Saturday 16 March 2024

Finally Finished the Fringe

While watching TV last night I finally finished twisting the fringe on my scrappy worsted Excavation blanket.

For the fringe, I took both yarns of one colour and both of the colour beside, using two clips of my fringe twister. 

I counted the number of twists to keep the angle of twist on each fringe the same. Holding all 4 strands together tied a knot at 3" and trimmed. The two colours then twist together in the other direction. Any bumps get smoothed out by pulling.
It is a lovely, squishy blanket measuring 39" x 47" excluding the fringe.
I'll add it to the pile of Excavation blankets I've knit. This is my 5th, I believe. This was an excellent way to use up a bunch of ends of worsted weight yarn. Knitting it is a breeze while watching TV as it's all garter stitch. It's primary benefit was reducing the pile of random balls of worsted weight yarn in my stash.

I deviate a bit from the pattern (free on Ravelry). Here's how I do it. **At the beginning of each colour I leave a 6" tail, knit into the front and back of the first stitch, and knit across the row, then turn. With yarn in front (wyif) I slip the first stitch, move yarn to the back and knit into the front and back (kfb) of the second stitch, then knit across the row. Leaving a 6" tail I tie the two yarns together and pick up the next colour. then repeat from **. 

Once the blanket is at the desired width, Knit a second triangle and graft the two triangles together. This creates a square blanket.

If a rectangular blanket is desired, once the blanket is at the desired width, ^^start a new yarn (no more fringe), slip the first stitch wyif then move to the back and knit the next two stitches together , then knit across the row. So you are decreasing at the beginning of the right side. At the beginning of the return row, slip the first st wyif, then kfb into the second stitch and knit across the row. You will increase at the beginning of the wrong side. Cut the yarn, start another yarn and repeat from ^^. It's a good idea to work your ends in as you go so you don't have to do it after. The diagonal growth of the blanket is maintained. Continue this until the desired length of the blanket is reached. Then knit the second triangle and graft to the lengthened piece. When you graft the two together you won't see this yarn as it will be in the 'ditch' of the garter stitch.

Another tip... to make the blanket nice and squishy go up a couple of needle sizes from the largest size on a ball band. In this case I used a 5mm needle. On the fingering weight/sock yarn blankets I used a 3mm needle. I also try to use a contrasting yarn on every subsequent row - usually light then dark then light then dark. I even used variegated yarn. I didn't worry about how it would turn out. Yarns from my late mother-in-law's stash were used as well as some DK yarns. 

Thursday 14 March 2024

A Day of Sloth

Yesterday was a PJ Day. I'd had an upset stomach in the middle of the night and slept late. I didn't have any errands to run so completely took it easy. Of course, I completed another puzzle.

It was very enjoyable because each cupcake was a little puzzle on its own. I sorted by colour as it came out of the box. One pile for edge pieces and other piles for each colour. There were only about 40 brown pieces (table top) to figure out at the end.

The previous couple of days I worked on a 1000 piece puzzle that I had purchased at Giant Tiger. It was of Cinque Terre in Italy but the picture on the box was only about 8" x 8" so it was really frustrating trying to match puzzle pieces with the microscopic photo. I completed the sky, then the water, then all the buildings. I gave up trying to do the green hillside and put it all away. I don't even think I'll donate it as it would frustrate anyone else as well. The 500 piece puzzle from the same company was much more manageable.

Then I cooked a delicious HelloFresh meal which we ate before I took any photos. I forget the actual title but it was roasted porkchops with a glaze of apricot and mustard on spring mix with clementines, radishes, seeds (pumpkin, sesame) and goat cheese with a vinaigrette dressing.  I would definitely make this recipe again.

After supper I did some work on the model I'm stitching for Pansy Patch Quilting and Stitchery. It's #6 in the Houses on Wisteria Lane series. I'll be doing #7 as soon as she finishes the design. They'll be released in June. Lori had exciting news when she dropped off the kit - she's going to be one of the featured designers at the Jingle Ball (a fun, festive, online stitching retreat) this December! We had a good chat about her Market experience near Nashville at the beginning of March.

I have been doing quite a bit of fill-in on my Live on Little while watching TV at night. I got most of the water around the mermaid done.
I got the basic vine of the border done down the left side.

There's still the big sailboat and all the water around it to do in that big open space on the lower left (above the mermaid and whales). 

Today I got out of sloth mode and did some overdue housework. I'm itching to get back to stitching.

Happy Pi Day, y'all! 

Thursday 7 March 2024

I'm Obsessed!

Marilyn loaned me her Frank Lloyd Wright jigsaw puzzle.

I liked that the one side was a mirror image of the other. I was easily able to match motifs to their mirror images. When I sorted, I, of course, pulled out the edge pieces, then isolated any with the small parallelograms, and colours with colours. I also liked that the skinny tabs were up and down and the wide tabs were on the sides. It really helped with orientation of the pieces.

Now being totally obsessed, I found a sale at Giant Tiger from a Facebook ad (those algorithms are eerie) and beetled over there and found a puzzle that looked fun for $5. It was only 500 pieces.
It was like solving 15 small puzzles with the doors being quite distinctive. When I sorted, I made a pile of yellow pieces, and another pile of green pieces. Then started solving individual doors after assembling most of the border. 

At the one Giant Tiger, I didn't see a 1000 piece puzzle that I liked so my excursion today will be to head to another one and see what they have.

I am so hooked! I think the satisfying thing about puzzles is the feeling of accomplishment in a micro sense - finding the exact spot for each individual piece. I also like the 'snap' of the pieces going into place. The door puzzle pieces weren't as thick as the previous ones, but they held together quite well once put together.

I have abandoned the crochet checkerboard blanket for now. I may rip it out and just do rows of double crochet just to use up more my stash. As crocheting really eats up yarn, I feared having to purchase more yarn (defeating the purpose of stash busting) to maintain the checkerboards. 

Last night I worked on the sampler while watching the Bob Marley documentary with Skip. I got the mermaid stitched except for her eyes plus a couple of fish. I can now fill in the ocean around her.
 
Next time I'm able to concentrate on counting, I'll complete the vine/floral border on the left.
Decisions still need to be made about what colour to do the whale's tummies and blowholes as well as selecting the mortar colour for the house. I guess I could outline the flag as it would be good for mindless filling in during social stitching.

The weather has been awesome. Our snow removal folks asked if I still needed them this month and I decided I could probably handle things on my own. I thanked them very much for their good work. They did only have to come 3 times but the peace of mind was worth the megabucks we shelled out. I also asked them to put us on the list for next winter. I was surprised at their response to my comments saying they'd cover our snow clearing this month if we gave them a 5-star review on Google. I had no problem doing that so we are covered this month if we do get any snow over 5cm.

Other than puzzling and stitching I haven't done much. Housework always is there for me to do. I have, however, continued with my Hello Fresh subscription. I am getting spoiled now and really don't feel like planning, shopping for, and cooking any suppers. We do have lots of bits of leftovers in the freezer so tonight will be an attempt at clearing out some of that stuff.

Friday 1 March 2024

I Changed My Mind

I was going to crochet the checkerboard blanket in strips then sew the strips together but Jennifer at my Tuesday evening craft group mentioned she hated to sew in ends. I'm not a big fan of that either. I then recalled watching a video on attaching along the side as you crochet and decided I would pursue that option.

My technique varies from the video because I don't mind a gap between squares. 

Basically I attach the bottom of each row to the bottom of the corresponding row with a single crochet. Then I chain two and attach to the top of the adjacent row with a single crochet and then crochet the row. It may not be as aesthetically pleasing but I won't have a lot of ends to weave in as I do them as I go.

At stitching on Monday morning, I cleverly left my threads at home except for the dark blue. So I spent the time finishing the blue waves and started to outline the rest of the 'ocean'.
I haven't touched it since then. However, this arrived in the mail the other day.
I got it from a Facebook cross stitch destash group for a very good price. However, the shipping was almost three times what I paid for the chart. So annoyed. I would have been OK with just having it sent in a manila envelope because postage rates with tracking from the US is costly. Next time, I'll tell the sender to find a less expensive method.

I haven't decided how I will do it. Ideally a light, medium, and dark fabric would work. Perhaps a white, medium blue and a navy?  I'll take it to the guild's free stitching day tomorrow and see what other folks suggest. I also may or may not use buttons either.

I have become obsessed with doing jigsaw puzzles. I only did a couple during COVID and somehow didn't get hooked then. Many of my friends were doing them and swapping them but I wasn't that interested - probably because I didn't have a good setup for them in front of the TV in the family room.

I don't even remember what got me interested in doing one last week but I tried a 500 piece puzzle I already had. That went well. I started another one but the pieces were so thin they didn't interlock very well so I abandoned it. I ordered a couple of Springbok puzzles from Amazon and finished them in fairly short order. I also bought one at Value Village for a tenth of what Amazon charged me but once it was assembled, it was missing three pieces. Oh well. I enjoyed the process. 

I then decided to try for a 1000 piece puzzle and had one in my stash. I rolled out my yoga mat on the dining room table and spread everything out on that. If I needed to put it away before it was finished I could just roll it up in my yoga mat for safe keeping.

I started it yesterday and finished it a little while ago.
Although it had a lot of pieces, there were a lot of motifs which made sorting and grouping much easier. There was even one piece left over which must have been from another puzzle. Oh well.

Also this week I had another delivery from HelloFresh. This was the crusted chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed snap peas. Yum-mo!
It was very easy and I will easily be able to replicate it for another meal. I like that the meals are easy to prepare, the ingredients provided are very fresh. the instructions are very clear (if I can learn to read and follow them properly) and include photos, the portions are generous, and I don't have to think what to eat on those nights I prepare one. Sometimes there is more than enough for Skip and I to eat so we get leftovers - yay!

One perplexing thing that occurred today was a change in how I load photos into this blog. The change must have occurred when I recently updated my laptop. Before, I could easily add photos to the text by clicking the icon on the task bar. It won't work now. Instead, I have to go to my photo files and copy and paste the photo into the body of the text. I sure hope Blogger continues to be available for me to use and doesn't disappear. I realize there are other platforms but having used Blogger for this blog for almost 18 years, I'm very familiar with its features. I'm having a similar problem with adding photos in Gmail as well - grrrr.

Tuesday 27 February 2024

Enjoying Fabulous February Weather

This has been the best winter to get stuck in the north. We've had record-breaking temperatures - into the teens! 

Yesterday Skip and I ventured down Hall's Road to see what we could see. Chickadees were out and I saw a red-bellied woodpecker. The red squirrel was not afraid of us at all. It knows we humans leave food for them.

A little while later we saw one at another feeder. They are so cute!
A bunch of tick bearing white-tailed deer crossed our path. There were about 10 in the group.

Back at home, I finished my worsted weight Excavation blanket. Now I need to twist the fringes. It's about 3 feet wide and 4 feet long - nice and cozy and squishy.

I'm crocheting another blanket. 7" x 7" squares, alternating darks and lights. I'm doing six, 8 block strips and will sew the sides together to create a checkerboard pattern. Crocheting should use up a lot of my remaining acrylic worsted yarn.

This week was the Trillium Embroidery Guild meeting for February. Highlights are outlined here. It was the kickoff to the Round Robin with 11 participants, and Marilyn's introduction to wool felt appliqué. This Saturday is our monthly stitch day from 10 - 3.

Friday 16 February 2024

Prepping for Another Stitch Day

Some of us are getting together on Sunday to stitch. I've been beavering away on my Live on Little, especially on the filling in of large areas. In preparation for Sunday, I'm doing some of the counted bits so I won't need to count when I'm visiting with my stitcherly friends and just do filling in.

I'm almost done the waves below the house - only a couple more 'til I reach the left border. Then I can fill in all the 'beach' above the waves. 

I was very eager to start the lobster and the fish. I still need to stitch the lobster's antennae.
Then I got most of one of the whales done. I can fill in the rest while gabbing on Sunday. There is a lighter grey on the whale's tummy and one blowhole stitch which I'm going to change to a lighter thread. I've got the second lobster stitched except for its antennae as well. 

There will be all that blue to fill in. 

Last night I did more work on the bricks on the house. I'm still deciding what colour I'll do the mortar.

Once I get the ocean and its creatures done (including the mermaid), I'll start the sailboat. Basically, the bottom half of this piece is full coverage. See how dark the mortar is? 

There's also the issue of what colour to do the red on the Canadian flag. The pattern calls for a dark red (the darkest colour on the border flowers) for the US flag. To keep with the overall tone of the piece, I may use that colour, too. Anything redder could look out of place.

While I stitch, I listen to audiobooks or watch YouTube videos. Sometimes I stitch at night while watching TV with Skip. And, of course, I'm always thinking of what projects I want to do next: punch needle, cross stitch, surface embroidery, sewing, quilting, knitting, crochet. Such a mish-mash in my head.

Oh yeah...

I bought more beads at Michaels last week and made a new scissor fob. 

The previous one with these beads broke due to my using the wrong wire. With this 7 strand wire, it will hold up much better. A benefit to using scissor fobs is, if the scissors fall or are dropped, the fob, which weighs more than the scissors, will hit the ground first rather than the point of the scissors. It could save the scissors from getting damaged.

I really enjoy making useful beaded items like zipper pulls and scissor fobs.

Last Sunday Poppy, Barb, Victoria and I ventured into The Big City to a delightful fabric store, Country Clothesline in East York. They have so many lovely things. In particular, I was very pleased to see quite a selection of Liberty of London fabrics both the regular collections and the very luxurious Tana Lawn collection. This shop sells fabric by the half yard - not half metre. They also carry Tilda and French General fabrics. There were a few mini charm packs so I picked up this one to make yet another quilted checkerboard and a fat quarter for the lining/backing.
The fat quarter is from a different line but is an acceptable neutral that will work with the Etchings fabrics. 
There are 42 squares in the pack, exactly what is needed for the 7 x 6 checkerboard.

I was curious to know what the 'cause' was for this collection. Further research yielded this:

"The signature collage print of vintage ephemera lavishly layered with affirmational text, etched architectural renderings, damasks, and botanical elements which share a message of hope and strength. While we hope this beautiful piece will lift the spirits of all, it was created to help raise awareness for Parkinson’s Disease and contains special imagery relating to this cause such as tulips and uplifting quotes, one from a famous Parkinson’s survivor."


"Every year, as a company we take part in a local Parkinson's Moving Day event. The funds generated from the 'Collection for a Cause' initiative contribute to ongoing research, patient support programs, and initiatives aimed at raising awareness about Parkinson's disease. Along with your support we have been able to donate over $25,000 to Parkinson.org."

If you go to the website, there is a link to a free pattern for a tulip pillow. 

This is Family Day weekend in Canada - a February statutory holiday that was created after I retired from teaching. I'm glad folks have a long weekend in February to look forward to - time to spend with the family in the middle of our long, Canadian winters. I can't complain, though. Yesterday was our first snowfall in weeks and we only got about 5cm of snow. The snowplow came through mid-afternoon. By the time I went to bed, our snow clearing service had come and gone. I was very pleased they cleared the chunks/windrow at the bottom of the driveway left by the snowplow. 

At this stage in our lives, it's wonderful to find folks to take care of some of the tedious or physically demanding jobs around the house. Now if I could only find someone to do all our cooking... (sigh)

(sorry about the highlighting of the text - when I pasted the stuff from the Moda website, it happened and I don't know how to make it go away)

Monday 5 February 2024

A Lot Can Be Accomplished on a Stitching Day

This year my guild has implemented a fun stitching day every first Saturday of the month. 19 of us showed up last Saturday! One group spent the entire day on Barbara Kershaw's Schwalm piece. I'm sure they were exhausted after all the intensive work.

I took several projects but really was motivated to get lot done on my Live on Little piece. The light is so good in that room I didn't even need my lamp.

I had done a lot of the green of the border the previous couple of days but finished the flowers for what border had been completed, then did a lot on the grass at the bottom, and the first word in the saying. The rest of the weekend I finished some of the windows and started the doors. 

I had planned to fill in the windows at stitching today but started in on the water below the grass instead. 
I'm really close to being able to start some of the nautical motifs at the bottom.

In the evenings when I'm watching TV with Skip or when my eyes are too tired to stitch, I keep working on my scrap blanket. I found more acrylic worsted yarn in the basement - some of which was from Skip's mother's stash. I'm at the part where I am decreasing on one side and increasing on the other to make a fringe-less section, adding length to the blanket.

It's going to be at least 12" (30cm) longer than it is wider. Once I have this part as long as I want it, I'll start another fringed triangle which, when finished, will get grafted onto this piece. I don't have a long enough circular needle so the stitches are bunched up. This Aero circular needle has a very annoying, stiff, loopy cable. I may switch to an interchangeable circular needle with a longer cable. The only issue with that is if there is any 'catch' when pushing stitches back onto the needle after turning the work over to knit on the return row. 

This will be a somewhat busy week. Skip is having a tooth extracted tomorrow and I have a dental cleaning on Wednesday. Skip is going out for dinner with a couple of friends on Wednesday night and the two of us are meeting friends for breakfast on Friday morning. In between bursts of activity we are being very lazy and doing a lot of napping.