A New Year and A Year Past

 This is my tenth year end summary. It is good to look back on what I finished over the past year. 

Knitting

This is the shawl that I thought I would never finish, but I put a push on in September, and it is now done.

Mitts                   2

Baby Socks        4

Shawls                3

Hats                    4

Big Socks           5

Cowl                   1

I think there may have been a couple more pairs of baby socks that didn't get recorded.

Sewing

Another project that was a long time in progress. This one is closer to ten years.

Quilt                    1

Mitten Clips        6

Bandanas            46

Masks                  2

Tablet Case          1

Shorts                   3

Zippered Bags      5

Purse                    3

Coaster                 4

As we move into the new year, I try to avoid setting goals and just try to stay creative. Christmas brought news of two new grandbabies expected soon for two friends, so I finished a pair of baby socks, last night as the first finish of 2024. I have 4 purses/bags that I want to make in the next couple of months. I have lots of yarn, and fabric. More socks will be knit, more bandanas will be sewn. Today, I will cast on the second mitt as a mate to the first one in my last blog post. 

I am also trying to be realistic about what I can knit and sew. Any quilts in the future are going to the long arm quilter, and I won't feel guilty about that. My knitting project will be those that fit into a project bag.  There are approximately 35,000 stitches in a pair of adult socks. Finishing 5 pairs is an accomplishment.

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.

Preparing

 Advent is defined as the season of preparing. I find my days have been filled with preparing lately.

In our tradition, the Advent candles, lit on the four Sundays before Christmas, are green, blue, yellow and red. This year, I found some cat proof candles, since setting fire to the cat is generally a bad idea.

I have LED candles that I can set to the colours. For Christmas, I will set out real candles, but these are much safer when I don't have anyone to guard them.

Many gifts have been sent. I can show you a few.

Two pairs of little socks were commissioned by a friend for her great-granddaughters. They are now on their way in Great Grandma's suitcase.

 The dog bandanas for this Christmas are in some silly fabric I found in my stash. My Christmas stash has been greatly depleted in the last few years, since I haven't been doing in person shopping.

I made this lace scarf back in the summer, and finally got it blocked. It is on the way to its new home.

This is a closeup of the lace border. The yarn is alpaca and silk in a lace weight, that was in my stash.

I was asked for a red hat, so this week, I made a red hat.

It is my favourite hat pattern, Bankhead. The yarn is Knit Picks Brava.

I did lots of baking to send to family that don't bake. For my baking I go for taste over appearance, so the shortbread is just rolled into balls and squashed with a fork. Add sprinkles and they look sort of Christmas-y.

We put up the tree, and Emme helped.

She really gets into her work!

I had a birthday and a creative friend made me this card.

It is very fancy, and very non-Christmas-y. I have gotten a lot of Christmas cards with Happy Birthday written in them, over the years. The colours in this card are more my style.

i hope to get some knitting and sewing done this week, The sewing has been lost lately.

Still Knitting

 I seem to have abandoned my sewing lately. I have been busy trying to get my Christmas knitting done. Since some has to go in the mail, I have only a couple of weeks left.

The church is collecting baby things for a local Family Centre that serves families new to Canada. So yesterday, I made a little hat.

I think it is toddler sized and in a worsted weight machine washable yarn, I expect it will keep some little person warm.

I continue to work on socks but I don't have any other finishes.

The weather has turned wintery cold. So, all the plants we hope to save for next summer are now moved into the dining room/ conservatory.

The new pink hibiscus rewarded us with some bright flowers.

The Christmas cactus says it will be ready soon.

I don't remember how long we have had this but it gives us lots of flowers, as long as we remember to water it.

Okay, I need to get back to my knitting!

November, Already

 I have been busy but it hasn't been a lot of crafty things. Last week was nearly entirely focused on sorting out some family  paperwork, that we have been ignoring for too long. It is amazing how much time that can take.

At the end of October, I made some more dog bandanas. Here is Doug modelling his. He wore it as his Halloween costume.

It is Paw Patrol, appropriate for his western cousins, who have a first responder for a dog dad.

I also made some masks for a young friend who wanted some cloth masks.

 I think that cat fabric is nearly all gone now. 

There has been knitting done.

Big socks.

The yarn is from TurtlePurl yarns in New Brunswick. It is called "Bog Goes Camping" as a tribute to Bob Ross, the painter. I missed slightly on making them perfectly matched.

And little socks.

These are for the great granddaughter of a friend of mine. The yarn is left over from a long ago project.

The Christmas fruitcake has been made, and probably needs to be sprinkled with rum again.

Mudd has decided he is a Mountain Lion and we keep finding him up high.

One must check when closing the frig, in case he is reaching in with his paw from overhead.

The weather has been highly variable, with temperatures from +15 to -10 in just the past week. The trees have been variable, too.. I was out for a walk, recently and there are trees still holding on to their leaves, and bare trees.

A really interesting tree is the Tamarack. also called the Larch. It is Ontario's only native deciduous conifer. They look like this, before they drop their needles. The green tree in the middle is a cedar.

I have Nana duty this week, so I think we might start baking Christmas cookies, to send to family in Western Canada.

Halloween

My partner-in-all-things has been away for a few days, leaving me to herd pets and look after things. So, I didn't manage to get into my sewing room, since the pets get too anxious if I disappear, and they aren't to be trusted if I let them in. Instead, I got a lot of knitting finished.

The spider mitts are finished, just as the weather gets cold, and they will be needed. The spider is knit using slip stitches, so I was only using one colour of yarn at a time.  I made the mistake of showing the pattern to my little guy and he decided I should knit them. So, the socks went on hold.

Last night, I made some cookies to help celebrate with my favourite little guy. He is coming for a sleepover, later.

They look especially gruesome because the gel icing had split and I kept getting liquid icing instead of gel. The recipe is from a Canadian Living cookbook from when my kids were young, however the recipe is still available. 

https://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking-and-desserts/recipe/creepy-witch-s-finger-cookies

Linking to Sandra's DrEAMi linkup. Spiders can be squirrels, too.

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/10/dreami-76.html

Insanity

This is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. It is early this year, and we just had an unseasonable heat wave. So my usual Autumn Colours post will be delayed.

Instead I will show you how the circular knitting has gotten out of hand.

Back in early September, I started the Unicorn socks. They are a wide rib. I finished the first sock, knit the cuff for the second, and met a knot in the skein. The yarn after the knot didn't follow in the colour sequence so I cut the yarn and started again. I am nearly finished the leg of the second sock.

A couple of weeks ago I realized that Christmas was on its way and I needed to do my Christmas gift socks. So I started this plain vanilla sock. The first sock is nearly done.

In between those two starts, I cast on the first sock for a pair of Utsubo Socks. The pattern looked interesting and the top was done in an unfamiliar style that I wanted to try. I finished the toe and now these seem to be on hold.

On Friday, I was grandparenting, and this pattern popped up.  It is the Aranea Fingerless Gloves and the little guy looking over my shoulder thought that someone in Grade Two needed a pair. I happened to have suitable yarn in my stash, so the spider is now progressing nicely. 

This afternoon, I realized that I have more than my normal quota of circular knitting projects going. I am not sure what form of insanity hit me, but they are all progressing, each in their own time. I plan to finish the mitts quickly since they are kind of Halloween themed. The Christmas socks next since they have to travel. The other two pairs have no urgency.

I took this picture in a park nearby, the other day, in 31° weather. My hands were too sweaty to knit.

Happy Thanksgiving!