Hey Everyone, welcome back to Coffee Talk Saturday.

As you probably noticed there was no mail in your inbox this morning – there will be two on Sunday. I didn’t get my post written yesterday due to a family emergency. Hence the posts the next few days may not be on time but I will endeavour to get them done if I can.

Last fall when I was in the Pfaff booth at CreativeFest having a lesson on the Pfaff Creative 4.5  embroidery machine for QUILTsocial I kept looking across the aisle at this booth full of amazing colours. The vendor was called The BagSmith. They had a wonderful array of gorgeous chunky wools to make into all kinds of wonderful projects – knit or crochet whichever you preferred.

Needless to say I ventured in for a look.

I ended up purchasing a kit for a lovely shrug called Moonbeam designed by Becca Smith. I told them I was a newbie knitter and they assured me that I could handle this project. The kit came with the yarn, pattern, needles and buttons.

The yarn is called Apple Creek Chunky made of 90% fine Merino and 10% silk and comes in a variety of beautiful colours. Did I mention how soft it is? It is so soft. The colour I picked for my shrug is called Great Lake. Isn’t it just gorgeous?

Apple Creek Chunky – Great Lake

On Thursday I decided it was time to start the project and figured I might need a bit of help getting started. Cathy at the The Purple Sock in Coldwater was running her Help Centre class on Friday afternoon and so I signed up to get a bit help.

Yesterday afternoon I headed up to Coldwater and had a great time chatting and knitting. Once Cathy got me started with knitting the short rows to make the 18 points to create the body of the shrug I was well underway. In two hours of knitting I completed 4 points. Woohoo – chunky wool and big needles (15 mm) makes for fast progress on a project. I was so excited I did another point when I got home.

5 points completed

I started out using the circular needles I bought with the kit but then ended up switching to the straight needles. I find when I am knitting with the larger needles that the straight ones are easier to knit with. Not that I am any expert at knitting.

Once I’ve got the body of the shrug made I’ll head back to the Help Centre for another afternoon for some assistance to put on the collar.

Of course while I was at The Purple Sock I just had to purchase some other yarn – gorgeous wool in a fantastic blend of colours for another shrug. It is a Malabrigo Yarn called Rasta and is a pure merino wool. The colour is Indiecita. Love it!!

Malabrigo Rasta Yarn

I am finding that knitting is a great way to relax and unwind from a day of work – a wonderful distraction from quilting . I think I am hooked – actually I know I am hooked.

How about you are you hooked on knitting or crocheting?

Happy Quilting! or Knitting!