What a week

Here it is the start of another week and a start of a new year.  We are still in lockdown and if the number of Covid cases doesn't go down we will be in lockdown for a while longer.  Our lockdown is in effect until Jan 23rd at the earliest.

We continue to work remotely and given the last couple of weeks have meant a lot of businesses slowed down for the holidays it was good.  It meant that I had a bit of time to do things that I wanted to do and yes stitching was something that got attention.

Socks - here are the socks that I finished in 2020 and there are 3.5 pairs of socks finished and that makes me feel good.  Now I need to get back to working on socks so that I can continue to finish up socks and end up with matching socks instead of just single socks.

I am also going into 2021 with some socks on the needs and at least one of them is to finish off a pair so that is good. It is nice to have socks on the needles as it means that when I need something to work on I can quickly pick them up and work on them. I am looking forward to seeing how many socks I end up knitting in 2021. I hope to get more socks made and more of the inventory of sock yarn reduced.

Northern Patrol - As it New Years it was time for a new start, so I figured out a couple of projects that I wanted to do. The first project that I started was Northern Patrol and is a full coverage piece which makes me feel good.  I didn't get a lot of stitches in on this piece but that doesn't bother me.  I am looking forward to seeing how much of this I can get done, but it will depend on how the other project that I have on the go proceeds.

I am looking forward to seeing what this project looks like and that will depend on how much time I can spend on this project.

Mini Forget Me Not - this is a project has got a lot of attention since I started it.  I would like to see how things go moving forward in the next little while.  This project means a lot to me and part of it is because it has Forget Me Not flowers on it.  Forget Me Not flowers are also a symbol for Alzheimer's and that cause is very close to my heart.

I hope that I can also spend some time working on this project as it helps me feel better about other things that have been going on.  I lost my dad to both Dementia and Alzheimer's, so I am going to be stitching this piece as a way to remember him.

This is another full coverage piece so that means I am going to be working on this piece for quite a while.  I look forward to seeing how much of it I can do while also dealing with the death of my dad.  I know I won't have this piece completed quickly, but it does feel good having something that I can work on and just hide from the world with.

Covid ornaments - I was able to get four ornaments completed before the new year and that made me feel good.  These were given to my mom and sister, and they were able to hang them on their trees before it was time to take the tree down.

I am going to now try and get my two ornaments done, but they won't be on our tree this year, but I still want to get them made as a way to remember what 2020 was really like.

ETSY and Personal update - as a lot of you know I was raising funds for the Alzheimer's Society of Toronto by selling my grime guards.  I am making this 104 dollar donation,  as my dad had both Dementia and Alzheimer's, so wanted to do something to help one of these organizations.

My dad did pass away on January 3rd, but I know that he is now in a better place and is no longer having to deal with these crazy diseases.

I hope everyone can continue to find time to spend a bit of time each day to do the things that you love doing.  It is important that we all remember to take a bit of time for yourselves each day and do something.

 

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.

Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week and yes another week of trying to move things forward even if it is slowly.

We are still in the "Grey" category here in Toronto so that means that most stores are closed other than essential stores.  It has meant nothing has changed for us as we continue to help our clients remotely.

Pandemic - This project got a bit of attention this week but not as much as it has been getting. I have continued to try and get a few stitches in on it most days but there were days that I just didn't want to work on this piece in the last week so it didn't get the normal love that it has been getting.  I will see what I can get done on it this week.

Moonstone - this project got some attention yesterday as it was something a little different and I wanted to see if I could get the left bottom half done.  I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on this piece as it means that I am now able to see what the entire piece is going to look like.  

I am going to continue to work on this piece a bit at a time as I would like to  see how much more of it I can get before the end of the year.  It has been fun working on canvas instead of Aida or Even weave.  The project is nice and small and something that if we were allowed to travel would make a great travel project.  I do have some of these that I want to stitch later on, so I will have to remember that they are great for travelling.

Covid Christmas Snowman - here is a project that is going to be going away for a bit.  I was working on this snowman ornament and noticed that it is very hard to see on the fabric that I picked for it.  I thought that the white would show up more than it does on the Ecru fabric.  I have decided that instead of using this fabric I will use something else for the ones that I would like to make into ornaments for this year.  I may come back and finish this one later or it might just get tossed.

English Paper Piecing - this week I pulled out the runner that I have been working on and decided to start to add more of the motifs to it.  I am still a very long way from being finished but at least it got a bit of attention and I hope to continue to add the rest of the motifs to this piece before too long.

I am not sure how many more motifs that I need to make for it but I think the two colours of blue motifs are finished being made so it is just the white ones that need to get finished up. I had hoped to have this runner finished up before the end of the year but considering everything else that needs my attention it won't be getting finished by then but I will at least have a project that I can work on more next year.

ETSY - the shop is still busy, and I am going to be adding more grime guards into it as we continue to go through our fabric stash, sometimes a custom order can help choose the next fabric or fabrics (Denim coming up).  We have one more month of $1 for every grime guard sold will be given to the Alzheimer's Society of Toronto.

I hope everyone continues to stay safe and home as much as possible.  If your area doesn't have many cases be thankful as there are a lot of areas with lots of cases.  Remember to take care of yourself and try and find a bit of time each day to do something that you love.