Day 5 of the knit and crochet blog week

Location, location, location...

my favorite spot to knit ever in the world is here ...

 

Just in front of the lake at the cottage, it's the best place to really relax and knit comfortably installed in a chair outside or inside depending on temperature. This is where I will be next week so it will be perfect for my vacation to relax, sleep and knit of course !!!

My second best place is in my couch at home, with my hubby close to me and my hot chocolate, it's really nice too.

In third position I would say : in the car (while not driving...)

Here is a pair of sock (still not completed yet) that I knitted while travelling along last summer. It reminds me that I must finish some UFO...

Happy knitting everyone ! :)

Knit and crochet blog week

I just found out on Maryse blog, a knitter from Montreal, this cool event

The Knit and Crochet Blog week since it's held from April 26th to May 2nd I will do a little more today to get back on track about it :)

Day 1

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting?

Umm... I already talked about it a bit here a few years ago but I will do it again. I first learn to cast on, knit and purl after seeing knitting in a craft book that my mother has in her library. It was a old and dusty book from the '70. I kept asking for days then she finally install me with string and sticks to knit. I was about 5 years old if I remember well. I knitted 2 or 3 "squares" of knit and purl all messed up. It was colorful and probably artsy in my mother's terms.

No one had ever knitted in front of me before that moment. I have truly no idea why I wanted SO much to learn. My mom knit a little and know the basics but that's all. She was oblige to learn it at school as a teen.

That was almost that before the few years...

Then in 2006 I had a lot of time on my hands and I wanted to do something creative and went shopping for yarn (acrylic..!!) and knitted...

THAT

That was not so cool and I never wear it as well as the assorted scarf that took me weeks to do. The yarn is itchy and I hate it !!!

Day 2

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to.

Umm hard one because I have decided that I tried every single thing to be fearless by the end of 2010. I am currently working on my color work skills and ordered yarn to do a project with my first steek !!! So we'll see by the end of the year but I have great confidence in me that I can accomplish anything.

Day 3

One great knitter

Gosh ! Only one... I love Ravelry for that reason because I discover many and many great knitters everyday. I love to watch FO and look at my friends work too. So every knitter can be a great knitter and just knitting something harder and achieve it makes you a great knitter too !

Day 4

A New Skill

A new skill that I would like to know. I would say crochet in general... as knitting I did crochet a bit when I was young. My grandma was a crocheter and knit simple crochet some other stuff more complicated. I would like to sit and actually take time to be comfortable with a hook. I already bought the Babette blanket pattern and just need to crochet now !

TGIF !!!

Today I was just happy to be alive and see the wonderful sun outside when I woke up in the morning with my love... I thought about doing a short list of 10 reasons to be happy today !

1- I'm in love and I am love in return too
2- 26 weeks and 1 day pregnant, my belly is full of love too :)
3- no work for me today !!!
4- beautiful weather outside

5- tomorow my parents are a making over in the baby's room (picture after that for sure !!!)
6- one more week and I do have a week off at the cottage to relax before third trimester
7- making progress on the baby blanket
8- doing great on my return on colorwork (post tomorow about it)
9- planning a trip to France to visit Nicolas's family and present baby girl in October

10- TGIF what else to say...

Happy today everyone!

I must be crazy... or just preggo...

Just after we bought the stroller (bright turquoise !!!) the future father went shopping at superstore and went back home with 2 big skeins of Bernat Baby Sport in white and turquoise and a big smile. He was so proud to buy yarn to match stroller and ask me if I want to do something for our girl...

Sure I want !!!!

But I had a crazy idea : a baby blanket with color changing blocks and too much ends to weave and sew in to make all those block an actual blanket ... but if I can transfer my love for my daughter into that blanket, I know that she will understand that not even born I love her so much and so her father.

Here are my progress so far :

7 squares so far (one missing on the picture) and another almost done on the 8th square too. They are not hard to do but just boring, I need other project to keep my knitting mojo alive and kick my a** to do one more square again...

If I make a stroller blanket I will probably make a total of 16 squares plus a border all around the blanket but we'll see after I sewed first 2 big square soon...

Let see how crazy a mom to be can be...

From a time to another

Recently just after we found out that it's a little princess in my belly, my mom went totally crazy (lol I love you mom!!!) and went shopping for a whole lot of baby clothing and she washed everything and then delivered it to me...

In the bag there was a cute pink sweater... hand made for me by a friend of my mom back in 1983 before my birth !!!

Now I imagine my own daughter wearing it next Fall in my arms at the cottage, and I have tears in my eyes... my own mom  kept it for those 26 past years. She moved 3 times, she did not know if I ever had a daughter myself neither but she care to keep it.

Thanks mommy, I'll try to be as good as you were, you are and will be as a mom. I love you

FO : Easter'S baby surprise jacket

Yes I did the most classic baby's sweater for my daughter... but so cute and modern colors I couldn't resist. Most of all I was dying to try out the yarn I received from my swap parthner in South Africa and also the uber cute buttons inclosed in the swap package too !!!

Here are the spec of my Easter pleasure...

Pattern : Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Yarn : directly from South Africa (I called it my world cup project because of it... lol) Bambi Yarn from Vinnis colours made of 70% Organic cotton and 30% Bamboo. 3 colorway : the bright orange is Tangerine, the yellow is Sunshine and the red is Tomato. Yarn is perfect for baby knitting and I would totally came back from South Africa with a full trunk of local products if they are so cool and well made.

Needle : 4 mm

Size : This is the charm of this pattern : the yarn and needles you used made the size of the pattern, with a Dk weight and 4mm needles is says that the sweater will be about 9 months in size, which is about true in my case when I check on other pieces of clothing I have. Hopefully it will fit my daughter next winter...

The other super cute feature are the buttons star-shaped made by hands by south african woman too... really if baby wasn't planned for July, I would book my vacation over there to discover this wonderful country and buy a bunch of local products...for now I will follow up the Football World Cup with my love and find some place on Internet to restock on those cool yarn and buttons... :)

Last detail about my FO : machine washable and unisex so our next creation will also be able to wear it...

FO : Tilted for Olympics

Over a month ago during the Olympics I did challenge myself to knit not one but two complete sweater during the event and I did accomplished the whole thing but I never posted about sweater number 2, the proof that I knitted like a crazy to achieve my challenge !

Here are the specs of the Tilted for Olympics

Pattern : Tilted Duster by Norah Gaughan (published in Interweave knit, Fall 2007)

Needles : 6 mm

Yarn : 5.2 skeins of Cascade 200 in white

Size : 40.5 medium size since I grew from everywhere with pregnancy...

Cast on : February 16th

Cast off : February 28th during curling finals

With my 24 weeks and 2 days belly ...

I love, just love this sweater and it's a perfect fit for a maternity sweater since you can wrap it around the belly if you are cold or keep it open with buttons attached... The only thing I am glad to had thing before casting on, planning on growing breast too, I knitted a little bit more ease for breast and now it's full !!!

Also second time with Cascade 220, it went smooth again and I still understand why it's so used : not expansive, impressive choice for coloways and also fun to knit with. A must for your stash and your future projects !!!

The final post about my Swallowtail shawl...

I don't know if you remember but I did a Swallowtail shawl last Spring and I never got any time to take a good picture of it... well I presume now is better than never... ;)

Baby fever

Hello !!!

again a long interruption of service in blogging... but I had busy needles and I will update all my projects in the next few days...

First of all, about baby in my belly, in order to wait to know gender I knitted the same pattern twice, once in boy style and the second one girl style...

Spec X 2

Pattern : Hodge by Stella Lange

Needle : 2.5 mm

Yarn for the boyish version : ONline Supersocke 100 Holiday Color (leftovers from my very first pair of sock back in 2007 about 20 gr.)

Yarn for the girlish version : ONline Supersocke 100 color Savanna

They were very fun and cute to make, that was the perfect project to wait until we know gender of baby...also a good way to use leftovers from previous projects. Baby items are made just for that I presume... ;)


So what are your predictions, boy or girl ???

Now I can tell everyone : we are having a GIRL !!!! :)

First picture of the cutie a few weeks ago...