New Reason to Run and Walk

I have a new reason to get back into running, preparing for a 5km race, and going for long walks: brand new running shoes that are actually nice shoes! This may sound rather mundane to most of you, but I haven't owned a "real" pair of running shoes in a long time, and the last shoes I owned were the "Reebok Easytone" that I'm fairly certain were injuring my body. Anyway, I'm quite pleased and excited that with the lovely Spring weather we have been enjoying that I will be able to get out there and practice my running! By the way, my new shoes are New Balance stability running shoes and they are super comfy! I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

WIP: Versio Sweater

Here is what I've been working on lately! The pattern is Versio and it is available online through Ravelry. This pullover is worked top down, seamlessly in one piece with the contiguous sleeve method. I've never knitted anything using this method before so it has been a new knitting experience for me. So far, so good - I knitted starting at the collar, then down to the sleeves, and then the body of the sweater. You set aside the stitches for the two sleeves, which will be worked separately afterwards. At the end, I won't have to sew all of the pieces together for finishing, which sounds wonderful to me!

I am using a special wool that I picked up on my vacation last summer to Watkins Glen, New York. I purchased it at Finger Lakes Fibers right in town and found a special yarn that is unique to the store - Schaefer Yarn Company "Anne" in a colorway exclusive to the shop called "Finger Lakes". The wool has shades of purple, blue, light and dark green and it is so pretty!  It is a Light Fingering weight yarn that lends itself perfectly to this pattern, as the sweater is meant to be a light pullover, perfect for Spring!

I'm not sure if I will have the sweater finished in time for Spring, as it has been so hot out here lately. I'm sure I will have it ready for the Fall, or I can wear it at work where it is always cold!

Thuja Knit Socks for Paul

As part of Paul's Christmas present, I knit him two pairs of socks! I finally got around to taking some photos of Paul wearing the socks so I could write about them here. To get the size just right, I measured the inside of his shoes and hoped that they would be close to fitting properly. It was either measuring his shoes or measuring his feet while he slept, which would be a bit weird. Thankfully, the measurements were very close and the socks fit perfectly!

The pattern used was Thuja from Knitty, Winter 2005.  It is a free pattern so you can knit your own pair today using any kind of sock yarn. I decided to make the socks a little bit longer than described in the pattern, so the socks would fit up his leg as well. These were very easy to knit and would be a perfect sock pattern to try if you've never knitted socks before. It is also great if you are looking for an easier pattern to knit while you watch TV (which I love to do while I knit!).

It is also difficult to believe but this is my 300th blog post here! Wow! I can also hardly believe that I have reached over 90,000 hits. It is so much fun posting about my crafting, gardening, cooking, and daily life - so much that I ended up focusing on also writing a travel blog and a cooking/recipes/food blog in addition to this one! Thanks to everyone who enjoys reading my lil' blog called Lost Mitten!

Spring has Sprung!

If you live in Southern Ontario like me, you would have experienced some seasonably hot weather this past week! Usually in March, we are buried under a foot of snow. This winter, we have had hardly any snow at all. This past week, it has felt like summer even more than spring with temperatures around 22°C (in the 70s for my American friends)!

I have gone for several walks outdoors on these days, whether it was on my lunch breaks at work or a quick stop at a park on my days off. On Friday before work, I walked around the path at a local park where many ducks and geese were happily swimming around the water in the sunshine.

While I am deeply concerned about these higher temperatures, lack of winter, and what that means for our planet (global warming, and just how hot our summers are going to get), I am enjoying the beautiful weather and getting to spend some time outside!

I am also working on a new sweater with some gorgeous wool that I picked up in the Finger Lakes region last summer...pictures to come!

FO: Parker Cardigan

I finished this a while ago but never got around to posting the photos or blog post about it until now! This is the Parker Cardigan in a lovely shade of dark purple. I used some Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn that I bought on sale at the Michael's a long time ago. Even though it doesn't feel as soft as some wool does, it still feels very cozy and looks great!  The instructions of the pattern were easy to follow and there are some interesting stitches involved that are easy to knit.

I purchased these vintage plum buttons from Etsy to go with the sweater.  They match perfectly!

I wore a long sleeved shirt underneath the cardigan because it was a little bit chilly outside. The shorter sleeves of the cardigan make it great to wear on a nice Spring or Autumn day as well!

Our Anniversary at the Tea Room

Paul and I celebrated our 7-year anniversary on March 10th. We exchanged some gifts (I got spoiled with so many thoughtful presents from him!) and part of my gift to Paul was a surprise afternoon tea at the Streetsville Tea Room in the village of Streetsville (part of Mississauga). The tea room is actually quite close to our house and I saw it last year while walking around this quaint area of town.

We enjoyed a traditional English "High Tea" where we consumed all sorts of tasty food and of course, tea! To start, we both had a yummy salad with honey-dijon dressing, blueberries, and mandarin orange slices. It was a very refreshing start to the meal! 

We were each able to choose our own flavour of loose-leaf tea from a huge list. It was difficult to choose, but I went with the Sencha Caribbean Dreams (exotic fruit medley/green tea) and Paul ordered a Raspberry tea. Both flavours of tea were delightful!

Then, the server brought out a three-tier tray of sandwiches, scones, and sweets. We both chose blueberry scones with jam & cream. They had no problem substituting the food items with just vegetarian choices, including cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches and veggie quiche tartlets.  There were cute little desserts as well, including ginger cookies, date squares and chocolate treats.

The restaurant itself is adorable with several tables in two rooms. The tea room is located within the Robinson-Bray house, a historic home built in 1885. There are a few different businesses located in the house, including a room at the front where you are able to purchase the loose-leaf teas offered in the restaurant. I would also recommend booking a reservation at the tea room in advance, especially on a weekend, as it was quite busy on a Saturday afternoon!

The afternoon tea was a lovely reminder of the afternoon tea that we enjoyed aboard the cruise ships on our past vacations.  We both thoroughly enjoyed our tea time here and will happily return sometime soon!  Happy Anniversary to my sweetie!

As a sidenote, I wore my new knit sweater that day! Yay!

FO: I Heart Aran Sweater

This sweater has been finished for a LONG while now and I'm finally just getting around to posting about it! I purchased the yarn and the pattern at Knitter's Frolic last April.  The pattern is "I Heart Aran" and the wool is Tanis Fibres' Green Label Aran Weight wool in "Atlantic".  I ended up using a little over 5 skeins.  I originally purchased 5 skeins and ran out when I got up to the collar, so I had to purchase another skein from their website. Of course, that wool was from a different dye lot and ended up being a slightly different shade of blue. I don't mind at all - I think it adds character to the sweater and I enjoy that it changes colour slightly at the collar!

The wool is very soft to the touch, super warm and very comfortable to wear!  I just love the shades of blue. It was very time-consuming to knit all of the separate pieces and sew all of the parts together. For me, I absolutely love the knitting part but I don't really enjoy stitching all of the pieces together (front, back, and sleeves to one another). I put off stitching the pieces together for a while and finally got around to doing it. I also blocked the sweater and I think that it fits great!

I love how the sweater looks and feels. It is perfect for a chilly winter day because it makes you feel quite cozy!