Finding Joy in Small Things

 Another interruption from "Hooking for Joy" was more Joy.

I made a few little ornaments - they are punched - and gave them as hostess gifts and decorations for people who are far away. Here they are posing for their close up on our mini tree.

Making home made ornaments has always brought me Joy. My kids received an ornament every year for the tree, so when they moved out, they already had a full tree worth of ornaments. 

I am now continuing that tradition with their kids. This year the Tree Stars for Jackson and Everleigh, and the Spiderman ornament for Charlie. (see earlier post)

Looking at all of these ornaments reminds me of when I made them, and why they were important that particular year. They are not trees, they are time capsules. 

A Darn Good Lesson.

In my never-ending quest to save my husband's socks, before they get turned into creatures or Christmas tree ornaments, I have tried just about everything. I have patched, duplicate stitched, tried working with extra reinforcing fibre in the heel and toe. And to date, although they have prolonged life somewhat, they have not been the perfect solution. Perhaps there isn't one.

But there has been a lot of chatter lately about the re-emergence of the Speedweve Darning Loom, which apparently was a big fixture a few decades ago. After watching a couple of YouTube videos, I decided to order one and give it a try. The cost was not prohibitive, and I can always use a new approach.

Today I tried to use it. First of all, I am pretty sure I ordered the small and got a large version. Not sure what you would darn with this, but I decided to "give it a go" anyway. (Because there is nothing there for scale, the wooden holder is 5" in diameter, and it has 28 hooks versus the 14 that I saw in both videos. Even getting that disk into the sock was a bit of a workout.

And I haven't felt so "left handed" since I first learned the Kitchener Stitch decades ago. (I can now do that procedure left or right handed, but still avoid it whenever possible.) Just trying to set the thing up required more than two hands - my husband got involved. Remember, there are his socks at stake. 

No matter which way I tried to set up my "loom" stitches for weaving, it felt awkward and backward. But I pushed on. And after much swearing and do-overs, I got it done. The loom stitches were in and on the right hooks, and I was on to the "weaving" step.  It wasn't perfect (as the woman in the video stated), but it fell off twice. 

Here is a picture of my first results. Not horrid, but not great!! But the hole was covered. 

After a break and a walk outside, I came back to try to apply some of the learning from the loom towards my old technique, which involved putting a papier mache grapefruit into the sock, instead of a darning mushroom.

What the loom taught me was that the elastic tension around the hole made a big difference. So, once I got the grapefruit in, I put an elastic above and below the darning area. And I made the long stitches freehand, without any hooks. Easy, peasy. And so was the weaving. I think without the hooks in my way, I could just move around much for easily.

Here is the result "without" the loom. (And before the clean up and darning in of ends.)

Again, not perfect, but more symmetrical and not pulling on the sock. 

So, although the Darning Loom may have been a waste of whatever I spent. The lesson about tension on the darning grapefruit was worth every penny. 

I am pretty sure my technique still needs lots of work. Like a tighter weave, perhaps. But at the end of an afternoon, I have two socks with darned patches that may last a little longer.

My husband has been warned that as long as he refuses to wear slippers over his socks, and wears friction holes on the bottom of his heels from the hardwood, these will be his last home made socks. He can just go and buy much cheaper socks, which i would not waste my time on saving. Stalemate!!

Some Merry Interruptions

 While progress continues on Hooking for Joy, there were a few little Christmas goodies that needed to interrupt. In fact, there were three Christmas stars, some sock monsters, a little knitted monster and a sock tree (a prototype for many to come).

The Christmas stars were a request from my daughter, since they decided this year to get two small trees instead of a large one (so they wouldn't have to rearrange all their living space), and she needed two hooked stars - one for each tree - so there would e no arguments about who gets the star!

Simple hit and miss stars turned out to be quite the "hit".

Here they are on the backing.

And here they are on their respective trees.

You may have noticed a third star drawn on the backing. Good eye! This was for the third grandchild who does NOT have a personal tree. And his became a Spiderman ornament, his big favourite superhero of the moment. 

Next, without a real deadline, is me doing a few things to save socks that have been darned, patched and now are just "dead socks". A while ago, I started with a sock cat, which I finally got stuffed and done. Then I created a couple more. I think they are pretty sweet. I have no idea what will become of them, but they will give a second life to those socks. In lots of crazy, adorable ways. 

Some monster leftovers were calling to become a tree ornament, which was fast, easy and cute. I see lots more of both of these ideas in the future.

A while ago, I knit a sweet monster blanket and matching monster for a new little human. Here's a link to a post I shared in May. https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9152499513632375208/6888797437981590244

She is now a few months old, getting ready for her first Christmas. We get to meet her tomorrow, so a whipped up a little "grinch-like" monster that can hide in the blanket. And her mom and dad will get the first sock tree ornament.

I love making and giving home made things at Christmas. I have since I was about 12 years old. For me that is the joy of the season. There's that Joy word again. It seems to be popping up a lot lately, which is great.

The Joy mat continues to evolve. I have been spending a lot of my time working on the hit-or-miss section, being mindful that everything needs to get lighter as we travel to the top. It's such a great project to sit at whenever I have a little bit of time. I continue to enjoy this process.

I promise to share some progress shots one day soon.  

Background Check

Well, my original instinct about the background turned into reality this week. Once I had one of the swirls done in the light values at the top, I was able to check the multi-grey value background against all the different swirls.

And I am happy with it, at least so far.

Here is a picture of it around the dark to medium areas. By placing the lightest values of the grey next to the dark outline of the dark swirls, it separates nicely and allows me to add the other grey values into the negative space between the swirls - always an interesting thing to hook. 

And I could kind of reverse the value order of the greys around the lighter swirls. And I think it is working there too.  I have proved to myself that I can tailor the background grey values around each and every swirl. I was so excited to see the progress that I hooked myself into a cramp today. 

As far as the initial purpose of this rug - Hooking for Joy - I can say that every step along the way has been filled with joy. Ask me again after I slog through the straight line hit-or-miss. 

I will update again once I am cramp free and get going again. lol. 

Progress on Hooking for Joy

 Let me begin by saying how much I am enjoying hooking this.

After so many yarn and 4-cut projects, this is like stretching my arms and flying. Plus each little "swirl" is unique. And there is no "wrong" in this. So it is very freeing and joyful. Guess I am achieving my goal even though it is early days.

The idea was to have the spheres get lighter as I moved up the rug. So the bottom was very dark. Then came some medium dark. Then medium. And I am moving towards the medium light. Then the light. 

There are swirls on the other side of the centre panel as well. Smaller, but still quite a few. And the centre panel is just straight line hit-and-miss. I am popping in a few leftover strips as I go to hold the spot as the values need to change from dark to light in there as well. 

Once I get all the swirls done, I will have to figure out my background.I am leaning towards different values of grey in the negative space between. If I have a light, dark and medium, I can use whatever value I need next to each sphere. The lighter ones will need medium and dark next to them - the darker ones will need the light.

By the time I share my next progress post, I should have a little test of the grey background in a few places. It's nice to be able to move around and work on what brings me joy at each sitting.

Hooking for Joy

I was trying to decide whether this post should be called "Looking for Joy" or "Hooking for Joy". Decided to go with this one.

As things have gotten increasingly horrible in the world, my joy has taken a huge hit. I am one of the happiest people I know, and the weight of everything that is going on right how has really taken its toll on my joy. Two wars, freak of nature incidents all over the world, politics completely paralyzed around the globe through polarization and politicizing of everything. Add to that my incredibly slow crawl back from Covid and my heart and head both hurt from the hopelessness everywhere. 

But this week I had an idea for a project that might bring some joy while I look for joy. 

Don't get me wrong. I have a wonderful life. I am an incredibly lucky human to have the existence that I do. The loving family that I have. And the comforts that I enjoy. But it just gets heavier and heavier to process everything that is happening to those much less fortunate than me. And I am burdened by the weight of it all. 

A few years ago, I drew a pattern on a huge piece of rug warp. It was supposed to be for some crazy multi-fibre yarn that I bought. But the yarn didn't work, so the pattern got shoved aside. I even turned it over and drew something on the back, but this week, it is getting a second life.

I just found the original post - which was 05/06/2018. And the original plan was for it to be a headboard, which is why it is the shape it is. 

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9152499513632375208/280184271176479569

Fast forward to this week. I started to think about all those swirls and how they represent the whirling  in everyone's brain all the time. And right now, trying to process the horrible state of man's inhumanity to man, those whirls are dark and joy-less. I think I may have found a concept to help me find the joy. I  am hoping that hooking for will help lift me from the dark swirls as I search. 

Here is the pattern, with more swirls added. And I hooked a few swirls in the bottom. 

Here's a closer picture, so you know it's not all black. And gradually I will make my way to the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I am not often a concept hooker - I usually work from photos - so this is a big leap of faith for me. It may not be what I want it to be, but I already have enjoyed hooking a few swirls, starting with the darkest ones.

In my mind, there is a dark section at the bottom, a mid value section as I hook my way to the joy, and a lighter section when I get to the end of this journey. 

To try to show what is in my head, I put some worms on the pattern to show the transition from dark to mid to light values. (Oh, forgot to say that I intend to hook most of this from my worms.) I am sure I will have to add as I go. 

I also did think about the middle section, and decided to try straight line hit-and-miss, using the same colours that are in the swirls. That section will also transition from dark at the bottom to light at the top. Here's a picture of the beginning of that section - outlined with some black and white beading. I think I will like this. 

The background (between the swirls) will remain an unknown for a while longer. A few ideas are in the back of my head, but I think I will keep hooking the swirls and see where that takes me. The teacher in me is yelling "You have to have a colour plan for all of it". But the joy seeker in me is saying, "Wait, it will come to you in time."

Already, ,just through the motion of sitting at the frame, pulling these loops and letting my mind wander, I am lifted a bit. I realize that nothing on this project is going to solve any of the problems of the universe. BUT, if it helps me deal with them in a "more me" way, that is all I can ask for.

Some folks have "worry stones". I think I am a rug hooker who has "worry worms".  And pulling a thousand loops a day, using the worry worms, seems to be a good thing right now. 

Stay tuned. 

Older Mat. New Post.

For years now I have not only been using "free stuff" on my computer to help me hook from photographs, but I have also been teaching people about it. 

All my "hooking from photos" classes - live and virtual - use free online photo editors, but I also introduce my students to resources that are on the internet that they may not be aware of.

I have been invited to participate in Workshop Week 2024, which is an online extravaganza of teachers and courses. My course will be related to using your computer in rug hooking. And it will introduce those registered to the resources. 

I decided to do a blog post about my rug that I call "April Tech", which was a rug I created using my computer to do each and every step. A little background for the name and design. I had a "December" mat and thought it would be fun to create a mat for each month. As I was teaching this course in April, I chose April. (Those are still the only two month mats I have hooked. lol)

Step l: Clip Art (the perfect argument against "I can't draw".)

I thought that a kid carrying an umbrella in "April Showers" was a great place to start. I found the following clip art which was the foundation of the design. The main motif. There were lots of choices. Just google the image you are looking for with "Free Clip Art" and voila. 

I also wanted umbrellas for the corners. And I wanted some kind of cloud clip art.

Remember, these are all free!!! Royalty Free and Free to use. 

Step 2:  Fonts  (the perfect argument against "I can't print.")

I wanted a font that would be easy to hook, and that looked like April. I I went to dafont https://www.dafont.com/ and sampled a couple that I liked.

I blew them up to the size I needed and tried them on for size. 

I wanted to use a picture of my grandson, instead of the little girl under the umbrella, so I found a shot that I liked, cropped the image to get in closer, and put in his face.  

Step 3:  Enlarging

I used a free online resource called blockposters to blow up the image of Jackson's face inside the umbrella to the size I wanted. This resource works with your uploaded image in multiples of an 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper. So you can go two wide, three wide. It sends you a preview and gives you finished size dimensions. You can just tape the sheets together to make your final size. 

Then, on a piece of gridded paper, I put all the elements together. (This I did with scotch tape and scissors - I know it could be done on the computer, but old school seemed the best for me at this step.) 

With Jackson in position, the font selected, and the clip art umbrellas in the border, I was ready to go.

(Forgot to say that Jackson's photo was run through Photomania to create the value sketch I used for hooking him. )

A couple more decisions were made simpler with more online resources. I found an image online - not one to copy, but to do a colour selection from it for the rain on the inside - not the border. The colour plan was created by sampling the colours in the image using Paintbrush - a free program for Mac (it is called Paint for PC and does exactly the same thing.)

On to the hooking. There is no online resource for that lol. Just one loop at a time. Here is a progress shot - nearly done, but still a few things to change. You can see that already, I have used the same cloud swirl on all sides, instead of the raindrops I had originally thought of. 

Here is the final piece. 

I changed the single line around the main motif - opted for a rainbow of colour instead of the black and white beading. And I added a golden yellow outline to the lettering to make it pop. I hooked one line of the background wool around the black border, and then hooked a line of the golden yellow. 

It was a fun challenge to myself to prove that from start-to-finish, I could create an entire mat using the free resources that are readily available. I had used all of them together for many, many years. But not all in the same piece. 

Two Firsts for the Kawartha Rug Hooking Group.

I have been hooking with this group since I moved to Peterborough. We meet in a local repurposed school that is now called "Activity Haven", and has more activities for seniors that you could ever imagine.

Before COVID, we had our own room and averaged between 12 and 22 people each Monday morning. It has always been a very welcoming group.

When COVID hit, we decided to see if Zoom would be a fit for us and began meeting online at the same time. Some weren't as comfortable with the online meetings, for a number of different reasons. But a core group galvanized in this format. And not only did we hook on Zoom, we solved one another's problems - and those of the world. lol.

Now we are back to in-person and occasional Zoom meetings when we feel the need. And we are back to something else. A sense of a group that can do things. And this month we have done two REALLY BIG things.

NORWOOD FALL FAIR

Early last spring, the OHCG was approached by the Norwood Fair committee to see if there would be any interest in having a rug display at the fair. Our group was contacted to see if we would be interested and we jumped at the opportunity. Rug Hooking had never been part of the fair, and we were taking the space from the Tole Painting/Decorative Painting folks.

To drum up interest, another member of the group and I did a demo night at the Norwood Library, bringing lots of rugs and demonstrating both Traditional and Punch Needle hooking. There were about 25 people present.

Dial forward to October 6 and we were ready to get this display started!! There was drop off and tagging on Thursday evening, judging and display on Friday, and pick up on Monday dinner time. The display looked great.  Neighbouring Campbellford group also entered pieces in this display. 

Apparently the feedback about having a Rug Hooking Display was very positive. And next year will be a breeze with the learning curve behind us. 

"ESTATE/STASH BUSTER SALE"

Over the past few years, many of our members have received calls from people who are no longer able to hook. Some are Estates, but some are also long-time hookers whose stash is a lifetime of supplies, which they are no longer able to use.

We decided to hold an event, in our usual Monday morning time slot, and see what the interest would be. People who were donating their supplies were given a free table. People who were selling were to pay a $25. table fee.

The group had unanimously decided to give any funds we collected to KAWARTHA FOOD SHARE. With the exception of one cutter and one frame, most of the proceeds were from "free, with a donation to Kawartha Food Share". We expected to raise a few hundred dollars, but we never dreamed that we would be able to take $992.00 to them on Monday afternoon. 

There was quite a bit of work involved, and a LOT of learning. But we are all eager to do it again next year, bigger and better.

We know that many of us have more patterns, more wool, more hoops and hooks than we can use. But as long as there are new hookers coming into the fold, or hookers who are looking to build stashed versus busting them, there will always be this way to raise fund for Food Share. 

A Free Vest

As if I need another project on the needles, I do pay attention to the "stash busting" opportunities. That is where the Andrea Mowry "Tessellated Vest" pattern came in. 

I am a vest lover. I have knit several, and I wear them a lot. They are good for "not too hot" and they are a bridge between seasons. And since I seem to live in the land of slip stitches, this is an easy pattern to choose.

Why is this a freebie? Well, the first two colours - the black and the purplish variegated - come from my sister Nancy's stash, not mine. And the third colour is two strands of a "mohair-like" fibre that was donated by someone, years ago, when we were still in Toronto. I think they are cones from a weaver, but they will work well in this endeavour. They are perfect for that light colour, and they are a little fuzzy.

Resistance is futile when it comes to the slip stitch. And for my money, dreareneeeknits (aka Andrea Mowry) has done more to advance its success than any other designer.  She is the epitome of hip, young designers who are introducing knitting to a whole new generation.

I will post progress, because this will be a slow knit. Sock weight yarn. Tiny needles. But I was curious to see if my trio of freebies would work in a swatch - and it seems, they did. Full disclosure, I did not knit the entire swatch, but enough to make me believe it will work. So I decided I will go up a size and see where I net out.

BTW, that shawl that I shared in the last post? Well, the remainder of those skeins allowed me to knit another shawl. This one for my granddaughter is more about the pink than the blue. And I am inches from the end. Just an i-cord bindoff. But when we are sitting in the high 20's in early October, my urgency is not so active.

So I will do a bit of work on Tessellations Vest before starting my grandsons' (that's right - plural) slip stitch cowls. If you are a grandmother who knits, you know that the minute that one finds out you are making something, you are in it for a couple more.

Oh, and on the hooking front, another little memory captured in yarn. This little mat, mounted on an 8 x 10 inch stretched canvas, will keep those three days in Upper Island Cove in a spot where we will always see it. 

A couple more of those special moments in the works. I promise to share. 

My COVID adventure and how I spent all that isolation time.

 I had to read that last post to see where I left off. Ah yes, I had had 4 negative tests. Then, on Day 8 of Rick's isolation, I tested positive. DANG!! That meant another 10 days of isolation - although the rules are incredibly fuzzy these days. But that is what I decided to do. There went the rest of August and some of September!!!

There was lots of knitting. My hooking mojo, or lack thereof, was telling since I never don't feel like hooking. Although my experience seemed milder than Rick's, I was definitely not myself. Bad, bad headache, body aches, little cough and runny nose.

I knit another Shift Shawl - this time with some incredibly soft and cozy yarn that I had purchased at Michael's to do a different Andrea Mowry pattern. But the gauge was off, so I decided to go back to my slip stitch relaxation technique and made a lovely shawl combining two shades of Yarnspirations Cloud Cakes from Caron. It proudly boasts it is NO Wool and is machine washable and dryable. I just won't stand too close to an open flame.

Here is a picture of the shawl, which I probably didn't need to soak and block but did anyway. (I just noticed my little critter rug in the lower right corner.)

These cakes are 8.5 oz/240 g, with 760 yards/695 m each. And I think without a couple they are $14.95 each - but who shops at Michael's without a coupon? Not me.

There is enough yarn left for me to reverse the colour order and start a smaller shawl for my grand daughter who is very excited. Seriously, this yarn feels like polar fleece, is extremely cozy and even if she only uses it to watch TV, it was worth the low $$$$ and was a good time waster. No complicated parts, so perfect to do while binge watching whatever. 

When the knitting got tiresome, I remembered a jigsaw puzzle that my son and DIL gave me as a gift a while ago. With 4 days ahead of me, seemed like the perfect thing to do. And I did!!

This is a puzzle about iconic hairdos from the 1800's to now. And each little image was a puzzle unto itself, which was great because the outside border did not come together too easily. As my sister said "there are 3 days you will never get back". And she was correct, but man it was a good time waster lol.

I am still laying pretty low, and bought a bunch of N95 masks for the fall. I think we are about to enter another wave, so want to take all the precautions I can. 

Oh, and because this knitting crazy grandmother wants to treat all the kids the same, I bought two more cakes of this soft yarn at Michael's this past Saturday. And yes, there were coupons. There will be two more cuddle wraps/shawls for my grand boys. In lovely earth tones that should look amazing together.

The shifting will go well into the weeks and months ahead. 

Stay tuned. 

Knitting and Hooking and Newfoundland Rug School and ...... COVID

 Yep, that's what's been going on since my last post.

I will save the COVID story for later, so you can enjoy the other parts of a great trip.

Rick and I went to Newfoundland on August 9, picked up a car in Gander and immediately drove to St. John's. It is apparently the only way you can rent a car - one big loop, no pick up here and drop off there.

We spent 3 days in St. John's - not the best weather days, but perfect for a Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour, and a few destinations on day two.  Here is the first photo of us on the bus tour day - pissing rain and absolutely socked in with fog.  I think I took this selfie at Cape Spear, but in all the fog, it was hard to tell. ha ha 

This was the second day, and this shot was taken by another bus passenger at Quidi Vidi. Quaint little harbour that was on our list, but it wasn't open at 10:00 in the morning, so we settled for this shot and then purchased some of their Iceberg beer at a liquor store in Mount Pearl. 

We have three of our best meals ever in St. John's. Exquisite fish - all three times - two dinners in the Terre Restaurant attached to the Alt. And the third meal at Portage, right across Water Street from the Alt. We found all the people who we met to be incredibly friendly and professional.

The next three days we went to Lisa Meecham's Airbnb "Salty by the Sea".  What a change from busy St. John's. This place was idyllic - and not often I use that word. I can't say enough good things about this place. Right across the road from Upper Island Cove, which offers a spectacular view all all hours. Lisa has filled her place with treasures that are waiting for you around every corner. We had three days of blissful peace. I know there are lots of pics on the link above, but they don't have my very relaxed husband watching the water from a red Muskoka chair. 

Then we drove back to Gander to return the car and send Rick back to Toronto before I went to rug school. I stayed behind for 5 days, and had fun just about every minute of all 5.

Rug school this year was a bit smaller than when I was there before, but it was a fun group and everyone got to know lots of people. We had a games night on Friday night, and a Kitchen Party on Saturday night, complete with a "screech in" - and a cod! Luckily, I was screeched in many years ago in Toronto, so did not repeat the process.

This was my first Kitchen Party, and there were some shenanigans!! This is a student from my class, and a silly pose in front of the backdrop with the theme, Music and Friends. 

Speaking of the theme, I hooked a ridiculously fun project for the Theme Challenge. After letting Friends and Music percolate in my head for a while, I decided to hook a very large LP, with a song title or two - about friends -  in every groove. I even put it on my yarn swift so you could spin it. AND I made a play list of the songs. I didn't win, but it didn't matter, it was a lot of fun and is a great keepsake.

My class had 14 keen students, who were working on portraits from images that had been run through various photo editors. I had three cats, two dogs, several grand children and self portraits. At the end of three full days, a couple of people were finished, and many were well on their way. Everyone has promised to send finished pieces, so I will hopefully be able to share here.

As to the knitting part, I did take a sock with me for plane rides etc., and didn't really get too far. I find socks are the perfect carry-long project, but tend to opt for a movie on a plane if there is one. Luckily there is no deadline for socks - at least not for a while.

So, now to the COVID story. By Saturday night, when I spoke with Rick from school, he was feeling horrible. I thought it was another "man cold", that he had picked up from the driver who brought him home on Wednesday. We decided to test him as soon as I got home on Monday. "POSITIVE". The first of many tests. We will do another one today, since he is now more than a week. And we want to see the grandkids. I have had 4 "negative" tests, and my just laying low until Wednesday, which will be nearly 10 days.

All in all, an amazing experience - except the COVID part. But after all the frenzy of activity, it's nice to be a bit bored and sitting around the house waiting for freedom to come back.

Be careful out there. It's still here, even though nobody wants to talk about it.

Knit and Miss

 June was a big knitting month. But it wasn't all successful, which is always hard to take.

The green sweater that I shared in the last post turned into a "not-nearly-enough-yarn-to-finish" project. Despite my (terrible) math, the weighing and trying to figure out yardage, it was not meant to be. So it is now unraveled and waiting to be something else. At this point, since it is cotton, I am considering dishcloths. lol 

I started another summer sweater that was a very unusual pattern design. In truth it was too unusual and I was NOT feeling the joy. It ended up being "frogged". 

On the up side, it sent me into familiar territory with one of the yarns I had been using. I ended up knitting a second "Rock it Tee". I used the taupe-y pink colour from the frogged sweater, combined with a lovely pink fibre from a cone of yarn donated by a weaver many, many years ago. I think it is called Verlene,  and I had best not stand too close to an open flame or fire. 

I wear my previous tee quite often, and the mohair/verlene stripes let the air flow though, so it is fine for a pretty hot day. Probably not the 38 degrees with the humidex days. 

I will use the other colour from the frogged sweater with another light fibre for stripes for a third Rock it Tee at some point. Here is that combo, in the queue.

Before I can get started on that, I am tackling a shawl left behind by my sister Nancy.  Not exactly sure why I am doing this, other than survivor guilt perhaps. Since I have no idea where she was in the pattern, I spent several hours with the pattern and the shawl trying to figure that out. To little avail. I thought I would be able to "fudge it" and just keep going. Now that I have invested several hours in it, I realize the correct thing to do is to ravel it back to a place I recognize and move forward again. As there are no stitch counts in the directions, it is nearly impossible to choose a spot. Plus Nancy made a big boo boo right near the beginning. So I may go all the way back.  In fact, looking at this photo, I know I will go all the way back. (If you zoom in, you can see that there are beads and sequins in the yarn on the right.)

Luckily, I fared much better on the sewing front. I completed my first Studio Tunic by Sew Liberated. I swear it is the best pattern I have ever made. The finishes are incredible. I will make another one in either denim or linen. It is an amazing layering piece. You can store a ton of stuff in those huge pockets.

And I made my second Tunic #1, designed by 100 Acts of Sewing. Also a success.   https://www.instagram.com/100actsofsewing/

The one behind the new one was made from a finished length of African fabric I bought in Barbados before COVID sent us home a lifetime ago. I had to crop it very short to get it out of the fabric, which I love. So I just wear it with a tank top underneath. The new one is quite a bit longer.

On the hooking front, I am nearly finished both projects I need for Newfoundland Rug Camp in August. And I promise to share them once camp is done. Rick and I will head there in just over a month. He will spend a week with me before I head to camp and he flies home. We are both looking forward to that. 

When I tally my June score, I think I am still ahead. Plus all the projects made staying inside for the rain-filled and smoke/smog filled days more tolerable. And, as the title of this post says, some went well and some just went away. 

How Many Projects are Too Many Projects?

I have been busy. Very busy. And working on lots of things that I cannot share here for a while.

One hooking project is for a children's book and an exhibition tour. Another hooking project is a theme piece for my the rug school in Newfoundland in the middle of August. I am also working on a portrait that I will take there with me, so I can't really show that either. 

And I am writing a third instalment on the series "Artists We Love to Hook" for the OHCG magazine, fall issue. This issue title is "Kids and Grandkids", any my daughter Everleigh was so excited she drew me a picture of Alice the Rainbow Giraffe specifically for that article. Again, I cannot yet share.

So what can I share? Well, I attended a baby shower last weekend and finished knitting a special gift for the wee one. It's a stroller/play blanket from a book called "Knit a Monster Nursery" by Rebecca Danger. It's a book I have had for at least a decade if not longer, and when I found out the nursery theme is grey (since they don't know the gender), I remembered this adorable blanket. 

It was a hit!! The mom-to-be is thrilled and when I said I had yarn left over to make a couple more monsters, she was very excited. The baby isn't due for a few weeks, so I think I have time to do at least one more, if not one for every pocket.

I also just finished a sweater that took longer than it should have, since it was constantly being interrupted by other projects. This sweater is called DAA (Don't Ask Again) and was an interesting knit. Today I will be adding the buttons, which I found in my jar of old buttons.

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Yesterday, there was a fibre festival here in Peterborough and I can THIS close to going, but realized that I have so many projects in my queue, I certainly could wait until next year to go. I picked this sweater up again after setting it aside last fall. It is recycled cotton from another project and is definitely more a summer garment.  It is called Bijou Tee, has a lace panel you can wear in front or back.  I am worried I may not have enough yarn, so will let you know how that goes. 

Last week, I did a swatch text for Pressed Flower Cardigan which has been on my wish list since I first saw it. I was planning to use some yarn from the sweater that I deconstructed in a previous post, together with some of sister Nancy's stash. But both yarns are too fine to get gauge. So I guess I will have to get other yarn for it at some point. (Maybe next year's fiber festival lol).

In the meantime, I have two full sweaters waiting. A black and white cotton one - I have this pattern in mind but will have to check gauge and quantity of wool.https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stripy---casual-summer-shirt-with-stripes