Winter is Coming

While we didn't get whalloped in Bracebridge the way others did, I'm looking at you Carla, winter did make an appearance today.

Thankfully as a knitter we just think of a snowy afternoon as an excuse to hunker down with a nice mug of tea, some knitting and a good movie or podcast.  

However seeing as it is only November 13th, its going to be a long winter because the forecast doesn't show a stop to the snow anytime soon.

Now if only I had managed to get my snowtires on my car before this started. However, I do keep my snow brush in my car year round.  Must be a Canadian thing.

So, here's to winter, and snowshoeing and skiing and sledding and the ice trail in Arrowhead Provincial Park. There are some pretty awesome things about winter, I just need to be reminding myself of them.

Also speaking of a change in the weather, my classes have returned to Muskoka Yarn Connection. I will be teaching Rigid Heddle Weaving 101 on Saturday, November 22nd.  Call Michele at MYC to register.

A little Frolic in the city

Living in Muskoka/Parry Sound, getting down to the city (Toronto) happens for special occasions and for trips to Ikea.  Okay, that is GTA/Vaughn, but everything south of Barrie is "city" to me.

On the third weekend in April we take a trip down to the city (that nearly always involves a stop at Ikea) for the Downtown Knit Collective's Knitter's Frolic.  A one-day yarn market extravaganza, this event is a great way to get your hands on some of those special indie hand dyers that you don't always see at our small LYSs around here.

This year's Frolic yarn goodies.  Up top, Merino/Nylon sock yarn from Rain City Knits in Graffiti (I'm thinking a pair of Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder) and then three skeins of Turtlepurl Yarns for some stripe-y vanilla socks. The skein in the middle (sparkly red and black) is for my mom.

This year was particularly fun because Carla and I met up with some friends and we brought along our mom, who bought her very first skein of yarn (for me to knit up for her, because she isn't quite ready for socks).  The only disappointment was that Tanis, of Tanis Fiber Arts, wasn't able to make it this year.  She did send lots of yarn to the Purple Purl, I really like to get my indie yarns straight from the source, so I picked up a couple of skeins of sock yarn from her new website on Sunday morning.

Meeting up with lots of Rav friends, we had lunch with Rayna, a good friend of many years, and Shireen, a new friend who shares a love of Georgian Bay and Rigid Heddle weaving. (Go check out both of their blogs, lots of fun yarn-y goodness within).

I'm already looking forward to next year!

Welcome Back Spring

As spring is slowly returning to Muskoka, and we are keeping a watchful eye on the water levels (last spring we had some pretty devastating flooding) it is becoming increasingly apparent that this is a month of change.

There is even less snow now, this picture is from a week or so ago.

On a professional front, I've left my position of nearly two years with a local charity.  While I enjoyed my time there, it was time for a change and to pursue a path that more closely follows my educational background.  While I hunt around for full-time employment, I have a position doing contract and project-based work in the area.  I'm also ramping up my teaching schedule (dates to be released very soon) and will be taking the occasional shift at my local yarn store here in Bracebridge.

If this wasn't enough, I've been working with my sister Carla, of Georgian Bay Fibre Co., to help develop and tech edit her patterns.  Turns out I have a knack for the technical side of knitting and quite enjoy this aspect of the pattern creation process. I also have a few patterns rattling around in my brain.  On top of that, I will be doing some blogging for her, we are still working out the frequency and topic, but look for me there, starting soon.

On the fiber craft front, I have a new friend, a 25" Schacht Flip Rigid Heddle Loom.  I've named her Elsa, and I've finally named my little 10" Schacht Cricket Loom and her name is Anna.  In other news, I watched Frozen and loved it.  You wanna build a snowman?

Jack (the cat) is quickly become more cat that kitten.  While he still enjoys chewing through expensive iPod and Macbook cables, he is acting more like grownup cat every day.  Also, I don't think he realizes how big he has become, as he still wants to hid under Anna (the Cricket Loom) when she is all warped up.  Also, his new favorite activity seems to be sitting on my keyboard, or arms, when I'm trying to get computer work done.

How about you, is April bringing change to your life?  Or are you just excited for for a little stability in your life? 

Feeling like a traitor

Since my post about my attempt to do Spin 365, I've hardly spun.  I finished off the white-nep skein and have nice red hand-dyed fluff on the wheel that I really need to get back to. I have the first bobbin done, but I still have 3/4 of the second bobbin to go.

However, I'm feeling like a bit of a traitor, I'm more interested in doing embroidery than knitting/crocheting, spinning or weaving.

In the past week I've taken on, and finished, two of the monthly samplers from Dropcloth. I subscribed back in August, but I finally got the nerve to take them on and I'm LOVING doing embroidery.  So much so I'm not really knitting. And I feel like such a traitor.

Of course this is exactly what my goal was for the year, "Do the projects (knitting, spinning, weaving, crocheting, tatting, embroidery) I want when I want to do them" was allowing for, but I'm struggling with it.

So I'm making myself finish up my current knitting project, a pair of socks for my BIL Jim's birthday (which is next Friday), before I can start my next sampler. I know I'm not exactly embracing the "impulsive" ethos I set for myself this year, but I will get there.

Also, some other big stuff has been going on the last couple of weeks.  The first, and bigger one, is a very cool project that I'm not able to reveal yet, but y'all are going to love it as much as I do.  The other is that Jack (the cat) and I are officially family.  H]e got his neuter on Thursday and I officially adopted him from the Muskoka OSPCA (who are amazing and wonderful).

He came home from the operation completely stoned, and with a wicked case of the munchies, but otherwise no worse for wear. He has shown no interest in his surgery site so no cone of shame for him.  Although, as part of the operation they gave him a good nail clipping and he has had trouble climbing the furniture (and me!) since he got home. I, for one, am glad he can't claw his way up my body so he may find that I will be more proactive on his nail clipping in the future.

So, am I the only one who feels guilty when I don't knit as much as I think I should, or are there more of us out there?  If you do, lets commiserate, if you don't would you share your tips and tricks for enjoying your hobby without guilt so I can have some new tools when the guilt strikes.

Knittin' with a kitten

... Can sometimes leave things to be desired.

While Jack is a wonderful kitten, who brings me so much joy, he is also a yarn stealer.

I know there is an intrinsic connection between kittens and yarn, but having Jack around has had caused my knitting quantity to nosedive.  Partially because I'm spending much more time playing and snuggling with him, but also because every time I get out a project he tries to steal the working yarn or the project right out of my hands.

 

He also really like knitting cables, at this stage he has only destroyed one of the clear plastic ChiaoGoo cables but there are bite marks in the cables on every active project. The nice thing about an interchangeable system is all I have to do is get another cable.

He also really likes to sit on my computer, somehow his feet always activate the Caps Lock and he turns on the backlight on my keyboard.

He is an Apple/Mac cat as he found a nice spot on my dad's Mac Mini to perch on when were home a month ago.

Although at other times he can sit right next to computer and keeps me company.

It's not just yarn, he also loves fluff. When Jack first came home he disappeared at one stage and I found him asleep in my spinning basket.  I keep it covered now, but if I take the cover off I will find him there again.

Recently

On his first week 

ut in the end I think all the yarn chasing is worth it because he might be the cutest kitten ever!

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