Mystery Knitalong

I signed up for a mystery knitalong from Kristin Myrmel at Norwegian Knitting  We were told what kind and how much yarn we'd need and the knitting needle size.

The first installment arrived by email yesterday. I had the yarn in my stash and needles all ready so I got to work and knit whilst re-watching the first season of 'Trapped' - an Icelandic murder mystery series. Barb reminded me about it yesterday on the GO train (that activity will be outlined in the next post) so I'm re-watching and reminiscing about our wonderful Icelandic holiday in 2016.

I have the first one of these done

and am working on the second. Yes, that's twisted rib.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be a pair of mittens or possibly gloves.

Part 2 instructions will arrive next Wednesday.

Ending the Larva Stage

The first caterpillar has crawled up to the top of the 'castle' and has attached itself there. It will form a 'j' and within the day will shed its last 'skin' and transform to a pupa called a chrysalis.

It's all curled up here because I jiggled the castle while cleaning it out. It will relax into the 'j' formation once things calm down. Note how long the antennae are. There are little 'fake' antennae on its rear end.

Meanwhile, on the other jar, this one is fattening right up. I believe it will pupate in a day or two.

I have no idea when this one hatched but it is doing well.

Tonight, when I was checking on things, #1 had pupated and I discovered a 4th larva! I have no idea where it came from. It's about the same size as #3 just above. Tomorrow I will go out again and try to find some more eggs or larvae. To find larve, I just look for any milkweed leaves that have holes in them. This indicates that they're feeding on them. Otherwise, I just look under the leaves for any eggs. I really haven't seen any monarchs yet. Hopefully they're only delayed as has been the case with everything else this year because of the cold, rainy weather in May.

Library Display

July was the month for our embroidery guild to create a display for the showcase at the Central Branch of the Whitby Public Library. Jeanette sent out an all-call. Barb, Shelley, and I were able to meet her there and do the job.

Our banner consists of  squares that were stitched by various members depicting something about Whitby, Ontario, or Canada. Barb's framed piece is beneath it.

Top Shelf

Middle Shelf

Bottom Shelf

 Somewhat of an overhead shot.

Items will be on display until July 31.

It would be great if our display attracted new members.

Thanks, Jeanette, for organizing this.

Monarch Update

My new system seems to be working. It has minimized the amount of work I have to do to keep the larvae fed and clean.

I've been using the reservoirs with great success. The larvae feed on the clusters of leaves. All I have to do is top the water up in the reservoir every day and rinse away the frass. The canning jar is simply to hold the reservoir upright. In the past I've used an overturned egg carton and poked the reservoirs through the bottoms but these jars work better as they are taller.

I'm not sure if this big guy is one of my original two eggs. At one point I thought I only had two larvae and one was teeny weeny. Then I found this big one - much bigger than the next one in size (on a back leaf). If it was from the original two eggs, it only hatched 1 day before the second one so I'm not sure why it grew faster - or if the second one grew slower.

The third guy was just transferred to this fresh clump of milkweed.

I just broke off the part it was attached to on the old leaves and put it on the fresh leaf. In no time it will be munching away on the fresh stuff.

With everything cleaned out and rinsed (I rinse the fresh leaves before exposing the larvae to them) they're back in the Caterpillar Castle on the grow stand in my kitchen.

I think the largest one will climb to the top of the 'castle' and pupate in the next couple of days.

Larva Update

We're 5 days into the larval stage.

The water reservoirs are working well. The larvae seem to be happy to munch away without moving very far. They really do seem to prefer the tender new leaves.

They've doubled in size from their first day out of the egg.

Those black specks are its frass (poop) which will get bigger as the larva gets bigger.

Using this system, I don't have to do a lot of work as their fresh food source is right there. I just have to make sure the reservoirs are topped up with water a couple of times a day. Pretty soon they'll go into the 'Caterpillar Castle' where they'll spend the rest of their larval stage and then pupate, forming their chrysalis on the top of the mesh cube.

I haven't found any other eggs or larvae yet altho' it is early in the season. We have lots of milkweed in and around our garden and yard so I'll keep looking.

Any monarchs that emerge before August 1 will mate and lay eggs in the area. It is those offspring that will make their way down to Mexico for the winter and three generations will work their way back north next spring.

Patriotic Luggage Tag

Scooter is going on an overseas holiday in August so I wanted to make him a luggage tag. I bought the maple leaf fat quarter at The Quilter's Cupboard at their sale on Friday and had the red fabric in my stash.

A business card or address card slides into the bound, vinyl window stitched onto the interfaced, interior fabric.

The buttonhole is centred and is halfway between the border of the vinyl and the end of the tag.

The exterior is the same size as the interior fabric. In this case, I matched the tag strap to the exterior fabric.

It folds in half and the strap goes through the buttonhole on the right, concealing the personal information.

Folded up. the strap loops through the suitcase handle and the rest of the tag is shoved through it. 

With this on his suitcase, he'll easily be able to distinguish it from the many others at the luggage carousel.

I've made one for Skip, too.

Just Bee

I've had this stitched for quite a while and only fully finished them last weekend. They were my contribution to the Trillium Guild's TATA (Trillium Annual Themed Award).

They're two of the Just Bee smalls from Hands On Design.

The pinkeep was mounted on foam core with a plain fabric on the back.

Coordinating cotton chenille trim was included with the pattern and was attached with white-headed pins.

I made the twisted cord for the pin cusion with the darkest grey floss colour and white. The bee charm also came with the pattern.

The patterned fabric was a fat quarter from my stash.

I think they're really cute. 

 Marilyn's received the Original Design Award for her exploding box.

Jeanette received the Chart/Adapted Design Award for her Hardanger Trio.

I was the third participant so I received the third award for Technical Merit. With this certificate was a generous gift certificate for Kimat Designs.

I'm still waiting to receive the kit from the designer that wants me to stitch her sample. Hopefully she had time to send it last week. I can't wait to get started on it. Unfortunately it will be a 'stealth' project until the pattern is finally printed and it is released. But if you're curious, it is one of the patterns she's been converting to cross stitch that she talked about on this episode of her FlossTube channel.