Is it Summer Yet?

 At the start of summer break, I planned to having a relaxing summer. I wanted to draw, practice flute, clean out my email inbox, walk daily, practice yoga daily, sew....So how's that going? I've gotten some art ready for stickers, but haven't actually drawn any new art. I practiced flute for about 15 minutes. I started the summer with shoulder pain so the flute, and yoga, had to be put on hold. I have been walking a lot--30 minutes daily, M-F and some on the weekend, as well as an almost daily 25 min walk with the dog after dinner (not fitness walking at all LOL). I have done a bit of sewing, which I'll go over. Also finished up a charity crocheted blanket and started a Christmas stocking. I have also had doctor's appointments, x-rays, ultrasound, physio, dentist, eye doctor...middle kid got her wisdom teeth out, both girls have jobs and need rides, youngest has the rink twice a week...it's been a lovely summer though not the relaxing, do nothing summer I thought it would be

One day, I got a phone call from an elderly man who's quite popular in our community FB group. I had previously repaired an old wool Mary Maxim jacket for him, and now he had a wool blanket he kept in the car that had a few holes. I said I'd take a look. 

Turns out, it's woven, not knitted, but this gave me a great opportunity to learn how to do mending using the weaving method! One of those things I thought I'd learn at some point. 

It wasn't too hard! He was very pleased with it. I also made sure to give it a good bath in wool wash. 

As well as making stickers on my Cricut, I made IG address decals for our trucks, and new dishwasher magnets. I was planning to make the silver one, white, but it was too transparent. The Tricolour one will be sent to my eldest. He expressed interest in having one, but didn't like our original one since when the Clean was upright, it was on the bottom. So I fixed that. 

I despartely needed new slippers. I loved the gold ones I had, with suede soles. I'm out of suede, so I got out the ToughTech I bought for swim shoes in the summer of 2019, as part of the cruise prep. 

I also wanted a new sleep mask. Currently, I use a dark coloured buff. It works fine but thought maybe something new would be nice. I wanted something with some shape, as commercial sleep masks gape along my nose. I had seen some really cool shaped ones on Amazon and thought maybe I could make something. I had a hard time finding a pattern, eventually landing on this one by a Korean YouTuber, for a contoured eye mask. She created it so it wouldn't rub on her eyelashes. It's supposed to bubble outwards, reminds me of fly eyes, LOL. However, my interfacing was too weak (she didn't specify in the video), and my fabric too wimpy, so I don't quite get that same effeect. Plus, I had trouble sewing the slippery fabric, then I trimmed the seams, turned right side out, and discovered I had sewn the elastic into the seam. Picked it out, re-stitched, turned right side out, and discovered that I must have snipped the elastic when I was snipping the seam allowance on the curves. So I had to rejoin the ends. Overlapping the ends has made the elastic just a smidge too small now, and I wake up with a blue line across my forehead. There is still some gaping around my nose, but it's not too bad. I think next time, I'll just make a flat one LOL.

One of the lettering tutorials I followed early in the summer. Going to make it into stickers.

There is a long story with this. The short version is I combined some different pieces I did into one, and made a background for my new laptop. The two mushrooms with faces, I drew them just by looking at reference photos! I'm so proud of them!

Megan bought a dirtbike, but has been cursed. Another attempt to go out and this happened. Sigh. Poor girl.

Finished this corner to corner crocheted blanket for the seniors. 

As I was getting near the end, I realized I wouldn't have enough of the green blend. So I created a plan to increase the pink (previously it had been one row) and decreased the green (it had been two rows). It's not quite the transition I was envisioning, but it's done. It weighed 600grams.

I made two versions of this dress very early in my sewing hobby--2007. I learned the hard way about full bust adjustments. Actually, I didn't learn it then, but this pattern showed why I needed a FBA. Check out New Look 6557 in the Labels section.

I found this pattern at a thrift shop and it seemed complete. It's similar to the above pattern, and Simplicity is the parent company. This one doesn't have the midriff band, and uses pleats in the bust instead of gathers. I thought I'd give it a try finally, but found it was missing all the bodice pieces except the front upper bodice. So I'm merging the two patterns.

I tried on the second version of the New Look dress that I made in 2007. I could zip it up this time, but after much searching, I found the original picture (which I didn't seem to blog!).

My bust is definitely bigger now! This was 6 months after the reduction, and a month after recovering from giardia.

This is the first test of the new mash up. It's just the top portion. It felt a little bare and revealing in the V neck. So I altered the pattern pieces a bit more.

On the last few inches of sewing the lining to the bodice and I run out of bobbin thread. I start winding a new one, get halfway full, and suddenly the machine starts slipping. My other machine is getting looked at because it started making a noise! Ack. For the last year, every time I ran out of a bobbin, I tended to just grab whatever was somewhat close and already filled Now I'm down to a few bobbins, and they're those colours. Argh.

And that's pretty much it for now!

Yarn In: 150gr

Yarn Out:  600gr + 20gr = 620gr

Difference:  470gr more OUT than in

Costs: $15.22/213 days = $0.07

Memorial Blanket

 In 2019, my Dad died, and then less than 5 months later, my brother's dog was (accidentally) killed and then a week later, his wife died. Nancy had PKD--Polycystic Kidney Disease and had been on dialysis for a long time (7 years?) while waiting for a transplant. Shortly after, I found a bag of purple Bernat Softee Chunky (I think. I can't seem to find any of the labels) at my favourite store in my Mom's small town. I wanted to make a blanket to donate to the dialysis unit where Nancy spent so much time. Purple was her favourite colour. 

I started with corner to corner crochet. I found a graph to make a heart in the corner, where I thought I could somehow add her info. However, I had no yarn that worked well with the purple--too smooth, too thin, wrong colour, etc. Then I tried numerous things on the SK155 knitting machine. Nothing was making a blanket that would be big enough to be useful. 

I finally settled on a simple tuck pattern, making three panels. It's still a little narrow. It could be used as a wrap too.

I decided against the Bickford Seam because I worried that it could lose it's shape. I did a mattress stitch, using half a stitch on each edge. It doesn't show too badly on the wrong side (though no side is really the wrong side with tuck).

I gave it a heavy steaming, to flatten the edges and stretch it out some. It relaxed the texture a bit (no pictures), but I think it's still nice.

I have thought about how to add her name or info. I looked into doing heat transfer with my Cricut. I don't have any experience and I don't know how it'd hold up to be in a hospital facility. I thought about embroidery, but then I'd have to sew some sort of patch on because the blanket can't really be embroidered right on to. Probably expensive. And in the end, no one except maybe some nurses would even know who she was. So I'm leaving it purple; that says enough.

I haven't gotten to donate it yet. I'm not sure if they'll take anything right now. It's ready though, when the time is right. Sign your organ donor card and let your family know. Nancy was in her mid-40s, her daughters were in 16 and 21. An organ donation would have changed their lives.

Yarn In:  1400gr

Yarn Out: 600gr + 3764gr = 4364gr

Balance:  2964gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day

Blankets

I mentioned a few posts ago that I got a big donation of yarn. I've pretty much used it up! Two more charity blankets off the needles. 

The first one was the bottom one. It has bands of white/cream separating the colours, and I tried to alternate green and brown. Sometimes I don't settle into an idea until I've knit a bit, so it doesn't always look intentional.  It's 558gr. 

The second one was the darker one on top, because I had a lot of dark greens left. It weighs in at about 485gr.  It ended up a bit smaller. I was going to do a border, but I hate doing that.

What's been keeping me busy was an AQ course (Additional Qualification) for music, Primary and Junior. That ended, and I've gotten to finally play with my new camera. I spent a lot of the time working on the course outside, where I got to know a cardinal couple. 

This is after she chased off a starling. It was fun watching her when she collected twigs for her nest. 

I didn't get good pictures of the baby. The first time they came around, it was mostly beige and very fluffy. The next time it was showing more red. Years ago I kept seeing a cardinal that was half beige, half red. So I think it takes time for the boys to get their full colour.

I really really like this photo. Click on it, and zoom in. He has an alder seed in his beak. 

They brought their baby around, and then they started a new family. Apparently they don't use the same nest each time. There was a couple days that when I went out front (I knew the nest had been in a skyrocket evergreen at the front corner of the house), the mom cardinal was chirping like crazy from the pine tree next to the walkway. I decided to investigate, and found a baby bird perched on the edge of a nest! I ran in for the camera, and came back out to see it flutter down to a lower branch.

Oh, was Momma ever ticked! She spent a long time chirping, hopping from branch to branch, encouraging it to return. The baby went the wrong way around the tree, towards the front, rather than the short trip to it's left. I had to leave. Just then Daddy came back and there was a discussion. I can just imagine Momma telling him the headaches his offspring had given her that afternoon while he was out having fun LOL. 

When I came back, I saw Daddy chirping madly. I looked up and saw a large bird, about the size of a mourning dove (which we used to have in that tree). It wasn't a dove though, because it was sitting upright on the branch and it had a hawk bill! Daddy chased it off and I think every cardinal on the street was chirping loudly! We couldn't find baby, and I haven't seen or heard it since. I don't know if he was a snack for the hawk, which was likely a sharp-shinned hawk.  

We've also had two litters of bunnies since June. Most have scattered, one got eaten and this guy is in trouble if he doesn't stop munching my plants. The pictures of the newborn bunnies are really adorable. It was great to see the progression. This was the first time there was a nest in the grass instead of under the deck.

I've been growing a hops vine in the back yard for the past few summers. This is the first summer it produced hops. I think it's cool that they mimic the lights Rob put up on the fence.

Now, I'm spending most of my time driving kids around. Megan got a job, and is back skating, and has physio, as well as Lucy working, so I'm busy, busy, busy! 

 Yarn In:  1400gr

Yarn Out: 1 043gr + 3730gr = 4773gr

Balance:  3333 gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0

Another Charity Blanket

I wonder how many blog posts are titled "Another Charity Blanket"? 

I'm not sure exactly when I got this yarn compared to when I started the blanket. I don't like to add new yarn once I've gotten deep into a project. But then I started another one and did pull from this big yarn donation I got from Freecycle. I weighed it all, but I'm not sure where I wrote down the totals. I'm going to say 1400gr. 

So, this blanket weighed in at 505gr. 

And this is the only picture I took. It's just a simple garter stitch corner to corner rectangle. I didn't even do an edging. I just slip the first stich purlwise, then yarn over. 

Yarn In:  1400gr

Yarn Out: 505gr + 2483gr = 2988gr

Balance:  1588gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day

 

Hello May

 What was going on in April that I only made one post?! Work, physical therapy, yoga, drawing in Procreate... if you want to see what I'm learning on Procreate, check me out on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/tracykmvetzal/

I do still knit and crochet! I finished another pink blanket for the seniors! This one was knit, corner to corner, in garter stitch. 

Such an easy, mindless pattern. Just make sure when you start the decreases on the first side, you mark which edge you're doing it on. 

I picked up two bags of donated yarn on the weekend. I need to weigh it, so I'll calculate that this weekend.

I have another blanket in browns/green/beiges on the needles, but I'm going to start a Gnome Knit-along today!! So excited. It's a mystery gnome. I haven't done a KAL in so long!

Yarn In:  0gr

Yarn Out: 530gr + 1928gr = 2458gr

Balance:  2458gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day

Pink and Pretty

 I dug out all my odd balls of worsted weight again, trying to get inspiration for my next charity blanket. I had a lot of pinks, it seemed, so that became the next plan.

Corner to corner crochet. Changing yarns as I felt like it. 

Nice to work on something that can also keep me warm LOL

This took me about two weeks, using worsted weight and 5.5mm hook (or maybe 6mm), 35"x48"

Not much else to say. It didn't wash up as soft and limp as the last blanket, which was an unlabelled Red Heart yarn from Cambridge Fibres. Some of the yarns in this blanket are very old. A couple were from White Rose Nurseries, which closed the last of their stores in 2002 (doesn't sound that long ago, until I realize it was 19 years LOL). 

Yarn In:  0gr

Yarn Out: 1279gr + 649gr = 1928gr

Balance:  1928gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day

Simple but Effective

 I finished the latest blanket for Crocheted Blankets for Seniors (they accept knitted ones too!). This was so easy. Four rows main colour, in stockinette. One row in contrast, in the pattern stitch, then one row in contrast in knit stitch (even though you are on the back side; this creates a nice textured ridge to the front).  Every 4th stitch on the contrast row 1 is done like this:

Locate the stitch on the contrast band below--follow the column down to the contrast row

Insert the right tip into that stitch of the contrast row. You're going into the top stitch (there are two rows in the contrast "band").

Knit the stitch, pulling the strand through. The four main coloured rows are still on the left needle.

Drop the stitch off the left needle, and give a little tug to unravel the four rows. They will be caught behind the contrast stitch! 

On the next contrast row, you'll center that tuck stitch you did. So, the first time, it's MMMCMMMC and the second time it's MCMMMCMM.  Of course, you don't have to do 3 main colour stitches, you could do any odd number. Just centre the tuck stitch.

Depending on how much you steam it, and shape it, it will create nice little bubbles. My black yarn was rather delicate--a thin chenille--so I didn't make those stitches too tight. You could though, and it would emphasize the bubble effect.

The back side is nice and tidy and looks good too, even though it's not technically reversible. 

This blanket ended up a smidge narrow (by about 2-3") and only 440gr. I had a pound of this yarn (454gr), so I have some left. I will probably take all the bright yarns I've used recently and create another blanket. 

Yarn In:  0gr

Yarn Out:  440gr + 756gr = 1196gr

Balance:  1196gr more OUT than in

Cost:  $0, $0/day