28 April 2014

A Friendly Frolic

On Saturday I attended the Downtown Knit Collective's annual Knitter's Frolic. How wonderful to crawl out of winter hibernation to a place full of colour and inspiration. Having missed the event last year, I was especially looking forward to it. The shopping and browsing are always great but my favourite part is seeing all my knitter friends in one place. You can't turn a corner without seeing a familiar face. It makes me very happy.

Anastasia, Emily, Laura and Christina hanging out at the Creative Yarns booth in their fabulous hand knits.
Caroline was busy but smiling all day at Eweknit.
Everyone knows that the Frolic is also an informal fashion show. We deck out in new pieces and take them for a strut. I wore my just finished Leoni with a cute little skirt, knee socks, and boots. I won't lie by saying that the number of people who stopped to compliment the tunic or ask about the pattern didn't please me. It felt great to have my work recognized. It's such a fun sweater and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

22 April 2014

Warning. Floppy Hippie Ahead.



I have been patiently seaming my Leoni by Louisa Harding for the past two evenings. It is quite a bit of seaming too! The pieces blocked out HUGE and more beautifully floppy than I could have imagined. The sleeves may be a tad long but that will rather suit the casual, hippie-dippie feel of this tunic. Just the sleeve seams to do next and then the finishing of the neckline. Back to it!
How I love listening to Laurie Brown on CBC and seaming a sweater. What a peaceful way to pass a weeknight. 

17 April 2014

Affections For Me Are Misplaced





"The rose is obsolete
but each petal ends in
an edge..."     

William Carlos Williams
Spring and All, 1923




I fashioned a paper doll dress
from the paper roses
that wrapped my Valentine carnations.

I've always liked renderings of roses 
better than roses themselves.

The carnations and daisies in the bouquet
were white and red and adorned
with a tinsel plastic heart,
                                       that heart on a stick.

The roses are pink; combine
into a lovely confection.
It hangs on my wall 
and dresses my doll.

A pretty paper fantasy made
with hands, sugar, tears, glue,
                                       silly but mine,

has lasted. Will last   
                                       longer
than the flowers it wrapped,
the romance that brought it here.   

06 April 2014

Arrowhead

Little Arrowhead Shawl by Pam Allen.. Interweave Knits Accessories.
Here is a proper, sunny, less self obsessed FO post of my beautiful Arrowhead. Thank you, thank you again to Caroline at Eweknit for pointing me toward the Tosh Fingering. As I mentioned before, it really is the perfect yarn for the effect I was hoping to achieve with this pattern.

The modification of which I am most proud? It's the extension of the border stitch.. I converted what was supposed to be a thin border into a wide section. It's a wonderful stitch pattern and we needed to see more of it. So pretty.