Birthday wishes, travels and fun...

It has been a while since I've had the chance to post. Lots has happened since Melissa's guest blog (which was fabulous...music and all). Lets get right to the meat of it.

Yes, I turned 40 this past week. My husband whisked me off to Edmonton where I had the pleasure of perusing River City Yarns. Cynthia, co-owner of the fabulous little shop in the heart of Edmonton, was kind enough to tour me around her wares, allow me to pet the softest cashmere and silk and even wind my purchases. I had to commemorate the event in pictures...

Here we see the entrance to the wonderful world of wool...

Next, after a few hours of perusing and petting, Cynthia is winding my hanks of Trekking Handart and Alpaca sock weight...

This is the ultimate corner of downtown Edmonton for any yarn enthusiast.

Today was back to business with the gals at knitting group. A bit of a surprise was brought to me. I must send much thanks, love and gratitude to the caring nature of the many new freinds I have become to depend upon each and every Sunday. Jan, Gale, Melissa, Mary, Jordan, Leanne, Alison (who was absent today, but will be back soon we hope), Pam and Kristen. I was surprised by a DQ icecream cake (an inspiration of Gale's caring heart), with a knitting sheep on its face, a new stitch dictionary (many thanks to a dear friend Jan) as well as a hank of "ornamental" yarn that, as I was told, just SCREAMED Bonnie on the shelf and begged to be gifted (so Melissa noted...:) ).


New sock knitters are being born each and ever time we meet. Here are samples of Leanne's expert stitching. She is becoming quite a sock maker...

Although these were being worked upon a few weeks, they still deserve mention. Kristin is back to the stuffed animal jag and is stitching up little kritters like crazy.

Jan was kind enough to bring in her electric contraption that she's adapted to splitting cotton. She demonstrated how regular weight handicrafter cotton becomes sock wieght in no time flat. This is pure genius!

We all know that the joy of knitting must be spread (for who can resist the urge to share the disease?) Certainly not Pam, who brought along her gentlemanly friend and began to teach him the tricks and arts of knit and purl. I do hope we see Kevin back again...

Melissa has been hard at it once again. She constructed the child's version of the Mother's Day Sock Pattern with Regia Bamboo sock yarn It is beautiful and Acadia will even wear them as the yarn is softer than the pot scrubber type Patons Kroy.

Just a note of business to finish off for this week:

Our next Knit and Knatter is Saskatoon Knitting Circle on the Move, where we endeavour to spread our love of all things yarn to the more remote areas of Saskatchewan. First up is Outlook, SK at CJs Java Joint (located just behind the BMO). Please let us know, via the yahoo group email listing, if you are interested in coming or need a ride with one of the others. Gale would like to meet any one that is going in her car at the Confederation mall at about noon. You can email her at rai dot cara at gmail dot com to make further arrangements.

Jan is stopping my house at around 1 pm and we shall meet the rest of the gang in outlook around 2pm. I have room for one more body. If you are interested please email me (zink dot bonnie at gmail dot com)

Don't forget to join us next Sunday as well...same time; same place as always.

New encounters...

Meeting up with Knitterly friends was a most exciting event today. Much stitching was had, new friends were made, finished projects were shown off, and we even had to disband early due to another group of coffee lovers invading our stitching corner.

To those of you who were unable to join us today, and you know who you are, you were missed. However, we brought in a new round of stitchers. This is an official welcome to Trisha, Leanne and Jennifer...a few new gals with as much a love of all things yarn as we have. Yes, I'm glad to announce that our little group is growing fast and we filled out the back room of MacKenzie Coles quite nicely. As I mentioned we needed to break up a bit early today due to another group of coffee lovers having booked the room. We have, however, cured this issue in the future as the room is now reserved for us every Sunday between 2pm and 5pm. I'm so excited that we actually NEED to book space for our growing little circle.b

Jennifer, a computer lover as well as an eclectic knitter, was working on a knitterly version of a dissected frog. Yes, you read right (no need to re-read)...a dissected frog. She is a self pronounced knitteress of all things strange and wild. (I'm quite excited to eavesdrop on the conversation between Jennifer, Gale and Alison - when she returns to us. It should be a fairly interesting bit as Jennifer was keen on viewing Alison's Shrunken Head purse...)


And here is a preview, just for you Jennifer, of Alison's Shrunken Head purse:


PS: Alison, bring it along with you when next we meet...

Leanne kept her hands busy creating a pair of beautiful yellow baby booties. They were adorned with a ruffle cuff and are sure to please the recipient.

Trisha, enjoyed passing her love of crochet onto Summer (Jan's Granddaughter). Summer's relationship with knitting is currently on a time out. However, she seemed to enjoying the hooking until it bored her - we shall keep trying to infect her with our disease.

And, a big welcome to Nadia. Nadia was working on a pair of felted mittens. She wore her knitted socks and has plans to expand her repetoire of knitterly experience into a pair of slippers.

We had a great time getting to know the new gals in our group and truly hope they shall return.

Jan remained dedicated to finishing the shawl that was begun months ago. Last week it grew and this week Jan stitched speedily on finishing the last cuff. Here is hoping that next week she will model it for us.



We welcomed back our sunshine, both inside and out. Welcome back Pam. She brought some beautiful show and tell and spread her infectious giggle throughout the group. Pam has been busy crocheting up hats and scarves for her loved ones. Those pictured below are to adorn her lovely little niece:



Jeanette attained a record today. She actually stayed and stitched for about 2 hours! She made great progress on a baby blanket that is to be gifted to a very good family friend recently had twins. The Hoodie Baby Blanket is stitched from Lion Brand's Cotton Ease (50% cotton and 50% acrylic), which makes it wonderfully machine washable and absorbent at the same time.

Gale has made great progress for she busied herself seaming her Hoodie / Bunny Hug made of Homespun. We are looking forward to her modeling the completed item next week.

We even had a brief visit with Melissa and Acadia, sans stitching. You see, Melissa has suffered a knitting related accident that is keeping her from knitting. It would appear that knitting can be dangerous, my friends, as Melissa's sprained thumb is proof of. Her vigorous technique has left her knitting-less. We all offer her our heart felt empathy. Melissa commiserated with me over the mis-adventure of the book, the car and the credit card :) She so totally gets it ! You can look into all Melissa's adventures over here.

Now for me, what have I been up to? Baking for one in the new KitchenAid Convection oven!! Yes, it arrived and is well loved and used. While out and arranging for its delivery last week, I found myself mere blocks from McNally Robinson. The car, being possessed by some knitterly entity, forced me into the parking lot of the book store. What was I to do? Just sit there and wait for it to get the notion to become mobile once again? Well, that didn't seem right. Into the book store I go.

Where do I find myself, but in the knitterly book section. What do I find there? Why, a new knitterly book to add to my collection of course!!!! I left the store with Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book. An interesting compilation of history, technique and design that is a wonderful addition to my library (all the other books have welcomed her with open arms and no complaints can be heard from the library shelves). I was excited to see a contest connected to this publication: The Ultimate Sock Contest. Since the deadline is March 15, I have my doubts if I'll have the time to put in an entry :( However, I cannot wait to see what sort of creations the knitterly sock maids of the world come up with.

PS: I take no responsibility for being forced into the situation that lead to the buying of this book. For, as you all know, the Knitting Goddess works in mysterious ways and who are we to question her ultimate wisdom and direction? That could prove dangerous, as we all know.

On the project front: The Confused Cardigan is still in the works but the Jaywalkers are nearing completion. I am on the final few rows of the toe and hope to be wearing them next week!


Until next week, my friends...Happy Stitching :)

The Fearless Knitters...

Fearless knitting was our theme. We fearlessly discussed the ins and outs of meat knitting. We showed our wares. And, best of all, we tackled new techniques.

We began our knit with some knatter. Meat! Yes, my friends, there is a whole hoard of knitters out there who knit meat and meat related items. They, in my opinion are indeed fearless! Surf on over to Melissa's Blog for some really cool meat related tid bits, sites and discussion. An entire culture has been built around the construction of food related items. Knitters are indeed the creators of a mirror of life in that almost everything edible has been made from putting two pointy sitcks and some yarn together.

Show and tell came next. Just take a look at Alison's first attempt at felting. A beautiful carry-all created from a palette of colours pleasing to the eye and spiced up with an intricate geometric pattern. After expertly putting yarn to needles and stitching up a storm, Alison threw the fabric through the felting process and, VOILA, out came a beautiful accessory big enough to carry knitterly items, books, or anything her heart desires.

During the show and tell we deviated from our normal knitterly discussions to listen to Alison's review of the latest series of books that she is tackling. The Book of Shadows, The Book of Spirits and The Witchery by James Reese are " a remarkable trilogy of magic, upheaval, lush sensuality and epic history." Alison successfully piqued the interest of several of our knitters / readers.

Next on the show and tell agenda was Mary. Although she did not create these beauties, she did regale the tale behind them. Mary's daughter is a Tibetan translator and through her professional pursuits, Mary had formed a knitterly friendship or two. These socks, knit in what we assume is the Tibetan tradition, were recently sent to Mary. In return Mary agreed to dye some burgandy yarn and send back a pair of hand knit beauties of her own making. The only down side is the socks seen in the picture below are a wee bit too small for Mary to wear herself.
Now, onto to our own experiment in fearless knitting: Toe up socks. The internet is plied with numerous free patterns, hints, and techniques in relation to this style of sock making. There is a plethora of cast on techniques, a few types of heels and numerous patterning techniques to make the sock interesting. I'll leave it to you to seek out your own, but will say that Ravelry is a superb resource for anyone looking to give this mode of sock construction a go.

Jeanette (our apprentice knitter) put aside her Teddy Bear Construction in favour of creating some socks. We made a trip to Prairie Lily on Friday and picked out new yarns (for as you all know full well the current stash was just not offering any inspiration - besides a new technique is a great reason to shop for more!). She was thrilled with the wall of sock yarn in Prairie Lily and picked out two slightly matching balls of sock yarn. As anyone with teenagers will tell you, matching socks are boring. Therefore, Jeanette's plan is to create a stash of mismatched hand crafted beauties to keep her tootsies warm.


After an afternoon of stitching and some very interesting false starts here are the results. The toes were completed by Jan, Melissa and myself. Not everyone took on the challenge of Toe Up Sock Construction: Kristin brought along her Chevron Crocheted Afghan, Gale kept on stitching her Homespun Bunny Hug and Mary opted for the cuff down variety and made use of her beautiful hand dyed yarn.

Those of us who attempted the feat were not swayed by the confusion of learning a new cast on method. Although it took a while to get the technique down pat, we were soon off stitching up a frenzy. For a very simple cast on method please direct your browsers to Denise's Toe Up Sock Lesson One. A great sight for everything toe up related. Another good resource is Knitty.com where a number of various patterns and techniques and tutorials can be located. Hear is a group picture of some of our progress:

Finally, I was able to get some knitting time in this past week and finished the Presto Chango baby sweater. A friend is about ready to have her baby girl very soon (due date is March 2, 2008) and absolutely loved this little creation. It was a joy to create a baby item. I find them to be fulfilling, joyful and a pleasure to craft plus they offer the added bonus of satisfying the quick fix or instant gratification portion of my personality. Now onto creating some items for another friends set of twins. Jeanette and I have both decided to knit up something special for the little boy and little girl to help keep them warm. She'll take on the boy and I'll do something for the girl. Any ideas? Pass them on...

As always, my friends, keep on stitching. Don't forget to check out the Saskatoon Knitting Circle on Facebook for updates and information and event postings. We are still looking for new members to join us on our Yahoo mailing group as well, so check us out and sign yourself up! As always we meet every Sunday at 2pm at MacKenzie Coles Coffee here in Saskatoon, SK.

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This week was a very busy week in my universe. But the one bright spot was meeting up with new friends. We held a mini S'n'B at the regular place and time. Since Melissa was kind enough to host an "Escape the Super Bowl Mania" potluck S'n'B at her home, those of us who couldn't quite make it out decided to meet up for a shortened more compressed Knit and Knatter. I'm hoping that Melissa will also be kind enough to update the world on the Potluck S'n'B through her own Live Journal blog. Keep checking for updates.

Gale, Jan, Jeannie, Mary and I had a great time updating each other on the states of our projects and the goings ons in our worlds since last we met. With deadlines looming some our knitting time has been drastically reduced. However, we were able to progress quite nicely on other projects.

The Pirate Booty Bag remains to be a work in progress. Socks are flying off the needles and baby items are being produced at lightening speed, with hopes of finishing on time for the impending arrival of the bundles of joy. Mary is near completion on the Baby Surprise Jacket and My Presto Chango sweater is just about complete. Jan is hard at work on some beautiful "Snowflake" socks and the shrug keeps making an appearance.


So what have we been up to for the past week. The Harmonies have been hard at work! The lustre has not worn, the novelty remains fresh and the joy they provide cannot be described within the confines of our language. The beauty and quality speaks for itself. My first Harmony sock is entitled JayWalker (which I found on Ravelry). The zig zag patter is created by a series of increases and decreases across the patterning rows. Other than that, this sock is formed by using your favourite sock recipe. Sometimes I marvel at how the simplest things can be so interesting and pleasing to the eye.

Due to the lure of the socks, my other inaugural Harmony project, Double Play Raglan Cardigan from the Top Down Sweater Book, by Doreen Marquart, has not received much attention. However, rest assured, it won't reside in the WIP basket for long and will soon be growing by the stitch as the JayWalker sock and Presto Chango projects are completed. For now it is perfectly happy to be resting upon the Harmonies.


Speaking of the Harmonies and their beauty...I've discovered a new addiction this week. Let me first say that the beauty of the Harmonies do not deserve to be dulled. My collection of stitch markers consists of little plastic rings that rest upon the needles. Although they are practical and serve their station in life well, they do not seem right on the Harmonies. For beauty deserves beauty, right? What does a self respecting crafter do?

Why we search for something better, we journey to the land of inspiration and then we set to work. After hours of reviewing knitting catalouges and the internet and seeing the numerous options out there, I finally found some beaded stitch markers that would certainly compliment the beauty of the Harmonies. However, they were quite pricey (a set of 6 cost anywhere from $20.00 to $40.00!) Well, my pockets are not that deep.

So, I searched some more and found a number of tutorials on how to create this knitterly notions on my own. I found an excellent site, created by a GUY knitter , Michael Cook, (I knew they were out there!) who takes us through the process step by step in a practical manner. This is what I came up with! the pink hearts and shoes are my own hommage to Breast Cancer Research and the hearts are in honour of upcoming St. Valentine's Day. I'm sure the coming weeks will see more postings and pictures showing off my daughter's creativity and my ingenuity in learning a new trick of the trade.

A small trip to Dollarama, Walmart and a quick perusal of Michael's offerings set my daughter and I up with the tools and supplies to make hundreds of little beauties, and it cost much less than $40.00!

While searching for the Stitch Marker tutorials, I found a gem of an adornment that provides both beauty and practicality. I came across a Row Counter Beaded Bracelet and just had to give it a go too. These knitterly notions work like an Abacus (by pushing beads back and forth to keep track of competed rows, stitches or repeats). While beading up my new treasures, it occurred to me that the Bracelet and Markers could match a set of hand beaded earrings too! The possibilities are endless. A set could be made to match the yarn of the project. They could be created and given to knitterly friends as gifts. Their construction would certainly provide hours of entertainment and a creative outlet for the children of the house. Yes, beading has now been added to my repertoire of addictions. Trust me, if I can accomplish this, so can you. And I do hope all of you give the beading a go and create your own treasures...doesn't your knitting deserve to feel pretty too?

So that's the update for this week. We hope to see everyone next week at:

MacKenzie Cole's Coffee
Corner of Gray Avenue and Central Avenue (Sutherland)
Saskatoon, SK
Sunday February 10, 2008
2 pm