Gifted!

Gasp - look at this treasure trove of knitting loveliness! I was blown over the other day by getting all these wonderful gifts from dear Nancy, a wonderful stitching/knitting/quilting friend.

The knitting/stitching bag at the top is the most gorgeous bag, with all kinds of extra pockets for slipping in a little sustenance to keep a knitter/stitcher going strong! There is a lovely book of knitting stitches, and to the left, an ingenious worm binder, yes, that's right, a worm binder. Its perfect for holding all our circular needles (which are my favourite, uh circular needles, that is, not worms). Some new sock patterns which are my most favourite thing(s) to knit and an absolutely gorgeous purple/blue/green flat of wool called Flat Feet. Its been hand painted after being knitted by machine. The idea is to start unravelling as you knit so come up with your own unique pattern. How cool is that? No more balls of yarn to get tangled ... or played with by not-so-innocent little puppies. I am still in awe of all this lovelies and have had the most fun by taking everything out of my new bag and playing with it all. Thank you, Nancy!!!

Stitching-wise....I'm still at my CHS alphabets and I expect I will be happy dancing very shortly. But meanwhile I couldn't resist a little detour, with one of my new favourite designers, Blue Ribbon Designs~
Valentine Wishes - stitched on 28 ct Blush Pink Cashel, with GAST threads.

Sorry for the dark pictures - its endlessly gloomy around here - with another day of rain....yes, that's right rain. It has turned our snow into glops of messy disgusting piles. But the cold air is returning tonight and I'm sure it will turn everything back into a skating rink.

Fine by me....I'm on the final countdown because a week today hubby and I will be vacationing in Cuba - hot sun, white sandy beach, stitching in one hand, and a mojito in the other!

A new start

A new start - that's right, I couldn't resist the lure of this lovely Mirabilia design any longer. For some reason, I kept thinking about it the past couple of months and having an irresistible urge to start this design. Its called Elizabeth and the Lavender Sky and its #10, so a very early design by Nora Corbett. No beads, no Kreinik or specialty fibres, just good old DMC. I'm using a 32 ct antique white linen. You know it feels really good to work on a design like this, its been a while for me since the lure of Prairie Schooler and Little House Needleworks and Blackbird Designs has had me mesmerized.

On Sunday, I hosted our stitching group for our potluck lunch and get-together. There were 5 of us, unfortunately 3 couldn't make it but Marsha's sweet 3 month old future stitcher helped to fill in the gap. The time always flies when we get together, although not a lot of stitching usually gets done, but lots of inspiration fills the room! Sorry, no pictures, I didn't think of it until too late.

And I have been knitting a little more on my sock which has been a long time in taking the shape of a sock! I'm ready to start the toe decrease. And after watching Nancy give us a demo on Sunday with her new spinning wheel, I signed up for Ravelry. So may be there will be a little more knitting in my future!

Where do you buy your wool?

From an alpaca farm of course! This is where Marg and I ventured out to on Saturday morning after we had visited the local weaver's studio where they were having an amazing wool sale. I resisted the idea of buying a loom, as much as the thought entices me of one day trying my hand at weaving. Although table top looms were also for sale, I couldn't resist coming away with a huge bag full of wool that was priced by the pound!

I bought some wonderful worsted weight wool for a comfy sweater for myself, a bag of 10 skeins of mohair, and a cone of merino wool, a lace weight, that will work for the Mystery Stole that we have signed up for. With almost 3000 members signed up on the Yahoo group, new members are still being accepted for the group if any knitters out there are interested. The first clues are due on this coming Friday. This is a mystery lace knitting project designed by Melanie of Pink Lemon Twist.

I bought all this for a whopping $20!



Poor Nancy had to work and didn't make it to our little outing. And look what she missed ~ Marg can't wear wool as she is too allergic, so she wanted to get alpaca for her mystery stole. So off we went to the nearby alpaca farm/store where we met the owner, Lori, and spent the next 2 hours visiting her shop and farm. What an adventure! She showed us her products from beginning to end and it was fascinating and we had a great time. And we met all her beautiful alpacas, including a 10 day old baby, as well as her wonderful Leonburger dogs which she also breeds. We will definitely have to get Nancy there the next time and who knows, she may just have to come home with an Alpaca.


Here is a picture of Margarette and Prince William after recent their hair cuts!


Kristy's move on Friday went great and between her case worker, her and me, we had all her clothes unpacked and hung in the closet and her dresser in no time. Monte was a little perturbed with the move and took to hiding under his towel once his aquarium tank was placed in. He's not nearly as big (or scary) as I had thought he was going to be. His food (mice) have been tucked away in the freezer and as long as I don't have to deal with that, we'll get along quite nicely I'm sure.

Thank you everyone for all your well wishes!!!

Stitching Bloggers ABC Exchange

A very nice parcel came in the mail for me yesterday! My exchange arrived from Su, for the ABC exchange on the SBEBB. She made me a a lovely pouch, with a design by Indigo Rose, on hand-dyed linen called 'Hot Potato'. Her stitching and finishing are just superb, including the beaded tassels and cording! I love it, Su, thank you so much. What a lovely treat to open up such a parcel and she included some lovely hand dyed fibres from Six Strand Sweets and a lovely piece of Jobelan in a very sweet shade of yellow. Thank you again!!


This is a picture of all my goodies in all their glory!



I checked on the message board and I noted that Helene received my exchange which I sent to her. I stitched Prairie Schooler design called Forget-Me-Nots on 36 ct flax linen and made it into a needlebook. This was my first attempt at making a needlebook and I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. Above is the picture of the front and below the back. I forgot to take a picture inside, or of the goodies I sent along with the needlebook.


And finally, yet another picture, I finished off a pair of socks! I'm eagerly waiting for the mail to arrive with my brand new sets of Addi turbo needles that I ordered from the U.K. Nancy has promised even better socks (and faster maybe, these are turbo needles?) with these babies. She describes them as the 'chocolate truffles' of the knitting world LOL.


And a new blogger to welcome to our blogging world. My dear friend Ann had started her own blog, Knowledge and Needles. If you get a minute, please drop by and pay her a visit! She does the most exquisite needlework, especially of over-1 work, and is also the owner of a lovely needlework shop, which makes visiting very handy!

Yummy jelly rolls

I have some new pics to share, if only Blogger will cooperate! Is it me, or is Blogger unbearably slow to upload pictures?

This is a jelly roll, not the edible kind that with all those delicious sugary calories. This one will definitely not be added to my hips! Jelly rolls are the name given to 2 1/2" cuts of all the fabrics in a fabric line, this one being called Spring Fling. I think there are 40 fabric prints in total. Isn't it gorgeous! This is going to be used in the quilt class I signed up for tomorrow, for a pattern called Twisted Log Cabin. Marg and I saw saw samples of these at our last quilt block meeting and couldn't resist. Tomorrow is a full day class and in 2 weeks, we finish up with a 1/2 day class. What a great reason to take the day off work.


Next up is my latest finished sock. And I've got to hurry up and finish the other one before Nancy entices me into some new start at the Knitting Frolic Day she is tempting me with. She knows my weaknesses!



And finally my Sampler Gameboard which I managed to pick up this weekend while at a stitching gathering at Marj's house. I got 2 houses, one motif, and some lettering finished up as of Sunday night. Tonight I'll have to get my things together for the class tomorrow! Can't wait....

Chatelaine Mystery X

Here is an update on Mystery X. Sorry it looks rather 'holey' but the beads and crystals are not going to be added until the end, since I use a small hoop when stitching and I would hate to crush anything.

Not too much going on the stitching front this week, this head cold has gotten a good hold and I've just felt miserable. Combined with sleeping terrible! Even hubby took his pillow and left for another room a couple nights ago. Usually I would delight in having a king size bed all to myself, but the only joy I'm finding right now is having my Kleenex box near me and who cares where they fall?

I have my sisters coming this weekend for a scrapbook session so I'm sure that will perk me up! And I've kicked the men out of the house (they're off to the cottage for a snowy weekend) so it will just be the girls here.

Oh, almost forgot! I finished my first pair of socks!! I would take a picture but they are already gone and taking up residence on Carrie's feet! They turned out so nice, I love that self patterning yarn. May be I can start on a new set today.