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. 

KNITTING FOR GOOD AND EVIL

 I received an email this morning that reminded me that since I closed comments a couple of years ago (due to horrid messages I received when the "trolls" first arrived), I have forgotten to thank you for visiting here. It reminded me that my virtual diary is still, in fact, a blog. And that there are readers lol. So I decided that I would really try to post a bit more often, which would be a good thing for me and for you.

Lately, I have been doing a lot of knitting. Since the Nana Blanket, there have been more projects for others and they are always a joy to knit, no matter the reason.

First up is this Peach Fuzz sweater. I found out this summer that a very good friend was going through chemo for breast cancer. She and her husband had not been telling many people, but since we were going to be next door to them for a week, they shared the news. We were lucky enough to have two quick visits, and I was able to tell her about Melanie Berg, the designer of this sweater, and Melanie's InstaGram posts about her breast cancer journey. 

Peach Fuzz was designed by Melanie when her hair first started to come back. She posted on day 44 after her chemo to declare "it's hair". https://www.instagram.com/p/CZzL6CkI9Nc/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet  (Follow this link and then you click again and can see her video.)

So this is the version that I knit and mailed in time to arrive for day 44 for my friend.  She loved the colours I chose and as I suspected, thought they were the perfect choice. Inside is a label that says "Knit with Love and Swearwords". I explained the swearwords were F*ck Cancer - over and over and over.

She gave me permission to share this photo of her modelling it, with her very own peach fuzz - hair, I mean. And an awesome smile.

Next on the needles was another special set of gifts. A friend is having twins - any day now, by my reckoning - and she has a two year old who is very excited about being a "big sister".  I knit three little vests from a pattern called In Threes.  The tiniest size for the little babes (knit in cotton), and a toddler size for the older sister in her favourite colour (with hippo buttons).  I think they will all be large at first, but lots of room to grow. 

A request for a hat and "mitts with a string" for Charlie led me to these two hats (two because the first one was wayyyy too big). I was given the grey and navy colour choice, but added the pop of yellow for the tassels and pom pom. As soon as I finished, I thought it looked like a chicken. So now the boys - Jackson and Charlie - will have matching Cousins Chicken Hats.

Jackson put his on right away. Then put his headphones over top. I guess he likes it!!!

Now there will be another for Everleigh. Requested colours are pink, purple and violet. Hardly a surprise!!

Thanks again for stopping by. 

The Nana Blanket is Home!!

 This week, as the weather turned a bit chillier, I put the Nana Blanket in the mail. The postage was silly, but still less costly than a trip on the 407.

Two days later, I got a text from my niece, and this fabulous photo.

It looks like a perfect fit, hug-wise I mean. And apparently, it was a hit. He fell asleep under it the very first night.

I know that Nana is as thrilled as I am.

More gardens to share.

 So, I finished my fourth sample garden, the one that was inspired by the home spun yarn that is dangling from the bottom. It is mounted on a stretched canvas that is 10 x 20. The centres of the flowers are also created by making quillies from the "rasta" yarn. (This is not the best picture of it. Colours are much brighter.)

In addition to the gorgeous hand spun yarn, in the little "prickly" looking flowers in the upper left corner, I used the yarn that is made for knitting "scrubbies" for the kitchen. I love how it turned out. If you zoom in a bit, you can see it clearly.

Then off me and my little gardens went, to my first "in person" workshop since 2019. What a rush that was!! Everyone was soooo happy to be together in a real space, of course they were going to have a good time.

But they got the concept, and after I showed some reference from Pinterest, and did a lesson on making a quillie and how and what to do with Proddy, off they went!!!

Each student had something unique in their heads as they started their little gardens. I took a few early shots while in the class as they were just getting started. 

By the end of the day, everyone was much further along. And I am thrilled to see how many "gardeners" have been sharing their masterpieces on Social Media. 

Here is Peggy's 

Here is Claire's 

And here is a link to Martina's on her Instagram page. (you can't copy an image from there). You will get a re-direct notice, but if you click on the link you will see it. She actually was working on 4 tiny gardens, so you will see more from her either on IG or here. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjT-NW7pxS0/

Hopefully, I will have more to share in the coming weeks. 

The perfect garden for a black thumb!!!

I have never been what I would call a "gardener". At best, I have been able to keep the hardiest plants alive inside. And have successfully chosen plants for, and looked after, two perennial gardens outside. I listen to others talking about their LOVE of gardening, and that is not the word I would choose. That said, I am a "wicked" weeder and trimmer, which has come in handy over the decades.

I am happy to announce that I have found my perfect kind of garden. It suits my trimming and weeding skills, and it cannot be killed.

SURPRISE! It is made from wool. I have created 4 gardens in anticipation of a workshop I will be teaching in Cobourg next Thursday, the 29th. First time for me. First time for this class of brave hookers.

A bit of a back story needed here. Several years ago, our Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Annual was held in North Bay at Nipissing University. Adjacent to the big room where the rug show and vendors were located (I think we were on top of the covered skating rink in the athletic centre) was an anti-room that contained a "living wall". It was the first one I had ever seen and I was in awe. 

Although I don't remember it exactly like this, I found this picture on the university's facebook page and it is in the athletic centre, so I guess this is it. 

Recently, these "vertical gardens" are popping up EVERYWHERE. Many office buildings are using them - as respites from work, as dividers, whatever. And if you go online you can order materials to make your own - even DIY instructions to make moss ones - even artificial ones.

A while ago, I decided why not see if I could make a small garden out of wool. I would use not-so-traditional techniques like "quillies" and "proddy" and make up the rest as I went along.

Here is the first result of my exploration. It is nestled inside a shadow box that I think is 10" x 10". 

I quickly realized that you could shape just about any kind of leaf - like ferns - just by cutting into the wool. And your imagination would let you create flowers that would never exist in nature.

About the same time, Pinterest was blowing up with "vertical garden" reference. I started collecting all the different things I fell in love with. It's amazing what materials are being incorporated into some of the recent ones, like twigs and other kinds of wood. Some are even planted inside driftwood. They are amazing. And, like all art, these walls are following basic art rules with respect to design, colour and texture. Eureka!!

On to the next one, which is a sweet little 4" x 6" mini, inspired by a "mossy" one I found on Pinterest.  Here is the inspiration garden

And here is my inspired "tiny garden" in a special little hanging frame. Look closely and you will see quillies and French Knots, some high loops cut in a fringe, and some novelty yarn that has been kicking around in my stash forever. 

Talk about addictive. There are just so many incredible images of the real McCoy, that my faux collection was bound to keep growing - pun intended.

Number three was also inspired by a Pinterest image. This wall that features a collection of little live gardens made me realize that I could make an arrangement of my wooly wonders. And I happened to have an oval frame that I found on sale, and I was eager to try some new effects.  Here's the image

And here is where I netted out on my oval garden.

This time, my proddy flowers included some green Sari Silk, which gives a different look and feel when combined with green wool.  A couple more quillies and some French Knots, wool trimmed to look like dangly ferns and directional hooking gave this lots of contrast and texture. But the real fun in this exercise was the grey and white "marled" yarn which I pulled high and trimmed to see if I could create an effect similar to the feather plants in the "inspiration" garden. Then I diluted some glue and painted it to see if I could shape the yarn and make it stand up. (A little manipulation goes a long way!) 

I am just finishing my fourth sample, which I will share when it is framed. It was inspired by a hand spun yarn I bought at least a decade ago. Bright colours, lots of fibres spun together to create knots in the skein that are just beautiful. I knew I would use it as a dangler at the bottom. And the colour in this hand spun would inspire some colour inside the garden. Luckily, the more Pinterest images I saw, the less I was afraid to put some colour bursts into this one.

The garden is done, but when I went to put it on my stretched canvas, I realized I needed to add another row - or two - of regular hooking all the way around.

You will just have to come back to see it.

The NANA BLANKET is done.

Yup. It is off the needles, knitting done, fringe added to ends, i-cord finish on the sides and steam blocked. (I couldn't even imagine wet blocking this beauty.) Here it is sitting on the love seat in the living room, while the steam blocking cools. 

If you have been following these last few posts, I really didn't have much of a plan for this labour-of-love. Just knew I would only use my sister Nancy's yarn, and let it lead the way.

I did know when I did the first black and white band that the last band would be the same and there would be black and white fringe on those ends. And as I ran out of some colours, I introduced something similar from her "stash", without once dipping into my own. Actually, that's a bit of a fib, because her white ran out before I finished the fringe on the second end, so a did dip a tiny bit.

Of everything I have ever knit, this has to have been the most special. Because it was all yarn from her stash - DK and heavier. Because it was for her grandson. And because I got to be with her every stitch of the way. (This project may be done, but she sure left me enough started projects and sock weight yarn for many more.)

The final size of this blanket is about 54" wide, by 60" long plus the fringe (which is 4"). I could have kept going, but the stash was really getting low on colours, so I let it tell me when to stop. Pretty sure it's the perfect size for snuggling and thinking of Nana.

Not sure what project to move into next. But I will keep you posted when I decide.

On the hooking front, I finished "Bums in the Window" and gifted it this past weekend. Since it was a favourite photo, it was very well received. These little 8 x 10 moments are so wonderful to do. And I never run out of them. 

Also, since my last post, I did a stone carving workshop, in the Zimbabwean style. It was an incredible experience to go from this rock on Saturday morning...

to this Warrior Princess on Sunday afternoon.  I originally thought I was carving an angel, but when she got heated and waxed, the beautiful veins in the rock decided what she really was. Many thanks to ZimArt and in particular our teacher Tapiwa Mapurwanga, who was there when needed to bring the angel out of the rock. 

NANA BLANKET - nearly half way

Happy July.

After having daughter, son in law and grandkids here for 8 weeks, they moved into their new home last Sunday. Still lots of reno work to be done, but they are all happy to be there and not living between their house and ours. While they were here, I got very little hooking done, but my knitting was happy. 

I have been working away on this blanket - a little time most days - in order to finish while it is still timely.  Want to have it all done by the end of the summer, or earlier, if I get to see Grayson and his parents before then.

So far, I have kept to my pledge of only using Nancy's yarn - not going into my own stash. All good intention, but the contrasting colours were few and far between, and I used the last of the red a few stripes ago.

Also, last Thursday I went to my LYS Needles in the Hay to see about getting a longer wire for my Addi Click needle set. Luckily I found wires - two 60" and a 40" - so I got to see what this monster looked like unfolded. It is 52" wide, and as per the title, I am about half way, if I make it a square blanket.

Here is how it looks thus far. (I didn't stick to the plan from my last post, which is fine. I like being a bit spontaneous when I change colours.) Now that I am at the halfway point, I may repeat some of the combinations that are already in there. 

Back to the part about only using Nancy's yarn, I decided to stretch that rule a little and make it include yarn that Nancy may have gifted me over the years. A good call, since I have nothing resembling red in the big bin of yarn.

A while ago, she gave me a full package of Debbie Bliss chunky marino in a very pale peachy pink. She didn't make anything out of it because she didn't think the colour would look good on her. Not sure why she gave it to me, since we have pretty much the same skin tones, but that's another story.

After watching a yarn dyeing video that Wooly Mason Jar goddess Lucy Richard shared with those of us subscribers she calls the "Dye Hards", I knew I could create a great variegated red from the pale peach yarn. I used red/orange, red and red/purple. Then I over-dyed again with red. And the results were exactly what I hoped for.

If you are not already a Lucy devotee, I can't recommend her system highly enough. If you haven't checked it out, go and visit . You will find lots of videos and dye demos. She is incredibly gracious with sharing her knowledge. 

This is the dye result, together with the original. The actual colours are warmer than in this picture. Turns out that one ball of that yarn wasn't quite enough to do a colour band. So, I dyed another ball this afternoon and it is drying in the sun as I type this. 

The great part of this experiment is that I can probably over-dye this yarn in lots of combinations and use all of it in some project or another. And there is an abundance of "girlie" pink yarn that could turn into another combo that might be more suitable to an 8 year old boy. 

On my frame is a new hooked "moment" which will be a gift for my son, daughter-in-law and Charlie. I am in the home stretch and will have it finished and mounted in time for Charlie's first birthday celebration later this month. I will share once it is done.

In the meantime, I will keep plugging away at the blanket and update that as well from time to time.

The NANA BLANKET is on the needles.

 I think I wrote in my last post that I planned on using all my sister Nancy's wool that was worsted weight (or close enough) to make a blanket for her grandson Grayson.

After spending time sorting it all - first by weight - then by colour, I bagged what I thought was yarn that would work well in a slip stitch blanket. Then I paired different balls and skeins to see what combinations I could come up with.

The biggest challenge for me was to NOT introduce any of my own yarn. I really want this to be all Nana's yarn, without help from my stash. Indeed, the colours are a tad limited, because she used this yarn in projects for herself or friends. And she wasn't thinking "what would my 8-year old Grandson like in a blanket".

There are lots of pinks, corals, blues and purples. Luckily there are skeins from a grey sweater that got frogged and some wonderful variegated bits that will work with just about anything. So far, I am happy to say it doesn't look too "girlie" for him. 

I didn't have a particular pattern in mind. And I wasn't even sure about how many stitches I would need to determine the width. I settled on 300 stitches on a 6 mm needle. I really have no idea how wide it is, but think it is probably between 36 and 40 inches. It is not meant to be a bed blanket - more of a snuggle with Nana blanket. To wrap himself in her yarn and do whatever....

Here it is in progress. I have just started the sixth 5-repeat section. A long way to go. How long? Not sure, but at least until her wool runs out. And there is a LOT of it.

In lieu of a real colour plan, yesterday I arranged balls of yarn below the already-knit part and took a picture when I thought the arrangement looked good. There is likely to be some tweaking, but at least I have a line up to follow as I change colours.  (Apparently, I shot a video - who knew!) I just wanted a picture.  Hope it will play.

On the hooking front, it's harder to get hooking done with a "full house" than knitting, but I did manage to finish Bucket Head Jackson. This was supposed to be a sample for my "Faceless Portraits" class at Trent. It will be another gift to my daughter and son-in-law for their collection of "precious moments".

These are small pieces, mounted on 8 x 10 stretched canvases, and will look great all grouped together when there are enough. This is the third one for them in this format. There are some other smaller pieces done before the "gallery wall" idea came to be. I may mount earlier ones in this format as well.

I have just started a new one, this time of Charlie (son Matt and DIL Theo's little guy). It's pretty adorable and I will share it after it is gifted to his parents. His first birthday is just about a month away, so I will save it for that special occasion.

In the meantime, NANA'S BLANKET is at the forefront, since I don't want to take forever before giving this to Grayson. I promise to share progress.

The Everlasting Shawl

 In my last post, I hinted at a very special project that I was undertaking for my sister Nancy's husband. This post is to share the story.

Nancy's last knitting project was a beautiful shawl that had lots of "backing up" and "swear words" in equal measure. We talked about it and she vented that in our older age, our concentration was lacking somewhat. (I did a post about that subject earlier.)

But she persevered, even taking it with her into the hospital. In the early days there, she would knit a few rows now and again, but it remained as it was. Sitting nearby on her needles, with the ball of yarn in progress.

When I received the rest of the knitting stuff, Bill (my brother-in-law) was holding a zip lock bag with the in-progress shawl. He told me ahead of the committal service that he wasn't prepared to give this one to me.

After the service, I had a brilliant idea and shared it with him. I proposed doing a "shadow box" with her shawl stitches on the needles, stitch markers visible (in Nancy's case a piece of yarn and two safety pins) and the ball of yarn nestled in the knit part. I also said if we put the pattern in the background, we would be able to see her row counting and other chicken scratchings. 

I took it to Michaels, thinking the knowledge of framing and other crafts was the perfect destination. And I was correct!! The staff were excited about the concept. We laid it out on the work table and picked mat colours. I got an screen preview of what it would look like.

Here is the finished project:

This is a wide shot to show the full size of the shadow box. It's about 20 x 24, which nicely hugs the project.

This is a close shot that shows all the markings on the pattern. You can also see her random stitch markers. 

I think it truly does look like she just set it down, ready to pick it up again at any time. 

Bill agrees and was thrilled when he came to pick it up.

I did receive the rest of the unused skeins and may decide to knit the same pattern, mixing in another yarn if needed, since this colourway is discontinued.

The Everlasting Shawl is a much better name than what we were calling it before - the Swearing Shawl.

The actual pattern name is "Temperance Shawl" which you can find here on Ravelry.

Knit on Nancy. Knit on.

My Fibre Sister's Bequest

My sister Nancy and I shared a love of all things fibre. She loved knitting, as much as I do. We always shared patterns that we loved - and we mostly loved the same ones. We even knit for one another, though not always intentionally.

Although we looked very much alike, I am probably 5 inches taller. She was incredibly petite - not me! But she was a looser gauge knitter and even her XXS projects were often handed "up" to me because they were too large.

About a year ago (maybe two in Covid time), she knit a "Relax" sweater in a creamy white, but was unhappy with the colour. She originally asked me to dye it for her, but I balked at that, not wanting to ruin a perfectly good sweater with a bad dye job. Instead, I knit her the same sweater back in a beautiful blue Peerie wool, and kept the creamy one for myself. So we each had a Relax sweater the other had knit. 

This past week, Nancy's committal service took place in Oakville. Her final resting place is just perfect. And her headstone is etched with one of her watercolour paintings of a lighthouse. A tree was blooming - looked like it had just bloomed - and I am pretty sure she ordered that. 

Nancy's husband and daughter bequeathed me all of her knitting and hooking things - and it took me three days to sort through it all. She had several shawls on the go, and lots of yarn that didn't seem to have a designated pattern. I will finish one cowl and one shawl that have the yarn and pattern together.

I have decided to use the yarn that is dk, worsted and thicker to make Nancy's grandson Grayson a "NANA BLANKET". I will do a simple mosaic pattern and combine yarns to get gauge and keep knitting. I have done a few baby blankets this way and all colours seem to work well together. Here is a picture of the bin full of the yarn that will go into the blanket. There were even a couple of unfinished projects that she had started to "frog", so I continued, and they will also be part of the blanket. When I do my next sorting, I will make sure there are enough neutrals to offset her love of pinks and purples, so Grayson can love this blanket for all time.

I introduced Nancy to rug hooking - even convinced her to come to Trent Rug School many years ago. Here we are hooking together in 2006 in Anne Boissinot's class. Yikes - that was a long time ago. She wasn't as keen on hooking as knitting, but she has a few finished pieces in her home that her husband loves to brag about. 

In the trunk full of things I received, there were also a few nearly-finished hooking things, that I will finish and give back to her family. One is a Christmas stocking that is fully hooked, just not finished. And the other is a sweet Jeannie Field cat pattern that I will turn into a cushion. 

There is also enough cut wool that I can create some kind of primitive rug that I will either keep for myself or give to her daughter.

It was very bitter sweet going through all these things. Most of the knitting patterns have her handwriting on them, so I will keep them all. And I will make something wonderful for myself out of the finer sock weight yarns that were in her stash.

I will hook with her hook and knit with her needles, so she will be with me when I am in the studio.

There is one other project that I have put in motion for her husband as a keepsake, but I will save that for another post, since I want to share images when it is done.

In a totally non-fibre related connection, we both loved walking. And we both loved Asics walking shoes. Her husband gave her a new pair every Christmas, so I  inherited 5 pairs - every colour you can imagine. I am not sure why we had the same size feet. (She suffered from lymphedema in her legs, so I think her feet were swollen to a larger size as well, though she never complained about that.) So now, she will be with me on every walk for years to come.