A couple of finishes

As I was decluttering my magazines, I found a kit in a magazine for three mini cards.  Pretty quick sew; though please forgive the size of my french knots:

I love how they look.  They are mini cards, so will put them in my card box ready to use.

I completed another puzzle this week, I find doing puzzles very relaxing.

I also finished off another dishcloth.  Love this colour combo.

Not feeling too good at the moment.  Started coughing at the swimming pool, so thought it was the chlorine, but just generally feel under the weather.  It's the time of year I think?

WIP

 WIP means work in progress.  

Now for those of you who craft I bet you have some WIP's somewhere waiting to be completed?  I know I do, and 2023 is going to be a "Complete as Many WIP's as possible."  It is also a use up what you have type of year as well, with crafting supplies.  I was looking for some black Aida (cross stitch material) and stumbled upon a few pieces of WIP's and various other things I had forgotten about.

I have the same issue with books.  I have a pile of books I want to finish/read and I will not be buying any more until I have read some.  By the way I still post regularly in my book review blog here.

With the price of everything going up, this is a good thing to do.  Everytime I finish something that was previously started I will make an effort to post about it here.

Here are just some of the things I need to finish:

Dishclothes to knit, book to read, bookmarks to cross stitch and Evan's first year quilt to finish off.

Since I wrote this post a week or more ago.  I have read the book, yes it was really good here is a link to read more about it on Amazon.

I finished the book mark:

I out interfacing in between the felt backing and the front bookmark and sewed them together for stability.

I have also knit a dishcloth and have another on my needles:

I also ended up buying some more of this yarn individual balls I paid $1.06 per ball.  Just got a flyer from the same store and on Friday it will be less than 60 cents per ball, so may end up going and buying more!!

Do you have that problem; lots of things that are not completed?

Quick and easy

I love hand knitted dish clothes.  I had bought this 5 pack of antibacterial dishclothes from Lakeland Plastics when we were in the UK earlier in the year.

(photo credit)

Now while they are okay, nothing beats my hand knitted ones, so I spent a couple of hours knitting this one yesterday.

This one is called the Mossy Dishcloth from Mockingbird Knits.  It's a free download from Raverly, here is the link to it.  All you need to know is how to knit and purl.  I will never be a great knitter, but I can do the bare basics and this is a perfect pattern for me.  I find I cannot knit for too long, as the arthritis in my finger joints get very unhappy if I do too much.

I purchased the large ball of yarn from Michaels.  I worked out it would probably made 8 or 9 dishclothes and with the coupon it worked out a whole lot cheaper than buys the smaller balls of yarn.

I know my kids don't often use dish clothes in their homes, I personally could never be without one by the sink.

Is a dishcloth something you use in your kitchen?

All ready to go..........

I finally got all 10 learn to knit project bags together with the help of Angie; she supplied eight sets of needles and another lady supplied two sets of needles.  I did the rest, and off it went in the mail on Friday:

Each bag contains a pattern, ball of yarn (enough to make an adult hat) a set of needles and a stitch marker.

 I picked all bright colours for this set.

They are going to a ladies/girls group in Northern Manitoba and they will be learning to knit.  Any kits leftover I told the organizer to donate them to someone in their community.  I also included extra patterns and a couple of free knitting kits for a bookmark and a soft toy I got in magazines.

I plan on putting together another box in a couple of months time.

Crazy busy, I mean crazy, crazy busy!!

This week has been super busy with one thing and another.  

As with most things in life everything happens at once.  When I booked our trip to Britain, I said it'll be "sod's law" and we'll end up selling the house and having to buy another one all at the same time.

Well; we have an offer on the house.  We went back and forward with that at the beginning of the week.  We ended up accepting the offer, BUT the buyers still have theirs to sell.  Where it is at it shouldn't be a problem, but who knows?

Meanwhile we have no where to go and are going on vacation in a week or so's time.  Fast forward until today and I have narrowed down my selection of houses to ONE; BUT and there always is a but they want way more for it than it's worth and there is a bit of work to do on it.  So we are going for another look today (Friday) and we'll go from there.

The closing date for our house is October 31st, so only 60 days which isn't long when you go away on vacation in between hands!!

I also committed to send 10 knitting kits up North for a women's/girl's group, so have been busy putting them together.  Finally got that done, as they will be starting the Fall session soon, will do a post tomorrow on those.

Then we to get ready to go on vacation, plus I want to see all the grand children, they are heading up on Sunday with parents for a get together, so that will be 10 adults, 5 kids and a baby.

The home inspection is being done on Monday, so need to get the house tidied up for that.  Small children are like little tornado's and it's amazing where their sticky hand prints end up!

I still have photos to sort through and print out to take with us.  Still have a few things to buy to take with us.  Did get all paperwork sorted to take with us and got cash converted over. 

I know there are a hundred and one other things to do; I need to make a list😉

New project I am working on...

I am putting together along with my friend Angie this learning to knit project bags for the women (and possibly men) in Northern Canada.

I am making small project bags, and inside of them I am putting a simple knitted hat pattern, a ball of yarn, a stitch marker and a pair of small circular needles.  All in all enough to make an adult knitted hat. 

Angie is going to donate the needles, and will also be asking her store patrons for donations for the needles.  I will supply the rest and the shipping; unless anyone wants to donate some items?

I wanted to use the circular needles as they fit really well in the project bags.

I will be putting together 10 sets for this first shipment and hope to get them off by the beginning of September.  I haven't made up my mind yet, exactly who will be getting them, as there are a couple of options.  I am not sure to donate to the elderly or to younger girls/women?

Any input would be welcome?

Mini Project Bag........

I wanted a smaller project bag than this one to carry my knitting in while we are away, so hunted out some fat quarters ( a fat quarter is a piece of material that is 18 inches long and around 22 inches wide) and made one.

This one used two fat quarters and a 2 1/2 inch by 22 inch wide strip of material.  So ribbon/webbing for the drawstring, and general sewing equipment.

I cut out 4 pieces of material 11 inches long and 11 inches wide, from two fat quarters.  What was left of that material I used for the pockets and the red you see is from another fat quarter, the 2 1/2 inch strip to make the casing to put the drawstring in. 

 As you can see it will hold your needles and a large ball of yarn and a few other bits and bobs, but not much else.

 Inside there are two large and two small pockets in the outer fabric print.

 The two large pockets on the outside will be handy as well.  Angie was good enough to give me those circular needles to use as they are cheapies and it's no biggie if airport security takes them off me.......

 I have had this material years so no idea what it is called.

This is the perfect size for me to pop in my carry on tote on the airplane and it will keep my knitting clean.  Saw something similar on Etsy for $30.  Made this in around 90 minutes.  Probably would take me less time now I know what I am doing!!😊

A couple of quick makes..........

Had some dishcloth yarn in my stash, so I decided to knit a couple of dishclothes:

"R" called and asked if I could find a couple scraps of material to make her two girls some pouches to put their hair things in.  I have so much material I could make hundreds of pouches!!  So what do I do I make Sammy a pencil case, as I don't want to leave him out.

This literally was made with a scrap of material.  Good news is that I have cut out the girls pouches and that will be today's job sewing them all together.

Couple more finishes......

I posted back here about getting some new material in the mail.  So the other day I made dd a tote bag using the cactus canvas and the webbing.  The grey material was from my stash.

I used it to go knitting with and it's a perfect size at around 18" x 18"  The sign is from the real estate agent, reminding people to remove their shoes before walking around the house.  We take off our shoes when going into someone elses home, so we don't get their floors or carpets dirty with muddy or dirty shoes.  It's a common practice and it is frowned upon if you don't take your shoes off.

I knit these hats the other week.  I took down the two on the left hand side of the photo.  The orange one was for Nora, but Paige claimed it😉 So I thought I had better make another one for Nora.

 I ended up knitting this one in bubblegum pink and blue, I doubled up the yarn to make it super thick and warm; the pattern only calls for worsted yarn.  Nora is liking blue at the moment for some reason.  I love this knitting pattern as it is so easy.  Using US 8 or 5mm circular needles, cast on 77 stitches, join knitting in the round and then knit two, purl two until the hat measures 9 inches.

To decrease:

Row 1: knit two, then knit two together until end of row
Row 2: knit
Row 3: knit one, knit two together until end of row
Row 4: knit
Row 5: knit two together until end of row

Cut yarn and thread tail through remaining stitches and sew in.

I love this Patons Canadian yarn for knitting the kids' hats, as it's a great priced yarn and if the kids lose their hat it's not the end of the world.  It washes well and has some give and comes in many colours.  I get mine from Angie at The Knitting Basket.  This is The Knitting Basket's Facebook page   If you have chance pop in and say hello and said I sent you!

4 down, 2 too go.......

I have been busy knitting the grands their winter hats.  Top left, Nora's, top right Nitara's, bottom left Paige's, bottom right Sammy's.  Managed to figure out how to make pom-poms which is a positive.

Got to knit Jeina's and Liam's yet.

I have also got "roped" into doing some knitting for a charity afghan using the Canada 150 pattern; I "think" that's what the pattern is called.  Anyhoo, I am doing the borders, as they are the simplest.  Mind you I also think they will take the longest too do?  Here is what I have done so far:

It's a bit hard to see, but can you see the Maple Leaf design in it?  It will be pretty when it's all done.  I am going to try and work on it this weekend.

EDITED TO ADD: THIS IS THE PATTERN HERE ON RAVERLY.  IT'S CALLED "A CANADIAN AFGHAN eh!"

What's on your needles at the moment?

Gosh it's been nearly 3 months.......

Where has the time gone too?  The older I get the faster time flies by I find.

When I last posted our son and daughter-in-law had just moved in with us while their house was being renovated.  On May 27th our daughter-in-law gave birth to their first child a little boy called Liam John.  Here he is on his 1 month "anniversary."  The red hair comes from my dad's side of the family and I think he resembles his mum.

We were so lucky to have them at our home for another three weeks after he was born.  It's a once in a lifetime thing to have your newborn grandson live with you.  They moved out after three weeks, as their home was "livable," at that point.

A month on the contractor is still at their house and still busy working.  It's a family joke now, that we think he'll still be there when Liam starts school! 

Our other big news is that we put the house on the market this week (Tuesday).  So far we have had one real estate agent look round for their client.  We have high hopes we will have some people looking over the house this weekend.  As we live in an "Active Adult Community," and we pay condo fees, our home will not appeal to everyone.  The real estate market has been slow so far this year, so we are not sure if we will find a buyer or not.  We don't HAVE to move, but we would LIKE to move.  If we have to stay here another year it's no problem.

There are many reasons we want to move; too many to go into here.  We have no idea where we are going, as we want to see if we get sell.  Dh, is thinking about retiring, but is still not 100% sure, so that also makes it difficult to figure out how much to spend and where we should live.  However, we have plans drawn up for either scenario; plus financially we have been planning for both options for a couple of years now.  It's always good to get your "ducks in a row," as they say when it comes to life decisions that involve money!

Summer is upon us here, so I have been hibernating, as the hot flashes along with the heat are not my friends.  Been busy knitting and sewing.  Just sent off a birthday box to a little girl in Nunavut; will tell you more about that in another post.

The two "N's" both finished junior kindergarten at the end of June and both got excellent report cards.  They move up to senior kindergarten in September and Sammy will also start junior kindergarten in September.  It just seems like yesterday that Sammy was born???

Jeina and Paige both turned 2 in May and June respectively.  Both had birthday parties with numerous other little ones attending.  Both had bouncy castles in their back yards and lots of screaming and shouting!  Came home with a present from Paige's birthday party; both dh and I ended up with nasty summer colds.  Not sure which one of the little darlings was sick😕 I swear toddlers are walking germ factories!

Looking forward to hearing what you have been up too?

Mine might be bigger than yours!!

I know these are the biggest I have even used..............10 mm needles that is.......I got them free in a magazine.

 Going to knit up a cushion cover, with the Bernat Blanket yarn and using one of the patterns from my afghan squares.

Figured it would be a quick and easy finish........

A little peek at what I am up too.

I am making this bag for myself:

 Love this fabric, Full Bloom from Northcott.  I bought it here, a lovely little store that ships as well.  Every Wednesday they have an online sale of 20% off specific items. Excellent customer service, and very helpful.  Loving the red cork I chose to go with it, can't wait to see it all done.

I finished my afghan squares and have decided to do the same again in a teal green colour, so the finished afghan will be a lot bigger.  I adore this mock cable pattern.
Heading to a sewing class on how to sew in different types of zippers.  Zippers are a weak point in my sewing, so every little bit helps!

Atrocious Weather

we are in the midst of a nasty snow/ice storm at the moment.  Not at all nice.  This is all ice pellets:

So I am going to hunker down again today (Sunday) and do some more knitting.  I have no idea how I am going to make this work as an afghan, will figure it out I guess when I get the rest of the squares knit.

If you are in Ontario, please stay safe.

Fast and easy Easter Gift

Well it's fast and easy now that I have altered the pattern 😏

I picked up this magazine on the weekend.

The reason I picked it up was for the little finger puppets in the bottom left of the photo:

They looked cute and I thought the two birdies would be great as a little gift to put into the kids' Easter bags.  So I knit the first one and this is how it turned out:

Even on my fingers it was big.  Now granted I was using a slightly different gauge yarn, but when I did knit one in the right gauge yarn it still was big.  The one on the right is the right gauge yarn.  So I knew I was going to have to alter the pattern so it wasn't too bit for little fingers.  You can see my first small finger puppet in the photo below.

I ended up casting on 14 stitches instead of the 24 and knitting 14 rows instead of 24 rows.  I used Patons Canadiana yarn.

The beak was 4 rows by 4 rows.

Although a bit fiddly they have turned out super cute.

The extra large pair I am keeping so when I Facetime the grand kids we can do the nursery rhyme together.  I still have a couple more pairs to knit, but they knit up in no time flat.

Now the nursery rhyme these are for is:

Two Little Dicky Birds:

Two little dicky birds, sitting on a wall.
One called Peter, one called Paul.
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.
Come back Peter, come back Paul.

Well that's a bit of a puzzle...

I am knitting squares for an afghan, I first mentioned it here.  This is the square I am working on at the moment, it's called Sand Ripples.  I am really enjoying knitting these squares.

 I am using the exact same yarn and the exact same size of needles, but so far they are all different sizes???

I am no expert when it comes to knitting, but even I can see something isn't right?  I know I have to "block" the squares, but even so there seems to be quite the difference?  Should I be concerned?

Show and Tell........

Got my first project sewn with my new cork fabric.  A cosmetic pouch/clutch for a friend.  Love both the cork fabric, very easy to use and the Tula Pink fabric, only have a tiny bit of that left.......

 It is far from being perfect, but overall I am pleased with it, for my first try.

 One of the issues is that I put one set of pockets in upside down😳 I didn't realize until I had inserted the zip and top stitched it.  It's still functional with only the one set of pockets.

I used this tutorial and found it pretty easy to follow.

I am also doing the Square a month knit along afghan from the Holiday 2017 Edition of the Knit Simple Magazine.  This is January's square:

It's a Bales Pattern.  I am just using Patons Canadiana for the yarn, which is not what the original pattern calls for.  I am doing this more to practice different stitches and patterns.

So there you go my show and tell for this past week.  I did also make an Easter bib for a little baby girl.