Knitting Frenzy!

nitting frenzy!

As if I had all the time in the world... I've got a booth at the Notre Dame de Grace Artisans' Fair!

Proceeds go to the local neighbourhood food depot. The city is evicting the Food Depot from its current home, and they need all the help they can get!

I've got a stock of Linda shawls, and I'll be making more, along with baby hats and possibly booties, and scarves.

In between all that knitting, I've got the A-Z Blog Challenge going on, and entering the final edits on my latest story, Druid's Moon.

And I'm rereading The Lord of the Rings again.

Happy spring!

Nothing to do with knitting, but I'll leave you with a clip from Whisky Trench Riders.

They performed this song live only two nights ago!

Doctor Who Scarf, and Fun Knitting Links

ello!

I keep promising photos, don't I? Well...

First there's a great book that Helen got me:

 

Then, here's a Christmas-y scarf and a mini-Doctor Who scarf I made for mini-Alex:

 

Sam eyes the scarf with suspicion...

Determining that it's not a threat, he looks away...

This one requires closer inspection...

Here's a close up for you!

I think it meets with his approval...

And here's a collection of stickers and postcards, including one of Madame Defarge on a card from the New York Public Library:

 

And some links:

An interesting piece on knitting connections from Knitting Daily, including stories from World War II.

Twist Collective was featured in the Montreal Gazette the other day!

Free baby hat patterns!

And... knitting hobbit outfits!

What kind of knitting fun have you had lately?

Liebster Award!

hank you to Debra for the Liebster Award!

Here are the questions Debra gave us nominees:

1. What prompted you to start your blog?
I was trying to keep knitting and cats off my writing blog!

2. Have you ever published anything, and if so what?
Yup, articles, essays and book reviews for Bizim Anadolu (not counting short pieces and stories in university papers).

3. Do you belong to a writers group (if you are a writer)?
Yup, the wonderful Compuserve Books and Writers Community. I'm also part of the Montreal Yahoo knitters group, but haven't been to a meeting in ages.

4. If you could only take one book with you on a desert island, which would it be?
Just one? Only one? What about my knitting bag and patterns? It'll have to be The Lord of the Rings.

5. What is your favorite time in history and why?
I've been writing about the 15th Century a lot, but it's still too limited in some ways, to someone used to the 21st Century. So I'll go with Restoration England, for the frisson of fear and all the possibilities. Nothing to do with Charles II and Lord Rochester, of course...

6. If you could live anywhere on earth, where would it be?
On a yacht in the Mediterranean!

7. What is your favorite beverage?
All of them? Coffee, milk, ayran, juice...

8. Who is your favorite person in history and why?
Putting aside the Restoration... it's still difficult to choose. I could say Tolkien, and add a new favourite time in history - England in the 1920s!

9. What book are you currently reading?
The Count of Monte Cristo, in French...

10. What season is your favorite and why?
Autumn, definitely. I love the heat, but also love the return of sweater and stockings weather, and the lovely colours.

11. If you could go back and change anything in your life what would it be?
Nothing. Really! I'd like to travel more, but I can do that now too!

Rules: "If you receive the award, you should:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you've sent the award to will forward it to their five favourite bloggers and keep it going!"

I'm nominating the last five who visited me here (not counting Debra, of course; thanks for the award, Debra!):

Helen

Lauren

Madeleine

Sara

Erica

And here are my questions for you (I actually answered some of these myself last year on the writing blog!):

1. What is your most embarrassing moment?

2. If you had to play a sport as a career, which one would it be?

3. Who is your favorite music artist, and why?

4. What is your favorite movie, and why?

5. If you were tossed into a fairytale, would you be a helpless princess/prince, a kick-butt heroine/hero, or the bad guy?

6. What is the best cheese you've ever tasted?

7. If you were given a yacht, what would you name it?

8. If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

9. Where's your favorite place to craft?

10. Who cares if the glass is half empty or half full. What's in the glass?

11. Name one of your strengths when it comes to crafting (are you fast? an original designer? etc.)?

Madame Defarge, and National Sweater Day

osted photos of a recent New York City trip on my writing blog, but here I've got three knitting-related photos to share here.

There was a Dickens exhibit on at the New York Public Library, with a display for A Tale of Two Cities that included some items of interest for Madame Defarge:

Here's Madame herself

Here're her supplies

And here's the backstory

World Wildlife Fund's National Sweater Day is on 7 February!

"On Feb 7th, lower your heat and put on your favorite sweater to take action against climate change and work towards a sustainable future. Join Canadians across the country fighting climate change by conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If every Canadian lowered the heat by just 2º C this winter, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4 Megatons! So lower the heat, wear that sweater and make the world a better place for your Grandchildren!"

I'll be working on my Fair Isle sweater, and probably be wrapped in a handknit blanket as well. It's cold round here!

Photos coming soon of a belated Christmas scarf and a soon-to-be-complete mini Doctor Who Fourth Doctor scarf - whose recipient will be a surprise fellow blogger!

Knitting Year in Review, and Upcoming Gorgeous Scotland Project

ear end knitting review!

This year I featured knitting in literature and on The Vicar of Dibley, my aunt Beysun's lovely sweater, my Pinterest knitting board, knitting for the Olympics, crafts by my sister, and knitting in art, among other links and images.

As for finished projects, I've got a blanket and hat, a golden scarf, a baby blue blanket- which was later set into an adorable basket - a hat, a full set of baby items, a basketweave scarf, a throw blanket, a new hat modelled by my cats, and... the kilt hose! I finished a pair of kilt hose!

I'm still working on the complicated Fair Isle sweater, and finishing up another throw blanket as a belated Christmas gift, but I have a new, huge, big, scary goal in mind.

A couple of weeks ago I got Kate Davies' Colours of Shetland:

The cover does not do justice to how beautiful this book is, and how delicate and lovely and intriguing the ten patterns inside are.

So my goal is choose one, get the wool from Jamieson and Smith, and try to make it as perfect as I can.

Here's just one of the images (featuring Bruce the dog):

Adorable Items and Craft-related Paintings

dorable things!

First, snowmen! From the Toronto Knit Cafe site:

And an update: I knit this blanket for author friend Talli Roland, and look how adorably she used it:

Speaking of blankets, I also finished this one, but haven't taken a photo yet. Here it is in progress:

T
he Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is running an Impressionists exhibition, and I took photos of knitting and craft related paintings!

Millet - Shepherdess

Millet - The Knitting Lesson

Renoir - Girl Crocheting

Boldini - Young Woman Crocheting

What other paintings have you seen that feature knitting?

Inspiration, A Knitting Meme, and Sam Models a New Hat

ompleted projects, as promised!

Before that though, here's my first ever Fair Isle project, from the Stitch n Bitch Nation book that Helen got me:

Also, I was in Anthropologie the other day and saw this shawl/throw, which I'd like to knit for myself:

And I caught this funny meme on the KnitTraders at Kingston newsletter:

And now, the completed hat. Here's Sam, in my latest knitting bag:

And here he is modelling the last project I finished:

Chillin'

Finally, here's an extra shot of Frodo, because I like to be fair:

Bits n Bobs n Links n Fobs

uthor Jo Bourne talks about knitting in history.

She adds, "I do not imagine I will ever find a use for the willingness of European men to engage in decorative handwork."

I sense a challenge... Whether it's a writing challenge or a knitting challenge remains to be seen.

Came across this article the other day: Joyce Carol Oates on quilting

Where would you like to be? I'd like to spend some time - a lot of time - on Shetland, especially during wool week. A bookstore that sells wool? I could own that!

Okay, I was teasing a bit with the fobs in the title, what I really meant was a garland, of knitted stockings. I might try to make this next month:

Knit Matroyska dolls! Adorable!

Also, for kids, a gorgeous book and a leaf-blanket.

As for real projects, I've finished a hat and am working on a blanket as well. I've also gotten half way on my first ever Fair Isle sweater. Photos coming!

What are you crafting?

Fair Isle and Basketweave

learned something new about Shetland wool today:

"Like most traditional Fair Isle garments produced before the 1940s, the yarn used to knit this cardigan was worsted spun. This process -- in which the raw wool is combed rather than carded, then drawn short, and spun so that the fibres sit parallel to one another -- produces a yarn with a smooth hand, and a very even finish. Many old Fair Isle garments have a slight 'sheen' that is the result of the smooth worsted yarns that have been used to knit them."

I've never made anything with a Fair Isle pattern, mainly because I find charts confusing to follow. I'm not an intuitive knitter - I need to have every step spelled out. But I'd love to try making a Fair Isle garment with this gorgeous wool:

"This is Shetland Heritage yarn. It is the result of an exciting collaboration between the Shetland Museum and Archives, the Shetland Amenity Trust, Curtis Wool Direct, and Jamieson and Smith -- the idea being to produce a modern yarn as close as possible to that which was originally used to hand-knit traditional Fair Isle garments."

Thanks to Kate Davies Designs for all this info!

Meanwhile, here are the promised photos of the basketweave scarf I finished last week:

What have you been working on?

Bombing and Waulking

arn bombing!

I still haven't tried it, but here are a couple of posts with photos of various yarn bombs around Montreal:

Political Yarn Bombs, Solo Yarn Bombs and Les Ville-laines Collective.

Meanwhile, I came across a couple of funny patterns the other day. One was for a Canadian Cloud. I couldn't figure out what it was! A little Googling turned up this explanation: a cloud is a stole.

A Canadian cloud, according to Murray's Magazine in 1888 is explained this way: "Their tuques are smaller and closer, and generally almost concealed by the fleecy folds of a 'cloud'–that peculiarly Canadian wrap which, consisting of a fringed strip of loosely knitted or woven thick soft wool nine feet long and eighteen inches wide, is both comfortable and becoming."

Also, there's this:

Hardly seems worth all the work. Speaking of work, here's something I doubt is done by hand anymore, though I wish I could witness it firsthand:

   

Waulking wool in South Uist, 1970

I can't even use a drop spindle yet! But I have just finished a scarf. Photos coming soon!