Ending the Year

I will not be sad to put 2021 behind me. It was a challenging year being so isolated and having to deal with Skip's surgery and aftermath. I am so grateful that I was able to keep in regular touch with most of my regular groups. Zoom chats gave my weeks some structure and gave me something to look forward to.

I am grateful I took the opportunity to visit my family at Thanksgiving when our COVID numbers were relatively low and we were double-vaxxed. I'm also grateful I attended the stitching retreat at the end of October when our numbers were very low. 

But now the Omicron virus has pushed us back into isolation in spite of three doses of the vaccine, rapid tests ($$$) which may only be 50% effective against Omicron, and KN 95 masks. I am grateful I had the resources to procure masks and tests. I'm also grateful that I don't need to go out in public to go to work.

All that aside, Skip and I are safe at home with all our stuff and things to entertain us. Our fridge and freezer are full. We are good for another period of confinement and there are 80 days 'til spring.

I had to rip back my Latvian mitten to the top of the cuff and go up a needle size to 2.5mm as it was too snug with the 2.25mm needle. I am too lazy to improvise a 'hitchhiker's thumb' so am doing the proscribed peasant thumb, and inserted contrasting yarn where it should go (yellow waste yarn). The green arrow is pointing to a mistake I made which will be easily fixed with duplicate stitch.

Once the top of the mitten is complete, I will remove the yellow waste yarn, pick up the live stitches above and below and knit the thumb in the round. I'm annoyed that I didn't pick up on the fact that the pattern doesn't centre the motif on the thumb. The markings on the pattern could easily have been moved to the left one stitch which would centered it perfectly. I'm going to centre the thumb when I go to knit it.

I also washed and re-blocked Skip's Afmaeli sweater.

First, I measured it and made note of the measurements and drew a little diagram.

Then I soaked the sweater in warm water with wool wash (Eucalan). The water was fairly murky so I did rinse it out, although Eucalan doesn't normally require rinsing. I pressed as much water out as I could then rolled it up in a bath towel to try and get more water out. 

Then I used blocking wires to shape it and pinned them in place on the interlocking playroom mats spread out on Scooter's/the guest room bed. After a day it still wasn't dry so I hauled the fan out of the closet and directed it onto the sweater. At the end of Day 2, it was finally dry.

Next I'll wash Skip's Riddari. 

He's worn one or the other of these sweaters every day since we put the furnace on and the temperature goes down during the daytime. 

I don't usually wash sweaters unless they've had something spilled on them. Wool doesn't really pick up body smells as it's not normally worn next to the skin. However, I slopped some teriyaki beef juice on my Icelandic Star* sweater (pictured before the buttons were attached) last night and that's all I can smell now when I wear it. *from Winter 2009 Interweave Knits magazine.

This has been my go-to sweater this winter. It's worsted weight but was knit on larger needles so is fairly light. It wears well, is a cardigan so heat can be regulated, and is grey and black to match my entire COVID wardrobe of stretchy pants and long-sleeved t-shirts.

I do remember having to block this out pretty firmly to fit me properly so will do the same when I get around to washing it.

We have no big plans for New Year's Eve. Some bowl games are on TV and I have two 200mL bottles of Henkel Troken on ice. If we make it to midnight, we'll watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen from Times Square. I love how Andy makes Anderson giggle with his outrageous antics.

Tomorrow morning, I'll get up and have some breakfast and do a challenging crossword puzzle - like I do every day. Then we'll watch the Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena and I'll do some knitting, stitching or maybe some painting. 

Skip would like me to knit him another Icelandic sweater so I'll have to do some thinking about what colours to pick. I may knit the Riddari pattern again.

And so a new year will be underway. It's starting to feel like that movie Groundhog Day. When I think of the sacrifices that were made to support the war effort during WWII, especially in the UK where they continued food rationing into the 1950s, staying safe at home is a fairly small sacrifice in comparison.

Happy New Year. May we have many bright and sunny times ahead.

Handmade Gifts are So Special

 Skip and I had a cozy, quiet Christmas. In keeping with my hygge and lagom mentality, we kept it pretty simple. (Note: in the Swedish language, lagom literally means not too much, not too little, the right amount, and is a philosophy that aims to balance, in every area and juncture of everyday life - the concept of 'just enough')

Some of my more amazing gifts were handmade ones. My stitching friends are so crafty. 

This ornament is breathtaking. Marilyn received one like this in our Christmas ornament exchange and I whined that she always gets Poppy's ornaments. So Poppy made me one, too!

Poppy also has recently learned to weave and gave me a set of beautiful woven napkins.

Marilyn  blew me away with this cleverly crafted floss caddy. She and her husband, Kevin, collaborated. Kevin has become a skilled wood craftsman and made these wooden pieces which Marilyn painted especially for each of us. This is one of her first ventures using acrylic paints. 

I didn't realize she had made it at first because the MK Designs and the logo on the back had me thinking she'd somehow found it on Etsy or at a craft show. When she explained that it represented Marilyn and Kevin and the logo was from a brass stencil she'd used over 25 years ago, it all made sense.

I was particularly impressed that she painted this scene from a flatfold piece I had stitched a couple of years ago.

So clever!

The last couple of days I've been pretty lazy and started a couple of projects.

The first is a pulled work band sampler. Conveniently, Kim had the banding on sale at her shop. On Sunday, I started it. 

Stitching white on white is a challenge without bright light and magnification. I struggled to get the first row of the Scotch stitching done while reclining in my stitching spot but now realize I need to sit at a table with my magnifying light to do it enjoyably.

I also started a pair of mittens from the 'Knit Like a Latvian' book I bought a couple of summers ago on our road trip to the US. 

I'm not sure what inspired me to start them. Of course, I had all the yarns I needed in my stash 

and decided to use 2.25mm needles - a size up from what the book suggests. 

This book is not for beginning knitters or folks who've never knit mittens like these before. The patterns refer to techniques in different areas of the book and are not very clear. I decided to modify my mittens by inserting Latvian braid above the 'notched' cuff. I will also put some above the cuff motifs before I start the palms. 

The thumb for this pattern is a peasant's thumb using waste yarn to hold the place, that is, one coming out of the palm rather than a thumb with a gusset that sticks out the side of the mitten. I'm going to review some of the other mittens I've knit and figure out a gusseted thumb that will work well for this pattern. If I can't figure one out, I'll resort to the peasant thumb as written. 

Most of the rounds with dots of red only use two colours in that round. However there are 4 rounds where all three colours are required. I haven't decided if I'll wrestle with all three colours or simply do the red dots in duplicate stitch after finishing the rest of the mitten.

Another flaw of the patterns in this book is they only show one mitten and simply give remind the knitter that one side is the palm and the other is the back of the mitt. The book also discourages using Magic Loop 'because the mitten patterns are specifically designed for knitting with five double-pointed needles and would therefore be almost impossible to follow using the magic loop technique'. Yet nowhere does it specifically cite the need to put the stitches on a particular one of the 4 working dpns.

My conclusion is, Ieva Ozolina wrote the book from her Latvian perspective and expects other knitters to adopt the authentic Latvian techniques. However, there are many ways to knit in the round, do stranded knitting, and modify patterns to the knitter's satisfaction. She does include a section explaining the symbolism of the different patterns and the importance of mittens in Latvian culture. Young women fill their hope chests with dozens of pairs of mittens. They were the most common traditional gift and were thought by some to have magical properties.

When doing stranded knitting in the round, I always knit the 'tube' inside out and knit along the far side. That way, the floats are at their maximum length and I don't have tension issues. I also knit with the contrast colour in my left hand (picking/Continental) and the main colour in my right (throwing/British). There is a debate about colour dominance - some, like myself, believe it exists, and others, like Arne and Carlos, don't believe it exists. They just chalk it up to bad knitting/tension. Regardless, my method works for me. 

Another reason I started a knitting project is it doesn't require me to look at every stitch as I knit it. I can look up more frequently at the TV compared to when I'm stitching and have to look down all the time.

Speaking of that, I did some more stitching on my Moonshine Cabin yesterday while on my Monday morning chat but again, really do need bright light and magnification to do a good job on the dark 36ct fabric. I may end up having to pick out some of the work as the stitches aren't looking as even as I would like.

Lena's Glögg Recipe

We are really missing our friends, Norm and Lena with whom we used to spend Christmas Eve at their house feasting on Swedish specialties. They moved to Sweden, Lena's homeland, 4 years ago and we have really missed spending Christmas Eve with them as we had for most of the previous 20 years. 

Last year I asked Lena for her glögg (mulled, spice wine) recipe and am already on my second batch this year. Here's the recipe:

250mL (1-ish cup) water

1cm fresh ginger or 1 Tbsp dried ginger

1 tsp cardamom pods

2 cinnamon sticks

Boil this mixture for 30 min and let cool. Strain away the spices.

Add 750mL red wine and 150mL - 250mL of sugar (depending on how sweet the wine is)

Add slices from an entire orange as the glögg heats up.

Serve with raisins and whole blanched almonds in a cup with a little spoon.

Many online recipes add whiskey or other liquors to the recipe. I haven't tried any recipes like that. This recipe tastes kinda like hot, spicy sangria and warms 'the cockles of my heart'.

I think I have everything under control for Christmas. I made the cranberry sauce a couple of days ago. This afternoon, I wrapped (gift bags and tissue paper) gifts and got them under the tree. I need to make the scalloped potatoes for tomorrow's dinner. I'll either do them tonight or tomorrow. 

Last night I watched 'Love Actually'. It's on Netflix and dates from 2003 - 18 years ago! Keira Knightly was only 18 at the time. And of course anything with Alan Rickman and Colin Firth is OK by me. Shortly Skip and I are going to watch 'The Shop Around the Corner' - a 1940 movie with Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart. Skip was very impressed when he watched it a while back and felt it would be something fun to watch with me. 

We are treating this week like we are on holidays and have been watching TV, videos, and movies during the day - which we usually never do. It's been lots of fun.

Happy holidays however you celebrate them. Merry Christmas to those who observe it. 

A Busy Time of Year

I have been busying myself with some fun activities and preparations for a cozy Christmas with Skip. We're not sure if Scooter will be joining us and are pretty flexible about that.

The only photos I took last week were of our guild's ornament exchange and they can be viewed here. 15 of us took part in the ornament exchange. We used a Secret Santa app to draw names and then either mailed or surreptitiously delivered the ornaments to the recipients. They were to stay wrapped until our Zoom meeting last Wednesday where all was revealed. 

I received a beautiful wintery ornament that was stitched with sparkly thread by Lauren.

Some of us planned to partake in afternoon tea last Wednesday at the Toasted Walnut in Bowmanville. We all wore our pearls and had a nice visit. We were all a bit antsy about the soaring COVID-19 rate in our region and I personally had decided that this was going to be my last social engagement until our numbers got back to normal. I had spent time with them at our Elim retreat at the end of October and it was nice getting together again. 

Jeanette gave us pretty, filagree needle threaders,

twill tape with inches printed on it, 

and a delicate, itty bitty scissor fob, stitched over one.

Jeanette had been complaining about having difficulty seeing her stitching clearly and needing stronger glasses. No wonder! She was doing micro stitchery on all these itty bitty things!

Jennifer (Jen1) gave us beautiful boxes with magnetic lids (suitable for mounting a nice piece of stitchery), and a cross stitch pattern. Mine was from Heartstring Samplery,

and the 2022 Book of Days for keeping track of our stitching (and other crafty) projects.

Copying Brenda and Laura (the Serial Starter), YouTubers that I watch, I ordered the Antiquarian Sticker Book to decorate it through the whole year. 

It has lots of neat stickers and in the back are a variety alphabets. I even put some stickers on the back of my iPhone to snazz it up.

Since then I have had something akin to a nesting urge. I guess it's like I'm preparing to give birth to Christmas. I was inspired by a couple of YouTube videos on deep cleaning and tried out 'slow vacuuming' before using my carpet cleaner in the dining room. It really did take a lot more dirt and dust out of the carpet. So when I shampooed the carpet the water that was sucked up wasn't nearly as dirty as when I don't do slow vacuuming. 

I finished the rest of the carpet cleaning in the dining room today and then will tackle the mound of stuff on the dining room table. I love my crafts but they do take up a lot of room. 

Today, before I did the carpet cleaning I ran several errands: to Kim's to pick up more stitching supplies, to the liquor store to stock up on more wine for regular consumption and to make more glögg (I drank all of the last batch), then to the grocery store to pick up more foodstuffs, then to Michaels for more crafty stuff, then to our local chocolate shop for Christmas treats, and finally picked up some lunch to bring home to eat.

In spite of the fact that I got my 3rd COVID-19 shot yesterday and slept most of that afternoon, I have taken advantage of today’s spurt of energy. I think the key is to just get going doing some of these tasks rather than spending a lot of the day entertaining myself. I got everything off my current to do list and feel quite accomplished. 

In my next post I will share my authentic Swedish glögg (spiced, mulled wine) recipe.

Not Quite Sugarplums

I have been doing a bunch of Christmas baking these past few days. I made spritz cookies with my cookie press, gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, and haystacks.

I baked over a couple of days and decorated the cookies over another couple of days.

The sugar cookies were mostly trees.

I thought blue icing would look cool on the gingerbread snowflakes but too late I realized it was gel and wouldn't harden like the white and green icings did.

I soldiered on using primarily white icing.

Not pictured are the spritz cookies and the haystacks but they are yummy.

I was in a bit of a flap that I was running out of time before Christmas when I realized that it wasn't next Saturday but the Saturday after. Yay! I have a whole other week to do stuff. 

With the COVID numbers going up quickly again, Skip and I again cancelled our trip to Niagara Falls we had planned for a couple of days this week to celebrate Skip's birthday. Since we're staying home, Scooter is coming tomorrow for a couple of days. It's his birthday tomorrow. I'm not sure when he is arriving but will plan his celebration (cake?) when I know if he'll be here for supper or later.

I ordered Skip and myself festive pyjamas today. They're from a Canadian company and are supposed to arrive within 7 business days. Fingers are crossed CanadaPost isn't too overwhelmed.

I emailed my Christmas greetings and newsletter just now and only had one bounce back to me. That's another thing to check off my list. 

Actually, aside from figuring out what we're doing for Christmas dinner and if I need to buy a turkey, I have most tasks accomplished. 

Embracing the concept of  'hygge', this holiday season shouldn't be too stressful. 

Hygge - Part II

I got the tree and stockings up. 

I put 200 more lights on the tree and many of my hand-crafted ornaments. I spend a lot of time in the family room where the TV is (in the other corner) and aside from the lamp beside where I sit to knit and stitch, I leave the rest of the lights off. I love the warm glow of the tree lights.

I don't have a lot of Christmas memories that really stand out in my mind but do enjoy the coziness of sitting by the fire and looking at the lights. Some of my favourite Christmas albums play in the background (Hoopla is a great app for this).

I used to do a lot more decorating for the holidays - festive border I'd put up around the breakfast nook, an army of snow people and Santas I'd assemble on the fireplace, garland down stair rail, music boxes, many more Peanuts ornaments, etc. etc. But now I embrace the simple things in my life: a cozy home, nice things to eat (chocolates and cookies) and drink (eggnog and glögg), warm lights, comfort food, Christmassy programs on TV, festive music, and the general sense of coziness. 

I am not a big fan of cold weather, ice, or deep snow but this winter, since we won't be venturing to our southern vacation spot, I have decided to embrace the good things about the season and not spend a lot of time despising the cold. This might include: wearing lots of woolly hats, mitts, scarves, socks, sweaters, cowls, and shawls; going out for fresh air at least once a day; regarding shoveling snow as a 'good workout'; planning getaways with Skip or my friends when COVID numbers and better weather permit; keeping in touch with my various crafty groups via Zoom on a regular basis; continuing to pursue all my crafty interests, etc.  Skip struggles with the cold and dark so we'll build some fun things to do together into our routine as well - going out for breakfast, driving around to view Christmas lights, visiting nurseries to look at live, green plants, etc. Once we get to the Winter Solstice in a couple of weeks, the days will start to get longer again.

Today would have been my brother's 75th birthday. George Inglis accomplished many things in his 26 years. I miss him as much now as I ever did. He was so smart but very closed emotionally. He had a lot to deal with as a youngster, having been diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes at the age of 8 and our mother dying when he was 12.  As a result, he 'played his cards pretty close to his chest'. I was fortunate to spend quite a bit of time with him the last while before he died in 1973 from complications due to the diabetes. We buried old resentments and in our way let each other know how much we cared for each other. Even though he's been gone for 5 decades, I still think about him a lot, and particularly on December 9 every year.

George at University of the Americas, Mexico City, 1965

Painting Christmas Cards

As a devotee of  YouTube and learning new stuff, I became intrigued with watercolour painting about a month ago. A couple of my friends are quite accomplished art students and, although I didn't want to commit to any formal classes, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I have never taken an art class in my life. Basic stick people are all I've ever drawn. But I became inspired by Emma Jane Lefebvre's channel and then Ellen Crimi Trent's. It motivated me to acquire some supplies and start painting. Amazon and our local art supply store, Curry's, provided the majority of my paints, brushes, and paper.

As my friends know, I like to do everything quickly so small-scale paintings on Christmas cards seemed to be very achievable. I found card stock and envelopes in my stash. Perfect! I could glue my little masterpieces to the card stock! Jeanette loaned me a bunch of card-making supplies. I used a couple of stamps.

I'm pretty pleased with how my paintings turned out. Yes, I know it's a three-legged sheep but that is what the artist created. Let's call her 'YARDley' because she only has 3 feet. (nyuk nyuk, nyuk)

This one had 4 legs, so there!

I added a little 'bling' with my HotFix tool. I did get the missing 'jewel' glue back onto the pot before sending this card out.

Curry's had these cool 4" x 6" pads of cold pressed watercolour paper that made sizing my paintings very easy. This guy makes me happy.

A roll of washi tape outlined the borders. I tried masking fluid on this snowflake. It's a latex resist that peels off once the painting is done. Kinda like drawing wax on a Ukrainian Easter egg.

I couldn't find any white acrylic craft paint in my stash so I actually had to buy some so I could flick 'snowflakes'. I also invested in a white gel pen to draw radiating beams. This snowy house goes along with my 'hygge' theme this year.

I do not have a very steady hand but still liked the effects of the different snowflake designs. A pet peeve is when people draw 8-pointed snowflakes but everyone knows they have 6 points (or multiples thereof)! 

I continue to practise painting fine lines with the very tip of my round brushes.  These little pieces are not fine art but I'm certainly having a lot of fun creating them. Most of these only took a few minutes to make.

I customarily haven't mailed Christmas cards out in several years - except perhaps to some folks who don't use email. This year, I will be handing some out to friends I get to see before the holidays and will mail some to special people. Of course, enclosed in the cards sent to folks that don't live locally and keep up with the everyday shenanigans of Skip and myself, will be our annual newsletter. We didn't do a whole heck of a lot this year, compared to our pre-COVID activities, but did somehow find lots of ways to keep ourselves occupied and entertained.