In Like A Lion Cub

 March came in, not like a lamb, but like a rather small Lion. There was more snow.  We got 109.3 cm of snow in February, in 12th place for the snowiest month on record. The snow has continued into March.  Today and tomorrow we are above zero, but that ends tomorrow night, and we are back in the freezer again. 

It seems like a good month to bake. Yesterday, I made Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, to have with our coffee.

It was Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras, or Pancake Day) so I made pancakes for supper. They are Oatmeal Apple Banana Pecan Spice Pancakes. When my kids were at home, they would eat a double batch in a single sitting. I made a single batch, and half are stored in the freezer for another day.

We had local maple syrup with them.

I finished the Trail Blazer Socks. I missed finishing in February but it was close.  So two pairs of socks for 2025.

I have decided that March will be a good time to finish three WIP's that I have sitting here. All of them are single skein fingering projects, two small shawls and a cowl.

The first one is a very small scarf, that uses a 30 gm ball of fingering. It is called Boublay by Laura Nelkin. Beads will be added.

Aren't the colours great! The yarn is Uneek by Urth Yarns. The colour is "54". There is purple still to come.

Not much sewing accomplished, but the knitting is going well.

Snow, Cold, and Now a Thaw

 It started to snow after my last post. In a 4 day period, we ended up with 80 cm of snow.  If you don't speak metric, that is a lot of snow! It has also been cold.

The snow on the road got plowed out fairly quickly, but the snow contractor for Canada Post got lost, and didn't manage to plow out our community mailbox.

The carrier couldn't put any mail into the box, because he couldn't get the doors open. We were three days without mail. Because that carrier didn't want the parcels to pile up (parcels go into the big boxes at the bottom that you can't see) he went door to door delivering them.  This meant that I didn't have to wait for some beautiful yarn I had ordered.

I couldn't resist these colours. It is from a hand dyer in Regina, SK, Area 51. 

https://area51fibres.com/

Yesterday and today the temperatures have been above zero, so some of the snow is melting. I looked out this morning and saw this on my neighbour's shed.

It looks like someone has piled quilt batting on the roof of the shed.  All ready for 5 or 6 beautiful quilts.

We had Valentine's Day, in the middle of the snow, so I made a heart shaped pizza. If one has a heart shaped pan, one should use it at least once a year.

My February socks are coming along nicely.

I'm just turning the heel, then it is straight to the toe! I have 4 days to finish.

I was looking for a fat quarter for a new pouch pattern I wanted to try. I opened my drawer, where I keep my fat quarters, and it was a mess. So, I spent much of today sorting and folding everything, again.

I still have a few more to refold, but I think they look very good. I probably should have sorted them by colour, but this is so much more fun to look at. I found lots of things I'd forgotten about.

Here is Doug, playing in the snow. He buries his ball and digs it up again. He really enjoys playing in the snow.

Block Party

 I had a pile of finished knitted items in need of blocking. So, Saturday, I gave them a spa treatment. soaking them, rinsing them, and wet blocking them.

I love how the shawls did a YinYang thing, and left room for the mitts and socks. 

The most recent finish is the Barn Swallow Mitts by Cheryl toy. I knit these once before, in a white alpaca yarn. These are in wool sock yarn from my stash.

These will be a gift to a friend.

I also blocked some socks. I don't usually block my socks but these felt a bit rough, so soaking them in water with a drop of hair conditioner made them nice and soft. You can see them in the middle of the blocking mat. I think I knit those last winter.

The two shawls have been waiting awhile. The cream coloured one is called Reach for the Stars by Jem Arrowsmith, and was a knit along from 2021. The yarn was called Stay Home For Christmas, by Canadian Hand Dyer Allison Barnes.

The blue and purple shawl is also from a Jem Arrowsmith and is called Get Set and Go. The knit along was in 2024.

I'm keeping the socks for my own sock drawer, but the rest will be gifts.

While I was playing with wet wool, I did a hand wash of my wool socks.

Yes, I do wear my handmade socks. You can see that some have a lot of wear, but they are still going strong. I actually have another pair, that were on my feet when the picture was taken.

Speaking of socks, I started my February socks for my use up the sock yarn challenge. I actually started two pair.

This is the first pair. I tried to make socks with this yarn once before and it didn't work. It didn't work this time either.

It is called Pompon by Regia and I think it needs bigger needles. Maybe it can become a baby sweater.

After that disaster, I dove into the bin a second time, and found some Turtlepurl yarn, in the colourway Cannonball.

I started it yesterday, and I am already 28 rows into the sock. The pattern is Trailblazer Socks by Winwick Mum. and is intended for striped yarn.

The other day, I was knitting by the fire and I looked up to see Emme, working on her camouflage skills. 

I think she needs to duck down a bit more.

Snow Day

It's a balmy -12C and snowing. A good day to stay home and knit by the fire. 

My hibiscus decided to cheer me up with a new flower. You can see the snow out the window, behind.

The knitting continues. I finished a pair of fingerless mitts.

So, I started another pair.

The pattern for the top pair is Point Edward Mitts, by Fairlight Fibres. The second pair is Swallowtail Mitts by Cheryl Toy.

I actually did some sewing, inspired by some scrap sorting I've been doing.

A simple zippered pouch, because I wanted to try a different method of inserting the zipper. It is called the Butler Method, and is used in designer Amy Butler's patterns. I'm not convinced that it is better than the method I already use, but it is good to try new things.

On a PA Day last week, my little buddy and I made muffins and practiced fractions.

Here they are on their way into the oven. He declared them delicious. They were raspberry almond, in case you were wondering.

The fire is lite, so I'm off to finish that mitt, and maybe cast on the second one.

Its A Start

 I usually blog on my desktop computer but it decided that it wanted to update, whether I wanted to, or not. So I'll try using my Chromebook.  Every time I do this, I need to fix the type size and the font, so I can read it.

My plans for blogging weekly have failed already. I am blaming this.

Poor Doug had to have surgery this week. Keeping him quiet has been a two person job. He looks so miserable hugging his new snake. 

I finished my not so matching striped socks.

Oddly, they match at the toe but no where else. 

I started some fingerless Mitts. The first one just needs the thumb cast off.

I've been playing in my sewing room, trying to figure out what scraps to keep and which to toss or donate to the local Kindergarten. After about half an hour of sorting this afternoon, I took a couple of larger scraps and cut them into a good size for a sock project bag. I interfaced them and found a suitable zipper.

The zipper is actually purple, not black. 

Progress is being made on getting my stash sorted and rehoming the stuff I know I'll never use. 

Hopefully, I'll manage to be back here next week, with more progress.

A New Year and A Look Back

We have entered a new year, a quarter way through the century. 

I am reminded of the New Year's Eve party I attended 25 years ago. The press was all about the Y2K bug. In order to ease people's minds, a lot of big companies paid IT staff overtime to be available to fix any problems that might arise. We were invited to a Y2K party. It was a small gathering, 6 adults and 6 young teens. Three of the adults were being paid to be available to go into their offices, if required. Three of the adults were just there for the fun, along with the teens. It was an old fashioned, low tech party. We had lots of food, mulled unfermented cider, a Y2K cake, board games, sing songs. At midnight, the teens were sent outside to bang pots and shout loudly to welcome the new year. The dark haired man (First Footer) went out the back door, and entered the front door, with a basket of symbols of good luck and prosperity for the coming year. 

Humourously, about 9:30 PM one of the cell phones rang. It seemed the one of the people on overtime at the workplace had plugged in the electric kettle to make tea, and blew the breaker. They were calling to ask where the breaker panel was, because they were sitting in the dark. A problem quickly solved over the phone. 

This year, it was just us. Two people, two cats, and a dog. We broke out the Christmas goodies and watched an old movie.

I also did my tally of creative projects finished this year. 

My proudest achievement was my Celosia Bags. I made the pattern twice, once to figure it out and once to make it in waxed canvas and waterproof nylon.

I am using the bag with the Caticorns as a day bag when I am going out for longer that a couple of hours.

I also set a goal of knitting a pair of socks per month for the year. I didn't quite manage, but I came close.

2024 Finishes

Knitting

Baby Socks           6

Mittens                  3

Adult Socks           8 1/2

Hats                       4

Shawls                   1

Double Mitts         2

In case you are wondering, this is the half pair of socks.

This sock was finished and the next one started on December 30.

Sewing

Pouches                          5

Bags                               2

Dog Bandanas              16

Receiving Blankets        2

Pillowcase                      3

Reading Pillow               1

I don't like to make any promises about the future. I'd rather see where my creativity leads me. The last few years have show that life gets in the way of making plans. I will keep blogging, because it keeps me moving forward. 

Happy New Year!

Kate

Preparing and Minor Disasters

I got a funny message from a neighbour the other day: Could I knit or mend? So I replied yes and was told that the dog had been "playing" with her daughter's favourite hat. and they were hoping I could mend it.

This is what they brought me. Mudd offered to help.

The whole top of the hat was gone. To make it harder, the hat had a fleece lining. So, I took some double pointed needles and a crochet hook, and started trying to find the stitches.. Since I didn't want to disturb the fleece lining, I asked my young friend if she would settle for a knot on the top of her hat instead of the (now) sad looking pompom.  With Mudd's help we managed to get it fixed.

I didn't have any green yarn so I used grey instead.

We put up the Christmas tree and added lights.

Yesterday morning, we came down to this.

It is dark in the mornings, but if you click on the picture, you can see that Doug looks concerned. I think somebody jumped out of the tree and got tangled in the lights. She must have gone for a run to get free.

Though she is denying any knowledge of the light incident, we believe this is the suspect.

Now that the postal workers are back to work. I have started making cookies. I may have to make more before I can actually mail care parcels to the west.

These are hermit cookies made with the leftover fruit from the fruit cake.

I did some other knitting.

This is the finished Santa Hat using the pattern from the movie Red One. It is a quick and easy knit. The yarn is Brava from Knit Picks.

I also finished a mugmat that I found in my UFO bin. It has gone to a friend with a mug and hot chocolate bombs.

Last night I started knitting a hat with some gradient yarn, I finished the cast on only to find a knot, and the join was not in sequence. I cut the first piece off and started again, only to find a second splice out of sequence. 

Okay, this isn't going to work. I will find another ball and start again, hopefully with better results.