Off The Grid NeedleArts

blanket success

Posted on April 27, 2016 by caroline

Well, we travelled to Montreal last weekend in order to visit our cousins and gift the baby blanket. It was a hit! The mum loved it and we had a lovely visit. She was lucky enough to get a day pass from the hospital the day that we arrived and so after she was treated to a bit of pampering at a salon (much deserved after 2 months in hospital on bed rest…) we slowly made our way to a coffee shop and had a delicious latte. Montreal does hipster coffee well and I enjoyed it thoroughly! (this one is minus a few slurps since I couldn’t resist…) She and her husband celebrated Passover with her family while the family and I hung out at their apartment (right around the corner from the St-Viateur bagel shop!) and then back to the hospital she went. I think she will be there for the remainder (end of June, can you imagine) and I’m so very glad that we went for a visit.

The hospital was close to…….. a yarn shop. Big surprise, right? Do you all do this? I need souvenir yarn. I remember my special trips with a special skein from a far away place and it makes me very happy. Espace Tricot did not disappoint. The sales staff were really lovely and the space is gorgeous.

So my special skein was a brilliant pink skein from Tanis Fibre Arts who is appropriately French Canadian and it will be joining these two similar weights yarns to start a Colour Affection shawl which I hope to cast on later today.

Sine I’ll be joining in with Ginny’s yarn along today, I should also let you know what I’m reading. I’m still finishing up listening to E.Gaskell’s North and South which I hope to finish today or tomorrow, and my bedtime reading is Sue Monk Kidd’s – The Invention of Wings, which is amazing so far.

Posted in Knitting, Life, yarn along | 12 Comments

ready to go!

Posted on April 21, 2016 by caroline

I finished it! (with a day to spare..) I’ll be giving it to John’s cousin tomorrow and I think it’ll be just right for a sweet little baby to snuggle down in. John remembered that our own daughter had a very similar blanket made by her aunt and we have fond memories of seeing teeny little fingers playing with the lacy holes. Now that this is finished – look out WIPs! I’m coming for you, and I have no intention whatsoever of being monogamous……….

In case it’s useful to anyone, I tried out a new bind off for this since I’ve never been quite satisfied with my tried and true cast off on garter stitch. I used instead an Icelandic bind off and it was just right. Neat and tidy, it didn’t cause any flaring and was just the right tension to match the long tail cast on. Here’s a link to my Revelry page with all of the other blanket details. Have a great weekend and watch this space for some long anticipated stitching next week. Maybe. Maybe some quilting…. or EPP, or ooooooo crochet? I’ve been meaning to learn how to knit socks and my loom is still sitting gloomily alone in the corner.

The anticipation and the choosing is half of the fun 🙂

Posted in Finally finished, Knitting, The Maker's Year | 5 Comments

Wednesday yarn along

Posted on April 6, 2016 by caroline

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve participated in Ginny’s yarn along, most likely because I am still working on the white baby blanket that is growing slowly and looks almost exactly the same as it did a few weeks ago, just slightly longer. The baby that this is for may perhaps be born early, the mum is in a hospital on bed rest for the duration as her water broke at 23 weeks (5 weeks ago)and she went into labour. They were able to halt the labour and the baby is doing very well indeed, but could indeed still decide to make an early entrance.

I’m still listening to North and South on Craftlit, and am now starting a new Ondaatje for my night time reading.

Oscar is quite pleased to have provided some ambiance to my photo today.

Posted in Knitting, yarn along | 10 Comments

a love affair with coffee

Posted on April 5, 2016 by caroline

I drink a lot of coffee. It’s my preferred beverage and I like it in many different forms. Americano, latte, short espresso, mocha etc. It’s rare for me to not have a cup at hand. So it doesn’t surprise me that I am drawn to stitching pieces that have a caffeine theme. My latest is Plum Street Samplers, “Beans, Beans”. It’s a refreshingly quick stitch and I hope to finish it up in the next few weeks.

I don’t think I have enough of the brown thread – it’s a CC “Dark Chocolate” to finish the design and will need to toss the stash and see if I can make do with what I can find. I think it’s a pretty close match to DMC 3371 but I haven’t had the nerve to check yet. I’m still half hoping to eek out what I have and play “thread chicken”.

Posted in Cross Stitch | 5 Comments

A mini finish

Posted on April 1, 2016 by caroline

I finished the stitching on the first Frosty Forest design by CCN. I had joined a SAL on Instagram which I figured would galvanize me into getting this project done this year. We began on March 15 and will do one design a month which should have the whole panel complete before Christmas. I’m thinking I’ll turn it into a wall hanging or a pillow design. There are buttons to be added, but I’ll save those for the finishing. I am using the threads as charted as well as the linen called for (very unusual for me to not have SOME sort of substitution….)

This right here is my son’s very first real tie. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a tie for a small boy? Almost impossible – this was the only one I could find in a gigantic mall after scouring all of the possible shops. Fortunately, it’s perfect. He and my husband are in England at the moment for the memorial service for my MIL. Some of her ashes will be left in a small grave in Mells, near Somerset where her parents and sister are buried. John will be delivering a eulogy at the service and having read it, I suspect there will be nary a dry eye. It’s a touching, perfectly written tribute to his mum.

My daughter – my lovely, brilliant daughter just bought her very first grown up little black dress to wear to her first semi-formal at the high school and looks so grown up and gorgeous I could barely stand it. These children – how fast they grow and change. My heart. phew….

Posted in Cross Stitch, Finally finished, Life | 4 Comments

March Break

Posted on March 22, 2016 by caroline

Hello!

So I posted my knitting last week and mentioned that we had some family time together, I just didn’t mention that while we were having family time and I was knitting, my view looked like this:

We planned a trip to some places that John has wanted to see forever, Colorado and Utah. One rental car, a cooler packed with food and two kids nestled in the back seats, we took off last Thursday and drove straight through to Ridgeway, CO to a rental that we found on homeaway.com . It took a long, long time. In fact, for a little stretch of time (3-5am) I actually think that time stood still, but we made it safely in the end and really – what a fantastic place. Being able to pack food, and have a kitchen when you arrive always makes travelling much more affordable for us. Three nights we spent there, and then headed off for Moab, Utah. The drive there was pretty sweet. (My only fly in the ointment was that there was no where easy to buy coffee) (I repeat, no coffee.) But really, I couldn’t really mind all that much.

In Moab, we stayed at another rental once again found through the Homeaway site (I’m not affiliated in any way with them, I promise) and this was a hermit’s dream. Completely off the grid (though luxurious compared to our off the grid living in the summer – they had a dishwasher and a dryer!!!) we were unplugged for four days with zero access to the outside world unless we drove into Moab. And let me tell you – the “road” out was not for the faint of heart. We were told ahead of time which vehicles would be appropriate for the two creek crossings and rock clearance……. it was incredible. This week in Moab there is a huge Jeep gathering for the 50th anniversary and it’s completely understandable – this is country that the Jeep is made for. By the way – it was the local yarn shop lady that told me about the Jeep thing, normally that would never cross my radar. hah! I’ll tell you more about her tomorrow.

A truly amazing place, once in a lifetime trip for our little family – a great time we had.

6000 km and still smiling 🙂

Posted in Knitting, Life | 4 Comments

March Break!

Posted on March 14, 2016 by caroline

I love March Break – I’m always so ready to spend time with my family as my schedule is quite hectic during the school year. Fortunately my husband was able to also take a week of vacation and our plans are to relax, relax and relax.

Lots of knitting (Pine Forest Baby Blanket):

Lots of stitching (Amtrak – Sampler Cove Designs):

And even more time spent with my favourite people.

Posted in Cross Stitch, Knitting, Life | 4 Comments

almost Spring

Posted on March 7, 2016 by caroline

This week, the weather is warming up and I’m hoping to get the yard cleaned up. You know, the kinder eggs that the dogs have hidden over the winter. That chore is always a harbinger of warmer days ahead and that blossoms are just around the corner.

I had a lovely family weekend that included just enough activity and quiet down time to bring some feelings of balance to my week ahead. I worked on the Blackbird Design “Loose Feathers” part 2 and – phew – that house took some work… there were a lot of thread changes but I like the result and it feels good to make some progress on an older WIP. The children will be breaking for March break at the end of the week and we have some exciting plans for our time together – more soon!

Posted in Cross Stitch, Life | 2 Comments

Time is marching along

Posted on March 2, 2016 by caroline

Isn’t it though? I know we all say it, and I know I’m repeating myself – but holy banana, it’s March already?

I’ve been knitting and stitching away – the Blackbird Design “Loose Feathers” doesn’t have enough progress to show just yet, maybe by Friday. Umaro is coming along nicely and I’m finally at the half way point. It’s so very lovely, I will indeed be making a second for us to keep, and I know my mum will love it.

I’m still reading the last few chapters of Poisonwood Bible, must finish it up this week to be ready for the discussion with Amanda. I’m listening to North and South over on Craftlit and very much enjoying it.

So, I posted the next photo on Instagram, but since I discovered the problem is still happening (I should hang a sign around my own neck for not removing temptation)…… Daria gets another round of #dogshaming.

I’m putting the rest of it away right after I hit publish.

Joining in with the crowd over at Ginny’s for Wednesday yarn along.

Posted in Knitting, Life, yarn along | 6 Comments

yarn along Wednesday

Posted on February 24, 2016 by caroline

We are having a winter “event” in Ontario today. The worst of it will be just to the North and East of us, but we did have some freezing rain this morning which made the school drop off interesting. It should turn to regular rain for the rest of the day but tomorrow it will be more snow. Bring on the tea and knitting. Don’t worry John, I’ll get my paperwork done first. Well, most of it. OK ….. some of it. I’ll catch up on Friday when it’s more boring when I look out the window.

As is usually the case with me, I’m working on several projects at the same time. Over the last two days, any knitting has been on two projects – the Pine Forest Baby Blanket, and the September Pillow. I’m still reading The Poisonwood Bible and my audiobook is through Craftlit – North and South by E.Gaskell. Joining with Ginny for the Wednesday yarn along. Isn’t lighting strange? This is really a white baby blanket, not yellow……

Posted in Knitting, yarn along | 9 Comments