The Empire Knits Back

And the winner of “Cowl Challenge 2013″ is…

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Lynn Cowl

Lynn writes; “I agreed to a knitting challenge with my new boss (major career limiting error….time will tell). The challenge was to knit the Honey Cowl using a new yarn from Naturally called Amuri. The yarn contains possum and feels amazing, perfect for a cowl. The winner of the challenge would be treated to a gourmet lunch.
So I got busy knitting the cowl, the pattern is very easy and great for a road trip; and it was my roadtrip weekend. I had the project finished in no time and quickly took a picture and e-mailed it to Beth. However I hit send too soon; I noticed that I had a few rows with errors. I knew this would be my new go to cowl and I would not be happy knowing it had mistakes. So I began to rip it back to before my errors (the wool kept it shape and integrity after being ripped back). I knew in the end it would be worth the price of a lunch to have the perfect winter cowl. It took me a couple more days but my project was complete and I am very happy with my finished cowl.

Guess what…I finished first and Beth always true to her word splashed out on lunch…the Canadian Tire Hotdog Combo. It was delicious!!!!
However no new challenges have come my way. So I am starting a new project, a beautiful cardigan – Bailey’s Irish Cream by Baby Cocktails using Zara by Filatura di Crosa. I will keep you posted on my progress.”

Beth add’s: “I did finish my cowl – sorry there are no pictures as I gave my cowl to Cathy to take on her sales calls and forgot to get a picture first. I didn’t know before the challenge that Lynn was such a fast knitter – next time I am asking for a head start!”

Now everyone is an expert…

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Drift Brights

Beth writes:

“I am now on a kick of knitting hats. This is a very pleasurable experience for me as hats knit up fast! It is also a fun way to make a project out of the samples that we receive from the yarn companies.

This hat is knit in Drift Brights from Naturally Yarns – Drift Brights will be available to you mid-August, but I got my hands on some sample balls and it is fantastic! This is a really cool yarn in that the colour drifts (in this case the colour drifts from mostly navy to mostly lime back to mostly navy) making a nice effect without having to change yarns. My hat looks especially good in that the navy part makes up the band, the lime part makes up the body and then it goes back to navy when I started to decrease for the top. The BS calls this dumb luck but I am taking credit for it!

I was knitting on the hat when my dad I went to North Bay. On the way home he says to me “when do you start finishing that – it looks big enough to me”. I laughed him off telling him that the pattern called for me to knit a couple more inches before doing the decreasing. However, I was tired so I put it away. When I got home I measured it and then re-read my pattern. Turns out he was right! I had done enough but was thinking of a different pattern. I am now officially the least smart person in the family when it comes to knitting.”

Stix and Stones, North Bay ON

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Last week at dinner my dad was commenting that he needed to go to North Bay for the day to do some work. I commented that we had a really good customer in North Bay and that maybe I should go along with him and go visit Rae and see her store Stix and Stones. My dad’s eyes lit up and we made a date to go for a road trip.

I could not have been more impressed with Rae’s shop. For some reason I was expecting a small shop, but the store is big! And the best part were all the samples. Not just hats and scarves, but also shawls and lots of sweaters in all different styles. I don’t know how anyone could go in there and not be inspired to knit something great.

Here are some pictures of the store:

Stix 1

Stix 3

Stix 2

So it turned out to be a really great day. I was able to see a beautiful store and also to spend some quality time with my dad.

Beth

Cowl Challenge 2013!

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Samples of the new Amuri yarn arrived at the Old Mill warehouse this week and Beth and Lynn both fell in love with it – so they decided to have a little friendly (if Beth wins) competition – click here to check our Facebook page for the details

Beanies!

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IMG_0327

A note from Bev Nimon:

I was at the Handarbeit & Hobby show in Cologne, Germany a few weeks ago and I was amazed at the new fad. Hats, actually Beanies to be exact! Apparently it all started with the London Beanie which caught on hugely with young men after David Beckham was seen wearing one at football practice. At H&H they were everywhere. People have written books on just knitting Beanies! Thin yarn, thick yarn and everything in between. I have started my Beanie in Zara ( in progress shot attached) and will post a final pic once I am finished. Pom Poms are big as well. Almost every Beanie had one. There are lots of easy patterns out there but remember these are not fancy hats, just simple caps. Let’s start a Beanie Club. Knit your Beanie, take a pic and post it to the blog. Let’s see what imaginations are out there.

Bev

IMG_0324beanie start

BE AFRAID!

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2nd Monster

“No – don’t be afraid of the Monster. Be afraid of just how much I love him! Like any new mother, I don’t care about his faults – the eyes too close together, the one foot longer than the other, the oversized tongue. To me he is beautiful.

Pattern : Monster Chunks by Rebecca Danger (free on Ravelry – thanks
Rebecca!)

Yarn used : 2 balls of FAST by Filatura di Crosa for his head/body **
30 yards of Zara Plus for his feet.

**(new for Fall/Winter 2013. Also comes in Red, Lime, Yellow, Turquoise, Brown, Black, White, Cream, Grey. I will be ordering many bags for my own private use.)”

Beth

Monster in the making…

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Beth writes:

“Yesterday, I promised pictures of the Monster.  I thought it would be easy to make his 2nd foot last night and get him all sewn together in time for pictures today.  However, there was a small snag in that plan.  A snag the size of one bottle of beer.   We went out to dinner and I had one single beer.   It turns out I can’t drink and double point.  I messed up the foot about eight times (twisted my stitches, knit into the wrong side, knit onto the wrong needle, forgot to knit with my spare needle, dropped all the stitches off one needle, etc.)  So he is not done.  So instead you get pictures of the Monster in progress:

 

1st picture is half of his head/body.

monster 1a

 

2nd picture is his whole head/body.  Not sewn together yet – I can only imagine how I would have messed that up.

Monster 1b

 

3rd picture is his two feet.

Monster 1c

 

 

Tonight there will be no beer and unless there are complications there will be actual completed pictures tomorrow including details on the pattern and yarn used.”

The scarf is done…

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Beth Scarf

Beth writes:

“It’s finally done! My Linen Stitch Scarf is knit in Misti Alpaca Pima Silk Handpaint. I used 3 colours of blue (# 02 , 11 , 25) and I love how they blended together.

This was a beautiful yarn to knit with and the colour changes kept me interested through all 1000 rows (ok that may me a bit of an exaggeration but you certainly have to do a lot of rows to get anywhere).

I will definitely make another one of these someday. If I like a project I seem to feel compelled to do it a second time – I call it Noah’s Ark knitting.

Check back here tomorrow. My monster (a real one this time) is getting his feet tonight so there will be pictures.”

Beth’s latest…

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I know I said my next project was going to be more cables (and my cabled scarf is started) but it was put on hold when I discovered that I could knit Monsters!

Monsters brought up a whole new problem due to my almost complete lack of knitting skills. However, after a couple of YouTube videos and a quick lessons from the BS I was ready to Magic Loop. I cast on 20 stitches – yes I cast them on myself – and started looping. As my little orange tube grew and grew it reminded me of those horrible baby carrots (I say horrible because they freak me out. Carrots are supposed to be big and dirty with green tops). So, anyways, voila – my tube became the baby carrot monster complete with deranged smile and crooked eyes. He is looped in Zara Plus with Liberty Wool features. Pattern available by request (just kidding) (sort of).

Beth’s update…

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Now I know why my friend Fiona Ellis is always so happy – it’s because cables are fun!

I had a great time knitting this Cherry Garcia cowl designed by Adrian Bizilia (free on Ravelry – thanks Adrian!) I used 1 skein of Misti Alpaca Handpaint Chunky in colour # 47 Sea Jasper. I wanted a light colour to show off my cables and the muted green multicolour turned out even nicer than I had hoped. Special thanks to the BS for casting this on for me (and hopefully blocking it for me on this nice sunny day).

Ps I did cast this off myself – I am making progress!

Pss All projects should be this quick – 1 evening and 1 afternoon.

Psss Next project already underway. (there was a lot of knitting time this weekend with the Masters being on TV). Will post pictures once I get a little further along. Yes, it has more cables.