Spinning, Two FOs, and Two Starts

On Saturday, about a dozen spinners congregated at Windreach Farm for a spinning day.

Seated are Betty, Alexa, Rosemary, and Annie

I finished spinning the chocolate brown hand-dyed roving and divided the singles onto two bobbins for plying. I got a little bit of plying done and was overcome by sleepiness after the soup and sandwich I had consumed at lunch. I bid farewell a bit early and headed home, climbed into bed for a nap and conked out for over 2 hours.

The other day I found a hank of KnitPicks Biggo in my stash and did a search on Ravelry for the perfect pattern for its 101 metres of 50/50 merino/nylon bulky softness.

Enter the free Sugar Twist pattern by Stacey Winklepleck on the KnitPicks website.

It was a bit snug after I finished knitting it but I blocked it quite firmly and it is perfect now.

The pattern is really easy - 2 x 2 ribbing with 6 wrapped stitches in the round every 6 rounds. The pattern calls for 2 repeats of the 12 round pattern plus 5 rounds. After the second 12 round pattern I weighed my remaining yarn and knew I could do 11 more rows before binding off with a really stretchy bindoff - the one where you do a yarnover after every stitch, knit one then pass the yarnover and the previous stitch over the last knit one.

My other FO was the Winter Alphabet kit from Heart in Hand designed by Cecilia Turner. I've had this almost done for several years but had run out of the Weeks Dye Works Onyx thread provided in the kit. When I looked at the Weeks/DMC conversion, the recommended DMC was not close to the Onyx. I ended up blending a strand of 3799 with a strand of 310 (black) and finished up the last 3 sides. It's really hard to determine which is the Onyx and which is the 3799/310 blend. I haven't stitched on the snowflake charm yet. I have the Autumn Alphabet in the series as well which I need to locate and finish up if need be.

.

Last week I started a little ornament called Holly Tree Sampler from an old Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cross Stitch book.  I'm stitching it 1 over 1 on 28ct Monaco.

I had this next one kitted up to take to Texas except for a couple of missing colours. I've had it in my stash for a couple of decades. It's Welcome from Brightneedle Book No. 57 designed by Liz Knudsen and Ann Pettit. I'm stitching the DMC version (there's also a Blue-Green Anchor version) on 32ct white linen 2 over 2. I started it last night and took it to stitching this morning. I did some more this afternoon. It's stitching up quite quickly. It will measure 17cm x 10cm (6.8" x 3.9") when finished. I haven't decided what finish I'll do.

I have a few patterns I want to buy so am trying to finish up some UFOs to clear the decks.

The cold winter weather is very conducive to doing a lot of knitting and stitching. Between stitching jags, I add a couple more squares to my sock yarn blanket.

Last night I made a ham, broccoli, and cheese quiche. I also added some fried onion and zucchini left over from a previous meal. There was a little extra that I cooked in a small ramekin. I thought the quiche looked rather professional so I thought I'd share a photo.

Oh yeah, I was inspired to do some small stitching so I could make some needle minders on  38mm (1.5") button blanks. The other night, while watching several Flosstube videos I stitched these two up:

They're 1 over 1 on 28ct Monaco. I'd like to find a way to seal them before turning them into needle minders. Mod Podge? Clear nail polish? I'm also going to wash them to see if they'll shrink a little bit and close up the holes a bit. I have some ceramic magnets I can use but have been cautioned to cover them (again, clear nail polish) as they will mark the fabric they're on. To anchor them on the back I'll use metal washers - also sealed with clear nail polish. I'm in the market for some shiny rare earth magnets. I ordered some online but would like to get some more but not have to pay a huge amount in shipping.