Long due update

I've been real busy for the past few weeks. It's our fiscal year-end at work, and they are extremely thorough about it. Nothing must be left uncompleted, unexplained, and everything must be documented. Mind you, the perfectionist in me has nothing against it, except it took away a fair bit of my knitting time. I was glad to see Friday evening arrive, but was too tired to knit.

In knitting news, I completed Sophie's blanket, or at least the knitting part of it. I still have to take care of those loose ends. I've also learned that my friend Nathalie will have a baby boy, so I'll be knitting boy clothes for the end of August, or beginning of September. Saturday I started a little blanket, and will probably be posting pictures later when I buy a new camera. I'm getting tired of my camera not taking good close-up, so if yours is great for close-up please drop me a line and let me know what model you have. Back to knitting, YAY!

Book purchases

Chapters-Indigo had a book sale, so I went to spend time on their site on Friday...

I found two Debbie Bliss books at $4.99 each. Of course I couldn't resist, and besides I'll need ideas for Natalie's baby (ultrasound will reveal gender on April 12th, mommy's birthday). The first book is Nursery Knits, and the other is Quick Baby Knits.

Then I got Vogue Knitting on the Go: Chunky Scarves and Hats for $14.40. Not exactly a huge saving, but I could use some new ideas for next Christmas. Yes I start planning the gifts early.

The book I'm most excited about is actually a Knitting Journal. I've been looking for a practical one for a long time. This one comes with a place for notes, photos, labels, and yarn samples. It also has a needle inventory sheet, ruler, and measurement conversion chart. I was glad to see that all four were available, and ready to ship. I guess sometime during the week I should get them.

Dulaan update

My Dulaan items are ready to ship. I was hoping to knit more items than last year, but I know I won't have much time to knit anything else but baby clothes, and Christmas gifts. I didn't do better than last year, but at least I didn't do worse. I knitted exactly the same amount: eight.

I have four scarves, three hats, and pair of socks. I can now e-mail Ryan at Mossy Cottage Knits, and let her know I've finished my five items.

Happy April Fool's day!

The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year. -- Mark Twain

Tiny sock

Look what came all the way from Paris (Texas, that is). My tiny sock! It came cheerfully packaged in a goodie bag, and the nicest letter from my secret pal, Renna. Unfortunately, she might not have a blog (didn't see a blog address) so I can't link to her.

She made my tiny sock with Bernat Sox yarn. I had no clue that Bernat made sock yarn, and that it's that soft. Renna stated that she's a new knitter, but I think she did a pretty good job with her sock. Don't you think?


The red candy is an Anderson's Peanut Rounder, and it's produced in Blossom Texas. Renna says that Blossom is "one of those places where if you blink you'll miss it". Can't wait to eat it!

March stash enhancement

March has seen a big stash enhancement (and the month is not over yet). I finally had some time to sit down and enjoy the new yarn.


First, I had started a new pair of socks for myself the second week of March, and Finished them last weekend. The yarn was bought during my big birthday yarn extravaganza. It's Phildar Auteuil, and the colour is called "Iris". It's 80% acrylic, 20% wool, and surprisingly soft. I bought 3 balls of it at Romni Wools.


Left, Phildar Auteuil, Patons Soy Wool Stripes, and Smart Superwash.


I'm quite curious about knitting with the soy yarn. It's 70% wool, 30% soy, real soft, and the colour is called "Natural Navy" (pic is real dark). I got three balls of it, and hubby has been hinting it would look nice around his neck next winter.

I was attracted to the lime/purple combination of the Smart Superwash yarn, and having knitted a pair of socks with it in the past, knew I would enjoy another pair of it (or somebody else would). I took home two balls of it.


Next: Yarns from Lettuce Knit.

Misty Cotton is a Misty Alpaca yarn, and it is as soft as Pima Cotton can be. I just fell in love with it, and can't decide what I want to do with it. Maybe something for Natalie's baby if it's a boy. Two balls is probably sufficient for a sweater, or a cardigan.

The Jitterbug yarn is mine all mine! I just love those brown tones, and these will match perfectly with my brown flannel pajama. I can't believe I only bought one skein of it!

Next two yarns are the ever popular hand painted Sweet Georgia, and I was told they flew off the shelves at Lettuce Knit. The first skein is called "Angel" and there's already three requests for socks with this colourway, but only two skeins. The second colourway is called "Libertine", but I wonder if the name has scared potential sock owners away. No requests so far.


This yarn is part of the Huge Knitomatic Sale. At $1, who can resist? Not me! I came out with 24 balls.
The grey yarn is Sisik, and it's made of 30% wool, 30% mohair, 34% acrylic, and 6% viscose. Good for some medium size future project.
Next two balls are Marble and it's 100% acrylic. Not that I'm a yarn snob, but for $1 for 100g this is a darn good looking colourway.
Next, from Filatura is Ontario (both first and last of bottom row). It's 83% wool, 17% acrylic, and would be perfect for a scarf.
The blue/grey mix is Tessa from Online. It's 100% virgin wool, and I could only fine one ball, but I'm sure I'll put it to good use.

First KAL

If you tought Sophie is small, look at the result of my first knit along patricipation: my Tiny Wee Sock.

Feel free to have alook at the gallery

The huge Knitomatic sale

I had seen on their blog Knitomatic Knitomatic was having a huge sale. It stated "We're digging into the yarns of years past in our basement and putting it all on SUPER SALE!" I really didn't expect such huge discounts. There was boxes, after boxes of yarn at $1 a ball. A woman has no chance to win against such a monstrous sale, so I gave up and bought 24 balls at $1. My mom who's visiting, and my sister bought even more. We came back home laughing all the way at the deals we had. I think I'm going to start digging holes in the walls to store all that yarn. For the past month I have been binge buying like crazy.

Soon, you'll start seeing me posting baby knits. No, I'm not pregnant, but my friend Natalie is. I taught her how to knit about 4 years ago, and since then she's mostly been knitting baby sweaters for vatious other friends who had babies. Needless to say, she's not in the mood to knit more baby stuff.

Courtney House

The alpacas weren't the only birthday surprise my husband had for me. He also made arrangements to stay at the Courtney House, a lovely B & B in Brantford. Marly was the most welcoming hostess you could imagine, and so was her poodle, Chelsea (sorry about the eyes). And she's a knitter too! She's currently knitting a lovely baby sweater in Debbie Bliss.



The Edwardian house is full of antique furniture, and every inch is decorated with Marly's exquisite taste. She doesn't miss an occasion to make you feel welcome. When we arrived, I was still freezing from being outside, and she offered me a warming pillow stuffed with hot corn (I didn't know that dried corn can stay hot that long). She also baked a wonderful dutch chocolate cake, and shared her recipe. She shared a few more recipes too. How generous! Most people I know ferociously guard their recipes. Her recipes are also health conscious, and quite tasty (I could have another scones right now). But the best yet, is that because I wasn't feeling well, she offered to make me chicken soup. Now that's treating you like family! I mean you don't get that from a hotel! Althought I was really tempted, I couldn't take advantage of the nice lady, and politely refused... but I sure will come back if we go around Brantford again!

Alpaca farm visit (picture heavy)

As I had mentionned in a previous post, I asked my husband for a visit to an alpaca farm for my birthday. He settled on Green Acres Alpaca Farm, near Brantford, Ontario. He couldn't have chosen better: Nancy was a lovely lady, and she was a wealth of information. She is absolutely passionate about her alpacas, and quality fibre, and it shows.

As we walked towards the farm, these are the cute faces that greeted us... They were somewhat curious about our presence there, and all walked inside to greet us (or maybe they were excited that Nancy was visiting). Compared to other farm animals, they barely make any noise. What do they sound like? They make a humming sound that is similar to mmmmmmmmmm (but I only heard it about three times during the visit).

This was my favourite alpaca. Her name is California Girl. She has an unusual spotted coat, and most other alpacas in the herd( I think it's the proper term), had a single color coat, or just one or two spots in a different colour. Another thing that is unusual with alpacas, is to have more than a single cria (baby alpaca). Twins are sometimes born, but they don't frequently both survive. Nancy also had twins. Here's a close-up of California girl's coat. Don't you want to touch it too?

And this sweet face is Desirae... Sorry Sean, hugging an alpaca is not an easy task, as they can be a bit skittish, but I got you some wonderful roving instead. I think this is her coat...(pic taken indoors) Another thing I didn't know about alpacas (told you Nancy was a wealth of information!) is that they don't have top teeth. They have a hard palate, and need an occasional trim on their bottom teeth...

In the shop....

Happy Birthday to me!

There is no way I was going to let a storm ruin my birthday plans. So what if there's slush, tree debris, and downed power lines all over the city! My plan was to take a day off work, and have a relaxing day of yarn shopping, and that's just what I did...

I started the day by sleeping in until 9:30am (for me that's real late). Then I had a cup of mocha coffee with a scoop of Godiva hot chocolate mix, and Irish cream. D-lightful!

Then it was on to Romni Wools, where I spent lots of time going through piles, and piles of yarn. And when I say piles, I mean stacked to the ceiling! You could get lost in that place. I don't know how they can keep up with their inventory, they got so much yarn. Oh and their bargain basement!I spent at least a half hour just in the basement. So here's the damage (pics in a later post): 3 balls of Phildar Auteuil in "Iris", 2 balls of Smart Superwash, and 3 balls of Patons Soy Wool Stripes in "Natural Navy". And to top it off, a parking ticket! Everytime I went there by car, I had a parking ticket. From now on, I'm taking public transit to go to Romni.

I wasn't going to let that ticket ruin my day, and went on to my next stop: Lettuce Knit. By that time I was starving, and these didn't help: Aren't they just delightful? I just love the packaging, and I must admit sushi was quite tempting at that time of the day. I knew I couldn't get anything hot around the shop area, since the power was down around most of the Kensington Market area. And the damage there: 2 skeins of Misti Cotton, 1 skein of Jitterbug in "Castagna", and the plat de resistance, 2 skeins of Sweet Georgia "Angel" and 2 of "Libertine".

Leaving you with more eye candy from Lettuce Knit, which I'm sure Michelle will appreciate (considering she couldn't visit last time she was in Toronto)...

Oh and yes I had sushi for lunch a bit later....

Quick update

Yes I know, it's been a while since I posted anything. Sophie's blanket (seed stitch) is taking forever, and I haven't been well recently.



Finally, after months of chronic sinusitis, I'm getting a CT scan on Thursday. Hopefully it'll be nothing too serious, and they'll find the cause of the painful problem. My specialist suspects a blockage, and if so, it will be just day surgery, and I'm back to work the next day. Cross your fingers on Thursday!

Here's part of Sophie's blanket, and the wonderful stitch markers I bought from Charles". He's been selling these as fundraiser for the AIDS LifeCycle, and there are still some available if you're interested.


This weekend is my birthday and here's what I asked hubby for: a visit to an alpaca farm. I just can't wait! It's gonna be so exciting to see these little faces, and be able to pet them (or at least I hope so). I also can't wait to see the yarn that will be available. I can smell stach enhancement in the air!

Cat who thinks she's Penelope

As you know, I have started a blanket for Sophie. When I got home yesterday, I found my cat Chloé lounging on the blanket, pulling at the yarn.
I asked her "Are you frogging the blanket?". She answered "meow".
"You know that if I don't finish it, poor little Sophie won't be able to warm up in her blankie, sitting on me." She winked! Maybe she knows exactly what she's doing...

Frog, frog, frog...

That's what I had to do with Sophie's blankie, as I was going to run out of yarn, and doubt I would be able to find more...