in celebration of Canada Day...

Here's my felted Canadian flag patch:

It measures approx 16.5cm (6.33") by 8.5cm (3.25") once felted. (Pictured is the knit version.)


Materials:

Patons Classic Wool in Winter White and Rich Red
5mm knitting needles, or 5.5mm crochet hook
(the ball band requires 4.5mm needles to knit this yarn, but with 5mm, it'll space it out a bit to allow more shringage during felting; for a thicker and bigger patch, knit using double strands and a 7mm knitting needle)


CO 17 sts (if knitting) or sc 17 (if crocheting)


Follow this chart from the bottom up, knitting the first row and purling the next - or if crocheting, sc every row:

You only need a little of each colour. I've machine felted my flag, but you can felt it your own way if you wish!

© 2008 by Sabrina Thompson - original design and pictures. Please do not sell pattern or materials made thereof, or copy my pictures. Pattern cannot be distributed for sale, or as a 'free pattern' promotional tool for selling yarn or knitting supplies. If posting Finished Items on personal blogs, please link back to this blog and pattern, thanks. :D

Sorry that the chart's not the best, but the best I could do is just photograph my flag from the graph paper I drew it on. I hope it's clear enough, if not, then please post in comments and I'll try to clear it up!

5 more squares done!

Knit up in Patons Kroy 4ply in 'houndstooth', I believe the colour is...

I've also found a few people on ravelry who are willing to part with some variegated sock yarns - either full balls or scraps - to contribute to my blanket! Hopefully they'll arrive next week!

just look at what I'm getting myself into...

Thanks to ravelry, and the Blankiemania group that's there, I've found myself starting up a new blanket made from sock yarn project (pattern details are in the right sidebar). Ho-lee-cow. What am I getting myself into. I see months of frustration ahead. And yet, I'm strangely optimistic at this wonderful o.c.d. knitting project. How conflicting.

So far, this is what I have:

5 squares using Patons Kroy Jaquard 4 ply yarn in Tutti Fruitti, that I have left over from socks I knit months ago. This is going to be fun.

skull cablery!

Super yummery: I'm adoring this skull cable, and am currently knitting it into a scarf for my nephew for Christmas. Granted I only have about half the scarf done so far, but here's how the cable knits up:

The cable's worked across 22 sts, and I'm doing a K1,P1,K1,P1,K1 rib on either side. I'm also using Bernat Wool Blend in Slate to knit it up, so it'll be nice and warm.

everything from afghans to vinyl

I've decided to knit a leaf afghan using some Lion Brand Homespun in green and brown; hopefully I'll get it done by this christmas, as I want to gift it. I just started my first panel, this is what I have so far:

I actually started it last week, but when we (DH, DB and I) dropped my mom off at the airport last Tuesday night, I caught a wicked cold there, so I've been sick and inactively knitting. Bleh.



Oh, and my new fun find:

It's some vinyl yarn from jellyyarns - I ordered 3 skeins of different coloured glow in the dark, and 1 skein of black, all fingering weight. I've a nifty project in mind, that I'll keep under wraps until a later date. I've been looking for glow in the dark yarn for ages and final found some! :) They were nice enough to include a couple packs of vinyl wipes in the package, which was neat, and I'm sure it'll come in handy!

my new kick-ass socks!

I am just loving my flame socks! These are just awesome, comfy, and *phew* just finished knitting them! Thank gawd, it took forever!

woo hoo!

Today I received Yo-El's swap package to me, from the black yarn swap! All kinds of great goodies, and some black Rowan mohair to knit a shawl with! Fantastic for summer! There's even a black bar of soap, which I've never seen before, but am dying to try!

pancakes from scratch

Due to us having a wicked amount of bottled maple syrop and no pancake mix, this morning we got around to making these pancakes from scratch:

hating WIP's, but I'm always in the middle of a project...

I'm currently, as we speak, knitting the second heal of these awesome flame socks using my Knit Picks order yarn that I received a few days ago, and another WIP I've on the go is an Illusion Scarf that looks like piano keys (queuable free ravelry download as 'Counterpoint Scarf') to which I have yet to finish just one pattern repeat. Two WIP's on the go - something that I rarely do, but now, for some reason.... !

I've got a bit of a full house this week. My mom's still here for a few more days from France, a friend of hers from Ottawa is also visiting until Sunday, and my brother's also home from work for a few more days. So we're running around trying to keep everyone occupied; I keep forgetting how stressful it is to have this many people in the house, not that I dislike the company!

Saturday morning we're also having a garage sale at my grandmother's house. It's a plan I made with her a couple months ago. She's planning on moving into a retirement home within the next couple years, so she's getting rid of some things, plus we've got a few boxes of things we can get rid of too, as does my uncle and mom, so it's a huge garage sale all done in one driveway. Fingers crossed, I hope it doesn't rain that morning!

updating...

Had a good day yesterday for my birthday - the family came over at lunch, and then went out to dinner afterwards with my brother, mom, and husband.

Also, I managed to finish another pair of pedicure socks, they were on request from my mom for my gramma:

These were knit up using Patons Classic Wool in 'rosewood', which looks really nice!

Today I also submitted four finished patterns to knitty, so we'll see if they get published. I submitted them in time for their Fall Issue deadline, but I noted in the email that I wanted to submit them for either the fall or winter issue. So, we'll see where that goes.

It's certainly been a busy last-couple-of-weeks!