Yarn Along ~ Cowl Licious

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

Here we are again for the weekly yarn along and I'm not sure what happened to my week! I know we weren't overly busy unless you count playing in the snow and flying kites as hustle bustle *grin*. Hubby was home for a couple of days though and that is always a joy since he is away for so much of the year working so that must have been it! I was in a cocoon of happiness with us all getting to be together *grin*.

I finished off the last little baby sock that I was knitting and I now have two completed pairs. There is still yarn left so I know I'll go back in a bit and knit up a couple more but I needed a break from those teeny tiny size 0 needles and something that was easy and needed minimal focus LOL.

You would think that with all the things I have faved in my ravelry queue it would be easy to pick something new but it was quite the opposite. I hummed and hawed, checked to see if I had needles that would work, sighed over my meager yarn stash and then fell in love again with this cowl. I had saved it planning to make it for my 8 year old daughter and then promptly forgot all about it *grin*.

It’s a one size fits all pattern but I’m using a larger 5.50mm bamboo circular needle and with the chunkier yarn I’m confident that this will fit her quite well. Plus I don’t plan on blocking it as I love the textured ripple of it as it is and it also helps to keep it on the smaller size :)

The chunky marble yarn by James C. Brett is gorgeous to the touch. It’s soft and squishy, 100% machine washable and I know my daughter is going to enjoy having it around her neck. Not at all itchy!

As for my book this week I actually haven't done a stitch of reading unless you count my lazy perusing of January's edition of the British Country Living magazine reading :) I just LOVE this magazine and all of the beautiful photos and articles.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all are knitting this week!

Hugs,
Rosina

Yarn Along ~ Socking it Out

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

My little stash of socks is growing!
I decided not to stop with one finished pair since I have tons of yarn still to knit with so three down and at least one more to go to make a matched pair *grin*.

They are so stinking adorable that I may just have to make another pair when this one is finished to :) You can find the pattern here. For my book this week I just got a copy of Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of the Continent by Andrew Nikiforuk.

I've been all riled up lately over the Northern Gateway pipeline that Enbridge wants to ram through our province and I shared some videos here last week and I've got another one to share with you today below.

The tar sands are sort of 'out of sight, out of mind' for most Canadians. Even for myself I hadn't given them a heck of a lot of thought in the past but with the pipeline possibly being built through the Great Bear Rainforest, our coastal temperate rainforest, in ecologically sensitive land I wanted to get a bigger picture of what the tar sands and their sticky bitumen means to the rest of our great country!



What does environmental devastation actually look like? In this video above at TEDxVictoria, photographer Garth Lenz shares shocking photos of the Alberta Tar Sands mining project -- and the beautiful (and vital) ecosystems under threat. Please, please take the 17 minutes it takes to watch it and learn a little more about the tar sands. Those pretty commercials they show on television of the environmentally friendly mines with gorgeous forest in the background won't be there for long and is not a true representation of what it truly is.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox... for now *grin*.

Can't wait to see what you all have been knitting this week!!

Hugs,
Rosina

Yarn Along

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

Oh my goodness, I adore the ruffled bottom of this sweater!!

I'm making good progress and have knit about 8 1/2 inches from the ruffle up. The pattern actually says to only knit 7 inches of the ribbed stitch but from what I've read on other ravelry member's pages who have knit this before is that it runs a little on the small side and I want to make sure it fits.

I'm already knitting the largest size possible so I don't think making it a little bit longer will hurt :) I stretched out the stitches around her waist and it looks like once I block it when I'm done it will just fit perfectly. Definitely no time to dilly dally on this one or she'll outgrow it before I finish *grin*.

A few more inches and then the pattern changes to divide for the sleeves and shaping the neck and I've read ahead on the pattern and it looks a little greek to me! Cross your fingers that I'll be able to continue knitting along smoothly without to much difficulty :)

On the book front I have to admit I really haven't done much reading at all. We've read a few more chapters in the Little House in the Big Woods but there hasn't been much reading time for mama. I've been so slow with my reading that I actually had to return my copy of the Happiness Project back to the library as it was requested by someone else and I couldn't renew it :( It will be a couple of weeks now before I can get it back. Hopefully when it's my turn again I'll be a little speedier!

Happy knitting :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Yarn Along

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I took the plunge and cast on my very first sweater :)
I'll admit I'm a little scared now that I have 288 stitches on my circular needle and the few rows that I've finished are like a drop in the bucket! *grin*.

I picked the Cowboy Butterfly Astronaut vest because I just couldn't resist the adorable ruffled bottom and sleeves and I'm using a beautifully soft acrylic this time called Marble Chunky by James C. Brett. My daughter plays hard and I wanted to have something that I could toss into the washing machine fairly regularly if need be and this should wash up beautifully without to much fuss :)

The photo is of the ruffled hem and then in a couple more rows it switches to the main color which L picked out and it's a really deep marbled purple. It's going to look quite striking against the soft pink ruffle.

I'm still reading The Happiness Project but have put it aside temporarily as I reread the Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder with my daughter. Oh how I love this book and am enjoying it tremendously :)

Looking forward to seeing what you're knitting this week!

Hugs,
Rosina

Yarn Along

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I finished my little pixie hat that I was making last week and thought that I would challenge myself and try a new pattern using circular needles :)

I've had a copy of the cutest little book called Baby Beanies by Amanda Keeys but all of the hats are knit on the round or with 4 needles so I was a little intimidated but I thought that I'd give it a go and try this little beret. I just love the little lace pattern it has :) I'm using a soft merino wool and so far the pink ribbed portion has worked out well but I'm having a bit of trouble joining my green. The first time I didn't join it properly and it didn't knit in the round and the second time when I wrapped the two colors together like it said to in the book it messed up the dashes of green wool showing through the pink for the first purl row so I'm going to have to check out youtube for a little tutorial and see what I'm doing wrong!


What I'm reading this week... the November copy of the British Country Living magazine. Love, love, love this magazine!!! This issue was very fitting for my yarn along post as it a great article on Britain's wool production over the years and another article of thoughts on growing up constantly surrounded by sheep, a wool directory and even an article on one woman's small business of turning fleece to yarn :)

Can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to this week!
Hugs,
Rosina