A Tale of Three Purses

 I thought about calling this Goldilocks and the three purses, but it has been a long time since my hair was golden.

About 4 years ago, I made this bag.

I liked it, except the front pocket had a zipper that made it hard to get your phone out. It had 6 card pockets inside as well as a place to store your cash.

About a year later, I made this bag.

It had  flap to make it easier to get at your phone, but it was too small. My phone didn't actually fit in the phone pocket. It also had only 3 card slots and no other pockets.

Recently, I was asked to make a phone wallet, and this was my chance to fix the problems with the first two.

This one is the same size as the first one, and has the card pockets and a place for bills and change. It also has unicorns.

It even has a leash for my keys. 

I kept fairly careful notes, and now I am making another one for my friend. I need to have it done by Wednesday, so I hope everything goes well (and I remember to sew on my label.).

i finished a couple of knitting projects.

This is a hat for my sweetie, who asked for a new warm hat. He seems to have worn out his last one.

I used my usual hat pattern, Bankhead. I made the ribbing longer because he likes a double layer over the ears. The yarn is Revival Worsted from Ancient Arts Yarn, in Calgary.

I also used up the remainder of the ball from my most recent pair of mitts, to make some toddler mitts.

Winter has decided to stay, so someone will need mitts.

The other morning, we had fog, which left frost on the trees. It looked very pretty.

Have a good week. I'll be sewing to a deadline.

M Is For Mitten

 This past week, I was between knitting projects, so I knit a pair of mittens. 

Every Canadian has at least one pair of mittens. Most of us have more. From October until May, every coat has a pair in the pockets. They are an essential item of a Canadian wardrobe.

I taught myself to knit mittens when I was 9 or 10 years old. I came from a large-ish family, and my mother found a sale on yarn, and suggested I could make some for my younger siblings. I need to note that my mother did not knit, and I had a committee of knitters (aunts, mom's friends, my friends' mothers) who could help me when I got stuck and I had a book from Beehive Yarns. How hard could it be? I had already mastered hats.

So, I knit mittens. I knit them for my family, for gifts, for donations. Some of my mitts have no fingers, so the wearer can answer their phone. Some of my mitts have lace patterns, so they can look pretty. But most of my mitts are intended to be warm and serviceable. 

This pair will likely go to the local food cupboard. They are always happy to receive another pair of mitts. These ones will fit a young teen or an adult with small hands. A gift of warmth on a snowy day.

I'm sure I'll make another pair soon.

A Very Canadian Finish

 

A friend is going to Great Britain in a couple of weeks, so I made her a travel wallet.  I decided to go full Canadian on this one.

The bag is 28cm by 18cm  or 11"x 7" . The pattern is Globetrot Travel Sling by ChrisW Designs. 

The front has a zipper pocket and a slip pocket. The slip pocket can hold your phone, and the zippered pocket can hold your keys, wipes, stuff you want to access in a hurry.

It has another zipper pocket on the back. The back pocket can hold your passport, travel documents, credit card, anything you want to keep close. The pockets are all waterproof canvas. 

Everything was in my stash. The red tone on tone was from Northcott's Canada Our Home and Native Land. The flag fabric is from Stonehenge Oh Canada Classic. Both have been waiting for the right project. 

The bag is quite thin, suitable to be worn under your coat.  I hope she has a safe and happy trip.

Knitting and Geocaching

 We love to Geocache when we travel, but we haven't done a lot of travelling lately. This weekend was warm, and sunny and geocaching seemed like a good idea. In case you don't know, geocaching is a reason for a walk in the woods, as you try to find "caches" or small hidden containers, using a GPS.

In 2008, I taught geocaching at an inhouse day camp of a local tech company. For the camp, I hide a container on the nearby hiking trails. That container is still there (amazingly), but was in need of some TLC so we took our favourite Gr. 4 student off to the woods to find it.

As you can see, we weren't the only ones enjoying the nice weather. Nothing could be more iconic that a pair of Canada Geese standing next to a maple tree!

The mornings have been wooly sock weather, so more socks need to be made. I am working on a pair of socks in Christmas stripes.

My silly bird picture of the first sock, the sock is now finished. The second is well on the way.

I received some nail stickers, and I put a couple on to see if that would inspire me to get back to sewing.

They may be helping. I cut out the pieces for a new bag, today. If things go well, it will be done by the end of the week.

Hotumn

 I saw the term Hotumn on social media and thought that defined it. Our weather has been going up and down. Today it is 13C, while on the weekend it was 31C. However, it still looks like autumn.

The flowers are still doing their thing.

Meanwhile, I've been knitting, and frogging.

This baby sweater will never be finished, so I got real and turned it into yarn I can make hats and mitts from.

My September socks got finished, 4 days into October. Mudd helped with the photos.

I was helping a friend learn how to quilt on her machine, so we made Hemmingway style bags. These are our first ones (a pair of fat quarters makes 2 bags.)

It was a lot of fun to sew together.

I actually got a start on a new bag. I have the card pocket panel finished.

One should always check to make sure that a credit card actually fits in the pocket. I once sewed a bag together without checking and one side was just a tiny bit too small, and the cards didn't fit on one side. Lesson learned.

I made a quick project bag for a friend, and added a ball of yarn and a pattern for mittens. I thought she needed a project bag for waiting rooms and the like.

The epic clear out continues. It is amazing how many things you realize you just don't need. We took a car load of stuff to the church flea market. Hopefully it all sold and raised some money for the church. 

It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. No big excitement, no turkey, just a quiet weekend, with nothing that needs to be done. Hope you all have a peaceful weekend.

Finish or Frog

I joined an online challenge for September (and maybe October) where we are challenged to find some unfinished projects and either finish them, or decided we are never going to finish them, and, in knitting terms, frog them. I found a few.

First, I had the three pairs of promised baby socks. These two pairs were finished.

While looking for some yarn to make one more pair, I found a nearly finished baby sock, so my first finish of the month was to complete the found pair.

Three pair, finished and delivered.

Next, I had started a Musselburg Hat. This had is hugely popular in the knitting community but I found it an incredible bore. So hat...

became a ball of yarn, No doubt it can be made into more baby socks.

Next was a pair of fingerless mitts, that I started in April, but only made one mitt.

Now there is a pair.

I'm currently working on a cowl, I started nearly a year ago.

You need to pay attention to the knitting, so this will take awhile, yet, but maybe in October, I'll have it finished.

I also finished my July/August socks. That is pair #6 for 2025.

I rewarded myself for all those finishes with some bright new socks for TV and meeting knitting.

Another batch of happy socks.

The cats have been leaping from my new cutting table to the window in the basement, so we made them a ladder from IKEA storage boxes.

I'm not sur they have the idea yet.

I will leave you with a picture I caught after supper recently. Sometimes, you look out at just the right time.

Unboxing Quilt The North

On July 1, preorders began for a new Canadian subscription box. It promised to come every 3 months, and with most everything you need to make a small quilt from a Canadian designer. My first box came last week, so I thought I would do an "unboxing".

The box took a bit of a tour, travelling 800 km to get to me from a starting point about 40 km away. Let me show you.

The box is really nice, in bright red with white moose, maple leaves, maple keys and trillium. 

Custom printed tissue on the inside.

This month's pattern is by Leanne Parsons of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The fabric is from Northcott, a Canadian fabric company. There is enough to make the top, back and binding for a 30" quilt.

And there is more!

There is a bonus pattern for a quilt block, if you want to make a Canadian quilt, as you go along.

The bonus patterns are from Monika Henry of Penny Spool Quilts. Monika is also the curator of the subscription boxes.

We also got a couple of goodies from NL.

There is an artist card from Leanne with a pattern for a maple leaf block on the back, a larger card telling us about Leanne and her work.

I love the little art print of a puffin. The artist is Amber McLure Hutton. Someday I want to go to Newfoundland and see the puffins.

There is also a packet of Pineapple Crush drink mix, apparently popular in Newfoundland.

The quilt looks like lots of fun, and good practice. I need to do the cutting then I think I can start doing some leaders and enders. 

If you would like to try the box, you can check out the website.

https://www.pennyspoolquilts.com/collections/subscription-box

What's the Story, Morning Glory!

 

The morning glories on the fence have started to bloom.

We might get tomatoes soon. We are having a drought so the pots need to be watered.

Things are not as bushy as they were last year.

The two main men in my life left on an adventure, this morning. They are off exploring Vancouver Island. Meanwhile, I have the house to myself, and I can think of lots of things to do but too many of them sound like work.

I have finished 3 of the requested 6 baby socks. I also started the second sock of the July/August socks.

I made the smaller adventurer a pair of cargo shorts to take with him.

Four pockets!

It was the cats' Gotcha Day. They got their favourite chicken to celebrate their third year with us.

Mudd is looking for his chicken, while Emme is chilling under her chair in the sun room.

We said good bye to our Doug Dog . He has been my big goofy companion for nearly 11 years. The house feels very empty without him.

We're Having a Heat Wave

The current temperature, according to the thermometer in my kitchen window, is 35C. which is 95F if you don't speak Canadian. I sat outside for awhile, but I am now hiding in the A/C.  I'm a delicate little flower, who wilts when I get too warm.

Yesterday, I was doing some sewing prep in the basement'

I'm using my lovely big table to tape together a pattern for cargo shorts. The young man in my life likes lots of pockets in his shorts. The printer paper turned up during the great cleanup. so I figured I would use it to print my patterns. 

This is the fabric. It also turned up in the great cleanup.

I received requests for 3 pair of baby socks.  So my evening knitting has been the little socks.

I finished the red sock, but was having a hard time casting on the second sock in the late evening, so I cast on a blue one. They will all get done in the end.

I finished the first sock of my July/ Aug. pair.

I broke my usual rule and didn't immediately cast on the second sock. However, it is up next, after the baby socks.

In my buy Canadian effort, I found this yarn. It is actually from a very local hand dyer, and the yarn is from Ontario sheep and goats, and spun in Ontario.

They look like they might like to become mosaic socks or gloves or?

The heat is suppose to continue into the week. If you are looking for me, I'll be in the basement.