The Jury Is Still Out

 Pattern: TINY Tea Leaves Cardi

Designer: Melissa LaBarre

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy

Color: Absolute Magenta

Size: 4 for Lucy Darling

The pattern was originally an adult cardigan and the designer downsized it for children. I am constantly browsing Ravelry for sweet ideas for The Girls and this is the first in a long while that has interested me.

I think the French have elevated children's patterns to a level of sophistication and style that I struggle to find here in North America. If only they attached English translations! I have a gorgeous Phildar (French company) book for children that I purchased in Amsterdam, thinking that knitting is universal and how hard can it be to figure out the Dutch text?!   Hmmm.... 

It's easy to google word translations but harder to translate abbreviations peculiar to knitters! 

This TINY Tea Leaves cardigan is a cute design but I am not sure I have a good marriage of yarn and pattern. The Classy yarn is great but this pattern could perhaps use a yarn with a little more drape. And I am not sure that it will be big enough - though size six would be, I think, just too big for a petite three year old.  I hope it will all come together with buttons and blocking.

Annapolis Valley African Violet Society

 

Today was the annual Annapolis Valley African Violet Society show, tea, and sale in Middleton, Nova Scotia. Their group is small but, as always, they managed to produce an impressive display of violets and other gesneriads.

The Streptocarpus

Episcia

I haven't been a member of the group since we moved away from the Valley in 1992 so it was nice to see a few familiar and kindly faces, like Bernice Mahar.

I was able to purchase three varieties of African violet leaves for propagation, four small plantlets, a semi-miniature African violet trailer, and a small streptocarpus plantlet. One of the violet varieties, Suncoast Paisley Print, was a hybrid that I grew years ago and it is nice to have it back again!

A friend once said that gardening (both indoor and outdoor) is a wonderful pastime because it involves so much hope. I agree.

Woodland Centerpiece

There's always something in a woodland garden that can be used as a Sunday dinner centerpiece.

And there's always something on hand  that one could serve for Sunday dinner.

The Case of The Missing Nupps

A nupp (rhymes with soup) is a very small bump or bobble found in many lace patterns, especially traditional Estonian shawls . Nancy Bush did an excellent job of describing nupps and providing instructions on making them in her book Knitted Lace of Estonia.

I just completed my second shawl pattern, knitting nupps for the first time.
Lace knitting is not rocket science but it does take care, concentration, and lots of counting.
I often have to frog back a row, stitch by stitch, to redo a section when, after reaching the centre stitch of the project or the end of a row, the pattern doesn't fall into place 

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl

Designer: Evelyn A. Clark

Yarn: Zephyr Laceweight

Needles: 3.5 mm circular

It took me about eleven days to do the shawl (after reading a lady on Ravelry exclaim that the project flew off her needles in only five evenings!). I am pleased with it but puzzled. After stretching it out on the blocking wires, and carefully scrutinizing the shawl, I discovered three areas where there are chains of four nupps instead of five. Now how I accomplished this and still kept the stitch numbers and the rest of the pattern intact is a mystery to me. A more experienced knitter with a sharper eye would have picked it up while the work was in progress.

I'm never discouraged in these situations but motivated to try the pattern again sometime and get it absolutely mistake-free! In the meantime, this one will be a dressy scarf with a winter coat when the cold winds of January descend upon us.

The Violet Lady Is Back !

The light tray is out, the canopy is up, and the lights are turned on. The Violet Lady is back.

My dear, departed father was in love with African Violets and grew them on a stand in a spare bedroom for years. And Movita mentioned an interest in them when she was here last. The passion for them, I am sure, is genetic!
When we lived in the Annapolis Valley, I had  fluorescent light stands with trays for growing African Violets. I always had dozens of beautiful hybrids and belonged to the Annapolis Valley African Violet Society. We kept the light stands at the front of the law office. They provided a distraction for clients who were stressed, a conversation piece for newcomers to the community, and a treat for plant lovers. I propagated and sold the plants at a modest price. The money was put in a collection box and used to buy plant supplies and new and interesting hybrids, which found their way, once well established, into other homes in the community.
When we moved to the metro area, I continued to grow them on a smaller scale. About five years ago, with the light stands full of beautiful flowers, a fungus wiped them out and I lost heart. I cleaned the lights and trays with a bleach solution and put my pots away.
Today, we went to the annual show and sale held by the First Halifax African Violet Society, viewed the prize winners, which included other gesneriads (like exceptionally beautiful streptocarpus),  and bought a number of plants, including one streptocarpus cutting (Streptocarpus Bristol's Goose Egg), and the African Violet Optimara IsaBelle. It was great to talk to the very experienced violet growers there, especially Ina Beaver, who was a name in provincial violet circles thirty years ago! Oh, it's good to be back!

Shetland and Shawls

We would like someday (when, for instance, the Icelandic ash cooperates) to go to Scotland and visit the Shetland Islands. From sheep, to mills and museums, to the Jamieson and Smith storefront, it would be a visit steeped in Shetland history (in which Shetland wool and traditional knitting played such a vital commercial role).

In the meantime, I have ordered Jamieson and Smith's sample cards, and used a Canadian laceweight yarn to produce a small shawl pattern (just the right size to be worn as a neck scarf) designed by that clever little lass, Ysolda.

Pattern: Ishbel

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Silver Label Mulberry Silk
Color: Amber
Needles: 4.0 mm addi Turbo Lace

A Day in the Country

The Annapolis Valley

First Stop:
Gaspereau Valley Fibres  - yarn shop and sheep farm - for their annual yard sale.

They had a great turnout within half an hour of opening. I exercised remarkable restraint in light of the fact that everything in the main shop was 20% off and the back room of the barn was filled with tables, baskets, and boxes with discounts of 50% and more. While I looked with longing at the dark red Donegal Tweed the lady in front of me heaped on the counter, but I only bought one skein of off-white superwash sport weight wool from Henry's Attic in New York, and one ball of Fortissima sock yarn priced at $5.00!

Outside, I couldn't help thinking of Lucy Darling. This past September, when we visited her in France, we took her almost daily to a nearby park where a pen of sheep and chickens had been set up beside the municipal building. She loved to watch and call out to them and I know she would have enjoyed a visit to this farm.

Besides Cotswold sheep, they have two llamas to protect the flock from predators. I imagine coyotes are the main concern. They've been growing rapidly in numbers in this province and have become even more of a worry to farmers, hikers, and anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

While I have no idea of their actual names, I like to think of the two llamas as Hector Protecter and the Dolly Llama.

Next Stop:

Blomidon Nurseries - where we gathered up a pot of Euphorbia polychroma, a coneflower hybrid called Mac 'N Cheese (coneflowers do so well in our woodland garden), and three small pots of Goldstrum rudbeckia.

Last Stop:

Domaine de Grand Pré - This winery was established ten years ago by a couple from Switzerland. The grounds are beautiful and are frequently the site of summer weddings. We've often admired the property but had never stopped there before. After browsing the wine shop, we had a wonderful lunch in their restaurant.

Mother's Day Flowers From My Favourite Son

Garter Yoke Cardi for Apolline

Done.

Lucy would say "Bravo!"

Bird House Accomodations For Rent (Shared Bath)

Yellow Highlights