The Apron

I love food. I love experimenting with different tastes, recipes and spices. One of the first blogs I ever followed regularly was not a knitting blog, but a food blog, La Tartine Gourmande. So there's always something simmering in my kitchen. As in many homes it's the centre around which life unfolds.

Since we moved into out new house 4 months ago, I have been busy thinking of decorating (see my Pinterest board) and making our house into a home. I like to be surrounded by things that have a meaning, items I've picked up during my vacations, a memento from my childhood, family photos. And lately also hand-made items, a felted bowl, a knitted pillow-cover and now.....an apron. I know you may think...really? An apron? Why should I be impressed by an apron? But you do not understand, for someone that had to film the sewing instructions she got, this is a big deal!

I am proud to present my second sewing project!

As always, my go-to blog for ideas is The Purl Bee. The Tutorials are the best. I am starting to get the hand of this, though I have to admit that the stripes on the fabric were a life-saver!

I also followed the suggestions of some of my blog followers and purchased the Lotta Jansdotter "Simple Sewing" book and I cannot wait to tackle some of those projects!

How about you? Any great food blogs you care to recommend??

Levenwick- the mystery of the invisible purl increase

One of my favorite knits so far has been the Levenwick cardigan by Gudrun Johnston . I have worn it countless times, and it is my most admired knit, both in person and on Ravelry. I was asked by a friend of mine to make another one, and I happily obliged. And what better time then now, when there are still 2 months left before the deadline for the Luvinthemommyhood Summer Sweater KAL runs out.

I thought it would be a quick project, since I have already knit it once. I was making quick progress on the cardigan until I got to the yoke, which for increases uses the "invisible purl increase". I remember stumbling across this part the first time around as well, so I hopefully turned to my notes. Alas, I did not make any on this particular subject. So I turned to Google, which surprisingly, failed me, as it had the first time around. I had no choice but ti figure it out on my own....again.

The pattern notes give the following instructions:

"Insert the right hand needle from the top down into the purl stitch that sits below the next stitch on the left needle. Purl this stitch and then purl the next stitch on the needle."

A decent explanation, but I am that kind of girl that needs pictures. So here's my first ever tutorial on the "invisible purl increase".

Now, I have no way of verifying that this is indeed the correct way of doing it, all I can say that this is how I have knit it. If I am incorrect, please let me know!

And at this point a "thank you" to my husband who took these photos despite some serious hay-fever this morning!

Spring Garden Tee & why you should always do the measuring yourself!

I've finally finished the "Spring Garden Tee", that was meant to be a birthday gift for my niece. Once the ends were woven in, and it was blocked, I was really excited to see it on my niece. I went over, armed with my camera, ready to take some gorgeous FO shots.

Perhaps I should have known. There had been signs. All I had to do is hold it up to my son for comparison. Or think back on previous conversations with my sister. Because it turns out the tee....is more of a tunic. Apparently that's fine, it only means she'll be able to wear it longer.

I guess.

It does look really cute on her, no?

I have also started my second KAL project, another Levenwick, for a friend. I really enjoyed knitting it the first time around, so it'll be a breeze to finish by the end of September. More on that soon.

The perfect summer day

What do you picture when you think of a perfect summer day?

Mine started with a perfectly blue sky, and enough me time to read a chapter of my new book, while enjoying a cup of coffee.

We then baked a little something. I love rhubarb, and my local grocery store finally started carrying it, so I've been trying a few different recipes. This one is from La Tartine Gourmande.

Lunch was followed by a quick run to my local yarn store . I was hoping to get some Pink Label Tanis Fiber Arts on sale, but ended up with this beauty:

And finally, the rest of the day was spent in my sister's pool.

We got home a little while ago, our skin still feeling hot from the sunshine we've absorbed all day. We're tired, but a good tired, if you know what I mean. I will sign off, and I am going to sit down and do some knitting. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend as well.

Summer Sweater KAL and a visit to a Lavender Farm

I am really happy to be able to show you my finished KAL sweater. After a really slow start, I finally gathered some steam and put the finishing touches on it this weekend.

My comments? Another great Purl Bee pattern. It is a simple construction, but that's what makes it so wearable, modern, and especially pretty. I also really like the yarn I used. I took a chance on linen yarn on ebay, and I am really happy with the quality. Also, the colors are amazing. I have lots left over, so I am already on the lookout for another suitable pattern. Suggestions?

Now let me tell you about our weekend outing.

Our little family has been making a effort to discover our own "backyard" so to speak. We live in a beautiful province, and especially in the summer, there are tons of things to do. A few years ago I had visited a lavender farm close to Magog, and I absolutely wanted to take the hubs and A. to it.

We packed a picnic basket, I armed myself with my camera and off we went. I was a little worried about the 2 hour car ride, but A. loved playing "spot the red car", and it kept him busy for most of the day. I worked on my niece's t-shirt, and before you know it we had arrived.

Bleu Lavande is a really special place. It's perched on a hill, overlooking the surrounding forests. It's flowering season at the moment and as soon as you arrive you are faced with a sea of purple. If there is a breeze, you get a hint of that refreshing lavender smell. There are picnic tables strewn along the fields, a band is singing live, and you can participate in botany, gardening and cooking workshops. They even have little tents set up where you can get massages. The kids can play on the jungle-gym, but most of them are content just running through the fields and smelling the flowers. I tasted the most delicious lavender lemonade, and I am dying to try and whip up a batch at home.

It seems everyone is overcome by this sense of calm. We came back really refreshed and content. I will leave you with some shots of this wonderful place.



Summer B-day Party

I have always envied people whose birthday is in the summer. The possibilities for celebrating are endless. BBQ, picnic, pool party, garden party, any type of outdoor entertaining is fun. Case in point...my niece.

She turned 3, and to celebrate we had a picnic in one of our favorite parks. It has every element needed to make a kid's party perfect.

A huge playground, water games, picnic tables and lots of shade for the parents to watch the kids have fun.

I had planned to make the Spring garden Tee for Sofia, but did not get around to finishing it. At around 1 AM the night before I had to admit defeat and set it aside. She will get it by next weekend (I hope), so in the meantime here's a shot of the almost finished tee.

Luvinthemommyhood Summer Sweater KAL

If you've been following my blog for a while you may remember that last year I joined the luvinthemommyhood Summer Sweater KAL. It was a great experience. I got to "meet" a lot of like - minded knitters and I loved sharing and discussing my project. Everyone is really helpful and encouraging. So if you've got a project in mind, or if you've been thinking about that one pattern, but have not yet found the opportunity to start... Why not join us?

Here's the link to sign up, there's no pressure, and I promise you it's lots of fun.

Now about my own project, I mentioned here that I found some linen yarn on eBay to use for the Purl Bee Silken Straw Summer Sweater pattern. It was going to be my vacation project. The plan was to use the 8 hour flight to be productive and make lots of progress. I even went on-line to do research and make sure that you are indeed allowed to bring knitting needles on board (I had a printout with me just in case). About an hour into the flight, after A. and S. had fallen asleep, I pulled out my project and settled in for some knitting.

Alas.....barely any progress was made.

I've never worked with linen before, and did not consider the stiffness of the yarn. I am knitting this with 2 strands held together, so the result was a huge tangled mess of stiff, linen, lace-weight yarn. I believe I spent maybe 1 hour trying to untangle it, then gave up, frustrated. In the end, I had to cut out quite a bit of yarn, because I was never able to undo it.

I did not pick up my project for any significant progress, until I read about the KAL. It was the push I needed. So here's a glimpse of what it looks like. It's coming together quite nicely, and I cannot wait to have it finished.