Hexie Blanket

I got my hexie blanket completely finished! The i-cord edging was pretty mindless (I wrote up most of the details on my Ravelry page for this project).  

I did end up buying two skeins of Noro Silk Garden for the i-cord edging and only used one of them.

This yarn is lovely and soft. I just love how the random balls of yarn just worked together. The solid purple ones were knit with three random skeins of Noro Cash Iroha yarn from my stash that I had bought on sale at Mary Maxim in Port Huron MI several years ago.

My head is spinning with all the crafty things I want to do. I spent much of the afternoon today watching YouTube videos on watercolour painting techniques. I also perused the books on this subject that I got out of the library today. 

There are a couple of embroidery projects I also want to start. Then there are the ugly Christmas sweater wool felt appliqué kit, several UFO stitching projects, and the model I'm stitching for Teresa.

I'm so grateful I have the ability and time to pursue all my crafty interests. It's all so fun! 

A Grand Day Out

Jenn1, Poppy, and I went on a little road trip today to Thimbles & Things in Severn, outside of Orillia, Bolts & Bobbins in the Woodville area, and Grindley's, a bath and body shop outside of Woodville.

At our first stop I bought a little quilt pattern,

a couple of neutral fabrics for embroidering some Christmas ornaments,

some red batik for a project I've had in mind since June (hint: it's for Canada Day),

and some green fat eighths and fat quarters for an online class I want to take.

At Bolts and Bobbins I scored a wool felt appliqué Christmas ornament book,

a couple of Block idea books from Missouri Star Quilt Co.,

a teeny weeny red embroidery pattern and button,

a wool felt appliqué pattern with saltbox houses, trees, and sheep,

some chenille trim,

and some buttons for a little sampler quilt.

Our next stop was Gridley's, a home-based bath and body shop outside of Woodville. I somehow came away with some eucalyptus soap and lavender shampoo and conditioner.

We worked up quite an appetite so ventured to the Sunnybrae Golf Club in Prince Albert for a COVID-safe, lunch outdoors on the patio. 

Last time we did one of these road trips was January of 2020 - before I went to Texas for our winter holiday and before the global pandemic.

It was a beautiful, sunny day - great for a drive out in the country to some favourite shops with a couple of my favourite people. With our mental health back on track, we now have all our lovely things to admire and play with and look forward to more fun and safe outings in the future. 

Cottage and Stitching Plans

I enjoyed the ride up to Marilyn's cottage while listening to a Harry Bosch audiobook. Now that I've watched all the Bosch episodes on Amazon Prime, I like 'reading' other Bosch detective books because I am familiar with many of the characters mentioned. I finished the book on my way home on Tuesday.

One thing that is somewhat of a tradition at the cottage is watching DVDs at night. There is no wifi, or TV reception and only a weak cellular signal so we are essentially 'off the grid' communication-wise. I had checked Season 2 of  'Unforgotten' out of the library so we watched episodes 1 - 3 the first night and the last three the second night.  

Texts do get through but usually only hours after they've been posted. Monday was the federal election in Canada. I sent Skip a text asking about results at 11:00pm. He received it at 2:30am. His reply came in the next morning "Lib minority government". Whew! That was a relief!

During the day we did a lot of stitching outdoors on the deck and looked out at the lake. Marilyn went out in the kayak a couple of times while I stayed back and continued to stitch. Natural light makes stitching with one thread over 2 on 40ct fabric (that's 20 stitches to the inch for you non-stitchers) so much easier on my eyes. 

We did have a scary moment when a blue jay crapped on the table we were sitting at. It landed one inch from the fabric Marilyn was stitching on. Phew! That was a close one. I'm really glad it didn't poo on the piece I was stitching for Teresa. BTW, that project is coming along very nicely.

Of all the 8 - 10 projects I took to the cottage, I only worked on the Teresa sampler and whip-stitching my hexagons together (which I finished after I got home). 

I need to finish the blanket edge and will used either i-cord or a 5 stitch garter stitch edge. This will keep it from curling. I will have to buy a skein or two of Silk Garden yarn to do edging and I have located some at a nearby yarn shop.

I'm very happy with how the hexagon blanket turned out. The Silk Garden yarn is so soft and lovely. It's a very lofty, warm blanket and will be so cozy when I seek a 'hygge' experience on those long winter nights. 

Except for food, I hauled enough stuff up there to last me at least a week. But it if there's room, it's always good to take more stuff than you need.

We ate well, relaxed fully, napped a bit, and slept well. It was a very fun, relaxing couple of days.

Before I left to go to the cottage I was watching Valerie from 'Stitching in the Barn' on FlossTube. At 40 minutes she showed a pattern she had completed and had sent away to be finished. Then showed the finished project. It's called Three Pumpkins by Prairie Grove Peddler.

The black kitty cat with the white whiskers sold me. I started looking for the pattern and found it on Kim's website so I put in an order for it and picked it up yesterday morning. I remembered buying pumpkin-coloured fabric at Judy's Stitchery Nook in Harlingen TX when we were there in February 2020 (before COVID had us race home) but do you think I could locate the fabric anywhere in my stash? Nope.

I checked the 123stitch website and they had it, so I ordered it and some silk floss for an upcoming project that I've ordered. That pattern won't be in until late October. I have all but 3 floss colours in my stash. I may do substitutions for the ones I don't have. This Cody Hoover floss colour tool is very handy for that. 

From 123stitch I also ordered Winter Rose Manor that I've admired for quite a while. 

I checked Kim's website for it first but the copy she had a while ago must have been sold. That white house will be a pain to stitch but big areas like that are great for when I'm stitching socially - like on a Zoom call.

Before I went to the cottage, Skip had 2 cords of wood (1 face cord = wood stacked 4 feet high and 8 feet long) dropped off in our driveway that we then had to transport  with wheel barrows and stack on the other side of the house. I lasted a few wheelbarrows-ful and had to quit but it was somewhat of a help for Skip to finish the job. We have a little bit of dry wood ready for the first few fires on those cold days and nights. The fireplace is all cleaned out and ready to go. Then we can start using some of the new wood which hopefully has been drying for a few months.

Today is a gloomy, overcast day. Perfect for stitching!

Wheat

 I stitched this week's Steady Thread Blackwork SAL flower - wheat.

I still have last week's to do - echinops or blue globe thistle and have picked the colours. I'm taking it to a cottage tomorrow - along with a whole bunch of WIPs.

I'll be at Marilyn's cottage for a couple of days. It'll be great to get away and I'm sure Skip will be glad to have some time to himself.

In addition to the echinops, I'm taking the sampler I'm stitching for Teresa, Newcastle Bouquet, a long-abandoned Drawn Thread project, the faux sashiko piece, a helix sock that I'm knitting, the hexagons and yarn and a needle to sew them all together, my wool applique kits and freezer paper to get the patterns traced ironed and cut out.

I'm also taking a NYTimes puzzle book and Bic Wite-out correcter tape. The correcter tape has revolutionized my crossword puzzling. I no longer cast a puzzle aside with errors. I just white them out and carry on. 

I will be taking more than I could possibly do but will be able to easily flit from one activity to the next. 

The weather is supposed to be nice - no rain, warm days, and cool nights with temps in the single digits. I'll pack some wooly socks and a hoody.

I Finished Knitting Hexagons

 I knit my 33rd hexagon and 4th half hexagon last night.

My lap blanket will have 3 columns of 7 hexagons and between those columns, 2 columns of 6 hexagons with half hexagons at the top and bottom of those columns to create a straight top and bottom. Like so:

Once assembled and blocked the lap blanket will measure 36" x 56".

I'm also thinking of doing an i-cord edging all the way around it like I did for my mitred square blankets.

My plan is to butt the edges and whip stitch them together. If that doesn't work well, I'll figure out a way to crochet them together. I don't want to have a ridge between hexagons. 

This will be a project I'll be taking to the cottage next week.

Faux Sashiko Update

Kim supplied me with more Coton à Broder #16 so I could continue stitching my sashiko piece. I got all the outlines done. They were pretty tedious as I stitched every square. (Just remembered to clean the camera lens after this photo and man, was it ever dirty)

Wherever it would look OK to stitch over two Aida squares, I did that. The squares where there is stitching over 1, like the incomplete one on the bottom, take forever. They're easy but time-consuming.

I have put this aside for a while because I've been working on the Teresa model which I am enjoying. I do think, however, that I should get some magnifying/reading glasses at a 4.0 strength as the 3.0 ones I'm using are at the upper limit of my ability to easily see the 40ct stitching with indoor lighting. I would rather not have to resort to using my Halo GO light at a table but do know a way I can use it with a board/lap desk across my lap while I sit in the recliner to stitch whilst watching TV.

I also have my Steady Thread SAL from Weeks 37 and 38 to work on. This week's (37) is echinops. I had to Google the name to see what colour I should use. It's also known as a blue globe thistle.

Number 38 will be out on Friday so I'll investigate then.

Skip and I both voted by mail last week so that is done. I have been invited to a friend's cottage for early next week so will have to watch Monday's election returns on TV up there. It's on an antenna so there should be a station with election reporting that we can watch. 

I'm trying to decide what all I would need to take to the cottage if I take some of my wool felt appliqué stuff up as well. I'd need my freezer paper, micron pen, little iron, ironing pad, DMC flosses to match the wool, etc. I'll decide at the last minute if I want to haul all of that up there.

I'm also trying to think of any DVDs to take that we can watch in the evenings. I have three projects planned and will throw in some UFOs to work on as well. The three I will take for sure are the Teresa model, the sashiko piece, and the hexagons to be stitched together. The weather is supposed to be nice - maybe even hot - so will take clothing for cool nights and hot days. We'll be away two nights and each take responsibility for the dinner on one of the two nights. Then lunches are usually cold cuts and salads and we provide our own breakfasts. 

I welcome the change of scenery and I'm sure Skip will enjoy having the house to himself for a couple of days.
 

A Fun Day Out

Yesterday Marilyn and I went up to the Quilter's Cupboard in Uxbridge. It's a lovely quilt shop that, in addition to quilting fabric and patterns, has a great selection of wool felting patterns, wools, and threads.

Marion was up there a week ago and found this fabric, which I, of course, had to have. 

It would be a great lining for a project bag.

I thought this bag of many colours of felt pieces would be a great addition to my stash.

I bought the pattern to make some ugly Christmas sweater ornaments.

I used to have a vest very similar to this. Back when I used to work as a high school teacher, I would wear to work a different Christmas sweater or blouse every day of December. I even won awards for being most festively dressed. One of my principals tried to compete with me one year and failed miserably with her one Christmassy vest.

I also bought the wool to make the ornament and will probably have enough to make a couple of them.

I also admired one of the larger patterns that was finished and on display. 

A kit with all the required wools was already made up.

After staggering out to the car with all our purchases, we went to a nearby golf course which has a really nice outdoor patio for lunch. The tables were well spaced out. It was so nice to dine outdoors and with the breeze off the golf course, there were no wasps to annoy us.

It almost felt 'normal'. 

The parcel from Teresa  arrived a couple of days ago. I can tell you it is an autumnal theme as you can probably tell from the delicious colours.

I don't have to have it finished until the end of January but will work on getting it done by the end of December. It's quite large 185 sts x 186 sts and is 1 over 2 on 40ct. I want to get started on it today but haven't decided if I'll start in a corner or in the centre and whether I'll grid the fabric or not. 

I have made a pact with myself to get rid of at least one garbage bag full of junk/trash/crap from the basement every two weeks (when we have garbage collection). While I was down there this week I  found my high school scrapbook which I haven't looked at in years. So many memories flooded back of band trips, football games, music camp, games of bowling, etc. etc. Then I found a program of a stage production of Becket that involved an enormous number of students and staff at our school - at least a couple of hundred. The producer and director was Mr McGrath, who I understood to be on sabbatical from Oxford University. I have no idea why any university professor would want to teach at a Canadian high school in the early 70s. 

Anyway, it was while rehearsing for this production that I met my long-time friend, Francey, when we both would go outside to smoke in the smoking area (back parking lot) during breaks. Originally from the Gulf Coast of Texas, she had arrived in my home town (Sarnia) after spending her teen years in Europe where her dad was stationed for work. In the play, she was an English Court Lady and I was a Court Minstrel. I remember my beautiful royal blue, velvet tunic and the tune I and the other two flutists played (although I don't remember the title). 

Francey and I became friends and ended up both attending Western that fall. We joined the same sorority and were roomates for a year before she graduated and moved to Texas for graduate school. We have kept in touch and visited over the years. I attended her wedding in Huntsville TX and she made the epic voyage from Georgia with her husband to attend mine.

I sent her a scan of the program which prompted an anecdote by her of me driving her home after the cast party. I have no memory of that at all. We had a nice FaceTime chat this morning, laughing about how, although there was a lot of drinking at the party, no one seemed to be really drunk and we seemed to be good 'social drinkers' even then.

Another memory I have is when we both boarded off campus in the same house and would drink at football games, come home somewhat 'wazooed', play card games, and then pass out until dinner time. We would often use coupons we'd get on campus for discounted meals at Steak and Burger downtown. I have so many great memories of my time at university and Francey is in a lot of them. I'm so fortunate to still have contact with several friends from that era.

I also found two cases of my grandpa's slides from 1958 to 1968. I went through them all and scanned the ones that had any people I knew in them. Out of over 1100 slides, I kept about 40 of the actual slides and probably digitally saved 60 of them. So the rest went out in the garbage, too. It's a good feeling to get rid of stuff like that.

Much Better

After trying different threads and plies of threads on the navy 'Sashiko' project, I realize I just need a lower count fabric. 14ct navy Aida fabric arrived on my doorstep yesterday.

I like the result much better. (I need to clean my camera lens!)

I am stitching every stitch around each square. I takes a lot of time but is good to get it done before concentrating on some of the more challenging squares.

I have 29 hexagons knit plus 3 halves to complete the tops and bottoms of two of the columns. I have enough stash yarn to co that much. I will see what 35 (5 columns of 7 hexies) of them look like all laid out. If I need to, I'll get more yarn to knit another 14 to make it 7 columns. Or 7 columns of 8.

Today is the beginning of my 15th year of retirement from teaching highschool music and math. At every retirement workshop I attended we were urged to have something to 'retire TO'. I was fortunate to have started knitting obsessively the previous year and have picked up several other hobbies and crafts since then. 

Today I'm meeting a newly-retired friend for a 'To Hell With The Bell' lunch outdoors at a local eatery. It should be fun.

Lately there has been so much in the news about the trampling of women's rights: Taliban restricting them, Texas enacting very restrictive abortion laws, US women' soccer players not earning as much as men. I'm thinking I need to haul this out again.

I did destroy one when the previous twice impeached, indicted president was voted out of office but do have another one kicking around. We have come so far in so many ways but 1950s mentality is really steeped in 'American values'. Eff that.

Faux Sashiko and Hexagons

I started the blackwork Faux Sashiko project yesterday while outside in the bright light and on my Wednesday afternoon Zoom call. I'm using Coton á Broder B5200 #12 on this 32ct navy Zweigart linen. It's a lot like Perle cotton. The thread is kinda thick. I'm not too sure about hat. I definitely need a bright light to stitch this. Outdoors is best.

The squares are 24st square and I'm stitching the borders every 2 sts. It worked out great for the first one I did but the second square starts one stitch down and in so the ends don't align with the border. 

I am on the 22nd hexagon. I think I'll need around 50 of them, depending on the desired final dimensions which I haven't decided on yet.

The Silk Garden yarn will make a soft, light blanket/throw. I have 3 skeins of Noro Cash Iroha in a grape colour. It's pretty close in weight and has similar composition. I bought it years ago on sale at Mary Maxim in Port Huron MI. That outlet is closed for shopping - only a mail order outlet now.

After knitting all that up, if I need more yarn, I'll see if I can swap someone for a couple more balls of the Silk Garden. Otherwise, I'll actually buy what I need to finish the project. 

I am on a real stash-busting jag. Throws and blankets use up decent quantities but I'm not sure how many we need. I may have to start giving them away.

Today is our first cool day in weeks. The humidity has broken and we actually turned the fan off over our bed last night. As much as I love the warm summers (and am grateful for air-conditioning), I'm kinda looking forward to cooler weather and hauling our my woollens.