Mellow Yellow

It is most definitely crunch time for me with 10 days to go before I leave for Scotland!
Obviously I'm very excited to see family but I also have a LOT of knitting to get done before the photoshoot of my booklet/collection.........so just to show I've actually been knitting here is a sneak peak of one of the shawls that will be in it!

The yarn is Madelinetosh Prairie, 100% superwash merino, laceweight. My hand and eye were instantly drawn to it's mellow mood and luscious texture and it's been a calming and soothing project to work on over these recently hot and sticky days.

Plenty more to come I assure you ...........

The lovely folks at Squam have put together this beautiful journal to inspire, entertain and bring you some of that specialness that is Squam!
For more detailed info go here!

A Tiny Tea Leaves...

...for a not so tiny-just-turned-11-years- today daughter of mine!

I took a brief bit of time out from my own designs to whip this out for Maya....she requested it and chose yarn and buttons herself...fits her perfectly and she loves it...thanks Melissa!

It was another lovely person's birthday yesterday (that would be Ysolda -see the resemblance) and Maya drew the above for her.....had to share!!

Happy Birthday my sweet lovely talented girl...keep doing what you're doing!

TNNA!

Our adventure to TNNA began with trips to several stores to collect the necessary items for Ysolda's booth .....furniture, vintage tea cups, lighting, parasols, rugs and plumbing pipe were just a few of the things on our list!

Seeing as this was all Ysolda's idea (and given the fact that she is not a driver) she was packed in the back of the car with Bob for company!

Sarah (Ysolda's lovely assistant) and I shared the 16 hours of driving and sang along to a lot of Kate Rusby!

Like magic the booth was put together the following day with the helping hands of many other friends....it only took ALL day and a small amount of cursing at IKEA furniture! (or maybe that was just me)!


Above is my corner of the booth and yes that is a design for the new collection at the front! (Proof that work is being done).

Laura Chau of Cosmicplutoknits also brought along some of her samples.

(Stephen West, Casey, Laura Chau, Sarah, Mary Heather Cougar)

(Olga Buraya-Kefelian, Cecily Glowik Macdonald, Melissa LaBarre, Melissa Wehrle)

Lots of folks were very grateful for the couch that Ysolda hired....walking the convention center floor was no easy task! We even served tea and cakes on both weekend days and were mobbed with attendees. I don't have any photos of this part as I was too busy pouring cups of English Breakfast .......

Jess in an Audrey.

Mary Heather in a Kerrera and Snapdragon set.

Sarah in a Tanit's Jacket.

Cirilia and Laura modeling some of Ysolda's latest designs.

Everyone had fun trying on our samples and then getting shots of themselves in the photobooth (that's where the plumbing pipes came in).

Very enjoyable (with a tint of exhausting).....already scheming for next year!

Squam High

I've just returned from teaching at the Squam Art Workshops and it was a totally brilliant experience so I had to share some of the highlights here!
Of course I took very few photos as I was too busy enjoying myself to remember the camera!

SAW is held at the Rockywold Deephaven Camp up in New Hampshire. It's a stunning setting with cabins dotted throughout the woods, many of which have their own little dock. I was in a cabin with Jess and Casey, Jared Flood, Ysolda and her assistant Sarah. In between the teaching and the class taking that was going on we had the chance to hang out, swim, star gaze and of course knit!

I taught two full day classes, one on the Hap shawl and one on my Aestlight shawl. I had great students which made it super enjoyable and I think they all got a lot out of it. (Yeah and I have no photos of this part)!
There were all kinds of classes going on, block printing, sewing, embroidery, book making, spinning...and many more. Next year I plan on attending at least one class in a different medium!

On the final evening there was a marketplace filled with beautiful handmade goodies. Ysolda had a booth to showcase her patterns and I snuck in a few of mine too.

...free cake and beer from the Ravelry team....didn't last long!

Elizabeth (the organizer of this whole shebang) made it a very special experience for everyone attending. She lined up some awesome talent for our evening entertainment; the beautiful singing of Jonatha Brooke, the insanely entertaining, laugh-till-you-cry words of Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee, and the thought provoking stories of Jenlee.

So if you've ever wanted the perfect creative getaway you must check out this incredible event...you won't regret it!
Thank you so much Elizabeth for a rewarding and rejuvenating experience....can't wait for next time!

Hilltown Rasta

Remember I mentioned I was in a band?

Well we had our first gig last night! It was a beautiful May evening, thunderstorms abated and the skies were clear.

As you can see the weather was important what with it being an outdoor venue! It was a tad breezy however and I was a little concerned at points that I was going to do a Marilyn Monroe in my new dress....thankfully that didn't happen!

This was my first time performing in a band and with a mic.....my whole music background is in the classical domain with very serious recitals where you don't tend to do a lot of dancing!

I had so much fun and can't wait to do it again!

Here's our lead singer and instigator of the whole shebang....Jah Gerry....he's worked so hard on getting this whole thing up and running and has even made a wonderful website for the band (we're called i Idren) where you can check out more of our reggae-roots songs!

I leave you with one of my favourite tunes .......Hilltown Rasta......!!
ETA: Thanks to David and Sage for the photos!

Fibery Frolicks

Choosing the right fiber for a design is often the most challenging (but also exciting part) of the process. Often my choice is dictated by a particular colour and I have to have that yarn without necessarily knowing what it will be become. Other times it is only after playing with a certain fiber that a plan falls into place.

The latter was the case for this beautiful yarn from the Fiber Company. This is their Canopy Yarn in fingering weight (colour Yerba Mate). A luscious blend of baby alpaca, merino and bamboo. Soft doesn't even begin to describe this yarn. It's the kind of yarn you want to rub against your face in ecstasy (unless of course you're allergic to alpaca then definitely not a good idea)! After swatching with this I could see which of my design ideas it would work well for. Progress is being made and I'm very happy with how that one is coming together.

This choice had a lot to do with the colour. I knew I wanted a lace weight yarn and I knew I wanted something with some silk so my first instinct was to visit the Jaggerspun Zephyr at WEBS and this cone of Curry yelled out to me! I snagged it and ran off most satisfied! I love being able to use a cone to knit from, one continuous thread of gold (or tussah silk in this case)! This is destined to become a delicate cardigan in the collection.

Jamieson and Smith's jumper weight yarn.

In this case I did not pick the colours but was asked to put together a design with them. This particular design will be published elsewhere but I still have a lot of these colours left and plan on using them for the collection. As you can see some ends had to be woven in!

Still more choices to be made and playing to be done!