed in the making of the buttons.

.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Still Around

It's been a while. I've been a bad blogger. Truth is I haven't been knitting much --- well, for me anyway. There has been some knitting ---

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

--- but not on a daily basis. The photo is of the completed back and the left side of the handspun lace bolero I've been working on. It's turning out well enough but it's one of those projects that is boring to knit but still requires enough attention that I can't watch TV or carry on an involved conversation at the same time. Well, I could if I didn't mind frequent tinking episodes. But I do. Mind frequent tinking episodes that is.

The Mystery Stole 3 has been put on hold while I ponder whether or not I really feel like knitting an asymmetrical, one winged stole. Yeah. One wing. Asymmetry. Not sure about that. I could get past the asymmetry and even the fact that there is one wing in a world where those kind of appendages usually come in pairs, but I've seen pictures of other knitter's work on the wing and, well --- it looks like an awkward add on. Kind of like one of those houses where each generation adds on a new room. With different siding.

So I've been reading. It's all Kristy's fault. She gave me a h-u-g-e novel to read. I mean criminy, I've been at this thing for days. Good book though.

At night I've been getting in some spinning time. Camel. Silk. Mmmmm. When I'm not reading into the wee hours that is.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket