Party Pics, New Blog

Denny, excited about super soft Fleece Artist. Jen promises not to even try to leave with it, fills in a draw ballot and backs away without making eye contact.

Jenna & the Secret Sweater. (You know that you'd pay to see this movie!)


Krista - all happy now that I have backed up my words with actions. (see link below)


Yarn for Butterfly.

Come, Butterfly Along with Me

Come party with me

It's actually Amy's Big Leap Party & Lettuce Knit's Big (moving) Leap party, so the more the merrier, right? I'll be there and I hope to see a lot of you there too. And since none of us look like the pictures on our blogs don't take it personally when I totally don't recognise you. Just give me a smack & a blog name.

I bought a Quesadilla maker today! I love it, the kids love it & I'm sure that Kerwyn will love it. Yup, gone again. Same time zone & continent this time. Just a day or two in Atlanta - easy peasy!! These are my chicken & cheese quesadillas - made with shredded jerk chicken that I bbq'd a couple of nights ago. Knock yourself out with the lick 'n taste thing Nick!!

Here is the picture of the sweater for Joanne. Geez, sorry 'bout the overall fuzzy suckiness of it all, but that's all you get. I'm sure that Joanne's photographer will do a much better job (and when I say 'much better' I mean professional ) for the book.

I have started on a sweater for Elise Duvekot (which I also cannot tell you about or photograph clearly) and another Naturally Easy Raglan for Julie (which I can share). I will have to update my progress bars accordingly.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Rowan Denim

I love this stuff!! Since it came out back in 1992 Rowan Denim has a favourite of mine. This is my sweater. Kyle was good enough to model it after much explaining about "unisex". He even pulled off a smile! It was an 'at home day' so the hair didn't get combed and he still has hat head. I can't wait to get that mop cut off - 11 more days. He really is so handsome with a bare head. (wistful mom sigh) Well, to be truthful I really all of Rowan's yarns but today it's all about the Denim. I bought the first pattern leaflet that Rowan came out with and knit a sweater for Kyle - he was about 2. Then I knit a matching one for myself and Kerwyn, then another one for Kyle (he was about 4). He was my first child. I learned very quickly to knit his sweater much larger than would seem advisable so that they would fit when I was done with them and he would get to wear them for while. I also learned about making a working copy of your pattern. Lessons learned.
Kyle's sweater have gone through several children, back to me for Amanda and are now being loved by other children. I have had to redo the neck on Kerwyn's several times (whisker rubs cotton - whiskers win Hmmmm ... sounds like an all new take on Rock, Paper, Scissors). The hem on mine finally became so tatty that I cut it off and cast it off to neaten it up. My neckline finally fell apart - no not from whicker burn, just a lot of wear - so it has been re-knit. I like the way the darker yarn tells a progressive story about the sweater. Kind of like the growth rings in a tree.
It amazes me that this sweater still garners the most praise when I wear it to knitting shows. The cables show off the Denim Effect (the unique fading that you only get from losing the indigo dye through wash & wear) of the yarn so well and I guess that there are not too many Denim sweaters are quite this old. Knitters and non-knitters alike stop me to touch it, ask about the yarn (or if it was hand knit) and comment on the uniqueness of it.
It really does become like your favourite pair of jeans. The cotton softens up so much, the fading, the wearing at the edges all make it the perfect long-term sweater. It's worth the extra knitting. Rowan Denim is not pre-shrunk so you need to knit about an extra 20% in length to compensate for the impending shrinkage. (Rowan's patterns are written to compensate for this.) It's worth the stains. The indigo dye comes off on your hands, needles and if you're wearing light coloured clothes it will rub off on that too. It's worth knitting with hard cotton. The dyeing makes the yarn a bit stiff in hand.
I haven't knit any more sweater out of the Denim since those original ones - wait, I knit one for Julie. It was out of the Ecru. I couldn't imagine why you'd want an ecru denim sweater - half the point is the Denim Effect. But it did fade significantly in the first wash to almost white. The shrinkage also scrinches (I know, all these technical terms) up the cables making them tighter than a sane knitter would want to knit them, making the cables extra popping ... I don't know ... cabley.
brooklyntweed is working on a Denim sweater and was expressing concern over the knitted length. Hopefully this post will reassure him a bit and fill him with denim-y desire and spur him on to the finish. Even though his sweater is stockinette stitch, I'm sure that the Denim Effect will be excellent. I mean, we all don't wear cabled jeans!

Here is me & the Tina Shawl. Not really a shorts-and-tshirt kinda shawl, but there you go.

I'm off to block the fronts & back on Joanne's sweater. Have a great knitting day!!!

Check my Back

Do I have like a big ol' "kick me" sign on my back? Would you tell me if I did? Can we stop the merry-go-round - I'm getting dizzy.

I have this skill. It's not very marketable, but it's a skill nonetheless. I break things. Right out of the box, no physical damage apparent but it's all busted up. Yup. Étienne is back in his box and off to get repaired. The tech support guy sid that his mother*f*board is corrupted or something. I swear, I was gentle with him and didn't upload any lewd photos or anything!! This is me taking a picture of my reflection in Étienne's screen. It should not be a black, mirror-like surface when the light is on. But it is. The good news is that the Linksys wireless router is up & transmitting invisible signals all over the house so that when he comes back to me Étienne will be able to tap in log me on to the www. from all over.
Yes, I named my laptop. Ya wanna make somethin' of it? I mean, I couldn't just go around saying 'the laptop' forever, all impersonal and cold like. He's going to work very closely with me and I think I owe him at least a name.

When I went for my acupuncture treatment on Friday, I saw these. Now, I'm sure that they are little covers for some sort of machine or something but they just made me think of condoms for an "iny weeny teeny weeny shriveled little short dick man." LMAO



Amanda was waiting for Kerwyn to wake up Friday morning so that she could give him his 'welcome home' presents. Kerwyn brought home a jade bracelet for Amanda & I and Kyle now has a couple of leather cuffs (men don't wear bracelets).

Yesterday Amanda & I went strawberry picking. I almost never buy strawberries from a store and I certainly never buy them imported. I'm sorry but there is nothing that can compare to fresh, locally grown strawberries (or most other fruit for that matter). I have been spoiled by Springridge while we lived in Milton and I thought that I would never find such great patches again. Barrie Hill Farms fills the bill quite nicely. The strawberries were awesome, the raspberries are starting to pink up and their blueberry bushes are rich with berries that should be ready come the end of July. On impulse we also picked peas. Amanda was very keen and shelled them when we got back home. Kyle & I helped some, but Amanda worked on them all the way to the end. MMMMMMMMM - fresh peas, steamed just enough to change the colour, lightly salted & buttered generously.
I didn't realize that anyone paid attention to my progress bars until Joanne emailed me and asked about her sweater. I was only at 5% and she wanted to make sure that there wasn't a problem. We're moving right along, full steam ahead Joanne!!! (maybe I'll have a nice useless picture for y'all tomorrow)