Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve by eating traditional tourtière , with baked potatoes and salad

playing games,

This game is Blokus, a fun strategy game.

Sitting by the fire -

this is on the TV - some people don't have this TV channel that shows a fireplace and plays Christmas songs!
We also watched Trailer Park Boys Christmas Special (lots of Canadian traditions this evening!).

I am off to play more games - ping-pong and Rock Band. We are planning a relaxing, family Christmas.

I just wanted to show a few things that I did this week -

This is an entrelac neck warmer that I knit.

Entrelac knitting is made of little boxes. It is much easier than it looks.

I made it from this merino wool that I dyed and spun. More details on Ravelry.

I also spun my first skein of singles yarn this week.

It was made from a bunch of little bundles of different fibres that I hand carded into rolags.

This is a little wall hanging that I am machine quilting for those who think I have given up quilting (it is just really cold in my basement where my sewing room is - we have been having -30C temperatures recently). This is made with fabric I dyed last winter. I just have the background left to quilt.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Christmas!♥

A New Hat

I knitted a new hat for my husband. I noticed that the last one I had made him left marks on his head (he shaves his head, and although the hat wasn't tight, the ribbing left imprints), so I wanted a hat that was smooth on the inside. I also wanted to use some of my hand spun yarn for him. I dyed the green to match his eyes and I was surprised when it did! My dyeing is pretty haphazard.

I added this as a free pattern on Ravelry too. If you are not a member of Ravelry you can download the PDF here.

When I was writing the pattern my nephew came over and I explained to him that I had dyed the wool fibre-

Spun the yarn-

Designed a pattern-

And knit the hat-

 He looked at me, showed me his orange acrylic hat and told me that I could just buy a hat for $4!

This is wool that I dyed this week - the above photo of the dye pot is this fibre steaming.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

A Year of Small Quilts of the Month

I finished my year long project of a small art quilt a month - 

Each little quilt (6"x8") represents something that happened that month.

This is the November one -

It is a piece of my hand dyed fabric with snowflakes that are peyote stitched beads, plus a small hammered wire swirl. I made a lot of jewelry in November.

For the December one I tried a new-to-me technique from a Craftsy class (Playing with Curves with Ann Petersen). I took a couple of Craftsy classes this month, and learned some wonderful new things.

Now I have to decide what I want to make with these quilts.

I originally thought I would join them into a book,

but I also like the idea of joining them together into a wallhanging. I might just leave them as a pile on the shelf, at least for now.

I tried another new-to-me technique this week, double knitting -

You knit/purl the front and back stitches in pairs, and reverse the colours to create the two sided, reversible pattern.

The finished piece is supposed to be a head band, but when I washed it, to block it, it grew so wide! I have had this problem with Paton Classic Wool before - it tends to get short and wide, I should have known. I am going to try to felt it a bit in a regular load of laundry, maybe it will become something useable.
The pattern was lovely to knit and I am going to try it again later with some hand spun wool.
The pattern is the Duvino head band, from the Craftsy Class Adventures in Double-Knitting with Alasdair Post-Quinn. 

There was a fabulous Craftsy sale for Thanksgiving and I bought a few classes that I had been interested in for a while, just waiting for a good sale. I am trying to ration them out over the next little while. The Playing with Curves and Adventures in Double Knitting were wonderful!

I am adding this picture to show what -30C (-40C windchill) temperatures can do - a water main break, causing havoc with traffic.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Ostrich BOM

Here are my latest Ostrich block - 

four Churn Dash blocks (6" blocks).

There are a few more blocks to go (I think the BOM finishes in March), but I have decided I want to make a small 'random sampler' quilt (I am sure this style of quilt has an official name).

I used a quilt that was about the same size as the one I want to make to lay out the blocks on, to get an idea of how the blocks will go together. I am supposed to have an appliqué block, but I am waiting until the end to make one as a 'filler' block.
A few of us started making this BOM, but I think I might be the only one making it now, so thank-you Myra for still organizing this BOM!
It is fun because we are just given a block name or a shape, and we get to interpret it any way we want.

This is my latest home spun wool -

190 grams of worsted weight (about 14WPI) wool that I dyed earlier in the fall.

Here are the fibre, single ply bobbin and first skein all together. I tried Navajo (chain) plying for the first time to keep the colours clearer.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Finished Sweater

I finished knitting a sweater this week -

It is another Craftsy class - Celtic Cables with Carol Feller. I picked up so many tips about knitting cables and basic knitting, the class was wonderful (Carol's lovely Irish accent was a joy to listen to as well).

I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Tweed in garnet heather. It is the first time I have tried this wool and it is very soft, and nice to work with (I even ordered more in Knit Picks big sale last week).

I have been spinning wool for my next knitting project - a hat for my husband.
I dyed the Polwarth wool fibre (the green is to match his eyes)-

and now it is all spun -

I am planning on doing some colour work knitting.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥