Daisy's New Blanket

After Aunt Patty made Daisy a quilt and pillow at our Elim retreat, I thought Daisy also needed a blanket. It was also a good excuse to crochet some African flowers.

As I stated in the previous post, I used yarn remnants from my stash. After doing a round with some Malabrigo green laceweight, I finished with a round of the some more off-white sock yarn I round in my stash. Good thing, too because there wasn't much Astra yarn left to split.

Daisy finds it to be very cozy.

I also dug out my geraniums and potted them in some fresh potting soil. I scrubbed the pots clean last night. I trimmed the foliage back and will bring them in the house tomorrow. It's nice having them blooming in my kitchen all winter. Most of these plants are at least 10 years old. I have one small one that I'm going to try the dry root method of keeping it over the winter. We'll see how that goes.

I also need to bring in the hibiscus plant after I repot it some new potting soil as well. Fingers are crossed it'll do OK in my sunny kitchen over the winter.

My cosmos finally bloomed!!! And not a moment too soon - we could get a light frost any time soon. A bee was already enjoying it when I first went out.

The odd bachelor button/cornflower is still blooming. Gardening is not a passion for me but I deadhead as much as I can when I'm out there. 

The calendula are still blooming as well. 

Barb and Poppy are off the England today to begin their holiday which will culminate in Nicola Parkman's stitchery retreat. I am very excited for them and I know they will have a cracking good time.

More African Flowers and Ode to an Iron

I finished the hexagons for the wee African Flowers blanket I'm crocheting for Daisy.

I used remnants of sock yarn and just enough to complete the sparkly gold parts. I ran out of the white though. Hmmm. What to do. I still had some Aran Astra yarn left but it was thicker than the sock yarn. It is, however, a 3-ply so I figured if I could remove one of the plies, it would bring it down to the correct weight. My plan worked very well. I can't even tell which hexagons were done with the Astra yarn and what ones were done with the sock yarn.

I watched this video on how to make the half hexagons. This project worked up quickly with the 3.25mm hook. To sew the blocks together, I used the remaining ply of Astra that I pulled out. It shredded at times so I'd just use more. 

For the border, I'm deciding whether to use a contrasting sock yarn or more of the Astra yarn with one of the plies removed. 

Yesterday was our stitch day. I mostly worked on the Merry Christmas Greetings designed by Kathy Barrick. I purchased the pattern and threads (WDW Seaweed and WDW Bee's Knees) at Colorado Cross Stitcher when I was visiting Francey a year ago September. I bought the fabric at last year's Pastime Pieces Simply Stitching cross-stitch retreat. It's 40ct 'Weatherstone' from Atomic Ranch Fabric.

I had admired Judy's and was pleased to acquire the chart myself at Colorado Cross Stitcher last fall. Judy used the words on the bottom in a pillow and omitted them from the framed sampler. I think I'll probably do the chart as written - with the words.

The reason my project is all wrinkled is my beloved craft iron has ceased to heat up. It was a T-Fal steam travel iron. If I recall correctly, I bought it with my PC Points many years ago, when they could be traded for merchandise from a catalogue. 

It was a compact design like this one:

The water reservoir was in the handle which folded down for stowing in the little canvas travel bag. I used to take it when Skip and I spent part of the winter in Texas. Unfortunately it got dropped one too many times and cracked the handle so it would no longer hold water. It continued to heat up, however, and I used it several years more. It was dual voltage but I don't think I ever used it when traveling in Europe. But it worked great with my 13" x 13" wool ironing pad for my craft projects. 

I tried to take it apart because I think the cause of the problem was the wiring but I couldn't get it apart. 

Checking Amazon, I now have to decide what I'll replace it with. I do have a regular-sized iron which I use upstairs but I really like having the little one for my crafting in the dining room. I'm not too concerned about it being able to switch voltage. The only clothes I iron any more are my cotton shirts and I don't really care how rumpled I look when I travel. That is one thing I enjoy about being older - I really don't feel the need to impress strangers.

I also can't justify paying a lot (i.e. over $50) for an iron I'll only use for crafts.

Also at our stitching day, I brought a bunch of punch needle things to display and answer some questions. I'm doing a little workshop at our stitch day in December where we will make a little poinsettia pin. I delayed locating all the stuff to take until late Friday night but fortunately I found everything I wanted in fairly short order - phew! Among the items were an unfinished project (no big surprise).

Seeing it again has motivated me to get it finished up and framed. I really like how the variegated #8 Valdani perle cotton looks. 

Here's the back: 

And the front:

There are a couple of other kits in my stash that I could work on as well. So many crafts - so little time.

Several of my stitching 'peeps' are heading to England fthis week for 'Mrs Parkman's Academy of Needlework - workshop and stitching retreat' in Swindon. Some are attending the Knit + Stitch Show in London first. Others are spending some time in the Cotswalds. Although a trip with my girlies would have been lots of fun, I really had no interest in the classes. I will live vicariously through their texts and photos.

African Flowers and Upcoming Jingle Ball

Now that my Persian Tiles blanket is finished I'm itching to do more crochet while I watch TV. I happened upon this YouTube video  and became very intrigued with making the hexagonal blocks in the African Flowers pattern. There are several permutations - some with 6 petals, others with 8. Some with added embroidery, most others not. 

I'm using sock yarn so mine will be quite small. I used double crochet for the last round instead of single crochet like most patterns called for.

I'd have to make a zillion of them for an afghan for me but I think one for Daisy would be perfect. I'm not sure I have enough of this sparkly gold yarn for enough of them but I do have other yellow and gold sock yarns I could use. They stitch up very quickly. Stay tuned.

I missed the Jingle Ball, online stitching retreat, last December because I was enjoying my European Christmas Market Tour with Marilyn. However I plan to participate this year. 

Class listings are now up on the website. Tickets are $15US and entitle the bearer to participate in the Meet and Greets, shopping mall, purchasing of exclusive patterns, etc. All patterns are available in .pdf so if our postal strike is still on, we still have access. Kits are only available in the US but with the class information, we can kit them up ourselves.

Two that intrigue me are  Hello From Liz Mathews' Snow Globe class.

and Annie Beez Christmas Pears.

I scored some beautiful green evenweave at Elim last weekend which would be perfect for these. I'll have to check my fabric stash to see if I have any red fabric, too.

I have several of her pear patterns and actually completed one set last year.

I have another set underway but haven't worked on it for a while.

I also have a UFO from the 2023 Jingle Ball when I took the Hello From Liz Mathews class - Santa's Night Ride. I must haul it out and do some more work on it.

Tickets for the Jingle Ball go on sale on October 17. As it is a virtual retreat, the tickets won't sell out.

From past experience, it's a fun, Christmasy, stitcherly event you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. 

Keeping on the Christmas theme, I remembered buying a Christmas mitten pattern several years ago from the Pastime Pieces booth at the Toronto Guild's BMO event. I've been hunting for it and yesterday I found it!  It's 'Smitten' by All Through the Night.

I need to get it kitted up, too. I doubt I'll do it on black or dark navy fabric but I'm sure I have something in my stash or something at Kimat Designs that would work.

Persian Tiles Blanket - Finished!

I finished the border on the Persian Tiles blanket last night. I had enough yarn for the first single crochet round, then Blue Cloud Patons Canadiana with the smaller hook, then cream Patons Astra for the next round of groups of 3 double crochets. Both were brighter than the other colours but there wasn't enough of the remaining yarn to use any of them. There was enough Stylecraft Pumpkin, Buttermilk, and Violet to do the last three single crochet rounds. I'm pretty happy with the result.

I took it outside for a photoshoot as indirect, natural light makes for the best photographic conditions.

The final measurement is 150cm x 180cm (58" x 71"). I'll have to do a careful blocking of the border as it curls a wee bit. Using heat is very scary with acrylic as too much heat or steam can 'kill' the fibres and make it all floppy. Must investigate more...

Then I brought it inside for the sofa shot. It really is a beauty, if I do say so myself. 

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself until the new kit arrives from the UK. Our postal strike has really thrown a 'spanner' in the works. 

I did spend some time this morning looking at Little Dove Designs' YouTube video on making the African Flower blanket. 

She even posted specific yarns she used for this colourway she calls 'Orla'.

I could order the Scheepjes Colour Crafter yarn she recommends but again, the postal strike thwarts any attempts to acquire the appropriate yarn from the UK. 

I'm reluctant to buy more yarn and have been thinking that I could use some of my sock yarn. It has enough nylon in it that the resulting project wouldn't felt if washed. I would used a large-ish hook for that size so it would be nice and 'drapey'.

I did some work in the garden today. The temperatures were perfect for this so I didn't sweat very much at all. Rather than painstakingly cutting down all the spent plants with pruners, I used the weed wacker (whipper snipper). Then into the yard waste bags went the clippings. Skip used to run the lawn mower right through the garden but I wasn't that ambitious. Also, I haven't even started the lawn mower since last November when I mulched the leaves in the front yard. Fingers are crossed the mower will start again when I need it.