Look out!

Look what fell out of the mail box:

Cowboy Chic, 100% merino, blended by CJ Kopec Creations

This feels like a cloud and the colors are gorgeous!

Look what fell off the needles:

Swanee River Croc Socks (Started on my Florida Trip)

Handspun 3ply (1 ply mohair, 2 plies Polworth)

Polworth hand dyed by Heidi.

Look what fell off the spinning wheel:

Merino carded with Ramie. 2ply.

Busy Bunny

I was a busy bunny over this past Easter weekend. However it did not look anything like Easter here with the huge icicles and large snow banks.


It was warm inside with all the cooking and people coming and going though.

Schedule was something like this:
Thursday - Drink wine, Mother in law arrives (staying until Monday)
Friday - Make breakfast, weave, do dishes, entertain mom in law, weave, school assignment, set table, eat dinner, spin, entertain
Saturday - grocery shop, my Mom and Step Dad arrive, make turkey dinner, brother in law arrives, entertain, spin, weave, drinks, drinks, drinks, bed
Sunday - Knit, eat breakfast, entertain, make stitch markers, school work, laundry, supper, knit, bed
Monday - back to work

Here are some pictures that highlight some of the fun:

Spinning - merino from CJ blended with Ramie from Line.




Weaving a bag with Patons Classic Wool






Mixing (and drinking) shooters - After Eights to be exact




Making Stitch Markers




Now the house is quiet, not a creature to be heard, except my husband playing guitar like a banshee and the dogs howling like wolves. The fun never ends!

Happy Belated Easter everyone

Breaking News

I brought home an Ashford 32" Rigid Heddle Loom of my very own! I am so very excited!

I stopped into London-Wul on Thursday afternoon to discuss with Heidi various types of rigid heddles and pricing so I could decide which to order next week. I was mentally prepared for deciding than waiting a few months for it to arrive. To my supreme surprise Heidi offered to sell me her loom which was exactly the one I had decided to buy! Not only did I get it for a good price but I got to take it home right then and there!

Needless to say my plans for Thursday night suddenly changed. I warped the loom, with some help from Troy, and I was off and weaving a scarf. It didn't turn out terrifically but I learned a lot.



Lesson's learned:
- Don't use mohair with a huge halo in the warp
- Don't warp past 11pm
- Troy and my ideas of taught are not the same

After a very informative and fun phone conversation with Manon (I had to call and let her know I've finally been brought to the dark side LOL) I have planned my next project. I calculated all the lengths of yarn required, checked the yardage I have and made a little pattern. I'm making a 20"x40" piece that is planned to be sewn up into a bag. Pictures to come...

Happy Easter everyone!

The Search for Yarn in the Florida Panhandle

The morning after I arrived at my father's in Panama City Beach, my step mother, Flo, had arranged for us to go shopping in Fort Walton with a couple other ladies. We were on the hunt for a yarn shop which they thought I had the address for. I did not... but looked it up in the phone book and programmed the GPS unit and we were off.

It was a beautiful sunny day but a very cold (for Florida) windy day with the high only about 58F. It made for great shopping weather and the scenery was still gorgeous. We went straight to the yarn shop which was about 1 hour from my parents place. We found it and I snapped a photo with my cell phone. This is the only photo I took of the shop and as you can see the sun was shining down on it to help lead the way.



The shop is called "Unwind" and the joke of the day is that I went to 'unwind' during my vacation! There were a group of about 5 ladies knitting in the shop and it was a pretty small but lovely location. The best yarn I found there was Tilly Tomas. I'd seen this is magazines but the pictures don't do it justice. It was really expensive so I did not come back with one of the amazing beaded yarns but did purchase a skein of 100% silk called Pure and Simple in a rich red colorway.



My main goal was to purchase some sock yarn that it hard to find in the maritimes, like Jitterbug or Koigu. They only had 4 skeins of Jitterbug and I didn't like any of the colors. Since we were supposed to go to another yarn shop later in the week in Panama City I held off buying any at Unwind except for this ball of Noro Sock yarn.



CJ was babysitting my pup Clancy as some of you blog readers know, so I really wanted to bring her back some nice yarn as a thank you. I almost held off for sock yarn at the next yarn shop but I couldn't resist this absolutely silky soft alpaca/silk yarn in a pale lime green and a skein of artyarn in pink and green. (Her favorite colors are pink and green and spring is coming)


Picture courtesy of CJ's blog, I forgot to take a photo before gifting it.

On our way back with went to lunch at a terrific Irish Pub called McGuire's.


They had 700,000 dollar bills stuck to their ceiling and all over the place... yes that is really $700,000! I'd hate to see the place go up in flames!



Our day of shopping ended back in Destin with Ross' (like Winners), Pottery Barn, and Bellas. I bought 3 pairs of shoes and a weird frog ornament for my mom and that was all.

Later in the week my Dad took us (Troy, Flo and me) out to Panama City for a drive. We had some errands to run and were going to find a yarn shop that I had got the address for off of the Florida Knitters blog. They had a list of all the shops in Florida so I'd written down the ones that were close. We drove a really long way down a road and found the alley, parked the car and ran out to the spot. They were no longer there and hadn't been for 2 year! And just now when I went to get the link to the site I'd got the address from they have taken it down saying they can't keep up with all the shops locations...aghh...

So the bad news was that I didn't get to shop for any sock yarn. Good think I have a stash full already :) Also a very good thing I didn't wait on getting yarn for CJ, we both would have been really sad :(

Back from the Sunny State of Florida

Well I'm back! What a trip we had. It was a travel adventure for sure. The weather was beautiful with temperatures in the high 70's most days going up to 80 on some. Just perfect.

Here are a couple pictures and more can be seen here.

This is the beach we were staying on before the spring breakers arrived.


This is the villa my parents live in which is where we stayed. It is in Panama City Beach.


Of course on our way back there was a storm in Toronto and in Moncton and it was up in the air (literally) if we were going to be able to land in Moncton or not due to freezing rain. Thank heavens we didn't have to turn back and we landed safely, without my luggage, but safely.

I didn't get as much knitting done as I thought I would (as Line suggested).

I did finish the 1 Row scarf:

Here I am in the airport knitting the 1 row scarf with my new merino/silk handspun shawl. The shawl was a perfect travel companion.



I knit on the Diamond Waffle socks (they are taking forever). I'm up to the heel on them now.


I started and have almost completed one sock from the polworth/mohair handspun I made. I have way more yarn than I thought so I've decided to make them knee socks since I've always wanted a pair. I'm making these socks toe up so I'm sure I have enough yarn.

I've called them Swanee River Croc Socks since this one was knit as we drove half way through the state of Florida from Panama City Beach to Orlando.

Last but not least I knit this cute baby sock that is a sample for the Toe Up Sock Class I'm giving tomorrow at London-Wul.



Once I get some photos downloaded from my phone camera I'll fill you in on the details of my Florida yarn shop hunt.