Before Your Time Ellen!

Ellen seems to think that I never did any knitting before she came along. All the same, how could she know?  Let's let her in on a few things that she might like.

The first is a hand knit sweater I knit for Andrea.  I found the pattern in a Vogue Knitting book that had patterns from the 50s. Andrea wore the sweater with pride until her cat, Jack took a fancy for it.

The 2nd item is a blanket I knit for Ange last Fall when I first got the knitting machine. Ange had moved to Montreal and when the cold weather started to set in, she said she was frozen all the time. As soon as she discovered that I'd bought a new knitting machine, she asked for a blanket for Christmas.  Ellen's wishin' she had been around for that!

The blanket is made from 100% acrylic yarn I bought at Michaels (22 balls of it to be exact) and it's knit in 20 panels with pattern card No. 1 that came with the machine, then crocheted together on the right side of the blanket so that the crochet ridges look decorative. Then I crocheted single crochet around the perimeter of the blanket 6 times. Took a few TV hockey games to get that done!  :-)

I've written up the pattern for the blanket and posted it as a free download on Ravelry. You can check it out at Ravelry.com. My Ravelry name is Kievgirl or Betty Nolan Designs.  If you want to do a pattern search in Ravelry, the blanket is listed under "Bright Blanket."  Have a look!

Ellen's Adventure #1

Just back from the weekend adventure in Bridgeport, Newfoundland (near Twillingate - will get to that later in the week) and surrounding areas.  Ellen had a grand time and met so many new friends. Some thought it a little weird that she was hanging out with humans, while others were totally supportive.  All in all, a very productive trip.  There's so much to show you and so much to say that we'll have to do it in a few posts.  

The evening we arrived, the weather was superb and Bridgeport Harbour was beautifully calm so we got to work right away.  Ellen is shown below all cosied up in a sweater I knit for myself in late Spring.  By the time I finished it, the weather was too warm to wear it (although some would disagree!).  The sweater is machine knit, hand finished, with Knit Picks City Tweed HW in a pattern I designed myself.  I wanted a big comfy sweater with a sweatshirt fit.  It should be perfect for Fall.

In the background behind Ellen you'll see the beautiful Bridgeport landscape/seascape, as well as our friends' fishing shed and wharf.

There's more to follow during the week so please check back.  I'll include some non-Ellen photos to give you a taste of this beautiful place.  Ellen thought she should be in all the photos! Wasn't that the purpose of bringing her along? I explained to her that I don't have enough items knit for her to model in many different settings and we don't want to bore our audience.  She reluctantly agreed.  :-)