Crazy FrankenToes Socks

For a while now I've been wanting to make a pair of toe socks. I had a pair back in the 70s but they were acrylic tube socks, not a real sock by any means.

I found a free pattern on Ravelry for Toe Socks and decided that I was going to use sock yarn ends to make these socks. I used yarns from 13 different skeins on the first sock and I'm in the process of working on the second sock.

What fun they are!

Love the crazy toes!

 Yarns from: 

• Regia
• Online Supersocke
• Patons Kroy
• Opal
• Dyenamic Yarns
• Filatura Di Crosa

The First One is Finished

The Second One

The sooner I can get this flare-up of Knitter's Elbow that I have to calm down, the sooner I can get these finished.

My family is stuck in the city for the night. We're having some bad snow squall activity today which has closed a bunch of roads again. I'd rather them stay there and be safe than risk their lives to come home.  Me 'n the dogs will be chilling tonight by the wood stove.

Knit on my friends,
:o)B

Winter and the Cable Vest

As winter rages on in Mid-western Ontario, I find myself keeping close to the homestead. We've had a lot of snow this season and our township even had to declare a State of Emergency recently because our limited plow resources just couldn't get ahead of the massive drifting. Over 400 cars were stranded in the township just to the north of us!! Craziness!

I finally decided on a project for the Vintage DK that I have. The yarn is a lovely purple heather with bits of red in it. 

Berocco Vintage DK

I must have spent 3 days in Ravelry looking for a pattern that I wanted to make with this. I narrowed it down to a few and then picked this design from Drops.

Ravelry Link to Drops Design 141-40 Sarah's Delight

I like the simplistic design of this vest, that's why I ended up choosing it. I really love cables too so that's a bonus. My other choice would have been something made of lace. I also love to knit lace. 

As of now, this is how far I've progressed on this project. 

Back of Vest, Drops Design: 141-40 Sarah's Delight.

I think I have enough yarn to convert this vest to a cardigan if I want. I'll see how I feel when it's closer to being finished. If I don't add arms, I'll have enough yarn to make a hat and mitts combo...we'll see.

Well, the wind is picking up now and it's feeling colder out. My osteoarthritis is very unhappy with this weather so I think it's time to curl up with my knitting under a heated blanket.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Knit on! 

Bev

Happy New Year and the Twine Box

Let me start off by wishing everyone a very Happy New Year! I have good feelings for 2014. :-) 

I've had to take a wee break from knitting for a while, I seem to have tendinitis in my left elbow. At least I finished all the things I was working on for Christmas and was even able to squeak out a final pair of socks before the clock struck midnight on December 31st. 

I'm going to spin for a while and see if that feels okay, cross your fingers for me. If I can't knit OR spin, I might go a little bit crazy. 

For Christmas this year, I got my hubby a table saw and for his birthday last October, I got him a compound mitre saw. His plan is to make more things using wood. By trade, he's a Sheet Metal Mechanic so wood is a logical step. I have a small list of things I need made out of wood. 

The first thing I've asked him to make is a box for my twine. I purchase twine in a large roll from a place in Owen Sound but then there's a big thing of twine sitting around getting dusty. I use it mostly to tie my skeins after spinning. I asked him to make the box so the cone of twine can be suspended on a dowel and you can just pull on an end to dispense. 

Well, check out the amazing twine box he made!! Even the lid fits into place, lots of mitred edges. 

Here are some photos:

Needless to say, I'm very happy with the job he did. When I get back into removing the paint from the window and door frames in Yarnia, I'll give this box a bit of a sanding and then a dark stain to match the rest of the woodwork. 

Well, that's all for now. I'm heading over to the spinning area now to see if I can spin without elbow pain. Wish me luck!

Cheers,

BevKnits 

Leaf Evolution Shawl

I've wanted to do a laceweight shawl for a while now so I finally got around to it.

Earlier in the year, I found this lovely laceweight silk yarn for a great price online and just had to buy it. I got two skeins of two different colourways but didn't have any projects in mind.

I purchased the yarn from Camaj Fiber Arts. Here's a link to her Etsy page:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CAMAJ?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I searched for a while and found a pattern I liked. It's called Leaf Evolution Shawl by Tetiana Otruta. The pattern is available for sale on Ravelry. Here's the link:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/leaf-evolution-shawl

Lovely, shiny, soft 100% silk in wonderful colours. I used the top two for this shawl. 

Ah, I love the sensation of a newly started object. 

Got lots of knitting done outside in the fresh air. 

Almost made it with one skein but there's not enough here to do the last row and then the bind-off. At least I had a second skein of this same colourway! 

To get to this size, I repeated Chart B 24 times. If I had reduced to 22 repeats, I could have made it with one skein. It was an even number of repeats that are required on Chart B for the pattern to work out correctly.    

Blocking, such a great feeling! 

After blocking, it measures 67" across the top and 39" deep at the centre stitch.

I had to add bits and pieces to my blocking matts to accommodate the size of this shawl once it was stretched out.   

I loved this pattern so much that I cast-on a second one as soon as I finished this one. I have finished knitting it as well but it's not yet blocked so it'll have to wait for another posting. 

Well, that's it for today.

Knitterly yours,

BevKnits. 

Cadence Socks with Dyenamic Yarn

So here's my first project that I'm blogging about in a long time. I've decided that I won't blog until an item is done. In the case of shawls, I don't consider them done until they're blocked so this will encourage me to get cracking and finish things! 

Onto the socks at hand. The pattern I used for these socks is called Cadence Socks by Verybusymonkey, a free pattern on Ravelry. Here's the link: 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cadence-socks

The yarn I'm using is a hand-dyed sock yarn from Dyenamic Yarn in Bowmanville, Ontario. She makes some very lovely skeins. Here's a link to her Etsy page: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/dyenamicyarn

Some lovely yarn came in the mail, time to make a ball.

Working on the leg pattern. 

Heel flap and turn.

Cadence Socks, finished on the sock blockers.

I LOVED this pattern. It kept changing so that kept it interesting for me. I used 2.75 mm DPNs, that's my favourite way of knitting socks, mittens, and gloves.

These socks are destined to go live in my cousin's house in the UK. 

I'm making another pair of socks with Dynamic Yarn sock yarn but that's for another post.

Knitterly yours,

BevKnits. 

Long time between blog posts...

I'm going to try and be better. I really want to blog, I just keep getting side-tracked.

Seeing as this is my knitting blog, I will keep my posts to knitting or other fibre related items.
Food posts will be in a different blog (tbd)

This post is just a "hello, I'm back" kind of post. I will be composing a proper blog posts on all the socks  and shawls I've been knitting lately.  I think I will do one item per post rather than making long posts with too much stuff all at once.

Cheers and hope to see you online,

Knitterly yours,
BevKnits.

This is one of the shawls I knit this year. :o) Stay tuned for a blog post about it and its wonderful yarn. 

Dare to Dream of Alpacas

I have never hid the fact that I would like fibre beasts. Mostly I want alpacas but I would also like a few sheep and a llama.

When I was at Camilla Valley Farm the other day buying my hand carders, another customer came in to buy a piece for her loom and she was telling me that there was going to be an Alpaca Show and auction in Orangeville at the Fair Grounds on the weekend.

DH and I were down in Orangeville today so I mentioned it and away we went! I'm sure he was quite wary of me looking at fuzzy little alpaca faces because he knows how I feel about them. I think he kinda likes them too now! They are so sweet. We were looking at the ones that were scheduled to be auctioned off and my goodness, they are so sweet! Their poop doesn't smell and they are very clean critters. They make a lovely cooing sound when they're a little scared and I'm sure that big echoey building with the auctioneer on loudspeaker wasn't helping that any!

I'm in love! Here are a few pictures that I snapped of the ones that were being auctioned off today:

This guy (or maybe girl?) was quite nervous. It was in the last enclosure sort of off by itself and they don't like to be alone. Poor wee baby. I love this brown colour.


This one really took an interest in my hubby. DH has a greying beard and grey in his otherwise very dark coloured hair, almost like this wee one's face.



I'd like a brown one and one like this to start, I really like the puffiness of their coats!




This one acted totally different as soon as I held my phone up to take its picture! I swear it was busting a pose for me. I really wish I could have taken it home with me! Look at the tufty hair on its head!! So freakin' cute!




We stopped at Fines Hardware in Shelburne on the way home to look at their sheds. I saw a couple of really nice 10X10s that would be PERFECT for two alpacas! I didn't hear too many complaints by the man that would have to pay for and assemble it. :o)

My dream of alpacas may soon be realized!



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