Holli Yeoh Knits

I love my new business cards. My designer, Denise Tade did a great job and I’ve been having fun handing them to people. Their eyes kind of pop when they see the fun, colourful back.

There has been so much discussion about business names, logos, websites and so forth around here and Devan is soaking it all up like a sponge. He has started designing his own logo for a business he’ll have in the future. We’re not sure yet what his business will entail, but he’s well on his way to establishing a brand!  

Devan’s seven! It’s my little boy’s birthday today. He is my star, my light, my everything. The years are going by so quickly!

We’ve been celebrating in grand style. Last weekend we had two birthday parties—a bowling party with his friends and a family party. Two parties means two cakes. And that doesn’t include the goodies I sent with him to school today to help celebrate with his classmates.

Devan outgrew my patterns long ago. I have had intentions all along to start designing sweaters for older children. I’m going to make it a resolution to do it during Devan’s eighth year. Soon he’ll be at an age where he won’t want to wear his Mama’s hand knits and then I’ll regret that I didn’t knit more for him when he was younger.

Audrey sent me pictures of the Jack that she completed for a friend’s granddaughter. Charlee is so adorable in this sweater! Thank you, Audrey, for sharing.

$49 (plus shipping)

This pattern is only available as a kit. It is basically the Candace cardigan with a Jack ‘o Lantern on the back. As you can see, I found the perfect yarn for this pattern.

We’re in the thick of Hallowe’en preparations around here. We went to the pumpkin patch last week and came home with five pumpkins.

Devan’s school also celebrates Hallowe’en in a big way and we attended the Hallowe’en Howl on Friday night. There were games, spooky decorations, haunted house, jello-eating contests and prizes. All in all, a fun evening. Our little king might dress up as something else on Hallowe’en night. He hasn’t decided yet.

Yesterday we went to the Apple Festival and sampled close to 100 varieties of apples. It’s amazing just how different they taste from one another. While waiting in line for the tasting I spotted my friend Carmen. We haven’t seen one another for ages because of her market and craft show schedule. I’ve been keeping up to date by reading Carmen’s blog, but I must admit, I was beginning to wonder if she was a figment of my imagination. Or perhaps a ghost. It has been months. Perhaps she is a ghost, because I didn’t manage to get a picture of her!

It was a beautiful sunny, yet crisp day. A perfect day for handknits. Devan’s sporting his skull and cross bones hat that Nigel knit for him. He’s also wearing my cashmere scarf, knit by my Mum and under his jean jacket, a sweater knit by me.

The summer has flown by and school has already started. It’s time to write my summer vacation report. Besides working on the new website design and logo I actually had some time to have a little fun too.

In July we drove down the Oregon coast for our summer vacation. I had grand plans to do a lot of knitting and brought a lot of yarn with me. But, for the most part, the roads were too twisty for me to knit in the car, our days were filled with fun and my evenings were spent with my computer in my lap working on the website. I did complete one project and it was mostly out of necessity! You can see me knitting in the background while Devan plays bingo.

While we had sunny skies most of the time on the coast, the weather was decidedly chilly and very windy. I was cold and I needed a scarf! I knit up a Handmaiden scarf kit using two strands held together. One is a silk boucle and the other is a laceweight kid mohair. Nice flash of colour at the neck and it did the job keeping me warm.

I also started a toe-up knee-high sock design I’ve been playing with. Most of the knitting occurred on the last day in the car because we were on a nice straight road. I knit well into the night until I dropped a stitch and couldn’t see to fix it.

We visited many beaches, looked in tidal pools, saw whales and many other sites.

The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport was a real treat. The brochure featured a knitting crab working on her sixth toe-up sock. I searched high and low for her at the aquarium, but no luck. We did see jelly fish and other amazing creatures.

In August Devan and I went to visit my parents in Edmonton. We had glorious sunny days. We went rented paddle boats in Hawrelak Park and I managed to get in a bit of knitting while Devan and his GranDad chased ducks.

The Fringe Theatre Festival was going on while we were in Edmonton and we saw some fabulous plays. I managed to knit quite a bit on my knee-sock in the dark. The street performers provided great entertainment and Devan was thrilled with his balloon sword.

All in all, we had a great summer! 

The last week of school went by in a blur. There were lots of school activities in the last week or so. Devan’s school had a crazy hair day and you know, I’ve always wanted to give him a mohawk, so I pulled out the clippers and buzzed the sides of his head.

His mohawk was still standing when I picked him up at the end of the day. (Devan’s striking his Guitar Hero pose here.) The next day, the kids kept asking him why he still had a mohawk. They didn’t seem to understand that his hair was cut that way. We’ve since been to the barber for Devan’s very short summer haircut.

I went into D’s class one afternoon in the last week of school to show the kids how to felt wool. We had fun making little felted balls. I was really pleased with how interested and eager they were. Mind you, it could have been because they had fun making a very soapy mess in one corner of the classroom. At least the desks and floor were quite clean by the time we mopped it all up. I’ll definitely talk to the teacher next year about doing more fibre related projects in the classroom.

The last day D’s school had a B-B-Q scheduled and it was freezing! “This is June people - time for some summer weather,” is what I was thinking. Well, by the weekend it was lovely - beach weather, in fact. We are so lucky to have a number of beaches right in the centre of the city.

Yesterday I went to Granville Island for a visit with my good friend Carmen who was one of the artisans in the Public Market that day. Our visiting was sporadic which was good for Carmen - that means there were lots of interested customers …

… like devilish Danny in his new Devil hat.  How cute is he?!

While I was waiting for Carmen I managed to finish off a pair of socks. Project specs later when I get a picture of them on my feet - and yes, they’re for me!

I love the walk to Granville Island. There’s a community garden along the old railway tracks and at this time of year it’s just beautiful with all sorts of flowers.

Carmen wrote a list of her favourite things about Granville Island in a recent blog post. Let’s see if I can come up with 10 things too, in no particular order:

• the inspiration I derive from all the great artisans selling in the Public Market and on the island

• gloriously fresh produce - especially all my summer favourites (berries, cherries, peaches, nectarines, …)
• Maiwa now carries yarn! (although it doesn’t appear to be available on their website yet)
• creative and thoughtful fine craft at Crafthouse (where I used to sell my jewellery when I was a jeweller) run by the Crafts Association of British Columbia
• the ball machine commissioned by Ocean Concrete

• watching Devan play at the waterpark (this photo was taken when he was two)
• the great programming at the False Creek Community Centre
• the Indian food at Curry 2 U in the Public Market

• meeting friends (especially Beth and Lucy) for a visit and play
• the Granville Island ferry rides

Upon rereading Carmen’s list, I see we enjoy many of the same things. What do you enjoy about Granville Island?

Just because he loves me, my little fibre-conscious boy gave me a love note.

I received another lovely gift recently. Nigel knit a pair of socks for me in some lovely soft merino dyed by Sweet Georgia before she went on her hiatus. The design is one that Nigel has been working on and promises to write up. I just love how the stitch pattern is right and left footed.

Now I did a very silly thing when I washed them. I usually throw my hand-knit socks in the washing machine because they are made of superwash wool and nylon. These are 100% merino so I wanted to take a little more care with them. I remember the Yarn Harlot mentioning that she takes her socks into the bathtub with her when she has her nightly bath so I wore my socks into the shower. I wish I had my camera with me because I ended up standing in a pool of pink water. They bled quite a bit. Then I found it was somewhat difficult to get the very wet socks off my feet. They are fine and dry now. I’ll wear them again when the temperature cools - we’ve been having lovely hot weather for the first time this season.

We played hookie this morning. I took Devan to the International Children’s Festival so we could go to a Creole music performance offered in both French and English. (That’s how I rationalized it because D is in French Immersion!) It was great fun. We took in a little face painting, made a pirate’s hat and an origami boat and actually made it back to school for the afternoon.

Devan must have been vibrating with excitement before the performance began. All the pictures of him were blurry.  Terrance Simien presents a lively show and is a treat to watch if you ever have the chance.

It’s snowing this morning in Vancouver. I’m just going to hunker down in front of the fire with a good cup of coffee and work on some samples for my upcoming trip to Quadra Island. Since we’ve been home I’ve finished a pair of mittens (on the right) and I’m working on gloves. These are samples for the kits I’m taking to the Spring Knitting Retreat. Come join us, it’s not too late to register!

The snow today reminds me of the variable weather we experienced at the beginning of our trip to Edmonton. From a snow storm as our plane landed and frozen temperatures down to -17 degrees Celsius on the first weekend … to sunny blue Alberta skies throughout most of the rest of the trip.

We went sledding on the closed toboggan hill of my youth - I know, we’re renegades! We used cardboard and a frisby for sliding. We have my nieces to thank for the idea of using a frisby - believe it or not it works wonderfully in a pinch!

We had an Easter egg hunt in what was left of the melting snow banks.

And on our last day, we went for a weiner roast at the park. It was a true Alberta spring. Now it’s time to do something about this Vancouver weather!