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.

'

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

Spring is Sprung - well, maybe!

My sweater from the last post is done and well worn. I am extremely happy with it. This is the mirror selfie that I shared on social media, but forgot to share here. I wasn't sure if I had anything that would go with it, but it turns out I do. And it is perfect with denim, so I am good to go. 

Not all sweaters have such a happy ending. Once in a while I either have picked the wrong yarn for a pattern, or the wrong pattern for the yarn. And sometimes it takes more than a couple of tries to get it right.

I shared a post a few years ago about some Madeline Tosh Vintage yarn that had two incarnations before I got it right. And even then, I had to shorten the vest that is now in a regular rotation in my wardrobe. 

Another sweater kept reminding me that it was not my favourite as I passed it over - over and over again - in favour of something else. Since the original yarn had cost a fortune, I decided to try yet again to make it into something that I would love.  (Here's the original post and I am shocked that it says 2010!! This poor yarn is a teenager).

 https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9152499513632375208/2257711226976518030

Deconstructing a sweater is a tedious and extremely time-consuming proposition. And this is the second time for this yarn- OK, it is a bit excessive, but I feel like I owe it to the yarn, and it is the ultimate re-use, recycle project. 

Ravelling a sweater back takes hours - and hours - and hours. I think I started in the fall and then stuffed it away because it was taking too long. But yesterday, thanks to Tanis Lavalee, I was reminded of a pattern that would/should/will be perfect fo the third time for this wool. It is called Tensile. The designer is Emily Green, and you can find it here. 

It has a lovely open (easy, according to the reviews) lacework, and is perfect of layering and will be lovely if spring really has sprung.

Here's a recap of what I have done and where I am now: (with a few images for visual interest)

• take sweater apart, which means cutting off the neck and cuffs
• ravel all the yarn into very kinky balls, dealing with all the knots you encounter
• resist the urge(s) to throw it away, or at least hide it
• use your swift to wind the very kinky balls into skeins to soak

• soak the skeins to remove the kinks - the many, MANY kinks 

Are you tired yet? Cuz there are still a couple more steps before it is ready to knit again.

• put the (hopefully) kink-free skeins on towels to squeeze out most of the water
• hang the skeins on a drying rack to dry
• put the skeins on the swift and spin into cakes
• cross your fingers and hope to heck that you have enough yarn for the pattern.

Keep in mind that all of this is happening while I am a third of the way through another sweater. Am I totally insane? Well, yes, but I have been having trouble with an arthritis flare in my big finger on my left hand, so decided to give it a little break from knitting and hooking. Going through this exercise is using completely different muscles, including the patience one. lol.

If this third time isn't the charm, I will stop. I won't even make socks with this yarn. Our affair will be over.

But I am the eternal optimist and hoping that Tensile is the right choice for this old, lovely yarn. 

Stay tuned.

Old Dog, New Tricks

I knit my first cardigan when I was 12. I remember it was a Patons variegated yarn, in a kind of raspberry colour. I remember it had raglan sleeves, and a v-neck. When I was finished knitting it, I had a back, two fronts and two sleeves. Then I realized that I had knit two right fronts. My mother said I would have to ravel the second one, and knit a left front. But, I decided to improvise. 

I sewed my sweater together with one smooth (stockinette) front and the other a bumpy (garter stitch) front. To make it look intentional, I sewed one sleeve in smooth side out, and the other bumpy side out. Little did I know that years later, this would become known as a "design element". lol.

That was the first of many cardigans. And the first of even more "improvisational" approaches. 

Right now I am working on the finishing details of "Desperate Housewife", which I introduced you to in my last post. I have just finished the button band on the right front, and will now pick up and knit the other side. Then, there are still pockets to be done.

Here is a picture of the button band, which is probably one of the best I have ever knit.

There are three very good reasons for me to say that. One is that I finally learned - 60 years after knitting my first cardigan - how to correctly pick up the stitches on the front for the button bands. I found a video by Roxanne Richardson that was total eureka moment!!! (BTW, she has videos for everything, which you will see if you go take a look.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGEuXyeLFkA&t=20s

Amazingly, the tips she shared created a firm button bad that is just the perfect length. Too bad I didn't know this umpteen cardigans ago. Definite game changer, especially since I have decided I am more of a cardigan person than a pullover gal.

Next up, the one-row buttonhole. I think I knew this once, but probably forgot. And my last few cardigans didn't have button bands or button holes, so I got to discover this all over again. And my teacher, for this one, is Andrea Mowry aka Dreareneeknits. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W-09aS7FSM

Andrea is also a fountain of knowledge. I am sure she also has a button band tutorial, but I found Roxanne's first. Good to share the wealth and appreciation, I say. And this technique is surprisingly easy, once you try it a couple of times. Desperate Housewife has 10 buttonholes, so I got very good after the first two. 

And last but not least, I thought I had seen a tutorial for binding off your very last stitch. In fact, there are many. I usually end up with a little bump where that last stitch comes off and I darn it in. But today, I discovered this tutorial by Knit Purl Hunter. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvc_bbGKbaA

One at a time, these are all valuable lessons to learn. But all three together make an incredible difference in the finishing of this cardigan. 

I still have pockets to pick up on the fronts, after the second band is done. So I am going to go and see if there is a tutorial on how to make sure those pockets are straight. I will keep you posted. 

How wonderful to have these resources waiting to teach these old dogs new tricks. 

Now off to pick up the stitches for that second band - quickly, before I forget. 

Happy New Year. Happy New Projects.

Socks, socks, hats, hats, hats. That was the end of December and the beginning of January.

Rick's birthday is January 5th and the only thing on his list was another pair of socks. Which I completed in the nick of time. The first pair I have knit in Briggs & Little Durasport, which I am hoping will stand up to his wear and tear. Here they are, enjoying a little fireside time. 

Next on the needles was my latest "reincarknition". I rediscovered a cowl I knit a few years ago that I never wear because I didn't like the fit. So now I have turned it into a hat, which I have already worn a few times. The yarn was perfect for both projects, but is much happier in this Andrea Mowry "Flicker and Flame" pattern. 

Here's the "before" cowl.

And here is the "after" hat. 

I actually had the pom pom in my stash, and it is a perfect match - what are the chances of that!!! The colourwork looks complicated, but is a piece of cake, thanks to the colour shift in the variegated yarn. 

So with all these "sprint" projects out of the way, it was time to plan for a "marathon" one. And I had the perfect pattern in mind. The pattern is called Desperate Housewife and it has been in my favourites since it was released by Melanie Berg last year. When you look at the pattern, you realize it has 7 contrast colours for all the stripes, and I realized that it was a big "stash buster" possibility. 

Between my sister Nancy's stash of sock yarn and my own, I was pretty sure I could come up with something that would work. Here is a picture of the first "ball swatch". I actually knit this to see how things would go together. 

From the knit swatch, I ruled out the lime green and the bright confetti yarn. I also realized that the red was too primary for all the other colours. I substituted a sage grey-green for the lime. And I got a solid dusty pink to replace the confetti. And a variegated dusty red/grey yarn to replace the red. 

I have just finished knitting the first sequence of all the colours together. And I am very happy with the choices. You can see that, compared to the designer's choices, my colours are a bit more muted. Turns out they look like a lot of other things I have in my knit wardrobe, including the hat above. (You can also see my experiments with different yarns that I taped to the picture.)

I am also very happy that two of the colours in here are from Nancy's stash and three are from mine. Technically, the sage is also from Nancy's, but she gifted me that yarn a few years ago. Although I had some grey in my stash, there wasn't enough of the same colour to be the ribbing and button bands to come.  (Yikes, formatting glitch here, not sure why.)

Now that the sleeve stitches are on holding yarn, the body stripe sequence should go a bit more quickly. At the widest part of the yoke, after the last increase row, I had 420 stitches on my needle. That is a long stretch around the needle. And this is a long, below-the-butt sweater, so the stripe sequence repeats 1.5 times in the body - and then let's not forget the sleeves. (Oh, and pockets too, oh my.)

As I said, a marathon. And I know I will be short on that last blue/grey variegated yarn at the bottom. But, I have a few "runners up" in my kit to use on the sleeves. I really don't care if they don't match exactly. I am not "Desperate" to get it done in any timeframe, and find it very relaxing to just "knit" for a while. 

Since Nana's blanket, this is the biggest project for a very long time. Perfect for the snowy months ahead. Would never have brought this much yarn in my luggage to Barbados, but staying put for this winter makes this the perfect project.

On to the second repeat I go.

Thanks for reading. 

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.