The Deadline Got Me Finishing This

I put the finishing touches on my Winter Rose Manor today. 

The hand-dyed fabric was from my stash so I had to outline the house with CCW Wood Rose to make it pop. The house colour was changed to CCW Bella Rosa and the white was changed to CCW Khaki Mocha. I also changed the colours of the male cardinal's wing and the female cardinal's breast and tail as there wasn't enough contrast with the dyelots of the threads I had.  Because I added several initials, the snowflakes were randomly placed and the date was moved from below the pyramid of trees to the top right corner.

The other big modification was including the initials of the six of us: me (G), Marilyn, Sharon, Poppy, Jennifer, and Barb. Jennifer and Marilyn finished theirs months ago, Barb is working on finishing hers by New Year's Eve.

I think 'The Light of Winter' by the same designer would be a lovely companion piece. 

It's slightly smaller (175 x 175) than Winter Rose Manor (182 x 181). Framed the same, they'd make a lovely pair except I probably can't find the same fabric that I used for Winter Rose Manor. The pattern is hard to find in stock anywhere. It was a retreat piece just released to the general public. I found one on Etsy for about $14US but the shipping is over $15US. What is with shipping costs on Etsy???? I will keep looking...

Supposedly Traditional Stitches has it but they often list items they don't have in stock.

I have the 'Live on Little' project to work on which will certainly take me more than a year to finish stitching at this pace. 

In the meantime, I'd like to 'cleanse my palate' with a small project.

I was inspired by this little ornament from p68 of the 2023 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue.

I see lots of snowflakes I could 'bling' up with my HotFix jewels.

And I've started another Musselburgh hat with this yarn and 3.5mm needles.

Handspun Hat

I finished the Musselburgh hat last night - knit with my 3-ply handspun from superwash merino. Skip says it's a bit scratchy so it won't be his. 

It is slightly slouchy so I'll have to pull it down quite firmly if I want to fold up the brim.

I don't plan to spend a lot of time ourdoors in the cold, though.

I knit a bandana cowl and hat set a couple of years ago with some lovely Malabrigo Rios yarn I was given. I think the cowl will work with the hat.

I'm itching to start another one.

C'Est Fini!

The K2, P2 ribbing made for a very quick finish to the stocking. 

It was fun to see it grow over the Advent season. The pattern is now available for purchase here.

Yet another movie: (click the play triangle twice) The last one on this project, I promise!

I have a stitching project I want to start from Pansy Patch Quilts and Stitchery - The Little Red Schoolhouse 1862 pinkeep:

I have the pattern and the fabric somewhere in my chaos craft room/office. I must do a good search and see if I can find it.

The handspun Musselburgh hat is coming along nicely. I get a lot of knitting done when I sit with Skip and watch TV or after he's gone to bed and I have my quiet time.

One more day of no commitments then it's back to running around again. I will definitely sleep in tomorrow morning.

Skip and I enjoyed Christmas dinner in the mid-afternoon at a friend's place. We really appreciated being able to drive home while it was still light out. We've both been relaxing since we got home.

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

The Hat I Knit Three Times

 I started knitting this with a 2.75mm needle and after about 5" I realized it was just too dense and I wouldn't have enough yarn to make it big enough. So I frogged it (rip it, rip it) and started again with 3.25mm needles.

It was going along quite well when I realized the yarn was getting thicker and the fabric was getting denser. You see, my handspun is not the most consistent so one must allow for these anomalies. I liked the look of it but still didn't think there would be enough yarn to finish it properly. 

This time I didn't frog it. Rather, I started a new one with larger needles and the other end of the ball of yarn. I knit happily away. I'm knitting from one attempt to the other.

At one point I thought I'd try knitting with two circular needles - one for one half and one for the other. I screwed 4mm tips onto a cable and knit half the sts onto it, working both needles for a couple of rounds. Just for curiosity I thought I'd check the size of the first larger needle and saw that it was 4.25mm. Well, gee. I couldn't really continue with the front half of the hat on 4.25mm and the back half on 4mm so I went back to using only the 4.25mm circular needle. The yarn is getting much thinner at this point. I've been knitting obsessively done all of this since 10pm last night. 

At this rate, I could be finished tonight and give it a good bath so the yarn will bloom.

It's a strange striped pattern but maybe Skip will want to wear it to keep his head warm.

I'm going to check out other skeins of my handspun for suitability to make more of these hats.

I made another HelloFresh meal last night. The Curry Shrimp with Couscous was a success even though I almost burned the couscous by not removing it from the heat right away, No matter, it still turned out great. There were enough leftovers that we had it again for lunch today. It was just as good reheated. People who don't eat leftovers (yes! there are people like that) are really missing out as often the flavours really infuse with reheating.

We've been watching the Formula 1 documentary on Netflix. Although Skip watches it, I've never really been that interested in F1 racing. However the documentary over 5 seasons really draws one in. I didn't realize how much drama there was. In Skip's impatience, we skipped to the second last season (2021) as a leadup to the last season. I do know that Belgian-Dutch Max Verstappen has won every race this year so am interested to see the earlier parts of the trajectory of his fame.

We had a nice FaceTime chat with Scooter this morning. He decided to take a few days off from his online teaching (sometimes up to 8 classes per day!!!) until the New Year. He has some fun things planned with his sister and friends so we'll catch up to him in the new year. He's very close to his sister and likes to hang out with her when she's home from university over the holidays. He has plans to visit her in Montréal at the end of January as well as continuing on to Québac City.

Skip and I decided to not do much in the way of presents for Christmas. The HelloFresh meals were my treat and I have a couple of small things for him for under the tree and for his stocking. Basically we already own everything we want or need. My biggest present is still having him here to spend time with. Not everyone is so fortunate. We've lost so many people over the last couple of years. Aside from impending infirmity, losing friends and family are the worst things about getting older.

We will be enjoying Christmas dinner tomorrow afternoon at a friend's with her family. We won't even have bad weather to be concerned about. Yes, a light snow is very picturesque for Christmas morning but at this point in my life, I don't need snow in any way, shape or form.

Merry Christmas to all who read my blog. I hope you're enjoying the holidays, however you celebrate them.  Thanks for 'listening' to all my ramblings. 

Days 21 - 23 and Belated Pics

I should have posted these photos with the previous blog post but just downloaded them from my phone. We covered Barb's dining room table with all our gifts at our stitch day last Sunday.

Jen1 took this one of all of us showing off the stitching trays she made for each of us.

I am caught up with my Arne and Carlos Advent stocking. 

Tomorrow's is the last installation and I believe it will be instructions for the cuff. It's a big stocking as can be judged by the 12" floor tiles. It was fun to have each day's pattern to look forward to and very manageable to work into my schedule.

I made another movie of the progression. (Click the 'play' triangle twice)

I've been knitting away on the handspun Musselburgh hat but now I think I should go up at least one needle size. It will make the yarn go farther and the fabric will be a little less dense. I have never been the most consistent spinner but I believe the yarn will look good with larger gauge. This time, I'll start the crown properly.

On Track with My Knitting but Falling Behind on the Blogging...

I've been keeping up with Arne and Carlos' Advent stocking. Days 16 - 20 are done. 

Only 4 more days to go. 

I started another Musselburgh hat with some handspun. I'm not in love with the colours but it will be cozy. This was it as rovings.

and after spinning and plying - 3ply to maintain the colour integrity (and to not get barber poles).

It's coming out with distinct stripes. 

There has been a lot going on and by the time I have time to update the blog, I'm too tired, or I get distracted with some task or other.

On Sunday, the stitching folks got together for stitching at Barb's and lunch at a local (noisy!!) restaurant. Back at Barb's the table was covered with gifts before we tore them all open.

Poppy liked the project roll I made her.

And everyone got a hardware kit to make embroidery hoop boxes.

I got lovely gifts in return. Some edibles, some hand crafted, some ornamental, just beautiful things. 

We have decided we need to have a standing day every month to get together so we have selected the second Sunday of the month. That way all the working girls can attend.

We have been taking it pretty easy this week, enjoying sleeping in. I wake up fairly early then plug in earphones to listen to an audiobook until about 8:30. I make coffee, bring in the paper, open all the blinds, do the daily puzzles while I enjoy my coffee. At some point Skip joins me and I get him coffee and breakfast while he reads the paper. It's a nice rhythm. I've become such a homebody since COVID and after - I have to force myself to get dressed and out the door if I have errands to run. Once I'm out the door, I'm happy to be out and about but am always glad to get back home.

Day 15 and a Finish

I got Day 15's rounds knit last night while I watched 'The Crown'. It finished the green 'chain' and started what I think are a girl and boy.

I also finished the Musselburgh with yarn to spare. I started the decreases after the recommended number of inches for my size (Adult Medium) but could have knit some extra rows and started them where I had mathematically determined would work.  No matter. Since the tube is closed at both ends, sewing in the cast on yarn end needs to be done before closing the tube. Then the cast off end is run through the remaining stitches a couple of times then fed down the centre hole and blindly secured somehow. This yarn is scrumptious. I have three skeins of Malabrigo sock yarn that will be good candidates for other hats. 

It's plenty long enough for a semi-slouchy hat. I can also turn up the edge  a couple of inches for 4 layers of thickness over my ears.

Pushing the one end into the other, this is one side:

and this is it the other way.

You can see that knitting with a different yarn on one half would work, too. 

Before casting on the next one, I'm going to weigh the needles and the skein of yarn. Then I'll weight them at the point the increases are done so I'll know at when to start the decreases at the other end with just enough yarn to spare.

I'm also going to have a good look at my handspun and see what I could use for another Musselburgh.

This construction was not new to me. I knit my niece's husband, who enjoys hunting, a two-sided hat back in 2009.

Public side:

Selected audience side:

There were a few rounds of purling or reverse garter stitch at the fold line but the concept of pushing one end into the other was the same. He still has and wears that hat.

I still have a bit of running around/shopping for some gifts and household items. Scooter is arriving for a visit this afternoon. And, of course, there's always housework.

I decided to treat myself and put in an order for HelloFresh which is due to arrive today. We had an introductory order back in the spring. All three recipes were easy to prepare and I've made two of them since then. One of them more than a couple of times (Ricotta-zucchini fritters and sides).  These are the ones arriving today.

We're having mac and cheese when Scooter is here tonight but these three meals will take care of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Happy Holidays to me.

I also got my annual Christmas newsletter composed, and the rest of my Christmas cards finished.

That takes care of most of my previous 'to do' list. Now to tackle some more items.

Day 14 and Decreases Started on the Musselburgh

 I quickly knit Day 14's rounds last night. 

We're back using white and green. 

I also started the decreases for the crown of the Musselburgh.

I should be able to finish it tonight. Fingers are crossed my calculations for the rest of the yarn were correct.

Now comes the search for yarn to knit a hat for Skip. I don't think he needs a double layer like the Musselburgh offers. I'd like it to be DK or worsted weight so I can knit it up quickly. With his hair loss from his cancer treatments, his head gets cold. I loaned him one of my hats (all of his are quite thick) but he should have one of his own. I have to test the yarn with him as he has a sensitivity to some wools. I may just whip something up from my acrylic stash.

I made the mistake of starting to watch the last season of 'The Crown' last night and stayed up far too late to finish watching the second episode. I have the rest of the episodes to look forward to.

I'm also listening to Ken Dryden's book 'The Class'. He writes about the lives of the people from his Grade 9 class at a suburban high school (Etobicoke Collegiate) in Toronto. Of the 35 from that class, he tracked down and extensively interviewed 28 of them and writes about their lives and life in general in  post war Canada. I recognize many of the place names and even heard a reference to the parents of one of Fred's cousins. The time period of his high school experience, 1960 - 1965, is around the time my siblings attended high school. It is quite an interesting sociological study of life in the suburbs, Toronto, and Canada. It has been a very interesting 'read' (I put 'read' in quotes because all my current reading is via audiobooks from the library).

Get togethers for the festive season begin today with lunch out with three former colleagues. Sunday is a stitch day at Barb's with the stitcherly gang followed by lunch out at noon. I've been working on getting cards ready for these events and the Monday morning stitch group. I still haven't composed our annual Christmas newsletter that I send with our Christmas greetings (now all via email with only a couple of exceptions). Lots of fun ahead...

Days 12 and 13

 Day 12

Day 13.

Day 14 is downloaded and printed and will be my evening stitching. I made a movie of my progress this far: (click on play twice)

I continue round and round on the Musselburgh. I'm still enjoying the knit.

Yesterday, being the first day after Skip's last radiation treatment, I got a lot of things checked off my 'to do' list. I found exactly the items I needed at a store in Oshawa. WalMart was next door so I got all my grocery shopping done there. Then off to Home Depot for another item I needed to complete a Christmas gift. Then to Kettlemans for some bagels. 

Once home, I baked Skip a birthday cake and some cupcakes. I finished decorating the tree and putting out some of my favourite Christmas items in the house. 

Skip's friend, Bob, was coming over to visit and I had promised him some cake. We had a nice visit and I left the men to their conversations while I worked on a Christmas gift in the dining room. I put on my favourite Christmas music - an old cassette tape of 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', a Carpenters Christmas tape, and the Barry Manilow Christmas CD. I rarely play music except at Christmas but these tunes certainly lifted my spirits. I think I burned out after teaching and playing music for 40+ years but I think I need to play more tunes while I work on craft projects in the dining room.

We had a simple birthday meal of a delicious three-meat pie, mashed potatoes, garden salad, and dessert. We also lit our now-repaired (again) fireplace and had a cozy evening watching TV.

It wasn't a fancy birthday for Skip but we appreciated that he had one and we were together and doing OK.

I saw this on Facebook yesterday and it really struck a chord with me:

I'm all for searching out the 'glimmers' in my life. I had many of them yesterday.

Days 10 and 11

I did Days 10 and 11 today while waiting for Skip's penultimate radiation treatment. Arne mentioned the split in the pattern above and below the heel. I had been wondering how that was going to work when the pattern was interrupted for the heel. Day 10 completed the pattern mirrored from Day 7, then a change of colour for a new pattern with red and white.

The yarn I selected looks very close in colour to the yarn Arne is using. Mine is a very soft acrylic which, in general use, would probably pill like crazy. but I'm liking the Christmassy look. 14 more days. The stocking is going to be huge.

After finishing Day 11s six rounds, I switched to the Musselburgh hat and continued on with that. This yarn, too, is very soft and is fuzzing a bit where I started it. It will be a very cozy hat. 

I should have weighed the crown before starting the straight tube to know exactly when to start the decreases at the other end. However the striping colours are starting to repeat so I have a pretty good idea at what colour stripe I should begin the decreases in order to use up most of the yarn and not run out. Yarn chicken is very annoying.

The finished closed 'tube' should measure about 22" long. so I'm over halfway done.

I got Skip's tree up in the front window yesterday and my knitted Aran tree skirt around the bottom. 

Last night I got the big tree up in the corner of the family room. It only has 2 ornaments on it so far so the plan is to finish decorating it tomorrow morning.

This is my current to do wish list:

• make one sewing project for a gift
• bake Skip a birthday cake (his birthday is day after tomorrow)
• locate part of another gift that is kicking around somewhere in the house
• assemble the gift bags
• start thinking about stocking stuffers for Skip and Scooter
• bake some cookies
• take a look at Hello Fresh for something different for us to eat
• do more Christmas decorating around the house

I really hope I can get most of these things done over the next couple of days. I want the week before Christmas to be relaxing and as stress-free as possible.

Did I mention that after our snowfall last week, our snow clearing service had our sidewalk, driveway, and walkways to the back gate and front door done by 8:30am? It was awesome to be awakened by the scraping sounds and look out the bedroom window and see this.

I cannot express how relieved I am to not have to do the snow clearing this winter. We were too late trying to book someone last winter and got a new, more powerful snow blower for me to wield. It worked well except for one really wet snowfall and the plow filling in the driveway with huge chunks of ice.  Now, with the snowblower, I can still clear a path if I need to get Skip to an early appointment if the snow clearing service hasn't made it to our place yet. Peace of mind is everything to me these days.

Days 8 and 9 and Beginnings of a Musselburgh Hat

 I finished Days 8 and 9 -  the heel on my Advent Christmas Stocking.

It's a short row heel. Day 8  featured the decreases and today involved the increases back to the 18 sts per pattern or 36 sts per needle on Magic loop. I re-oriented the work so the round starts at the middle of the heel and I'm ready for Day 10s colourwork. Judging from the size of the foot, the finished stocking will be quite large. The pattern is free for now from their blog but once the stocking has been completed it will become a paid pattern on December 26. 

Now that I've got the increases done on my Musselburg hat, I'm ripping along on the 'tube'. It's easy knitting, round and round. 

I'm loving the self-striping yarn. I think it's going to be very spiffy when I'm done. Fingers are crossed I'll have enough yarn to complete it. If not, I'll substitute something and put that end as the interior.

As Knitty Natty said in her YouTube video, the crown looks deceptively small but once the increases are done, the tube is quite a bit larger. Again, this hat should be knit with 3 - 4" of negative ease so it is snug enough around the ears. 

Some knitters knit ribbing in the centre part that will be folded up for the extra thickness of the brim. The YouTubers provide various opinions and formulas on this. I think some of my handspun skeins would be good candidates for one of these hats.

Today I went on an outing with 4 of my regular gang. We ventured up to the greater Beaverton area to Border Creek Station's Christmas Open House at the Farmer's Wife Retreat House. I love how all the bedrooms have quilts on the beds with the patterns and in some cases, the kits, ready for purchase. That is the event where, in September 2022,  I became enthralled with English Paper Piecing. The same woman demonstrating it was there again. There weren't any new patterns that intrigued me beyond what I already had so I didn't add to my EPP stash. 

Then we drove to Uxbridge to Quilter's Cupboard to check out what they had for us. I was reminded that I have a couple of ugly Christmas sweater wool felt appliqué kits kicking around here someplace that I really should locate and make. I also have a terrific book of Christmas themed patterns for wool felt appliqué that I need to have a look through.

Honestly, I have the materials for so many projects as well as projects in various stages of completion. I must tackle some more of them before I purchase anything new.

All FFOd and Day 7 of the Advent Stocking

Last night I finished fully finishing the ornaments.

I decided to add a bow to the top of this one even though it already had a stitched bow.

I like all the sparkly bling. It will look really cool once hanging and light hits the little jewels.

On the way to Skip's radiation appointment, I printed off Arne and Carlos' Day 7 chart. They post their YouTube video at 6pm Central European Time so sometime after noon our time (Eastern) the chart is available. I got all 6 rounds knit before Skip emerged and we headed home. Only 3 more treatments. Yay!

According to their outline, the next two days will be the heel. It will be interesting how we'll be directed to create it.

I made a little movie on the progress I've made on the stocking. Click the play button twice.

I have also recently become quite intrigued by Ysolda Teague's Musselburgh hat pattern. 

A couple of YouTube videos came up on my feed and got me interested in using some of my lovely fingering weight yarn that isn't appropriate for socks (no silk or nylon content for strength). It is a simple yet versatile pattern. Basically it is a knitted tube which decreases to complete closure on each end. Then push one end into the other and the result is a doubly thick slouchy hat. If one half is a different yarn, pushing the ends the other way exposes the other yarn. Then, as is pictured above, turning up the brim yields 4 layers of warmth. Other variations could involve ribbing for part of it, seed stitch, half and half, etc. Ideally it should be knit with a couple of  inches of negative ease. The one YouTuber knits hers with almost 4" of negative ease. It's explained well in this 'At Yarn's Length' blog post. I'll definitely be checking for the perfect skein of yarn for this pattern.

I just don't have my Christmas decorating mojo yet. However we did get our first snowfall of the season overnight. I was awakened by the sound of snow being shovelled outside my window. What a wonderful feeling to know I don't have to bundle up and scrape it myself. Best money we've spent all winter.

Another Ornament FFO and the Jingle Ball

I finally made the cording to finish this ornament. It's been mounted on the foamcore for a week - I've just been lazy.

I used #5 DMC 815 Perle cotton - 5 strands. It used almost a whole skein of the floss as each strand is 3x the desired length. I measured around the ornament, allowed extra for the hanger and 'tassel' on the bottom.

I'm loving my new Aleene's Original Tacky Glue dispenser bottle. Being upside down, the glue is always ready to flow and the narrow tip is perfect for attaching cording.

I just used craft store felt for the back - nothing fancy - and affixed the silver charm with black thread.

Once the cording is attached, I use two strands of the same colour of DMC floss to secure the cording at the top and the bottom. I put the needle through the two cords then wrap around a few times and stab the needle back through the wrapping, back and forth a couple of times.

I'm very pleased at how it turned out.

I've also been participating in the Jingle Ball. I signed up for Liz Mathews' two classes. Santa's Night Tree  yesterday afternoon and Mini Wreath Ornament today. I had already fashioned a wreath ornament ahead of the class but appreciated the helpful finishing tips she provided today.

Here's the one I created using a wreath ornament from Canadian Tire (blogged about previously).

This was done before all of Liz' helpful hints. Next ones will incorporate more of them. Unfortunately Teresa Kogut's meet and greet was at the same time so I missed chatting with her this time.

Last night I knit Day 2's 6 rounds from Arne and Carlos' Advent Stocking.

I was all gung ho to knit Day 3's pattern this afternoon, but it wasn't uploaded yet. Arne and Carlos do a daily chat and don't post the updated chart until after the video has been posted - after 6pm Central European Time (noon Eastern Time). I just checked and it's up so I will print out the chart and sit with Skip while he watches DAZN (The Red Zone - an NFL (American Football) channel.