Happy Halloween!

Note that this post does not have anything Halloween related ;-) But I hope you will have a good one!

At the moment, I'm slowly completing the little pink set for a collegue baby girl who will come into this world in early January. I'm adding a little pair of socks. The first one is knitted and is so tiny and cute! Pictures soon!

Then, last Sunday, I felt sick with a headache and nausea and thought that starting the Bella's Mittens would lift my spirit. For sure, I wasn't feeling well because I no longer liked them and started surfing Ravelry to find something else to knit with my 2 skeins of Cocoon... Thankfully, after a good night of sleep and a day at home to sleep some more, my senses came back and I started to like them again and quite frankly, I've knitted a few inches now and they feel so good! Love that yarn!

We had our knit night at a pub this week! It was fun! We have such a lovely group! There were two contests this week: a beautiful skein of yarn that came directly from Rhinebeck (what's Rhinebeck, hi hi...) and a "tipi" from Audrey at the Mouton Bleu. I was the lucky winner of the tipi! I love hand-made bags and it is so well done! Love the fabric, it's so pretty! Thanks again Audrey!

Anybody noticed this free pattern (Cropped Top) on the last Vogue Knitting? I think this is the strangest knitwear I've seen so far... I'm speechless... Honestly, would you wear it or offer it to a friend? ;-) Or is it just a styling mistake?

Lastly, you should go check out the new Biscotte colors: I love them and especially Coconut sur la plage and Vigne.

Happy Halloween!

FO: Cabled Baby Hat and Mittens Set

Yesterday and this morning, I watched a little TV and completed the two mittens for this cute little set! I don't think it even took 3 hours per mitten!

Pattern: Cabled Baby Hat and Mittens Set by Paulina Chin
Yarn: Précieux by Biscotte
Needles: 3.75 mm and 4.0 mm
Colors: Pink
Start to finish: Sept. 11 to Oct. 17, 2010
For: TBD
Modifications: No modifications at all!

Thank you Paulina for such a nice pattern!

The yarn is lovely to work with. Look how pretty it is in jersey!

There is some yarn left for a pair or two of little baby socks. I shall knit that next!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Pink baby hat

Hello everyone!

This is going to be a very short post, just like the time it took to knit this little baby hat ;-)

The yarn is really nice to work with and I love how it looks! More details to come when the set is completed. It is time to knit the little mittens now...

Have a great Sunday!

New project

It's raining today. It's going to be a quiet day for me.

Last week, in my enthousiasm to finish Thermal I had to come to the conclusion that I would need one more skein of yarn to knit the yoke. So, I've ordered an additional skein of Knit Picks Gloss and it should arrive next week. Yes, the sweater is all knit now, except the yoke!

So, I've decided to start a pink scarf with my Précieux. However, it turned out that I did not feel that the pattern I had chosen went very well with that yarn. It's important to have a good match, otherwise the whole process will not be as enjoyable in my opinion.

All week, I've been looking for the perfect scarf with just one skein (195 yds). I wanted something simple because there is a subtle nuance in that yarn that I did not want get lost in a complicated pattern.

I've casted on a few different patterns, but always ended up frogging it. No spark! Yesterday, I offered my Baby Sheep Yoke Cardigan and this is when it hit me! With my beautiful and soft pink yarn, I could make baby accessories like hat, mittens, socks, etc. So, I've finally chosen this hat and mittens set. I'm sure there will be enough left for some tiny socks after.

It should be rather quick and fun!

Have a great Sunday!

One hundred...

... blogs in my blogroll. Wow! I can't help it. It cuts drastically on my actual knitting time, but it is so inspiring. Take a look at my blogroll...

I love reading every day stories, see recent FOs, admiring beautiful pictures, discovering new patterns, etc. It's even encouraged me to develop my own photography skills, cook new receipes and garden.

I love to see what real life friends are up to, virtually visit people from other countries who share my interests, read what well-known knitters have to say and see what knitters I've knitted patterns from will come up with in the future...

Some of them I've discovered recently, some of them I've been reading for quite some time now!

OK, I'll try to restrain myself (at least for now)... There's a certain Thermal waiting for me...

Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

P.S. I shall not spend it reading blogs ;-)

FO: Baby Sheep Yoke Cardigan

This is already the last "official" day of my two weeks summer vacations. Snif! It went by way too fast. I don't have anything planned for today, except preparing my bike for tomorrow's bike ride and hopefully transplanting some flowers with my brand new shovel ;-)

Now, to the subject of this post, here is the little Baby Sheep Yoke Cardigan I've been working on for the last couple of weeks:

Pattern: Baby Sheep Yoke Cardigan by Looking Glass Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK
Needles: 4.5 mm to make approximately the 12 months size
Colors: Nutmeg (2 skeins), Whirlpool (a lot less than 1 skein), Asparagus (a lot less than 1 skein), White and Black (probably best to use any leftover yarn you have since it takes so little)
Start to finish: June 1st to August 25th, 2010
For: Louka
Modifications: I shortened the length of the cardigan to ensure that it's all knitted with the recommended 2 skeins. The body is 11 inches and the sleeves are 10 inches (both from top of the cardi to the two rows in blue at the buttom). The ribbing is also 6 rows instead of 7. I modified slightly the chart of the duplicate-stitch head of the sheeps so that the little sheeps look towards us!

I'm very happy with it and look forward to gift it! It is really nice and soft! I should mention it's my first color work and although it makes a lot of ends to weave in (which is not my favorite part of knitting), it's definitely worth the efforts!

I used this little video to learn the duplicate-stitch technique. It took me a couple of trials to figure it out, although it is so simple once you get it! Isn't it cute?

Happy Friday everyone!

Visit chez Biscotte & Cie

I'm on vacation. Finally. For two weeks ;-)

It was a rather ordinary weekend. Yesterday, it was awesome outside so I worked around the house! Today is a little rainy so I went to Biscotte & Cie for the first time. Wait... it was not an ordinary weekend because it's not followed by an ordinary Monday ;-)

Back to my little escapade to Biscotte & Cie... This LYS is simply charming! Unfortunately, it's not close to where I live. However, when you are on - did I mention it already - vacation, it's fine to drive a little bit further to get some nice yarn!

The service is also great. It's important for me because I still don't master the art of substitution... I also met a lady who leaves on the North Shore and gave her our coordinates for knit nights!

So, after looking and admiring and touching, I decided to go with what follows...

Super Bambou in a gorgeous blend of gray, blue, yellow and green. I think the colorway is Empereur:

I would like to knit Jaywalker socks with it. Isn't it yummy?

Then, the Precieux in a gorgeous pink:

I would like to knit a simple yet beautiful scarf with it: Golden Peaks and Valleys designed by Janet D. Russel (Twisted knitter). Maybe I will rename it Blooming Peaks and Valleys!

Finally, little buttons for guess what? It's almost all knit. Finishing time...

I hope you all have a great week! I know I will...

ETA: Better pictures... Discovered this morning that my camera was in the wrong mode and explained why the previous pictures looked so sort of fake...