A busy week means everything but knitting is put on the backburner.  A few rows here and there on simple projects have added up.  There's a new dishcloth, which was also a swatch to practice honeycomb stitch for a future scarf. 

The dishcloth was knit in Peaches and Cream on 6mm needles.  The recommended needles are 4.5mm.  It's no fun to knit on that size with a yarn that has no give. 

I played about with the pattern a bit, too.  This is the back and it shows what a difference changing one stitch can make.  Row 4 was a repeat of row 2 in the top section.

The honeycomb pattern was swatched on 5mm needles in Red Heart's Super Saver yarn, so I could see what it looked like on a recommended needle size.  It only took a few rows to see the pattern appear.  A few rows of stocking stitch were added, to make a clear break between that and the next practice swatch.  

Cold hands in class last night saw another pair of ingerless mitts cast on.  Yes, it's knitters logic.  lol. The yarn is Zara, an extra fine Australian merino.  The color is 1523 and came from deep stash.  Besides being in my favorite color, these will be a quick knit, plus super soft and toasty to wear.  

Started a new set of belly bands for Bailey yesterday.  They're mostly finished.  Just need to finish sewing the velcro down.  They're easy to cut out and sew and they really don't feel like a chore.  Cut the scraps into 2 inch squares, as I don't want to even add a small amount of fabric to the scrap bins.  lol

This was all the crafting that was done yesterday.  Raided the 12/ inch hexi tin and decided to give starch basting a go. Couldn't find a small paintbrush after a 30 second look.  Put a dab of glue stick on the cardboard hexi to hold it in place, flipped them over and gave them a squirt of starch, then pressed each side down.  Hopefully the needle will go through without any problems. 

I swing between glue and  thread basting.  I don't have a preference, just whatever takes my fancy at the time.  Thread basting is a good way to finish off those leftover threads from the top and bottom sewing machine bobbins.

I spotted a technique I've not tried before.  A brush with starch is run along each side, without touching where the fabric and template meet and pressed individually.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  lol. I will give it a proper go to see if I like it.  It's fun to try new techniques, even if I never use them again.....toe up socks I'm looking at you!

I only need 3 to decorate the front of a tin to keep a Snagnabit in.  Fingers crossed, there's some crafty time today.  They just need whip stitching together, glueing to the front of the tin, then a few layers of Mudge Podge.

 

There's  not a lot of anything going on except the yearly big tidy and sort going on just now.   There's a little spot behind the printer, which is the perfect place to keep a few projects.   There's projects stashed all over the house.  lol

There's seven 58 (?) quart tubs of fabric stash.  Folding the fabrics in this way works well, as it's pretty easy to see what's in there when rummaging.

The other six tubs look more like this.  lol. Sorting the tubs is going to have to be put off until the scrap bin is dealt with.  

This isn't a "scrap system".  It's not organized enough to be a system.  The baskets are from the Dollar Tree.  (I know, I'm such a big spender.  lol)  

Until recently,  anything that was 6 inches wide or less was tossed in the scrap bin and was pretty much ignored until the lid wouldn't fit. lol  The bags are in alphabetical order and labelled by color.  

There's squares and strips (a strip is anything that is too long to be cut into a square) in half inch increments up to 6 1/2 inches, plus 9 1/2 and 15 1/2 inch squares (just because I have a couple of rulers in that size).  Anything smaller than 1 1/2 inches either gets cut into a 1/2 inch hexagon or if it's too small, tossed in the bin.  Hexies are particularly good for those weird appliqué edges. 

 Started sorting through hexi  WIPs.  This is the oldest.  It's been on the go for 6 years and is back in the ever changing crafty rotation.

Half inch hexi flowers.  No particular plan with these.  Just stitch on them when the mood strikes.  

The templates are thick cardboard flyers and the fabrics are cut down from scraps that are 1 1/2 inches or less.  Tins are my favorite way to store hand piecing projects.  These were from Dollar Tree.

These are 1 inch.  Haven't started this one yet.  Had a mad session a few weeks ago, cutting up weird shaped small scraps a few weeks ago.  The flowers will be all different fabrics.  This will be a Grandmother's Garden. 

These are a bit bigger and the fabric will be fussy cut.  

Knit a couple of inches on the cuff, tried it on.  It was a bit loose, so frogged, then reknit it with 10 less stitches.  Fits great.  The thumb gusset is next.

Still practicing single crochet.   I'm running a bit short on cleaning cloths and thought it would be quicker to crochet rather than knit one.  It was.  Good practice, too.  I wet it and threw it in the dryer with a load of clothes to see what that would do.  It shrunk.  That's fine.  Just need to work out how many stitches need to be added to make it the size I like.

The bottom one was just to see what would happen when increasing into every stitch in the round.  The next step is to frog it and practice making and joining flowers.  Some ornate dishcloths/cleaning cloths are on the way!

A few months ago I decided to try out a mitten pattern.    The pattern called for the tip of the mitten and thumb to just be threaded through when finished.  I don't like the way it looks and don't like the feel of mittens, either.  So, they're in the middle of being frogged and the yarn rewound.  The yarn is lovely, so will become a pair of fingerless mittens when I find a pattern.

Wound up all the odd balls of Noro Silk Garden and ended up with about 480 yards.  Plenty for a scarf and maybe a hat.  This is the same yarn as the shawl, just a different colorway.

Here's a closeup.  The green scarf was frogged yesterday, as I wasn't feeling it.  I found the bag of partial balls when returning the green yarn to the stash.  There was a very good reason for it.  I'd photocopied the wrong pattern.  Fortunately, I'd only knit a few rows.  Just need to choose a pattern for this one and copy it right away.  

 Early morning sewing.  Colored pencils have a new home.

The gel pens were feeling a bit left out, so they got one, too.

They just need a charm to finish them off.  This is on one I added to a pencil case I made earlier. 🤭

 

Woke up this morning with embroidery on my mind.  Ive been stumped as to how the flower mini is going to be quilted.  Decided a few days ago to hand quilt it, but it didn't seem quite "right".  Sometimes a few sleeps are necessary for ideas to permeate in my subconscious.

Narrowed it down to Spanish feather stitch (for now lol).    Still thinking about echo quilting it with some crochet cotton.  Going to dye some in yellow and see what happens if a tiny amount of neon green is mixed in with it, too.

Finished a pouch for the light box.  The little red pouch was in a matching knitting bag and was never used, but it's the right size for the cord.

This is the other side of the pouch.  They're leftover blocks from a set of placemats I made last year.  I'd got a bit carried away sewing them and ended up with two spare tops and backs.  Orphan blocks come in handy for small projects.

Another scrap project.  

 There's one bag for each knitting project.  Last night I played lucky dip and pulled out my favorite bag.  It was the one with the hat.  After tinking back to the ribbing, I started the new pattern.  After a few rounds, it was too tight...again, even on the bigger needles.  It was frogged and the yarn went back into stash.  It just isn't meant to be knit just now.  Onto another WIP.  It's not like there's a shortage of them.  I'm ready for a fast finish.  There's a pair of fingerless mitts that just need afterthought thumbs.  A couple of hours and they will be ready to wear.

Started sewing a pouch for the light box using a couple of orphan blocks and a lining.  Managed to sew both fronts over the zip.  Sewing zips is not my forte!  lol

Started a new between project - houses.  Trimming and flying geese roofs are next.   If they don't look any good, they will go in the orphan bin.

Grey brought a jar of this home on Monday.  It's delicious.  Nothing artificial and it taste homemade.  

Love the color of poke weed berries and stems.

 

I woke up this morning with a case of Finishitupus, so I'm making the most of it.   Knitting WIPs and UFOs have been rounded up.  This is the start of a pair of fingerless mitts.  When I bought this yarn, I didn't know sock yarn has nylon or something similar in it for durability.  This is is 100% merino, so wouldn't last long before going in holes.   It's the beginning of a pair of fingerless mittens.

Another pair just need thumbs.  

It has an interesting twist, so may add a bit of texture.  However it turns out, it will definitely brighten my day!

I wasn't enjoying knitting the colorwork pattern on this hat, so it's being tinked back to the ribbing.  The pattern will be a repeat pattern of one grey, one purple stitch, which I think will give it a marled look.It won't take that long to knit in my vanilla hat recipe.

 

A partial cardigan sleeve turned up in an odd place.  The fronts are complete and the back is started, so it's about half way through.

This scarf in Old Shale is being frogged and reknit on larger needles so the center will shine.  It's not going to look like anything special until it is finished and wet blocked, when the yarn will relax and the pattern will come into its own.

I had no luck getting a decent photo of the yarn color, so swiped a pic from Miss Babs website.  The colorway is Dark Fury.  There's more dark than pink in mine, but you get the idea.

One last ball of the shawl yarn turned up in the same bag as the cardigan sleeve.  

The sock leg is only 1/4 inch longer, so doesn't look that much different than the last pic.  

There's a tiny start on Arne and Carlos' Easter Bunny in the cotton yarn that was originally for the toe up socks.  That was during a bout of startitus last evening.   How quickly things can change overnight!     

This is the perfect mix of projects and will keep me amused for a while.  I've got the itch to finish projects before the end of the year.  The quilt pile is next.  If previous years are anything to go by, there should be a bit of a dent in the WIP/UFO piles.

Crow Berry Sampler

Bent Creek

I like to keep the dye recipes  in a few places, just in case..... as I'd hate to run out of floss and not be able to complete the project.  It's saved here, on my phone and written down in a notebook.  That should be enough.  lol

Floss: 5x hand to shoulder lengths Blanc DMC 

Brown 

2x tad neon green

1x tad scarlet

2x tad charcoal grey

4T water 

********************************

Red

2x tad scarlet

10x tad fucia 

4xT water

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Green

2x tad lemon yellow

1x tad aquamarine 

1x drops charcol grey

4T water 

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Black 

6x tad charcol grey

5x smidge, 5x dash, 2x tad purple

4T water

Flower Power November

Ewe & Eye & Friends

Samplers are hard to resist.  Each letter or number seems like a mini finish. 

 

Sock update....one more inch to go on the leg.  

 

After stash diving a couple of nights ago and pulling out a  hank of Dragonfly Fibers Djinni in Marilyn's Lips colorway (in shades of dark pink, not red) 🥰  It's a tight ply lovely to knit socks with.  They are super warm and comfy.   I've knit a few pairs in this yarn.  Same pattern,  different 

colorway.  

There's one more hank in shades of orange caked up ready to go.  That will be the last pair of socks that will be knit in this yarn, as the company changed hands a while ago and the colorways aren't quite the same.  

There's no shortage of sock yarn in the stash.  These are mostly plain colors, which will be fun to knit into socks with patterns on the legs and tops of the feet.  Just for fun,, they'll be paired with patterns soon, popped into brown paper bags, jumbled up, then numbered, as a lucky dip/sock of the month club.

 

There was some auditioning of stitch lengths and widths yesterday on small scraps of fabric and batting. 

There was also a bit of frogging.  The original thread (the one on the right) was too bright and the stitch width was too small.   Next time, I'll add a scrap of the fabric which is being appliquéd.

 

This morning the appliqué was finished.  Echo quilting around the flowers and stems is next.  There are some potential problem spots, as the background fabric wasn't starched (it's not like I don't have a jug of liquid starch!).  If need be, it'll be hand quilted, with big stitches and I'll say it's a "contemporary" quilt.  Nobody will know the difference.  lol

Bamboo is my favorite batting.  It's lovely to machine quilt on, has fabulous drape, is warm and is microbial.  

The background fabric has been sitting in my stash for at least a decade.  There's 3 metres of it and I over dyed it.   I like it very much, which means all the fabric which was picked out for the fall table runner has been put back in the stash, as I'd like to play with this some more.  Fingers crossed there's enough of the hand dyed yellow/orange fabric.  It may be a table topper instead of a runner.  lol

 

 Up before sparrow's fart this morning and started putting the mini together.  Got distracted by helping Captain Picard save the Klingon Empire and didn't put fusible webbing on the back of two stalks.  Lack of coffee had me thinking a few dots of glue would work well instead.  Nope.  It stretched.    Need to pull them both off and start again.  

Almost ready to start putting it together.  The background fabric is a piece of yardage that I dyed long, long ago!   

Love the colors of this thread for the echo quilting.