Mr. Chill

 

Only recently did I discover that this guy had a name. On the front of the pattern he is called Mr. Chill and as you can see he is almost finished. I just need to do that corner and then put a border around him. 

I usually put him away in February and get out his one but truth be told, I'm not crazy about this one and I really like Mr. Chill. 

He fits in nicely with the theme we've got going on the dining room table. Down at one end The Mister is working on his ski lodge puzzle and on the other it's me and Mr. Chill.  It's been a nice morning routine to make coffee and then putter together with our projects. It's one of the few advantages about growing old, plenty of putter time. For now anyway. The plumber was here on Friday to tell us how to get started on the big bathroom re-do. As soon as we get the thumbs up on the new shower design we picked out it will be time to start ripping stuff out-again.

Sloppy Seconds

 

I was changing out the blue January linens for the red and pink February linens when I noticed I needed another one of those mug rug things I use to keep my quartz counter tops from clattering when you sit glassware or metal on them. The Mister hates that sound. It is annoying. 

Since I still had the pile of Valentine's Day material sitting out I went ahead and made another one in the short time that it took The Mister to take the trash to the dump and then run by the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner. I wasn't careful in lining up those blocks. I didn't even iron all those seams out as I went.  I wasn't too precise with my machine quilting either. I just threw it all together in a mad rush only to find....it looks as good as the ones that took me forever to make back in 2023. 

February

 

One year ago today this quilt was just an idle thought and a pile of scraps. Now it's finished and I can hardly believe it. It's just a small thing but it was a lot of work paper piecing and then hand stitching those blocks. It's destined for the back of the couch to coordinate with all the linen changes I do for this month. 

It crinkled up nicely in the wash and I am very happy to say there are no signs of any dreaded puckers. Thank goodness. 

All's Well That Ends Well

 

The quilting drama wasn't the only crazy thing happening last week. I also had scarf drama going on. By the looks of this, it would seem that everything was going along just fine but it wasn't. It was too narrow. I figured that I needed at least another 2 inches in width to make it useful as a scarf. 

I un-wove what I had done and then warped another couple of inches of yarn. My plan was to try to add on to what I had. I've seen people do this but I never have done it so it was a bit scary. 

I had to wind what I had on there already to the back of the loom so I could add the new yarn.

Then I had to wind it back to the front so I could thread it and tie it on. 

It seems like it worked. I've got 7 inches of width now which seems like a better size for a man's scarf. After I had that sorted out, I would have liked to have been further along but a certain naughty quilt and a leaking kitchen sink took up a great deal of time this week. Quilt's almost finished, sink's still leaking. Sigh.....

A Comedy of Errors

 

I had just finished sewing the binding on the front of the February quilt when I flipped it over to find this. A  pucker.  A big ugly pucker. I thought I had been checking after each machine quilting session but it seems I wasn't looking too closely on one particular day. 

I went to some online quilting forums to see if someone had come up with a hack for ridding yourself of the dreaded pucker after the fact but alas, the consensus was as I feared. Rip it out. I had to rip off a good chunk of that binding first. I spent that evening taking out all of the machine quilted stitches in that corner. One painful stitch at a time. Thank goodness it was just a corner. It could have been worse. 

Then, after machine quilting that corner for the second time, I realized that I had QUILTED THAT LOOSE BINDING TO THE BACK OF THE QUILT. At this point I just had to laugh while I went for the seam ripper once again. 

I am happy to say that by yesterday afternoon, I had made peace with the February quilt.  Pup and I settled in front of a Rom Com and got the first side of that binding sewn down. If there are no more disasters ahead, I should have this finished in time. Whew.....

Frozen in Time

 

If you visited my town on Monday you would have swore it was December. Everything Christmas was still in place due to the big snow. Yesterday it was finally all starting to come down. 

In spite of it being in the 40's all week, we've still got some snow in the shady areas. I'm sorry to see it go but I am glad I don't have to climb up the long, icy driveway anymore.

Our delivery people are probably not happy to have the driveway open again. We've been having them just toss our packages in the back of the truck that we use to block it off. My latest Knit Picks order showed up yesterday. They notified me that it was mailed out on January 2 and it just got here. 

Daughter gave me a gift certificate for Christmas and I used it to buy the Twin Rocks hat kit. The Grand that wanted the pompom hat might change his mind about those pompoms as he gets older and I thought this might make a good hat for a little boy for next winter. You get the materials for two hats in two colors in the kit. I haven't done cables in ages but I'm looking forward to giving them another go this summer. 

And.....the Regia 6 ply is also here. You should see The Mister's face whenever I get new yarn in the mail. He just doesn't get it. You never can have enough.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

My new project, Christmas Coffee, is off to a good start. I was a bit disappointed in the fabric. I let 123 Stitch kit it up for me and the background looked like more of a darker gray in the photo but it's obviously beige in person. I don't know what I expected with something called Christmas Coffee. A blotchy beige makes sense, I suppose. The cascading petals look like a Christmas cactus. I didn't realize it either but I like it. 

Dear Jane's block D9 is finally finished. I really liked this one. It was fun to work on.

And....I've decided I can't even think about starting my next Kaffe Fassett quilt until I get Patchwork of the Crosses done so I've started the process of pulling out the paper pieces and appliqueing them down. One down. Twenty four to go. 
 

Wintersonne

 

I just learned something new about sock yarn. I know what plying is because I spin but rarely pay attention to it in commercial yarn. When a friend asked Daughter if I knit really thick, warm socks I had to think about it. My knitting brain went to worsted or DK yarn but when I went investigating I learned that sock yarn comes in different plies. Fingering weight sock yarn is 4 ply but there is also a 6 ply and an 8 ply. Who knew? Not I.

I wanted to feel he difference so I ordered some 6 and 8. This is the 8. It's from Opal and called Wintersonne. 

I found these two fun colorways at Simply Socks. The 6 ply is Regia's in an Arne and Carlos colorway and isn't here yet. With temperatures in the teens last week, warm socks meant pulling on two pair. Having these for a top layer seems like a plan. 

Bookish

 

At the end of the year it seems like everyone was posting their reading totals for the year and I was astounded. 100 books? More than 100? How was that possible? I listen to my Audible books while I'm puttering but how does one find the time to just sit and read? I've got books I started years ago that I've never finished like this 700 plus pager. I could find time to stitch a very pretty bookmark for it but not to make the time to just read the darn thing. After giving it a lot of thought, I think I've finally found a reading time that involves a real book. Why didn't I think of it before? The Mister's nap time. Every night after dinner he heads downstairs to his recliner for a snooze. The house is quiet. The critters are quiet. It's perfect. I actually look forward to my quiet time now and I've finished two so far this year. 100 books might not be a thing for me but always having one in progress might.

Star Power

On the day that our family says goodbye to a loved one, let me share with you a quote from this beautiful book I just finished. It's about death and dying but mostly it's about recognizing that you are living- up until the very moment that you are not. 

“Do you know,’ she said slowly, ‘that the stars that we see the clearest are already dead?’ ‘Well, that’s depressing.’ I took my hand from hers. ‘No,’ she said gently, linking her arm through mine, ‘it’s not depressing, it’s beautiful. They’ve been gone for who knows how long, but we can still see them. They live on.’ They live on.”

The Last of It

 

The last of the promised soap has been wrapped and mailed. Domestics went last week and International went this week. It's probably going to take a while to get to some places since some of you are very far away but if you haven't received it in what you would think is a timely manner, let me know and I'll try to figure out what happened from my end. 

And...a big thanks to everyone who participated this time! I've had months of fun getting it ready for you. If life stays calm, I am hoping to make more in late spring to be ready for early fall. So cut those bars in half, keep them dry and hopefully they will last until I can send you more. 

Nine

 

I have nine more days left in January and four more blocks to machine quilt on my February quilt. I'm still not sure if it's going to make it onto the back of the couch in time because the binding always trips me up. I can't do it all in one day or my brain goes numb. 

While I've been working on it, I've been thinking about my next big project. I love my Kaffe Fassett Crazy Quilt so much that I've realized that it's a sin to keep his jelly rolls on a shelf. They need to be something so....

....I went online and found this practically brand new book in a used book store for $3.99. This time I want an actual Kaffe Fassett quilt made from my Kaffe Fassett fabric. I'm probably going to have to order some yardage to go along with the jelly roll strips but I've got to order backing for the Crazy quilt anyway so I think I've got a plan. 

And....if you want to see the state of our snow, how about these two pitiful snowmen we found at the wetlands park? There still plenty of snow and ice where the sun doesn't shine. I wish it would shine in our driveway. I took a nice tumble down the icy path yesterday and twisted my knee. 

The only thing that was really hurt was my pride. The Mister had a good laugh. After all those years of ice skating competitions you would expect I could do better. Here I am on the ice a few years ago representing US Figure Skating as Snowplow Sam for an outdoor rink event downtown. I could really have used that costume yesterday. I could have just rolled down the driveway.

Whatever it Takes

 

I tried to go out the other day in this terrible cold wearing my usual get up and it didn't work so well. I couldn't breathe in that frigid air and I thought my nose was going to fall off. I've found that piling on all of my knitted stuff makes a big difference. Jumbo scarf got a reprieve from the scissors because it was perfect for wrapping up around my face and neck. My old cloth face masks work well too. I also have nice things to say about my unloved Musselburgh hat. I never wear it but I have to say those two layers make it pretty darn warm. I even had to put some woolly mitts under my Lopi mittens to keep my hands warm along with two pair of handspun socks.

And why am I out in this ridiculous weather? That's why. If we don't get her out she's terrible all day and I can't get anything done. She's got a fleece pair of pj's on under the Sherpa lined coat she hates. It's never too cold for her. 

Back at home, needing a stress relief project, I cast on some new socks. You better believe I re-wound and examined every inch of that Felici before I cast them on after the knot debacle with the hat yarn. Never again Knit Picks. Never again. 

Tiny Needle Tuesday

My 123 Stitch order is here. I was looking for something like a Quaker but not exactly a Quaker and I think this will work. It will at least keep me busy for quite a while.

Since I am a seasonal stitcher I had to get the Spring version as well. 

And....thank you for all the kinds words yesterday. Your comments and advice were very much appreciated. It's not my story to tell but I would like to say that BIL was one of a kind. If we needed something mechanical fixed, he was the first one we called. He could make anything run. Just weeks ago he flew to Georgia to pick up his dream car, a screaming yellow Corvette. His last road trip was driving it home not knowing of the challenges to be faced ahead. Saying goodbye on Saturday is going to be a tough one. 

 

Blank Spaces

 

The Mister on the left, the Dearly Departed on the right

After a few weeks in hospice, we got the call at around 2 am Saturday night that The Mister's younger brother had unexpectedly slipped away. He was in good spirits and doing well according to the visiting nurse when The Mister paid a visit on Friday. To say we're in uncharted territory is an under statement. We've lost parents. We've lost close friends but a sibling, a close sibling are feelings that we haven't processed quite yet. 

Nice While It Lasted

 

This was the view from my deck yesterday morning. We had some serious melting going on all day but at least I did get to spend a week looking out at the beautiful snowscape. The cold is coming back with a vengeance next week so maybe we'll get another white coating to fill in the bare spots that are growing bigger every day. 

My dismayed snowman is also ready for some more snow. I finished the gray sky yesterday and now need to go cut up some white strips to sit him on. I'm not sure why he's so upset. He's got plenty of snow to keep him busy unlike The Mister who got to go out and bring our car down the driveway for the first time since the storm. He was happy to finally see some asphalt yesterday. I was NOT. 

A Rush Job

 

Sandwiching the February quilt was the only really productive thing I did yesterday. After wrangling that backing that had to be pieced and then hauling everything in and out of the sewing room, I spent the rest of the day doing the least amount of anything possible. I do have to say that the pool noodle method on the dining room table worked like a charm again. Maybe today I'll have the will to put everything away in the sewing room and make space to do some machine quilting. 13 days and counting. 

Risky Business

 

This is something you never want to see. Scissors and tweezers on a weaving project. It usually means something has gone terribly wrong. I thought I would try and squeak out a few more inches to even up the pattern on both sides of the towel but I ran out of room to do it and the last four inches were noticeably wonky so out they had to come. 

I couldn't easily un-weave it because apparently I didn't follow the pattern too well either in that wonky section so I had to snip and pull the weft out being very careful not to cut the warp until it was time. When it was finally time, it was a big relief to get it over with. Snipping never felt so good.

It may be liberated but it's going into time out. I can't even look at it right now. 

That's all the loom waste I had on the back end. Weavers, you know how foolish that was. Never again. 

And....when I do get around to trimming and hemming that monster towel, I'm going to take the scissors to this guy too. I've tried wearing it but it's just too long. I hate to lose all that pretty fringe but it's not doing anyone any good in the closet.