Cowls and Trains, Ellen!

What do cowls and trains have in common? Not much really, except that they were together with Ellen last Saturday in Whitbourne.

John and I had to go around the bay last Saturday. It was raining and I debated whether Ellen should go or stay home. I had received a comment during the week saying that Leezel probably shouldn't hang out with Ellen because she doesn't get out much anymore. I took the hint and figured Ellen won't melt in the rain so she should come along. The sceneries along our route on Saturday were grey, so we decided to stop at the train station in Whitbourne, where CN train 940 is preserved near the town hall. (Click the link for further train info.)

I had hand knit two cowls. Ellen was anxious to board the caboose and model them. The cream coloured cowl is knit with Patons Angora Bamboo. I cast on a few hundred stitches on a circular needle and kept knitting a lacy stitch until the 3 balls of yarn were gone. The second one is knit with an Italian kid mohair in a lacy stitch that I made up. (At least I think I made it up because I couldn't find it it any of the stitch dictionaries.) :-)  I started that one as a scarf in June on a road trip, knit a little bit of it every now and again, but got tired of it. So, I twisted it, joined it, gathered it and voila! - made a cowl. 

Leezel does have new clothes, but I have to get more buttons. We'll do a little fashion show next post!

As you know from previous posts, I've been feeding the little birds in the neighbourhood for a while now. We have scattered visits from blue jays, but this past week we had a new visitor. I think it's a Northern Flicker, a member of the woodpecker family. I Googled "bird with red V on back neck" and that's what I found! So, the feeding station is a success with frequent clean up being necessary.  :-)

Rain cloud approaching.
As soon as I put Ellen back in the truck, it started to pour!

Too big to fit in the house, but determined to get a snack!

Line up!  :-)

Ready To Go, Ellen!

I've been busy as a beaver the past few weeks getting the children's sweaters ready to go to market. I deliver them to the store tomorrow. So I thought I'd give you a glimpse of some of them. Today I did the fibre tags and hang tags. So we're ready to go!

And, earlier this week I got a few snaps of the two blue jays that visit our back patio every now and again.

In the midst of the busyness, I've managed to knit a sweater for myself. We'll show you that one next post. Our weather has been rain, drizzle and fog (fondly known by the locals as 'RDF') for most of the past week, so as soon as the weather clears off, we'll get Ellen outside and get a few shots around town in my new sweater!

100% wool with stripes and pocket in Bunny Soft

100% wool with tiny heart buttons

Tied girl's ballet sweater (cotton/modal)

100% wool. The tiny buttons are Christmas lights.

100% wool with Bernat Boa as trim, collar and pockets.

We Got 'Em, Ellen!

The blue jay that is!

A couple of posts ago in "Backyard Visitors" I mentioned that a blue jay had dropped by a few times for a snack from the bird house in our back yard, but I couldn't get a photo of him/her because he/she was too quick to grab a bite and flee. 

This week we bought a bird seed bell and put it in one of the flower pots. Sure enough, the blue jay couldn't resist and dropped by. Got a couple of quick shots but had to take them through glass. 

I have a couple more children's sweaters knit. 

The pink and white sweater is hand knit with Berlini Smile yarn, which is a wool/acrylic blend and super soft. The fuzzy white yarn is Bunny Soft. Knit that one a few weeks ago when Hurricane Leslie blew through and we lost our electricity for a day. It did take more than one day to knit, but I got a good start on it that day until darkness came.

The red sweater is machine knit with hand knit edges with Patons DK Superwash 100% Wool. This yarn is soft enough to put next to a child's skin and not itchy at all.