Spud & Chloe and Finnie From France

Here are three of my favourite things: Spud & Chloe yarn, the Cookie Sweater (for our little Finnie), and the nooks of crannies of my own woodland garden.

Pattern: Cookie Sweater
Source: Miss Bea's Rainy Day
Designer: Louisa Harding
Yarn: Spud & Chloe Sweater
Color: Watermelon

This Spud & Chloe yarn has produced a lot of excitement in the knitting world (my parallel universe) since its recent introduction. I discovered it on the first day the gals at The Tangled Skeins in Dartmouth put it out. It is a wool/cotton blend, soft, with good stitch definition, and comes in worsted and fingering weights and very pretty colors. And washable!

We are very lucky in this region to have such great yarn stores. It is fun to play around with Knitmap.com and see how shockingly few yarn suppliers can be found in some major centres around the world!

In Halifax, there's the Loop Cafe on Barrington Street, L.K. Yarns with Louise in the Hydrostone, the Tangled Skeins in Dartmouth and, along the South Shore, Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay. They all have great owners and staff and a truly impressive array of products.

Winter White On A Hot August Day

Pattern: Basic Cabled Mittens
Designer: Amy O'Dell
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Color: Winter White
Needles: 3.5 mm. dpn's

I really enjoy knitting cables and mittens are a great way to work a cabled pattern and produce something very practical. I modified this pattern a bit by turning to Ann Budd's basic mitten pattern for the thumb gusset as I prefer the fit.

Gone Pro

I've gone pro. It was Movita's Blue Opal bedroom that turned the corner for me. If I can paint a bedroom with a drop ceiling on a black, black day with pouring rain and 100% humidity with only two small light bulbs in the ceiling, holding a work light in my left hand and a paint brush or roller in my right, and pausing only when absolutely necessary to wipe the dripping sweat from my brow, and finding the next day in better light that the room is gorgeous, I'm a pro.
Now, which tools to pack for France...

The Colors of August

Clematis: Wisley

Hard to believe that this clematis was introduced at the Chelsea flower show as recently as 2004. It feels as though it has been at home here forever. It is a strong, reliable, showy plant.



Pattern: Merion Mitts (again)
Designer: mintyfresh
Yarn: Cascade 220
Color: 7802
Also strong, reliable and showy.

Mittens: The Turquoise/Pink Period

This is a great way to make good use of leftover yarn and keep little hands toasty this coming winter.
Pattern: The Knitter's Handbook of Patterns by Ann Budd
Yarns: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, Lamb's Pride Superwash Worsted and Mission Falls 1824 Wool