Makers Meeting Up -- and More!

 

In my last post -- about 3 weeks ago now -- I wrote of Mother Nature's indecision, of how she was uncertain whether or not to evict Old Man Winter and allow Ms. Spring to move in.  She's taken all this time to muster her courage -- and OMW is still hanging out on the fringes, surrounded by brown grass and semi-frozen piles of dwindling old snow.

The good news is, the Canada geese have been spotted flying their V-formations overhead, and the robins are here!  The robins are here!

To celebrate, I've been stitching on the piece of that same name: "The Robins are Here" from Brenda Gervais:

It's a tiny piece and will become a little pillow for my spring bowl collection, right there with Jeannette Douglas' "Chubby Bird" and "Chubby Ewe" and other such delights.  I'll post a photo when that's ready.

I am also stitching along with two Stitch-Alongs this month -- both from Jacob of Modern Folk Embroidery.  First, the year-long "Little Acorns" SAL, with very slow progress since my last post:

Fabric: 40 count "Platinum"
Floss: "Pippy"
Both from Roxy Floss/Evertote

And the new one -- just for April -- that he created to celebrate 15 years of designing as Modern Folk Embroidery: the "Quick Quaker SAL".   I'm really enjoying this little piece -- not as complex as "Little Acorns", and very soothing, especially when I stitch along to the short videos Jacob has been posting daily on his YouTube channel to accompany the project:

Fabric: 36-count "Bramble" from
Picture This Plus
Floss: DMC #824 -- both from stash

I still have my Sunday Stitch ("Cattle on a Thousand Hills" from Plum Street) and have made a new start -- "There is Always Room" from Maximum Cross Stitch -- but there's nothing much to show you at present.  Stay tuned!

I am still knitting away, a little bit every day, usually with morning coffee.  Through Lent, I participated in a Mystery KAL from Joy Jannotti.  It's now finished, washed and blocked, and set aside for my Warm Things Box:

Yarn: Condon's Yarn 2-ply fine (the
brown) and 2-ply medium (the orange)

The yarn is a bit rustic, but not unpleasant in this little shawlette.  It's 100% wool, from a long-closed Canadian company that operated in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, from 1931 to 1989.  I received it as part of a Christmas gift from my daughter in 2022 -- and she rescued it from a colleague whose elderly relative had passed on.

My other favourite knits these days are the bodies of two top-down pullovers and one new start -- a cardigan.  I mentioned the Sea Haven pullover in my last post.  While I've no photo to share at the moment, I've finished the beautiful yoke, split for the sleeves, and am about 1/2" along on the body.  

The other pullover is the Bustleton Tee, which I started about a year ago -- and I've not taken a photo of it since! LOL! I'm really only using the pattern as a guideline for the process -- size and construction.  It's one with definitive stripes, but I've ignored that and am making it out of assorted shades of pinky red/purple left-over fingering-weight yarn.  It's a plain, simple raglan, very soothing to knit but slow going with the fine yarn.  At the moment, I'm about 1 inch from the point where I have to switch to the ribbing for the bottom hem.  After that, all I have to do is finish the sleeves, which won't be 'tee-shirt short' but full length if I have enough yarn left!

As for the cardigan -- that's a new start, inspired solely by the fact I've had both yarn and pattern for well over a decade, and it's now time to make it up!  It's the "Shades of Spring Cardigan" -- a pattern from 2011 that I saved from an issue of "Love of Knitting" magazine and I'm making it with a bright variegated yarn, "Tajmahal" from Le Fibre Nobili -- long discontinued -- which I bought well over 20 years ago:

The yarn is referred to as sport-weight, but it's almost a fingering, and very soft because it's a blend of merino wool, silk and cashmere!!  I didn't buy it specifically for this project, but decided that it's just the pop of cheerful colour I need this year!

On the quilting front, I'm a bit between projects.  I still have to make up the April Block of the Month from A Quilting Life, and I've planned out and started a pinwheel baby quilt to give to friends of mine for the new granddaughter they've been told will arrive in mid-June.

But I did finish the "Lupines and Laughter" quilt top -- the 2025/2026 Bonnie Hunter Mystery:

I think it's one of the prettiest yet!  I made it 75% of the size, and it's turned out to be just shy of 70" square.  I now need to get it quilted -- I'm debating doing it myself, though it's rather pushing the limits of my abilities on my domestic machine.

All those projects aside, my focus for the last few weeks has been on designing and hooking a series of eight miniature landscapes -- 6" square -- for the Lacombe Encore! Art Show at which I'll have a booth again this year.  It runs April 17 and 18 -- a week from now!!!  

Yesterday I finished the last of them, and took the lot off the Cheticamp frame:

Each of these originated as "matted minis" in my art quilting days; I've now reprised them as hooked art.  Here are some close-ups:

"By the Slough" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

(L) "Canola Fields"; (R) "Autumn at
the Slough" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips in burlap

"The Old Barn: Elgin, Quebec" (c) 2026
Yarn, roving, fabric strips hooked into burlap

'St. Monica's, Mirror, AB' (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

"Vespers - Reprise" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips, hooked into
burlap; embroidered accent

"Wide Alberta Sky" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

And last but not least...

"Wintry Moon" (c) 2026
Yarn, fabric strips hooked into burlap

All now need to be cut out of the burlap, blocked, bound and mounted.  I'm experimenting a bit there -- planning to back them with wool fabric, and either leave them as such, or see if I can mount them on black foamcore as 'stand-ups'.  Time will tell...

Now then, about Makers Meeting Up -- the title of this post.  In March, as I mentioned, I was part of the "March is for Makers" group created by Deanne Fitzpatrick Studios of Amherst, Nova Scotia.

It was so popular that many of us didn't want it to end.  So...listening to her customers, her rug-hooking-lovin' audience -- Deanne and her team decided to make it a monthly subscription -- Monday through Friday (and maybe the last Saturday) -- and to see how it goes.  There are almost 3 dozen of us subscribed so far, and it has been a complete delight.  It's certainly brought me joy every day to be part of this online community, and it motivated me to get all those minis hooked.  It will continue to motivate me through the next several days as I put the finishing touches on them and get everything ready for my booth at the show.

Participants are international -- mainly Canada and US -- and we are learning a great deal about each other, our families, our joy in crafts -- hooking rugs, knitting, quilting, cross-stitch and spinning have been topics of discussion among us.  We've been learning each other's geography, and history, and travel experiences, and art-making experiences, and what it takes to run an art gallery, and how to blend yarns and fabric strips to create colour and depth and texture in our work.  It's just plain FUN!

The best part of it is the flexibility to 'unsubscribe' for a while -- this might happen with several of us over the summer -- and return when we are able.  Each session starts with a bit of fun as the whole group, with Deanne and/or her staff popping by, and then we break into small groups for an hour or so of hooking and talking, sharing and learning from each other.  Every month we participate, we'll have access to a free online pdf pattern, and able to view some of the videos from Deanne's inspiring teaching archive.

And it only costs $31 CAD per month -- a dollar a day.  Some folks spend more than that on a coffee at Timmy's or Starbucks...

So if you love to hook rugs -- as wall art or floor art or cushion art or just plain sources of colour and calm -- you might want to check it out.  For more information...HERE.  (And NO, I'm not being paid to entice you!)

I'll leave you now with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  This week she gives us a list of what she learned from the dear "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip.  Some of those lessons can be practiced when you meet up with other makers, to whit:

• Take risks;
• Keep exploring!
• Enjoy the present;
• Spend time with friends;
• Life is about the little joys; and this...
• Sometimes you have to take a plunge to see the magic happen.

Whether you hook, stitch, knit, crochet, quilt, weave, spin, paint, dance, sing, write, make music...all of it is better shared with others, especially in times like these.

So until next time, Gentle Readers, soothe your souls and Make On!

A bientot!

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January Waning

Goodness gracious!  My mother was right; she told me decades ago (she's been gone for 21 years) that "Once you reach (age) 21, time disappears."

Yep; she was pretty much right.

So here we are nearly at the end of the Longest Month of the Winter (because it doesn't have 10 days of holiday in it).  I'm in the Northern Hemisphere, as most of you probably know by now, so it's been a very January January.  Snow.  Blowing snow.  Freezing rain followed by snow. More blowing snow.

The good news about that?!  I get to stay inside and make things!

And the good news about that?!  Making things helps me cope with all the STUFF going on in the Outside World.

So...what have I been up to since my last post?

First, a bit of "housekeeping".  Full disclosure: after I wrote that I used my Indigo/Chapters gift card to pre-order the paperback version of Deanne Fitzpatrick's Making a Life: Twenty-five Years of Hooking Rugs, I found it when I was sorting the bookshelf on the headboard of my bed.  And yes, I'd read it -- in 2023!!  (See what I mean about time?!)  Sigh. 

Well here's what I did: first, I cancelled the pre-order and got a full refund (a new gift-card) from Indigo/Chapters; second, I took down the hard-cover copy I had and began to read it again.  And yes; I thanked Indigo/Chapters profusely for their understanding.

Don't tell me that's never happened to you.  Just sayin'! 😉

Now then...back to our regularly scheduled Blog Posting...

As we're talking about hooked rugs as art...I've managed to finish that new piece I showed on my last post, when it was still in the early stages.  I've called it "Restless Sky"  and now need to take it to be framed:

"Restless Sky" (c) 2025
17" W x 10 " L before framing
Hooked yarn and wool fabric

There is a word hidden in the sky.  Can you find it?

I've now answered a Call for Entry for a fundraising Art Auction to benefit the Lacombe Performing Arts Centre (the folks who run the Under $100 Art Auction in late November)...and I await the results.

And the call for artists for the annual Encore! Lacombe Art Show and Sale is up.  I was last there in 2023 -- as Featured Artist.  I took 2024 off, but am gearing up to enter again, with new work that is hooked -- and some art quilts that really need a new home.

The other making continues, of course.

I spend a great deal of my morning time knitting.  I've just finished another hat to give away (sorry, no photo; the ends aren't sewn in yet!), and am working on another pair of simple mittens -- that would be the third since I last posted, for I've finished these:

Once again...The World's Simplest Mittens
Designer: Tin Can Knits
Size: child.
Yarn: red wool/synthetic blend - no label
Machine wash, hang to dry

I also finished the socks I started in December for the Advent Mystery KAL -- the "Christmas Smorgasbord Socks":

Pattern: Christmas Smorgasbord
Designer: Becky Greene
Yarn: Patons Kroy FX in "Clay Colors"

I know they look like they're not the same size but please note: due to the nature of the "smorgasbord" of stitch patterns used in the Mystery KAL, each sock has different textured stitch patterns in it.  This means that unless I photograph them on my feet or using a sock blocker (I don't own blockers), they look oddly mis-shapen in different.  They've been washed now, though, and I can attest to the fact that they are the same size! LOL!

I'm really focusing this winter on two kinds of knits: those to give away to folks who need them, and WIPs (Works In Progress) that have been lingering for far too long.  Finishing three projects has left me time to return to these items:

1. A pair of cabled socks I first cast on in 2009.  Yes; you read that correctly: 2009.  I finished one sock and then...well, all I can say is, I must have been visited by the Squirrel! 😃

Here's the first finished sock; the photo 
dates from April 8, 2009!!
Pattern: Guernsey Socks
Designer: Amy King
Source: The Knitter's Book of Yarn
by Clara Parkes

Second sock on the needles.  
Progress as of January 22, 2025.

Please note: the colour of the yarn in the second photo is much closer to real life -- probably because I took the photo against a clean white background.  It's a lovely deep blue-green.  One ball had a label -- Regia 3-fadig.  

2. And I've gone back to the "January Blanket" I started a year ago.  When I picked it up again on December 24, 2024, here's what it looked like:

Photo taken January 10, 2024

Here's my progress as of January 15 (I've knit another 2 1/2 pattern repeats since then, for a total of 10 repeats, 8 rows each):

Pattern: January Blanket
Designer: Leslie Weber
FREE on Ravelry
Yarn: Diamond Select 'Stonewash'
in the colour "Chalk"

The yarn is a nice blend of acrylic (not my fave option but...), wool and cotton.  It's chunky, so I'm using 5.5 mm (US 9) on a nice long cord.  And even though the inter-changeable tips I'm using are wooden (from Knit Picks), the stitches move nicely along and don't stick to them. (That's probably due to the plastic and wool in the yarn blend, off-setting the cotton, which can be hard to knit on wooden needles.)  I got it in 2016 at the LYS I worked at part-time -- the long-missed Crafty Lady in Lacombe, Alberta, which closed in February 2020, because the owner went online and on the road.  She's now retired altogether.)  Sigh.  I still miss that place!

I'm focusing on those for the moment, but there are several more items in project bags that are lined up...just waiting to be worked on (or may finished) -- not to mention the bags of projects that are on the "Start Me, Please!" list, kitted up with yarn and patterns, waiting for time and needles to be available to start them!

On the quilting front, I've made or prepped all the units for the "Old Town" Mystery 2024/5 from Bonnie Hunter.  I've only enough of the fabric for 20 of the called-for 25 blocks, which is fine; it'll make a nice-sized throw, or perhaps something a bit bigger.

So...I've made 5 blocks thus far, and they all look something like this:

"

I'm using "dusty" turquoise, red-brown or rust, pale grey or grey-white, and very pale peachy fabric.  The photos of some of the units might show this better:

Flying Geese for the inner star

Fabric for the central square-in-a-square

I really like the blocks - but the sashing and the borders are too "busy" for my taste, so I'll be simplifying those accordingly.  To each her own, eh? 😉

While constructing these blocks, I continue to make small "Easy Breezy" blocks as my leaders-and-enders project.  I've got 154 finished and plan to do another 14, so I can make a throw that's 12 blocks wide and 14 long.  Each block being 4" finished, that'll produce a top -- before borders -- that's 48" x 56" long, and borders will take it up to a nice throw size -- 54" or so by 62" or so.

Although this has been my focus this month, next month I've vowed to the Quilting Gods that I'll return to the Celtic Knot project and get those last 7 blocks made -- ones that are extras to "up-size" the top from queen to king-sized, as requested. 

Quilting takes up a good chunk of the afternoon -- and then I usually head out for a walk, depending on the weather.  On my return, and on into the evening, it's time for cross-stitch.

I'm still working on The Swan Sampler which, as I mentioned in my last post has been a very enjoyable stitch -- but it wasn't a good choice for a Blessing Sampler, one that is to be started and finished in January, in order to "bless the year ahead".  Ah well -- I'm still enjoying it and have made steady progress, even if it's not close to being finished!

Pattern: "The Swan Sampler"
Designer - Birgit of The Wishing Thorn
Using the called-for threads (DMC & Kreinik)
2 over 2 on 30-count mystery linen

As a palate cleanser of sorts, I finished two small pieces.  The first, "Winter Gingham", I started a year ago (January is a month of "startitis" after all!):

"Winter Gingham"
Designer: Ruth Sparrow Gendron
Publisher: "Twisted Threads"
Kit fabric - 28-count Cream/Natural Gingham
2 over 2 with DMC floss from stash

This is the last of a trio that included "Fall Gingham" and "Summer Gingham". Why there was no "Spring", I've no idea.  I bought them -- with the fabric -- on sale from Traditional Stitches in Calgary a good twenty years ago -- it's not even in their online inventory any more!  I haven't finished them, but they might make cute pillows, or an insert in a journal cover or something. They were just fun to stitch. 😊 

Then there's this little piece that I started in December as a possible Xmas gift (changed my mind).  Some days it really suits my mood! LOL!

"Say You Have"
Designer: Brenda Gervais
2 over 2 on 28-count
Antique White lugana
Floss from stash

Next month I'll be taking up a new start, to honour the fact that in February, fifty years ago, my love and I announced our engagement.  More on that later, so stay tuned!

That's really all my news for now -- at least, in this space.  I remain closely attuned to what's happening in the Wider World, and may speak on that here some other time.  Meanwhile, I take refuge in fabric, fibre, floss and colour -- trying to live out Deanne Fitzgerald's recommendation -- to create beauty every day.

I'll leave you with my usual link to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  She's got the winter 'greys'...and could probably use a visit -- and a hug!

Till next time...a bientot!