Friday, June 26, 2009

Victoria Fibre Festival


Teagan Weaving
Originally uploaded by wendymc
Last weekend found me at a yarn crawl and outdoor fibre market, the final events in a week long local fibre event, The Victoria Fibre Festival. Saturday our local knitting group met up to do a shorter yarn crawl than previous years, visiting 3 great shops within walking distance of one another, and ending at a Pub/Restaurant for Lunch and BeerKnitting. I found a few treasures in the shops, everyone had some items on sale. I bought a skein of Cloud Cotton which is much like the Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton, but much cheaper. 3 skeins of Soya cotton were priced so well they had to come home with me also. I found a good deal on some Tanis Fibre Arts Sock yarn and grabbed that as well.

Sunday was the fibre market, and being Father's day I didn't feel right ditching my husband with both kids all day to play with fibres.....so I brought Teagan with me. She's pretty crafty, and a new knitter, so I thought she'd be a fun companion. It turned out to be a great day for her. Everything about the event thrilled her, starting with riding the taxi shuttle down to the park, trying out weaving (see photo*), needle felting, spinning and loom knitting, and exploring the rocks and tidepools on the shore. I found a beautiful oversized skein of Gaia's Colours Worsted in pretty greens to purchase, and then teagan and I went out for Vegan pizza and brownies downtown. Good times!

*Our local knitting group had a little photo contest for pictures of the knitting events of the weekend, and this shot of Teagan weaving won me a GORGEOUS skein of Sundara sock yarn!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Teacher Gifts

I like to knit little thank-you gifts for the daycare staff, both at Christmas and the end-of-year celebrations. We're coming up to the end of the year, so it's gifting time again. I might have been over ambitious this year, since Argen moved from one centre to the other, and I wanted to gift his old and new caregivers. So, the total comes to 13 caregivers and 2 admin staff this time around!! I think the admin staff are just getting cards, because I don't think I have it in me to finish enough by next friday. Argen gifted the staff at his new centre today, since it is their end-of-year celebration day. They were very well received:



Some have icord straps, some garter stitch, one seed stitch. I used this basic pattern:
Lacy Leaf Water Bottle Carrier and then switched up the patterning a little. I had some lighter weight cotton that required more stitches for some, and tried different striping in the stitches, so I didn't lose my mind knitting them all. I still have a few to knit up over the next week, too.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Teagan's First Knitting Project!

My daughter is a knitter. I'm so proud! Teagan's been interested in my knitting since.......well since she used to dance inin utero as my circular needles tapped on my belly! I got her a knitting loom a little over a year ago, and while she enjoyed playing on it, her attention span didn't let her do much with it. More recently she asked to learn to knit with needles, and I of course obliged.

She did well playing with some needles of mine, though they were thin and a bit slippery, so we picked up a set of short bamboo 6mm straights. I cast on and set her up, and other than a few rows grandma did, and me picking up a dropped stitch or two, she made this! With instruction she even did the casting off herself!

(in case it's not obvious, this is a rug for her Barbie doll house. It was going to be a comforter but it was far too narrow for the bed, and I figured picking up stitches to widen it was a more advanced lesson than she was ready for)