May Rockin' Sock Club Package

Life has been pretty hectic these days so I completely forgot that the third Rockin' Sock Club package was due until about two days before it arrived. When I got the delivery notification I thought it was the Angel dvd I had ordered online so I had a very pleasant surprise in the post office. When I actually opened the package (on the sidewalk while waiting for the light to change), I had another pleasant surprise: I love this colour! (I'd been disappointed last month)

Look at the richness of the colours. (Please pardon the darkness of the pictures; it's an overcast day)

I was less thrilled with the pattern. I think the yarn is too busy for the pattern. Someone on Rav knit it in solid coloured yarn and it looks fantastic so I might try that sometime. For now, I needed a pattern that would show off the beauty of this yarn. Some suggestions were made in the STR group on Rav including the Anastasia sock pattern. My Koigu Anatastasia socks are probably my favourite socks I've knit and I think the pattern would be perfect for this yarn. Isn't it nice when problems can be solved so easily :)

Tomorrow Pete and I are heading off on an adventure. We're going to Halifax for 5 days! I've never been so we're pretty excited about it. I'm looking forward to visiting museums, going whale watching (hopefully), eating lobster and fondling much Fleece Artist yarn. See you next week!

Stash Enhancement Thursday

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to spend the day with two of my favourite women, my mom and my aunt Judith. 

Aren't they beautiful :)

Judith lives in Seattle so I only get to see her once a year for Granny's birthday party in May. This year she and mom made the trek into Toronto to spend the day shopping with me. The goal was to find mom a Mother of the Bride dress and I'm happy to announce that we were successful at the first store we went into! It was a miracle! Mom looks so gorgeous in it and she's requested a shawl to wear to the wedding.  I'm going to look for Sea Silk in the appropriate colour when I'm in Halifax next week. Mom in a Sea Silk shawl at my wedding? *swoon*

In addition to dress shopping, I wanted to show Judith some of the hot spots in Toronto so I took her to Crispy Roll for lunch. Heather and Gen, she's from Seattle and is used to good sushi, and she loved Crispy Roll! I just wish I had a picture of the beautiful sushi.

Judith is a knitter so after lunch we headed off to Romni. We had a lot of fun oogling the lovely yarns and Judith left with some stunning Manos Silk Blend to make a few Bainbridges. I don't have pictures of that but I do have pictures of the yummy Noro sock yarn that she bought me!!

 I love how different the inside is from the outside.

Look at it shine!

Don't I have the best aunt? :)

Now I'm off to teach my five-year-old cousin how to knit. Wish me luck!

Counting Down

And I'm back. Sorry for the unexpected hiatus. Sometimes life gets so busy that I can't even think about taking pictures, let along blogging. Here's hoping there is more blogging in my future.

Speaking of the future, who knows what they are doing exactly one year from today? I do! I'm going to be getting married! In honour of my pre-iversary, I am going to show some of the wedding knitting I have planned.

On the left is Seasilk left over from a shawl I made a few years ago. I think it will be perfect for my garter and my something blue. I'm going to use this pattern. 

On the right is Louisa Hardin's Jasmine, a neat blend of cotton and silk with some sparkly stuff thrown in for good measure.

Look at it sparkle! I'm going to make a little purse in which my mom will carry my rings. I'm having trouble deciding between the Generations Purse and Bride's Sachet Purse. Please leave me a comment to help me decide.

ETA: The Mother has spoken and it shall be the Generations Purse. I might actually cast on tonight. I have two large projects on the needles and it would be fun to do something fast.

The only wedding knitting that I've actually started are the bridesmaid shrugs in glorious undyed Malabrigo Worsted. This stuff is amazingly soft but I'm going to have to be diligent and pick out all the cat hair. 

On the bottom is my swatch. Got gauge first try, baby! On the left you can see the beginnings of the first sleeve. Clearly I still have a lot of knitting ahead of me.

And just because, here's a picture of my handsome and silly groom-to-be: