What a holiday season we had! The end of 2016 was full of family and wonderful food and a lovely week of having John home with us.
I finished and gifted the Scalene shawl to my SIL and it was a hit! She loved it and I felt that it had been worth every stitch. (that was a lot of garter stitch!)
While she was with us, we did some sewing – she is incredible. I always learn so much from her. A box bag and a new to us, wedge style bag were produced. I am figuring out a few new things with my sewing machine so will hopefully have a few tricks up my sleeve to show her when we get together again.
I began a new project during the break which is a tradition that I hope to continue as a treat for myself, a large scale stitching design by Carriage House Samplings, “Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow”. It is a perfect storm of a project – I’m loving the fabric, thread and the pattern so stitching it is very satisfying. Isn’t it going to be gorgeous??
Lastly, on New Year’s Eve, I dragged out my oldest UFO knitting project and finished it up. I began this blanket 14 years ago shortly after my MIL taught me how to knit. I used an inexpensive acrylic and the lace pattern has many errors throughout. I remember when my daughter was three, she was having a playdate with another little girl – I looked into the living room and this child had found my knitting and had dragged it out of the bag across the room, tearing the live stitches out of a section of the middle where I had been working. (Don’t worry, she’s still alive and breathing) I fixed it and knit a few more repeats and then for some reason – the pattern went missing. I was sick of working on it so I did not try very hard to find it. Fast forward many years and I started to wonder what the heck to do with it. I didn’t want to just throw it out, but without the pattern it would’ve taken more time than I wanted to decipher how to continue. So, I took a good look at it and decided it was good enough as is to be used by my children on our couch, knit a few rows of garter and bound it off. Then I picked up stitches along the cast on, and knit a garter border to match. Done. 14 years later, and good enough, the kids really liked it!
I’m sure Eddie will like it as well 😉
Happy New Year to you and the family, it is so much fun to be sewing with a friend, and look what you have achieved, lovely useful bags and it is great to be able to run with new techniques and make designs to suit your own uses. I taught myself how to construct a little box bag to keep my small portable hairdryer neat and contained.
I sometimes just cringe at the things I made with acrylic , but back then I didn’t know any better, it was all I could afford when the kids were little and all that experience pays off now.
You will probably be quite happy your blanket is acrylic to just throw in the wash as the kids and dog make good use of it in the cold months. It does look really lovely .
Will stop rambling on now and find my pen and paper.
Ha! Eddie does look like he will enjoy it 🙂 Your stitching continues to amaze me, and your 14 year to make blanket spurs me on to finish my three year so far to make shawl! Happy New Year!
Your stitching project is simply SPECTACULAR!
I’ve finally finished niece Zelda’s Christmas (!) knee socks, and have cast-on another “Seaman’s Cap” because I needed to be knitting something portable…you know, at LCO rehearsal! 😉 That cap pattern has a built-in double-knit cuff, with shaping to cover the ears, so I think it’s an excellent charity project.
I’ve cast-on for the Woodfords cardigan, but my yarn isn’t PINK enough for my taste/wardrobe. It’s supposedly “Raspberry” but there’s a brownish tone in there, NOT my preferred shade. Perhaps I can over-dye with a blue?? Need to think on this some more.
All good wishes for 2017, my dear!