Travelling to Fair Isle

Sweet Jeebus, I just got the best package in the mail. My very first online yarn purchase ever. I decided to go for the best right from the start.


Oregon Vest
by Alice Starmore, Virtual Yarns
Spring Colourway


I was inspired by the brilliant Danceswithwool and her incredible Henry.

I think Alice Starmore is a knitting genius. One of the first knitting books I bought was Aran Knitting, followed by The Celtic Collection and Fisherman's Sweaters (how I wish I also had a copy of her Book of Fair Isle Knitting). I've knit a few of her arans and ganseys, but no fair isles, mainly because the yarns outlined in her books are discontinued and it's really tricky finding substitutes.

The other problem with her designs is that I find the sweater shapes to be too boxy for my body type(if anyone knows how to rework these patterns to be more flattering, like changing them to raglan and adding waist shaping, please let me know). Many of the sweaters I saw on Virtual Knits fell into the "boxy" category, but this little vest caught my eye, and Alice did all the work picking the colours.


The kit far exceeded my expectations. This is simply the most beautiful heathered wool I've ever seen. And the colours, there are 17 different colours in this vest!!! The yarn is also incredibly soft. I cannot wait to knit this. My (kookoo) goal is to have it done by Rhinebeck. Come on, it's totally doable, as long as I quit my job and give up trivial time-wasters such as sleeping, eating and bathing.

It was so easy typing in those magic credit card numbers. Waaaay to easy.

New and improved

My face is blushing like a peach. Thanks for your lovely comments on the cashmere neck thingie (gotta find a better name for it!)

So I bring you vacation loot, part two, but with a bigger, better photo format. First I need to say that I'm woefully inept when it comes to computer-techie stuff. It took me all this time to figure out that I can control the size of my photos through Flickr (I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the Everest that is Ravelry, and I've only recently started using Bloglines, so you'll have to be patient with me). Actually, I didn't figure it out on my own. I got excellent advice from the some of the best bloggers around. Thanks guys for bringing me out of the dark ages.

I might slowly try and replace my old photos with bigger versions, so I apologize in advance if I make your bloglines pop for a while.

****Edit: Actually, please bear with me while I fudge around with my template. I realized that my old one wasn't wide enough for larger photos, and I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting colours/fonts in my new template. So hopefully I'll have this all sorted soon...****


I'm ignoring the crazy heat and plugging away on Cobblestone, by everyone's not-so-secret crush, the aforementioned Brooklyntweed. Jared, can you feel the love?

And like Heather, I actually convinced myself that I was a good wife for buying yarn for my husband. I did it under purely altruistic motives. Plus, the Rowan Scottish Tweed was 40% off at Purl, so I was saving money right? RIGHT???

Speaking of Purl, I realize I might be a little obsessed. Check out how I accidentally spelled "mother-of-pearl" in my last post.

Peachy keen

Here's my first installment of the "souvenir yarn" I picked up on my holidays.


Jade Sapphire cashmere, in #37 "Dreamy Peach"

Purchased at Purl Soho. At first I bought it to make the Pashmina Cowl from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, but I felt that the fabric was a little too slouchy. I didn't want to end up with a puddle around my neck (albeit a lovely cashmere puddle) so what I'm doing now is knitting a rectangle in garter stitch (yes, I'm one of those garter-loving fools). The garter ribs give it more structure and body. I'll sew it up into a tube, and then affix some button loops ( Isolda has a great tutorial for this) and mother of purl buttons to "cinch" the tube snuggly around my neck. That's the plan anyway. I'm kinda winging it for now.

I couldn't resist picturing this yarn with the beautiful peaches we're getting this year. They're absolutely divine, juicy, tasty and fragrant. I'm mad for peaches.

Because I'm not obsessed enough as it is

Uh oh, what have I done?


Life may never be the same again. My head is spinning...

Is it already over?

Well, that vacation went waaaay too quickly!!! But time flies when you're having fun, and we sure did have a great time. Here's our holiday in a nutshell: we drove lots, oohed and aaahed, combed the beaches, had a great family visit, put up and took down our tent a million times, stopped for yarn and book stores, and finally ended-up in NYC of all places for an impromptu wedding-anniversary celebration. I tell you it was a grand time, despite the fact that it was a bizillion degrees out there and our A/C conked out half way. It's ok though, I always welcome an excuse to switch from vegetarian to popsiclatarian.

I didn't get that much knitting done, mostly because the scenery was just too darn gorgeous (especially in Gaspésie!!!) but I did put a bit of mileage on some plain-jane socks.


Here's me winding up a freshly-bought skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn while we wait to go through the border into Maine.





And here's me finishing the sock a week later, while we wait to go through the border to get back into Canada. (Yes, I am "driving" in this photo, but trust me, the line-up to get back into Canada was loooooong. We weren't going anywhere fast. Oh and did I mention that it was a bizillion degrees, and our A/C didn't work? Fun.)



The highlight yarn-wise was of course the obligatory pilgramage to Purl.



There's more souvenir yarn to show you, but I gotta get back to work (pout!)

Oh, and I also did something yesterday that will completely ruin me both financially and socially. Surprisingly, 50 bucks has the power to do that. Stay tuned for the sordid details.