Leaving on a jetplane...

My bathing suit is packed, and I'm heading off to Hawaii for a 10-day vacation. My parents over-wintered in Oahu this year, and I had just enough airmiles to join them. I'm really excited! I've never visited a tropical place before.

I can't wait to: feel sand between my toes, try surfing, hike in the jungle, go snorkeling and sea kayaking, read a good book on the beach and just relax and soak in the Aloha spirit.

(I hope I brought enough knitting to get me through the 18 hours of transit...)

Toodleloo!

Busy hands

This beautiful, sunny weekend, my hands have been busy:


Sewing patches on my jeans,


working on a sample of the Contented Cardi for Hannah,


preparing a meal for a very special guest,


holding a precious package,


discovering the beautiful gift that lay inside,


touching and admiring the incredibly fine stitches, and soft, smooth bamboo.





(Thank you, thank you Margie. It was an absolute delight to finally meet you!)

And the winner is....

Steph, from Craftoholic. Congratulations Steph! I hope you like the yarn and the magazines.

Thank you everyone for entering my little giveaway. It was lovely to hear from all of you. Reading over the comments, it looks like autumn was the most loved season. Not so surprising, it is after all the best sweater weather!

An impressive number of you guessed the identity of our feathered friend. It was indeed a Common Redpoll.


Speaking of birds, how sweet is this Durer drawing?
Hope you all have a lovely week.

Wish granted, and a giveaway

So I've learned that I should never underestimate the power of cashmere. My new hat managed to convince Jack Frost to stay a while longer. We've had no shortage of snow around here, and I have to say, I'm in heaven.

If my love of winter makes you doubt my sanity, you should know that I live 20 minutes from here:


Gatineau Park has one of the world's largest network of groomed cross-country ski trails.




Cozy cabins dot the forest. This one is called Shilly Shally.



It's the perfect place to warm up by the fire, sip some hot chocolate, and nosh on some grilled cheese sandwiches (toasted on the stove, yum!)


Every cabin has a bird feeder. This little guy was also fueling up to stay warm.


My Rikke kept me nice and warm.


Perhaps now you understand my obsession with the white stuff? Actually, these trails are wonderful all year round. This is where I hike once the snow melts. You should see the colours in autumn!

I have been so blessed lately with gifts, snow and well-wishes. I thought it was high time to spread the luck and love, so I'm having a little give away:


2 skeins of Madelintosh Eire Light, in a limited edition colour called Wildwood. The beautiful shades of brown, grey and white remind me of the soft colours of my beloved winter forest.


3 back issues of Selvedge, my favourite magazine.

If you'd like to be entered into the draw, please leave me a comment and tell me which is your favourite season, and why. I'll randomly pick a winner, this time next Sunday. And bonus: I'll enter you in twice if you correctly identify the bird pictured above.

Good luck, and have a sweet week.

Wishful thinking

I know I'm probably the only human being in the North East wishing that the cold and snow would continue a while longer. They're calling for +10 C and rain all day tomorrow, which breaks my winter-loving heart. The ski trails probably won't recover.

Perhaps if I keep knitting toasty outer wear, Jack Frost will stay a while longer...


The perfectly slouchy, gartery Rikke hat. And bonus, it doesn't give me hat-head.



I rarely knit anything twice, but I will definitely make more of these. Project details can be found here.


Well, I'm off to the woods, to get what may be my last ski of the season...

Sweet mailbox, part 4—the unexpected gift

Out of the blue, I received another wonderful, unexpected gift.



Margie sent me this most beautiful grey linen bag from Bookhou, a store I've been wanting to visit forever. We had stopped by this Christmas but it was closed. Thoughtful Margie thought that if I couldn't get to Bookhou, she would bring Bookhou to me. What a sweetheart! I absolutely love it. Isn't the print great?



Smaller than most of my bags, it's the perfect thing for when I have lots of running around to do but don't want to cart my heavy leather satchel. She also sent me a matching coin purse (perfect for my new ipod nano) and a gorgeous handmade linen/liberty pine cone to brighten my drab cubicle. I would love to show it to you, but apparently, my camera is allergic to my office. Try as I may, none of my photos turned out.

Well, it's high time I sweetened someone else's mailbox, don't you think? I'm gathering a few treats to do a giveaway. I'll tell you more about it in a couple of days...

Sweet mailbox, part 3—the knitting intervention edition

One of the funniest, most generous and talented knit bloggers out there sent me an awesome gift.



There's a bit of a history with me and this yarn. Several years ago I purchased several skeins of Malabrigo lace in Frank Ochre to knit an exact copy of this. I promptly LOST THE YARN somewhere on the streets of Manhattan. I was heartbroken. Heather got wind of this, and because she is oodles-of-awesomeness wrapped up in a beautiful bundle, she pillaged her own (no doubt well-stocked) precious collection of Malabrigo. How sweet is that?

But I can't help but think that perhaps it's her attempt at staging some form of knitting intervention. And who could blame her?

"Hello, my name is Nicole, and I am a neutral knits addict."

I do tend to get a little monochromatic. How many garter stitch beige/greige/grey items can one knitter knit? Apparently, a lot.


But look: a lace pattern. In a bright colour. I know. The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem, right? Thank you Heather!!!

She also sent me another jeweled beauty, but I'll save that for the last installment of "Sweet mailbox—the intervention edition"