Ascot, et al

Love this pattern! It's basically garter stitch, with a ton of wrapped stitch, short rows to make the ends flare out. Then, you knit on a border with bobbles, to finish it off. The pattern is called 'Ascot' and is from Interweave Knits Holiday Gift Guide 2007. This is Manos del Uruguay yarn which I had purchased on my recent trip to Scotland. There is still enough of the one skein to make at least a baby sized hat. It's wonderful yarn -- silk and merino blend and the colourway reminds me of the ocean.

One Tudora down, with Fetching mitts to accompany (pattern courtesy of Knitty.com) in Malabrigo, natch!

And here are the rest of them -- I'm done with this pattern -- soooooo done. There's nothing wrong with it -- in fact, it was fabulous -- I've just made so many that I'm over it. All in Malabrigo, with buttons purchased at Ram Wools, in Winnipeg, from my recent trip.

There was a lot of this in Winnipeg -- and in addition, -26C! Coming from the Southwest coast, this took some getting used to! Although, it is a very dry cold, so not as hard to bear. I was very grateful for my down coat, lined boots and knitted accessories, I'll tell you!


My dear friend suffered through a trip to the yarn store and very patiently waited and listened while I went into raptures over the wonderful finds! We pulled into the parking lot to discover that there was a store-wide sale on that day only -- can you say 'happy dance'????? I picked up some silk "Tussah" (pictures to follow at a later date, and some lovely Peruvian merino, along with a ton of buttons -- what a selection!

Here's my best friend, Connie, making Christmas Cards. I brought a ton of gear with me so that we would be able to do all of our cards together. I thought for sure I was going to be over the 50lb weight limit at the airport scales, but thankfully, the case was 4 lbs under! Although, they did put a 'Heavy' label on it.

And here's a sampling of some of what we accomplished! These are Connie's cards and I had about the same amount of my own. I also helped her get a start on her daughter's wedding album, so we really got a lot done. Whenever I come to visit, we always find a project to do -- I think her poor hubby lives in fear of my visits, as he knows something's going to change before I leave! One year, Connie decided she was done with the look of her table lamps, so we bought special paint and went to town on them. They turned out beautifully!


And here is a photo of Connie's daughter Kerri and I together. We have so much fun when we're out together and people realize that we have the same name! Although, I spell mine with a 'y' at the end. It's scary ... I remember when she was born, and now she's a young married woman. Please tell me I'm not that old ..... :)


Connie and I met when we were barely 20. We were assigned as roommates at Capernwray Bible School in Austria, for 3 months. We immediately hit it off and were inseparable for the whole 3 months. When school ended, Connie went home and was married within 6 months, and I stayed on and traveled for another 1 1/2 years with a band as their lead female singer. Even though our lives were very different, we still kept in touch all through the years and found time to visit each other, in between the births of her 3 children (all of whom are now 18 and older)! It such a gift to have a friend who's known you through your past and present and 'get's you'. Ok, this is bizarre ... as I was just about to hit the 'publish' button, she phoned!