Old Yarn, New Socks

I purchased this yarn at least 20 years ago. It is infused with Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil, thus making it very soft and lovely to work with.

I finished the second sock a couple of nights ago but wasn't happy with how snug/short they were - if only they were a little bit longer...

So I opened the toes and ripped back to the beginning of the toe decreases and knit a few more rounds before starting the decreases again.

I'm a bit of a stickler about identical twin socks, if at all possible. This yarn has very long repeats so had to find a spot in the ball of yarn with enough of one colour to finish both toes. 

Because I've had to darn the bottoms of the heels on so many pairs of sock, I now continue the Eye of Partridge heel from the flap, onto the centre bottom of the heel until the decrease rounds have been completed. This slip-stitch technique provides two layers of yarn in the spot where I wear out the heels the most. 

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this technique can also be done in other areas that wear out, such as the ball of the foot.

It's not the most eye-catching colourway but the snuggliness of these socks more than makes up for that. They'll get a lot of use this winter. 

I recently read Kelly Bishop's autobiography, 'The Third Gilmore Girl' on audio from the library. She was the original 'Sheila' in Michael Bennett's 'A Chorus Line' on Broadway. She explained that many stage performers were interviewed about what motivated them to pursue the life of a stage performer then these interviews were turned into the individual biographies of the performers in the show. Many of the first performers portrayed their own experiences on the stage, including Kelly. It was an interesting read. Of course, she's more widely known as Emily Gilmore, the matriarch of the Gilmore family. She spent a lot of time discussing the show, how it was cast, and the various changes that occurred over its seven-year run. When she mentioned that Netflix had picked it up, I was intrigued to watch it from the beginning. 

I had seen episodes here and there when it was originally running but nothing with consistency. So I've made my way through the 21 episodes of Season 1 and have just started Season 2. While watching, and in addition to finishing the socks, I've been finishing the circles and the background of the project I bought while I was in Bergen.

I'm stitching an extra row/column all the way around for when I finish it into a zipper bag. It will give my sewing machine a guide between the outer two columns/rows of background and ensure that the canvas doesn't show.

The kit came with everything: canvas, needle, ample wool threads, backing fabric, lining fabric, zipper, and even the little thong for the zipper pull.

It was about the only non-knitting thing available at the knitting show we attended that day in Bergen.

I'll finish up the stitching tonight and possibly get the thing FFOd by the end of the weekend.

I have not known what day of the week it was all week until actually pausing to think about it. With Canada Day being on a Tuesday this year, Wednesday felt like a continuation of the weekend and I just now realized today is Friday. That means tomorrow, being the first Saturday of the month, is our guild's stitch day.

I plan to take the 'Bees in the Greenhouse' project and do the monotonous outlines. Other than double-checking my counting, I won't have to concentrate too hard to just do long rows and columns of cross-stitches.

Jen1, Marilyn, and I are now thinking about our itinerary for our July shop hop of SW Ontario. Honestly, I do not need to enhance my vast stash, but am always happy to go to new places and see new things. Road trips with some or all of my 'peeps' are always so fun and a nice interruption to the routine at home.

Random Stuff

Yesterday I kitted up the 'Bees in the Greenhouse' project. I enjoy the process of getting all the floss organized, picking a project bag, and deciding where to start on the fabric. I usually start in the centre and work out but this time I decided to start in the bottom left corner.

I'll stitch the left half of the chart, then will do the right half above. I'll have all of the fabric on the right left over for another project.

I'm finding this 40ct fabric very hard to stitch on. It's Fiber on a Whim 'Silver Fox'. I believe the dyeing has made it an even smaller count. The holes between the threads have really closed up are hard to see and I have to use both magnifying glasses and the magnifier on my lamp. Very 'squinchy'. However I shall persevere - at least until I can't stand it any more.

I've had the cardboard backing for the Altoid tin projects cut out for weeks. Yesterday I sprayed them with basting spray and mounted the pieces with batting between the cardboard and the stitching.

My preferred thread for lacing is #12 perle cotton. This one is ready for glueing onto the tin.

I'm not happy with the alphabet one so will re-mount using two-sided sticky tape on the back.

Now I get to decide how I'll finish the insides. A refrigerator business card magnet will work well to hold needles in the lid.

I saw a huge raccoon in my garden today. I ran out there to try and scare it away but I think it just climbed the evergreen tree. Not sure how much damage it can do to the garden - I don't throw any food scraps out there other than stuff in the compost bin. It's impossible for the raccoon to access. Hopefully it will find someone else's yard to frequent.

While out there, I noticed some elements of my garden are doing great so I ran back inside to get my phone to take a couple of pics.

My Shasta daisies are starting to bloom. I'm so pleased. 

Our late stitching friend, Sharon Tomlinson, gave me a bunch from her garden last year. I planted them in an open spot and they got established quite nicely. This spring, I went to see how they were doing and there were holes where I had planted them last year. 'Oh no', I thought. I must have yanked them out and disposed of them during the fall garden cleanup. I was so bummed out at my mistake.

Then last week, I saw a bunch of daisies start to bloom at the front of one of my garden beds. They were Sharon's daisies! I had totally forgotten I had moved them to that spot last fall. 

There are so many buds! I think they like it there and I hope they continue to bloom throughout the summer.

My sea holly is just starting to bloom. I have several plants around the garden. This one is on its own in another garden bed and it's grown to epic dimensions compared to the ones crammed into a narrow bed beside the fence.

I love the blue 'flowers' and so do insects. I'm sure the poo-like scent emitted by the blooms are what attracts them.

And on a completely different topic, during the latest heat wave, I've been closing the window blinds in the upstairs windows on the south side of the house Boy! Does that ever make a difference in repelling heat. I've always done that downstairs because the windows are so big, but doing that on the second floor has made such a difference. Yes, the house is darker in the daytime but the temperatures are much more comfortable and I either don't need the A/C at all or its cycles are much shorter now to get to the desired indoor temperature. Just goes to show one is never too old to learn.

Fun With My Girlies

Yesterday I had the girlies (as Jen1 would say) over so we could make some beaded zipper pulls or scissor fobs from my vast stash of beads. We had booked the date about 6 weeks ago. Jen1 and Poppy both still work and Poppy is very involved with work and her family so it's hard to find time when all of us can get together with the two of them.

I have a LOT of beading supplies and was hoping many would get used up. This is only a smattering of beads from my stash. 

I showed how I use lobster claw clips, crimping beads, Beadalon wire (7), 

beads, and charms to make the zipper pulls, often coordinating with the accompanying project bag.

Jeanette brought a tin full of beads, too. Some had been impressed with the vast selection at Michaels and picked up some beads and findings suiting their own tastes.

It was so fun sitting together and chatting while we industriously worked on our creations. I didn't take enough photos but this is what Jennifer achieved in the session.

We also discussed the little SW Ontario road trip we're planning for a couple of days next month. Since we're not going to the US for at least 3.5 more years, we are taking the opportunity to explore our own beautiful province.

Jen1 did some investigating and found us a suite hotel in St Jacobs. Reservations have been made.  I invited my nieces to join us for all or part of the shop hop and they're coming too and will be staying at the same hotel. 

Speaking of reservations, in Google, I clicked on the link to make a reservation, and was directed to a third party. I then remembered that I have a loyalty card for the same hotel chain so went through that website and saved $100 PER NIGHT! So it pays to try and book directly with the hotel rather than Booking dot com or some such website. At the very least it is worth investigating both ways to see if there is a cheaper choice.

For me, spending time with my girlies is like breathing pure oxygen. I am so fortunate to have these folks in my life that really 'get' me. 

Old Floss vs Newer Floss

One of my acquaintances from the Shuttlebug guild contacted me to see if I was interested in having her deceased sister's embroidery floss stash. After stitching today I went over there and relieved her of it promising that if I couldn't use it, I new some folks who might like it.

The flosses were in resealable bags, separated by colour family so one by one I went through each bag. I decided to only keep the DMC floss and set aside the other flosses from other manufacturers: Mez, J P Coats, Anchor, Olympus, etc.

As I sorted the floss, I laid the DMC flosses in numerical order so they'd be easy to get into my existing complement of FlossAway bags. These are the ones I kept:

All but 14 colours were incorporated into my existing FlossAway bags. I had to order some more FlossAway bags for the remaining ones from Kimat Designs so they'll be ready for pickup at the end of the week. 

Most of the skeins pre-dated bar codes. 

Many of the older skeins had this diagram showing how to pull a strand from the skein.

There is nothing wrong with the floss, it's just 4+ decades old. However some of the dyelots have changed so if stitching with one of the old skeins, it will be important to not mix it with threads from the newer skeins. 

Dyelot variations are quite evident for some of the colours:

This was definitely a relic. Remember Woolco?

It's pretty faint but it cost 20 cents.

These are the ones I still need bags for. It's also possible that the colours are kitted up with other projects but I don't worry too much about having multiple bags of the same colour.

Our guild's stitch day is this Saturday so I'll take the rest of the floss there to see if anyone would like some or all of it.

Last Friday, I popped into Kimat Designs to buy some fabric for the Blue Flower 'Bees in the Greenhouse' pattern.

I selected a hand-dyed, 40ct, medium green. The design is 300 x 102 so stitching over 2 threads on 40ct (20 cross-stitches per inch), I needed 15" x 5.1". This Fiber on a Whim Silver Fox will be perfect.

Instead of a long piece of stitching with all 6 sides horizontally, I could do the two halves of the chart, one above the other and I'd still have a nice, 9" x 13" piece left over for another project. 

Tomorrow is Canada Day. I have never seen so many Canadian flags on display as I did driving around town today. On one street adjacent to Garden street (Google maps tells me it was Clune Place) , every house has one between two stakes on their boulevard. I even attached one to the wall beside my front door with Alien Tape - a very sticky, two-sided silicone tape.

I sure hope I can get the Alien Tape off the wall and the flag when the time comes. I think I'll leave it up even after Canada Day. 

I Finished These, Too!

Last night I FFd (Fully Finished) the little biscornu that I'd finished stitching a couple of years ago. I used DMC Variations 4210 on 40ct white linen. Whip stitching through the backstitching was a little 'squinchy' - slow going. The pattern is adapted from 'Four Little Hearts' by Indigo Rose. 

I used a round bead in the centre and HotFix 'bling in the four corners of the top side. 

I also found a long-abandoned Mill Hill kit with two little Christmas stockings on perforated paper.  I stitched two of them but didn't have enough beads for the second one. They are itty-bitty.

I guess they could have been earrings but I decided against that. There was a pin in the package to attach to the back but first, I'll use some felt for the backing.

Finishing a Couple of Things

While workers have been here doing work on my kitchen renovation, I’ve had to stay home and out of their way. 

I started going through some of my FOs and remembered I had the Autumn Cat stitched and ready to turn into a Fully Finished Object (FFO). It took me a few minutes to find the backing fabric I planned to use. It’s an old blouse that had an autumnal theme. Then I had to locate the black iron-on interfacing.  Next was to draw the outline on the back of the stitching as a guide for sewing it together. Then I cleverly (not!) ironed the interfacing onto the back of the stitching - covering up the outline I just drew. I ripped the interfacing off and pinned the stitching to the backing fabric then sewed around. Then ironed on the interfacing again. I didn’t want the white batting to show through the black fabric.  The ears had too much bulk so inside out again, I trimmed the seams around the ears. Right side out again I pressed it and set it aside. 

I left the bottom open for stuffing and inserting an oval piece so it will stand up. Its eyes will be green HotFix jewels and maybe a sparkly one on the heart. 

The back:

While I had the black interfacing out, I decided to also finish the Teresa Kogut ‘Jingle Bells’ star ornament. Back up to my fabric stash to find something appropriate for the back. More points to trim and turn. This time, I had the interfacing ironed on before I realized I hadn’t sewn all the way around so again, had to rip the interfacing back to above where I had stopped stitching.

Ta da!

I’ll put a decorative bead on the top through the corded hanger. 

They both need to be stuffed and the opening sewn up. That raggedy bottom star point has been repaired with FrayCheck.

Now I remember why I don’t FFO a lot of my projects. So. Many. Fiddly. Steps!

The other night I completed another Sashiko design inspired by evagustems on Instagram. Here is the link to the video. I used some of the fabric I had purchased at Quilt Canada last week. The white, water-soluble pencil didn't hold up well so I'm in the market for a heat-erasable white gel pen if such a thing exists.

First, the guide lines are drawn on the fabric. (this is Eva's photo)

Then the running stitches. I even managed to screw this up and had to pull out the stitches a couple of times. You can see how faded the white pencil markings are.

Then comes the weaving. This part was really fun and I didn't screw this up at all. My lines are a bit  wonky - not the precision of the Japanese embroiderers. But I like it. 

Not sure what I'll do with the little squares of stitching. For now, it's just fun.

Kitchen renovation update:

The countertop and sink are in. The backsplash arrived last Friday. After the sink and faucet got hooked up the hot water didn’t work due to a faulty seal until yesterday when it got repaired and the necessary floor tile patching got done. Today the final pieces got installed - lighting valances and end piece beside the fridge and on the end of the peninsula.

All that is left to do is the grout around the new tiles*** and installation of the range hood which will involve cutting into the bottom of the new cabinet above the stove. The range hood is on back order until probably mid-July so I can finish putting everything away. It is nice to not have to do dishes in the laundry room washtub. 

***I already had the grout which had been left over from our bathroom renovation many years ago. It only comes in large quantities so the workers back then suggested I store it and sure enough, we are able to use it for this job. So my minor hoarding affliction tendency to not throw things out finally paid off.

First Attempt at Sashiko

I worked on the little sashiko project last night.

First, I did the crosses with the white thread. I stitched the white crosses through two layers so the long, white basting stitches are holding the two layers together. The hank of thread has 40m on it so will be good for many other projects. 

Then the first bunch of weaving with the blue thread. This was not without error, however. A couple of times I had to pull out the stitches because I had woven through the wrong part of the white cross.  

Easily remedied, though, and only a small amount of bad language was uttered. Then finished the weaving in the other direction.

Next came the small, yellow crosses to anchor the centres of the blue 'flowers'.

Proper technique involves stitching continuously in one direction then the other with long thread. Sashiko thread is different from perle cotton in that it's not twisted as tightly and has not been mercerized. The result is a dull finish, kinda like thin butcher's string.

I'm eager to start another project that also involves weaving.

While cleaning out the closet in my office, I found this Christmas stocking stitched with 6-ply cotton floss. It would have been done YEARS ago. I had completed the stitching and had stitched my name on the top. I unpicked my name and filled in the gaps and just now have wet blocked it, using the same wires and pins I use when blocking my knitting.

As the needlepoint stitch is on a slant, it really skews the fabric so a firm blocking is needed to straighten things out.

There are supposed to be silk ribbon flowers on her dress but the kit only had about 20cm of silk ribbon; not nearly enough to do French knits on all the flowers. Instead, I'll use big, pink HotFix jewels on them and little sparkly ones on all the white dots.

It will need a backing and lining, too.

Quilt Canada 2025

Yesterday, Jeanette chauffeured Jen1, Barb, and me to the International Centre for the Canadian Quilters Association event, Quilt Canada 2025. Taking the 407 made for a quick, traffic-free drive. Upon arrival, we met up with Jeanette's longtime friend, Patty, who had purchased our tickets. Then we all entered the hall.

We decided upon a meeting point and time for lunch and fanned out. I took a zillion photos of the quilt displays - too many to post and I didn't really get shots of information about the creators or patterns. 

I visited several booths of familiar businesses - including Pastime Pieces and Cotton Harvest and many others new to me. I really didn't need to enhance my fabric or pattern stash, however I was interested in buying some fabric suitable for doing Sashiko embroidery.

Kallisti Quilts  had an excellent selection of Sashiko supplies. They are an online business in Waterloo ON and receive shoppers by appointment. To avoid shipping, items can be ordered online and picked up by arrangement. I will be spending some time in Waterloo this summer so will keep that in mind. 

I purchased three fat quarters suitable for Sashiko embroidery.

One of the darker ones has a bit of a pattern.

The other has a somewhat gridded pattern.

I also bought a water-soluble pencil for transferring stitching lines

and a book that looked interesting. I'm particularly intrigued by the patterns that involve weaving threads under other threads like the centre and bottom items on the cover.

My two nieces were also in attendance but I only got to see them briefly as Ana was working at the event and Rosa had a punch needle class all afternoon. Since I had carpooled, I wasn't free to stay until they both were free for a decent visit. I will catch up with them this summer.

I went back to buy another book but the lineup was too big so I'll buy it through another source.

I like making useful items and there were a few interesting patterns and finishing ideas.

I may have mentioned it before but my dear stitcherly friend (and Iceland/Norway roomie), Poppy, brought me a nifty, beginner's sashiko kit from her epic Japanese textile tour last year.

When I saw her last weekend I had to ask her a couple of technical questions about it but now feel confident I can start it then hopefully segue to doing some of the projects in my new books, now that I have all the materials.

This is all part of a slow stitching movement, where embroidery is done in a somewhat meditative manner. I have done a little bit of surface embroidery and have really enjoyed it, as well as English Paper Piecing. All of which I'd like to get back to doing.

I got home in plenty of time to go to one of the Polish pavilions for Fiesta. I'd had Greek food the night before, and Ukrainian food the night before that. Yummo! I'm always up for a meal out that I don't have to cook for myself. 

Today I finished reading an excellent book by Kristen Hannah called, 'The Women'. It's the story about a young nurse who serves in the US Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War and adjusting to life back at home. I am not normally that interested in historical fiction but this book really grabbed me, probably because I lived through the era and could relate to some of her experiences and losses. I highly recommend it. Now I'll look for some others of her books.