Trip Out East

My husband and I just came back from a trip out east yesterday (to Ontario and Quebec), and I thought I would share some photos.

The main reason for the trip was to take my parents to my Dad's 60th reunion from Military college, in Kingston-

Marching came right back.

It was lovely to see the young students in their red serge uniforms.

We also visited relatives and saw some sights.

Our first stop was Brockville, Ontario. At one time it had the largest concentration of millionaires in Canada.

This is Fulford Place, and at the time of construction (1901) was the largest private home in Canada.

Also in Brockville was an amazing Railway Tunnel (this was Canada's first railway tunnel, built between 1854 and 1860).

It had an amazing light display, and was a real gem to visit.

Here is a link for a short YouTube video about the tunnel (near the 3 minute mark shows the coolest part about the tunnel with a 'train').

We also had a visit to Upper Canada Village (representing 1860's Canada).

Horse and cart outside the bakery

Tow Scow - horse drawn boat

 A beautiful quilt!

 We visited 1000 Islands, and this was the view from the 1000 Islands Tower-

In Gatineau, Quebec we visited Mosaïculture - large sculptures made up of over 5.5 million plants.

People working everywhere.

Houses of Parliament in the distance.

We all had a wonderful time!

The leaves were just starting to turn colour

All the best! ♥︎

Opposing Ply Yarn and Bags

A couple of weeks ago I dyed some fibre to spin for socks.

This is my favourite 80/20 Merino/Nylon sock blend. I decided to spin opposing ply yarn for the first time, since it is supposed to make hard wearing socks.

Normally singles (the individual ply) are all spun with the twist in one direction and then plied in the opposite direction. With opposing ply yarn one of the singles is spun in the same direction as the final plying direction. This tightens up that one single during plying (more twist creates a tougher yarn). I spun a 3-ply yarn, so two of the singles were spun with a Z-twist and the third was with a S-twist, then all three were plied with a S-twist.

This is how the yarn looked fresh off the wheel. The top yarn is the opposing ply, 3-ply yarn - that one ply added a lot of extra twist to the yarn. The small skein at the bottom is a 2-ply with the leftover Z-twist singles, and made a nice balanced yarn.

The yarn relaxed after washing .

You can see in the above photo that one of the plies is tighter.

I started knitting a pair of two-at-a-time, toe-up socks with the yarn. I am finding that the yarn is a bit 'rougher' than regular 3-ply yarn I have made with the same fibre (just a bit hard on my hands). I am surprised how even the knitting looks considering how un-even the yarn looks.

I also have another pair of socks on the go made with the same fibre - cuff-down this time (this is my favourite way to knit socks, but I wasn't sure of the yardage for the red/orange ones, so it was safer to knit them toe-up). They are all 64 stitches on 2.5mm needles. It will be interesting to the effect of the different yarns.

I made a Bendy Bag from Lazy Girl Designs this week. This is the second one I have made. They are a great size - perfect as a project bag for a pair of socks and wonderful for chargers, earbuds and cables for electronics when I travel - so of course I needed two. I have the pattern as part of a Craftsy Class that is no longer available. With the bit of the fabric that is cut out of the bag I made Bendy Bits bag.

I bought the fabric when I went to Japan last year, and I happened to have bought a little rabbit charm that matched perfectly - I love rabbits and came home with a few rabbit items, the avatar for my blog is a rabbit too.

All the best!♥︎

Block Head Blocks

This week the only quilt along blocks I made were two Moda Block Head 2 blocks, both are 6" blocks.

This first one is Fidget Spinner. I have never made a block like this, and was so impressed with how well it went together.

This one is called Corner Pocket. I've always been tempted to make a whole quilt with this type of block.

I also started knitting a short sleeve, raglan pullover with the yarn I spun the week before.

All the best!♥︎

Weekly Round-Up

Four quilt along blocks made this week. It has been fun just sewing the blocks I feel like with no specific plan.

The first one is from Antebellum Album from the Civil War Quilts Blog, a 12" block called Southern Cross.

These two are the 4" blocks from the Temecula Quilt Company 1880 Sampler Sew Along.

This is from the Moda Blockhead 2 quilt along, block #12, a 6" block.

Last week I dyed this Polwarth fibre,

and now it is yarn for a little sweater - it might be really little since there is just over 200g!

All the best!♥︎