These Aren't My Colours But...

I'm going grey.

My Mom (who doesn't colour her hair for those that don't know) has said many times over that once you go grey, the colours you wear change dramatically from the ones you wore when you were young and well... not grey.

I remember my Mom wearing more soft yellow and peach than you could shake a stick at when I was a child. Now, if that colour gets near her, she looks like death (sorry Mom). She's a charcoal and deep purple kinda girl now.

Perhaps I'll head in the other direction? I have spent my youth wearing rich jewel tones and dark greys, now I'm headed towards those soft pastel colours.

While I am not grey enough at this point to make the switch entirely, I suppose you could say that I am just 'prepping my wardrobe' for the future.

Saturday afternoons at the shop are the absolute worst time for inspiration. And I mean that in a good way... We are closed Sunday and Monday and panic sets in at about 2:30 each Saturday afternoon when I know that I will be away from that 'house full of yarn' for two whole days. I always (and I mean always) wind up a skein or two to take with me to get me through the weekend (just in case I knit through everything I have at home in those two days- you know?).

This scarf has been super popular around the shop for a while now, and while I had my eye on some yarn that I wanted to try it out in, I refrained. It looked to be a rather time consuming project for something in colours I don't wear...


But one Saturday afternoon about a month and a half ago, I was weak.

And I wound.

                                                   

The end result?


A linen stitch scarf in feminine greens and soft pinks that drapes like a dream.

Will I wear it much? Oh yeah.

But not for maybe another year or two.

Then I'll really be grey.

Pattern? Linen Stitch Scarf by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

Yarn? Staccato by Shibui in shades (left to right) Poodle Skirt, Spring Garden and Twin Set

Needles? 4 mm, 80 cm circular

I've taken pictures of this rose in years gone by.

And here she is again.

                                     

Almost as happy as me to see scarf weather just around the corner.

It's Like I've Become A Member Of Some Exclusive Club Or Something

You know what this is.

Right?

If not, click here.

And here.

Yeah-huh.

I was given one. I'm in. I'm somebody special.

You heard me.

Special.

Or... that's how I feel anyway.

My Mom and Grandma made the trip up to North Bay to visit 'Cousin/Aunt Lynn' and 'Aunt Helen' this week, and brought this back for me.

I guess the next trip to North Bay, I'm going to have to join in. We'll pick up another wreath and whomever the inteded recipient is, they must join us three ladies on the next voyage up north.

You see how this works?

Who would be up for a road trip in the near-ish future? (It seems to not take her as long as it would certainly take me to make one of these).

I feel so lucky it hurts my everything.

Thank you, thank you, thank you dear North Bay Knitter and North Bay Wreath-Assembler (that would be Aunt Helen and Aunt Lynn, respectively).

In other news...

Peaches are ready!

Faster Than The Speed Of Light

That's how fast I've been knitting these days anyway. No joke! I have simply been knitting up a storm.

But, I also happened to take up a new hobby this summer. Which I didn't think I would actually like... (Don't ask me why... I was just sure I would hate it. I just had to do it to find out for sure).

Turns out, I love it.



And it greatly cuts into my 'finishing' time.

I predict... some finished objects in this blog's near future.

Promise.

(And that's really only because there are no rules about knitting on the golf course).

One Down, Twenty Five To Go

While in Austria back in May I came across Hundertwasserhaus- a community designed by the Austrian artist himself. As I was snapping photos and rambling on and on (and on, and on) about how much I would adore to live in a place that looks like that, I was reminded that I had cast on a pair of Opal Hundertwasser socks while watching the Royal Wedding back in April.

Nothing fancy... just plain ol' vanilla socks- but oh such beautiful colours!

I did my best to explain to my travel companion that I had some 'Hundertwasser yarn in my stash', but it was lost on him. Upon arriving back home however, I dug these socks out of the deep dark depths of one of my many UFO bins and knit onwards and upwards.

In case you haven't noticed... I don't tend to 'match my stripes'. Apologies if it hurts your eyes.

Around the same time that I returned home, a customer challenged me to a '26 pair plunge'.

The goal? To knit 26 pairs of socks in one year (we have until June 30th, 2012). Now, you can include pairs of socks that you have already started... you just have to have finished up 26 pairs in one year. Now, since that's the case- I'm game!

I have more 'single socks' tucked in various bags and drawers throughout my house, I can't even begin to tell you.

Since this Christmas looks like it's going to be 'The Year of the Sock' for many of my gift recipients, I figure that this challenge is just right up my alley. Let's git 'er done.

Shall we?

Yarn? Opal Hundertwasser shade 750 'Blinde Venus'
Needles? 2.5mm
Pattern? It's in my brain

So there you have it. 1/26 complete. And I grafted that toe on the plane to Portland. What a super way to kick off the Sock Summit. (And what a great trip to kick off the 26 Pair Plunge with!)

So, thanks Hundertwasser. For beautiful yarn inspiration, and beautiful water treatment towers.

You're the best.

People And Food

Since I seem to love looking at pictures of people, but taking pictures of food, I thought that I would do a little 'one of this, one of that' post for you. Some people I took classes with, some food I stuffed myself with.

Ready?

Person- Fiona Ellis. I took a class with her our first morning in Portland called 'Morphing Cables'. I'm not going to lie. My head felt like it was going to explode when she asked us to make up our own cables using an odd number. HA! And I thought I preferred odd over even... apparently this isn't the case when it comes to cabling!

I had the pleasure of boarding the plane with her and having a wee chat, she is truly a delightful person.

                 Her asymmetrical hair cut should have been an indication to me that this woman also loves asymmetric cables

Food- A beet and chevre sandwich (that stained my pale wash jeans- but was totally worth it) from a food cart in Portland called 'Picnic'. Too cute for words, too delicious to care that I had to sacrifice a pair of jeans for this lunch.

People- You saw this photo in the last post, but since this woman (Anne Hanson) is my mother's very own personal knitting hero, I thought I would include it again. Mother Mary emailed Anne one day to ask her about a recipe she had posted on her blog and when she got back to her immediately, you'd think that Kate Middleton had just showed up for tea. She was just that pumped about it.

I took a class with her on Friday afternoon about lace. Lacy, lace, lace.

She's a treat.

Food- I honestly could have eaten this every day for every meal. Raw pasta. That's zucchini pasta in a pesto sauce. Holy cow. It's currently 8 am as I write this, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. We bought it here, and I'd buy it again.

People- Nancy Bush. Yeah. That Nancy Bush. I took a class with her all day on Saturday on Swedish Twined Knitting (Sweden has a very tight grip of my heart strings... so this was just wonderful beyond words). Certainly a highlight for me.

I showed a photo of the sock in the last post. I intend to finish those (someday...) and will give you a re-cap of the class then (just don't hold your breath please).

Food- A donut from VooDoo Donuts. Yeah-huh. That donut totally has Captain Crunch cereal on it. I'm pretty sure that every food group has been covered on this donut right here. It's a meal alright. A fully 100% complete meal.

Anyone else here noticing that there seems to be no 'middle-ground' when it comes to my diet??? It's one extreme or the other apparently.

People- Ann Budd! Yeah! Ann Budd! (I had a completely different picture in my head of what this woman looked like. I thought she'd have hair to her waist... don't ask me why).

I took a class with her Sunday afternoon on knitting socks at any gauge. Have a yarn you love but don't know how many stitches to cast on??? Well... 'swatch it'. That was her answer for everything that day.

Oh the fury!

She did just come out with a great new book though called Sock Knitting- Master Class. I picked up a copy and may already have a skein of yarn wound to cast on something sweet from this book. OH! And there's a bonus! It comes with a DVD. (You will find out within the next month or so how hard I have fallen for knitting DVDs).

She's a class act that woman. A class act.

Conclusion- Now... I'm home.

Oh, the sadness.

BEEP! BEEP!

It So Doesn't 'Sock' To Be Me

We came for the socks.

We knit some socks.

 Twined Knitting Sock by Nancy Bush

We wore some socks.

Tara's foot/sock, not mine! Yarn- Opal

We met sock knitting celebs.

Anne and I go to the same salon apparently

We even ate donuts shaped like socks.

So, you might think we'd be ridiculously sick and tired of socks by now.

But oh no. Not me!

Pass me another donut please.

I need some fuel for this sock knitting fire.