Summer Solace

 In a few days, the Northern Hemisphere will mark it's year's longest day, and the Southern, it's shortest.  Another year, another solstice.  

Thus far, I've been enjoying the lengthening days -- especially the early morning light, because, being a "lark" by nature, mornings are my best time.  By 6 p.m. I'm ready to pack in the day, most days -- even if it's still light here till after 10 p.m.

The challenge to enjoy a Summer of Slow and Quiet continues, but I think I might be making a bit of progress in the "quiet" aspect of that objective, being up early with coffee, while most of the hamlet around me is still sleeping -- ahhhhhhh.....

The garden is burgeoning with beauty, and most of the seedlings are now in the ground. 

Irises along my east wall

"Brown Pot" with baccopa and pansies

Looking south at the long "west bed"
-- full of lilies (yet to bloom), daisies
and lupins

Cherry tomato seedlings now 'grounded'
with the hollyhock to supervise...

The dandelions have died back on the East Lawn, and white clover -- aka Dutch clover -- is appearing.  This is good news, because it means that the soil is gradually improving and being improved by what's growing on it, not sown by me but by Mother Nature.  I'm not aiming for a lawn-full (any more than I want a lawn full of dandelions!); rather, I want to end up with a lovely mix of plants and grass that has colour and texture.  

I've been spending some time clearing long grass round my assorted trees -- in part to remove suckers (the lilac, willows, honeysuckle and Mountain Ash all produce them!), in part to give me space for transplanting some of those lupins and daisies (!) and in part to show off what I want to keep growing there, such as the Northern Bedstraw around the base of the Mountain Ash:

Northern Bedstraw 
-- the white flowering plant in the foreground

I have to keep the grass looking "kempt" or the County will come down on me.  Its officers are of the "golf green" fan club, and are affronted by anything that looks the least "unkempt".  😉

In the process of "kempting" the area, I've discovered there are dandelions, and then there are dandelions!!  I've been removing ones that I find growing where I don't want them, many of which I describe as "Big Ugly" because of their huge leaf-span and tendency to appear in clusters.  You have to try to get all you can of the root, because any wee bit left in the ground will produce a new one before you can say "Summer Soltice"!  That said, some of these roots are not only thick but long, and I've gone down at least 6" to try to capture them all.  Rarely do I succeed, but I did get this one yesterday.  It must have been 12" from tip to tip!

Now that's a dandelion!

All of this, of course, is an attempt to create Outdoor Studio II -- aka Outdoor Studio East -- another part of my property in which I can sit and stitch or read or nap, however the spirit and/or the muse moves!  

Right now it's best used in the early part of the morning -- before 11 a.m. -- as the sun moves around behind the trees and up into the sky over head.  (Once the sun moves farther west, there's no shade and it can become quite uncomfortable.) 

Pookie and I tested it out a few days ago, as I worked on some hand-stitching accents to finish off "Praire On My Mind"...

Miss Pookie surveys her 'cat-dom'

Truth be told, there's been precious little else done on the quilting front of late.  Last week I did manage to get 'Frolic!' bound, washed and mailed off to its new home (it should arrive today or early next week)...

Frolic's finish photo
Pattern: Bonnie Hunter - Mystery 2019

There's been, instead, some reading, some spinning, some hand-stitch and, of course, always knitting -- especially more socks for wee ones!

This pair is for Baby-to-Be-Soon
(due in August) -- cousin of Emme
who's getting these socks.

These are for baby Theo

This one will become two -- a pair for Theo's
big sister, Olivia.

One of our church's younger parishioners has just become a new mum, and has agreed to "2 or 3 pair" of socks for her little fellow, so once Olivia's are off the needles, there'll be new ones shaping up for Nicklaus!

Caring for the yard and garden, taking up my stitching/spinning/the knitting...solace, 'soul-ace' at the solstice.  May you enjoy the same, wherever these days find you.  

NOTE: Even as I link this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday, she's reported that her family is still in emergency mode.  I hope and pray that she and her loved ones will find peace and comfort -- and pressure eased -- soon!

A Bit More to Share

Since my last post, I've found more quilty goodness to share! 

First, the two small comfort quilts I mentioned are quilted, labelled, bound and washed -- ready to box up and mail tomorrow:

"Bali Sunrise" is going to an elderly friend from church...

Pattern: "Bali Sunrise" QAYG
from a class at Freckles Quilt Shoppe,
Calgary, 2008
Finally finished in 2021!!

And this variation on a Disappearing 9-patch is going to a friend living with MS...

Pattern source: Quilting Daily
Designer: Vivika Hansen DeNegre, 2012
Made from 4" charm squares and 2" scrap squares

And yesterday, I picked up my version of Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Mystery Quilt, "Frolic!"  I've now trimmed it, so must create the binding, bind it and wash it so I can send it off to my friend for her up-coming birthday...

Pattern: "Frolic!"
Designer: Bonnie Hunter - 2019

For reasons unknown to me (!), I have a bazillion assorted units left over, so may use them upin the binding.  Despite the photo, the pink of the backing hanging out there (before it was trimmed!) is a bit more "peachy" than the pinks used in the top, so I won't be using it.

And a note for my friend Jenny Lyon...I give you the view I saw on the road to the acreage owned by my long-arm quilting friend, Sylvia, and her hubby -- in walking distance from Buffalo Lake, just a bit north of here...

That Sky!*

Just off Lakebend Road
May 29, 2021

*Yes, I'm taking photos and collecting ideas...there will be art pieces...

Linking (again) to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday. May there be sunshine and blessings for you all in the week ahead.  😊

A Bit More of Everything

 I'm still working on Everything All at Once -- but never fear, Gentle Readers -- I am pacing myself!  😃  And of course, what comprises "everything" is evolving over time.  

First, what's finished?!

"Frolic!", that's what!  Yes...I've finished the top for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery from 2019.  It's double-bed size -- 86" square -- and I'll have it quilted by my long-arm friend, Sylvia Sawyer at Windwood Long-arm Quilting just up the highway.  I found the perfect location from which to photograph it on Monday this week, in the February sunshine:

I'm rather non-plussed that it turned out so well, but then again, Bonnie's patterns always make my shoddy piecing look fabulous.  One goof: I applied the borders with the blue side of the arrowheads next to the top itself, rather than the pink.  It made positioning the corner-stones a challenge, but...I just went with what pleased me, and in the end, it'll all work out!

What continues?  

Well..."Grassy Creek", Bonnie Hunter's 2020 Mystery -- but now I have 9 blocks finished and 1 nearly there.  That's more than 1/2 the number needed for the size I'm making.  

And..."Traffic Jam", that scrappy free pattern from Pat Sloan  that my friend A. shared with me.  It now has enough 6-patch units for borders on two sides!

Shown here: centre block plus layout for border on right side.

It takes 11 of these units to go down each side, and each unit has six 2 1/2" squares.  Then there'll be the top and bottom borders -- each of which will take 11 units PLUS "corner-stones", which are really 9-patch units...so that's a lot of scraps!  Of course, because of how they breed, I'm not really noticing much difference in the sewdio...Sigh.

Sock knitting continues too.  I'm well on my way down the foot of the second sock for the February Socks from Stash challenge, but I Must Knit Faster to ensure I finish by Sunday evening!!

And what's new?

In the Knitting Department, I've cast on a Comfort Wrap for a friend who's recently been diagnosed with cancer....

Pattern: Simple Comfort Wrap
Designer: Lisa Santoni Cromar
Yarn: Diamond Luxury Collection "Tafi"
-- 60% alpaca, 40% silk
Colour-way: 7594 - "Mesa" (red on red)

It's a simple enough pattern repeat, but somehow, every once in a while I drop a YO (Yarn Over) here and there; I've already had to TINK (KNIT backwards) at least twice to get it right!   I really must slow down so I can finish this faster... 😉

In the Art Department...this week there's a new "finish" and a second piece underway.

For several weeks I've been 'auditing' a class in mark-making on paper and fabric, taught online by Canadian textile artist Susan Purney Mark.  I've met Susan and took a short session with her in person at a SAQA Western Canada Regional Retreat a few years ago.  Before that, when I was a Co-Rep for our region, she taught a workshop for us in Calgary. I enjoy her work and have one of her small pieces  in my home.  

Her workshop,"Cloth to Codex" (usually taught in person but not this year!) has been an interesting program.  Even though I am not fond of working on paper or making books, and not an enthusiastic 'mark maker' either, the substrate of the work is inspiring.  One of Susan's practices is asemic writing which I really like -- but I like *actual* cursive writing even more and so...

On Tuesday I dug out a stretched linen "canvas", and made this:

The Thing with Wings II
8" x 10" (unframed)
Pitt Pen, machine thread-painting

I reprised my piece for the SAQA Benefit Auction in 2020, entited The Thing with Wings, inspired by the poem on hope, written by Emily Dickenson.  First, I wrote the poem out on the "canvas".  Next, I sketched the tree on the back of the 'canvas' and outlined it in free-motion thread painting. That took some doing, because in order to get the stretched piece under my needle I had to remove the foot and the needle from the machine -- and put it all back together in order to stitch!  

I cut a piece of mat board and inserted it in the back of the stretcher bars to support the linen, and will have the piece put in one of my favourite 'floater frames.  I like it very much, and have hopes it will show and sell at the Lacombe Art Show and Sale this year, which is booked for the last weekend in May.

Then yesterday (Thursday) I started another new piece.  It's inspired by a photo taken by my talented daughter, Gina, which she included for the month of February, in a 2021 calendar she gave me comprised of her photography.  A few years back she purchased a glass 'ball' that she uses in her work, and she used it to take a photo of a tree in the vicinity of the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta, where she lives.

I took inspiration from that round image, blue on blue, and from some thoughts I've been pondering in recent weeks, about the 'little blue planet' on which we live.  The tree in her photo inspired my creation of a similar 'Tree of Life' image, and the circular image, my creation of a kind of globe.  The working title is "And She Saw That It was Good".

Here is my first draft:

I looked at it, let it sit for a bit, and decided it required a bit of tweaking.  Here's my second draft.  

Can you tell what I did?

Self-dyed and commercial cottons
Fused applique
Approx. 15" x 23" before quilting

Here's a close-up of the motif...

There's still quite a bit to do to finish it, but I'm letting it 'percolate' now.  Eventually it will be finished with a facing as a soft piece with a sleeve-and-dowel hanging system.

It was so warm earlier this week that I found myself outside on my back stoop, stitching in the sunshine!  I put a cushion on the little chair I keep out there, and wore my Harris Tweed cape over a couple of layers, and was fine.  My hands didn't even get cold!  

I spent most of that time stitching down the facing on the back of "On the Straight and Narrow".  Now all it needs is a sleeve!

Today, however, we're right back into February weather, with snow flurries and gusty winds.  It'll be a good day for assembling those 6-patches into a border and attaching them to "Traffic Jam"!  

Later on, I'll curl up with some of my knitting, and -- oh yeah!  -- do the suggested reading for an online Lenten Retreat I'm taking online at 2 p.m. tomorrow, and for the following 2 Saturdays.  Whether you're registered for a spiritual retreat or one that will find you exploring new artwork, as Nina Marie is this weekend, it pays to be prepared!  I'll leave you with a link to her Off the Wall Friday -- and wish you all a weekend filled with creative blessings.  😊

Everything All At Once

Have you ever wished you had several sets of hands, feet and eyes -- and maybe even a couple of brains -- so you could tackle all you wanted to do, everything -- at once?  

That's been the feeling under which I've been operating for almost two weeks now: a sense that I've got to finish these socks!  And I've got to make these art pieces!  And I've got to finish these quilt tops! And I've got to start new ones!  And I've got to finish this sweater -- formerly a UFO!  And I've got to go to town for supplies!  And I've got to go for a walk!  And...and...and..

I've had to remind myself, per the new cross-stitch piece in my hoop:

"I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something."

It's a design from Lizzie*Kate, created in 2017, and I've had the kit for a while.  She's one of my favourite designers, but has now retired, so I treasure the few patterns I have in my collection.   It was inspired by a project she'd taken on to supply stoves to homes in Guatemala, where women had been killed or injured seriously by cooking over open fires inside their homes.

When I think of the piles of scraps I want to turn into tummy time quilts and small throws for the new moms in the Stepping Stones program, or the art pieces I want to make for SAQA's two annual auctions or...or...or...I am reminded by this phrase that I can, indeed do something -- but having only one pair of hands, one pair of feet and one brain, I'll have to be content to do one thing at a time!

I mix it up a bit, but in the last week I've found myself heading to the sewdio with my morning coffee for a spate of cutting, piecing and/or designing -- before breakfast, before checking the weather, before turning on the computer.  And while I'm doing one thing -- quilting -- during that time, I'm not working on only one project! 😄

It's paying off!

First, I've managed to design, create, finish and mail off two art pieces -- the first landscapes in almost a year!

After the memorial service for my cousin near the end of last month, I knew I wanted to make something for his widow, something pretty, something that would (I hoped) bring comfort and peace.  Inspired by something else altogether, I was looking through my drapery/upholstery fabric and found several light, thin drapery samples that reminded me of landscapes.  Their home is on the northeast coast of New Brunswick; I looked up the location, and found a photo of a nearby beach, which gave me inspiration for this matted mini:

"Find a Quiet Spot"  (c) 2021

The same piece of fabric -- the pieces are long and narrow -- provided just what I needed to make a piece the same size for SAQA's 2021 Spotlight Auction.  The fabric tends to fray easily.  When putting together my matted piece, I stay-stitched all around the sides before mounting it.  However, I wasn't sure simple straight stitching would hold up well for a trip in the mail -- unmatted! -- so I closely zig-zagged the edges.  I'll confess I'm not all that great at zig-zagging edges...but SAQA insisted on having a photo that showed them, so here it is:

"Spring Run-off"  (c) 2021

And here's what I hope it will look like once it's placed in a mat, hiding both the edges and my signature... 😊

Whole-cloth recycled drapery fabric,
machine quilted, thread-painted.

Having exhausted my artistic output for the moment (!), I turned back to piecing, using up my ever-multiplying scraps...

First I returned to Bonnie Hunter's mysteries and "Frolicked" around "Grassy Creek" most of this week.  Checking my blog posts, I see that the last time I mentioned them at all was a month ago, when I was working on Clue #6 of "Grassy Creek" -- making a gazillion string-pieced blocks. I've finished them now -- forty of them for the size of quilt I want -- and have started adding little "wings" to each end, as per the pattern.  This process is a bit finicky, so after completing ten of these, I decided I needed a break.

Clue #7 -- the "reveal" -- has been out for a while now; I wanted to see what the main block would look like in the fabrics I'd selected.  As of this morning, I've completed five of them, with a sixth under construction.  

I have to say I really like these!

As for "Frolic!" -- I'm proud to say that at last I'm about to attach the fourth arrow-head border.  Then the top will be finished!!  (That said, it's so large that I can't photograph it in the house.  Not sure that doing so in the snow is a good idea, though; I'll think about it!)

"Frolic!" from Bonnie Hunter -- 
the fourth border and corner-stones...

As if that weren't enough...I started a new top! 

My friend A. and I have been motivating each other this winter, as both of us are on a quest to finish UFOs and use up our stashes and scraps.  To that end, she referred this pattern with me -- Traffic Jam, designed by Pat Sloan.  If you purchase the pattern, you get information for several sizes -- but you can get the simple blocks-and-borders pattern gratis -- and make as many blocks as you want, change up the borders and/or sashing, whatever.  

That's the route I've chosen: nine blocks, finishing at 12", plus sashing and borders to end up at 56" square.  It calls for 2.5" squares and, thanks to Bonnie H. and her "Scrap User's System", lo and behold, I had a collection already cut from assorted project left-overs!  I found yardage of a lovely neutral in my "inheritance" fabric and was off to the races!  I started this...Tuesday?  And have 7 of my nine blocks made. 

Pinned to my design wall -- in layers!

I used up all the light/medium squares I had, and most of the dark ones, so I'll have to get at my scrap bin to make more -- especially if I decide I want the scrappy border per the pattern.  Depending on what I do about borders, it should finish at about 56" square, which I can quilt myself, and which will be added to my charity collection for later this year.

As for knitting...You may recall that I made several pair of baby socks in November and December.  Well!  The grandma of one of the babes advised me that Big Brother -- a toddler of about two years of age -- would like a pair too, please!  Colour requests?  Blue, pink and white.  Hmmmm....I tracked down some deep pink, navy and a bit of off-white, and put them together thus:

Pattern: Plain Jeanne Socks (used for sizing)
Designer: Audrey Lavoie
Yarn: assorted left-overs

The colour sequence was suggested to me by a friend online -- one of the moderators of the Socks from Stash group on Ravelry.  She calls is "1-2-3" -- 1 row of Colour A, 2 of Colour B, 3 of Colour A, and repeat.  Because I had a request for a third colour, I simply adapted it, and it turned out!  There are ends to sew in, of course, but with so few rows between colours, you can carry them up at the back and then later, along the foot, so there aren't as many ends as you might think.

As I finished those I recalled that cousins of mine in Quebec told me at Xmas that they were expecting another grandchild in 2021.  I checked and sure enough!  Any day now -- and it's supposedly a girl.  

So...I'm now about 1/2-way into the body of a very cute baby cardigan which I'm making in the largest size (1 year) because this Baby #4 for the parents in question, and grandma tells me "all of [their] babies start off big and grow quickly!"

As for the pullover I mentioned in my last post, I'm well along on the first sleeve, headed toward the arm-hole shaping.  And I've finished my first sock for the February challenge in the Socks from Stash group, and am about 1/2-way down the leg of the second:

 Unlike the ones from December, these ones fit, they're comfy, and I like the colour-way -- so they are keepers!

Well, now, Gentle Readers...you're all caught up on the whirlwind in my cozy corner of the Alberta prairie.  I've been holding family and friends in Texas in my heart because while we up here can handle a Polar Vortex, they've had a terrible time handling temps a fraction as cold, and snow a fraction as deep.  I hope their power and water are restored soon, and that the Powers That Be will take a page from Canada's winter management playbook -- or maybe just from Minnesota, the Dakotas and other mid-western states -- and make reparations so this won't happen again!

How are the rest of you staying safe and warm, if it's wintry where you are?  Nina Marie is planning a trip to a museum to see some artwork.  Museums and art galleries in these parts are closed in this province, as we grapple with bringing our COVID case numbers down -- and that's happening slowly but surely.

Still, she asks readers to share their favourite are museums/galleries.  Two of mine are in Edmonton: the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Royal Alberta Museum.  Alas, both are indeed closed for the moment, so I'm not planning a trip up the highway any time soon!  "Virtual exhibits" -- and my collection of coffee-table art books -- will have to suffice for the time being.

Before I head out for my afternoon walk I'll leave you with the link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday, where you share plans for your next real-life museum/gallery visit, however far off in the future it may be.  Stay well, stay safe, and stay cozy!

Bedding and Beading

My artistic mojo has been a bit so-so since my last post.  I've been feeling compelled to plug away at the "Frolic!" mystery that Bonnie Hunter introduced in November.  I wanted to get it to a point where I had all the "moving" parts and could assemble it a bit at a time.

Why?  Because it's an elephantine-sized quilt.  How does one eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!  So...I've been trying to put the "meal" together in order to do that!

Those who follow this blog might recall that at the beginning of this month I'd come down with a serious case of "start-itis".  It has abated somewhat...because I've been working at what I started.  With respect to "Frolic!", here's where I am:

Clue 6 - DONE!

Clue 7 - DONE!

Clue 8 - All pieces cut!

Now...see that row-and-a-bit of squares?  Those have now been put into 4-patches with the blue-and-aqua Half-Square Triangles (HSTs) from the top photo (Clue 6)...and these from Clue 1:

And those four-patches PLUS the rest of Clue 6 are -- as of this post -- being assembled into 25 quilt blocks, each of which should finish at 12" square.

Considering that some of my art pieces for sale are each 12" square, well!  For me, those are BIG blocks!  For the record, I have five (5) assembled (no photos yet).

In other "bedding" news...I've cobbled together the last few rows of blocks for the centre of my postage stamp quilt, and hope to put the entire top together over the course of the next month...or so.

But there are other commitments...

And that brings me to "beading".

In my last post, I asked for feedback about beading both the 'sample' and the second piece.  Each of them were inspired by photos taken of trees in my yard in December, when we had a lovely bout of hoarefrost.

The general consensus was"BEAD!" -- both pieces.

So on Saturday, I did.  The first piece (shown here without the beads) was really my 'sample' and...sure enough, it finished too small (by fractions of inches) to be submitted to the SAQA Spotlight Auction fund-raiser.  BUT not so small that I can't have a mat cut for it and offer it for sale as a 'mini' at the Lacombe Art Show & Sale in April!

I love it when that happens!  😊




The second piece was larger -- mainly because the piece of hand-dyed fabric I had for the background was larger to start with -- so I beaded it too...and now it has been submitted to SAQA for the fund-raiser:

When I Look Up: December
Hand-dyed cotton, ink-jet printed from a tracing;
machine quilted, painted, hand-beaded.
Size: 6" x 8" -- to be matted
with a 4" x 6" opening

My dear friend who bought my piece entitled When I Look Up in the Spring has said she'll be bidding. Much as I'd love her to win it, I hope there's healthy competition!  😉

In other 'art' news...I got a chance to photograph the six remaining pieces from the "Inspired by Scotland" collection, currently hanging at the Alix Public Library and yes, available for purchase.  The librarian has to hang them up high based on the configuration of the space, but they still attract attention.  Look up.  Look 'wa-a-a-ay up!

Abbey Echoes I

(L) - Mended Wall: Stirling Castle
(R) View from Eilean Donan: Loch Duich

(L) Impressions of Portree
(Centre) Blossoms: Gardens at Clan Donald House
(R) Loch View: Inverness to Eilean Donan

And...this week our County Councillor called to tell me that someone from The County News would be in touch with me in March about my being chosen as "Featured Artist" for the Lacombe "Encore!" Art Show and Sale in April.

On the knitting front, where the "startitis" really hit...I've been dyeing yarn!  Some months ago, in a bag of yarn donated to The Shop, there were batches of unusual skeins of 100% wool -- 2-ply! from two different (and very long-ago) makers -- Munrospun "Morning Haze" in a natural colour (sorry, no photo) and Patons...

There was very little difference between the two.  Both were 100% wool.  Both were 2-ply.  And both were put up in skeins of long "sub-skeins", 28 grams each.  BUT the "Munrospun had been dyed an ugly old gold.

Y'all know I prefer magentas, blues, purples, hot pinks, teals...jewel tones.  So...what to do?  Dig out the dye!

A number of years ago now (maybe 8 or 10?)  I bought some acid dyes from the original owner of Pam's Woolly Shop of Stony Plain, Alberta -- now retired (her shop was bought by a long-time employee and is now known as Jo's Yarn Garden.  If you're in the area you might check it out!)

I bought it at a retreat where Pam had a 'pop-up' shop...and at a discount because it was 'old stock' even then.

Old wool yarn.  Old dye powder.  What did I have to lose?  Nothing...and everything...

So I dyed the entire batch -- 4 skinny skeins of 28 grams each (112 grams total) -- a Crimson...

The results?  The colour is deep, rich and glorious! Even over that ugly gold!

So...I sampled from partial skeins (about 10 - 11 grams each) of the natural-coloured Patons 2-ply fingering

:

Preparing the sample dye stock: Scarlet, Golden Yellow,
Warm Yellow and Turquoise

Four samples in four dye-baths...
in ONE pot of simmering water

As you can probably surmise by now, this is a process that requires heat.  I have done it in second-hand pots never used for food, on my kitchen stove.  I wear a mask to prepare the dye powder and water intial mix, but after that, all is well.  I use tongs to lift and stir -- never used for food.  And I can put this on heat and go about my day, checking in from time to time.  This is ACID Dyeing...and I use vinegar as my acid.  I dye till the dye bath is clear or almost so...and neutralize with baking soda -- testing with Ph strips I bought at the local pharmacy.  In the summer I would "sun dye" because the heat of the sun would work beautifully...but there are no excuses for not dyeing at -35 C outside...when you have a cozy kitchen and the right equipment!

What will I do with the results, you might ask.  I have long wanted to recreate one of the 'percentage system' pullovers designed by the inimitable Elizabeth Zimmerman, so...from her book Knitting Around I have chosen her "Seamless Yolk Sweater" -- see her chapters two and three.  I have enough skeins of the "natural" Patons to make the body, and plenty of the dyed yarn for the coloured yoke, from which I have selected Scarlet, Golden Yellow, Turquoise, some of the natural...and I have some black (natural from another supplier) if I need it.

I've cast on 316 stitches in the natural colour on a 2.75 mm x 32" (24 cm) circular needle...and have managed almost 1" of 2:2 ribbing.  This will be a Long, Slow Project.  Sort of like running a marathon, without the blisters and the sweat!  😉

I think that's enough news for now...so I will leave you with a wish for a lovely week -- no matter the creative journey you're on -- and with a link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

Just think!  Next weekend at this time we'll be watching for ground hogs and their predictions for those in wintry climes...  Hugs to you all and have a great week!

A Serious Case of 'Startitis'

It happens every year around this time: I catch "startitis".  You know, the urge to start something new...but not just one 'something'.  No.  Multiple somethings! 

It hit me when I was roaming around YouTube, clicking on video podcasts from yarn shops.  The first one I looked up was at the recommendation of a customer who was in the Shop last week.  She and her daughter were joining a Mystery Knit-Along (MKAL) originating with the gals at Cozy Up Knits out of Grande Prairie (Alberta, not Texas; you can tell because of the "e" in "Grande" 😊)  I checked it out and decided to take a pass, but if you're interested, it's not too late to join in.  You can catch it on YouTube HERE.

Not so interested in the Cozy Up project, I checked out Must Love Yarn -- shop owners in Vermont, who have an hour-long (or so) video podcast.  No MKAL that I could see, but their friendly chatter is pleasant background entertainment for quilting or knitting or whatever.  From there I hopped to The Knot House Podcast -- another video podcast from a yarn shop: this time, from Maryland.  These clips last only about 1/2 hour, which I found just right, because I can use them as timing devices.

Say what? 

Well...one of the symptoms of startitis is that not only do you have to start multiple new projects, but also you find yourself compelled to work on each one all at once.  Having a 20-to-30-minute video to enjoy while you work makes it easier to do this -- especially if you have a series of video 'casts lined up that you've never seen, so you can watch them one after the other.  You simply spend one video's worth of time working on one project; when that 'cast ends, you switch projects!  You have an opportunity to get up and stretch -- get more coffee or a glass of water or whatever -- and move to The Next New Thing. 

Pattern: Stepping Stones - Clara Parkes
Yarn: Jawoll Magic Degrade
Colour #85.0074

There could be one fly in this ointment, though.  I've been commissioned by my daughter to make a pair of socks as a birthday gift for one of her friends.  I have to have them finished within the next ten days or so, to get them into the mail to my daughter on time for the birthday gift exchange near month-end. 

Uh-oh.  They're not a New Thing.  I began them a few days before Xmas.  😞

But wait!  I finished the first sock of the pair last night!  That means I can start the second sock today.  And technically, I could consider the second sock a New Thing!  Reprieved!

So...start it I did.  As well as starting a Plain Vanilla sock in an old yarn from stash -- because, yes, when startitis hit, I rejoined "Socks from Stash" as a way to satisfy some of the urges, while simultaneously using up stash yarn.  And that's a Good Thing! 

Yarn: Fortissima Colori "Socka Color" - Colour-way: 9070.
Pattern: my adaptation of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Good Plain Sock" from her book, Knitting Rules. 


Between the two pair of socks -- and the latest two clues in Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Mystery Quilt, and the fact that I've resolved to start at least 2 new art quilts come Monday (January 6 being the official end of my self-imposed "holidays") -- you'd think my startitis would be cured...or at least tamped down! 

But no.

One more thing.  I needed one more thing.  After all, the birthday sock was really only Somewhat New, and the Mystery quilt has been going on since American Thanksgiving (near the end of November) so...yes.  One more thing.


The gals on the Knot House podcast had me looking at patterns they'd made up for their shop, including Eowyn Mittens by NeedleRogue, and "Bonjour/Hi" from Espace Tricot (yes, the shop in Montreal that I couldn't get to when I was there in June because it was closed for some sort of emergency). 

Smitten by both, with thanks that they were free patterns that suited yarn I own, I've downloaded them. But...I was also reminded I needed to look at my Ravelry Queue.  And there, near the top (for ages) was a Nora Gaughan pattern I'd lined up -- with the yarn, a cotton in shades of red -- the "Rhodocrosite" wrap from her Volume 7 collection.  I'll be using "Lara", a cotton yarn from elann.com's Endless Summer Collection, colour #335...bought in another place (Calgary) in another time.  Both the pattern and yarn had been lined up for far too long.  It was time for them to be used!

As a result of this hefty dose of New Things, I've managed to put my startitis under control.  With the ongoing quilt mystery, and new artwork on tap for Monday, I should recover nicely by mid-month, don't you think?  😉

I'll close with a few photos from the quilty side of things...

First...from the Mystery Quilt project:

Clue 4 finished

Clue 5 finished

Clue 6 -- in process!

And...some photos I'm considering as inspiration for new art work...to be sorted and printed and planned out come Monday...

And there are more to come.  I've got a SAQA 2020 Spotlight Auction piece to create, and then a series of small pieces (6" square up to 12" square) plus another larger piece -- painted whole cloth, already auditioned...

So you can see I won't lack for New Things to keep my startitis at bay!  How about you?  Do you suffer the same affliction at this time of year?  Or ever?  Let me know how it affects you...and what you do about it!

I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday...and turning my attention to casting on that Nora Gaughan pattern through a third episode from the Knot House.  Later there'll be another walk in the winter wonderland that surrounds my wee hamlet.

Here's to startitis, to inspiration, to New Things in a New Year!  May we all be so blessed!