Bunny Update

I knit most of a little dress and embroidered along the hem. I still need to knit and attach the straps.

I had to do a stretchy bindoff on the top so it would be stretchy enough to get the dress over her feet or head.

Then I knit the little headband. That and the bow took me about an hour! 

I had read that one person had done an i-cord headband but it kept rolling off so I knit 4 sts in stocking stitch to go around her head and grafted the ends. To ensure that it would lie flat and look nice, I slipped the first stitch of every row. The bow was more stocking stitch but I damp pressed it to make it lie flat. The dress bottom rolled as well until I pressed it with a damp tea towel.

Now I'm looking for more patterns to make clothes for her. 

I auditioned a couple of Easter eggs.

I am so in love with her little fluffy tail.

This project kept me entertained and off the streets for yet another day.

Who Can Resist a Cute Little Bunny?

Those who know me know that I hate what rabbits do to our garden. Skip has toiled endlessly for the past 25 years we've lived in this house to eliminate all means of access that rabbits might have to our back yard where he works hard to grow flowers and veggies. He has put chicken wire around the entire yard on the lowest parts of our fences. He has blocked off other areas where they might also get through.

Rabbits ostentatiosly lounge in our front yard, nibbling grass and lying in the sun, There are all kinds of them in the neighbourhood and, I'm sure, having babies on an ongoing basis. 

That all being said, I happened upon a very cute pattern to knit a bunny last night. Who could resist such a cute little bunny? It's the Bunty Bunny pattern I downloaded from Ravelry for £2 ($3.69 CAD).

There's also a pattern for a seaside bunny,

a snowrabbit,

and a princess,

Debi Birkin also has lots of patterns for other 'softies' as well.

I grabbed some DK yarn from my stash, and got started. 

I got the head, legs, and one arm done last night. This morning while chatting with my Monday morning stitching group I knit the body, second arm, and started stuffing the various body parts.

The shoes, socks, and white blouse are knit as part of the body parts but I decided to knit it all one colour and will knit the clothing separately.

I also knit the pieces in the round rather than knitting them flat and seaming. I didn't subtract the seam allowance stitches, however, so the decreases are not centred on the body. This doesn't bother me because there will be clothing to cover it. This way, the bunny could be male or female.

I haven't done it yet but the pattern calls for a little white pom pom be attached on the bunny's bum.

Skip and I have only been home for a couple of Easters in the last 14 years since we started spending the winters in the sunny south. I have all kinds of Ukrainian Easter eggs to decorate with, a decoration for our front door, 

and a couple of Peanuts Easter decorations. The bunny will be a new addition this year.

This afternoon I'm having a Zoom chat with some of my university sorority sisters (ΓΦB) whom I've known for 48 years. It should be fun.

Monarch Butterfly Punch Needle Finished

I was quite industrious today - doing more housework than I usually do. I then sat down to read the book I got from the library yesterday. I'm on a deadline, though, and want to get the book read in the next day or two. It's called Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and it won a Pulitzer Prize. 

A few folks I know have read it for their book clubs so I was intrigued. 

My library predicted I'd have to wait 6 months before it would be available, it's that popular, but the library in the city next door had it on the shelves. They also had a 2 DVD set of the 4 episode series starring Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins and Bill Murray. So I checked out the book and the DVD set. The only problem is the DVD set is due next Monday and I wanted to read the book first so I'm on a deadline to get the book read so I can get the DVD set watched before the discs are due back at the library next Monday.

I don't normally read books in print as I find it too relaxing and tend to fall asleep so I've been sitting at the kitchen table power reading the book.

This is only the 2nd novel I will have read in print in the last 3 or 4 years. I usually listen to audiobooks in bed before I fall asleep. I set the sleep timer so it doesn't drone away in my earphone in my ear all night.

Anyway, I'm more than halfway through the book and hope to finish it tomorrow. 

There is a sequel, "Olive Again", which I finished listening to yesterday morning. It can stand alone without having read the first book but it intrigued me enough to search the first book out.

I plan to read the other two books the author has published and at least one of them is available in audiobook format from my local library.

I finished the monarch butterfly punch needle piece this afternoon.

It measures 5 1/8" x 4" and would make a nifty top for a box. I hope to find one with the right shaped top, preferrably hinged.

I have a few stitching projects that I need to frame. I'm hoping to find a 4" x 5" frame for one of them or I might just mount it on something. 

When I remarked to Skip about how energetic I felt today and got so much done, he noted it could be because it was so nice and sunny today. You know, he just might have something there.

Touch wood, this has been the mildest winter we've had in a long time. Even if we get some big polar vortex over the next few weeks, spring will soon be upon us.

Punch Needle Monarch Butterfly

On one of my road trips I purchased a punch needle pattern of a monarch butterfly. I've had the urge to do some punch needle lately - mostly because it goes so quickly.

I had most of the DMC flosses called for in the pattern in my stash but needed a couple of varietgated ones - a purple and a green. After trips to my local LNS shops, Artisanthropy and Kimat Designs they were easily obtained. Both shops have online ordering and curbside pickup.

I started two nights ago by outlining the butterfly. The pattern is printed/drawn/ironed onto the weaver's cloth (a strong cotton/nylon blend). If letters or numbers are involved they need to appear backwards on the back so they are the correct orientation on the front.

The pattern calls for 3 strands of floss and to get gradations of colour they are mixed with two strands of one colour and one strand of another.

I am using one ring of a Morgan lapstand to obtain drum tightness being careful not to stab myself on the other side.

I used the colour photo on the pattern to place the white dots on the wings.

The oval is various gradations of the purple/blue flosses and will be completely filled in when finished. The vines are a solid DMC colour. The echinacea (coneflower) petals are a variegated DMC and the 'cones' of the are a blend of two DMC colours.

All I have left to do is finish the ovals with gradients as I punch towards the centre and the lighter variegated green background of the border.

I've also been working on my autumnal paint-by-number and have started the yellows. No pics yet but the image is somewhat Group of Seven-ish.

A while back I purchased a pair of scissors with curved blades - similar to those pictured below. They are great for using on punch needle pieces. I highly recommend ones like that. 

I think I'll mount the piece on a little box lid or a little wooden crate like the raw wood ones at the big box craft store. I can paint it with chalk paint.

Scrappy, Striped Socks Are Finished

I finished these up last night and had to wait 'til this morning when the light was better to photograph them.

There are a bunch of yarn ends to sew/weave in but I may just leave them loose as they don't feel lumpy when the socks are on.

This is my first time doing two-at-a-time socks. It was the best way to get identical twin socks but not my favourite method. 

But they're done and I can go back to my second camo sock when I want to do some knitting.

After 4 blankets and a pair of scrappy socks, I can now close the lid on my scrap sock yarn bin. I do have a bunch of small balls of sock yarn that I'd love to use up somehow. I may use Arne and Carlos' idea of holding three yarns together and knitting cozy plain mittens.

I have a yen to knit another bandana cowl/February hat set so will be checking out my worsted yarn inventory for two 100g skeins. They knit up quickly and look very stylish when we're all bundled up to go outside in the 'bleak midwinter'. 

Resurrecting an Old WIP

Motivated by Barb and Jeanette who are tackling WIPs (Works In Progress) in an orderly fashion, I rummaged through some project bags that were languishing in a couple of piles. I finished a project yesterday and wanted to tackle a UFO (UnFinished Object) before starting a brand new project for which I've pulled most of the threads and just need to substitute one more colour.

Newcastle Bouquet is a big sampler that I hope to plug away at over the next few months. 

Yesterday during our Crafternoon chat, I worked on the darker red bossoms on the border. It's great for mindless stitching if the basics are outlined. I'll be happy if I get it finished by the end of 2021.

The project I'm 99.9%  finished was Christmas Birds by Eszter Marjanovic. I just noticed I need to do the two stitches for the two birds' eyes and cross one stitch at the bottom of the 'T'. Then to pop it into a 5 x 7 frame.

And my scrappy socks are almost finished. I'm almost ready to start the toe decreases.

I'm doing about 7 rounds of each colour. Which I will do right to the end of the toe. I'm looking forward to wearing these once they're finished.

Christmas Birds

Taking a bit of a break from my Sea Turtle piece, I started Christmas Birds from the Winter/Christmas 2020 issue of Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher Magazine.

It was designed by Eszter Marjanovic of SubRosaDesign .

I've had a link to her blog on my webpage for years and love her designs.

I did the Jean Farish trick and created some cross stitches along the warp (parallel to selvages) and weft to see what thread count I had. This was a large piece of linen I got at the Old Tattered Flag over  year ago and it was unmarked.

The warp is 17 sts over 2 or 34 ct.

The weft was also 34 ct.

The pattern called for 36ct and the design would fit in a 5" x 7" frame. Since this fabric has a slightly smaller stitch count, it would exceed the open area of the frame so I altered the pattern, eliminating some stitches on each side.and moving the borders in a bit.  Now it will fit into a standard frame.

I am using WDW Bright Leaf and the DMC equivalents for the other 3 colours. I am very partial to these colours and somewhat primitive designs. It would make a really nice flatfold.

I have made a bit more progress on my scrappy socks and am on the home stretch of the gusset decreases. The jog in the striping when I change colours is buried in the purl column of the ribbing.

It's taking a while because there are a LOT of stitches going around the sock at this stage. I'm using stocking stitch for the foot of the sock.

As I've mentioned before, I tend to wear my socks out on the bottom of the heel so continued the Eye of Partridge pattern in that area. The stranding across the slipped stitches provides extra fabric so the heels will wear longer.

Yesterday, Skip and I had to go into The Big City for an appointment. Normally we would avail ourselves of our excellent commuter train system but in times of COVID, we're reluctant to mingle with others - especially with these nasty variants developing. So we drove into the city. Traffic is much reduced with so many people working from home so it was pretty stress-free.

Again, because of COVID, I was unable to go into the appointment with Skip so I found a place to park on the street (Green P) and entertained myself while I waited for him to be done. I played with my phone a bit, then started listening to an audiobook ('Olive Again' by Elizabeth Strout) which had been recommended to me by one of my stitching friends. I also got a bit of knitting done on my second camo sock even though my hands were cold. It was -9ºC yesterday or 9ºF.

It's a basic K3, P2 ribbed pattern. Here's the finished first sock.

I did the same Eye-of-Partridge-on-the-sole of the heel thing on this one, too.

Schools are back to in-class learning and next Tuesday our region will open up a bit. Stores can open with limited capacity. I have a couple of things I need done in a store for which curbside pickup won't work so that will afford me the chance to knock a couple of things off my 'to do' list.