Some Progress Pics :-)

I finally got around to taking some pictures yesterday! I was up fairly early! My husband was going duck / goose hunting so he was up at 5am which meant that I was up too.

You try sleeping in when you have 3 dogs ;-)

So I grabbed a coffee and started knitting on the Black Cinder Block Socks. The last of the Christmas 2015 Socks :-) Although I had to turn on some bright lights to see what I was doing, I was determined to get going on them. The faster I knit these, the faster they'll be done!




This is an early morning progress update on the first sock! I dedicated all my knitting time to knitting on this sock yesterday and by the time I was ready for bed I had gotten to the heel :-) I did take a little break to make a cake yesterday ;-)




I cheated a bit. The cake is from a box but the icing is homemade and it's heavenly!! I used THIS RECIPE and I've added it to my recipe box ;-)

I've already cut a slice with my morning tea as a pre breakfast snack ;-)




I even couldn't help but line up my daughters minions in the photo ;-) They look just as obsessed with this cake as I am!

I was also able to take a FO photo of the Scrappy Garnet Socks I casted off the other day.




Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Bamboolicious in an OOAK colorway and Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label in Garnet

Pattern: my own mish mosh of my fav toe up techniques. If your interested check out my project notes HERE :-)

I loved both bases as they are both incredibly soft :-) I know these socks will be loved!

On today's docket is to keep knitting on the Black Cinder Block Socks. I'm going to start the slip stitch heel shortly! I'm going to relax for a bit and enjoy the pre toddler chaos by drinking my tea watching something other than cartoons ;-)

Happy Knitting :-)

So close...

I was able to finish knitting the Garnet Scrappy Socks meant for my brothers girlfriend for Christmas the other day. They look fabulous and I'm hoping to get some FO photos today. I should have taken them sooner but I haven't been feeling up to it. Just a bit sleepy as this child is sapping all the energy out of me ;-) but I only have under 2 months to go :-)

The good news is that since I finished this pair of socks I only have 1 more pair to knit up!! The bad news is that they are black socks for a men's size 12 foot! Sigh!! I'm going to knit on them a bit today to see if I can make a dent in the first sock!

I've decided that since I can't work on black socks for too long without being increasingly bored, I've casted on a Stockholm Scarf with the remaining 1.5 skeins of Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label in Velvet ! I had knit one last year for my sister and had intentions of knitting another one for a gift but didn't have enough time. So this year the other one will be knit for a gift as well :-) The pattern is a 4 row repeat and it is quite meditative, so I made some good progress on it the other day :-)




This photo is horrible since it was taken in the evening. Long after the sun has gone down. I'm done about 1/4 to 1/3 of the scarf. It looks fabulous and I'm positive that it will be loved :-) This will be my "I'm sick of knitting black socks" project ;-)

I'm hoping that if I buckle down I can whip the black socks out in the next couple weeks! Then I can work on finishing a couple other projects before I start on my SELFISH KNITTING!!!!! I may be a little excited to be knitting for myself again ;-) But one step at a time :-)

On another note; I was able to get a day of dyeing in last week and listed some beautiful skeins in my Etsy Shop :-)



Hydrangea on Wild Rose Sock



Tropical Paradise on Wild Rose Sock



Woodlands on Wild Rose Sock



Dirty Frog on BFL Sock



Woodlands-2 on BFL Sock



Woodlands-1 on BFL Sock

I am so pleased with how these hand painted skeins came out :-) I haven't hand painted yarn in a little while. My last batch of yarn was kettle dyed (which was completely new for me) and was a pleasant experience as well! I love how it allows my creativity to flow :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Stitch Marker Sale :-)

As I'm getting closer to my due date I've been getting into the nesting mode. I've been organizing and moving around furniture in my house to make room for this new baby in our spare bedroom. Which means that we no longer have a spare bedroom for guests but now it's a dedicated nursery! It just barely fits the crib, change table, rocking chair and of course all my fiber hobbies ;-)

I have my loom back in the closet, and have all my stash neatly packed away in the closet as well. I have all my Prairie Dye Studio yarns and stitch markers neatly stored in its Rubbermaid container with easy access.

Since organizing my inventory for my business I figured I would do a little inventory reduction in regards to stitch markers. I've been making them up as the orders come in but I know that won't be feasible once the new baby comes along in December. So I've decided to have an Etsy Sale in all Snagless Stitch Marker sets to clear them out before this baby is born ;-)


Unfortunately, I won't be doing any custom orders as whatever is in my stock and inventory is what I have. I have some sets pre made up in sizes and some where you can still choose the size of your liking. But as I get closer to my due date I'll be making up all the stitch markers into either small or medium sizes as they are what I sell most and I'll ship them out as they sell :-) It's just easier for a sleep deprived mom if I can just package up the order instead of making them up. I'll need that time for some shut eye when I can get it ;-)

All sets in my Etsy Shop are $6 plus shipping.

I'll still be dyeing up the odd pot of yarn when I get a chance and adding it my Etsy Shop but it won't be a priority for the first bit.

Thanks so much for your understanding and enjoy the Snagless Stitch Marker Sale :-)

Happy Knitting :-)

The Fibre Shindig :-)

Yesterday I was able to convince my husband to do a quick day trip to Calgary so I could go to The Fibre Shindig.




I had found it by chance on Facebook and though it would be a fun thing to check out! I'm so glad that I went. There was about 20 vendors and lots of friendly Fibre minded people :-)

I immediately did a couple rounds to see the vendors and what they had.




My first stop was Chasing Fire Studios! I bought some clay button from her last year at the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair and they worked perfectly for my Lady Sunnyside :-) I knew she usually sells out quickly so I wanted to ensure that I got a few sets of buttons :-)

I selected a diz and 2 sets of buttons :-) I had a hard time deciding and spent quite a bit of time perusing her stock. I had to ask if she was going to be at the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair and she said she was so I'll be popping in again to check her out ;-)




The next booth I checked out was Sea Turtle Fiber Arts. They had many beautiful saturated yarn colorways and it drew me in right away :-) This booth was a little packed and I had a hard time getting a photo but I fell in love with that lime green skein in the picture! Sadly the budget was a little tight but I'm hoping they'll be at the Calgary Fiber Arts Fair in 3 weeks ;-)




Then I popped in to the Clay & Cloth booth. She had the most beautiful yarn bowls.




Now I'm not a yarn bowl person. A lot of the yarn bowls I have had in the past and have check out previously are (what I feel are) too flimsy. They tip easily and I felt they would require too much effort in fiddling to make them worth while. Although I couldn't stop myself from looking at her yarn bowls!!




This was a short list of my favorites!! When I started picking them up to inspect them I was quite surprised at how heavy they were! Which is what I wanted. Less tipping :-) I ended up picking this one to come home with me:




The price was very reasonable too. I paid $40 at the show for it :-)

After creeping out the Clay & Cloth booth for an exorbitant amount of time ;-) I went to the Dragonfly Dyewerx booth. This is a regular pit stop for me as she has lots of crazy colored yarn and the colorway names are fabulous!




This was just a portion of her booth and it was BUSY!! I chatted with the Ms. DragonflyDyewerx for a bit as I am always smitten with her yarn! I always make it a point to check out her booth may it be at Olds Fibre Week or the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair and she usually has her stock picked through quite fast!

I was able to pick out a beautiful skein of Sparkle Sock in There Was A Pastry Mishap!




There were so many options for fiber, dyed sock blanks and of course yarn!!

One of the last yarn pit stops was The Wacky Windmill! I should have went to this booth first since it was right next to the Chasing Fire Studio booth but it was very busy.




This is just a small portion of their booth and the fibre was beautiful!! I have a few skeins of their yarn in my stash and I've been waiting for the perfect project for them :-) I'm hoping they'll be at the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair so I can make sure to pop in before it get busy!

The last booth I popped in at was the Made By Knitty Pie booth. She had some wonderful project bags and beautiful quilts!!




It was wonderful to have a bit of chat time with a fellow prego lady and we are due around the same time :-) I bough a fabulous project bag :-)



Ok, I know I said this was the last booth that I visited but on the way out there was one more stop!




The Purple Gecko Studio had these fabulous stitch marker earrings! I thought they were super cool! I usually just wear studs in my ears but if you love statement earrings these are for you!! :-) She also had a lot of cute cotton drawstring bags in funky fabrics too!

So here's a picture of all my purchases that my budget would allow and I'm so happy with them :-)




Overall The Fibre Shindig was a raging success and I will be attending next year!

Next up? The Calgary Fibre Arts Fair in 3 weeks! I'm totally going ;-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Another one down...

I've been making some serious progress on my Christmas Knitting this year :-) I was able to hunker down and finish the second sock to this pair of socks yesterday!



Pattern: Cinder Block Socks by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Kertzer On Your Toes with Aloe Vera

This pattern is my go to sock pattern for men's socks as it's fairly stretchy with out being k2p2 ribbing the whole time and its esthetic ally pleasing to the eye.

This knocks off another pair of socks from my Christmas Knitting List. Now I just have 2 more pairs to knit. One more pair of black Cinder Block Socks for a size 11 man and a pair of socks for my brothers new girlfriend who (thank god) has a size 7 foot!!!

Finally a small pair of feet ;-)

I've started hers about a week ago but was able to dedicate some good knitting time to them today. The photo was taken this morning and isn't an accurate representation of how far I got today!




I actually just finished the foot and need to work on the heel of the first sock. So I made some wicked progress on it today :-) I'm just knitting the plain stockinette with a slip stitch heel by WendyKnits using Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label in Garnet and Zen Yarn Garden Bamboolicious in an OOAK colorway that been in my stash for like FOREVER!! I love how well the colorways go together and both bases are super soft. I know she'll love them :-)

I've also finished the eye searing Red Hot Pink Socks.



Pattern: Slip Stitch Heel by Wendy Knits
Yarn: Dragonfly Dyewerx Smooshy Sock in Princess 2.0 & Rocky Mountain Dye Works Sundance Sock in Red Hot Pink

I was quite worried that I would run out of yarn with both colorways since I was just using scraps. So before I started knitting I weighed out each ball so I knew where I would have to reserve yarn for the second sock.

It was totally nessessary. At the end I literally had like maybe 11 inches left of yarn left. Pretty much finished by the skin of my teeth ;-)

I am so glad these socks are casted off. I am totally not a pink person and looking at these socks made me want to gauge my eye balls out ;-) It gave me that extra incentive to get them done so I don't have to look at them anymore! There is going to be long dry spell between the next pair of pink socks I knit up ;-)

Lastly! I'm going to be attending The Fibre Shindig in Calgary tomorrow. I've never been there so I'm looking forward to checking out the vendors and posting some photos to my Instagram! So if you want to see what it's all about check out my Instagram feed!! I'll also be doing a blog post sometime after as well!

Happy Knitting :-)

Now that the chaos is over...

The week before Thanksgiving was quite chaotic for me. We decided to have my family over for thanksgiving dinner so it requires a lot of preparation. We do the traditional Ukrainian dinner so I had to make Nyleshniki and Perogies. Perogies take the most preparation. I usually make 3 types of perogies but this year I decided to do just 2. The winners were cheddar bacon and sour krought and bacon. One afternoon was dedicated to making the filling. Then the following morning was dedicated to making enough perogies dough and then 6 hours of pinching. The end result was 7 big freezer bags of perogies. This was more than enough for Thanksgiving dinner. I have enough in my freezer to tide me over well after my next child is born in December :-)

Nykeshniki is relatively easier to make since it's just a crepe with cottage cheese and fill filling. It only took me a couple hours to make that.

The whole meal went off extremely well! My husband smoked a ham on our BBQ and it turned out awesome.

Now that the holiday chaos is done I can get back to relaxing and knitting :-)

Right now I'm knitting on the 2nd pair of Cinder Block Socks and I'm determined to get these casted off in the next 2-3 days!




I'm not going to get super excited or anything bc I still have 2 more pairs of socks, an infinity scarf and about 3 more toques to knit for my Christmas Knitting. I'm still confident that it will be done before this baby is born ;-)

This is the latest pair of socks I added to my Christmas Knitting list. My brother has a wonderful new girlfriend and I'm sure she would love a pair of socks for Christmas as well :-)




I'm using a couple leftover scrap balls of Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label in Garnet and Zen Yarn Garden Bamboolicious in a OOAK colorway.

This project is my night knitting since I can't even fathom knitting with black yarn at night ;-)

Happy Knitting :-)

Back to Christmas Knitting...

There's been a vicious chest cold circulating through my husbands work. I caught it about 3 weeks ago and it lasted 2 days, then my husband got it and he's been suffering from it for about 3 weeks. I thought I was in the clear but apparently I got it again about 5 days ago and it knocked the crap out of me. I was able to do very little knitting but most of my time was dedicated to trying to rest, get better and keep track of an active toddler. I've been feeling WAY better the last 48 hours though.

So here's a little catch up :-)

I was super excited to get my September Installment of the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Color Club. It included a super soft skein of chunky alpaca merino blend yarn which is now a new base called Grey Label!! The colorway was named Margarita and even though pink is NOT my color when it's knitted up its more of a hint of pink than anything else.




It came with a cowl pattern but I had my heart set on a toque for myself ;-) So after a quick search on Ravelry I decided on Foliage.




It was a super quick and enjoyable knit. It's super soft and is heaven to wear :-) This base is going to be a hit!

I had a bit left over so I decided to play a bit of yarn chicken and start knitting a hat for my toddler. So we can have matching mommy & daughter toques. I used the Foliage pattern but I opted not to do the lace portion aside from the crown increase.




I was running short of yarn so I put out a ISO in the Tanis Fiber Arts group for any scraps from the club. So thanks to Teresa for saving my butt and sending me her scraps!! Thank you, thank you!! :-)

I know my daughter is going to love her toque when it's done bc she has been wearing mine whenever she can ;-)

Now I've picked up the eye searing Red Hot Pink Christmas Socks. I weighed out each remnant ball before I started knitting and had intentions of using up every bit. So I knit the first sock and was very happy that there ended up being enough yarn for an ankle sock. I was sweating a little when I was knitting up the heel and I the ball was getting smaller and smaller. But I was able to squeak out a sock! So now I'll have enough for a matching sock :-)




Which I'm working on now :-)

And I don't even want to mention the chaotic status of my side table which has all my WIP's on it.




There's a bunch of Christmas knitting on there, plus my "inspirational motivation reward". Which is my From Way Back Cardigan which has like 6 rows started on it, but it's meant for motivation for me to get my Christmas Knitting done!!

That pretty much gets me caught up for now ;-)

Happy Knitting :-)