Bits of Progress

It's hard to believe that another week has gone by and nothing seems to have changed here in Toronto.  We are still in lockdown and now the entire province of Ontario is in lockdown for at least the next two weeks.  Toronto and southern Ontario will be locked down until around the 24th of January.

For us things haven't changed as we are still working remotely for clients and staying home as much as possible, so I am thankful I have some crafting that I love doing.

Unleash the Butterflies  - I didn't get a lot of stitching in on this project in the last week but at least I was able to add a few stitches to it.  I am not sure how much attention this is going to get over the next week, but it is going to be a project that I will continue to try and move forward in 2021.

It's hard to believe but 2020 is just about over, and now it is time to start thinking of what I want to work on in 2021.  I have found my love of full coverage pieces so I think you will probably be seeing more of them in the next year.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL 2019 - I was able to pull out this project on Saturday and make a bit of progress on some butterflies.  I didn't get as much done as I would have liked but the project wasn't speaking to me, so I figured it was best not to force myself to work on it too much.

I haven't worked on this project since December 31, 2019 so now to see if I can move it forward in 2021.  It would be nice to have this piece finished, so I will see what happens in the new year.  I would like to see this project finished and framed so maybe if I can figure out a method of getting the butterflies done it might help.  I think that is something that I will try and figure out as I start to plan for 2021.

Covid Santa - well this is a project that I did work on this week and as you can see I got the first one finished.  I still have to do the other one that I want to give away so that might be on the agenda for today.  

I am loving how this Santa turned out and yes his beard and hat are fluffy, and I love how it turned out. The only part that isn't metallic or fluffy is his face and mask. This was a fun piece to stitch and am now going to work on getting the other one stitched up so that I can get all four of the ornaments finished in their hoops before the start of the new year.

Socks - as you can imagine I am continuing to work on making my socks, and they have been a lot of fun.  I am going to be taking a picture of all the socks that I have made using Perfect Pair at the end of the month, so you will see how many I have done so far.  I will admit that there are going to be a lot more socks knit in 2021 as I do have a lot more of this yarn to use.

Plans for 2021

Cross stitch - will as the new year starts at the end of this week I have started to work on ideas for what I want to work on in 2021 and as I said I have enjoyed full coverage pieces so that is something that I will be working on again in 2021 and seeing what I can get done.

Knitting - Socks will continue to be something that I work on as they are something that I can work on a bit at a time and something that is great when I am attending a webinar.  I hope to also work on a shawl for myself in the next while and will see how that goes.

Crocheting - one of the projects that I would like to work on next year is to make some lapghans for a long-term care facility.  I have a lot of yarn that I don't know what to do with so making some lapghans will help the residents.

Other goals - I do have a few other goals that I want to achieve in 2021, but they aren't relating to my crafting, so I won't be posting them here. 

 

As the year comes to an end I have to say that it has been a very challenging year for most of us and hopefully 2021 will be better. We are still going to have to be extremely careful for a while until a large majority of us get the vaccine. 

I hope each of you will continue to find the time to do something for yourself each day even if it is just for a few minutes.  We have to make sure that we take care of yourselves so that we can be there to help others.  I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and let's hope that 2021 is better than 2020.

 

Making progress on things

Here it is the start of another week and yes another week of working from home and staying home as much as possible.  Covid-19 still means that the Toronto area is in lockdown, and it looks like we will be for a while yet.  The cases in Ontario continue to rise and that doesn't look good considering Christmas is also this week. The news is reporting that all of Ontario will be in lockdown again effective December 24th so will see if that is true when the announcement is made this afternoon.  It doesn't change anything for us as it is still the same here.

Unleash The Butterflies - here is a project that I haven't worked on for over a year.  I decided it was time to pull it out and see if I could get a few stitches in on it over the weekend.  I know that I didn't get a lot done but at least I was able to make a bit of progress on it.  I think this project will stay out until the New Year and I will see how much more of it I can get done.

When I pulled this project out I looked at when I last worked on it, and it was November 14, 2019 so yes more than a year has passed since this got the attention.  It is always nice when you pick up a piece after that long, and you immediately start to enjoy it again and wonder why you put it down in the first place.  I know why this was put away for a while, and now I hope to be able to continue to move it forward even if it is a little slower given I have a couple of other projects planned for 2021.

Covid Santa - here is another ornament that I am currently working on and would like to have it done soon.  This is a Covid Santa, and it goes along with the Covid Snowman that I finished up during the week.  I now have two of the three Snowman finished and now to work on getting some Santa ornaments stitched up.  They may not be finished by Christmas day, but they will be finished up soon.  I will try and see how much of this ornament I can get done this week as it would be nice to have the sets completed and given to the people that will be receiving them.

Socks - now here is a project that is continuing, and it is making me feel good.  I have decided that at the end of this month I will take a picture of the socks that I have completed since I started working on these sets in September.  I am happy with the progress that I have made, and it will be fun to see all of them together in one picture.  I know that there will be socks on the needle as well as that is how I work. I currently have three socks on the go, and it is nice when I can sit and work on a sock while attending a webinar.

The yarn I am using for this sock is Perfect Pair - Drive All Night by Loops and Thread.  I have been enjoying most of the colourways of this brand so will be having lots of socks once I finish knitting up all the yarn that I have.

This week is Christmas and I know for a lot of us it is going to be different this year.  If you are like us and dealing with restrictions know that hopefully by being careful this Christmas we will all be able to have a better Christmas next year.  Remember to take some time during this crazy season to do something that you enjoy doing even if it is just a few minutes at a time.  My plans are to continue to work on my projects when I have the time as they all make me happy.

I would like to wish every a Merry Christmas and stay safe.

 

Moving projects forward and finishing socks

Here it is the start of another week and another week closer to Christmas.  It is amazing how things are so different this year but still it is time to sit back and be thankful for what we have.

 

Covid-19 still is keeping up in lockdown but at least we are able to continue to work remotely and that is good.  Now to see what the new year will bring as I know that the vaccines are now starting to arrive here in Ontario so let's see when things can slowly get back to normal.  First we need the number of cases to go down and then it might help everyone.

 

Pandemic - I got a few more stitches in on Pandemic but given everything else going on last week I am happy with the progress that I was able to make. I am not sure how much I will get done on this piece before Christmas as I am trying to get some Christmas ornaments finished up. It is nice to see that I have at least moved it forward a little and that is what is important right now.

Covid Christmas Ornaments - this is what I have been focusing on over the last week when I had some stitching time and I didn't have a lot of that. I was able to get at least the first snowman finished up and that makes me feel good as now I just have two more snowmen and three Santa ornaments to stitch. 

This week I hope to be able to make some more progress on these ornaments and yes I am running out of time to get them all finished up before Christmas.  I am thinking that my goal might be two snowmen and two Santa ornaments and then I can work on getting the two for me done after Christmas.

In the picture of the 2nd ornament it doesn't look like I have got a lot done but at least I know that I have quite a bit of his body finished up and then the rest of it seems to go quickly or at least that is what it felt when I did the first one.

Socks - this week when I had a few minutes I was picked up some of my socks and moving a lot of them forward.  I had a bunch of socks that I just needed to decrease for the toe, so I got two of those socks completed.  It also meant that I had the circular needles ready for another sock to be cast on so one of the needles was used for the second sock of the pair.

The other needle was for a new pair of socks so that was nice and it got cast on as well.  It makes me feel good when I can see some good progress on my socks now.  I have been trying to at least work a few minutes on my socks each day in December and so far it has been going well. I know that sitting and working on these are nice and relaxing until I have to do the decrease for the toe but that doesn't take long to do.

Of course, now that I am starting to get pairs of socks finished it is time to start wearing them and enjoying them.  I currently have two pairs of socks that I have recently knit ready to wear and a third pair and that is getting close to being finished up.  I hope to continue to knit a bit each day for the rest of the month on my socks and I will see what I can get done.

 

I hope everyone continues to be safe and you find a bit of time to do the things that you love each day.  I know that we are all dealing with a year that is so different from we could have imaged but at least maybe now things will slowly start to get better but it is going to take time.  I hope you all have a good week and you get something done that you would like to do.
 

Another week and a bit of progress

Here it is the start of another week with the world still dealing with Covid-19. Cases around Ontario still continue to be an issue with some areas being worse than other areas.  Toronto is still in the locked down state and will be for at least another 2 weeks.  

We are continuing to work remotely and yes there are some challenges but at least everyone is safe when we do it this way.  Outings are limited to the essential trips so staying put is what we are doing and I have been able to continue to get bits of crafting done so that makes me feel good.

Pandemic - I didn't focus on this project very much this week as I had another project getting most of the time.  I wanted to see if I could at least get a couple of strands of thread into this project so that is what ended up happening.  I love this project and all the different sections and can't wait to give it more attention but that will have to wait until some ornaments get stitched up.

Covid Christmas Snowman - this is a project that has been a bit of a challenge for me and part of it has been the colour of fabric that I picked for these ornaments.

Last week I said that I was going to change the fabric that I was using and I did but still didn't like how they were turning out so instead of changing fabric I changed the floss that I was using.  The entire snowman is now stitched in the new Diamant thread by DMC.  It is a metallic thread and I have to admit that I enjoyed working with this thread.  Yes it has its issues like all the metallic threads but it worked up pretty easily once I figured out how to handle it.  As you can see I have most of the snowman now completed and I am looking forward to moving onto the next ornament.  I have three sets of ornaments to make so trying to decide if I am going to work on each set or should I try and get at least two of the snowman done first.  I guess I will figure that out after I get this one done.

Socks - this week I decided it was time to pick up my socks again and see if I could get some of them off the needles.  I am currently looking at the sock pile that I have and there are three socks that are either at the decrease for the toe point or very close to that.  Once the toe is done it means that I can start another sock so that would be nice.  One sock will complete a pair and the other two are the first ones of a pair so that means two socks still need to be knit before I have the pairs of socks that I want.

 

This year everything seems so different as we approach the holiday season and a lot of that is all the running around that we normally do.  This year things are so different for everyone and I know as I have talked to friends they have all said the same thing.  We continue to make sure that we are wearing our masks, social distancing and staying home as much as possible.

I hope everyone continues to find the time each day to do something that you love doing.  It may help a bit as we all need that time to just focus on something happy.  I try each day to find even those few minutes to pick up one of my crafts and forget about everything else that is going on in the world. Hope you have a good week and please stay safe.