Alpaca

The knitting girls and I went to Fleece and FibreFest at Silmaril Farm. As you can see we got up close to a lovely, newly shorn alpaca, and saw lots of other alpaca, sheep, goats and many yarn and fibre products... we all came home with some lovely yarn and some great photos.

This little goat was born a day ago and was still testing his new legs....

This pair are outside again, checking out each other's new haircut...

Is it my turn yet?

Thursday Ramblings

Busy week. Tuesday I skipped golf to make a run into Toronto for a piece of equipment for the office... an elusive part that has been out of commission for 3 weeks, and has made our $40,000 retinal camera more or less a bulky doorstop. Now we are able to use it and the Doc' is much happier!
Since I was out that way, I stopped in at Len's, and found this lovely spring green Butterfly cotton, and have cast on a new little tank top. It should be a quick project and perfect for summer. (Len's also has a HUGE selection of fabrics, quilting cottons and everything else, so it IS a candy shop for me. You need to be prepared to dig around, it is an outlet, but there are bargains to be found) I also found some amazing fabric for a blouse - $7 for 2 meters!
Here is a photo of the Medallion Cardigan (on a chair, since I was too cold to put on the appropriate camisole to model properly)

Lace Mini Cardigan Finale

The finish line is in sight and I raced through the last rows of knitting the mini cardi', while watching golf on TV yesterday, then sewed the thing together, then blocked last night. Lots of golf and bike riding meant not too much knitting and no sewing, but there are sure to be rainy days this week, so projects are plugging along....

for now the partially done photo....

and later the finished cardigan modelled!

Knit and Sew and Alter...

A busy long weekend, and I have really sunk my teeth into some projects. The first, a lovely summer purse, made with heavy micro suede in cream, accented with copper woven fabric. The lining is the same copper fabric and the hardware pewter (buttons and handle rings). The pattern is Simplicity 3828, image B of sorts, with buttons instead of tabs and the lining was inserted then a binding added to top edge that incorporated a zipper band (not in the pattern). Just like knitting, I often alter patterns to suit my own design whims.

The second is the Vogue Knitting lace cardigan (cover of Summer 2009 issue) and I have finished about half of the outer circle! I have blocked the medalion in preparation of measuring the length of the outer circle to fit exactly.



The last was a pair of pants, altered... the pants were only worn once, the waist too high for my taste and the leg REALLY skinny... I just don't have the shoes to compliment that look. In a stroke of brilliance, and with the warmer weather inspiring, I decided to cut off the skinny bottoms and make a capri length, and also cut off the waistband, and use the fabric from the bottom of the leg, to make a new band to finish the newer lower waist. After attaching the band (like a bias strip) and adding the button again, and hemming the new leg length, the pants are a perfect fit, and will be worn to the office with cute sandals and a crisp white short sleeve blouse. I love to find new purpose for misfit items.

Sewing Again... and loving it!

Knitting again takes the backseat to other things, and in the past 24 hours I have: Replaced a full length zipper in a Calvin Klein "little black dress", refitted a bridesmaid dress (side seams and shoulder straps re-adjusted), hemmed one pair of pants, repaired the zipper in another, took in the side seams of another pant and a skirt, and refitted a button front shirt, and lastly sewed a new button on a favourite old pair of jeans.... (and I also worked in the office for 6 hours)

and none of these repairs / restructures were for me! I just mentioned that I may be interested in resurrecting my dressmaking business, and 3 friends were quick to book my time!

When I was home with my baby children (eons ago in the dark ages), I made a decent income from making wedding dresses. Word of mouth had 8 - 10 wedding parties a year, complete with bridesmaid gowns and mother of the bride dresses, and flowergirls too. I packed it in when I started working full time with hubby, and it has been almost 20 years since the shingle was over the door. I now contemplate re-opening this business in another year, as my days at the office will be tapered down to one or two!

The photos are from my sisters wedding in 1984, and the wedding dress and the bridesmaid (me)dresses (in the extremely contemporary "teal")were my launch into the formal dressmaking business. The sketches are from 3 other wedding parties in the late 80's. The black and white vertical stripe one was 6 gowns and they all had full crinolines underneath.... stunning.

New Projects

I kick started a project for Susan. The Habu stainless steel scarf is made from a spool of fine steel wrapped in fine silk, and also a spool of fine merino. The steel only is knit for 6 inches to start the scarf and this yarn on 3mm needles is VERY difficult to work with until you get a few inches under you. The yarn (of course) does not behave like regular fibers, and is stiff (duh) and does not stretch to accept your needle. So each stitch is a battle. Once you get a few inches, you can tug it straight after each row, thus separating the stitches so you can see them and opening the holes so you can place your needle. Since I managed to get one made last year, I told Susan I would start it for her and get it to the point where it is on bigger needles and using both yarns held together (both of which makes it marginally easier to handle)....
The other new project is a lovely butter yellow Superwash Merino cable sweater. Knit on 3.5mm needles it will be a big project, but hopefully a timeless classic that I will wear for a long time.

I have taken on the care and feeding of my daughters turtles. They are 9" and 8" in size and over 5 years old. Logan and Superfly live in a 60 gallon tank and just love when you visit them... they try to climb right through the glass in excitement.

Moving the Intern

Not much knitting in the last week. I offered to help my daughter move to her placement in Pennsylvania as an intern at the magnificent VA Hospital in Lebanon. I drove down with her, over the border, stopping to get her VISA to allow her to do this. The papers were in order and the border guy very efficient, and 20 minutes later we were on our way. Dad met us there, so that he could see the place, help set her up, and drive me back home, leaving her with the car for the four month gig.
Here are photos of the grounds and the buildings and her residence....

She's pointing to the second floor wing that is the Optometry Clinic.

Her building and furnished room. Old but clean and secure.Finally a shot of the golf course we played, Iron Valley. Just beautiful!