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.

Time to Start Planning

 I seem to have gotten lost for awhile. First, if I commented on your blog lately, Google has decided that I am now a noreply-comments blogger. I am trying to find a solution but I haven't found one yet. Oddly, it shows my name on my comment but not my email. My email is on my profile so I can be found if you want to reply to me.

Edit: Google posted something about the no reply. Not sure how it will work. We will have to wait and see. 

https://support.google.com/blogger/thread/307556668/blogger-has-changed-where-all-of-my-blogger-s-comment-coming-in-email-notifications-are-now-no-reply?hl=en

I have been knitting, and not blogging lately. I have also been doing more things outside the house than I had been doing. Let's look at my best outing of the month.

Engineers in Canada have a ceremony when they finish their course work and become working engineers. At that time, they take their obligation to be moral and ethical in all their activities, and are presented with an Iron Ring by a previously "obligated" engineer. When I got my ring, there were only 4 women in my class. Of course, my ring was presented by a man. I always hoped to present a ring to another woman, and this fall, I did just that. My young friend was my knitting student some years ago, and is about to graduate as a Computer Engineer. We made sure our nail polish coordinated. 

My sewing activities have been restricted to dog bandanas. However, the Northern Lights ones are really cute.

I am starting to plan some Christmas gifts, and I need to get sewing. I was asked for some pillow cases, and I have a purse to finish. I also want to make some new knitting project bags. Add to that the mending that is piling up, I have sewing to do,

My cowl is progressing. It takes a lot of counting. It isn't TV knitting.

I have finished a pair of Double Mitts. They are wool on the outside and alpaca on the inside.

I did a stash dive looking for colourful yarn for the next pair.

I chose the skein at the top of the picture. The colourway is "Vegas, Baby". The liner will be grey.

Mudd found himself an excellent box, just the right size.  I wonder how soon before he finds a new one.

Some Knitting Advice

 I learned to knit when I was about 6. Since my mother didn't knit, I had multiple teachers, and books as my guides. Some things I just had to figure out for myself.

Interestingly, the thing I knit the most is socks and my sock knitting is entirely self taught. I bought a book, then another book, and worked it out from there. My first pair looked a bit odd, and I didn't think anyone would wear them. However, my big kid thought they were perfect and wore them happily. So now I am a sock knitter. 

One thing I was slow to learn, was how to keep track of the notions I use over and over again. I have more than one project bag and they could be in any of them, or some in one and some in another. 

Last year, I made this little Dumpling bag. It sat for awhile, wanting to be useful. Then I realized it was the perfect size for my sock notions.

It easily holds my little scissors, my tape measure, the case with my yarn needles, a little double ended crochet hook, and a bodkin. The case is small enough to fit into my project bag. Now I can quickly finish a sock and cast on the second sock of the pair.

It is currently moving between my sock bag, and my mitten bag. 

This is the start of the September socks.

These are in DK weight sock yarn. They knit up quickly.

This is the current mitten.

And the pair from the last blog are finished.

The needles are flying!

We are enjoying the last truly summer weather. The days are pleasantly warm and the nights are cool. The garden is flourishing.

The bees are really enjoying the sedum.

Lots of Knitting

The weather has been dull and grey, not much sun for days. So, I have spent a lot of time by the fire. I have gotten knitting done, while I enjoy the heat.

Mittens and baby socks, both completed. There is a pair of adult socks that were finished last night, but I haven't taken a picture yet.

Next up is a hat, from this yarn that has been resting in my stash.

These dull days beg for bright colours.

I did some sewing, a sort of squirrel project. I made a sleep mask, as a gift.

The pattern is free from Sew Hungry Hippie. The fabric is a bit of Tula Pink. 

An on-line group was asking about our favourite yarn colour to knit with.  So here is mine.

I have said for awhile that my favourite colour is rainbow. It makes me smile! And yes, I have or have used up all those rainbow yarns, and more.

I have been looking for over a year for a metric rotary cutting ruler that I could buy in Canada. I was pleasantly surprised to find one at an on-line store not very far away,

Bag patterns from Europe and Australia use metric measurements, and sometimes, converting them to Imperial causes problems. I now have my very own. I actually don't have many rulers, but I have gotten to the point where I thought this one was necessary.

I have a question that maybe one of you know the answer. One of my followers can't comment on my blog using her iPad. Since I don't use Apple products, I am no help at all. Can somebody drop a note in the comments, if you use an iPad?

Meanwhile, I will leave you with a picture of our sunrise, on a rare sunny morning.

Lethargy

Things have been very lethargic around here. We have been staying home, doing little jobs around the house. We had a family Boxing Day lunch with those close enough to be here. Other than that, we have been spending much of our time, not knowing what day it is, sitting by the fire, reading and listening to Christmas music seems to be our main activity.

I made a pair of fingerless mitts.

The pattern is called Point Edward Mitts, and you can turn the top cuff down over your fingers, so you have the advantage of fingerless mitts with finger warmers (and the thumb). The yarn is a discontinued baby DK yarn from Bernat, that was in my stash. I used a tubular cast on and cast off which I think made a nice finish.

I also made the first of a pair of mitts to match the hat on the last blog.

To go with these mitts, I made mitten clips, in hopes that fewer mittens will be lost, this year. As requested, they are Super Mario fabric.

I opened my knitting bag, yesterday, and found this.

It took a bit of work, and some coffee, but I ended up with this.

Ready for a future pair of baby socks.

Meanwhile, Emme and Mudd have joined our quiet times.

I hope your Christmas was peaceful as well. I'll be back later with my year end tally.