Hello, Gentle Readers! Thank you for being patient with me. I still have days when I wake up thinking, "WTF?!" but most of the time now, I'm less tired, less stressed. It was good to take some time away from some of my social media.
You'll probably chuckle at this, though: my "social media" consists of e-mails, blog posts, YouTube videos and Facebook groups -- most of those, private, requiring membership and the answers to a series of questions to determine one's level of genuine interest. I focus on creative pages (the groups supporting cross-stitch; quilting; hooking rugs -- including for the wall; spinning and knitting.
Then there's a couple of groups that are political -- but locally (as in my province and the country as a whole). And that's it.
I'm a big YouTube fan and my list of 'subscriptions' is centred on cross-stitch (aka "flosstube") and knitting, with a bit of quilting and rug-hooking thrown in. Good for the soul!
I do admit to enjoying some news and politics but since my time off, I've been curating these items closely. Working outdoors -- prepping for Winter (yep!) as well as working in the studio has also been a big help in dissipating angst. So...let's see what I've been up to, shall we?
In rug-hooking, the four pieces I showed in my last post have been trimmed, bound, blocked and taken to be framed at "my" gallery/frame shop -- Curiosity Art & Framing in Red Deer, Alberta. The Gallery has a booth at an up-coming Women's Show in Red Deer, and some of my other work will be there -- October 17 and 18. I expect to be there too -- either helping behind the scenes with set-up or take-down, and/or doing a short artist's talk. Not sure yet -- but I'm looking forward to it.
My newest piece is a wintry one, in answer to a Call for Entry from the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre. Sorry...won't be sharing more info until it's framed and my response to the Call is accepted 😊...or not 😞 Stay tuned!
In knitting...well...there have been stops and starts. My son wants a pair of real gloves -- that is, ones with fingers -- for Xmas. I made a start. I got past the cuff and palm onto the fingers of the first one and...they were huge! So I've frogged that one and started over with a new pattern and fewer stitches. I'm now working on the thumb gusset; life is good. I know...if you're not a knitter, you're already yawning. 😉
Also in knitting (!) my "sock mojo" has been sorely lacking, but I managed to finish a shawl for "One-skein September" (inspired by Karen of 'Recreational Knitting' podcast on YouTube). I chose the "Get Set and Go!" pattern from Jem Arrowsmith on Ravelry.
The pattern is great -- but what had me wondering was my yarn choice: a from-stash skein of "Uneek" fingering from Urth in colourway #3010. It looked beautiful in the skein and even lovely in the small photo of it knit up (at left above). Even when I laid it out for blocking, I was uncertain -- but now that it's dry and I've been wearing it, well, let's just say I'm chuffed! It blocked beautifully and the colours blossomed into a coordinated collection instead of a weird mess!
Photo taken while being blocked on an old pale green towel |
I've returned to 'give-away' knitting with yet another pair of child-sized mittens from my favourite Tin Can Knits pattern -- The World's Simplest Mittens -- using some more stash self-patterning yarn, and have only the thumbs to do to finish them off. And my car knitting -- aka my "waiting at the train crossing" knitting? I've started a simple toque for me, using my own handspun -- a sort-of DK weight marl...
I'm doing a 2x2 ribbing for the brim and then will knit solidly until I get to where I want to decrease stitches for the top. This lively marled-and-striped colour-way would obliterate any sort of cable or texture pattern; it needs to show itself off! LOL!
In the quilting department, now that I've finished the Celtic Knot Behemoth (my name, not the actual name!) and it's been given to the happy recipients, what's next?
Well...piecing, of course -- it soothes the soul (as I may have said before!) I'm assembling two things with my scraps -- string blocks (on recycled phone book paper) and crumb blocks. I'm also working on a "Four Patch Fun" quilt (Bonnie Hunter's "Leaders and Enders" project for this year). For this, I'm using whatever neutrals I can find that work, plus left-over fabric from the Celtic Knot Behemoth. I made up one block, just to see how it would turn out, and am delighted with it, so have prepped units for several more. Given the size of the components I'm using, the blocks finish larger than those in the pattern -- 8" square. I'll need 56 of them (7 blocks wide by 8 long) to make a decent throw for giving away -- and only hope I can find enough lights/neutrals that are suitable!
And...it wouldn't be October without another block for the Block of the Month (BOM) from A Quilting Life. Here it is laid out with its friends on my bedroom floor (bottom left)...
And here's its solo shot:
Alcott was (and is) one of my favourite authors, and I have the series: Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins and Jo's Boys. I identified with 'Jo' as a reader, a lover of russet apples, and a thinker, and I identified with Meg as a maker -- talented with a needle for knitting and/or stitching. I admired Jo's independent spirit so even though I was never a "tomboy", I was (and still am) an independent thinker.
My senior high English Comp teacher was sure I'd become a lawyer, but no. That said, my father's interest in politics and debate seem to have come down to me, which might explain my keen interest in politics, human rights etc. This attitude has also enabled me to survive my marriage to a man, a man I loved and cared for, for over a decade until his illness (Type 1 Diabetes) took his life -- and all the while I was also caring for my aging mother, aunt and godmother, and raising, with my husband's help, two kids...
I am a Determined Woman
What's next in stitching? Xmas gifts, of course! I have at least three 'smalls' I want to finish, all from Hinzeit designs, in kits I've owned for years: "Stitching","Knitting" and "Coffee". The first two are for friends who do those things, and the last is for my neighbours who love coffee. I've finished the 'skeleton' of "Stitching, but have yet to add the charms (yes; it was a pattern/charms kit -- I added floss and fabric)...so stay tuned for more! (NOTE: I'm not sure where you can get these patterns any more. 123 Stitch has some, but not all of them. Sorry.)
Let me see...rug-hooked art, knitting, quilting, stitching...that's about it from my end at the moment.
"What about spinning?!" you might be asking. Well...yeah. I took a fantastic, intense 3-hour (well...almost 4 hours as it went over-time) class at the Prairie Fibre Festival in Lacombe in mid-September...and learned a lot -- but haven't touched my wheel since. That said, I'm culling my fibre stash (slowly) with a plan to spin up only those fibres I really want to spin up. I have a wet-felting friend to whom I'll be giving fibres she might be more interested in than I am. By next spring, I'll know more what I want to use, and what I don't. I like to spin outside in the summer, so there probably won't be more action in this area for several months now. I'll be busy rug-hooking at the frame, knitting, piecing quilt tops and working on my cross-stitch. All of those are cozy activities for the rainy/snowy months to come.
No matter. All bring colour, calm and rhythm into my world -- my tiny corner that, no matter what, continues to be bombarded with political noise and fearful threats from far beyond my sweet Canadian borders.
Fabric, fibre and floss are just what I need to keep me calmer and kinder just now.
And for those skills, I am thankful.
Yes, it's Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada.
And I am grateful. Thankful. Blessed...
- for the work of my hands and the opportunities to share my art;
- for my children, my son's partner and her son, my sister, my cousins;
- for my dear friends, near and far, and for good neighbours;
- for the hope of living into my eighties;
- for enough to live on and give some away; and
- for YOU, Gentle Readers, who follow and read and put up with whatever I throw at you.
For all of these, I am truly thankful.
Yes, we do turkey, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes with gravy.
No Pilgrims, though. Our Thanksgiving is more...well...like this:
Here's to all for whom and for which we are truly grateful... a bientot...