Pyramid Purse Complete

I can’t believe I’m finally done, and none too soon. The deadline for the purse competition is the 31st, but the store isn’t open then so it’s really today.

It feels like it’s been forever since I completed something. I even managed to line the purse with fabric covered cardboard. It really was necessary so the purse could stand up and have a definite shape.

I went a little simpler on the closure than I was originally planning because of time constraints. I made bobbles with buttonholes – nothing fancy. No time to make a purse strap either; oh well, I guess it will have to be a clutch. Overall, I’m pleased with the results.

I'm on Ravelry Now!

I almost forgot to tell everyone that I am a member of Ravelry now. I am the "adamantiumknitter". Voila!

Go West! –High River Vacation 2008

What a wonderful vacation we had this year. It’s good to be home, but was so hard going back to work. The weather in Alberta was what summer should have been here - warm, dry and sunny. We had a miserably wet summer here. Anyways, here are some of the highlights from the vacation.

Bar U Ranch
The Bar U Ranch National Historic Site is located in Longview, Alberta by Pekisko Creek. We had a nice carriage ride around the site, visited the saddlery, cookhouse, post office, and blacksmith buildings (http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ab/baru/index_E.asp). We had coffee and tea made for us around a campfire where the chuck wagon was and fresh out of the oven gingerbread cookies in the cookhouse. It turned out that the blacksmith knows my father-in-law and made us a souvenir on that authentic 1800’s forge to take home – what an honour! The plains of Alberta are beautiful. I love the green open land and clear blue sky.

Calgary Zoo
Although it’s not as big or elaborate as the Toronto and Granby zoos, there’s still plenty of animals, fun and interesting stuff for the kids (http://www.calgaryzoo.org/).

Drumheller
We are dinosaur nuts so for us, this is one of the coolest places on earth! In my own opinion, their dinosaur museum is the best museum, period, that I have ever been to. After our museum visit, we took one of the walking trails through the Bad Lands. They are incredibly beautiful (http://www.dinosaurvalley.com/).

Nanton
In this small town not far from High River, there’s the Nanton Lancaster Air Museum and an incredible train shop devoted to Thomas the Train. At the back of the shop, they have an incredible garden railway (http://www.town.nanton.ab.ca/).

Cape Spear Coverlet Yarn Requirements

Thanks for your comment, Kelly. I’ve put myself on the waiting list for an invitation to join Ravelry; it seems there are quite a few people on the waiting list ahead of me. I’m sorry I can’t post to a thread right now, but hopefully in the near future, I can.

The pattern I purchased is not in a book but a 2 page brochure. It seems to me that they wrote this to simulate the cover but not exactly reproduce it. They call for South Maid or Coates no. 40 crochet cotton, but they don’t state a yardage requirement, they state a weight; 4 kg for a double bed and 2 kg for a single. The pattern recommends using 2mm or 2-1/4mm needles. The resulting shell would be 3.8 cm (1.5” from top to bottom) and 4.4 cm (1.75” from side to side). It says you need to make 1,536 shells for a double bed or 800 for a single bed.

This shell dimension seems to me to be much smaller than the shells I see in the coverlet on the bed in my blog dated May 11, 2008 or the Yarn Harlot’s blog dated August 7, 2008. When I tried to estimate the count I could see in the picture, I get 510.

I’m doing my own thing on this. I’m using the Butterfly Super - 10 mercerized cotton and 3.75mm needles to produce a shell measuring 8.5 cm (3.3” from top to bottom) and 16.5 cm (6.5” from side to side). Each skein is 125 grams, 230 metres. I purchased 12 skeins for a total of 2,760 metres or 3,018 yards, 1.5 kg. At the time, I had estimated that with the dimensions of my shells, I would require approximately 500 shells for my bed. I now have a larger bed and probably not enough yarn – oh well. I’m considering buying more even though the die lot is different, but using it to border shells in the centre. We’ll see; I haven’t gotten that far yet.

Hope this helps!

Cape Spear Coverlet Pattern Attainment Information

In response to Shelley and yarndork, below is some information where you might be able to get the pattern for the Cape Spear Coverlet.

The website is http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/nl/spear/visit/Services_e.asp and the contact information is:
Cape Spear National Historic Site
P.O. Box 1268
St John's, NL
Canada A1C 5M9
Tel: 709-772-5367
Fax: 709-772-6302
Email: cape.spear@pc.gc.ca

I wish you luck getting the pattern; I hope this works out for you. I purchased the hard copy of this pattern 13 years ago when I was on my honeymoon from a gift shop that I can’t even remember the name of now. Needless to say, there was no contact information on the pattern itself; the internet then wasn’t what it is now. So, I am really grateful to someone named Denise who posted the information above in the comments section of the Yarn Harlot’s blog dated August 7, 2008 where she is actually visiting Cape Spear and viewing the original coverlet.

Failing that, I would advise trying your local public library and look for a motif compendium. I remember seeing one about a decade ago when I was living in Mississauga. In it was a triangular motif similar in principle to the scallop motif with the alternating knitting and purling sections (stockinet stitch for 4 rows, reverse stockinet stitch for 4 rows). When I saw that, I realized how that pattern could be adapted to make different shapes. I wish I had taken down that book’s information now. I think in a future blog, I will take a closer picture of the piece so you can get a general idea of the construction of the motif.

And thank you, Linda, for your recent comment where I posted my pictures of the coverlet pieces I’m currently working on.
http://finallyfranknitting.blogspot.com/2008/05/iron-man-and-cape-spear-coverlet.html

Pyramid Construction Progressing

I love long week-ends. They enable me to do a blog on a Monday. As of the end of the day Friday, I’m officially on vacation for two weeks!

We had a nice picnic in Stratford with some shopping thrown in on Saturday. Next Saturday, we’ll be flying out to Alberta to visit the hubby’s family. We’ll probably end up visiting Banff, the Columbia Icefields, and the zoo, amongst other things.
Now, on to the purse. I have both the front and back done now. I am currently working on creating the bottom and sides. I ran out of the medium shade of blue that I used in the purse and only have the darkest and palest shade left. I have other blues in my bag of blues, but the textures are very different and I didn’t think they would work as well. So I’m trying to make do with what I have. I used an open cast on (a.ka. provisional cast on) with the darkest shade so I could just pick up the stitches on the other side and start knitting again. Instead of using a different yarn to hold the stitches and help me cast on, I used a stitch holder.

I was eventually planning on lining the purse and adding a zipper or two, but I don’t know if I can make it in time now. Oh well.

I have to figure out what knitting I will pack in the suitcase to take with me. Tough one; it has to be small, yet enough to keep me busy. The hubby’s family will probably keep us so busy, I won’t have time to pick up the needles (which is what usually happens on these types of family trips), but a week without yarn – unthinkable!