Yarn Candy

Whilst in Tofino I bought some gorgeous yarn from Knits by the Sea - well, it would have been rude not too!  As I love knitting with thinner gauge yarn, and as I have enough fingering weight to sink a battleship (yep, really), I bought two skeins of Sweatermaker 'Fiona' in a merino/silk mix.

Golden

 Pink/Grey

The yarn is very soft and smooshy and will be transformed into shawls/wraps or scarves in the future.  Maybe not the near future . . . but you never know!  The yardage is good - 700m per skein, so each one will make a substantial garment.

The yarn is local to BC and I try and purchase yarn that I would not dye - usually due to the weight or color/pattern.

I am really loving the soft, pastels hues, and actually loaded up some skeins that I had dyed to my Etsy shop.  I love dyeing yarn, but as I mix many colors - I run out of names for them all.  Previously I used names inspired by witches and their spells such as Marygold and Verbena - and I will use those names again when I dye up the same mix, but I wanted to dye a batch of yellows for the SolidSocks group on Ravelry, and I rather ran our of naming inspiration (fortunately not dyeing inspiration), so I cheated!  I would like to introduce you to:

Yellow #2

 

 Yellow #3

 and Yellow #5!

Hey, it works!  Simple but effective . . . . and I used my new skills from the photography class to take clear, naturally lit pictures!

Tofino - the Retreat

Wow!  We have just returned home from a lovely week spent in Tofino and Victoria B.C.  The reason for the visit was a retreat organized by Knits by the Sea.  The 'teacher' was Amy Swenson who taught us all about different shapes for shawl knitting, basic triangle, wedge and crescent.  She also gave us a great tutorial on photography - as it relates to the knitting/yarn that we use.  She was very inspirational and I am buzzing with ideas!

We stayed in the lovely Middle Beach Lodge and Ellie from Knits by the Sea booked the great-room/lounge for our classes.  Due to the number of attending knitters (about two dozen), we took over the whole lodge.  Great fun!

This was the view from our room:

Absolutely stunning.  Going to sleep and then waking up to the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach was amazing.  It makes you think about what you would like to do in the future - you know, when retirement comes knocking on the door.  I have a few years to go yet, but living by the sea is certainly top of my list.

During the photography session, the lovely Ellie from Knits by the Sea kindly modeled my Grains of Salt shawl that I test knit for Maja - the pattern is available on Ravelry, is is a great, fun knit.

 

Interestingly, this was the only picture that I took with the light shining through the shawl as the small 'view' on the back of my camera did not look too good - but in the end, this was my favorite photo - I love the way the beach and sky open up the lace. - Thanks Ellie, your cheque is in the post!!

This is the second retreat that Ellie has organized - Cookie A came last year and I am looking forward to seeing who we will have next year!

Here are a few more gratuitous holiday pics!

And last but not least - check out the lovely, plump starfish.  Totally adorable!