Craving Colour

Things are finally starting to green up in our neck of the woods and plants are poking through the earth.  Not much in the way of colour yet, so to satisfy my craving, I've been in full swing knitting Spring coloured dishcloths the past few weeks.

L to R:  Fruit Punch, Sky Blue & Key Lime Pie

I started off just wanting to knit up a few to give to Bonnie for her birthday, but I as got going, I just couldn't stop!  My yarn stash also grew by leaps and bounds, because every time I had to make a trip to Walmart I'd have to have a peek... and there would be another colour calling my name.

Speaking of names, what a fun job it would be coming up with names for all of the beautiful colours out there!  Every once and a while Bernat comes up with a new line of "themed" yarns that are a lot of fun.  Vintage Quilt is the latest one I've seen, and 2 balls from that collection ended up in my cart. 

L to R: Calico & Meadow

I almost get as excited buying new yarn, as I do discovering interesting new patterns out there from the world of Pinterest and Ravelry.  The newest pattern I've fallen in love with is called "The Almost Lost Washcloth Pattern" from the blog Simply Notable (the one pictured above in "Key Lime Pie").  Such a sweet story too, as to how she obtained the pattern.  

Now, up to this point, I have never knit anything but square dishcloths, so I thought it would be fun to go a different route and I was up for the challenge.  What a pleasant surprise!  Even though this shape looks complicated, it was so easy and a great way for me to try my hand at knitting short rows.  All you need to know is how to do regular old knit stitch and how to cast off, and you're good to go.  A really fast knit too!   

I also found that this pattern looks great when knit with variegated yarn.  A lot of the patterns out there get "lost" when knit with something other than a solid.  With this one the shape is what it's all about. 

Don't worry... I will get back to my cross stitching... someday.  Right now, I'm having too much fun with my friends, Robin's Nest, Queen Ann's Lace and the rest of the Bernat Gang!!

Happy Easter, everyone!!  Thank for stopping by...

Tracey

I'm Hooked!

I guess my post title today would be more appropriate if I was going to talk about crocheting, but now that I've rediscovered knitting, it's true... I'm hooked!!

As I've mentioned before, it's been decades since I last had knitting needles in my hands, but I was determined to give it a try.  I thought that by starting out with something small like a dishcloth would be the best way to go.

**Warning: This first picture may be disturbing to some viewers... especially if you are a skilled knitter.**                                           

Now that I've had more practice, my 1st attempt even makes me cringe!

There are thousands of dishcloth patterns out there, so I thought I would attempt a few different ones, to see which one I liked the best.  Jody's birthday was right around the corner, so I thought, why not make some to go along with her gift?  Thank goodness for Youtube videos. They really helped to refresh my memory with all kinds of tips and techniques.

I felt like my Nana was there right along beside me as I worked away on these; using the same needles she used for her many years of knitting.

When she opened her gift, Jody made the comment that she just threw away 3 dishcloths that had seen better days, so I was happy to give her some new ones to use.  (No, I didn't give her the one in the first picture!)

As I like to say... if you have to wash dishes by hand, why not have some pretty dishcloths to do the job?

Tracey

Peace and Love

While recently shopping at my local Walmart store, I took a peek down the yarn aisle and saw that Bernat had added some new colours to their line of  Handicrafter Cotton yarns appropriately  called Peace and Love.  I just fell in love with these cool colours that instantly transported me back to my childhood in the 70's. 

                Aquarius                                 Batik                               

When you look at the Bernat site, there are 8 fun colours available... unfortunately they only had 2 to choose from at this store.  Needless to say, it didn't take me long for me to toss them into my cart!

Next thing was to decide what to use this new yarn for??  Silly question... well a dishcloth of course!!  Since crocheting so many lately of the same pattern for Brentwood and for my daughter's upcoming wedding (in 12 days!), I thought it was time to try out a new pattern.  

The one I chose came from Leisure Arts Wash & Wipe booklet that has 14 different crochet dishcloth patterns to choose from.  Have to say, it sure was a fun one to do!

Groovy...

Tracey

Brentwood Retreat

Another year has come and gone for our Brentwood Retreat and what a great time it was.  Tons of laughs, tons of food, tons of fun and best of all tons of stitching. 

For the past two years the Stitching Sisters from the Brantford area meet up with the Four from Forest to spend time doing what we love most, stitching, knitting, crocheting, and laughing.  This year a few traveled all the way from Ottawa and Sault St. Marie to join in our antics. Some are known to sip a few 'specialty' beverages and sit with a bottle of Tylenol beside them the next day, and some are known to 'entertain' everyone with silly bedtime stories.  It has been rumoured that the video may show up on someone's blog one of these days. 

Just a few of the many stitchers which invaded the resort.
Cheers Jayne!

Last year a few creative stitchers designed and created this lovely keepsake needlecard of our stay at Brentwood.  I love this piece and I use it every single time I cross stitch. 

Brentwood's signature colours are aqua, teal, and white and this needlecard was stitched in the same cheerful colours as a keepsake for everyone.

Upon opening the card you find a piece of flannel sewn inside
to house your needles safely.

So this year we, the Four from Forest (Anita, Bonnie, Jody and Tracey), wanted to do something as well for these lovely ladies.  We found yarn in the aqua, teal, white and sandy beach colours and we thought this very appropriate colours to crochet some dishcloths as a keepsake from us.  Tracey and Anita are the expert 'dishclothers'.  Bonnie and Jody struggled with the hook - so they were assigned with the task of figuring out how to 'present' the gifts to everyone. 

This adorable cross stitch look stamp was so appropriate for our gift tag.

A memorable poem was written by Bonnie on behalf of the Four from Forest.

So when we arrived this year, we were greeted by a beautiful little trinket sitting on our beds.  I don't know how many people were in on this surprise, but a HUGE thank you to ALL who created these gorgeous Flat-Folds. 

As a group we always sign Anita, Bonnie, Jody and Tracey.  This photo would be particularly pretty without the bag of chips adorning the background. 
As a side note and to be fair to the chips - they WERE delicious.

Brentwood Retreat - Group Photo 2011 

Thanks again ladies for such a lovely vacation. 
Many laughs, Many memories. 

Tracey, Bonnie, Jody, Anita

With lots of love from the Four from Forest.

Pink + Green + Yellow = Spring

When Bonnie and I were shopping last week, we knew the day wouldn't be complete without having a look around Hobby Lobby.  Even though I still have a ton of dishcloths to finish crocheting for the wedding, I couldn't pass by the yarn aisle without having a peek.  

Did you know that Hobby Lobby has their own brand of 100% cotton yarn called I LOVE THIS Cotton!? Well I tell you, I whole heartedly agree!!  This yarn is amazingly soft and the variety of colours are just so scrumptious! 

This gorgeous pink and green combo caught my eye and to me it said "Welcome Spring", so into the cart it went!  I think it makes washing the dishes by hand a little more enjoyable too  :^) 

Notice the sweet little teacup with the yellow pansy?  When Bonnie hosted our monthly cross stitch meeting this past week, she had three of these darling Spring favours waiting for each one of us when we arrived.  Don't you just love it?  Thanks so much Bonnie!

Happy Spring everyone!

Tracey

Swimming Pools...

... Movie Stars. Loved those Beverly Hillbillies! :^)

Well there isn't going to be a swimming pool, and there probably won't be any movie stars either, but in just 3 months (hard to believe!) at my daughter's wedding there will be a basket full of these dishcloths to hand out to their guests. (Swimming Pool just happens to be the name of the yarn I am using. What a fun job that would be... coming up with names for yarn, or floss, or paint...)

Since the wedding is going to be quite a casual affair, I thought the dishcloth thing would be a fun idea and Chantelle agreed. Now the main wedding colours are turquoise, purple and black, so this was the closest I could find to turquoise (had a hard time getting a picture of the "true" colour though). Tie them up with a black ribbon and we're all set to go!

Now hopefully it will be that easy picking out my dress...

Tracey

Crochet Night at Anita's

At our October cross-stitch meeting, Anita gave us all a beautiful tin pumpkin stuffed with goodies: tucked amongst the treats was a gorgeous crocheted dish cloth. She's always making us dishcloths, but this one was different. When Anita found out how excited we were about this new pattern and yarn, she thought it would be fun to have a crochet night the next time she hosted.

Of course we (and when I say we, I mean I...) decided to start on a more challenging pattern as our learning tool. Rather than learn how to chain, the difference between and single crochet and a double (besides 2,,,), or even HOW to read a pattern -- we just jumped right in with both feet. (or should I say 8 hands).

Knit one, pearl one. Oops wait a sec, wrong saying...

*Chain 3. Eat 3. Rep from * to end of dish.

Starting out... a flood of memories came back to me (and when I say back I mean 'haunt') of the days that my mother attempted to teach me how to knit and crochet. My difficulty was with the tension, I was either too loose or too tight, and I couldn't hold the tools just right. "Practice", she said. "Just watch my hands". Watching my mothers hands reminded me of watching Speedy Gonzales - which then made me think I'd rather watch cartoons. No A.D.D. here!

So, back to Anita Gonzales: Anita very patiently sat with me to help me learn and self-taught Tracey helped Jody along. Both Jody and I have had a stressful week and every time I would bitch & grumble about the tension of my yarn, or Jody would curse "shit, bugger damn"someone would say "It's a dishcloth - it doesn't matter - keep going" After a few hours of learning and tearing out the sentence got shortened to "It's a dishcloth!:"

It's a dishcloth!

"It's a dishcloth" really puts things into perspective doesn't it?
Along with a slew of sayings:
"How important is it?"
"In the grand scheme of things..."
"At the end of the day..."
"Five years from now... will it really matter?"

This is a excellent example of why we love to get together: Live, Laugh, Love and remind each other that we are there to support one another. To lift the ones who are down and turn the frowns upside down.

After we finished crocheting, Anita brings out 3 large bags and surprised us with an early Christmas gift. She had crocheted an afghan for each one of us!!! Thank you so much Anita, we appreciate the time and effort that went into these treasured keepsakes.

Seriously - I'm snuggled in my afghan right now as I create this page.
Bonnie

Jody's (left) - Tracey's (middle) - Bonnie's (right)