So what am I doing sitting here at the computer?! Well...it's almost mid-October already. I decided it was high time I shared what all those 'things' are! And now that the weather's distinctly cooler, with 99.99% of the yard and garden's winter prep completed, I'll have more time for them...I hope!
In my last regular post, I introduced you to Fric and Frac -- er -- Smokie and Sylvie, my new kittens, or, as Miss Pookie calls them, The Interlopers! They're growing visibly almost daily; I've introduced them to the yard and garden -- much to Pookie's dismay, as it's her land, after all -- and the daily routine has now been established: eat, run around like crazy, get into Stuff, crash and nap; rinse, repeat.
This week they took care of over an hour of my time by knocking over a houseplant, such that some of its freshly-watered soil fell down onto the old carpet in my back room, into a narrow space (about 4" wide at best) between the counter on which the plant sat, and a large, very full filing cabinet (see the red arrow on the right):
On the left at the back is the cabinet, with its drawers piled in front so I could vacuum up the dirt, after which I had to have a space heater on to dry the old (1980s) carpet (see the red circle):
Once the mess was cleared away, the carpet clean(er) and dry, and the file cabinet returned to its rightful spot, I rearranged the houseplants on the counter again, and added a layer of tiny pebbles on the top of each of them to (hopefully) diminish kittenish enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the two, having run from my ire, had settled down for yet another nap...
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| Sleepy-time ballet |
Maker that I am, I got back to all those things I'm making and hope to make!
In my last regular post, I showed you the wee baby socks I finished for my friend C's new grand-nephew. Since then, I also finished a pair for his big brother (soon to turn 3):
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| Pattern: Plain Jeanne Socks Designer: Audrey Lavoie Yarn: Zwerger-Garn Opal Handpainted in the "Afrika" colour-way |
C. took the socks with her when she visited the boys (and family) for Thanksgiving; she says the baby's socks might fit him for about 5 minutes -- he's growing as fast as my kittens! 😉
Those finished, I moved on to two more pair of baby/toddler socks for the grand-nephew and grand-niece of yet another friend. P. has two nieces and now each of them has a child -- so these are cousins. Baby W. is about 2 months old and his cousin, E., 18 months or so:
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| Baby W's baby socks Pattern: Baby Socks - River City Yarns Yarn: Gathering Yarn Merino Sock Italian - in the Velino colour-way |
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| Cousin E's toddler socks Pattern - Baby/toddler socks - River City Yarns Yarn: Unlabelled from stash |
Now that these are finished, I'm hankering to get my Sock Knitter's Pullover finished -- only one sleeve left to go! -- but first...an old friend has recently divulged that she's taking chemo for breast cancer. With winter coming on, it will be cold and damp where she lives, so this morning I cast on a very plain hat -- the 'Scraptastic Hat' from Jane Tanner -- in Elann's Peruvian Baby Cashmere, a blend of alpaca, merino and cashmere. I've chosen a blue-grey (grey being one colour my friend mentioned she'd like), and will make a second in a deep wine colour.
While I've been knitting I've enjoyed watching knitting podcasts on YouTube: "Knit Together with Kim and Jonna"; "Frivolous and Frugal" with Dawn and Penny and friends; "Little Big Knits" with Selma; and "For the Fun of Knit" with Linda. These last two are Canadian: Selma is in Ottawa, Ontario and Linda is in Surrey, B.C. All are enjoyable and inspiring.
And enabling! I'm blaming Kim and Jonna for my latest Wanna Knit: the Lunenberg Pullover, designed by Amy Christophers. I rarely buy patterns nowadays, but I fell hard for this one -- especially as I have (I think) enough yarn in my stash to make it for myself. These yarns aren't the called-for yarns, but have been used by others to make this sweater, so I'm game:
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| (L) to (R): Alice Starmore Hebridean in the Selkie colour-way; Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply in colour #008 (Herring); Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift trio: Mist, Madder and White |
The Selkie, a lovely heathered blue, is the main colour, with the others for accents. I've never done a colour-work yoke from the top down so it will be an adventure. That said, it has to wait till I finish the afore-mentioned sleeve on that other pullover. That's my incentive to get going!
This doesn't count the other tweedy pullover on my needles, or the two or three shawls...or 2 pair of socks I've promised a friend for herself and her daughter...
Or the stitching, of which there's a great deal, including two pieces I need to get done for the Holiday season. On that front, I'm making good progress on the larger of the two -- "Nevermore" (Lila's Studio) -- for my nephew and his new bride:
In fact, since the above photo was taken (Oct. 10), I've finished "weak and" and I'm about to add "weary" before I move to the left and do th the motif (wrought-iron gates) next to the tree. It's a fun stitch!
And in quilting...well... it's a mixed bag. I finished six wee ornaments for "my" gallery -- Curiosity Art and Framing in Red Deer -- to sell over the holiday season, and have been given six more backings in case I'm inspired to make more.
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| Each wee square of textile art is a scant 2" square! |
In the rest of my art-quilt world, there's nothing new started, but I've answered a Call for Entry to an up-coming textiles exhibit at the Viewpoint Gallery managed by the City of Red Deer. The deadline for entry is today, and I got my submission in a week ago, so all there is to do now is wait. The theme is "Craft and Care" and if accepted, my piece will be part of the display in the Gallery from mid-February through late April 2024.
In scrap quilting, I've now finished turning thirty 6 1/2" string-pieced squares into sixty 5 1/2" half-square triangle blocks for a comfort quilt (thirty more to go), and have had some more fun with the One Block Wonder blocks. Here they are on my design wall -- not sewn together, as the end design may be quite different, but aren't they fun?
Speaking of sixty-degree triangles...this morning my favourite designer of All Things Scrappy, Bonnie Hunter, has come out with a new Sew-Along -- Star of Hope -- to support Israel. And yes, I have to jump on the bandwagon! If you want to do so too, check out her post HERE. This is the introduction to the project; the Sew-Along starts on Monday, October 16. It's reportedly paper-pieced, which I'm not great at, but I'll see how it goes. The hexies above weren't paper-pieced, and they're not hard to assemble...so I'm hopeful, which is what's needed from the get-go.
I'm still doing a bit of work every few days on my latest hooked wall rug, "All the Pretty Poppies"...
The above photo was taken two weeks ago, and it's come a long way since then -- even enduring a bit of "un-hooking" at the paws of a certain pair of kitties! I decided that this old embroidery frame (pictured) was awkward to use, though, so have gone back to a hoop, using an old quilt hoop I've kept over the years, even though I never enjoyed using it for quilting. An up-dated photo next time, I promise!
And so it goes as we slip into late fall. This afternoon, I need to rake some leaves over my flower beds to mulch them up for winter, and later this weekend I'll prep my car (vacuum and change out the floor mats) and my garage (oil the aged automatic door). 'Tis the season, friends.
Meanwhile, I'm going to return to some knitting (that new chemo cap!) and link you up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. She's "just hosting" this week, but there are lots of friends gathering there, so enjoy! Till then -- a bientôt!
1 comment:
Sock knitting seems to be al the rage! Glad I'm not the only one.
I like the Poe cross stitch.
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