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.