Almost… because it still needs blocking, and as you can see – the ends woven in, and buttons sewn on. But the knitting is done.
Sadly… it doesn’t fit. Sometimes I forget just how busty I am. I’m also used to wearing my cropped cardigans with a little negative ease. Sadly, negative ease doesn’t work with this style – I should have gone up a size.
Still – it was an enjoyable knit. And this one won’t go to waste. There’s someone on my gift list who it should fit just perfect.
I’ll just have to make myself another one once we are in the new house and things settle down a bit.
I’ve probably said it before, but one of the things I love about our little blogging community is the endless source of inspiration. Wyoming Breezes is one such blogger – she’s always churning out fabulous quilts in great patterns. One of her recent ones – Stars of Courage – was one such. As soon as I saw it, I knew I would use the idea for some of the leftover space fabric I had.
It’s such a fun block, with great movement – perfect for the outer space theme.
Isn’t it cute?
Yes, yes Burton… you’re STILL the cutest!
When I bought the flannel for the back of the kitten quilt, I picked up these great robots for the back of this one
And I’ve got lots of black stars for the binding. I can’t wait to get it quilted!
May is marching on, and the gardens are marching on with it. Albiet a little bit slower than usual… until this week, May has been quite cool.
Relic doesn’t mind. He always knows how to take advantage of the sunshine.
Many of you have asked how much of the garden I’m going to take to the new place. At first, I wasn’t planning on taking much – just a few things that might be harder to replace.
But the more I thought about it, the more I changed my mind. We dont know who will move in here after us (it’s a rental). Whoever it is likely won’t want to care for anything left behind (lawn maintenance is done by property management, but gardens are left to the tenants). I’d feel terrible if I left them and someone just let them die.
And it’s not like I have a shortage of garden space at the new place.
So… it’s been decided. I’m going to take as much as I absolutely can. I have enough time to dig it all out and reseed the gardens so they become lawn again.
A couple of neighbours have already asked for a few things, so I’m happy to oblige.
Blake, the neighbour right beside us would like the Bleeding Heart. It’s easy enough for me to get another so I said yes. I have a white one in the front garden I can keep anyway. As soon as this one is done blooming, its going to go live with him.
Neighbour Krista has asked for some more irises. I’ve got loads of them, so that’s no hardship.
I do have to leave my lovely lilac behind. It’s just too big to try to dig up. But a lovely reader sent me a link on how to take cuttings from it so I’m going to give that a try as soon as it’s done blooming!
The raspberries, blackberries, and butterfly bush will also stay.
That’s ok… I’ve got more than enough work ahead of me with everything else I have to dig up!
After showing you Burton’s fabulous new wardrobe the other day, I mentioned more had been ordered for the other two.
Well the other day, neighbour Krista brought them over!!!
Like Burton’s these are reversible. As you can see, Relic wore his like a champ, with only minimal side-eye. He was mostly fine with it when he was just hanging out on the couch. But when he got up for a snack, I had to take it off, because he decided it weirded him out.
Rupert on the other hand…. remember when I first got him and tried to put a harness on him? It was pretty much like that.
Those are the best pictures I could get. Every time I put it on him, he just runs and hides under the couch until I pull him out and take it off. It’s too bad – he looks fabulous in plaid!
And Burton… Krista ordered ANOTHER one for him, because she felt he really needed to emphasize his floral side.
As much as he likes to hang out amongst my flowers… I’m not sure how he feels about wearing them. The other side is aqua leopard
With our place to move all settled, I really have to get the rest of the yarn dyed up so I can sell the dye/supplies and get them out of the way.
I hit the dye pots , pulled a couple of my favourite dyes, and the other day I managed to dye up a few more sweater quantities.
First up was 10 skeins of Top Cat DK with the Persimmon dye. One day it will become the “Adventurous” cardigan. Something that has been in my queue forever!
There was still four skeins of Top Cat DK left, so I grabbed my favourite blue – Twilight. Those who know me know I don’t usually gravitate towards blue, but there’s always been something about this particular dye. One day, it will become a cropped cardigan – perhaps something like Vianne above.
Last, there was five skeins of Fluffy Cat left (Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere). I dyed them up in a lovely yellow-green called Golden Pear. I won’t knit Fable again, but it is one of my favourites, so I’d love to find a similar round-neck drapey cardigan for this beautiful yarn.
And now… there is just 10 skeins left of Fluffy Cat Light left to dye! Stay tuned
The last pair of anklets for Rowan’s birthday is complete!
They are just the same at the pair I made her sister – just shorter!. Pattern is “I Smell Snow” and the yarn is Knitpicks Felici in the Summer Camp colourway.
I’m just waiting on a small piece of jewelry I ordered for her, and then I’ll get her present in the mail for her. Her birthday is just three weeks away!
I finally got a day to get up to Mom’s for some quilting, and you know Spring Kittens baby quilt was the one I wanted to tackle first.
I just can’t get enough of those sweet little kitty faces all over this fabric.
Normally I prefer brighter colours to pastels, especially for babies… but there’s just something about these shades all coming together!
You may recall, I was going to use a striped cotton for the back. But part of me REALLY wanted flannel for this one. I love putting flannel on the back of a baby quilt. Not long before we got the house, I had to order some fabric for an couple of planned quilt, so I added a chunk of flannel for the back of this.
I’m so glad I did! The stripes would have been fine, but this one is just so much better!
And now it’s done and in the shop – awaiting the purrfect home!
FIrst, thank-you for all the lovely comments about our new home. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are looking foward to it.
Now to the crafts!
I have a bad habit of breaking sock needles (Mostly from sitting/stepping on them). I really prefer the Knit Picks wooden needles for their great points. It wasn’t too bad when I could just pop over to Lens and pick up a new set whenever I broke too many.
Unfortunately, with our COVID numbers still through the roof, all our non-essential stores are curbside pick up only. And calling and ordering, then driving over to pick them up… it’s just too much effort for me!
So I decided to do a Knit Picks order. Can you see where this is going?????
Yes… I ordered more yarn.
Not a lot. Just enough to get me free shipping. They only had a few colours of Felici left – and though they were on clearance, none tickled my fancy.
So I decided to give their Stroll a try. I’ve seen many of you knit with it, and haven’t heard any complaints. The leftmost one is Yeti – light and dark grey with a touch of aqua… which I thought would be nice for man socks. The next is Koi Pond, which several of you have used, and I’ve always admired. Next is Gumball – a fun rainbow skein to make up for the Rainbow Felici that got lost. Last is another skein of Static, in the Seascape colourway. Probably destined for more man socks at some point.
Now, this yarn was ordered BEFORE we put the offer in on the house, so this will definitely be my last yarn purchase for a good long while. It’s not like I’m going to run out of yarn – I still have a whole bucket to dye up!
First, let me wish a Happy Mother’s Day to my partner in crime (and knitting and quilting and everything crafty….) my Mom!!!!!
I get a giggle out of this picture of us every time I see it! Oh those carefree early ’80s where you smoked with a baby in your lap! She quit smoking when I was about six or seven, so there aren’t actually many pictures of her with a cigarette. It’s almost shocking to see now.
This is how I see her most often now
And as you know, we spend a lot of time together. So it’s with mixed emotions that I make this announcement. As you may have guessed from the title… we are MOVING!!!!
Yes. We finally won a bid on a house, and the financing approval went through late last week!!!!
These are the pictures from the real estate listing. I’ll get better pictures when we get the keys.
It’s a good solid house with all the important things up-to-date. (Roof, foundation, furnace, electrical). The inside however….
…is stuck in a bit of a time warp. From the looks of things, it hasn’t had any updates since 1960 or so. It’s all wallpaper and some of the most hideous carpet I’ve ever seen. Seriously, these pictures doe not show just how bad the carpet is – especially in a couple of those bedrooms.
It does however have FIVE bedrooms (Finally SEPARATE office and sewing studio for me!!!). It also has two full baths – one on each floor.
The kitchen, while dated, is actually in pretty good shape. The floors and counters are in such good shape, it will probably be one of the last things we update
It has a crap tonne of of cupboard space. In fact, the whole house has a tonne of storage – there are cupboards and closets EVERYWHERE!
But what excites me the most….
See that little red area off the back of the house? That’s a completely screened in porch. There’s already a dog door from the kitchen to it. And that fenced in area….? Well one of our first priorities is putting cat proof fencing around it. The boys and I are finally going to have a catio space big enough for us all to enjoy!!!!
And as excited as we are – there are some downsides. It’s in a little town two hours from where we live now. Which means it’s 2.5 hours from Mom. We are still going to keep the quilting business going, but it means I’ll probably make a trip to quilt once a month instead of once a week. I’ll likely stay the weekend to get much time with them (and the long arm- lol) as possible!
It also means I have to say goodbye to all my backyard friends here.
I’m sure we’ll make friends with the new patrons, but I’m really going to miss these guys!
As I said, we get the place June 1, but we keep the townhouse until July 31, so we have time to go in and do some updates before we have to move. (We won’t do the whole house at once). It’s a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m not sure what it will mean for the blog. I’ll still post – it might just not be every day, so don’t fret if I’m silent for a day or two!
As May settles in the daffodils are fading, but the tulips are taking their place.
I have the traditional red-with-black-centre ones. But I also have another red – it’s actually a little darker (though you can’t tell in the pictures) but it has a distinct while outline on the tops of the petals, and a pale yellow centre. It’s quite pretty.
I also have this beautiful pale peach/pink. They came from bulbs from the dollar store. The picture on the package was actually much darker, but I love this pale version.
And there are a few others mixed in here and there. My multi-coloured parrot tulips (far right) are just starting to bloom. The come a little later, but they are pretty magnificent, being taller and frillier than other tulips.
My Bleeding Heart is blooming. I was a little worried about this one. I planted it last year, and it wasn’t overly robust to begin with. And, Burton took a liking to laying on it. I wasn’t sure it was strong enough to survive but it’s doing quite well.
The Pasque flower is just going gangbusters now. I had a red one too, but it looks like it didn’t survive the great garden revamp last year. I knew I’d lose a few things.
Speaking of gangbusters, check out the Candytuft. I wish is bloomed all summer long because it’s amazing. It will last about a month, but after that it’s just little green shrub-like plant for the rest of the summer. Oh well – it’s wonderful while it’s going.
My strawberries are starting too flower too. I won’t actually get any berries – the buns and mice will get to them before I do, but I still enjoy them. They are ever-bearing so they flower and fruit on and off, right until fall.
The Lily-of-the-valley won’t be much longer to sweet smelling little bell flowers. They are definitely one of my favourites.
Out front, the Leopard’s Bane has bloomed! I think I’ve finally found the right spot for it – this is the best it’s ever looked!
And last…
The truly best thing in the garden is our favourite garden cat!
Wandering Cat Studio 