Something New

I'm trying out one of the new blogger templates available. The pink on pink stripe reminds me of a box of chocolates or, perhaps, a box from a ladies dress shop circa the mid 1960's. What do you think?



I made this wee dissected frog for my niece Thea for her birthday last April, but never got around to sending it (for shame), so I delivered it in person last week-end in Toronto. She was having her Bat Mitzvah, and quite the fete it was! I'd never been to a Bat (or Bar) Mitzvah before, but it appeared to involve lots of food, music, dancing and general all-around decadence. The party was held at the Ontario Science Centre, so my wee frog tied in nicely to the "science" theme (or so I keep telling myself). Can you believe it was the only knitted dissection she received?

The pattern is by Crafty Hedgehog and is available on etsy here.

Quite a while back I found this fabulous old picnic basket.



It's a big one, and well-made. Unfortunately, it was a bit grubby on the inside.



After cleaning it up, I made an oilcloth liner that attaches to the inner edge with velcro. It's Gus-Gus approved.



Makes me feel like an older, fatter version of Dorothy.



Nigel will be happy to learn that I am indeed planning a picnic (him included), if we ever get a week-end without rain.

Also recently finished, a new set of dishcloths for my lovely new kitchen.



This pattern is called Linoleum and it's by Mason-Dixon Knitting. I used three balls of DK weight cotton (white, red and turquoise) and made three fantastically bright dishcloths. If you remember back during the reno, I had made some dishcloths for my new kitchen (the cleverer among you will notice it's almost exactly a year to the day). I loved those pale ice creamy colours back during the reno - I suspect that I longed for something serene and gentle to counter-balance all the disruption and turmoil. However, now that it's all quiet in the house, those old dishcloths look boring. I'm afraid they're going to be relegated to the back of the cupboard in favour of something different.

And, the antithesis of bright housewares, new on the needles is the Eyelet Cardigan, a vintage pattern from Patons and Baldwin.



It calls for a fingering weight yarn. I'm using the now discontinued Rowanspun 4ply. I bought a fair bit of this yarn on sale a few years back when it was pulled from the market. It's great yarn, very "authentic" wool tweed, you can almost smell the sheep. It's a shame I often find those "perfect" yarns once they've been discontinued.



I'm using the colourway "sludge", it's a difficult colour to photograph, but it's a deep olive green/brown with flecks of ecru and mustard running through it - not a colour I would normally gravitate towards, but somehow a neutral that should work with both black and red, which I often wear in winter. I'm considering bright red buttons...

My Girl is Da Bomb

Elly has been back in town for a week and a half and she's making her presence felt. She's been complaining that she only packed "one" pair of shoes and is shipping the rest - however, the front entrance looks like a bomb's hit it. Those are all hers, people. She's like a nuclear explosion.



The reno has hit a standstill. After the de-construction of the old additions, the foundation and piles have to be poured before the re-construction can begin. Our concrete boys had another foundation booked this past week and we weren't scheduled for our work until late this week or early next. The weather has conspired against us though (rain through most of this week) and so the other job has no doubt been delayed, putting our work at late this week or early the following week. Must. Be. Patient.

I've been busying myself with knitting.

I bought some lovely Sublime Organic Cotton in pale, natural shades, and I've been knitting dishcloths (for my new kitchen, dontcha' know!) Cream, pale beige, cocoa brown and pale pink. They look like shades of gelato. Yummy.



Oh yes, and the Big Needle Wrap I mentioned in an earlier post, Ooooo, bad, bad, bad....I gave out bad instructions. It's not "increase one stitch each end, every OTHER row", it's "increase one stitch each end, EVERY row" Bah! It was knitting into a long skinny triangle. I had to rip it all out and start again. This "easy, peasy pattern", "takes only an evening or two to knit", has been going on now for weeks. Ack...

(looks pretty good now though).



I've also been distracting myself with knitting up a wee creature. This one is more of a, hmmm...let's call it a "work of art". Perhaps with the potential to become a "Work of Art". We shall see...