Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Chulita's Colour me Comfy


Cast on 80 sts using 2 strands held together of Julie Asselin' Zetta
knit , purl or yo, k2tog on a bunch of rows
Cast off
Long story short... this project has been a dream. I LOVE LOVE LOVE ZETTA!! And the colours!! Oh my!!
Now, all that is left is a lime green border in Lana Loft from Brown Sheep
Chulita has once again claimed this blanket as her own. I placed the blanket on the floor for a quick picture and Chulita decided it was time to claim it.

Pattern will be available soon



Sunday, November 18, 2012

Yotta Love

english text will follow:

Ça n'arrive pas trop souvent qu'une laine me surprend autant que Yotta l'a fait aujourd'hui. Yotta est la nouvelle laine de Julie Asselin. Je dois avouer que j'adore toutes ces couleurs mais je préfère souvent les multi-colores. Aujoud'hui, j'ai essayé cette laine. Je tripe vraiment sur la grosse laine et malgré tous mes projets en cours, je ne pouvais pas la resister.  J'ai monter mes mailles pour le vite cowl. Finalement, le patron est vite mais quand on a de la belle laine on arrête souvent pour l'admirer.  Dans l'écheveau, je ne pouvais pas me rendre compte de toute les belles nuances. En le tricotant.... c'était vraiment autre chose. Quasiment à chaque maille ou à chaque rang je remarquer comment c'était beau. Emily et Kam riaient de moi. On parlait et au milieu d'une phrase, je passer un commentaire sur la laine et revenait à la conversation aussi vite.
 Donc, je vous encourage à la tricoter, mais attention, cette laine va vous seduire.

Patron: Vite Cowl + un écheveau de Yotta

Not often do I get mesmerized by yarn. Today, Yotta completely seduced me. She make look ordinary in a skein, but she comes alive on the needles. I am enamored with Julie Asselin's sense of colour but I normally tend to prefer the multi colored yarn. Today I worked on a greenish skein. The nuances are quite incredible. With each stitch and each row, the yarn blossoms with nuances. I have to admit that I chose this pattern because it is called Vite which in French means fast, but there was no way I could knit it quickly. I kept pausing to look at the beautiful colour. It would have been one thing to silently admire it. But, no, I had to pause my conversation, make a comment about the yarn and go back mid sentence to carry on my conversation. It was not until Emily made fun of me for doing that did I realize the power of seduction of Yotta. So, I encourage you to knit Yotta...this yarn just may seduce you too!






Friday, November 16, 2012

Big Ole Encampment Blanket

 A few weeks ago, a client sent me a video of the giganto blanket. Click on the link and you will be amazed at what Laura made.
yarn in the box just after arrival
 So, it got me thinking that maybe I should attempt it since I am on a big knitting craze. I ordered the yarn and the waited. It took a bit longer than I expected, but it finally arrived. I had agreed with my client to brainstorm on how we could prep the roving and make it a team project. Well, it has been quite busy at the store and this has just not been possible. Today, the yarn came in. I was surprised how compact 8 pounds of roving could be. I tried to fluff it and bit and as it took on air it grew.

I brought it home thinking I could at least pet the yarn even if too tired to actually do anything with it. While waiting for dinner, I thought this could be a great bonding project for me and my Dad. So, the next thing you know.... here are a few pics that document the process of Papito and me
unwinding the roving

wrapping it in sheets to make roving sausages so it can be washed

the roving must be wrapped to that it does not felt onto itself

2 are better than just one

roving sausage making


you need to tie the sausage so it does not all fall apart


sausage before and after

a warm fire on a cold night is helpful


The sausages are ready for the bathtub

put it in hot water...

Stomping to felt the yarn


More pics to follow... stay tuned

PS The yarn comes from Encampment, WY... and I think the name is befitting

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Great Minds think alike


I remember a few weeks ago having an aha moment when I was talking to Julie Asselin and fondling the baby llama from Illimani yarns at the same time. WOW wouldn't it be awesome if you could hand dye the baby llama. We looked at each other with such glee and excitement..... Fast forward a few weeks and I get a call from Sylvie at Lettuce Knit in Toronto... She wanted hand dyed Illimani yarns in Julie Asselin colours. And, thus, a knitting partnership was born. The next thing you know, Ilimani yarns sent yarn to Julie and here is the first look at it. More will be coming soon

Being a bit of a yarn brat, I insisted I should get first dibs and try out the first versions. Yesterday, the hand dyed silky baby llama arrived. Sorry, I am feeling very possessive... they are all mine ;-) I had been searching for days, for what seemed like weeks for a pattern that would show off the great colour work, great yarn, still look good on me and require minimal finishing. Yesterday, Arleen spoke to me.  Worked in the round from the top down with no sewing and simple raglan increases... she won the contest.

Big thanks go to Kam of Everyday Peacocks for combing through her 6,000+ favorites in ravelry to help me find the perfect project.... there are a few I have discovered and can't wait to knit.
Arleen by Donna Knits
So, I dutifully swatched. Rarely do I do this, mostly out of laziness and also lacking time. My main concern was how the colours would look. Would I get stripes? Pooling?? So I did a rather wide swatch to check it all out.






 All was going great. It seemed like my bamboo addi clicks were just weaving their magic with the silk baby llama heavenliness. The, something did not look quite right.... I was only increasing for the raglan shaping on one side of the markers. Grant it I did not have my fancy everyday peacock stitch markers. I was using  my plain old clover green markers. And while they work fine on most projects. The addis and the silky baby llama were having none of that. So, I ripped back several rows and waiting until I could get to Mont Tricot and get my hands on my special Everyday Peacocks markers.


Well, the next thing you know, the rows were flying by with increases of either side of the marker. It is as if the marker just gently whispers and reminds me kbf before the marker and kfb after the marker. If you don't believe this happened... you should try the magical markers out for yourself
Well, not a great picture, but here is a picture of my progress thus far....

In case there is any doubt. This is a heavenly project. I will be updating you on the progress.
 Stay tuned....