Showing posts with label quilting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quilting. Show all posts

Saturday, August 16, 2008

How The Deal Went Down

I found a new podcast a couple of weeks ago - The Manic Purl Podcast. Turns out Chrissy lives in Vancouver so since I was headed over there I thought I'd see if I could make a purchase of her naturally hand-dyed yarn (100% merino superwash 'Storm'). We arranged to meet one evening in a Starbucks near her house. I must say it felt a little strange and I was a little apprehensive meeting an unknown someone from the internet. Upon entering the Starbucks there was this lovely young lady sitting near the door with a skein of gorgeous yarn on the table. She didn't look scary at all so I got a coffee and sat down for a little visit. Chrissy's hubby/bodyguard arrived a few minutes later and we had a bit of a laugh about our 'deal', wondering if we should surreptitiously transfer the goods under the table, casting glances over our shoulders. We had a very nice visit and I love my yarn purchase - soon to be a pair of socks. Her online store is www.yarnsprout.com



My daughter's shower went really well. Her friends had set up a table on Burnaby Mountain covered in yummy food and drinks. The weather was perfect and everyone really enjoyed themselves. I had dressed up a very cute teddy bear in the Baby Surprise Jacket and wrapped him in the Noah's Ark quilt - I think she was quite tickled.



I have been knitting diaper soakers for the new baby, three so far in different sizes. They are so cute - I can't wait to see the little fella decked out. I also knit up these little socks for the B-man and his little bro.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

There is a very fine line between hobby and mental illness.....Dave Barry

I love that quote. I have walked that fine line many times. When I find something that really interests me I tend to jump into it, immerse myself in it and not come out until I have either gotten bored or life has somehow gotten in the way. As I get older I seem to have more patience and stick-to-it-ness, I am more willing to work out mistakes and not just throw up my hands in despair, and I have much more pride in and appreciation for the finished product. I think knitting has been my biggest and best obsession. It is a great stress-buster. It is portable, tactile, sometimes repetitive, mostly interesting and the end result provides great satisfaction. Knitting socks makes me feel ever so clever. Wielding five fragile rosewood sticks and a fine yarn looks very impressive. I was once on the ferry to the mainland when a small group of Chinese tourists stopped in front of me to watch my knitting, bobbing their heads and smiling at me. They were clearly impressed, which felt good, but I felt like a tourist attraction, almost as good as spotting a killer whale off the starboard side!

I recently finished the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. It is a very interesting pattern, a little confusing in that EZ assumes you are in her brain and know what she is thinking. It is not for the faint of heart or the inexperienced and the finished piece is a strangely shaped rectangle that looks nothing like a sweater. The 'surprise' is how it goes together. I don't think I could ever have figured it out without a diagram which has you match A to A and B to B and voila! you have the cutest little sweater for baby. I had enough yarn left over to make a little earflap hat and booties. All set for my daughter's baby shower next Monday. I'm also working on a quilt for baby which I'll have finished as soon as I put the binding on today. My plan is to dress a stuffed toy in the knitted outfit and wrap it all in the quilt.