Tuesday 30 August 2011

TFA Tuesday: Lace Ribbon Scarf



Pattern: Lace Ribbon Scarf

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Green Label Aran in 'Shadow'

Top Tier Knitter: Jenny (Ravelry ID)

Totally Awesome Because:  I love the texture of this scarf. The eyelets, the vertical ribbons of stockinette, it's gorgeous. And the colourway is such a great choice- I love the tiny hits of aqua and white in the light grey yarn. Let's take a close up look at the squishy softness, shall we? Project page can be found here.

Sunday 28 August 2011

Hello Yellow

guest room
yellowfall2011

Still caught somewhere between holding on to the end of summer and looking forward to the cooler days of fall, I can't decide wether yellow is decidedly summery or super autumnal. Chris loves yellow, I didn't think that I was such a fan until I noticed that a few of my current favorite things are yellow. The chair that I recently spray painted that now lives in the guest room. My new shoes! And this beautiful colourway (details to be revealed soon I promise!) There's just something about a warm, golden yellow that is perfect for this time of year. 

Thursday 25 August 2011

Stockholm Scarf - A fall staple!

stockholm2

I am so torn. Part of me wants to hold on to every last bit of summer for as long as I can! I love that I can run out in my bear feet and not get frost bite, I love the feel of the hot sun on my skin, slow evening walks to the ice cream shop. Summer is wonderful. But.... I want to wrap myself up in knits! I can't wait for fall to arrive!

stockholm1

I knit Julie's Stockholm scarf back in June, and it's taken me until now to take FO shots. It's just been way too hot for wool scarves! This is a great pattern and a perfect pairing for this yarn. I used TFA Yellow Label DK Weight yarn in the Sunset colourway. I knit mine in the round. I used all of 2 skeins, I just knit until I ran out of yarn and ended up with a gorgeous, generous scarf. It's warm, cushy, pretty and is sure to become a fall staple. I've been dying to do a proper FO shoot for a while now, and though it's certainly not cool enough for the outfit I'm sporting in these shots, plum coloured corduroys and a jean shirt are exactly what I feel like wearing with this awesome scarf!


stockholm3

Tuesday 23 August 2011

TFA Tuesday: Mostly Sunnyside



Pattern: Sunnyside

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Yellow Label DK Weight in 'Royal Flush'

Top Tier Knitter:  Dee (Ravelry ID)

Totally Awesome Because:  This beautifully bright sweater relies on the fun, hot pink colour to show that it's for a little girl. Dee modified the pattern to do a great mash up of the design elements from both the male and female versions of this sweater pattern, and the result is so pretty. I love that she left it as an open front cardi, so there is no struggling with buttons on a little one. Project page can be found here.

Friday 19 August 2011

Bathroom reveal

When Chris and I bought our first home in May of 2010, we got very lucky and ended up with a beautiful little gem of a house that really didn't need much work. There was one exception, the one main bathroom, it needed a complete overhaul. It was very small, it was awkward and though it was clean, it always looked a bit grungy (see for yourself in these before shots.) We spent the first two weeks of May working like crazy with our wonderful contractor Greg. When Greg left after two weeks, our new bathroom was almost done, all we needed was a mirror and a few accessories... three months later, and a mirror finally went up. Our bathroom reno is done! 

Finished bathroom - overall view

The bathroom is by no means huge, but by knocking down a wall and borrowing two extra feet from the second bedroom we were able to install a large, built-in vanity with tons of storage space and a beautiful wall to wall countertop. We placed the square sink off center, this made the most sense for us because it allowed us to fit in all those wide drawers, and it makes it a lot easier for more than one person to be in the space at once. Chris could brush his teeth in front of the sink, while still allowing me access to the drawers to get at my all my products. 

A few of the many details:

* Instead of dry-walling the ceiling we chose to install pine that we then painted white, I think it adds character to an otherwise pretty crisp space. Plus, our kitchen and office have bead-board ceilings so it ties in with the rest of the house nicely. 
* The floor is black slate installed in a herringbone pattern, and it's heated! Love it. 
* We used an exaggerated white subway tile (4x16) in the shower, accented with a hint of carrera marble in the form of two 4" high stripes made up by stacking 1x1 tiles on either side of a 2x4 tile. I love carrera marble, but we certainly did not have the budget to build a marble bathroom, I'm happy to have purchased the tiles at a discount tile warehouse, and have used them sparingly. It makes the hits of marble feel very special to me. 
* The countertops are Silestone, we chose this material because its beautiful, its a bit sparkly as its made from recycled glass and stone, and I'm told its practically indestructible! (ours is called White Diamond and is from the eco series.)
* The walls are painted the prettiest shade of lavender/grey, depending on the light they sometimes look like a cool mauve, or a soft grey. The colour is called Frost by Martha Stewart. 
* The paintings that I did for the bathroom add a lot of colour to an otherwise very white and grey space. The one on the right also serves as the door to our recessed medicine cabinet!

Glamorous toilet and tub.

The tub and toilet are lovely. The toilet is a dual flush and works like a charm (which is a huge upgrade from our old toilet, it never flushed properly, very annoying!) and the tub is deep, angular, modern and awesome, no weird swirls on the side, just sleek and cool. 

Finished bathroom, I love it!

I tiled the backsplash and built that little shelf myself! 

As far as reno's go, I think that this was fairly painless. It was over quickly, it came in right on budget, it turned out exactly how I had planned, and we're very happy with it. It was messy, and though Chris would probably tell you that I had a few meltdowns, I'd say that I played it pretty cool. I really loved the whole design process. I can't wait to do the kitchen next! (Eventually...)

Thursday 18 August 2011

River Rapid Socks in cashmere

I finished these socks while on vacation this summer. I'm glad I had them with me because I always underestimate how chilly the Nova Scotia nights can get. We had a few rainy days where these socks came in very handy.

River Rapid Socks - TFA Purple Label in Teal

This is the River Rapid Socks pattern knit in TFA Purple Label Cashmere Sock yarn in the Teal colourway.

You may recognize this lace pattern from my "zigzag lace" phase. I knit this cowl and this sweater featuring this very lace pattern right before I cast on for these socks. I had intended to improvise a design featuring the motif, but then found this pattern waiting for me in my queue! 

River Rapid Socks - TFA Purple Label in Teal

 Great pattern, great yarn, great socks! I'm very happy to have them. 

Tuesday 16 August 2011

TFA Tuesday: Harriet



Pattern: Harriet the Haberdashery Hippo

TFA Yarn and colourway: Green label Aran weight in 'Sand'

Top Tier Knitter: Brandi (Ravlery ID, website)

Totally Awesome Because:Even people who aren't that jazzed by handknits (I know, I can't quite believe they exist either!) are totally crazy about hand knit stuffed animals. Brandi's hippo is absolutely adorable, and it was hard to pick only two great photos for the post! Project page with more super adorable photos can be found here.

Monday 15 August 2011

I spy something new and something blue.

Yummy Cobalt

I spy with my little eye... something that is single ply! Hmm hmm good.

Just a reminder that today is the last day to order any of the products that I'll be discontinuing!

Friday 12 August 2011

We wish we had a farm

Around my cottage in Nova Scotia, farms are abundant. The properties often have several old, weathered barns and a beautiful old farm house. They are perched on top of rolling hills overlooking the ocean, with big green fields with cows or sheep grazing. Right across the street from my cousin's cottage was a pasture that they were calling the cow "maternity ward". It is where the farmer was grazing all of his pregnant or recently birthed cattle. It was adorable! A lovely pasture with tons of the cutest baby cows you've ever seen running around, following their mothers. Chris and I stopped to just look at them several times, baby cows are so sweet. 

And there are sheep too! We made our annual pilgrimage to the Lismore Sheep Farm again this year. There were baby sheep, and even baby Highland Cattle there this year. I had a chance to chat with the very friendly owner of the farm and to see his workshop where he makes the most beautiful wooden needles, the River John Needle Company. Chris and I each bought a sweaters worth of yarn. Last years haul became this and this. Chris has already started turning his beautiful light grey yarn into another Brownstone sweater, this time with a few mods to turn it into a cardigan. You can see in the corner of the shot below a darker blue/grey ball of yarn, that's the colourway I picked up. It's a stunning, blue/green/grey yarn, it reminds me a bit of Stormy in the way it can look different depending on the light. 

Lismore Sheep Farm wool

My mom grew up on a beautiful farm in Nova Scotia, and it sounds like the perfect place to live. Of course, from what I hear, farming is one of the hardest jobs in the world... so for now I think I'll settle for just visiting farms and admiring the pastures from the road. After all, I love my job. Chris and I easily made the transition back into our regular TFA routine. The racks have been full all week, and with all the orders coming in for fall there is no sign of them emptying any time soon!

business as usual

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Back to work!

Chris and I are officially back to work after having spent a record 19 days on holiday! Granted, 2 of those days were spent in the car, making the 11 hour drive to our family cottage in Nova Scotia, but still, getting 19 consecutive days off is pretty grand. We beat last year's record by 1 day. This year we did a lot of the same things we did last year, you can read all about our cottage life here

We had a great time. We've come home rested, tanned and rejuvenated. We're officially ready for another big year. I'm happy to be back at work, I don't like being away for too long. Things pile up, people need yarn! 

Unfortunately, I have a terrible habit of doing absolutely nothing while on vacation. I completely tune out. I did get some knitting done on a few rainy days, which was nice, but other than that I read, I sat, I walked, I chatted, I played games... I brought a stack of FO's, fully intending to do awesome photo shoots, but when push came to shove I just couldn't make myself do my hair, put on makeup and style an outfit to do the knitting justice. So the pile came back home with me and will have to be photographed here in Montreal instead of on the beach in Nova Scotia.

Stack of FO's, waiting to be photographed.

Next year I'll take more photo's! Famous last words... I did snap one pretty shot of a few rocks that my 5 year old god-daughter and I collected. 


Amherst shore rocks

Tuesday 9 August 2011

TFA Tuesday: Plum's Bloom


Pattern: Bloom

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Yellow Label DK weight in 'Plum'

Top Tier Knitter: Tal (Ravelry ID)

Totally Awesome Because: I love rich colours for baby garments, and this plum is so lovely. I love the texture of the dress with the different stitches, it's adorable and just right for a little girl..  This is the kind of dress that grows with the baby- the ribbing is very stretchy and can accommodate quickly growing little ones. And the icing on this prefect plum confection is that contrasting yellow ribbon- it is the perfect compliment!  Her project page can be found here.


Friday 5 August 2011

TFA in Twist Collective!

twist collective, fall 2011
Litchfield Gloves by Elizabeth Doherty for Twist Collective photographed by Jamie Dixon


I am very excited to have my yarn featured in a new pattern designed by Elizabeth Doherty for Twist Collective's Fall 2011 issue. Not only are her Litchfield hat and mitts set adorable, they made the cover of the issue! How exciting is that!?

The pattern features Yellow Label DK Weight yarn in the Poppy colourway.

Tuesday 2 August 2011

TFA Tuesday: Baltic Blossoms


Pattern: Baltic Blossoms Lace Shawl

TFA Yarn and Colourway: Pink Label Laceweight in 'Peacock'

Top Tier Knitter: Pam (Ravelry ID, blog)

Totally Awesome Because: Bright shawls are so unexpected, because it juxtaposes a really traditional shape and style of knitting with a modern pop burst of colour. This shawl is gorgeous in keeping the classic design, but doing it in a bright shade makes it fresh and more applicable to your wardrobe. I love this shawl- it looks beautiful and that is the kind of blue you can get lost in.