A lame ass post since ...

... I don't have a camera available to me.
This is coming to you by thanks of JenLa.
Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post three events, two births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, feel free to pass it on.

3 events
490 BC - Athens defeats Persia in the Battle of Marathon (This depends on what calendar you use)
1609 - Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River
1846 - Elizabeth Barret elopes with Robert Browning

2 Birthdays (but I give you three)
1575 - Henry Hudson (You have to wonder if the date he discovered the river is fudged a little)
1897 - Irene Joliet-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1943 - Michael Ondaatje, poet, professor and novelist

1 Holiday
Sacerdos of Lyon

That's all I have for you today. I was suppose to have a FO picture for you but that will have to wait.

What is in your garden?

I was outside the other day and came across this scarf bush

Everyone needs a scarf bush – it even managed to produce one hat. What am I going to do with my harvest from this shrub – - send them to Dulaan of course. June 15 is fast approaching, and I promised to knit five items. So what do I have to send

Scarf and hat from some yellow wool that I received a Christmas. Scarf is garter stitch, knit lengthwise, hat has a deep 1x1 ribbing cuff then a stockinette crown. I think marked these items as for a small adult or large child.

Green scarf – a knitter in the guild gave this one to me to send back in December.

Pink Scarf – I knit this originally for myself but it is too short for me. Besides I have my clapotis now

RPM socks - When I started these socks back in August, they were for me, but before I finished them I thought that I would give them away. Something about the cuff for me – too tight if I remember correctly. They have been sitting around since then finished waiting for a pair of feet to keep warm

The two Challenge vests that I knit will also be going. So that means I am sending 7 items (five items knit by me for for Dulaan).

I just now need to wrap up the packages and get them in the mail. They have only been waiting for that since last week.

Shadow Challenge

Last time I discussed the challenge the guild set (back in October) using one ball of yarn and Jenni wanted to know what had happened about the challenge she set for me. I had been thinking about this post even before she mentioned it.

At the April guild meeting I asked the librarians (I love the fact the guild has a librarian) if they had a book on Shadow Knitting. They didn't but another member suggested Vivian Hoxbro's Shadow Knitting, the guild kindly ordered it for me. I missed the May meeting so I was not able to pick it up until after Victoria Day. Since then I have been reading and swatching.

My first thoughts on the scarf was to knit it lengthwise so it would have long vertical stripes. Here is a swatch for that scarf with scrap yarn that I had.


Okay - that was a straight on photo - now lets look at it from the side


Note: This was unblocked on an uneven surface - I was having trouble getting a good photo but you get the point ( I hope)

I thought the motif had become too square and that you couldn't see how long the hounds are in flight. When I was taking this photo though I thought it looked better than when I had finished knitting it on the weekend).

I purchased some yarn - since these items are going for a silent auction - I wanted some neutral colour that could appeal to a wide range of people - also I needed something light and dark. I found this yarn at Knitwerx in St. Jacobs.

I am knitting this so the stripes run horizontally along the scarf. This really elongates the dog, and I am beginning to think that I won't have to repeat the two motifs that I have ( I might fill in some space at the back with something small (I'll have to wait and do some more measurements and counting).

I am toying with doing the second motif in the opposing colours so the dog will be black on the tan surface. The second motif is wider which is why the border seems so big around this dog.
I am enjoying shadow knitting - as long as you have markers the knitting goes quickly. With shadow knitting all of the pattern work is done on the wrong side rows so it can be difficult to read your knitting.

I think the scarf will need some sort of edging to help prevent it from rolling. It needs to be a simple edging for two reasons - not to take away from the magic of shadow knitting and the scarf is already quite wide.

Thanks to Anonymous for the ID of Star of Bethlehem. That is what this flower is - I thought the common name might have Star in it.

Some garden colour

Scroll down for knitting content.

The garden is planted, here are a few of things that are in bloom.
Lily of the Valleys- this picture was taken on Saturday and these lilies are past their prime now- they were starting to fade on the weekend.

This flower is nestled in amongst some LofV- the wide leaves are from the LofV. Does anyone know what this is? It has very thin green leaves - visible in the pic - top right side.


This Oriental Poppy hasn't changed from this since Sunday. None of the other buds are showing signs of opening. I wonder if this bud was damaged by something.

Blue flag iris - these look loaded with blossoms - last year they had very few blooms.

I purchased this plant from the Doon Heritage plant sale. Any guesses on what it is - hint there is some in my stash.
Two vests for Dulaan (Challenge Vest 1.0 and 2.0). The vest on the pink one gave me a massive headache, and is part of the reason the project was lingering for so long. I think it just has to do with the neck opening - it doesn't seem big enough. I ended up just crocheting around the edges. It needs some ends trimmed and a good blocking, the purple vest (Dulaan Challenge vest 2.0) was finished, but needed a small repair job. It was a casualty in Keeper's attempt to get at the Alpaca lace weight that he loved - both were in my knitting bag. All is fixed now - I just need to photograph the rest of the items and send them to Arizona.

Some finished comments on the vests. This started as Guild challenge - we swapped a single ball and had to come up with a project to use that with. I received a ball of homespun
with many colours. What to do with it? I pondered it for a while and then thought of using it a project for Dulaan. I got out Ann Budd's Knitting Pattern book and went through my stash. I didn't think I would have enough of pink or purple for a vest by themselves so I figured I would use both in a vest with stripes. I knit the pink one first - realized the yarn guidelines were generous, the horizontal stripes makes the colours muddy and pink was just too pale in comparison. (I thought after I could have overdyed the yarn - oh well). The second vest was born - I cast on fewer stitches but followed the length size as for the pink vest. I tried my hand at intarsia - the six stitch stripe allowed the colours to develop - Not get muddy next to each other. I used most of the challenge yarn - and the purple (Cascade 220 left from this). I like version 2.0 much better than first one. The pink yarn is Patons Classic Merino left over from a Sophie bag pre blog.

Muggles

Last night was freak out the Muggles night at the Indigo bookstore in downtown Toronto, Sarah, Ali (as photographer) and myself decided to attend. Arriving around 7pm (work and traffic prevented arriving earlier) we of course had to stand. (I later found out you had to arrive before 6 to get seats).Indigo just didn't have a large enough space to set chairs up for all the knitters.
Although they were able to manage the crowd and allow their other patrons (hard to believe that people would go to the bookstore not to hear Stephanie) to maneuver around the store.
This was the fourth time I have seen Stephanie (at Maryland SW, Doylestown PA, Knitters Guild and last night) as she as usual kept me laughing. I think I may be stalking her.

(from this picture it looks like I need a little bit of sun - I didn't realize I was so blindingly white)

Before we headed off to the the Spotted Dick for a pint we got to hold the sock.


Stashed with: ,

A heritage weekend

** Warning Picture heavy post**

A couple of months ago my friend Betsy emailed me to let me know that she would be attending a conference in Toronto this week and was I available for a visit. I checked the calendar (not that I had anything planned) and saw that last weekend was Victoria Day. Excellent, her visit was to coincide with a long weekend. (What works great for Betsy is she gets two back to back long weekends).
On Monday we went to the Doon Heritage Crossroads, this historic village is set during 1914, a crossroads in Canadian history. The country was on the verge of war, and industry and mass production was beginning to affect small towns. People were beginning to travel more and not rely on local items, you could order clothes from the T. Eaton Co. catalogue.

This was the largest house at the site and was built by an Amish family in 1820, Peter Martin. It had additions added - it had three pumps for running water inside), including a dowdy house.

A view from the house into the garden waiting to be planted.

A small selection of preserves from the garden.
Covered wagon
Towns would have a weavery, although they were on their way out as mechanization was beginning to make it unprofitable for the cottage industry. (This is where you can tell I didn't have the camera as their was only one picture from this building.) I am not sure what this equipment is -can any one help me out with this. My guess is it was instead of a warping board.

The sign above the bridge tells us not to travel faster than a horses gait over the bridge.

The tailor in many place s became the postmaster.
At the repair shop where wheelbarrows were being made, we got to use stilts - a common childhood game. I immediately had to try them out since I use to play with them as a child. (What does that say about my childhood). Betsy got the hang of it but Ali didn't try.

The blacksmith - whose items will be soon on sale at the gift shop.


Some sheep and kids. There were knitting baskets in all the houses.


Thats it for the photos for now.

Entrelac socks

The lilacs are in bloom:


When I haven't been enjoying the beautiful lilacs that are infusing the air with their aroma, I have been working on the entrelac socks. Do you want to see proof ( I am not sure if I have shown you these socks before).

Hopefully not much longer and I will be able to move these too the FO column, although they will have to wait for the fall before they get any wear. Entrelac has stretch too it and looks much better once it is on the foot then loose. Do you want to see?