So, we started a podcast last week. And I’m still smiling over how much fun we had. It’s been a crazy few weeks – getting ready for this and opening the Etsy shop and figuring out all of the little twists and turns involved with that (Canada Post – why is it more expensive to ship a package to Saskatchewan than California??)
So much fun, I can’t wait to do it again.
YouTube link HERE
Back in February, I offered to help out pattern designer, Laura Gesin, by test knitting her cowl pattern. I finished it last week and it has now been released on Ravelry. You can find mine hereĀ and it has a link to her “Flock of Seagulls Cowl”. It was a thoroughly enjoyable knit, in the round with a small cable row every 4th row. Isn’t the flock stitch pretty?
I also made and sent out a cross stitch project bag to a lady in California that I met through Instagram. See my new little Evertote tag? My SIL ordered them and we’ve been adding them into our new bags. It’s such a small thing, but the look of it on the bag adds a tremendous amount of professionalism – makes me feel very swank š Then I feel silly for feeling swanky………..
It’s March Break for the children this week and we’ve been up to all sorts of fun things. I’ll fill you in next week. I hope you are enjoying a bit of crafty time – there’s a lot of things to be made, we must make the most of our time. My stash doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller. How about yours?
So – I was playing with some treasure pouch designs, these are the second prototype:
I think they’re cute, but the amount of work and effort that went into them make them an unfeasible product to make and sell. I wanted the stitching to be perfect, the picture perfectly suited to the child, and I drove myself crazy for a week trying to get everything to match what I saw in my head. Ā I’m giving them to the children they are intended for who will fill them with flotsam and jetsam as children do and I will be pleased.
I then spent a few days puzzling out a knitting drawstring tote.
Take 1: Nice, but needs a boxed corner bottom and the drawstring isn’t quite what I wanted.
Take 2: Much much much better. This is what I wanted and I think I have a winner.
I think the knitting agrees.
I am incredibly fortunate to have close friends who share a love of making as much as I do. It is also lucky we each bring our own favourite craft to the table. My friend Adrienne, is a dyer of the most beautiful yarn. This is her work above. She is taking the plunge into small business with her yarn and will be selling it soon and I’m just so pleased because it’s just lovely. Her new business name is Old Oak Yarns and she named it for a very special tree from her childhood. My other friend Louise, is a knitting teacher and designer. Last weekend, she taught Adrienne and I how to knit with two yarns at the same time and strand it properly. I fully intend to cast on some colour work mittens as soon as possible.
When we were together last week, Adrienne pulled three skeins of sock yarn from her bag, each with a matching mini skein for heels and toes and said that she had made us our own unique colourway, combining our three favourite colours. Turquoise for me! She named the yarn “Fibre Friends” and to say it mildly, LouiseĀ and I were blown away. Then we started dreaming. A trifecta of crafting – yarn dyeing, bag sewing and pattern designing. The Fibre Friends came to life and we have a video podcast planned to come out at the beginning of April. These girls and the other friends I’ve made through my passion for making make me feel a sense of belonging that has been difficult to come by. I know that you all know what I mean. They make me laugh and calm my anxieties. Very good friends, indeed they are.
Just a little reminder to myself and anyone else who might need it today.
xo
My first fish lips kiss heel construction was a success. It took a bit to get used to something completely new, but once underway it was easy. I’ve started the second sock and look forward to zooming down to the heel again. We are just about to have a busy paperwork time at my husband’s retail store due to the quarter end and I must sneak in a few rows here and there to keep my sanity. That’s all for today – back to work!
I wish the side of me who loved spending time organizing and tidying would get her act in gear around this place. Oh, right. That side of me doesn’t exist. I wish it did, truly. I know that I feel calmer, more focused and happier when there is less around me – but honestly – I just don’t want to. There, now that I’ve had my tantrum I suppose I better get a move on. Where’s my shovel?
I loved everything about working on this piece. I so enjoy Christmas stitching – I have a whole wall full……. It makes me very, very happy. This is a Little House Needleworks pattern and I used a lovely soft grey/brown linen with the called for DMC threads. It is joining a few other piece in my closet until framing is in the budget.
I caught him whispering secrets to the cat…..
I finished Sarah’s socks last week! I immediately cast on a new pair with some beautiful hand dyed yarn from my very talented friend, Adrienne. I’m already almost to the toe and taught myself (with encouragement from Adrienne) the fish lips kiss heel construction. I have plans to stay up late tonight and finish the first one. I also had a stitching finish that I’ll write more about tomorrow, there’s a photo on IG over there ————->
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Life is simply moving at that. Warp speed. I find myself at the end of the day going over everything that I still mean to do or finish and the list is overwhelming. I miss the cottage, I miss the silence that I find there. I love what I do, I am so fortunate to be able to make an income teaching an instrument that I enjoy – with students who really are just the best. But my introvert heart really, really misses absolute solitude.
So, what does a woman who needs more quiet in her life do? Start a new business of course. Along with my SIL who is my sewing hero, we will be making and selling tote style products locally. I’m trying to set up the business and with all of the hundreds of small details that that entails, I am loving the sewing part!
ThatĀ is one of the reasons that Dorothy and Edward have been waiting months for their house to be built……
At least they can slam the tiny front door.
