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.