Holidays are Over

I'm just starting to get things back to normal after the holidays.

Yesterday was our guild's stitch day. It was so fun having some sustained time to sit and stitch with folks and get caught up on everyone's holiday activities. We shared ideas and pattern suggestions.

 Laura showed Marilyn and me the embroidery project she found in a magazine from the public library:

It's called 'Winter Wonderland' and depicts 'a stroll around Strasbourg market'. What could be more  perfect as a memento of our trip! 

It's from Issue 58 of 'Love Embroidery' magazine. Now that I'm doing more surface embroidery, I will have to start looking at back issues of the magazine.

I would do the wood parts of the booth and historic building in a dark brown. Lots of bling could be added to the tree, too. I definitely would print the template (given at the back of the issue) onto Sticky Fabri-Solvy and just stitch through it and the fabric. Those candy canes are SO cute! I could also add a mug of steaming Gluhwein, too!

Thanks for the heads up Laura!

Speaking of mementos of our trip. After I returned from the Alpine Christmas Market tour, an ad appeared on Facebook that caught my attention from Happary.com. They specialize in personalized ornaments, frames, fridge magnets, etc. The trip souvenir one permitted up to 11 destinations. I ordered one for each of us with our primary destinations and it arrived on Friday.

I did more stitching on Miss Hazel:

After our stitching, Poppy and I headed up to Myrtle Station Wool to get her the yarn for the Icelandic sweater she wants to knit herself for our trip this spring. It was a very successful trip.

This morning I ordered the frame for my 'Live on Little' from Custom Frames Canada. 

I just need to add my initials and the date.

I selected the same wood as I used for my 'Winter Rose Manor'. A mahogany frame which should make the carnations 'pop'.

It should arrive in a couple of weeks.

I knit some more on the Flannel Scarf but hit another snag on the 4th band. Somehow the colours got reversed so I tinked back [tinking is when you un-knit stitch by stitch rather than ripping it out by frogging (rip it, rip it). 'Tink' is the word 'knit' backwards]. So it's good to this point. Will need to do more thinking before I continue.

Of course, the main problem is that I'm watching a detective series on Netflix, "Missing You" so the knitting doesn't have my full attention.

Friday was a busy day. Barb, Alda, Judy, and I visited Sharon in Port Perry. Afterwards, Barb and I went for lunch. Then I had a my dental appointment to fix my tooth that was lacerating my tongue. Orthodontic wax really saved me (and my tongue) since returning from my holiday. I can chew on both sides of my mouth again.

Afterwards, I visited a friend who lives near the dental office to get caught up on our respective Christmas activities. Meal time approached so we went out for a bite for supper. My mouth was still a bit frozen so I ate sparingly and gingerly so as not to crunch a big chunk out of my cheek. I came home and vegged out with my knitting and TV.

Yesterday, as I mentioned was stitching, so today I'm taking it easy.

Tomorrow the regular routine starts again with Monday morning stitching. Back to 'normal'.

Intrigued...

 I just saw this pattern, Snow on the Ground, from Hands On Design and I was very intrigued:

I seem to be drawn to these 3D projects. There are also instructions for a scissor fob.

I'd like to get my hands on 'The Light of Winter' by Brenda Gervais.

It seems to be sold out everywhere. I believe it would be a great companion piece to her Winter Rose Manor which several of us did as a StitchALong in 2023.

I was pleased with the custom frame I ordered online and still need to order one for my 'Live on Little' project.

Happy New Year! And Getting My @ss Kicked

I've started and frogged the Flannel Scarf project several times. The last time is because somehow the pattern in the third pattern block doesn't match the pattern in the first pattern block. So I've frogged back to the beginning of the third pattern block for the second time and will try again.

Did I switch the main colour with the contrast colour? Am I not paying enough attention because I'm knitting whilst watching TV? Is there a mistake in the pattern? Am I going 'tweedly'? Good grief.

I may have to frog the whole damned thing and start over, possibly with other yarns, possibly with some of my handspun.

I had Jen1, Barb, and Jeanette over for some stitching on Tuesday and got a little bit more done on Miss Hazel:

While Jen1 was over, we discussed what hats we'd take on our Iceland/Norway trip. She and Poppy found lovely ones on Etsy which will be custom knit with, I believe, fingering weight.

I have many hats I can take like this one, Bonnet l'Hiver on Ravelry. The instructions were in French but Google translate helped me out. I knit it with Icelandic wool so will need to line it so as not too be too scratchy. A lot of the Icelandic hats I saw when I was there last were lined with t-shirt/knit jersey fabric so I'll do the same for mine.

There are several free Nordic hat patterns on Ravelry. I may do this one with worsted weight non-scratchy yarn. It's the Basic Norwegian Hat and is a free pattern.

My winter coat is dark grey (almost black) so I would use grey, black and white yarn. I would also make the ribbing 4" long to have double thickness over my ears.

I also plan to take one of my Musselburgh hats and this one I knit for Skip.

I bought two patches on eBay and affixed one to the hat and the other to the sweater sleeve.

It's the Dale of Norway 'St Moritz' pattern from 2003. I used Dale of Norway Heilo yarn and the now-discontinued KnitPicks yarn, Telemark. I recall this being a very fun knit and used the rolled Italian cast-on for the cuffs. It was not Skip's favourite sweater because of the bulk under the set-in sleeve but he would haul it out from time to time in the winter.

Years ago I came home from shopping to find him wearing it whilst decorating the little tree we always put in our front window.

That man sure was an appreciative knitter's husband. 

Getting back to the Basic Norwegian hat, I will raid my stash first before buying any yarn. 

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions but stitching wise, I am continuing my pledge to finish or fully finish a project before starting something else. I have several projects kitted up and need to select the fabric (again from my stash). But lots of finishing work to do first.

I spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home, attempting to knit the Flannel Scarf, sipping my 200mL bottle (Piccolo) of Henkel Trocken and watching TV. Look how little the bottle was compared to the champagne flute! LOL. That's 4/5 of a cup for you British measurement holdouts.

I was surprisingly exhausted by 10 pm and got to bed by 10:30, having PVRd Anderson and Andy on CNN to watch later. Skip and I used to watch them, crack open a couple of the little bottles of sparkling wine, and sing "New York, New York" along with the folks at Times Square. That song has special significance for us. First, because we had many getaways to NY state. Secondly, we happened upon a big celebration in Sackets Harbor one June day in 2003. Funny Cide, a racehorse owned by locals was running in the Belmont Stakes, and hoping to win the third race for the Triple Crown. The whole town was out in the street preparing to watch the race on big TVs. We all belted out, 'New York, New York', the theme song of the Belmont Stakes. Sadly the horse, which had won the first two Triple Crown races lost. The only reason we were there was that I had left my credit card at the local bar two days before and we had returned to the town to pick it up, getting caught up in all the revelry. We always had fond memories of this once-in-a-lifetime event.

The Grand Finale - Days 23 and 24 and My Christmas Vacation

I left for vacation (more about that later) on the 21st so brought 22 - 24 with me. I revealed 22 but here are the last two.

Ecru and DMC 310 floss and 3 candies.

Project bag tags and a marking pen.

That was fun. I thought Marlene from Pastime Pieces did a great job with this box. 

I ordered a 'Christmas Mystery Box' from Simona Bussiglieri of Mani di Donna back in October. 

She just mailed them at the beginning of December which, of course, was the middle of our Canadian postal strike. I am still waiting for its delivery.

On another topic, I was intrigued by the Flannel Scarf I saw on the Gusto Wool Facebook page

so I ordered the pattern today.

Now comes the delicious task of deciding what yarns to use. I remembered I have this Paintbox Gradient bunch of mini skeins that I purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival eight years ago. It's from Fiber Optic Yarns and is Bitter Lime to Rose 0715 colourway. There are 15 thirty yard mini skeins for a total of 450 yards. 

It's 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. 

I plan to use this raspberry-coloured yarn for the contrast. 

I believe it also was a Rhinebeck purchase lo those many years ago. 

The scarf only uses 50g of each yarn so I'm not sure how I'll use the gradient - half of each colour? I want to work all the colours but don't need a scarf 12 feet long. I may get this cast on tonight.

Yesterday I returned from a week in the Dominican Republic near Samaná at the Bahía Principe Grand El Portillo. I was accompanied by my niece Rosa, her husband, Darryl, and their two adult offspring, Derek and Andrea. Also with us was Andrea's fiancé, Chris, his parents, Jane and Paul, and his two cousins, Sam and Alex, and Alex' wife, Amanda. 11 in all. I was invited to join the group right after Skip's death so didn't have to worry at all about how I'd spend Christmas. 

We all gathered at the airport on the afternoon of December 21, at our departure gate. Chris' family arriving from east of Toronto had  arrived first. We had been messaging back and forth that week - excited about our upcoming trip and looking at some Facebook photos, I was able to recognize them. They said they had hogged reserved a couple of tables at the gate. I introduced myself to my new friends and shortly thereafter the rest of the gang who had come from the west showed up.

Earlier that week we  had received notice that our flight was changed from 7:30am to 3:15pm. The good news was that I needed the airport limo (an SUV, really) for 11am rather than 3am. The bad news was we lost the complete first day at the resort and arrived in the dark.

When I checked in online 24h before, I was able to switch my seat to an aisle seat near the front of the plane. The rest of my companions were closer to the rear of the plane.

I was very glad to have my own room. I could get up whenever, nap whenever, watch TV whenever and not bother anyone. My lodgings were very near the lobby and buffet restaurant - very handy. Sam was next to me, Alex and Amanda were downstairs from Sam, Jane and Paul were in the same building and Derek was in the next building. 

The beach was lovely with many lounge chairs and either palapas or palm trees for shade. There were also lots of chairs around the adjacent swimming pool. I preferred the beach and was usually able to find a place to sit or lounge in the shade. It was a very relaxing time.

It did rain a lot, though. Most days either the morning or afternoon it rained and last Thursday it rained all day. We had planned a boat trip to a secluded beach for that day which had to be cancelled. The beach was pretty deserted in the rain so I just parked myself under a palapa, listened to an audiobook, and generally vegged out.

The entire week was very relaxing. The members of my multigenerational group were all very interesting and affable folks. We all were happy to be in an idyllic setting for the week. 

Darryl, Derek, Jane, Paul, Alex, Amanda, me, Sam, Chris, Andrea, Rosa

Our return yesterday went pretty well. Once in Toronto, we all got through Customs and Immigration thanks to our ArriveCan apps on our phones. All our luggage made it, too. I bid farewell to my family members and new friends and headed for the train to Terminal 1 to get on the UP Express to Union. It was right there when I got to the platform. 25 minutes later I arrived at Union Station. Because I had a suitcase, I wanted to find an elevator to take me to track level at the GO station. I knew there wasn't an elevator to track 12 at the York Concourse so walked over to the Bay Concourse and found one to take me up to track 11. The train was already there so I located the accessible platform and just rolled onto the train.

When we got to Rouge Hill, the train didn't continue on right away. We were delayed there for about half an hour - not what I needed after travelling all day. Then we started moving again but it was announced that after the Pickering station the train was going to travel express to Oshawa and not stopping at Ajax and Whitby. Those wanting to go to those two places would need to get off the train in Pickering and wait for the next train which would take us to Ajax and Whitby. 

At Pickering, I rolled off again. After about 15 minutes, the next train came and took us the rest of the way. All this time I was texting my kind neighbour, who was going to retrieve me from the GO station in Whitby, about the delay. Finally I arrived in Whitby, heaved my suitcase into my neighbour's car and she drove me home.

I really enjoy travelling but like the saying goes, "There's no place like home".

I stayed in bed, dozing off and listening to an audiobook until almost 11am this morning. It was so cozy. I had breakfast and did a bit of unpacking. The house is in disarray and it will take me a couple of days to get things somewhat back in order. 

This afternoon Alexa had our Tuesday night group over to her house for a get-together and to get caught up on what everyone has been doing. Tomorrow is stitching in the morning but first I need to call my dentist. His office is closed but hopefully there is a number of an on call dentist who can help me out...

Let me back up a bit. I was supposed to get a crown put on a couple of weeks ago but because of the postal strike, the couriers were overwhelmed and the crown didn't arrive on time. The temporary had come loose so I went in anyway and had the dentist secure it more firmly until the permanent one arrived. The next week (the week before my trip), a hunk of the adjacent tooth broke off, leaving a sharp edge that lacerated my tongue. When I called to have it fixed, I learned my permanent crown had arrived so I went in the next day to have it put in and the sharp edge on the adjacent tooth smoothed out. It was determined that that tooth also would need a crown which would be started in the new year. 

Last Tuesday at the resort, while I was flossing my teeth, a huge hunk of filling broke off the same adjacent tooth, again leaving a razor-sharp edge. Thank goodness I had brought a bunch of sugar free gum because I used wads of it to fill the gap and cover the sharp edge. Unfortunately when I was eating or drinking and the gum wasn't in place, I couldn't talk as it was too painful. For once, I was a good listener during our conversations at meals. The rest of the day, I had gum filing the hole, even overnight. 

Once at home, I located some orthodontic wax left over from when Skip had braces almost 20 years ago. Ahhhhh. It really helped the situation. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of it and again, when I'd start to eat, the wax would dislodge and I ended up swallowing it with my food. 

Long story short, I have ordered the same brand of orthodontic wax on Amazon and it is arriving tomorrow evening sometime. I tried a Shoppers Drug Mart and a Dollarama this afternoon but they didn't have it in stock. 

Hopefully some dentist will kindly interrupt their vacation this week and file down the sharp edge so I can be pain free until the process for the crown gets underway. In the meantime, I'll tough it out with the orthodontic wax.

Days 21 and 22

Yesterday’s offering was another skein of hand-dyed floss:

I’ll have to check and see if it is one of the colours for one of the Advent stitchy box patterns.

Today:

Treats!! ☕️  

Days 19 and 20 and Dawdling

I knew yesterday's offering was metal because another package kept sticking to it magnetically.

It was a tart tin and circle template that could be used for finishing the Snowman Ornament or any other of that ilk.

Today's had the magnet that kept stitching to yesterday's tart tin.

A very handy, magnetic hook.

The rest of the morning I've been goofing off when I should be doing some work around here. I seem to have fallen into that habit in the mornings I don't have an appointment that takes me out of the house. I have so many ways I entertain myself: doing puzzles, watching YouTube videos, lurking on social media, corresponding with folks via email and texts, planning my next projects, etc. When I was going to elementary school, my mom used to have to 'encourage' me to 'get a move on' as I'd be dawdling in my room before getting out the door to school. Now, I'm usually late to informal things because I get caught up in goofing off.

For an upcoming trip, the flight was to be at 7:30am. I booked an airport limo. Then we got word that the departure time was changed to 3:15pm. The good news was that I could cancel the limo and just take public transit to the airport. The bad news was we'd be missing our entire first day at the resort.

I started stressing about how busy things would be getting to the airport during the holidays and decided this morning to rebook a limo. I'll reserve the public transit conveyances for when I return home. My neighbour again has kindly offered to pick me up from the GO station.

Because of the change of departure time (more than 6 hours), we may be compensated between $250 and $700. One of the persons in our group is looking into that. There is a passenger's 'bill of rights' called  Air Passenger Protection Regulations. We'll see what comes of it.

Now I must 'get a move on' and quit dawdling.

Day 18

As I predicted, today's offering

was two pretty blue colours of DMC and some Aida cloth which can be used for the Cozy Snowman Ornament from yesterday's package.

If I were to stitch this project, I'd probably use linen or an evenweave of some type. 

Yesterday I went into The Big City to meet Scooter for a visit and an early supper. We just ate at the food court at Union Station; nothing fancy. He's in the process of moving back to his mom's and will be completely out of his apartment at the end of the month. He has plans to go to Portugal for a couple of month in February so I look forward to following him on his travels.

My 5 year-old laptop has been acting up; not connecting properly to the Wi-Fi network. I thought I'd take it in to get checked out then figured for what it would cost me to get it fixed, and considering its age, I might as well just buy a new laptop. I found a deal at an electronics big box store but the only place the desired model was in stock was way across town. I beetled over there last night and got the last one. Remembering the hassle of transferring programs, etc. from one to another laptop, I signed up for the transfer service, too. The plan was to take the laptop in within 30 days for the transfer.

Once home, I unpacked the new laptop and fired it up. Except for a few things, it's very similar to my old one. AND since most of my stuff was stored in cyber space, the transfer went surprisingly easily. I've had to adapt to a new browser as I can't seem to find the old one and my preferred photo editing program, Picasa, no longer exists for download. I have to adapt to some other photo editing procedure. Not too difficult, just a bit of a learning curve. 

The night before, in anticipation of the old laptop completely crashing, I transferred all the Pictures and Documents to an external hard drive. So i'm pretty much up and running with the new one. I'll return to the big box store and get a refund for the transfer service I don't need.

Today I didn't have to get up for anything so slept in a bit. After breakfast I set to the task of fully finishing a Christmas ornament I finished stitching and embellishing months ago. For such a small thing, it usually takes me at least two hours to complete all the steps:

• cutting the cardboard for mounting
• finding and cutting the batting
• cutting the ornament into a circle with 3/4" border
• selecting the fabric for the back of the ornament
• spraying adhesive on the cardboard so the batting won't slip
• stitch running stitches around the stitching  
• centering the stitching and batting on the cardboard
• pulling the running stitches yo-yo style to mount everything on the mounting cardboard
• repeating this for the fabric for the back of the ornament
• locate the glue and glue the back and front together, securing with Wonder Clips
• making the cording
• attaching the cording with glue in the channel around the edge, leaving a loop at the top for hanging.
• sewing the top and bottom of the cording into place.
• creating and attaching the bow
• attaching the date charm to the back
• unravelling the bottom threads and pressing out the twist.

Again, nothing is difficult, just a lot of fiddly steps. And yes, I attached HotFix 'jewels' for the bling factor instead of beads.

It's my version of last year's Christmas Wreath Ornament from Mary Corbet. It's a free pattern and I stitched two of them using Sticky Fabri-Solvy on which I'd printed the design rather than trying to trace the design onto the fabric with a light box. I made the second design a little bigger by changing the settings on my printer. It's all stitched but won't get FFOd this year. 

Tonight is our guild's Christmas get together and ornament exchange, hence my need to FFO this ornament. I just need to wrap it.

Now that I have FFOd another project, I am free to start stitching a new one. I have a couple of others I've been working on so I'll reserve a new one for during or after the holidays.