Making Merry

There are some years when your Christmas spirit isn't quite as lifted as others. I think this is one for me. Too much bad stuff going on in the world, both big and very personal, and I have been finding it hide to get excited.

Except for the Christmas making, which always lifts my spirits.

This year, I re-committed to fabric bags, so had fun getting merry material and making bags for the "grands" stuff. I also decided to recycle some cardboard into gift tags. A good second life for the amazon boxes things came in. Hoping to get the bags and tags back and will use them again. 

The little gingerbread tags sparked an idea for this year's ornaments. (I make one every year for my three grandkids.) And I love these!

I had some printable fabric paper, so I printed an image with all three faces. They turned out to be the perfect size to fit on fabric gingerbread men. I stitched on the faces, embellished the "cookie" part with embroidery and buttons. And then blanket stitched them onto some blanket weight wool. They are now hanging on our tree for the kids to discover, and then take home to their own trees. 

Another Christmas make was a special gift for my son-in-law. Many years ago he found some leftover yarn of his grandmother's (fondly called Mumu). It is from Denmark or Sweden and is a lovely wool twist. This year, he asked if I could use that wool to knit a hat for each of Mumu's four great grandchildren. And I did. The littlest "great grand" is just 7 months old. Jackson is the eldest "great grand" (nine in 5 days). I added the pompoms for a little break from the blue. 

The ones on the right and left are Classic Ribbed Hats and the middle two are High Point Hat  which are both free patterns on ravelry from Purl Soho. Although the weather has scuttled their plans to deliver them today, I am sure at some point over the holidays, there will be four beautiful heads inside these hats.

Last of the merry making, hopefully done in the next day, a pair of socks for my husband, who loves homemade socks more than anyone. He seems to go through them faster than anyone, so this pair is being knit in Patons Kroy, which has a 75% wool/25% nylon mix. Hopefully that will slow down the wearing out. I also got some Briggs and Little Durasport, which is supposed to be the strongest sock wool EVER, and will try a pair of those for him next.

Since my last post, I knit another Peach Fuzz sweater - this one for me. I liked the one I knit for my friend (who has now finished ALL cancer treatments!!!!) that I did this one for me. I love the colour combo and it is so soft and cozy. May it ward off any cancer vibes that are headed my way. 

On the cancer front, my husband's surgery finally happened just over a week ago, and we had a follow up with the surgeon yesterday. When he removed the tumour, he had to do a skin graft. Yesterday he pronounced it a success, which is not always a sure thing on lower extremities. That's a relief. Stitches on the harvest site come out next week, and a community nurse will do a dressing change on Boxing Day. So slow and steady, we head into the healing. May this be the last of it for a long while.

On this happier note, I will everyone who visits me here a Very Merry Holiday. Just writing this post has pumped up my Christmas spirit. And although the weather outside may be frightful, I hope all our holidays are delightful. 

See you in the brand new year. 

Jumping from Project to Project

Wow - two months since my last post. And what do I have to say for myself. I was going to say not a lot, but that is not true. And the best news of all is about family. 

Yesterday our daughter and her family got keys to their new home in Peterborough - about 4 minutes away. Their house in Toronto sold and that closing will be at the end of the month. So our son-in-law has a couple of weeks to get a kitchen demo, new flooring throughout and painting everywhere done before the moving van arrives.

Luckily, he has a posse of friends who are coming to help, setting up air mattresses and sleeping bags around the place. Now that is friendship in true form. Yes, there will be pizza and beer - and probably a little poker after a full day of work. 

Our son and his family are also on the move - to Whitby. They will take possession there in the middle of May, so by the time the good weather arrives, everyone will have a big yard. And be a lot closer to us!! Their house is pretty much move-in ready, but they will do a few upgrades once they are in there. 

As for me, I raced to the finish line to complete a hooking project that was large, daunting and taught me a ton. I felt like a needed the sound effect of a truck backing up - a lot! lol. One part would look great and then another would not. Deadline met. I emailed a photo for the virtual annual on March 30th. It will be in the virtual show at the OHCG Annual on April 30. Until then, I am afraid I cannot share.

I have been knitting up a storm. Many projects - including adding new feet to a pair of Rick's socks.  This pair had been darned, patched and were definitely ready to go, but I decided to persevere and cut off the legs, picked up the stitches and knit new feet, starting at the heel turn. 

The original yarn was from the Canadian National Parks collection a few years ago, It was the Gros Morne colourway and I bought it in Newfoundland, so it had very strong sentimental value. Plus Rick loves all his socks. The new foot is knit in Amble, which is supposed to be a very durable sock yarn. The stripe is from yarn that I unravelled from the cut off foot. So this is hopefully a match made in heaven. 

I also started a pair of striped socks for me, that mostly get knit in the car. Now that the kids are both moving closer, it may take a while before these socks get finished. Maybe they will become baseball sock knitting. 

I have fallen out of love with my "Ghost in the Orchard" project. (not the first time) Not sure why, so have set it aside and picked up another new pattern for a quick cardigan that is well in hand. It is basically a freebie, since I am using yarn from a zillion years ago that had a few false starts, but never became anything. 

This pattern is called Freja and looks like it will be a nice transitional sweater. It had me at "pockets". Here is an in-progress shot. The yarn is a mottled light blue/grey with grey/brown. I thought I would have nothing to go with it, but turns out that I do. 

When I finish this, I will have another chat with my "Ghost" and see if it needs to become something else. I have a couple of options in my ravelry favourites. It may be the complexity of the cable patterns that is bothering me - my lack of concentration has not improved since the last post. lol

If not, there is another "freebie" waiting in the wings. I am swatching for that right now. It's a Tanis Fibre Arts pattern that uses two strands of mohair held together. Tanis reimagined her Ombre Cardigan  pattern from years ago using the mohair and it is very ethereal. I have a box of cones of mohair/lace weight yarn that I got from someone many years ago and I am trying a combo that looks like it will be to gauge and be perfect for this pattern. 

And my hooking also has me jumping from project to project. I am partway through a new teaching sample for my "Faceless Portraits" class at Trent, but found out yesterday that the school is a NO GO. Not enough enrolment to book the residence, or to allow the school to break even. 

This is grandson Jackson when he was little. We took him to the wading pool in his "hood" and he ran around in the freezing water, squealing with glee. When he put this bucket over his head, I took a bunch of pics, never knowing that I would teach a Portraits class where you cannot see a face. This is perfect.

I will continue to work on this, as it will be a gift for my daughter and her family - a kind of housewarming. And there is a photo of little Charlie is just itching to be hooked, so I will do that as a gift for his parents in their new home. Both of these will be great pieces to share if this Portraits without a Face class ever gets a chance to take place. 

Meanwhile, my second hooked mitt will have to wait, along with three of Ingrid's "Flower of the Month" patterns - and a batch of other UFOs that I can't even admit to. 

On the sewing front, last weekend I went to a baby shower in Toronto. A new little girl is on her way shortly, so I made a batch of the burp cloths that all the moms told me were the best ever. I have shared them here before, but never without "baby sloths". OMG.

For someone who didn't think she had much to share, I guess I did.

Thanks for reading along. Hope I don't take as long for the next post. 

Jumping Jupiter, It's July!!

How can life be so busy when you're in COVID! Well, if you have several fibre addictions, are expecting a third grandchild, and have two others that you need to make things for as well, it's been BUSY!!

Baby Charlie is arriving any day now, to his brand spanking new parents. Since Charles was the name of both great grandfathers, there was little doubt that he would be a Charles. And the "wish list" for the nursery of hand-made goodies was long and wonderful.

A third crazy squares quilt top was pieced out of the leftovers from his cousins' quilts that are on their beds here. It is currently at the quilters and may not be delivered before he is. But it may also stay here with to add to the "cousins' quilt" collection.

A baby 'nest' was next on the list. And since 4 years ago when I made one for Everleigh, this was a much easier project. There are so many DIY videos and tutorials now that the project was a walk in the park. I think for Evvie's, I had to figure out dimensions and steps on my own. Not this time!!! I made a couple of removable pads that will be easier to wash than the entire nest.

The nursery theme is "woodland creatures" and I found an adorable pattern on Ravelry that called out to all of us. The little critters were so much fun to knit, and the mobile was easy to assemble. It is now hanging above the crib. 

I had decided to hook him a name sign for his nursery, and rather than putting the woodland critters in the design, I hooked them separately to hang below. This way, when he outgrows his nursery and decides he loves dinosaurs or super heroes, I can hook a set of those. I attached a strip of velcro along the bottom of the sign and each of the little critters hangs from a strip with a dot of velcro at the end.  Two benefits to this plan: the critters can be rearranged whenever. Also, if a chubby little hand should tug on a critter, it will release without pulling down the entire arrangement.

These critters were fun to hook. And I did them first. The sign is actually punched, with the same Briggs & Little yarn that was used in the background of the animals. (I rearranged the line up several times for this photo, and see now that they aren't quite evenly spaced, but maybe moving them around and rearranging them will be part of the ongoing charm.)

During production of the sign and the mobile, two things happened. Our grandson came for a couple of weeks to get some help with Zoom school while Dad when on a fishing trip, took a tumble and badly sprained his ankle. Mom was working full time on Zoom and looking after Evvie and Dad, so it was just easy for everyone to have him be here. He was quite a fan of all the "makings" for his cousin. In fact, he so fell in love with the hedgehog in the mobile that he wanted his own. I sidetracked him by showing him a picture of a knit Baby Yoda. It was love at first sight, and as soon as he was off the needles, he was a constant companion.

Who knew Yoda was a "wearable".  Obviously, Jackson did. 

Now, what to make for his sister was the question. He knew Gram wouldn't make for one and not the other. So the search began. Lots of options, but none quite as perfect as Misha, the Ballerina Monkey!! Complete with detachable tutu, headband, ballerina sweater and leotard. 

Personally, I feel her tutu is a bit too-too long, so I may do a shorter version and give them both to Evvie. A monkey ballerina can never have too many outfits! When I showed Evvie the pattern picture, she was most excited about the removable headband, which I fear will be lost immediately, unless I stitch it on. I will convince her it can be either a necklace or a headband.

The other amazing thing that happened was that Jackson asked to learn to do punch needle. I was more than happy to oblige, so we drew a little sketch on a piece of backing and I showed him the steps. He was happily punching his way along, when I noticed that he was changing hands: he would go left to right with one hand, and right to left with the other. And he wasn't even aware he was doing it. 

In the middle of all of this, there was a One Sock KAL at my LYS, so I jumped in. As a result, I discovered the most amazing sock yarn ever!! It is called Amble (made by The Fibre Company) and feels like butter. Soft but sturdy, it has some nylon content which will hopefully help keep my hubby from wearing through under his heel. Happily, The Fibre Company also figured out a process to create "washable wool" without a ton of chemicals and processing. Even the nylon is recycled. So your sock leaves a "tiny footprint".  And although I have a memorized sock pattern that I have knit for decades, the One Sock pattern by Kate Atherly has two things to love: a reinforced under heel (which is where my fellow wears his out every time) and NO Kitchener stitch! First pair done and dusted. Two more skeins of Amble which will may become Christmas gift socks. 

Oh yeah, nearly forgot I decided to give myself a crochet challenge and am making a duster cardigan. I am a self-taught crochet rookie, but thanks to YouTube, I found videos for all the new stitches - even for a leftie.  My yarn is black tweed flecked with lots of colours. Should go with everything.

So, that's what I've been up to. And why I have been away so long. I always say I'll try to post more frequently, but life gets in the way. And I'm just fine with that!!!

December

We are well into December and in many ways it feels like other years. Gifts are made or purchased, waiting to be wrapped. Tree is up (that only takes a couple of minutes, since it is a small artificial tree that stays in the basement, fully dressed, all year).

With nobody visiting, due to COVID, it's tougher to get excited about "decking the halls", but I decided that even if it is just for the two of us, we are worth it, and we will feel a bit merrier if we do. So, today I put out my snow people that I have collected over the years. They are guarding the fireplace, and I chose them over the Santas, since they can stay out for the whole winter. They do make me feel better when I bring them out. And even though the kids can't be here this year, they are represented in pretty much every Christmas decoration that I put out. 

It is fun to see them every year and remember where they came from. Talk about a trip down memory lane. A little papier mache fellow named "Joe Cool" that I made when our son was in Grade 2. Three graduated size snow folks made from tips cut off a neighbour's fence in Toronto. A driftwood one we bought at an early One of a Kind show. And one that I hooked while we were living up north. 

And this Davis "snow family" I made when the kids were small. Everyone has something on their "snow person" that was special to that time. Hubby is wearing his shirt that says "I'd rather be at my cottage", daughter is wearing her CWSA (Claude Watson School for the Arts) shirt, son is in Raptors gear - early logo. I have "button covers" on my vest. And our snow dog Misty is also there. I think that is around 1993. 

The William Morris stocking that I hooked a few years ago is hanging on the front door - on the inside where we can enjoy it and it is sheltered from the elements. It was originally going to be for our grandson, but he will have to grow into it. Maybe he will get it as a wedding present. 

Another sign of COVID Christmas: instead of sending cards this year, I made seasonal masks for siblings and their families. And I had enough fabric left to make a cheery batch for the hospital. 

December Santa is in the studio, keeping things merry there. Truth be told, we don't have the right spot for him upstairs, but I am happy to have him keeping me company where I spend a good part of most days.

Indeed this will be a strange Christmas. We will do a "gift drop" close to Christmas, with an outside visit and social distancing. There will be hugs - with masks - and lots of FaceTime and Zooming. And hopefully, this will be ONE TIME ONLY.

In case I don't get back here, have a wonderful holiday. Stay safe. And I'll be back here on the other side of 2020.