I am finishing the February socks today

 ... but as anticipated, probably not fast enough for a timely Hug, so you are getting pictures of the In Progress.

I know it doesn't look like much, but check this out:

The first sock is done, so all I have to do is get the second one done and run in a load of ends. Trouble is I finished the toe on the first one so long ago I no longer remember how many rounds I did before starting the decreases. So I'm having to squint under bright lights to count the stitches.

 

And this my friends is why one does not knit black yarn!

Okay to recap: I started these gift socks in FEBRUARY thinking, get a head start on Christmas this year. I truly believed they'd be done by spring, and I'd have time to make a second pair for myself, maybe even three, and work through more of my lonely yarn stash. 

This did not happen. A lot of Instagram happened, and loads of walks, and tons and tons of writing and rewriting, but knitting? not so much. Even on car trips, of which there have been some, I did not feel like knitting. I wanted to look out the window instead. And I remembered from past experience that when I do that, I drop stitches, and it is hard to pick them back up in a moving vehicle in the dark.

(especially when you drop one in the middle of a black stripe!)

Weirdly though, I am really missing yarny stuff. I think I need to swap socks for something with a bolder payoff at the end. Like an Icelandic sweater, or some kind of granny square blanket, or an interestingly-shaped vest? something I either haven't knit before (blanket) or haven't knit in ages and ages (Icelandic sweater.) I have no recollection of knitting a vest before but I was one hand-me-downed a handknit Fair Isle vest that I looooved so much and wore constantly. A new Fair Isle vest might be fun, right?

Be that as it may: I have Christmas to prep for and that is starting tomorrow with the tree going up, swiftly followed on Monday with the measuring of dry ingredients for several batches of cookies, which I will store in Mason jars. 

 Yep, after many years of chaotic food prep I realized recently that I can pre-measure in bulk, thereby washing the cups and spoons more efficiently and less. Also, pre-measuring lowers the barriers to actually baking. As does clearing space in the freezer, so that you can pre-bake and store for future cookie deliveries.

Basically I'm determined not to have a repeat of my February socks, as I go hard into Christmas prep. But I was also determined not to be knitting these socks at the end of November so we'll see how that goes...

Hope your weekend is looking good, and that whatever hopes you have for it pan out with bells on. And thanks as always for stopping by to spend a little time with me.

See you next Saturday!

Stitch

I am still swamped and still not creating, but the attraction to string and yarn and thread is so real! I pulled some of my wool/mohair blend sock yarn scraps for a Bookstagram pic this week and it felt fabulous in my hands.

To get at it I had to shift a pair of jeans I'd dropped into the top of my work basket, and decided to stop what I was doing and pull out a ripper. I like these jeans a lot - the fit, the colour, the weight of the fabric - but I wasn't wearing them because they had a stupid cuff at the bottom that made them difficult to put on and take off. I mean sweatpants have cuffs, because they are stretchy! Denim is not stretchy. 

Check out the vast acreage I gained but ripping off the first cuff.

Now to decide how to stitch the hem. I *could* pull out my sewing machine, and if my cleanup plan for today goes well I'll have space to, but I could also get a needle and some thread and hand stitch it, couldn't I. Maybe even blanket stitch over top of that. I do love blanket stitch. And in a contrast colour - that might look fun?

Or I could do something else, and learn some other embroidery stitches.

In my travels online I have spotted more than a few embroidery kits that show up at your door with everything you need, including embroidery-friendly fabric which is the one component I don't currently have in the house. So far I'm resisting because it would be a tragedy to add yet another projects to my pile of incomplete and not-yet-started options. But...

Okay. I will take my leave, tackle the cleaning, and see if I can justify pulling my loom and its half-finished scarf out of storage. 

Or maybe even finish those birthday socks for Jan?

 

Have a great weekend all, and thanks for joining me. See you next week! 

Getting to gifties

The other day I noticed this little trio on a shelf and remembered how much fun I had making them for tiny pre-Christmas gifts:

These are the ones I kept, but I must have made twenty or more over the years. They're a quiet version of the Christmas pins every woman had to wear on the lapel of her cloth coat in December, in the 1940s right up to the 80s or even beyond. 

 

Really they were a gift to me, because cutting out the bits and stitching them together was such a pleasure.

I made gift ornaments this way too - baseballs with the recipient's initial stitched on the other side, and snowflakes, same - and let them do double duty as gift tags.

I made so many that nobody has room for any more, so I stopped doing them. And now I'm kinda craving a new stitchy project. 

(even though I *still* haven't finished those Christmas gift socks!!)

I'm also craving a good Icelandic sweater project. Knit one of those lately? I love how the pieces get bigger and bigger in your lap and then suddenly become a stranded colourwork project. It's ages since I made one and I kinda feel like I'm due.

Do you have an irresponsible giftie project you'd like to cram into the very few weeks left before the holidays?

Think about that and get back to me! Meanwhile, have a great weekend and I'll see you again next Saturday.

Leaf Crunching Wreath Making Season

I picked a misleading title for today's hug, but my whole day is unfolding under the weight of this cheery e-mailed sales message: 'Time to load up a tray with mugs and mince pies for a fun day of wreath-making and gift-wrapping!' Cue the panic, because I am still stuck at gift *making*...

It's progress though, right? Ugh. There is so much distance right now between me and wrapping, I could be hugging the Grand Canyon. But it's not even Remembrance Day so probably that's not as sad as it sounds.

I did get thinking though, isn't the cheery bit of the holiday season about making? Perhaps even making *time* for making? That's not something I've been doing lately (see: pathetically slow progress on gift sock, above.) 

So I'm spending part of today clearing off our dining room table, which is where most of the making happens, to reduce the barriers to creative activity. I keep reading in real estate articles that the dining room is a thing of the past but when you break it down, it's a room long enough for a big table in it, plus windows, and potentially even doors you can close off so you can leave it in a terrible mess, and what is that if not a super-essential making space? 

Not like you can cut dress pattern pieces on the floor (past the age of thirty.) Or spread out boughs for wreath-mak---

Okay I am not going to be making any wreaths. Every year around this time we *buy* a lush green boxwood wreath, hang it up over the living room mantel, and let it slowly dry out over the year.  In late spring it's generally faded to a refreshing sage green, and then there's a gradual shift to gold in time for December when we hang up the new one.

Last year the only option we could get in our preferred size was 'with red berries' and I wasn't sure how that would translate into spring and summer and fall, but lookit:

hmmmm it's kind of flat in this lighting, isn't it? In person, it's much more glowy and beautiful. 

 

Oh that's a bit terrifying isn't it, with the lamp on. 

 ... and back to blah. Oh well! Ricardo and Gwenny enjoy it so that's good enough for me.

Meanwhile, it's my favourite time of year: Leaf Crunching Season!

I'm still not 100% after last week's cold, but I am aiming to go out and enjoy it. Possibly even with this year's alpaca hat from the Royal Winter Fair...

Meadowview Alpaca Farm has new owners since we were last at their booth at the Fair, but the alpacas are producing the same gorgeous fibers as always and they are still making hats. Hopefully now that I've bought this one, I will be able to find the one I bought from there years ago, and misplaced? Nothing else has worked, so I'm crossing my fingers.

That's me for today, my friends. Hope you're all keeping well and lining up a lovely weekend, even though it's well into Saturday afternoon as I type this. Thanks again for stopping by and I'll see you next week!

Silver Lining Sickbed

Someone I otherwise like very much has given me a cold, and as I'm at the worst stage of it, this week's post is both late and brief: lookit!

I knew it was coming, so I used that starter phase where you know you're *getting* sick, and you're too fuzzy for brain work, but you're not yet blowing your nose every ten seconds, to finish one of the socks.

Okay it still needs the toe grafted and the ends run in but it is progress. I'll take that every day of the week. And if I get to the other side soon, where I'm sleepy but not blowing my nose every ten seconds, I might actually finish the other. I'm rewatching old Netflix faves and the trees outside are almost bare, which makes it perfect knitting conditions. 

Hope you're well and enjoying a lovely weekend! See you next Saturday.