Shelagh's Back from Florida!

My sister is back from her three-week trip to Florida with her husband--and I am so excited!

I mean, we still texted and Messengered each other daily, but it's so great having her back and only a 25-minute drive from me! Thank goodness for technology! I think I would have gone crazy if I couldn't have chatted constantly.

And something else cool about technology is that you can scope out local yarn shops at wherever it is you'll be spending time. So, of course, Shelagh did that before she left. And I'm glad she did because she found a very cool yarn shop in Sarasota called Picasso's Moon. Debra is the mastermind designer and dye-queen. Shelagh just raved over her yarns!

Even though Debra wasn't there, her friend and business partner Catherine--aka Rose of Indigo--was and she gave Shelagh the scoop about Debra's work.

Did Shelagh buy any?

Of course!

And, lovely sister that she is, she gave me two skeins! The one above is called "Strawberries & Poppies and is the most-sumptuously soft superwash Merino bulky loveliness. That one I'm saving for myself because it has all my favourite colours in it: ranges of pink from deep raspberry to pastel, oranges, yellows, and hits of green. I'm thinking a lovely, snuggly cowl.

The other is called "Peacock Hues."  Gorgeously green in a variety of shades ranging from off-white to a forest green. I'm so in love with this it's going to take me a while to "see" a pattern for it. In the meantime, I'll just drool over it as I watch Spring bring green back to our neighbourhood parks, lawns, and trees.

I'll try to talk Shelagh into writing an account of her travel knitting--of which she did a lot!--for next week.

A Gift for a Friend

Our sister Irene was always looking for something special with peacocks on it for her sister-in-law; Teena loves peacocks and are quite meaningful for her. Irene always had a good eye for hunting down something unique for Teena, so when I saw some yarn the Yarn Enabler dyed in a colourway she named "Peacock." I knew I had to get some to make something for Teena.

Then Yarn Enabler brought a couple of skeins of the "Peacock" yarn to Knit Night at our local yarn store. She had dyed a couple of different yarn bases and they were both beautiful but slightly different. It is amazing how different each yarn base affects how the dyes absorb. The woman who had ordered the colour originally bought the ones she wanted . . . but there was one left that she didn't want. It was 75% Superwash merino and 25% nylon sock yarn! Soft and squishy! So I said "Sold!"

Now that I had a skein I had to find a pattern to do this gorgeous colour justice. Baadeck Yarns posted a free pattern that intrigued me. I looked it up on Ravelry and thought it a perfect match for this yarn and for Teena. The pattern is Seaglass by Jessamyn Leigh.

The pattern is written for using DK weight yarn and I was using sock weight. I knit it up to the initial specifications of the pattern just to get a feel for it. I loved how this pattern and yarn look together, but it was way too small. I frogged it after weighing the finished scarf, then figuring out how much to adjust the cast-on to make the scarf.

Once I made the pattern adjustments, the scarf knit up quickly. I worked on it while away on holidays: knitting in the car, by the pool, or just when having a quiet evening back at the room.

Back home, I took it to Knit Night and they loved how it turned out, including Yarn Enabler. But more importantly, Teena loved it!