Knitting in Real Time

Knitting is one of those incremental activities. It builds stitch by stitch, over time. If we showed you  photos of a knitting project on consecutive days you might be hard pressed to see any progress at all. Sometimes, we confess, we show process photos once we've completed the project. That's the safe approach. It makes us look good.

Showing our knitting in real time, however, is a little more risky. We have an idea where we're headed but we might change our minds as we go along and in fact, we might fall short of our goal. We might, in fact, {gasp!} fail.

Grandma Coco's been a bit tight-lipped about our mittens. At the risk of boring everyone with a shapeless bit of brown, we have decided to go ahead and share today's photo and come clean about the plan. However we've cleverly included a postcard we received this week from Kate as a distraction. Isn't it cute?? A sweet little frog framed by crazy quilting.

The Mittenly Photo showing Kate's Crazy Quilted Postcard

The Mittenly Plan

We envision layered mittens made out of fine wool. (We are working up to the gorgeous Lang Jawoll Baby Alpaca we received last week.) We're using sock weight wool because we love the feel of knitting with fine (thin) wool and delicate needles. We also have a ton of sock weight wool on hand. We think of these as socks for your hands. Two layers will be warm and they'll give us a chance to experiment. So, you already saw the inside layer....the off-white wool liners. They'll have a decorative edging at the cuff. Probably crocheted.

Now, we're on to the top layer. They need to be just slightly larger than the liner so they'll fit over top. We used KnitPicks Bare for the liner with 2.5mm KnitPicks Harmony needles. For the outer mittens we're using Elann's Sock-it-to-me with 3.25 mm. Bryspun needles. We have plans for using up some sock yarn leftovers in textured stitch patterns but for now, these brown ones are plain Jane stockinette. They are sized to fit us. We're not ashamed of this selfish attitude. This way, we always have a hand at the ready to try on the knitting for fitting as we go. So, they'll fit a small lady's hand.... 6 1/4 inches from wrist to the tip of our middle finger and 6 3/4 inches in circumference.

For this particular pair, the outer layer will have a keyhole opening on the back of the hand. There will be attached I-Cord all around this keyhole and the wrist with a button loop and a lovely button we've already found. We're not sure yet if there will be wool embroidery, too. We love the look of wool embroidery and we're just dying to do some but it might be too much for this little pair.

So, for now, dear friends, this is our plan. Like all good plans, it may change. There's plenty of wiggle room.

~ Is it snowing where you are? It is here. Big, soft flakes after an unusually snowless winter. Wishing you snow, if you want some, and none if you don't!

Year of the Dragon!

We're trading Year of the Dragon postcards over at the Postcard Cottage Yahoo group. We dropped them off this morning at our local postal outlet. The Kingdom of Coco post office is tiny but the lady who works there is very sweet. Just look at the stamps she chose for our cards.

Sweet, right? We didn't even know there was a Year of the Dragon stamp!! Apparently, it was just released last week. What timing! What luck!

We're linking up to The Needle and Thread Network for Works in Progress Wednesday. Be sure and pop over there to see what other Canadian needle crafters are working on.




Happy Year of the Dragon to everyone!

In our mailbox

In today's mailbox.....2 more Haunted Houses postcards from a swap over on Postcard Cottage. On the left is Tamara's with a terrific bat which we think she cut from a Hallowe'en print (So cute!!) and on the right is Regina's who also made good use of Hallowe'en printed fabric. It's fun to open the box and find such beautiful postcards inside.

Worksssss in Progess Wednesday

We all know about Grandma Coco's attention span. It's pretty short. She's been making herself crazy with deadlined projects and now that they're completed, she's back on track with many irons in many fires....just the way she likes things.

So, on this particular Wednesday, she's working on the following:

SOCKS! Of course. These are specially made for a very sweet man who went out of his way recently to see that we got to a wonderful yarn store in a city that isn't our home. New socks seem like a small price to pay for such gallantry. The only problem is that he says he has 'hot feet' and, by that, we believe he means his feet feel hot in socks, NOT that, you know, he thinks he has George Clooneyesque feet or anything weird like that. We don't know if he's ever worn a pair of hand knit wool socks before. Maybe he'll just be blown away by the luxury that is in store for him. Maybe not. We're knitting these out of Ariquipa , which is 65% superwash wool, 20% alpaca and 15% nylon. It is soft, soft and the yarn is fine so the socks won't be bulky (which we think might be an issue). We've knit with Ariquipa before and we love it. These socks have lots of stretch. They are ribbed with an alternating twisted stitch that looks like a cable.

DOUBLE KNITTING!. We're working away on kid- and adult-sized versions of Coco's Cap. Along the way, we got interested in other types of double knitting....corrugated ribbing, for example, and the brioche stitch. It's a long and winding (and exciting!) road we're on. And we haven't got a deadline. :)

BEADS!!! Another micro macrame beaded bracelet. This one we're just winging. Because it's fun.

A spooky Haunted Houses postcard in the mail from Pat!

POSTCARDS!! We finished some postcards this week for trading but we won't show them because we don't want to spoil the surprise for our recipients but here's one we received in the mail from Pat. Thank you, Pat! Scary stuff!

And that, in a nutshell, is what we're up to on this grey final Wednesday in October. Pop on over to The Needle and Thread Network to see what some other Canadian fibre artists are up to.

We've got mail

Lots of stuff in our mailbox this week.....

First, and maybe prophetically, we received a birthday card from an old friend. The message is embossed in braille. Some of you may not know that Cheryl is a certified braillist for the CNIB and did, at one time, volunteer her time to transcribe books into braille. The sender of the card is someone we met while doing the braille course. That's one of those happy accidents on the road of life where we meet new friends along the way. Her card arrived before our eye problem. Once our problem developed we did talk to Mr. Coco about how fortunate it is that we had already learned braille. Unfortunately, we read braille by sight. (We know. Weird but true.) To learn to read the dots by touch would be the second half of the battle.

Also in our mailbox, fabric postcards that Canada Post was holding hostage. Finally freed, they found their way home. First there was an envelope from our new friend, Linda, from Dublin, Ireland. She included a whole treasure trove of fabric squares, ribbons, buttons and trims for future cards all in the colours of the Irish flag....green, white and gold. Thank you, Linda!! Also, she mentions that the notecard she sent is the one she based her postcard on. So, the postcard is a lovely interpretation of a landscape photograph with the reflections of trees in the water. The back of the card says it's Roundstone Bog, County Galway. Beautiful! And well done, Linda!

Also....Diane's Summer Road Trip card which she says is her first attempt at thread painting. Very nicely done, Diane! I hope I'll get to see Dana Point, California, someday, too.

Monika's Lake Life postcard arrived as well. Always a joy to receive a card from Monika. This time, we've displayed the back of it so you can see how our post office does business.  No fooling around!They cancelled the stamp with a black magic marker! Thanks, Monika. Love the way you made the froth of the waves with couched fluffy threads.

Elaine's Beach Bum card rounds out the lot. So cute!! Elaine's been going through her own problems this summer and this card was made before that. We hope she'll find her footing again in time.

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Now, in an effort to find OUR footing....or at least to try to carry on as if we will, we've made a little doodle for what we're planning to call our "Yakity Yak" segment. Remember that old song that had the chorus "Yakity Yak, don't talk back." ?  Well, we want to talk back. Whenever we want to respond to someone's comment, we're going to do it here in our Yakkity Yak spot. The doodle isn't great....we have no depth perception after all and everything's still blurry.....but it's a start. Check out the weirdness in our left eye. That's intentional. Creepy, or what? :)

BTW, does anyone know why a lack of depth perception would inhibit one's ability to spell???? We just realized we said we were 'greatful' for the emergency eye clinic. Really? Greatful??? Please forgive us.

To Kate.....what kind of tea do you like? We'll make sure to get some in. We spent a good part of last winter perfecting our recipe for scones after we saw a feature on Regional Contact (CBC Ottawa) about tea time at the Chateau Laurier Hotel. We'll have to bake some for our next tea party. We are so happy you have fun here in the Kingdom. Fun is what we're all about.

A full mailbox inspite of the strike

After all the bad things we've been thinking about Canada Post this past week while we waited for deliveries that we were sure would never arrive (due to the on-going strike), today we're happy to announce the arrival of not one but TWO long-awaited items!! (Isn't that always the way.....either feast or famine!!)

First of all we received an absolutely beautiful fabric postcard from our pal Monika Kinner-Whalen who is one of those people whose enthusiasm for life and art is infectious. She's one of the influences that got us started on these postcards in the first place!! We were so thrilled to see her postcard is one of her prairie landscapes....so distinctive in their style that you recognize her work the minute you see it. Thank you, Monika!!



Summer Road Trip Postcard by Monika Kinner-Whalen

We considered having Mr. Coco hold the card for a photo but alas, he's not nearly as photogenic as Monika's little one ....although he has been known to whine "Are we there yet?" when we travel. (Neither he nor Grandma Coco are very keen travellers.)

Monika's postcard brought back memories of the summer of 1966 when Grandma Coco was but a kid-size captive in the back of the family car travelling across Canada on a 6-week trip that was intended to be "educational" according to our mother. We remember crossing the prairies in a blur of nausea, due to the heat and lack of air conditioning. We know we shouldn't let that memory colour our impressions of the Canadian prairies and seeing Monika's postcard now, we really think we ought to have another look at the place. Maybe someday!

The second item was the Summer 2011 issue of Quilter's Connection Magazine which contains a feature written about....US!! We're the "everyday quilter" in the Show & Tell section of this issue. WooHoo! How exciting! We are (modestly) going to rave about the magazine now so skip this part if you like. You've been warned. It's beautifully laid out with lots of photos and everything is bright and fresh. Lots of patterns, and lots of news about quilting in Canada. We haven't read it through yet....we were in such a hurry just to announce it had arrived! However, we did notice that Monika has a quilt pictured in it, too. Right there on page 51, Simple Blocks = Stunning Quilts. Monika is everywhere!!

The magazine features a pencil drawing we did that we've never exhibited before. So, in honour of that milestone, we thought we'd publish it here as well. The Quilting Bee.

Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

If you ever get the urge to swap fabric postcards, Grandma Coco suggests you check out Post Card Cottage. We're having a lot of fun over there.

Suddenly summer

The clouds have parted. The rain has stopped (for the moment). And someone has turned up the intergalactic thermostat. It's summer! We have a couple of postcards to show....both on a summer theme....a summer road trip!

Lost! Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

 'Nuff said on this one, we think.




Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011

Now, THIS one is born of bitter memories. You can see this comes from a long ago time before seatbelts and fancy-schmancy car seats. It was a time of ....how should we say it?....every man (and kid!) for himself? Although there were never this many kids in the backseat of our family car, we probably seemed like a whole tribe to our demoralized parents up front. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" (At full volume. The concept of the inside voice having yet to be invented.) We wish there was a way of showing in postcard form the rhythmic kicking of the back of the parent's seat and the scooping action of the parental arm into the back seat in response. Ah, yes. Good times!

And then, years later. Nature's payback. US in the front seat. Mouthy little guys, pummelling one another in the back, as we drove mile after curs-ed mile. Nowadays, those same little guys are all grown up and have vans with DVD players so the kids in the back seat think they're at some kind of mobile movie theatre.

Is it any wonder the only summer road trip we crave nowadays is a vicarious one lived through postcards?

Time for a safari!

Copyright © Cheryl Coville 2011




 Don't you just love it when 2 things collide? And we mean when they collide in a good way. This week's Illustration Friday theme is Safari. And since we've already mentioned we have a practical streak and a newly discovered fascination with fabric postcards, we've decided to combine the two. We have a lot to learn about fabric postcards....mostly in working in such a small space. This little card is only 4 inches x 6 inches. We've discovered it's all about simplifying. And in case you haven't noticed that's a discipline that doesn't come naturally to us..... being inveterate complicators ... but we're trying.

For any illustrator/artist types who've arrived here through the Illustration Friday link (and not familiar with quilter/seamstress proclivities) this is a fabric collage, held in place by stitching.

We've just joined a fabric postcard trading group called Postcard Cottage. There are some fabulous postcards floating around there. We wonder how long we'll have to wait until the Safari topic comes up. :)