A Busy Weekend and Lots of Fun Ahead

I spent Friday and Saturday getting the place ready for a stitching afternoon on Sunday and birthday celebration for Jeanette's '7-oh'. I'm not one to spend 3 hours straight doing housework. Rather, I do a bit, then sit a bit, do a bit, then run an errand, then do a bit, etc. etc. 

Saturday night I got everything ready and decorations up.

I already had the 'Happy Birthday' confetti that I just keep recycling after various celebrations.

I had been to the party store on Saturday to buy the dangly decorations. 

Sunday morning I had two errands to run. When I finished the first errand I had a total brain cramp about what the second one was supposed to be. I had driven halfway home when I remembered what it was so I got it done, too. Sheesh!

Jennifer and Poppy had other commitments and sadly could not celebrate with us. Jeanette, Marilyn, and Barb were scheduled to arrive at about 12:30. Unbeknownst to them, I had also invited a surprise guest - Jeanette's high school friend, Patty. She arrived shortly after noon. We first met Patty when we connected with her at Quilt Canada. Then again, she was one of the 3 quilters that joined us at our fall Elim retreat at the end of September. I was so excited that she could join us as I knew it would really be a surprise for Jeanette.

Jeanette arrived, not recognizing the blue car in the driveway. She was so surprised to see Patty - as were Barb and Marilyn when they arrived. It's possible I enjoyed setting up the surprise as much as it was a surprise for all of them.

Here, Jeanette is showing them something on her phone from the recent England trip.

We had a fun afternoon stitching, gabbing, and celebrating. After they left and I got stuff put away, I enjoyed the tidy house - a rarity unless I have company coming. 

It was so fun planning and executing the get-together. We have deemed Patty 'one of us' and the 'crossover friend' from their other friend group from high school.

This morning, Barb hosted stitching. Jeanette was feted yet again with yummy carrot cake.

I also brought 'the guys' with me to show the others what I worked on last week before the Persian Tiles kit arrived.

Leaving Barb's I marveled at the beauty of her street - resplendent with red maples - stunning this time of year. 

On the way home I stopped into Dollarama to see if they had any fake snow for my Jingle Ball snow globe project. I wasn't that impressed with their fake snow. It just looked like chunky, shredded plastic bags. Will keep trying. What I did see, though, were candidates for the actual 'globes'.

The round one on the left is actually designed to contain water, if desired. I bought two of each and now have to decide which ones I'll use.

I have completed the medium-sized house (top) and got quite a bit done on the small house (bottom) at stitching today.

They're not very big but there is a LOT of stitching to each one as well as backstitching. I need to get more of the yellow floss - DMC 728 to complete the small house.

Yesterday, while the gang was here, I did a bit more work on 'Smitten'.

It's slow going but I persevere.

Between fits and spurts of activity, I've cranked out some octagons and granny squares for my second Persian Tiles blanket.

I plan to make it 5 x 6 again - using up the maximum  amount of the yarn from the kit as I did last time. This time, I ordered extra so I could also do the border with the Stylecraft Special DK yarn.

Barb and I are now getting excited for the upcoming Pastime Pieces Simply Stitching Retreat. I've decided to head to SW Ontario on the preceding Wednesday, do some shopping en route, and visit and have dinner with a former student who is undergoing cancer treatment in London and who stays in London Monday - Friday these weeks. It will be so nice to see her. I've booked a hotel in London for that night and will do more shopping the next day (Thursday) before heading to Lambton County to my niece's for the night in Oil Springs - south of Petrolia. 

The next morning I'll head to Sarnia to have breakfast with 'the Breakfast Club' (retired ladies with whom I taught from 1978 - 1989) that meets the first Friday of every month. For once, the first Saturday is a week earlier so I don't have to hightail it back to Whitby for the guild stitch day. After breakfast in Sarnia, I'll head to London, stake out a table at the retreat and pick up Barb at the VIA station when she arrives by train at 13:38 (or so). 

This Wednesday some of us were invited to the Northumberland guild's stitch day at Elm Hirst Resort on the north shore of Rice Lake. We're meeting at MaryK's and 5 of us will carpool there. It will be nice to be chauffeured.

Then this Saturday is our monthly, first-Saturday-of-the-month Stitch Day. Some of us will be doing a workshop on an embroidered, illuminated letter. 

Squishy Parcel

This finally arrived from England today.

I placed this order on September 22 - a month ago today. It was supposed to arrive by October 8 but the postal strike thwarted that.

It's another Persian Tiles kit plus an extra ball of Buttermilk which I had planned to use on the first blanket.

I am a yarn snob, usually preferring animal fibre over synthetic yarns, but for blankets and afghans, synthetics work better. They're washable. I cannot say enough good about this Stylecraft Special DK yarn. It's non-pilling and very soft to the touch - not 'crunchy' at all like some acrylics often are.

It's a light DK - and a pretty close match to Patons Astra which is available here in the New World. These balls are 100g balls - better value than most DK yarns commercially available here. For example, Patons Astra is about the same price for 50g balls.

I haven't found a source for this yarn in Canada but ordering from the UK has not been a problem. Shipping for this parcel was only £4.99. My first order arrived in a week.

The Eastern Jewels colourway booklet comes with the order. You can also add the Persian Tiles pattern to the order if you haven't already downloaded it. The kit including the colourway booklet was £39 or $73CAD.

Guess what I'll be starting this afternoon.

Yesterday I started and finished another Little Buddy.

His sweater is some lovely, soft alpaca yarn - a remnant from some project or other that I knit in the past.

These are the LBOCs (Little Bears On Campus) just hanging around the quad, scoping out the scene.

Now that the Persian Tiles kit has arrived, I'll be taking a break from knitting these guys. However, they have been a big hit on my Facebook and Instagram pages. They certainly have brought me a lot of joy.

Getting Ready for a KAL

For the past few years I have knit one of Arne and Carlos' Christmas stockings. The last couple were KALs (KnitALongs).

From 2023 with an afterthought heel:

and 2024 with a short row heel (my preference):

I used Patons Astra yarn.

This year, in addition to red, green, and white, they are calling for a yellow and blue yarn. Lo and behold, I had all 5 colours in my stash! (what a surprise! NOT).

The white yarn on the right is Astra left over from last year's stocking. The green was an extra ball I purchased for the 2024 stocking but never used. The blue is something from my stash from long ago. Not sure why I had a full ball of red Astra. The other white on the left is a big skein of Mary Maxim Mellowspun which I'll likely use unless I can find more of the white Astra.

The yellow was some leftover and now discontinued KnitPicks Telemark from when I knit Skip the  Dale of Norway St Moritz sweater 15 years ago. Telemark was a perfect substitute for Dale of Norway Heilo called-for in the pattern. I only used a bit of it for that project (cuffs, etc.)  so have lots left over.

The KnitALong starts on October 27. a few rounds will be revealed every day until late November. I'm all ready to go.

I also knit another Little Buddy last night.

I think he looks very preppy in his City Tweed DK sweater

He's a LBOC - Little Bear on Campus.

I have yet another one on the needles which I'll work on tonight at my crafty group.

I Can't Help Myself!

I made another Little Buddy yesterday! I have an infinite supply of yarn remnants so am not sure when I'll stop.

This one's a little taller than the other - achieved by knitting a couple more leg rounds.

They were very patient during the photo shoot.

"Who us? We're just standing here minding our own business. Checking out the scene."

I can whip one up during an evening of TV watching. I just finished season 3 of 'The Diplomat' on Netflix. It continues to be very good. Highly recommend.

I signed up for the Jingle Ball and the three classes I was interested in. Liz Mathews was the first to send the class information. I found some 32-ish count fabric in my stash so I could start the Hello from Liz Mathews Snow Globes. The fabric is off-white so hope it will look OK. I'm now on the hunt for good 'snowflakes'.

The fabric is 32ct in one direction and 30ct in the other. It's some old MCG Textiles linen that I bought at Michaels in the US years ago. 

I had similar problems with some Aida cloth a few years back whilst trying to stitch a biscornu. It was 16 ct vertically and 18 ct horizontally. So annoying.

However for the Snow Globe project, taller, skinnier motifs wouldn't be a bad thing. And 32ct is much easier on the eyes than my usual 40ct. I'm just not a big fan of stitching with two strands. 

I did make substitutions for some of the colours that I didn't already have in my stash. I used Cody Hoover's Floss Color [sic] Tool. Basically you plug in the DMC number you're missing and 5 suggestions are made. 

There are actually quite a lot of stitches in these motifs but I can knock several off before our finishing class during the Jingle Ball. I'm guessing we'll use Alene's glue as stiffener. I've successfully mixed white glue and water 50/50 before when stiffening crocheted snowflakes.

My stitcherly peeps that have been at Mrs Parkman's Stitching Workshop and Retreat will be home on Tuesday. The have kept me apprised of their activities via texts and photos. It sounds like they had a splendid time. I look forward to seeing them and all their loot.

Little Buddy Gets a Little Buddy

I took a look at the other patterns by the Izzy Bear designer, Esther Braithwaite  and decided to purchase the Love Teddy pattern. 

It was quite fun knitting him up and duplicate stitching the heart on his sweater.

The chart was somewhat easier to follow and I liked the dimensional face/definition of its snout.

He's a bit shorter than the first little buddy but his sweater is a bit longer. I also liked the purl round that made it look like the sweater had ribbing around the cuffs.

I haven't decided on names for them yet.

Today was cool and drizzly. I did take some photos out in the garden because I'm not sure when we'll get our first frost which will likely kill most things.

The gaillardia continue to bloom. I deadhead them every time I go out. This practice seems to work well for continuous blooming. They're supposed to be perennials so hopefully they'll come up again next year.

The cosmos are finally blooming. The dark ones have just bloomed; they get lighter as time passes by.

The bee was sleeping on this one.

Google tells me it is a Common Eastern Bumble Bee. I also got a side view. It didn't budge even when I got close. 

A few calendula (pot marigold) are still hanging in there.

The zinnias are done blooming. I'm leaving them for the time being because I occasionally see birds eating the seeds. I also deadhead the bachelor buttons so the odd one is still blooming.

I brought my hibiscus indoors and it seems to like this spot in the kitchen. It gets the morning sun through the east-facing sliding doors and the afternoon sun hits it through the south-facing bay window. It has lots of buds on it so I'm optimistic about its future indoors.

Season 3 of 'The Diplomat' was released on Netflix this week. I stayed up WAY too late last night binge-watching it, I have a couple of episodes left. It is really good with Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford this season.

A Little Buddy

I don't remember how I learned about these but a while back I knit what I call a pocket buddy. I had trouble sewing him up so I left the project for a while.

Feeling the need to finish yet another UFO, I fixed the issue I had with it and finished it up last night. I'm not sure what to name him yet.

I had trouble embroidering his facial features and resorted to Hot Fix jewels for his eyes. I love how he looks like he's just standing around with his hands in his pockets.

The pattern is Izzy Teddy Bear Dolls by Esther Braithwaite and is available for free on Ravelry. The pattern includes the basic doll pattern with the striped sweater plus three options for cabled sweaters. I had difficulty stitching the 'arms' evenly on both sides which was my big sticking point initially. 

He's 26cm tall (5 3/4"). I used sport weight yarn from my stash and knit him in the round as per the pattern. He's a bit wonky but I think he's really cute.

The pattern is available for charity knitting. Here's the info about its history and where to donate (screenshots from the website):

Here's how it all started (again, a screenshot):