Blackwork SAL, a New Knitting Project, and Vaccine News

 In addition to the William Morris project I started the other day, I started a blackwork stitchalong (SAL) from The Steady Thread. All the charts are on Facebook in their group. Just join the group and have a look at the Files. There are several different layouts and I have chosen a modified Garden layout. It has taken me three days to get all the outlines done.

I'm using 16ct Aida from the Sea Turtle kit and black 310 DMC - two threads for the layout lines. There is an additional border around the whole thing with 8 additional spaces but I decided to omit them as this project without them is sizeable enough.

I started out doing the running stitch which made it very easy to count things but when I doubled back with the running stitch filling in the gaps, I didn't like how it was looking so I backstitched a lot of the rest of it for a more even look. I am not a purist when it comes to blackwork.

Each week a section of the chart is being released. We're already 12 weeks in but I can catch up. Without the 8 sections I'm leaving out, there will be 41 charts for me to print and stitch - one per week. I did decide to use bright colours for the flowers so will probably copy what others have done as I have a lot of indecision when it comes to picking colours.

I have also started knitting a cozy for my Bodum cafetière which I am now using to brew my spicy tea. I could have bought a second teapot but we don't really use the Bodum so rather than bring something else into the kitchen, we're using what we have.

I'm using a pattern from the Aran isle of Inisheer. When I was on my knitting tour back in 2013, we had a knitting class there on some typical Irish knitting patterns. This one incorporates ribbing, 3 over 3 cables and bobbles. I have one repeat done and will take pics as I progress. Looking at the photo in the blog post of that day, I realize we weren't given the pattern for the pictured cozy, but I'm knitting it anyway.

This morning, COVID vaccine appointments opened up for Skip's age group. It was a bit confusing at first as the first day of these things always goes sideways. Among several of my friends and I, I got him an appointment only about 30 minutes after trying to start the process. We are very pleased he will get his Pfizer COVID shot day after tomorrow. I am exploring the option of getting my shot at the closest Toronto pharmacy to where I live (25km east of the eastern border of Toronto). Select pharmacies have the AstraZeneca vaccine and are authorized to administer it to folks in my age group. They are supposed to get more vaccine in stock on Wednesday so I'll call then and see if I can set something up. Otherwise, I'll just wait until the Pfizer one is available in my region - a couple of months from now.

Most of my afternoon was taken up with telling friends about Skip's appointment, getting info about the pharmacy vaccines, and letting people know the process we went through to get Skip booked. COVID has been a huge deal for us and although it will be with us for quite a while yet with all the VOCs ramping up, we'll at least have enough protection to avoid hospitalization or death.

With that and the beautiful sunshine - my outlook is much brighter these days.