Boxing Day

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. My house was filled with family and later more company stopped by. The food was great and plentiful. Today's clean-up was minimal and I am just taking it easy. Soon, the decorations will be taken down and put away for another year. My mind this morning was on the various projects I want to finish and/or start. No rush but something to keep me busy. I'm still slowly crocheting the latest blanket. It will get finished. Hats are on the future knitting list too. I did manage to make a few things for Christmas this year besides the gnome ornaments.

Somehow I came across an online tutorial to make these mitts. It was from a Canadian quilt shop in Cornwall called Apple Hill Quilting and Design. 

These mittens used a recycled wool sweater that I purchased years ago for just this purpose. The lining is fleece and I have loads of fleece in my stash. The zoom class was just two hours and if I hadn't had to unpick some sewing, I would have had at least one mitt finished in that time. As it was, I finished the pair a few weeks later and sent them to my son-in-law for Christmas. I would love to make more soon. Needess to say they are super warm.

I also managed to knit some fingerless mitts. I like how they turned out.

These were made for my grandsons in B.C. I had knit the same pattern before but totally forgot how to make them. Once I made one, it all came back to me.

It's mild for winter and so I decided this morning to go for a walk. Luckily, it wasn't raining. Resting is what I am doing a lot of today. I found myself standing a lot yesterday and my back hurt from just tiredness and strain. A little while sitting in a chair helped. I hope everyone had a wonderful time and that Santa brought them a little 'something.'

Getting closer

 ...to the end.

This is all that I have left to quilt. I'm trying to think of how to bind it - meaning what colour.

Butterflies and leaves are what I finally decided I would quilt in the big open sky area.

And when I'm not working on the quilt, I'm making more hats.

This is with the flash on my little camera. The green isn't a lime colour.

This green is closer to the colour but it's still not this bright - photo without the flash. My two little granddaughters need new hats so these are just trials. Pink and purple are this years colour so I shall see what I come up with. I will probably try a few different patterns too. There's bound to be someone who fits whatever size I make. I have a bench in my hall that has storage and so I keep hats, mitts, sweaters and masks in it for the little ones. They come in handy at times.

A new baby quilt and baby knits

I belong to two quilt guilds and during the pandemic, the meetings have been online. Both guilds have kits that members can take and make into quilts which are then given to various charities. The quilts vary in size. Even though I had my own quilts to make, I decided to take on a baby quilt. The fabrics in the kit were all bright and it was fun thinking about what pattern I could use for the fabrics.

I quilted it in my new kitchen since I had the room and knew that it wouldn't take too long.

There was enough of the yellow fabric to bind the quilt.

I happened to have some fabric that was perfect for the backing.

This is a little hat that I managed to knit. It didn't turn out as I had hoped.

Here's the latest rainbow blanket. I used a light gray for the background this time and I think it's quite delicate looking.

Finally finished some knitting

I have made this chunky knit sweater several times. Once again, I decided to use up some of my yarn to make my twin grandsons some warm pullovers. They live in England so they don't get the cold and snow that we here in Toronto get.

The free pattern for this chunky knit pullover can be found on the Canadian Mary Maxim site.

I'm not keen on sewing up the pieces and so these have been sitting around for a while. The blue one went home with Otis after Christmas and I am about to send this one to his brother Archer. 

My youngest granddaughter needed a new hat and so I knit this for her.

It is such a versatile hat and has a lot of stretch to it so it should fit her for a few years.

December

 I finished a cowl and won some fabric.

This cowl was knit for a daughter-in-law who celebrated a birthday. Her favourite colour is purple. It's made from double knit washable wool.

This is a slightly better photo of the colours.

I belong to two quilt guilds and the meetings have been online via zoom. I won the three fabrics on the right just for being a member and showing up. The guild guest speaker for November was Jenni Smith who wrote a book on the history of Liberty of London fabrics. One of the quilt shops in Toronto, the Country Clothesline donated 3 groups of fat quarters that night and so the guild had a draw. I was lucky the second time around. I now need a good pattern to use up the Liberty of London fabrics.

Favourite knitting

 Ever since I knit my first hat, I have enjoyed making them. Recently, my daughter asked me to make some hats for her sons and so, I picked up a skein of yarn and did some browsing on Ravelry. I wanted to try some other hat patterns so I printed off some patterns and away I went. 

I had a skein of green and it was close to the colour that was in the variegated yarn that I bought. This helped me to stretch the amount and I ended up making these three hats. I think my favourite is the one on the right - the all rib hat. I like toques to have a fold-over and this one turned out great. I did make one in a different variegated - a beige and brown but, since my son liked it and it fit, I gave it to him. This hat fits many head sizes because it has so much stretch to it.

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Note: See the comments for pattern information for all three hats.

Something new from something old and other small projects

 Sometimes you can extend the life of an outfit.

I made two outfits that were similar for my twin granddaughters when they were about two (they turn 7 this month.) This is the top (minus the ruffle) and there were shorts too. It's a fairly loose fit and it has a zipper in the back. One of the twins' cousins is still wearing the top even though she is a size 4. It was just a bit short and I decided that I could add a ruffle so it would look a bit nicer. I couldn't find the fabric that I used but I did find something that was a close match. It just so happened that there was a lot of that fabric and since I had just finished sewing a little dress for another granddaughter, the pattern I used included pedal pushers (or Capris or cropped pants) with a ruffle on the hem of the legs.

Here's the new outfit. I hope she gets some wear out of it since the summer is almost over.

I finished another hat for one of the grandchildren. I'm stockpiling in anticipation of cold weather needs. This is number two. The pattern is free from Ravelry and is called Citrus Hat by Laura Treadway. The one from the previous post was called Rusty Barn Hat by Christy Houghton. I'm trying to add to my repertoire of hats. So far, I haven't found one that equals my favourite, Bankhead hat by Susie Gourlay. All the hat patterns are found free on Ravelry.

I also finished a small, preemie hat. This pattern is one of my favourites for babies. The pattern can be made in any size and it stretches so it fits different sized heads. The pattern is Bev's Baby Ribs pattern from Bev's Country Cottage.

These are what I finished up yesterday. Six face masks for a wedding party. The front of the mask matches the groomsmen's ties. The lining for the three men has golf clubs and balls because the groom likes to golf. For the bridesmaids, the lining is nurse-related because the bride is a nurse. I threaded thin elastic into the sides but left them untied so that the wearer could adjust it to their own liking.

We finally have some cooler temperatures and very little, if any, humidity so it's quite comfortable outside. I noticed that at 7 o'clock this morning it was 13C with blue skies. That makes it lovely walking weather. Stay safe and don't forget to wear a mask.

A few little things

There is a list of things to make and it changes every once in a while. I haven't finished the l sweaters that I was knitting but I got into knitting hats instead. 

This little hat is a preemie size.

I thought I would try taking a photo of the little hat with different backgrounds.

I needed to make something that I could finish quickly and I also wanted to make something for charity. In this case a NICU department in a hospital.

Today, I finished this little dress. It sat unfinished for a couple of months because the neckline and armholes were to be finished with single fold bias tape and I don't particularly like this finish because it tends to pucker. I initially cut it and was going to finish it for my youngest granddaughter's birthday - in June. It's still hot enough so she will get some wear out of it yet.

I finished this hat today too. I have decided to make several hats for my grandchildren for the coming colder months. This way I will have some on hand for when they are needed. I've never used this pattern before and it's OK but I may not make another one. There are a couple of different patterns that I want to try out and I have the yarn so while I am watching TV in the evenings, I can knit hats.

My eldest son Mark came over the other day and brought his three daughters. They brought strawberries to share with their cousins and they gave me these lovely lilies. I have not had anything in my kitchen for months so these made the kitchen a much nicer place to be in.

Completed items and other things

 I'm busy sewing a couple of little dresses for my granddaughters who have birthdays next month exactly two weeks apart. Once I'm finished, I will take a photo.

In the meanwhile, I took some time to finish a few things that have been hanging around.

This is called Chilly's Gift. It is a small (4" X 4") card-sized cross stitch. It was a free design years ago and I thought it wouldn't take long to make. The original colours were red and pink but I changed to colours to suit me. There is supposed to be a charm in between the penguin's hands - hence the 'gift.' I haven't found one yet but once I put it in a card, I will go hunting for the charm. It's been hanging around for quite a number of years and I am glad that I finally decided to finish it.

I bake sweet bread almost once a week for my grandchildren who usually request it. It's a braided loaf with cardamom as flavouring called pulla in Finnish. 

This is what it looked like before I baked it. As an Easter surprise, I added red food colouring and on the top, I added sprinkles instead of sugar. It was an idea my little grandchildren had. I just made two more loaves today. They weren't as big as these because I think the yeast I used was a tad old. Nevertheless, my son said it will all get eaten. He has three little girls. The other loaf went to my daughter who has a little girl and a boy. 

I also managed to finish this sweater. I started it for my little granddaughter last year and since her birthday was coming up, I decided to get it totally done. I only had to finish off the sleeves (I knitted them together) and then sew it all up. I dislike sewing up knitted parts. That's the main reason my knitted items sometimes take years to finish.

Just a close-up of the yarn. It's a cotton chunky yarn that I bought decades ago. I have it in this pink, some beige, some blue and some gray. It was on sale and so far, this is the second sweater that I have made with this yarn. Years ago I made a pullover for my then, teenaged son with the beige. I still have the sweater. I need to make more sweaters to use it all up.

This is my hyacinth that started out with only three blooms but ended up with five. They are now done and planted outside to bloom next year.

About three years ago, on Easter Sunday, we were visited by a bunny rabbit in our backyard.

This little guy has come back again. There are actually two of them that we sighted yesterday morning but they were so quick, we didn't get any photos of the duo. This one camouflaged well.

Sometimes they do visit our neighbour next door (centre of the photo, on the other side of the fence) but they prefer our backyard.

A little knitting

 I finished the baby blanket that I started. It called for double knit yarn but I had some sport and decided to use it.

It's sort of hard to see.

I don't know if this is much better but it's supposed to be a penguin and a baby penguin. Maybe if you click on the photo and blow it up, it might be easier to see.

These are Minecraft fingerless mitts. They are a birthday gift for my grandson who is a fan of Minecraft.

Some things completed

While I was in England during December and January, I knit my littlest (youngest) granddaughter a blanket that she could use while sitting in the stroller.

Here's Aurora using the blanket. We have had some really cold days but it looks like Aurora is bundled up nicely.

I brought home some double knit yarn from England and, since I like making small things in between bigger projects, I knit a couple of hats. These are free patterns on Ravelry. The one on the left is called 'Baby Hat With Top Knot - Tegan' and the one on the right is called 'Basic Baby Hat.' My daughter claimed them for her friend who recently had a little girl.

Here's the finished Christmas mystery top. I wanted to take a photo of it outside but there wasn't anyone willing to hold it up for me so I just placed it on the back deck. It worked out well. I have some of the light blue fabric left over to bind it with but that will have to wait for later.

This is one of the pillowcases I made for Christmas for one of my granddaughters.

As you can tell, the theme was princesses.

I purchased the co-ordinated fabric from Sew Sisters in Toronto. It was on sale and I thought it would make perfect pillowcases. The pink fairy fabric was in the mystery box I also purchased from them.

Here they all are. Unfortunately, because I wasn't here at Christmas time, they weren't handed out but once I got home, they were the first things the little ones got.

The boys all got dinosaur pillowcases.

Well, that's it for the finished projects at the moment.