The Blue Brick

At Last

December 27, 2012

Yesterday we were promised snow, and lots of it. Because I am short sighted and forgetful, when 7 pm passed and the snow failed to arrive I went out for dinner… in heels. Cue the snow! By the time I got home (thank goodness for the mobile, heated, oasis-on-wheels known as cars) it was a world transformed.

I was hoping to get up just before dawn and shoot the blue hour but when I woke up the snow was still piling on, so I waited until later this morning to go a-shootin’ with my camera. What a treat! I hope very much that this lovely weather, now that it has finally arrived, is here to stay for at least 2 months.

Best moment of the day: finding a giant patch of untouched snow, perfect for a snow-angel (read: snow-overweight-butterfly). I couldn’t resist. Afterwards I just lay there in the snow for a good 5 minutes, staring at the sky and thinking ‘damn, this is awesome’. If you haven’t made one of these since childhood I highly recommend it.

Another delightful discovery is that the lake is finally starting to freeze over. It’s been 2 winters since that happened, and I miss it.

I love the way snow piles up on every little surface…

Nothing inspires me to knit quite like this kind of weather :)
A Christmas gift to my readers – the Man Slouch.

December 23, 2012

I’d like to celebrate today with a free pattern for my awesome blog readers :) Thank you everyone, for making the Blue Brick such an enjoyable, inspiring experience! This simple slouch/touque is a quick, mindless, easy knit for both guys and gals, but really, it’s one for your man.

Because, let’s face it; guys are picky. It can’t be too detailed, in a girly colour or contain un-manly motifs. Here then, is a base pattern for a very simple hat that can be worn slouchy or not, and dressed up in a number of ways for the more adventurous, from using variegated or self striping yarn to filling in the stockinette sections with your choice of pattern (seed, moss, lace etc.).

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry – Project page here :) In response to the ambitious yet disorganized among us (including me…): yes, if you start one today it can be ready for Christmas!

However, and whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a beautiful holiday season :)

~Shireen~
Gifting pictures

December 18, 2012

Every year as part of our Christmas gift to our biggest client we print and frame a selection of my work – it’s always fun trying to choose the very best of what I have that year, and so awesome and satisfying to see it printed up! We use kodak metallic stock to bring out the colours, it’s so worth the extra investment. Here is the selection for 2012:

Sault Ste Marie – Au natural fireworks for Canada Day!

Tide out on the Bay of Fundy – this is of the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick.

The iconic lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove Nova Scotia

Also Peggy’s Cove – it’s like being on the moon, one of my favourite places in the world.

The result of some very determined aurora hunting – this was shot just north of Orangeville Ontario.

And my favourite – a tiny little picnic area off the highway on the way to Sault Ste. Marie.
Still feeling the love

December 14, 2012

Looks like Reddit got hold of this post about my crochet camera cosy yesterday, and the blog stats went through the roof :) Thanks for the Reddit love!

I’m deep in Christmas crafting, part of the gift plan this year is the restoration of these 2 photos:

The top one is from 1927, the bottom one is approximately 1950. Photo restoration is definitely a labour of love, I’ll try to post a tutorial, as well as the finished product when I’m done :)
I’m feeling the love :)

December 11, 2012

Los Guantes De Claudia made it to the front page of Ravelry today, this is a first for me! Woohoo!
Los Guantes De Claudia

December 10, 2012

My latest glove design, ‘Los Guantes De Claudia’ are finally complete!

These gloves were my first ever collaboration project. The lovely Claudia from Eweknit here in Toronto gave me a skein of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK, literally on a whim, the very first time I met her. We really hit it off! It was so random, and I was so excited to actually be commissioned to design something.

These lovely gloves look deceptively complex but are actually really easy and fast (like, fast enough for Christmas) to work up once you get into the rhythm of them. A stag horn cable emerges gracefully from the ribbing at the forearm and dissolves back in at the end with a little extra cable motif to complete it.

Best of all these instructions are for working the gloves on 2 needles – you’ll be using mattress stitch at the end to create a completely seamless result. Knitters who wish to work in the round can proceed with their weapon of choice ;)

These gloves use up less than 200 yards of DK weight yarn, and are worked on 3.5 mm needles. They are easy enough for beginners and would make a great quick knit for seasoned knitters.

Instructions are given for small and medium, but the gloves themselves have lots of stretch once completed.

You can obtain the pattern at your store of choice :)

Ravelry link here

Etsy link here.

Craftsy link here.
Chicken Jewellery (yes, you read right).

December 7, 2012

Right at the end of our journey to the Highland Cattle Farm I picked up a feather from the ground near the chicken pen. ‘Can I keep this?’ I asked a bemused Kim, ‘Uh, sure’. Of course I had plans (evil laughter, ok no, not really, but check this out):

The feather was carved up and preserved into 1″ bezels using jewellery grade resin for some truly unique and lovely jewellery. Both pieces are Christmas gifts :) I can’t say for whom…. who am I to ruin Christmas?

Inspiration comes in the craziest places, doesn’t it?
Kiln Goodies

December 6, 2012

Though I’ve been abysmal at making time for pottery (yes, it’s a New Year’s Resolution) there were a few more goodies to be pulled from the kiln last week.

These 2 yarn bowls are both done up in delicious shades of turquoise, chocolate and minty green and they’re only available at the Purple Purl here in Toronto.

Next year I’m making a point of setting aside more time for pottery – because there’s making beautiful things… and then there’s being able to be up to one’s elbows in mud and still be making beautiful things :)
Frogged….

December 4, 2012

Oh pottery, why must you be so time intensive? This froggie bowl was ordered from me a very long time ago…. like last summer long ago (luckily the person making the request was very patient). Her bowl just came out of the kiln and I am in love with it :) Hope she feels the same!
Christmas knitting takes stamina

December 3, 2012

I finally knitted a Henslowe! I kept holding out for a skein of yarn that was at least 450 yards, since the pattern calls for up to 437 yards. This was knitted up in Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk (Colour: Yellow Opal) which comes in skeins of 500 yards. I bought it at Eweknit in downtown Toronto which is where I discovered the loveliness that is Zen Yarn Garden.

I read up on a few other projects in Ravelry – one user was using a smaller skein of yarn but still had a lot left over, so she repeated the lace panel one extra time. I did this – and still had an enormous amount of yarn left over (27g!). I wish I’d known – I would have added extra repeats to the garter stitch body.

The pattern itself is a breeze – way easier than it looks (with that complicated cascade of heirloom-looking lace at the bottom….so yummy). It’s good take-along knitting – the pattern is mindless and relaxing and doesn’t demand too much attention.

The picot edging however…. I took it on a business trip to Montreal naively wishing I’d brought more knitting since, with only the bind off to achieve, I would doubtless run out. Not so – the picot edging took a surprising amount of time – possibly about a third of what it took to knit the rest! Stamina should be listed as a notion for this pattern.

The results are worth it though – and I already know who it’s for and she’s already seen it so I’m not blowing my cover. She’s on the short list of people I think are awesome enough to endure a picot bind-off for, my spinning instructor and kitty-cohort Leslie! Ravelry Project Page here.

Les, I’ll pack it up nicely, remember to act surprised :)