Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sleeping by the lake

I'm back from a weekend of knitting wonder dear readers!  I spent two restful nights at Chantry Breezes B&B in South Hampton with my Monday night knitters.  A small crew of us drove up on Friday night and did a little knitting, and some chatting, and some shopping.  I hammered out the second cupcake mitten, and now those 2.25mm needles are free for a delicious pair of socks for little ol' me.


 The view of my room as you come in the door.  I got the suite, which is clearly intended for a family of 4.  I enjoyed spreading my junk around and using this front room with twin beds as my personal dressing area.
 My room, the big-girl master bedroom.  So cozy, I really love the decorating style of the whole place




 Margot's cottage, located behind the main house, and Margot, pictured above (the cruise director of our little weekend away).  I loved it, every inch of it's tiny, cozy cuteness. 
 Clawfoot tub, what's up!
 View of the cottage from the bedroom tucked in the back corner
 The living room in the main house, I adore the purple accent furniture and the cool blue walls.  Very French-French, non?
 
 
 The beach was right THERE, right at the end of the road. 
 

 This is Chantry Breezes, our home away from home for the weekend.  The covered porch on the second floor is where we had breakfast each morning.  And by breakfast, I mean REAL breakfast - this was not just a bag of Wonderbread and a toaster set out for you.  On the first day we had fresh fruit salad and white chocolate blueberry scones with lavender, and then two kinds of frittata with bacon.  Day two was just as good, fruit salad and pumpkin spice muffins first, then oatmeal pancakes and peameal bacon.  Yum! 




 The fruits of my labour, they are done!  The top mitten is carefully hiding all of the ends sticking out from the mess of ends I have to weave in from all that colour work.  That will be a good job for a quiet night at home when I'm feeling patient.


I'm already planning for my next few projects, I just placed an order for a massive amount of yarn from KnitPicks for a sweater for fuzzyhead.  I ordered 22 50gram balls of Wool of the Andes worsted weight in "Camel Heather" for this sweater:


This is #17 Man's Cable Cardigan (link to a 360 view video) from Vogue Knitting Winter 2009/2010.  I copied the pattern from Fruwho's copy of the magazine, and I'm so excited to start swatching!  I was inspired last year by Sandi Wiseheart at my very first Knitters' Guild meeting about how non-threatening it can be to make a sweater that actually fits (and diligent swatching is key).  Fuzzyhead will be my test subject, but I figure if I can nail down the process with him, then I can try my hand at making something for me with a nicer yarn.  


Also, because I have no self control, I bought a Namaste Zuma bag at the same time from KnitPicks.  I got mine in peacock blue, and it will be my winter purse and all-around awesome stylish knitting bag.  Squee!  I love getting things in the mail!

Onward,

vrock




Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Queenie wave

It's essentially fall, dear readers, in case you were confused by the sharp ups and downs in temperature this week, and that means knitting is afoot.  Get ready for the updates:

First of all, the KW Knitters Fair was this weekend, in all it's woolly glory.  My camera was in my bag, but I was so busy being an awesome volunteer at the Fair, that I forgot to get any pictures.  I was on the fair planning committee this year (my attempt to be more involved with the Knitters Guild), and my task on fair day was to quietly sit behind the administration table (knitting, obviously) and help vendors with whatever they needed.  I received regular shopping and bathroom breaks, and I cataloged my purchases the next day.  These are the things I loved enough this year to bring home with me:

 A knitting bag from ZigZag Stitches, the boxy variety.  I've had my eye on one of these every year that I've gone to the fair, and this time I ran there first, right when the fair opened to get my pick of the litter.  Not super crazy about the liner fabric, but I adore the old-timey fabric on the outside.  It has already been put to use holding my current pair of yoga socks on the needles.
 
  More roving, to satisfy my insatiable spinning lust.  I bought two bags of the same variety of roving last year from Gemini Fibres, and I really liked how it turned out.  I spun and knitted a whole project with the roving from last year's fair, and I figured one more 100g bag would let me do a little more with the final product.   I bought three bags of this in "Pomegranate".


A pretty new drop spindle, also from Gemini Fibres.  My original drop spindle is clunky and makes me look like a newb - this one is pretty and delicate and worthy of my love.  I've been spinning mostly on my wheel lately, but this little beauty might bring me back to portable spinning.


  Allow me to introduce you to my new love, Viola Fibers.  I loved this booth at the fair, it was facing me from where I spent most of the day at the admin table, and it was easily the nicest looking booth there.  Her yarns are delicious.  So delicious even, I bought three of them, and blew most of my budget there.  Totally worth it.  This yarn is a fingering weight in "bruised plum", destined to become a lovely pair of fingerless mitts/gloves.


 This is sock weight yarn from Viola in "sea storm" for a lovely pair of socks for me.
 

My find of the day from Viola, a lace weight yarn in "wild rose".  This one will be a shawl for older sister thing, because she likes pink things but needs grown-up colours to match her almost-thirty-year-old self.

I want to take some/all of these yarns with me on my upcoming knitting retreat, where I'll be in South Hampton with my Monday night knitters for a few days away to knit and do nothing.  I will also be taking along my other current projects, including the cupcake mittens seen in my last post (I started the second mitten, and I weaved in the spaghetti mess inside the first mitten), and my current yoga socks project.  

Speaking of yoga socks, I finished another pair:


That makes two pairs now in my inventory of yoga socks to sell at the studio.  Just this week I received a message from someone on Ravelry about selling a pair of socks.  I've thought about opening an Etsy shop a few times, but I'm not 100% sold on it.  Etsy charges you 20 cents for every item you post, and if it doesn't sell in 4 months, you can re-post it for another 20 cents, or just let it expire.  I don't know how well my socks would sell, and if by some chance everyone and their chicken wanted a pair, I could never keep up with production.  It takes me about two weeks to make a pair - that's me picking up the needles 4 or 5 times a week while watching TV after work and the occasional all-day Saturday knit-a-thon.  Etsy also takes a cut of your sale when you do sell something, and PayPal gets their chunk since you need them to arrange for payment from strangers.  For the nice gal in Florida who contacted me through Ravelry, I'm sure we can work out some arrangement with a money order, but I'm wondering if there are other interested people out there who need a way to access my stuff.  Help me readers, you're my only hope.  Tell me what to do!

Onward,
vrock