Holidays are Over

I'm just starting to get things back to normal after the holidays.

Yesterday was our guild's stitch day. It was so fun having some sustained time to sit and stitch with folks and get caught up on everyone's holiday activities. We shared ideas and pattern suggestions.

 Laura showed Marilyn and me the embroidery project she found in a magazine from the public library:

It's called 'Winter Wonderland' and depicts 'a stroll around Strasbourg market'. What could be more  perfect as a memento of our trip! 

It's from Issue 58 of 'Love Embroidery' magazine. Now that I'm doing more surface embroidery, I will have to start looking at back issues of the magazine.

I would do the wood parts of the booth and historic building in a dark brown. Lots of bling could be added to the tree, too. I definitely would print the template (given at the back of the issue) onto Sticky Fabri-Solvy and just stitch through it and the fabric. Those candy canes are SO cute! I could also add a mug of steaming Gluhwein, too!

Thanks for the heads up Laura!

Speaking of mementos of our trip. After I returned from the Alpine Christmas Market tour, an ad appeared on Facebook that caught my attention from Happary.com. They specialize in personalized ornaments, frames, fridge magnets, etc. The trip souvenir one permitted up to 11 destinations. I ordered one for each of us with our primary destinations and it arrived on Friday.

I did more stitching on Miss Hazel:

After our stitching, Poppy and I headed up to Myrtle Station Wool to get her the yarn for the Icelandic sweater she wants to knit herself for our trip this spring. It was a very successful trip.

This morning I ordered the frame for my 'Live on Little' from Custom Frames Canada. 

I just need to add my initials and the date.

I selected the same wood as I used for my 'Winter Rose Manor'. A mahogany frame which should make the carnations 'pop'.

It should arrive in a couple of weeks.

I knit some more on the Flannel Scarf but hit another snag on the 4th band. Somehow the colours got reversed so I tinked back [tinking is when you un-knit stitch by stitch rather than ripping it out by frogging (rip it, rip it). 'Tink' is the word 'knit' backwards]. So it's good to this point. Will need to do more thinking before I continue.

Of course, the main problem is that I'm watching a detective series on Netflix, "Missing You" so the knitting doesn't have my full attention.

Friday was a busy day. Barb, Alda, Judy, and I visited Sharon in Port Perry. Afterwards, Barb and I went for lunch. Then I had a my dental appointment to fix my tooth that was lacerating my tongue. Orthodontic wax really saved me (and my tongue) since returning from my holiday. I can chew on both sides of my mouth again.

Afterwards, I visited a friend who lives near the dental office to get caught up on our respective Christmas activities. Meal time approached so we went out for a bite for supper. My mouth was still a bit frozen so I ate sparingly and gingerly so as not to crunch a big chunk out of my cheek. I came home and vegged out with my knitting and TV.

Yesterday, as I mentioned was stitching, so today I'm taking it easy.

Tomorrow the regular routine starts again with Monday morning stitching. Back to 'normal'.

Intrigued...

 I just saw this pattern, Snow on the Ground, from Hands On Design and I was very intrigued:

I seem to be drawn to these 3D projects. There are also instructions for a scissor fob.

I'd like to get my hands on 'The Light of Winter' by Brenda Gervais.

It seems to be sold out everywhere. I believe it would be a great companion piece to her Winter Rose Manor which several of us did as a StitchALong in 2023.

I was pleased with the custom frame I ordered online and still need to order one for my 'Live on Little' project.

Happy New Year! And Getting My @ss Kicked

I've started and frogged the Flannel Scarf project several times. The last time is because somehow the pattern in the third pattern block doesn't match the pattern in the first pattern block. So I've frogged back to the beginning of the third pattern block for the second time and will try again.

Did I switch the main colour with the contrast colour? Am I not paying enough attention because I'm knitting whilst watching TV? Is there a mistake in the pattern? Am I going 'tweedly'? Good grief.

I may have to frog the whole damned thing and start over, possibly with other yarns, possibly with some of my handspun.

I had Jen1, Barb, and Jeanette over for some stitching on Tuesday and got a little bit more done on Miss Hazel:

While Jen1 was over, we discussed what hats we'd take on our Iceland/Norway trip. She and Poppy found lovely ones on Etsy which will be custom knit with, I believe, fingering weight.

I have many hats I can take like this one, Bonnet l'Hiver on Ravelry. The instructions were in French but Google translate helped me out. I knit it with Icelandic wool so will need to line it so as not too be too scratchy. A lot of the Icelandic hats I saw when I was there last were lined with t-shirt/knit jersey fabric so I'll do the same for mine.

There are several free Nordic hat patterns on Ravelry. I may do this one with worsted weight non-scratchy yarn. It's the Basic Norwegian Hat and is a free pattern.

My winter coat is dark grey (almost black) so I would use grey, black and white yarn. I would also make the ribbing 4" long to have double thickness over my ears.

I also plan to take one of my Musselburgh hats and this one I knit for Skip.

I bought two patches on eBay and affixed one to the hat and the other to the sweater sleeve.

It's the Dale of Norway 'St Moritz' pattern from 2003. I used Dale of Norway Heilo yarn and the now-discontinued KnitPicks yarn, Telemark. I recall this being a very fun knit and used the rolled Italian cast-on for the cuffs. It was not Skip's favourite sweater because of the bulk under the set-in sleeve but he would haul it out from time to time in the winter.

Years ago I came home from shopping to find him wearing it whilst decorating the little tree we always put in our front window.

That man sure was an appreciative knitter's husband. 

Getting back to the Basic Norwegian hat, I will raid my stash first before buying any yarn. 

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions but stitching wise, I am continuing my pledge to finish or fully finish a project before starting something else. I have several projects kitted up and need to select the fabric (again from my stash). But lots of finishing work to do first.

I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home, attempting to knit the Flannel Scarf, sipping my 200mL bottle (Piccolo) of Henkel Trocken and watching TV. Look how little the bottle was compared to the champagne flute! LOL. That's 4/5 of a cup for you British measurement holdouts.

I was surprisingly exhausted by 10 pm and got to bed by 10:30, having PVRd Anderson and Andy on CNN to watch later. Skip and I used to watch them, crack open a couple of the little bottles of sparkling wine, and sing "New York, New York" along with the folks at Times Square. That song has special significance for us. First, because we had many getaways to NY state. Secondly, we happened upon a big celebration in Sackets Harbor one June day in 2003. Funny Cide, a racehorse owned by locals was running in the Belmont Stakes, and hoping to win the third race for the Triple Crown. The whole town was out in the street preparing to watch the race on big TVs. We all belted out, 'New York, New York', the theme song of the Belmont Stakes. Sadly the horse, which had won the first two Triple Crown races lost. The only reason we were there was that I had left my credit card at the local bar two days before and we had returned to the town to pick it up, getting caught up in all the revelry. We always had fond memories of this once-in-a-lifetime event.