A Little Something Green (Adriana)

With so many great patterns out there I rarely feel the urge to knit something twice. I think it takes a special pattern to make me need to do it again. So far I've only made Odessa (Rav link) and the Fake Isle Hat twice. However, I have now made three Baby Surprise Jackets. I don't know what is it about this pattern. It might be that it uses sock yarn, of which I have tons lying around, or it might be the easy-to-follow pattern. I think it's mostly just how much fun it is to take a blob like this:



And turn it into this:


So cute! I think it needs little froggy buttons to finish it off.

Unlike the other BSJs I've made, this one actually had a recipient in mind. My dear friend Emma, for whom I have knit several items, is going to be an auntie in the near future. The nephew of a funky lady like Emma definitely deserves an unusual sweater and I think this fits the bill. Em, I hope you approve :)

In other news, things continue to come together for our big move. Now that we've got the apartment, we've been looking into movers and will probably book them early next week. Pete's been given the task of finding tv, internet and phone provider(s) (any recommendations for the Toronto area would be appreciated), and Cleo, well, she's been helping out in her own special way.


Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Stash Additions (Adriana)

I totally didn't mean to go this long without blogging but life just never slows down. Once the Fringe was over we immediately had to turn our attention to finding an apartment in Toronto. I am pleased to announce that despite all the agencies that never called us back and all the apartments which were rented out right before we arrived, we managed to find a lovely place to live. It's in a beautiful neighbourhood, minutes from the subway and from Heather! Now I cannot wait until October 1st when it is mine!

Despite the lack of knitting time recently there has been some additions to my stash, almost all the result of a swap.


Squishy Cashmerino in Plum from a swap with Heather


Jitterbug in Alizarine from a swap with Phoe


Jitterbug in Lagoon also from Phoe which I immediately started to make into another BSJ, this one with an actual recipient in mind!


Jojoland Rhythm from a swap with WillWorkForYarn on Ravelry.
I've never used this yarn before so I'm definitely excited to see how it knits up


My first Smooshy...
Phoe had bought this for herself but didn't like the colours (Into the Mystic) so she was persuaded to sell it to me. Can you believe that I have never played with Smooshy before?!? I was definitely due. I'm thinking about making Gigi with it.


Now I just need to find more knitting time. Luckily, we're going to visit Pete's parents this weekend which translates into 6 hours of knitting time!

Big Purple Blob (Adriana)

For my birthday, Jane gave me some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the purple and blues colourway. I loved it so much I didn't even take a picture of the yarn, I just wound it up and cast on. I had sworn off triangular shawls last year but Phoe did such a great job with her Shetland Triangle that I was inspired to make one of my own.

There is what it looks like right now:

The camera was having a lot of trouble with the colour. It's a lot more purple, and a lot less blue than it looks like here.

I've done 11 repeats so far, instead of the 8 in the pattern, because I wanted a bigger shawl (also I had lots of yarn). Now I think I'll do one more rep and then start the edging. The question is, do I continue to use the same yarn for the edging or do I use a darker purple?

Here is a close up though given how off the colours are, I think it might defeat the purpose.
Normally I'd just carry on with the same yarn but recently Carrieoke make a purple Shetland Triangle with a darker border that looks amazing! Mine would be less of a contrast but I think it might make the colours pop a little more.
Thoughts?

Also, I am destashing some Koigu Kersti if anyone is interested. (This destashing thing is addictive!)

My Inspiration (plus Destashing!) (Adriana)

A few weeks ago Phoe decided to have a contest in honour of her 300th post. She challenged her readers to take three pictures of things that inspire us. I wanted to do it but life has a way of taking time away from blogging so I'm just squeaking by before the deadline.

Toronto

For many people, the CN Tower is the symbol of Toronto. For me, it symbolizes a lot more. It symbolizes my future because, you see, Pete and I are moving there this fall. I'm almost done school and while there are some good arts organizations here in London, there are so many more in Toronto. Pete wants to continue writing music and plays, and he feels that he has exhausted most of the opportunities here. In short, it just makes sense for us to move.
I never thought I could live in Toronto. Visiting there last fall (when this picture was taken, ironically) I informed Pete that I could only tolerate to visit, I could never live there. Two months later, I changed my mind. It just made so much more sense for us to be where all the opportunities are (not to mention so many of our friends).
When I think about Toronto, I get excited. I think about the great (well-paying) job I'm going to have, all the new places we're going to explore, all the people we'll be able to spend time with, and all the cool and exciting things Pete will get a chance to do.
I'm so excited sometimes I don't think I can wait two months to move :)

Traveling

In the summer of 2005, when we lived out in BC, Pete and I rented a car and drove into Vancouver Island. We went to Nanaimo (I got to swim in the ocean!), and spelunking and hiking through some beautiful parks. It was amazing and definitely my favourite of our many trips.
Travel is something that Pete and I want to do more of in the future. So far we've been to Vancouver Island, Seattle, Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa. Next summer we are planning on going to the east coast, and we want to go somewhere exotic for our honeymoon. More vague future travels will include an Alaskan cruise and many trips to Europe.
This picture represents our love of travelling and inspires me to plan more exciting trips in the future.

My Rings

You had to know that I couldn't list things that inspire me without mentioning my wedding :)
These are my rings. The top one is my engagement ring and the bottom is my wedding band, which was actually my Granny's wedding ring.
I just love Granny's ring, I always have. It makes me think of my beloved grandmother (obviously) and my wonderful grandfather (who died in 1994). This ring, with it's good quality diamonds set in platinum, makes me see just how much Grandpa loves Granny (they were married in 1942, during the war). It represents my family, my grandparents, my parents, my brother, aunts and uncles, everyone that I called family when I was growing up. And it also represents the family that I will have in the future. This is a very special ring.
But my engagement ring represents Pete and I. We picked it out together on that amazing day when we went ring shopping together and I kept making him ask me again because I just couldn't believe that he had really proposed. This ring I get to wear right now, and every day I look at it and I marvel at the fact that someone loves me enough to want to marry me. This is also a very special ring.
And don't they look great together? It's like they were made for each other which is especially remarkable since Granny's ring is 66 years old.

Now that you've made it through the introspective portion of this blog post, time for the destashing!

Since we're moving soon I decided to get rid of the yarn that I just don't seem to want to knit with anymore. I loved them all at one point but, for one reason or other, they just haven't been knit.

They are all on my sell page on Rav but here are a few teaser pictures:

My handdyed in "Black and White and Red All Over"


6 balls of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy


4 balls of Classic Elite Classic Silk

Feel free to make an offer or suggest a trade. Everything must go!

Surprise! (Adriana)

When I was in Ottawa I spent what little knitting time I had working on Granny's Christmas socks. By the time we got to my parents' house for the Toronto fringe, I was totally burned out on socks (just in time for the Summer of Socks, of course). Waiting for me on my bed was some sock yarn I'd ordered from the Unwind Yarn Company. Since I'm not one to put aside shiny new yarn I decided to knit EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket (Rav). I've wanted to make one for a while but I was a little afraid of it (for some reason). I was totally wrong. This is one of the funnest patterns out there! My favourite part is when someone asks what you're making and you have to explain that this thing that looks sort of like an amoeba is actually a baby sweater in disguise. When I cast off it couldn't have looked any less like a baby sweater:


but a few careful folds and Ta da!

Such cuteness!!

This pattern was so much fun that I immediately had to cast on another one, but in a self-striping yarn. I think this pattern is made for self-striping. I want to dye some self-striping yarn just to show it off in this pattern. This is Regia Canadiana in the Winnipeg colourway from the basement of Romni.


Look at the magical stripes!!

All these sweaters need now are some super cute buttons. I have some bumblebee buttons left over from Trellis but I only have enough for one sweater. I need your help to decide which sweater gets the bees and which will have to wait for its own buttons.

Choice #1


Choice #2


Please let me know which you think looks better.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and that Canadians enjoy their supersized weekend :D