Starting off the New Year - Guernsey Triangle

I used to be a monogamous knitter. Especially when knitting on a deadline. But let’s be honest, sometimes there are projects that cannot wait, yarn that’s just screaming to be knit into something. Oftentimes just the act of casting on, and sneaking in a few rows at a time, is enough to satisfy this craving. 

This is exactly how this project came to be. The yarn is one I picked up this summer in Portugal at Retrosaria Rosa Pomar and I could not wait to transform it into something. I chose to knit the Guernsey Triangle by the ever-talented Jared Flood. I’ve had my eye on this pattern for a couple of years and I felt that the yarn would be a good match as the gauge is similar to Loft and the look of the yarn is comparable as well.

Mé-Mé is a yarn with a rustic feel, in a natural dark gray, that emanates this lovely faint wooly, sheepy smell. I love the way it brings out the pattern and it looks after blocking. 

It's the perfect shawl to grab on cold January days, to keep warm, and cozy. Or in my case it's also perfect accessory to wear at the office when it's freezing and you're wishing you were home knitting.

Spark of Joy

Gifts are hard. I have a terrible time deciding on gifts, be it for my husband, my sister, my mom, my best friend. I strive to find the perfect gift for every occasion, overthink it, second guess my choices and enter a sort of vicious cycle. 

But sometimes, just occasionally I have a brilliant idea. 

My mom is one of these people that are hard to shop for (I believe at least), so I was on the lookout for an idea for this year's birthday. She's not much of a knitter herself, though she knows the basics, it never stuck to her. She always enjoys seeing my projects and she's sported the occasional hand-knit hat (by yours truly of course).

My latest FO is the "Spark of Grey" pattern by Melanie Berg. I've already talked about my admiration for her patterns and am planning my next Melanie shawl. 

"Spark of Grey" turned out beautiful! I really love the two yarns together , and I realized that the colours I chose were also perfect for my mom. I believe that this time I've nailed it! For once I really did find the perfect gift for someone.

Lists - lifesaver or curse?

Things are so hectic around here. With full time work and full time parenting, with hockey and dictee, trying to fit in family time and friends, I barely get a moment to breathe. And at the same time I am consumed by this need to create. 

When things get crazy, I tend to retreat into my thoughts, to make lists so as to have the impression that I have things under control. Can you be addicted to making lists? I may be. I have lists for everything. And I am not talking just grocery lists and to do lists. Lists of books I want to read, and books I've read, places I'd like to visit and the things I'd like to do there, lists of new skills I'd like to learn and then the projects Id like to make using those skills, lists of yarns to try and patterns to make. 

You get the idea.

The list of favourite patterns recently revealed to me that there are some imbalances. I have for example never knit a pair of socks, or mitts....GASP! Also, apparently I like shawls, but have only ever knit one (see here). This was clearly a situation that needed to be rectified. If nothing else, it would give me the feeling of stability in at least one aspect of my life. A small accomplishment, but one finds sanity where one can, right?


My Ravelry explorations led me to a lovely group of ladies organizing a KAL to knit one of Melanie Berg's patterns. What serendipitous timing! The choices were either the Oceanbound or Spark of Grey pattern, both of which are stunning. The Spark of Grey pattern seemed perfect for these 2 skeins I;ve had in my stash for a while waiting for the right pattern that would showcase their beauty. I chose to use a skein of Fleece Artist Sea Wool mixed with a hand dyed skein by yours truly. This yarn was my first attempt at dying wool, and I love how it turned out. 

The goal was to finish this knit by April 3rd, but as you may not be surprised to learn, I did not make that deadline. I am only now nearing the finish line. So far I am very pleased with the result. The yarns and colours work beautifully together, and I just know that this will not be my only Melanie Berg knit. All of her designs are incredibly beautiful, and this may come as no surprise I now a list of Melanie Berg patterns I am planning on tackling one day!

Loose ends - Colour Affection finished.

Maybe it's the spring, maybe it's nesting, but my focus lately has been to finish projects, to tie up loose ends as it may be. 

Looking back over my sparse blog posts of the last few months, I realized that I never posted photos of the finished Colour Affection shawl. So here it is.

This is a project that I started with my Stitch'n Bitch group, a knit that we all loved to hate. You may recall me agonizing over my colour choices, and the famous "to YO or not to YO" issue. The endless knit rows. 

I am happy I stuck it out however, because I have gotten quite a bit of wear out of it since I finished it, and it has also turned out to be quite a versatile piece of my wardrobe. I have paired it with a lot more outfits then I thought. And it has also been admired quite a bit. I love it when knits turn out like that, and let's be honest, that is not always the case. 

I would say that out of all of my knits, about three quarters I wear often, whereas the rest I have never worn more then a handful of times.

Which begs the question....what do YOU do with those knits? Do you frog them and re-use the yarn for better, more appropriate projects? Or is it too painful to undo all those hours of work? I am curious to know...