September 10, 2014

Stagnant No More...

So about 2 years ago I bought a loom. I had my mind made up on what kind of loom I wanted. I had my heart set on a 32" Kromski Rigid Heddle Loom so I bought it. I got it pretty quickly, which I was happy about! Then I put the box in my spare bedroom (AKA : the craft room) and there it stayed for a year. 

About a year ago, I was cleaning / organizing my craft room and I found it again! So I spent a little bit of time assembling it. Then it went back into the spare room closet. 



Where it still resides today. The loom stand has been living on my filing cabinets!



So I decided that this year I was going to figure out how to use my loom. I bought a couple books and flipped through them. It's an extreme under statement to say that I was overwhelmed with all the steps. It was then that I figured I needed to find a guild. Queue in Ravelry. I created a post in the Red Deer group to find a guild in Red Deer / Central Alberta and I got a response :-) 

So I attended my first meeting as part of the Parkland Handweavers Guild and it was a lot f fun. The ladies are all very nice :-) So now I'm on my way to accomplishing this goal I set for myself. I got to check out some of the WIP's they have on their looms for the guild and I was beyond inspired.


 


I have aspirations to be this good in the future :-) Maybe the distant future ;-) 

Happy Knitting :-)

September 08, 2014

I'm not ready for this...

Today marks the first day if snow here! The title is fully explainatory of how I feel about this. It's a total bummer. Where did summer go? 

The only good thing about snow is seeing our Blue Heeler Lola experience the first snowfall of the season. She goes completely batty and runs, jumps, prances, and acts pretty much psychotic when she sees snow. It's quite hilarious and makes me smile everytime. Who knew that a dog that came from Mexico would love snow so much :-)

If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen this already, but I finished my Smokestack Socks :-) 



This pattern was a lot of fun to knit. The only minor modification I made was to mirror the front and back of the socks so that the cables ran down the sides. I'm very happy with how they turned out :-) I know my brother will love them. 

I also have some scraps left over of each of the 3 Star Trek yarn so I've decided to use them up in a pair of stripy socks for my brother as well. I just couldn't bear to toss them.  Although I don't have enough to knit up a pair of socks using just the scraps, so a I did some stash diving and pulled out a lone skein of Universal Yarns Pace in Steel.



I really don't have a plan yet on what's going to happen with the stripes. I'm just going to wing it for most of it. I'm planning on using up all the yarn if I can. I'm also considering working both socks at the same time on separate DPN's so I can evenly distribute the yarn as I go. We'll see how they turn out :-)

On the Etsy Shop News : I'm offering free Worldwide Shipping on all purchases over $100 :-) Just use Coupon Code - FREESHIPPING100 when you check out! 



Now I'm off to knit a bit with my coffee :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

September 06, 2014

Score!!!!!.....

I'm pretty excited today :-) I had one goal and that was to go back to the Red Deer Market today to get more Polypay Arcott Roving from A&B Fiberworks. I was a bit worried that there wouldn't be anymore left but I pushed it to the back of my mind and beelined for the booth as soon as we got there. 



I love all the fibery goodness in this booth :-) The natural colored skeins!



The abundance of roving :-)



That bag is mine :-) I bought what was left of the Polypay Arcott roving, which was 1 lb & 12oz. Although Anne assured me that she had more stashed at their Fiberworks headquarters ;-) So if your interested in procuring some, they should have some at the next farmers market next weekend ;-) Or you can check out their website and contact them to order!

So overall it was a fabulous day :-) I'm going to pull out the wheel now and spin a little!

Happy Spinning :-)

September 05, 2014

Fabulous :-)

Today is one of those days where I woke up in a great mood! Even though it was a bit chilly this morning and we actually had to turn on the furnace. How can it not be a wonderful day :-) My daughter is full of smiles and gives me big bear hugs! 

I've decided to share the love today :-) I'm offering free shipping until Sunday on all purchases in my Etsy Shop :-) Just use coupon code FREESHIPPING !!

 Now I'm off to knit on my Smokestack Socks  I'm so close to casting off I can taste it. I'm going to dedicate my knitting time to getting these done :-) 



I've already wound yarn to cast on another project ;-) I just can't seem to contain myself! Although I promised myself I wouldn't do any more stash diving today! I really can't be casting on a new project every day!

Happy Knitting :-)

September 02, 2014

Toss Stash, Wind Yarn, Cast On, Repeat.....

I'm a bit out of control!!  

When I wasn't feeling well I didn't really knit or spin. Now that I'm back to 100%, I'm having a hard time FOCUSING on one project. I have the insatiable urge to cast on project after project. Even though I had 3 projects on the go already. 



There's my Baba's sweater, which has been marinating for a while. I like the yarn, I like the pattern. I'm not keen on the endless stockinette using sport weight yarn. Also, since it's a dark colored yarn. I find I can only knit on it during the day. So I can see the stitches. I really need to get going on this since it's September and I'm sure she wants to wear it this fall / winter. 



I have my Vector  which I'm knitting with beautiful one of a kinds from Tanis Fiber Arts  These were marinating in my stash for a few years before this perfect pattern came along. Love the pattern :-) Love the yarn :-) It's perfect mindless knitting! It's just sometimes I need something more than garter stitch. 



That's why I cast on a pair of Smokestack Socks in my last skein of Star Trek yarn from Pandia's Jewels  The pattern is easily memorizable and addictive. I'm working the leg on the second sock but sometimes you just want to knit something new :-)



I just couldn't help myself yesterday. I saw this project on my Rav Friends Feed and instantly fell in love with it! Then I immediately started searching my Rav stash and found the perfect yarn! I'm using 2 skeins of Penelope by Spirit Trail Fiberworks in the Deep Ocean colorway. The base is 50% Bombyx Silk and 50% Merino. Which means that it's 100% AWESOME!! It's so soft and perfect to knit with :-) Sadly this base is discontinued but if your interested there are some skeins being destashed on Ravelry

Back to the project, I casted on ASAP after winding up the skeins. The only modification I made was to cast on 70st so I could make a wider scarf. I'm enjoying knitting it so far :-) 

Happy Knitting :-)