Friday Link Love: July 2015

I can't believe a month has passed already! With August the evenings will start to cool down, and there will be more excuses for knitting - yay!
Anyway, shall we get on with what I know you're really here for? I have lots of lovely links for you this month...

Something to make you giggle - honest food magazine covers! (Thanks Julie for sharing this one!)

These examples of modern texting are hilarious!

Extreme crochet: would you ever attempt anything like this?

A guide to wool - what is it and where does it come from?

I love Franklin Habit - his view on "click bait" made me smile!

Also, some wise words on letting your creative fears go.

Finally, some words on the Labyrinth of Life.

I hope you've all had a wonderful July, and I can't wait to see what August brings!

WIP Wednesday: Catching Up!

People, I'm on a mission! This summer is the summer of WIPs.
I've had a growing mountain of projects, and they have been all been vying for my attention. It's been difficult to choose what to work on! So, I'm working through them one by one, and hopefully by the autumn I'll have a lovely little pile of FOs to show for it.

I've been working on a shawl...

...which may or may not get turned into a pattern! I have a few patterns in the works at the moment, just waiting for the right time to publish them. Hopefully one or two will be out soon! :)

See these? Yep - that blanket is still in progress! These are the last circles... they need just one more round each and then they can get attached to the blanket... then some half-hexies, and a border, and the end is in sight!!

Now... I know I said I was only working on WIPs... and that I maybe wasn't going to start any more projects... but I caved. There, I said it. The sock yarn got to me. It was just so pretty and I couldn't deny it any longer...

See? It models so well!

Yarn is from Scrumptious Purl in the colourway "It's My Party". I love this yarn - it's knitting up beautifully, and the colours are divine! 
I promise I won't start anymore projects... maybe. Just depends on how well my willpower against the Stash is!! :P

Oh, and you'll remember that for Christmas I made my sister a dragon... I finally took a photo! Everyone - meet Saphira!

Not sure I'll be making any more amigurimi toys anytime soon, but I'm glad that this one is well loved :-)

I went to Canada! (Part 4)

I bet you're thinking: "What? More photos?" - I promise these are the last ones! It has been hard to narrow down all the photos, especially as my boyfriend took close to 500! There was so much to see and take in on this trip - so thankful that we got the chance to visit family and have a wonderful two weeks! :-)
These last photos are just a few snapshots of random things we saw and did :-)

Close to the start of our visit we went to see Tour La Nuit, an evening ride around the Plateau Mont Royal consisting of 15,000 cyclists. We stood at the start line and watched as all of them began the race, and seeing them ride into the sunset was really something to behold!

There were people all dressed up in costumes, and the lights on some of the bikes were incredible...

It wasn't the only wheeled race we saw - my boyfriend was super happy when we realised the F1 would be in town, and so I tagged along, and we had a great day watching the races!
(I'll admit I didn't understand a single thing I was watching, but the atmosphere was great, and there was good poutine!)

Speaking of poutine, we ate lots of it whilst in Montreal - so many different varieties that we were actually able to rank them! The best place was in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue - I was a very happy Bekah!

But it wasn't all sightseeing... there was plenty of relaxing too!

All in all, a really wonderful trip to Canada!

Hope you've enjoyed the photos, and enjoyed following my Canadian Adventure!

I went to Canada! (Part 3)

I loved visiting Quebec City for many reasons, although one in particular was the sweet details to discover as we meandered around the city.

Such as the Fleur-De-Lis on the fence around the fountain at Parliament... (Very fitting for the province!)

Historic beauty...

I loved that there were half numbers on the houses - Canada's answer to Platform 9 3/4?

Flowerboxes, reminding me of European windows... Old Quebec City really reminded me of the streets of Italy...

Last, but not least, we found these adorable sheep flowerboxes in front of a yarn store! I didn't get any as I'd already purchased plenty from Espace Tricot (Gorgeous yarn store - if you get a chance, go!), but it was still lovely to see local yarns!

Aren't they sweet? I especially love the pink flower that one of them is wearing! :-)

Graduation!!

Just wanted to pop in and share a photo from Tuesday with you, as it was a big day for me... I officially graduated from University!

It was a lovely day, spent with family, my wonderful boyfriend, and my coursemates. Couldn't ask for a better way to end the past 3 years of learning and growing :-)

More photos from the day HERE.
(I didn't get many photos of my own, because as you will see in Mom's post, I was having WAY too much fun swooshing and twirling!!)

I went to Canada! (Part 2)

One of our side trips whilst visiting my family in Montreal was to beautiful Quebec City. This was one of my favourite parts of our Canadian adventure, as the old part of the city was so beautiful to walk around, sometimes reminding me of some of the European cities I've visited before...

Around every corner was some new wonder to behold... I mean, look at this mural! Amazing!

Every time I look at this photo, I see more and more - the building in the workshop, the roof, the amazing blending of real bricks and painted...

The city was just as beautiful at night as well, as many of the buildings were lit up, making for a magical atmosphere...

We also explored the newer part of the city, visiting the impressive parliament building, and enjoying the surrounding gardens. Everything in Quebec City was so lovely to spend time in - much needed after many months of studying!

Quebec City wasn't just full of impressive buildings though - there were also many details which caught my attention. Stay tuned! :-)

WIP Wednesday: 2 FOs and Blanket Progress!

Happy Wednesday!

Feeling like I've been quite productive on the crafting front recently! It's been nice to get some of those WIPs off the needles and onto the finished pile. Although there are plenty more WIPs where they came from! I can't seem to help but have a few projects here and there to flit between :-)

So, what are these finished items? SOCKS!

First were these simple ribbed pink ones...

These were a simple project which kept me going through all my essay and dissertation writing - seems fitting that they got finished just as I finished university. I think these will forever hold a special significance because of it :-)

Next were these Rose City Rollers by Mara Catherine Bryner...

 Yes, I know I only have one sock-modelling pose!! 

I loved  knitting these! Is it possible to have a crush on a sock pattern? :-P
They were quick, they were easy, and they are oh so comfy to wear! I love ankle socks, but they don't always stay on my feet nicely, but these ones do! I can definitely see myself making more of these in the future :-)

The next WIP to try and finish is my pink charity blanket. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you'll realise I've been working on it for quite a while!

I'm about 4 rows in, and still only on the first ball of grey! I bought quite a bit of grey, so I can see myself having more than enough for some borders.

It's moving quite slowly, slower than join as you go squares (but then again, there are more sides!). Luckily, Wimbledon is on and keeping me amused! :-)

As always, full project information can be found on Ravelry.

I went to Canada! (Part 1)

At the end of May, I was lucky enough to go on my graduation trip to a city very special to me - Montreal, in Canada! Having spent my early childhood here, it had been a hope of mine for a while to get to know the city a bit better. This year seemed to be a good year for it, so my boyfriend and I hopped on a plane and made the trip!

I'm so glad we went! Being able to walk down memory lane and show Chris (the boyfriend) things I remembered, and introduce him to fun foods (poutine and maple taffy - yum!) was wonderful. In addition to remembering my own history, I was able to explore the history of the city. The dude in the photo above is Maisonneuve, one of the founders of Montreal. Apparently he was a bit of a character!!

In fact, the big cross on the top of Mount Royal? It harks back to when he made a deal with God, saying he'd put up a big cross so long as the city didn't get flooded. It didn't, obviously :-P
This is actually the third version of the cross - each one more high tech than the last. Interesting, eh?

We really did the tourist thing around Montreal - although we stayed on the West Island, most days we travelled downtown to explore the sights :-)
One particular sight which caught our attention was Notre Dame. I've seen the Parisian one, so it was really cool to be able to see its Montreal counterpart!

Isn't it pretty? They were getting ready for a graduation ceremony, and so coloured lighting made it even more spectacular. What a wonderful setting for a graduation!

Beautiful details everywhere! According to our guide, all the gold was real gold leaf - to see such attention to detail was incredible!

So many lovely things to see! Just one of many wonderful sights visited on our trip! Join me next Saturday, when I'll have some things to show you from a side trip to Quebec City!