Scotland Adventure Part One: Edinburgh

We started our Scottish journey in Edinburgh:

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Church in Edinburgh Castle

The sound of bagpipes

This was a huge park full of putting greens...my husband wishes it was his backyard!

Holyrood Park:  we hiked up this hill and the views were spectacular

A view from the hill looking down at Holyrood Palace where Mary, Queen of Scots lived and where the Queen resides when she is in Edinburgh

Another view from the top of the hill

Walked to the top of Calton Hill and climbed up the Acropolis

Yes, I tried haggis...let's leave it at that!

Pubs on every street

Tea aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia 
(the yacht the Royal Family used for forty years before it was decommissioned)

Our favourite experience of the whole trip:  the Edinburgh Military Tattoo performed in front of Edinburgh castle.  The best show I have ever seen.

We had so much fun in Edinburgh, the sights were amazing....the beauty continued as we travelled through the Highlands....

The Great Tapestry of Scotland

We just returned from a family trip to Scotland and my family and I agree that this was the best trip we have ever taken.  Scotland was more beautiful than I had imagined.  We started our trip in Edinburgh, travelled through the Highlands as far as the Isle of Skye, and then ended up in Glasgow, before we reluctantly returned home. (There was even some sheep shearing involved!)   In my next blog I will post some pictures of the trip but in this one I wanted to write about The Great Tapestry of Scotland which is currently on display at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.  These 160 tapestry panels are freeze frames of the history of Scotland and were hand stitched by over one thousand volunteer stitchers, each one sharing a passion for Scottish history.  Each panel took over 400 hours and measures either 100 x 100 cm or 100 x 50cm.  To see them in person was amazing as the amount of detail in each panel was so impressive.  Of course I have to show you the pictures of the ones involving knitting!

Panel #126 Fair Isle Knitting

Panel #115 Shetland Knitters

And how about this one:

Panel #73

I have to admit I visited this free display more than once as it was so incredible.  This unique way of telling the story of a Scotland's history is one I will not soon forget.

Pebble Beach Shawlette

I really had high hopes that I would do a lot of knitting this summer but I haven't got as much done as I thought I would by this point.  One pattern I did finish and really enjoyed knitting was the Pebble Beach Shawlette by Helen Stewart.  This pattern was the winner of the Unwind Brighton Design Competition in the U.K.  It uses just one skein of fingering weight yarn.  Here it is:

Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino Luxe in  Temperate

I was going to show you a picture of this shawl before it was blocked but I was so excited when I finished that I forgot to take a photo!  Using Sweet Fiber Yarns Cashmerino Luxe really made this project special.  The variegation in it is so pretty and the yarn blocked beautifully. It is extremely soft and is the perfect size to wear (53" x 15").  I liked this pattern so much that I might make a bigger version.  The directions were very clear with stitch counts after each row which really helped keep things on course.  It was a lot of fun as far as shawl knitting goes and is a perfect pattern for a special skein of yarn.  You should check it out!  It's Woolercoaster approved : )

For more pattern notes see my project page.

Victoria Yarn Shops

I was fortunate enough during my visit to Vancouver to take a day trip to Victoria.  I could show you all the pictures of the lovely scenery I took that day but you can find much better pictures than mine on the internet!  What I would like to share with you yarn lovers out there are some photos I took of my favourite yarn stores that are located in the province's most beautiful capital city.  First up was Button & Needlework Boutique .  This lovely store carries a nice selection of yarn, pattern books, stitching products, buttons, and embroidery kits.  Some yarns you can find there are Swan's Fingering, Spud & Chloe, and Blue Sky Alpacas to name just a few.

Buttons & Needlework Boutique, Victoria

Patterns by Brooklyn Tweed & Knitbot

A good variety of yarns

Shibui

Many stitching samples.  I just love this pillow.

A wall of embroidery yarn by Appleton

I stocked up on buttons for several planned cardigans that I hope to do this year.  It was very hard to choose as they had such a wide variety.

Then it was off to the Beehive Wool Shop.

Beehive Wool Shop, Victoria

This shop is excellent for many reasons.  First off they have many knitted samples of popular patterns. I don't know about you but I love to see how different yarn knits up before deciding which yarn I will invest in.  Secondly, the variety of yarn in all the different bases is one of the best I have seen.  I also really like that they featured many Canadian dyers such as Sweet Georgia Yarns, Sweet Fiber Yarns and Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts, just to name a few.  The sales staff was very knowledgeable and willing to answer my questions, but also let me browse as long as I liked.

As soon as you walk in the door you see this stunning display using a variety of yarns. (By the way if anyone reading this wants to know a particular pattern's name I have that information!)

The yarn variety was wonderful:

Sweet Fiber Sweet Sock 

Sweet Georgia Silk Mist and Shibui Silk Cloud

Sweet Georgia Cashsilk Lace

Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts

Well stocked Brooklyn Tweed Loft & Shelter yarn

This is just a small cross-section of what is available.  The Beehive Wool Shop is the only Canadian store selling Brooklyn Tweed yarn and has made it available for order online which is great news for Canadian Brooklyn Tweed fans.

This shawl was one of my favourite samples.  It is a modified version of Viajante using only two skeins of Sweet Fiber Super Sweet Sock.  I would love a cardigan knit in this colour...it was beautiful.

Viajante in Sweet Fiber Sweet Sock in Verve

And then to top off my shopping experience, when I was paying for my purchases, I spotted the Brooklyn Tweed Winter '14 Trunk Show.  These are all the knitted samples from the beautiful Brooklyn Tweed Winter '14 LookBook, including the beautiful Channel Cardigan by Jared Flood.

Brooklyn Tweed Samples including the Channel Cardigan in Hayloft

Kelpie

It was a wonderful day and if you have never had the chance to visit Victoria I would highly recommend it.  There is so much to see and do including  Butchart Gardens, another favourite place of mine.

Good-bye Victoria I hope to see you soon.

Granville Island, Vancouver

I had the pleasure of tagging along with my husband on a business trip to Vancouver.  Our plane landed on a Saturday morning and our first choice was to visit Granville Island.  To get there we took a sea bus to the island.  Granville Island has a farmer's market full of great things to eat, restaurants, artists, and many vendor selling beautiful things.  There is also live entertainment.  It was the perfect spot to wake us up after a cross country flight.

Fresh produce

So many food choices

Flower markets

 Of course I couldn't leave the island without visiting a lovely craft store called the Maiwa Supply store.  This store carries a variety of craft materials such as yarn, felt, dye and many other craft supplies.

Maiwa Supply

Embroidery thread

A lovely assortment of yarn 

Many dyes

A huge assortment of felt

It was a wonderful beginning to our time in Vancouver.

Through the Loops Mystery KAL

I took part in the Through the Loops Mystery KAL by Kirsten Kapur during the month of June.  Each week I received a part of the pattern, five clues in total.  Here is the finished shawl:

Ta-da

I can't tell you how happy I was with the whole process.  First the yarn...this was my first time using Black Trillium Fibres and it is so beautiful I cannot capture it on camera.   The colours seem to glow and the slight variegation in each skein was so pretty.  The yarn blocked beautifully.  I will definitely buy more of this yarn, there are just so many pretty colours to choose from.

The pattern:  I have been slowly working on improving my lace knitting skills.  This was the most challenging lace project I have done to date.  In fact if I had seen what the finished shawl looked like before starting it I might have shied away from doing it at all.  By getting a part of the pattern each week it made it feel manageable.  I was happy to discover that there were no tricky stitches and I solely used the charts (although written directions were provided).  For me the difficulty lay when I occasionally missed a yarn over, throwing off my stitch count.  I would then have to go back and figure out where I had gone wrong.  However, I quickly learned that using stitch markers throughout each row, to mark the repeated part of the pattern, was extremely helpful as well as putting in the occasional life line. The directions were very well written with enlarged charts to follow and the pattern was fun to knit.  I highly recommend it.  Look here to see the other finished shawls...each one is gorgeous.

Blocking:  Ahhhh the magic of blocking.  Look at this pattern completed before blocking:

Pre-blocking

Now look at it after...It was so much fun to block and see the magical transformation.  That's my favourite part of knitting.

After blocking

So if you are looking for a shawl pattern to knit this summer you can't go wrong with Kristin Kapur's design.

First Day of Summer

Saturday turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day and my husband and I decided to forget about our weekend chores and simply enjoy ourselves.  It was one of those days where everything fell into place.  It all started when I read the Blue Brick blog.  In a post the writer, Shireen Nadir, mentioned that she would be in Niagara-on-the-Lake in an Art Show at Frogpond Winery selling some of her jewellery.  This blogger is a favourite of mine because not only is she a knitter, but she takes amazing photos and designs very unique jewellery.  So we decided to go down and check it out.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I only got a few photos from my phone.  I had the pleasure of meeting Shireen and she was kind enough to take a photo with me.

Shireen Nadir and me!

Here is a sample of her jewellery:

Blue Brick jewellery

 It was hard to choose but this is the necklace I ended up buying:

Since we were in Niagara we couldn't leave without checking out my favourite Ontario winery called Colaneri Estate Winery where we enjoyed a delicious pizza and a glass of wine looking out over the vineyard, followed by a lovely wine tasting.  There I bumped into a very good friend of mine and had a good chat with her.  

On the way home my husband surprised me and stopped by a yarn store that I have always wanted to visit in Ancaster called The Needle Emporium.  Talk about a great selection of yarn, especially the largest variety of Madelinetosh I have ever seen available in the GTA. The store has everything from Madelinetosh, Rowan, Lorna's Laces, and Spud & Chloe just to name a few.  This store also carries the new line of Mrs. Crosby, a brand just introduced by Lorna's Laces.  Here is a shawl called Groovy I just finished in Mrs. Crosby Carpet Bag, a DK weighted yarn in 80% merino and 20% silk blend.  

Groovy in Mrs. Crosby "Carpet Bag"

I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn. The colours available are quite beautiful and the colourway I chose is a slightly variegated turquoise blue called Sunset Regatta.  The store is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area.  I really like that the owner had a huge amount of knitted samples which helps when making yarn buying decisions.  Once we got home we had a delicious barbeque and then I sat and knitted outside until the light started to fade.  What a peaceful day.  I hope you enjoyed the first day of summer too.