Affected by the Weather?

It has been so gloomy lately with only glimmers of sunshine here and there. All I want to do is veg out. It's a struggle even getting out of bed in the morning. It's so cozy and I can check my social media or listen to an audiobook whilst in a horizontal position. Fortunately I have appointments and engagements that are mostly fun and really help me get motivate to 'get a move on' on those lethargic mornings.

Last Friday, I met Scooter in The Big City. We had a late lunch at the chicken place then meandered over to the Fairmont Royal York Hotel to see the Christmas display.

It was so festive and busy. Being Friday afternoon, lots of people were checking in for the weekend.

The main tree was at least 20 feet tall. Breathtaking in person.

Of course, Scooter and I had to take a selfie.

If you're anywhere Union Station or the Royal York, I highly recommend you pop in to see the decorations. We didn't venture up to the Eaton Centre as it was Black Friday and sure to be a mob scene. I don't really do Christmas shopping any more but it might be fun to pop in there for a look-see when I'm in The Big City again on Wednesday for Afternoon Tea at the Windsor Arms Hotel - for Lorna's belated birthday celebration. 

Scooter and I did go over to Brookfield Place but the decorations weren't as breathtaking. Just the same as previous years. 

It was nice that we could access all those spots underground - without going outside.

Saturday I met Alexa and Poppy respectively at CAA to book our trips for next year and our flights to Madrid for our February yarn tour. I'm pretty excited to be lining up fun things for 2026. Other than the Iceland/Norway trip this year, I didn't take any other big trips. Of course, we'll be doing road trips here in Ontario - any excuse to get away with fun folks.

I indulged myself with a couple of online purchases last week. I previously mentioned the Peanuts jigsaw puzzle. I also had ordered the coveted Lego Gingerbread House. It was backordered and scheduled to ship on December 5 but it arrived last week! It was so fun to put together!

Battery operated tea lights would be great for night-time illumination, especially through the bow window on the left.

All their pieces are shipped in paper now. Those Danes really are ecology conscious.

There is a bedroom, bathroom and vanity, kitchen with sink, stove and eating area, and living room with fireplace.

The two sides are hinged 

so it closes up, too. 

All this fun for only $49.99 CAD plus tax (free shipping). That's only about $35 US. Compared to other Lego sets, this is the cheapest one I saw. I sure hope they made a lot of them because I'm sure they'll continue to sell out. 

Today at stitching, I continued to work on Ginger (hmm - seems to be a bit of a theme). I didn't have too much trouble counting - and completed most of the upper part of her dress.

Judy brought her little Ginger she stitched over one thread. She's so sweet - only about 3" high. It's finished as a standup - so cute!

The Jingle Ball is this weekend starting on Friday night. It will be a lot of stitcherly fun. Those of us outside the US receive any materials as downloadable and printable .pdfs so can sign up for classes right up to Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing what is in the Shopping Hall as some of the designers will have new releases. I have a bunch of charts in my stash I already want to start but I'm sure there will some new ones to tempt me. 

I have the houses done for the Hello from Liz Mathews snow globes. I have one more motif I want to stitch to include with the houses. Also need to find some styrofoam for the finishing. I'm pretty sure there's something in the basement I can use. 

I've done nothing on the Christmas Pears and have even misplaced the white silk hank of thread. Not expecting to get anything done on it. Just will watch her finishing. I'm sure it won't be much different from the ones I've already done 

- I just won't be using velvet for the back. 

I haven't been doing much stitching between Monday morning sessions. What I have been doing is cranking out octagons for the second Persian Tiles blanket. Last night I finished the 15th one so am half finished if I do another 5 x 6 blanket. I erroneously knit the same octagon twice but the overall design is so random It can easily go on the extra rows and columns. Here's a refresher of the one I completed previously. 

I didn't get my tree up on the weekend. I just didn't have it in me to haul it up from the basement as well as the boxes of ornaments. Hopefully sometime this week. 

I did get the wreaths on the front doors and hooked up my inflatable Snoopy. 

We used to have a big snowglobe inflatable with a blower that flung little styrofoam balls around the globe part but it sprang a leak a few years back and after the duct tape repair, only lasted a few years. I think I bought this little Snoopy one on sale at the end of the season last year as it seemed to not have been taken out of the box before. If I ever see the snow globe inflatable on sale again, I'll grab it - regardless of how much it costs.

There's Always Something To Do

I tackled a few things on my 'to do' list this week. Yesterday I began the process to book the flights to Madrid for my knitting tour next year. While there, I had the travel agent look into Christmas Market Rhine cruises for next November or December. The Christmas Market tours have such a narrow window - last week of November until the end of December. Most folks want to be home for Christmas so really there's less than a month available in any given year. They're already taking bookings for November/December 2027. Saturday I go back to the travel agent and make deposits and payments for the trips.

Aside from the Iceland/Norway trip last March/April I didn't go on any big, fancy trips this year so I have a real urge to get things lined up for next year. A week at a resort in Mexico or Costa Rica would be fun, too.

At stitching on Monday, I got most of the bottom of Ginger's dress done. I had stitched the vertical motifs on the weekend so I just needed to fill in with the green.

I haven't had a lot of motivation to do much. I really have to force myself to start a chore or task. This gloomy weather never used to bother me as much but it really weighs me down. However, when the sun breaks through it is glorious.

I indulged myself with a couple of Amazon purchases. Just for fun, I ordered a Peanuts jigsaw puzzle that I'd been eyeing for a while. My preference is puzzles with blocks of colour like this one.

I started it last night and stayed up WAY too late and finished it this morning after yoga class and bringing in provisions. I think I need a nap after this.

This week is also our penultimate yard waste collection so my task when it stopped raining yesterday was to haul the 16 bags of leaves to the curb. I'm glad to have them out of the garage. I don't think I'll need to rake any more unless a big wind deposits the neighbourhood leaves in my yard within the next two weeks.

This week I also finished another Little Buddy, Percy. I love his furry little face.

He has been welcomed to the BFFs (Best Furry Friends).

Ernest, Davis, Reginald, Percy, and Rusty

I finished my 13th octagon for the second Persian Tiles blanket. Will start another one tonight.

While watching a FlossTube video, someone mentioned Brenda Gervais might be designing some charts for the US semiquincentennial (250th) anniversary next year. It occurred to me that the exclusive design she's presenting at the Hobby House Retreat next June might be one of those patriotic charts. Ugh. I was so disappointed with the design that Paulette Stewart and Beth Twist designed for the retreat I attended last April. Although the theme was love, the depictions were motifs from the US Revolutionary War. Not a historic event of significance to Canadians.

I messaged Brenda and asked her about the design. She hasn't thought that far ahead but couldn't promise that it wouldn't be patriotic-based. So Poppy and I have decided to give up our spots at the retreat. I'm pretty sure there is a waiting list so it shouldn't be hard for them to fill our spots. I hope we can get most, if not all, of our deposit money back. We're going to do a road trip here in Ontario instead. Wheeee!!! Not that I need to buy anything...

I will be going into The Big City to have a visit with my step-son, James. Plans are to have a rotisserie chicken meal at Union Chicken (yes, a chicken restaurant at Union Station) and then take in the lights at the Royal York Hotel across the street. 

After a nap today, I plan to get my tree up and decorated. I'm hosting stitching on Monday and want to have it up for that. I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with all my hand-made ornaments. I didn't bother putting the tree up last year as we spent Christmas in the Dominican Republic. 

Peel Stitch-In and Drawn Thread

Yesterday Sharon G and I ventured westward to the Peel Stitch-In which was held at Clarke Hall in Port Credit. The drive there was pretty easy - unlike the last time I took that route.

Being close to Christmas, there was a collection for their local food bank and outreach centre. I rounded up bunch of unused tooth brushes, soaps, shampoos, and other toiletry items that were just taking up space here and gladly made a donation. What a terrific idea!

Some local bylaw limits the number of vendors to four now. Included this time were Kimat Designs, Hand Dyed by Rolanda, Tiny Modernist, and Gamma's Treasures.

In our little swag bag, we received highlighter pen, a corner measurer, and a beautiful skein of hand-dyed floss.

I just now took a good look at the corner measurer and noted it was specially made for the event.

I don't often start my stitching in a corner but this will be handy for when I do.

One thing I like to do is walk around and see what other people are stitching. This SAL by Durene Jones was being done over one thread - possibly on 25ct lugana.  So cute! I may just download the patterns from the Facebook page and stitch it myself some day.

Tiny Modernist had her Plum Pudding Bakery on display. 

The finishing process is her class at the Jingle Ball. 

I can see her issuing different buildings in the future.

I didn't buy anything. I have so much in my stash, I'd rather use up those things than add to it.

I have a blank wall in my kitchen as a result of the renovation this summer. Since the cupboards are wider than the previous ones, I had to move the picture that was hanging there to another place. Today I put up a Command™ hook and hung up, in the now-smaller spot, one of the framed pieces by our late stitchy friend, Sharon T., 'Simply Autumn' by The Drawn Thread. She stitched it and had it framed back in 2012.

I then remembered that I had stitched 'Simply Summer' but never framed it. 

I have it all ready to make into a project bag. I'm now re-thinking that and may frame it instead. 

I really like The Drawn Thread patterns. The motifs are very cute and there are just enough specialty stitches to satisfy and break up any monotony.

I decided to order the charts for the other two seasons and after a bit of Internet exploration, ordered the .pdfs directly from the designer. 'Simply Spring':

and 'Simply Winter':

What I'll probably do is finish them the same size and mount into a frame that I can use for each season.

I also did Pastorale years ago. I was inspired by Yvonne and Edith who presented a bunch of their stitching to our guild several years ago.

I just remembered I had also knit the designer's 'Stars' in 2019. (also needs fully finishing).

Last night I finished the Arne and Carlos Christmas Stocking KAL except for the heel.

I'm not sure how I missed the instruction to put in some waste yarn where the afterthought heel will go (arrow) but I've figured out how to unravel the spot and reknit with the white before adding the contrast yarn for the heel.

I also keep plugging away on my second Persian Tiles blanket and finished the 12th octagon last night.

And finally, my friend, Judy,  that I visited in London a couple of weeks ago finished her radiation treatments on Friday. I was pleased to see Buster was right there with her when she hit the gong.

She said he's been a great support these last couple of weeks. I'm so glad he could help.

In No Particular Order

On the weekend, Marilyn and I attended the Ukrainian bazaar in Oshawa. There were lots of vendors but we were particularly drawn to the crafty ones.

I thought this was a clever way to use those battery operated tea lights:

We also found a display of beautifully hand-stitched and finished Christmas ornaments:

We learned that these were Bev's (the vendor's) original designs. We were impressed with the quality of her work and her use of beads, specialty threads, and specialty stitches. We told her we thought she'd really enjoy being involved with our guild as she mentioned she doesn't have any other stitcherly friends. We assured her she'd definitely find 'her people' among us.

At stitching yesterday morning, we had a little celebration for MaryK's birthday.

I worked on Smitten, only to realize I had used white for the beginnings of the snowman rather than DMC 3033. I'm now deciding if I'll pick out all the white and restitch with 3033 or just stitch the rest of him with the white.

At guild this week, I'm doing a little session on Rhodes stitches. They're variations of straight stitches that are layered, usually in a rotation fashion. Some examples:

I was inspired when I stitched this Drawn Thread piece called 'Stars':

There were three sizes of stars:

Also that rust-coloured item is an 'octagonal Leviathan' stitch. 

I still haven't FFOd this piece but will put it on my list of 'things to do' now that it's seen the light of day again since I finished stitching it in 2019.

I've also been prepping an introductory class on punch needle which I'll be doing at the guild's December stitch day. It'll be a project-based workshop where we stitch a poinsettia pin.

It's a free pattern but I've contacted the designer PlanetJune for permission to teach it in the class. I was very pleased to learn she is a Canadian designer so am very happy to support her design business. She has graciously consented.

I've been assembling all the stuff I'll use for demonstration and will have extras of everything for anyone who doesn't have everything needed for the class. 

I have extra locking hoops and will hand out pins to any who want them for the back of their piece.

I couldn't find the fabric I thought I'd use - a couple of yards from someone's stash. I spent some time trying to figure out where I'd get some for my students. Then I remembered that I had a whole bin of punch needle stuff that I hadn't looked into for quite a while.

Inside was a whole bunch of fabric - weaver's cloth and osnaburg - that I had stashed away for future punch needle projects. Yay! Not only is there more than enough for my students, it'll put a welcome dent in my vast stash of crafting supplies.

I finished stuffing and stitching a couple more Little Buddies. (I just can't help myself, they're so stinkin' cute!). This is how little they are - about 18cm (5") tall.

Rusty, Reginald, and Ernest

Rusty, Ernest, Reginald, and Davis like to stand around looking cool. I have sought suggestions for names for future Little Buddies. They knit up very quickly but finishing (knitting and attaching the ears, stuffing, stitching the legs/arms, and embroidering the faces) takes almost as much time as the actual knitting.

Rusty and Reginald's 'fur' is Rowan British Breeds DK yarn we were given on our UK knitting tour in 2011. 

We spent the day at Rowan in  Holmfirth, Yorkshire and in the afternoon had an intarsia class taught by a couple of the Rowan designers, Emma King and Jemma Weston.

Rusty's sweater is some Cleckheaton DK from my stash and Reginald's is some lovely KnitPicks Andean Treasure 100% Baby Alpaca yarn. 

Last night I got caught up on the Arne and Carlos Christmas Stocking KAL.

The blue bits are the start of snowflakes, I think.

And finally, I got good mail the other day. The results of my mammogram I had last week.

Had there been any concern after the mammogram, I would have received a phone call within a couple of days of the scan. The Ontario screening program also includes cervical checks (PAP smears) and colon cancer screening (at home test and occasional colonoscopies) every two years, in which I participate. 

Although our universal healthcare system is not perfect, I am grateful for the preventative measures such as these tests and regular check ups. I believe they lead to early detection of many treatable illnesses hence contribute to the good health and longevity of our citizens.