Upholstery Needles

I got a parcel yesterday that I was sort of excited about.  

When I got the little Zoom loom, and once I had used it to make the first squares, I was pretty certain that I wanted a needle that could do what the needle of the little Zoom Loom does, for my larger pin loom.  It was just a matter of figuring out what sort of needle would be long enough to get across my loom in one weave.  

I discovered that there is such a thing as an upholstery needle.  I thought a ten inch one would work so that was what I was looking for.  I bought a package of four upholstery needles from Dritz with sizes of 6, 8, 10 and 12 inch needles.  That was my exciting package.

I took out the yarn I was playing with the other day.  Patons sadly discontinued Hempster.  I wanted to try it on the larger pin loom to see how it would work doubled.  

I warped the loom and I think the yarn is going to be fine.  The pin loom is a ten inch loom so that was the needle I started with.

It very quickly became apparent that I needed a longer needle so it could reach beyond the loom.  The ten inch needle was stuck with both tip and end at the same point at the nails and I needed to push it past the nails with a flat end screw driver to be able to grasp it to get it through the warp rows.  I was very happy that I had that 12 inch needle.

It took no time at all to weave a few rows and 

 

After this, I picked it up and did a few rows whenever my hands were not otherwise occupied and I have only 4 rows or so left to weave.

The needles were absolutely the right option for speedy weaving.

More of the same

More black shirt sewing today.  I have taken it all the way to the hems.  And buttons and button holes of course.  I am going to have to have a major buttonhole day shortly.  I have a yellow blouse from last year, my first time sewing the Tarawi shirt pattern from Muna and Broad and these last couple of Waikere shirts.  I think that I will do the buttonholes when my button hole thingy comes, which shouldn't be too much longer.  For 15 bucks, it could be a very nifty tool.  

Once I finished that up for the day, I did a bit more playing with my zoom loom.  That was my day punctuated by a nap.  I didn't really mean to nap but I just couldn't keep my eyes open so I pulled out my big Shetland shawl and leaned back against a pillow and there I was napping.  I haven't done that for quite a while and it was kind of nice.  

But, like usual, it is nearing bedtime, and I am feeling ready for my sleep.  Gosh I wish my day had been filled with knitting.  I miss it so.

Fooling Around Things

Sewing proceeded as expected today.  It is going slower than the last one though.  This one is very light cotton that is black and is sewn with black thread. It is a bit harder on the eyes than navy blue floral. 

I pinned the collar on but did not sew it in place.  It is probably the most complex thing about this shirt and has a lot of pins and starts and stops.  It turns out so beautifully though so I don't mind it.  I just have to go slowly.

After lunch, I sat down and played around on my zoom loom.  I rediscovered some leftover skeins of Patons Hempster, a yarn that I made a really lovely summer top with a few years ago.  It is a supposed DK weight yarn, but the off skein size of the yarn is so close to fingering, that I decided to see how it would work on the little loom.  

Not too bad, but it was so much more difficult to weave than a nice stretchy wool that I don't think I will do it often.  This yarn does make a lovely dishcloth.  My swatch for the top is currently performing as a dishcloth, so I think this will go to the larger pin loom to be doubled and made into dishcloths.  

There was a bit of goofing off with wool too but I thought I should give my hand a break.  No pain or even feeling it at all, so maybe I will be knitting next week.  If I can it will be the most thrilling thing imaginable.

Even so, the sewing must go on.  I am making a dent in the large pile of fabric I have but there still are quite a few things I need and even more that I want.  The painter clothes wardrobe will soon be a thing of the past, I hope..  Even if I get back to knitting, the sewing must go on.  That is a good thing though.  Mornings for sewing and afternoons for knitting sound quite perfect to me.  Good for the hands.

Mixed Bag of Things.

It was chilly in the house today.  Or rather, the house was its usual temperature, but I felt chilly.  I was wearing a thick wool vest and a turtleneck shirt and had socks and a scarf around my neck.  I was also wearing my wristwarmers and mittens over the top of those.  I was still chilly, so I put my lovely Shetland shawl on.  It wasn't enough.  

I asked Keith if I could borrow the toque that I knit him a few years ago.  He wears it when he is blowing snow and I thought it should be easy to find.  He couldn't find it so he brought me this.  

Yes.  That is what you see.  A Viking helmet with beard and mustache.  Keith said it is very warm and after experiencing it, I agree.  It made a difference.  It was a gift to him from Anthony and Olga and it was a hoot the year he got it for Christmas.  It comes out occasionally just for silliness.  This is that.  Silliness.  I am wearing it backwards though because that is how he plopped it on my head.  Keith then turned up the furnace a wee bit till I felt warmer.

I cut out fabric today and did the smallest bit of sewing.  It is going to be a second of the Muna and Brioad Waikere shirt pattern with short sleeves.  I love the casualness of this shirt and the ease of sewing it.  And comfortable.  It is quite perfect.

I also printed out a new pattern from my stable of cool things so I could make one to test it for fit. It is a Nullabor Cami.  It takes such a small bit of fabric that some of my leftovers and scraps could be turned into one of these.  I am looking for the perfect camisole to wear in summer under one of my lovely new summer shirts.  I am also considering this design to see if it could possibly be the basis for some new nightwear.  I have also seen the pattern as a black dress with an overdress in sheer vibrantly patterned chiffon.  It is that versatile of a design.

There will be sewing tomorrow and a little housekeeping.  I wish there could be knitting, but not yet.  I am keeping my head occupied by reading while I sew.  And while I set puzzles and did miniatures and so many other things.  I read 6 novels in January for my yearly NaJuReMoNoMo challenge read as many new to you novels as you can.  My favourite find was the Green Knowe stories.  I found a pack of the first three books on Audible and they were quite simply charming stories.  I read other stoires too, a Horowitz, a Penny, and a second Osman novel and loved them all, but towards the end, I was just feeling full of weightier books.  The Green Knowe books were the perfect end.  I am now reading another Daisy Dalrymple.  These are great cozy reads and there are quite a few available through Audible in their Plus program for members.  

What else I did.

This has been a long weekend somehow or other.  And while I would have much rather been knitting, I did something that was kind of fun too.  I was setting a puzzle.  

A couple years ago, I bought two puzzles for myself for Christmas.  I thought it would be something to do when I couldn't knit.  I am really glad I had them here to do this last couple days.  

I thought about sewing but I needed a break from that too.  I want to keep the shirts and pants turning out well, and not trying to rush is critical for me.  I can do it well, but I am just not naturally fussy.  If I go slow and do a bit each day, then it goes okay.  I have to stop the moment I think about rushing any single sewing task.  

Puzzles work nicely.  I did finish the one I had worked on for the last month, the very pretty general store picture.  Today I started another and did a good chunk of that one too.  Tomorrow is laundry day and I will cut out another something or other to sew.  It will likely be a shirt but you never know.  

In other news me wee brand new grandson is doing much better.  He had a case of the flu and he is still so tiny.  It was pretty rough on mom and dad and on wee Everett.  But he is better and is growing like a weed.  

I have a blanket to knit for him.  I have knit one for all his brothers but for Isaac, who came to be my grandson partly grown.  But I have a stash yarn in mind and I just need a design to knit.  Tomorrow will be fun.  Knitting soon.

There we Have It.

I no longer have a loom.  Well not a big loom anyway.  The loom which I purchased a few years ago, in a flurry of hope and pleasure, is gone to a new home with a lovely lady who will really enjoy using it.  I am not even a bit sad about it.

I still have the two pin looms and they will do just fine to make the things I will actually make with them.  I am already well under way in doing so.  I have made enough blanket squares to know that I like the speed of accomplishment with the little loom and with the two dishcloths now in service, made on the larger pin loom, I have the satisfaction of knowing that this is a thing I really like to use but hate to knit.  The loom is speedier and gets the job done even better than knitting them.

It is a sort of relief to have the space open.  Sort of.  It does mean that I will have less things piled oddly in my room and I can get to the yarn stash much more easily.  Easier access to the stash is always a very good thing.

The biggest plus in all of this is that I met someone new who is just a lovely person.  We had such a good hat about our creative pursuits.  She is a true artist having had a show at the St. Albert art gallery with a very positive public response.  She also quilts and does embroidery as well as weaving all sorts of things.  I am so glad it is going to love the loom as it deserves.  

It was a good day overall.  Just the way the days in February ought to be.  

Thread Chicken

There are some things that happen in knitting that I never really thought about as happening anywhere else.  But they do.  

This is sewing's version of yarn chicken.  It's called empty bobbin.  Thankfully this is on the back hem, so I will forget about it when it is in use.  It is an easy fix.

The blouse is a pretty standard version of Waikere, Muna and Broad's easy fit, drop shoulder shirt design.

The only small change I made was to add short sleeves.  The regular option has a really neat sleeve tab but I wanted a more proper sleeve for this shirt.  I took the long sleeve from View B and C and simply shortened it to a length that I liked.  I hope.  I haven't tried it on yet, but it is about double the length of the tab sleeve so I am confident that it is a good length.  

The only thing that is left is buttons and buttonholes.  After putting the sleeves on and sewing up side seams and doing all the hemming, I decided it was enough for one day.  Buttonholes are something that I always like to do when I am fresh and ready to go. It is far too easy to space them out wrong when you are tired.  Now, if I had one of those nifty button hole things...

Why don't I have one of those nifty button hole things?  

Forever my LYS.

 Somewhere in the last couple of days, I managed to cut out a shirt pattern.  The fabric I used was another light weight summer cotton, with a deep navy background and leaves in green and cream.  I have a dress that I sewed last summer in a very similar fabric.  

It is the most wonderful  fabric with a colour that really looks awful on me. It is too orange of a yellow.  I did get some positive comments when I was in hospital late last year.  Some of the ladies really admired the colour.  I was wearing it in place of a bathrobe, which I do not have and the dress suits the role perfectly.   It is light but easy to put on and long enough to cover fully.  I don't often wear it as a dress.  I have high hopes for the navy version though it is a blouse, not a dress.

 

I cut the other day.  Today I sewed all the way to sleeve time. That means this very nice  burrito roll yoke, the collar and the interfacings was all part of todays work.

I wanted to do more but you know how it is when all of a sudden, you know if you go one step farther, you are going to mess up something fierce?  It was only 11 a.m. but I knew it was time to stop there and leave the sleeves for tomorrow.  My eyes were tired and I just had the strongest feeling I was going to mess up.  

So it was time to invent a little something more to do.  I caught  up on knitting blogs and videos and worked on another Zoom Loom square.  I had one almost done in a half an hour.  These go fast.  It would be so easy to keep going but I had to stop lest I do too much and hurt my hand.  

I also heard that my favourite yarn store is changing.  River City Yarns .  Sigh.  They have meant so much to me that it is hard to explain.  They took me on when I desperately needed someone to believe in me that wasn't family and that wasn't someone anyone I knew had a connection with.  They took me on when I had only been knitting for a few months and trusted me and I will forever be grateful that they believed in me.  I came to believe in myself again.  Nothing that happened in my life since then would have been bearable without that.   They are closing the brick and mortar store and will be selling off all their stock.  I think they are going to keep on with other aspects of being knitting professionals but I am really going to miss their store.  I wish them well, whatever they chose to do and wherever they want to be.  I will always 💖 you River City Yarns.  Forever my LYS.

The thing About Knitwear

I have a lot of knitwear.  I have shawls and wraps and scarves and sweaters and socks and on and on.  If it can be made, I have or will soon be knitting it.  And I love it.  

When I started knitting, it was really for sweaters.  I wanted sweaters that fit me and I wanted warm.  Even if I hated knitting I would knit sweaters just to have something decent to wear that was warm.  I love my sweaters and among my stock of them, have favourites.  I love how some of the sweaters are workmanlike sturdy yarns and how some of them are so incredibly warm and light.  I love the heavy dense ones too.  They all get worn regularly.  

I love my scarves and shawls too.  I have been wearing a different one everyday to keep the chill off of my neck.  A good small shawl or large one, wrapped close a few times, is exactly the right note of cozy.  I have my small stash of fingerless mittens too and wear them all the time.  I used to just wear them to bed, but lately, I have been wearing them everyday.  My hands are chilly and the gloves make me so much more comfortable.  And then there are these.

These are usually in my car, coming into the house only in winter.  They normally hang out in my bag but some of my grandkids came overnight to keep my company when my boys were gone for my father in law's funeral.  It was a lovely warm night, a rare -4C and the kids wanted to play outside with the neighbour kids.  Marcus had forgotten his mittens so I gave him these and we tucked them into his coat sleeves so they would stay on.  His hands fit well, but the cuff was too big for him.  When they came in, the mittens were sopping wet.  Their coats and snow pants were dripping and needed to go into the dryer.  Mittens and hats went onto the registers to dry.

It was a few days till I remembered my mittens. I picked them up and put them on.  

I was so surprised.  The wet wool on Marcus' hot little hands and all the wet wool had caused the inside to felt just the smallest amount.  They are so delightfully cosy and fuzzy and soft.  They were already a really good warm pair of mittens, made as they are from Mule Spinner two ply from Custom Woolen Mills, but now they are even better.  Wonderful.  

Today was also laundry day.  Laundry included the first dishcloth I made on the larger of my two pin looms.  

After a good hot wash and dry with some towels, it is the perfect size.  I am really pleased with it and it makes me almost want to do dishes.  Maybe that is taking things too far.  I took a photo of it against the second dishcloth so you can see how it shrank and to show you the difference from the loom mounted cloth to the cloth ready for use.  

That is sort of what I ended up working on today.  A dishcloth.  To save my hand and to give it a good rest, I took lots of breaks and kept doing different things in short spurts. My hand is slowly feeling better and I would hate more than anything to hurt it again now.  

And that was my cozy warm day, hands in mittens, Ishbel close around my neck and a couple different sweaters worn through the day.  

And socks.  Always socks.

 

Endless Possibilities

I did all the things I planned to do.  This never happens.  It is also 5 a.m. and I don't write at this time of day, but I am wide awake and wish it was just a bit later.  This 5 o'clock business seems to be happening more than I would like.

But there are no photos and there wasn't really anything to say.  I was planning to write last night but I just didn't have much to say and then my son called and we talked for quite a while.  He had a bad day and needed to talk it out.  But that is his story and not mine.

I am not really sure what I will get up to today.  I may just read a book and maybe set a puzzle. Might sew the thing I cut out yesterday.  Might bake some buns.

The day has infinite possibilities.  How wonderful!

  

Zooming Along.

The weekend was for working with the zoom loom.  I am quite sure my experience with this loom will make my work on the larger pin loom better, faster and much much more rewarding.  

It took almost no time at all to work up a first square, maybe an hour and a half.  I picked it up and set it down a few times though, so I am not really sure.  It wasn't long.

There is a place where I missed a thread but it seemed to sort itself out and it was not worth taking apart to fix.  It is good enough for where it will eventually go.

By days end I had a wee packet of five squares.

I did a couple more today just to be certain I had the technique down pat.  Or close enough that the squares are not falling apart when I take them off the loom.  

This little loom really is the perfect thing for sock yarns.  I can see a huge array of colours resulting from my bits and ends of sock yarns.  I have tons of ends and it is nice to know that there is another little way to use the them up. I mean, I like monster socks (socks made with ends) but I like to use new colours and new yarns so that my socks are always interesting.  Repeating the same thing would be dull.

I have a feeling though that this little loom is never going to make squares that are the same and that each one is going to be unique.  I can already see that this is part of what makes this little thing fun.

Going back to my ten inch pin loom, the plan is that now that I have the technique soundly set in my head, to get back to it and make some dishcloths.  I set it down because the larger tools and yarn were hard on my hand and after the first cloth, I wanted to go slowly.  The first thing I want to do on that loom, is to mark the pegs into groups in the same way they are on the zoom loom.  Markings of groups is really going to help keep me on track and it will then be so much faster to warp and to do the actual weaving.  I also am going to get a long upholstery needle to do the weaving.  A finer but sturdy tool will make that go much faster and will be easier on my hand than the crochet type hook I am using now.  

It was a great weekend for experimenting and playing.  This week, though, I am looking forward to more sewing.  Lots of that to do before I am done, or tired of it.  And soon, maybe I can knit.

A Day of Delight

I put a big chunk of the day to sewing.  

First thing, I finished the edges on the lace part of my top.  

I had thought it would be hand work, but I decided yesterday evening, that what might work better and last longer, would be to bind the edges with some fabric.  

I think it worked out pretty well.  I am pleased with the whole top and I love how it looks on me.

And then I pulled out the new pattern and cut it out.

As you can see, this is pretty bright fabric, the better to break the winter doldrums.  Since I can't knit bright yarns...

I even did all the sewing on the interfacing pieces and am just about to iron on the interfacing I am using for the hem.  Yes, this is one of the things this top does just a bit differently.  It has hem facings, which will be a really great feature when it comes to the curved hems.

I would have done more of the sewing but by the time I stopped, my eyes really needed a break.  The will was there to keep going.  I was having a lot of fun, but it was time to stop so I had some tea and listened to my audio book.  

I am reading a book series written from 1954 to 1976 by Lucy M. Boston called the Green Knowe books.  I purchased the first three of the 6 books she wrote in the Green Knowe series from Audible in a collection of the first three.  

I first came across these stories on Amazon when I was looking for dvds, and it popped up in a list of British movies.  Julian Fellows adapted the second book, the Chimneys of Green Knowe to make the charming movie From Time to Time in 2009 with the wonderful Alex Etel playing Tolly, alongside an all star cast.  I utterly fell in love with the story and searched out the books.  I loved the movie, and I can honestly say that I wish I had read the books much much earlier in my life.  

They are so beautifully written and the stories...  It is just like that time reading Agatha Christie when I just had to pause midway in a novel to take in the way she used words.  Lucy M. Boston is a master.  You can see and feel Tolly as he worries about crossing the flooded way to the manor on his arrival or feels the breath of something on his neck before he sees the children and their array of pets.  Her descriptions put you right into the heart of the manor house throughout time.

I have read three mystery novels this January, The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz, A Keeper:  A novel by Graham Norton and The Man who Died Twice:  A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman and all of them were excellent.  It was time for a lighter read and these books, generally regarded as children's books are perfect.  My only regret is that I did not know about them when my kids were small to read aloud to them.  They would have loved these stories as much as I do.  They will be read again. 

All in all, it was a perfect sort of day.  Something fun to do, some tea and something good to read.  Perfect.

Busy Bees

It was a busy day.  It kind of looked like this.

In the mail the previous day, my Zoom Loom arrived.  The larger pin loom is strictly for dishcloths and this smaller one is for the vast amount of sock yarn ends I have.  Eventually I hope it will be a blanket.  Surely I can manage to make a dent in the pile of sock yarns ends with this.

I finally got around to opening it after lunch today.  I wanted to work up one square, but by this time, I had started another project that I wanted done.

I was finished sewing the rest of the top in the morning, and as I thought, it took much less time to sew than it did to pin the sleeves in.  But for finishing details to strengthen and secure the side seams of the lace, the top is done and I am very pleased.

I had picked up my embroidery stuff to get to work on finishing it, but I opened the embroidery case and realized that here was another little project that needed just a wee bit of time to complete.  So I did that.  Only two elements were needed, one to secure the 'smoke' and the other, to finish the wee background volcano.

I voted not to put in the colours at the bottom.  I have a feeling they will be covered up when I frame it or make a pillow of it or otherwise finish it.  If the spot does show, I will add it but it is substantially complete.

Then, I looked at fabrics.  It was time to figure out what to sew next.  I decided to look at patterns. I was looking for a pattern to fill that wardrobe spot most often filled by tank tops.  Some summer days are just too hot for anything else. This time, I picked out a pattern from Style Arc. I picked out the Parker Tunic  .  The rest of the day was taken up with putting the pattern together and getting ready to cut out the fabric for top one tomorrow.  I have two pieces of rayon fabric that I want to use for these tops.  The rayon is light, brightly coloured and will drape perfectly, even if sewing the stuff is a wee bit more challenging than I prefer.

I did not get to finishing my lacy tops edges.  By the time I was finished Marcus' volcano, my hand was buzzing the tiniest bit.  It is doing so well and I really don't want to use it for serious long gripping tasks more than I have to.  It is driving me nuts, but I am getting through it.  My hand is getting better, but at least another week before I can knit.   

Note to self:  Never ever rush small circular knitting like hots and socks and mitts. That is how I injured myself.  I pushed too hard and now look at me.  

And Sew It Was

I got up early this morning and by 8:30 I was in the sewing room.

I played around in fabrics for a while till my coffee was finished and then pulled out my chosen fabric and gave it a go.

The pattern and fabric lay out and cut like a dream.  I had plenty of fabric to play with so I didn't have to be ultra careful.  My goal was to have the hem at the bottom in the lace. I was hopeful for a bit, that I could make the sleeve bands out of the lacy part but that was not to be.     

After lunch I started sewing.  All the interfacings are in place and the pieces are ready.  Not that it takes a lot of time.  There are only four seams and not a lot else.  It means I have the luxury of time and can take it slow and be sure it is right.

I stopped after the neck facing was in.  All that is left is to put in the tab sleeves and sew up the sides.  The sleeves are already complete and will take longer to pin them in place than it will to sew.  I will finish in the morning..  

I took a photo of the lace too.  It is just so pretty.

The only change I made to the pattern was that I made it longer.  I put the hem of the pattern just above that beautiful wide lace border, which will finish things off in fine style.  There is one tiny place where I will have to do a bit of repair on the lace bottom. I noticed a thread loose on one spot on the back piece.  I don't think it is serious.

Finishing will be tomorrows job and then comes picking project number two to play with.

Sewing It Is

That is it.  Tomorrow I get back to sewing.  I still can't knit, my house is clean and I am bored to tears.  Sewing it is.

When I went through my fabrics the other day, I found a couple of fabrics that I chose for a Torrens Box Top.  I have made several of these and I love them for summer wear.  They are easy and made in cotton are perfect for summer wear.  This is the fabric I have and it is also my source. 

If you click the link, you will note that deep border of lace?  I know.  It just became something I had to have.  It was an obsession but I still only paid the buy one, get two free price.  I was obsessed, not crazy.  It's a cotton summer top and is something neat to wear around home, so all thoughts of fancy are out.  Comfortable is in.

A Torrens is a great top to get back to sewing with.  It is a simple shape and so few seams and only a small bit of finishing.  It will be a short sleeve version with no adaptations to the pattern other than what that gorgeous lace requires.  I will do only my standard deviation for a good fit on my hips.  It will be an a line Torrens.

Last time I sewed, I cut out three or four fabrics and different garments in one day and while that worked pretty well at the time, having to watch that pile all the time was a bit of a chore.  I worried about losing the small pieces or getting the interfacings mixed up.   I may cut out two Torrens, because they can easily be sewn in the course of a couple of days but beyond that, one pattern, and maybe two projects, I am not going to go.  

My hand is feeling much better but there still are twinges and I am not going to knit till it feels good with zero twitches when I do light weight work.  Soon though.  Soon.

So, sewing it is. 

A Gift

It has been a long winter, even though winter is half done.  My father's passing, my own health issues, which are now so much better it is hard for me to believe, and then finally, my father in law.  My father in law was buried this past weekend.  He died quietly aged just a few days, four to be precise, before he reached one hundred years.  It was a life well lived and loved and it meant a large family gathering in the town where Brian and I both grew up and where we started our married life.  

I know who these people are.  My boys know who these people are. They started school with these now grown kids.  We know many of the family's histories at least in a basic way.  At least half of them were roots very much like my own:  from Germany via the United States.  The other half were immigrants from Ukraine.  In most ways, this is not a story uncommon on the prairies of Canada.  They are a kind and caring community that pulls together when they need to.  It is a great place to have grown up and to call my first home. Like many, my life moved a lot of different places, but it will always be home and a place where people know me and my story even when they are only lightly acquainted.  It is a place where I will always belong.  Roots go deep.

So when my lovely sister in law, who still lives in the community sent me a gift, via my sons and their weekend trip of love and duty, I was a little surprised and oh so very touched.  The community has a prayer shawl ministry and my sister in law sent one.

It's lovely.  It is rows of creams with rich warm greens shifting and fading and back again.  The yarn is most likely an acrylic ( Many go to nursing home and hospitals in the area, abd washing is critical for those institutions here) but it is soft and warm and really pretty.  However, the thing I value the most is the care and kindness and thought with which it was made.    The makers name was tagged to the shawl and I was so pleased.  The lady who worked it was a cousin of my father's.  I understand how much of her heart, spirit, kindness and her prayers for whatever the receiver needed went into this lovely wrap.

Many years ago, when Brian died, I was sent one by a good friend of our family who is also part of the prayer shawl ministry, as a wish for comfort to me. I don't know if I ever really expressed my thoughts properly though on what it means to me.  The prayer shawl I received before was like a beacon of comfort to me and the idea of it still comforts me to this day.  It has been a long winter and someone was praying for peace and ease for a weary soul and that is huge.  It isn't just a very pretty thing, it is rich with meaning to me, and warms me to my very heart.

I have a closeup of the stitch pattern.  It is really interesting.  The shawl has been crocheted in this pattern that I am not familiar with.

Of course I spent the whole day, trying to figure out the stitch she used, a sort of mental game I like to play.  How did they do that?  I have some of it figured out, but the books come out tomorrow.  If I can't figure it out, I will search for it. It's the kind of thing I love to do.  

So that is part of the plan for tomorrow.  To pin the wrap on as I sip my morning coffee and sit and try to sort out the rest of the design and if I can't do that, to find it in my stitch pattern books.  Wish me luck.

The Yearly Stats

I love it each year when Ravelry puts out the stats of what goes on on Ravelry.  It is like a little sample of all the knitters in the world and where we are and what we love to do.  Iceland tops the knitting each year, usually by a pretty decent margin.  Canada is usually in the top 4 or 5.  We are usually below Icleand, Finland and Norway by a significant margin, but it is nice to see us up there. 

Many people I know do not go into Ravelry on the homepage but use a link to their personal notebook instead and miss this interesting tidbit about the thing so many of us love to do.  So here you go.  The nifty stuff from  The Ravelry Home Page

•  Iceland: 678 projects per 100,000 people
•  Norway: 524 projects per 100,000 people
•  Finland: 491 projects per 100,000 people
•  Canada: 273 projects per 100,000 people
•  Sweden: 266 projects per 100,000 people
•  Denmark: 222 projects per 100,000 people

and this

• added 87,106 patterns to the Ravelry database, over 70,000  of which were published in 2022. This brings the total number of patterns in our database to nearly 1.2 million!
• made over 1.3 million projects (approximately 1.1 million knitting, 225k crochet, and 8k weaving)
• knit 328.8 million yards / 300.7 million meters of yarn
• crocheted 56.6 million yards / 51.8 million meters of yarn
• wove 2.2 million yards / 2 million meters of yarn
• added 32.8 million patterns and 3 million projects to favorites
• spun 1040 kg of fiber (well over a ton!)
• added 8 million photos throughout pattern, yarn, project, and stash pages
• 5,791 patterns were featured in the Hot Right Now top 20 list, and 3,486 designers appeared in debut patterns spotlight. You can find both of those lists on our main Patterns page.

The really mind blowing thing is that Ravelry is only a small chunk of the people who regularly knit. Iceland knits.  I love that about a country.

Just hanging around

Still no knitting but getting ever closer.  I have been doing a lot of things around the house but none of it is knitting.  Sigh.  And if you think this is not driving me nutty, you would be wrong.  

Today I sorted out material for what I want to sew over the next few months.  I did not manage any sewing at all in the fall so I am a bit behind.  At the same time, the extra time has refined what I want to sew and what I want my woven clothing to be and how I want it to function.  I have a better idea of what I want certain pieces of fabric to be when they are done.   I have really clearly made up my mind as to the slightly longer back of shirts, the better to tuck them in and have them stay tucked in. I need this to keep me warmer.  I also cleared up which fabric types I want as little flowy tops and which need to be shirts or skirts and dresses.  

I also know that I need to sew a variation on my pencil pants that will function as proper leggings to wear in winter.  I just hate being cold and nobody makes long underwear to fit me.  I have thought of knitting them, I have lots of yarn, but the time it would take to do that is not something I want to think about.  Sewing them is the most sensible option and I have some plain knit t-shirt material to make them.

That time has also cleared up a small problem that seems to be arising from all the sewing.  Scraps.  There are enough small pieces of fabric, pieces that are large enough to do something with but I did not know what.  For years I had planned making project bags with whatever sewing scraps I had but my need was more urgent and I purchased bags. There are pieces that will probably be sewn into bags, but the vast majority will be put into a scrap happy duvet cover.  I have a couple blankets around that really ought to be consigned to the very well worn pile and if I put them together and under an interesting cover,  they just might do.  

I'm not going to go crazy mind you.  If the blanket idea doesn't work out, then I will just put the crazy tops onto a fleece backing and sew here and there across and call it good.  It might be a good idea for kid blankets, though my kids are rapidly getting old enough not to want to cuddle so much.  And yet, everybody needs a good blanket, don't they?   I can donate them too.  There is always a need for warm blankets.

My hand is getting better , just more slowly than I want.  Oh well.  I would rather look forward to knitting soon, that to start knitting before it is healed and face an even more brutal time away from knitting.  

My Favourite Thing

I was chilly today.  I have been chilly a lot this winter.  I think it is that we have been more humid than usual.  It isn't a dry cold this year.  It isn't as damp as living by the seaside, but it is different.  

Every day, and I do mean every day, I find myself wrapped in my Shetland shawl.

It is huge.  My best comparison is this.  

It takes up the same space in the chair as the first Sock Monkey Cabin Blanket.  My Shetland shawl is blanket sized but it is perfect. 

I fold it in half corner to corner and wrap myself in it and curl up and feel enveloped in its warmth.  There is just something about two layers of light wool.  

My favourite thing.

Hmm, and then there was nothing.  I used all my gumption writing yesterday.

I had a great visit with a friend this morning and then I warped another dishcloth.  I have a wee bit of a problem with it and I am deciding if I am going to do a fix that I think will work or if I ought to simply pull out the four weft rows I already wove and redo it properly.  It is a silly simple problem where in I started under when I ought to have started over.  It isn't going to fall apart.  It will all be fine because the next row does its thing to hold it all together but as is, the end will be loose and not a firm edge like I want for a dishcloth.  The debate is this:  is this an opportunity to see if my idea about fixing errors would work well or is this just a pull yourself together girl, and redo moment? So often in life, it isn't about being perfect, it is about knowing how to fix things and make it work.

I might get photos tomorrow for posterity , but for tonight, I am kind of done.  

I have been watching rug cleaning videos again.    LUBUSKIE CENTRUM CZYSTOŚCI is the fellow I follow. I have watched these videos on and off, mostly off the last while, but I started watching them again last week. His videos of cleaning rugs are so peaceful and enormously satisfying. I'm not spending huge time watching them, only one a day.  After that it would get dull, but I feel better for it.  Whatever it is about it, somehow it helps soothe out the days tensions that have built up inside my head.  

And they are great to watch while you are doing something else like not knitting.  Not that I am knitting yet, but it is getting closer.  Each day it feels a bit better.  I won't try it, not till next week for sure.  I do not want to start too early and ruin all my work so far.  Bring on next week.