I finished the socks for my brother’s birthday – which is Wednesday. I won’t see him until the 23rd, so I finished them with plenty of time to spare.
The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in “Gone Fishin”. Plain vanilla men’s socks using a cast on of 72 stitches and basic sock math. Nothing fancy, but it doesn’t need it because those fun stripes do all the work.
Now these are tucked aside, ready for wrapping – and I’ve got other things to work on. But more on that later.
Our thrfting adventures have continued – mostly popping in places when we happen to run across them instead of seeking them out on purpose.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve added a couple large conch shells to my collection.
I got my first couple when we were cleaning out Grandma’s house. And I grab them when we see them at thrift stores if they are in good shape, and a good price (sometimes they can be quite pricey.) I put them in the garden in the summer – they are a nice little surprise in between the plants – and they provide a nice cool place for critters to rest on the hot days.
Also for the garden, we found this beautiful birdbath. It’s not very tall – maybe just over two feet, so I’m going to have to find/make some sort of pedestal to put it on
But I just loved those little fish wrapped around the column. This one may go in the front garden, as I already have two birdbaths out back.
I got this gorgeous sewing stand for an absolute steal!
I have to move some things around in the living room, but it’s going to be a great place to store my knitting projects and keep them safe from a certain ginger feline.
Another steal was this little teapot
My Spice of Life Corningware, of course! My Mom said her grandma made her tea in the Cornflower Blue version every day!
And I wasn’t planning on getting any canisters, since I got my mushroom ones already but…
It’s not Corning Ware and its not Spice of Life – but it’s similar. It’s Jeanette Glasbake and they were made about the same time as my Spice of Life pieces (1970-79). They obviously work so well with my other pieces I would have been a fool to leave them behind!
And Dave hasn’t been neglected in our thrifting adventures…
We both fell in love with this canvas print of an old Canadian Navy recruitment poster.
And he loves old tins
Especially if they have ships on them.
And last, but certainly not least. Dave has been bugging me for weeks about what I want for my birthday (which is Tuesday). And the truth is ….nothing. There’s really nothing I seriously want, or need. That is until we came across this…
He saw my face light up as soon and I saw it, and that was that. It’s in need of a very good cleaning, but it seems to work. Quick research has told me it’s an Underwood Type 6, made in 1938.
They were made in Canada, most likely in Toronto. I am over the moon – it’s so pretty and is going to be even nicer when it’s cleaned up!
I’ve mentioned it before, but one of the wonderful things about getting the new windows was getting rid of the ugly awnings over the windows. There’s so much more light in the rooms and it just looks so much better on the outside.
There is one downside in my office though. Once the leaves are off the trees, and the winter sun is lower in the sky – I get the sun right in my eyes all afternoon while I’m trying to work. So… I decided to rearrange the office. As a result, the cat tree got moved to the window.
To say that the move was a big hit with the boys is an understatement. Of course, settling in has not been without it’s difficulties…
Dave and I order a lot of stuff online. And since we don’t have postal delivery to the door in this town (everyone has a post office box), anything too big to fit in our box (anything bigger than a letter), goes to the post office/township office next door for us to pick up.
Since moving here, we’ve gotten to know the two post office ladies VERY well. In fact, we’ve learned that we get the most parcels out of EVERYONE in the town!!! Since they have to put up with us stopping by so often, I gave them each a coffee gift card last year.
But this year, I wanted to do something more fun and personal. They know I quilt (since I’m always ordering fabric) so I thought why not something fun and quilty? Why not some mug rugs???
I did a quick search online, and came up with a cute little tree pattern, and the other night, I banged a couple out using up some scraps
Now let me explain something about how I sew… I don’t actually READ patterns. I mostly find pictures and then draft the blocks myself. But when I get an actual pattern, I usually just check the cutting instructions and start putting things together from the picture – because usually, it’s pretty intuitive. So it wasn’t until after I had everything cut, and I started sewing pieces together that I realized…. these were looking pretty big for a mug rug…. 8 inches to be exact.
Hmmmm… that just seems a little excessive. For a pot holder… fine… but a mug rug?
Yeah…. that’s way too big for a mug rug.
So… I did a little math to see if I could downsize it a bit…
I got it down to six inches… any smaller and the pieces would be much smaller than I want to work with.
It’s better… but it’s still a little bigger than I would like…
So…. anyone got a mug rug pattern they can recommend?
Several of you said it would be night and day going from Dad’s big sweater to my brother’s sock…
And you were right, of course! It’s just flying. I’m through the gusset already and working my way down the foot. With any luck, I can get this pair of the needles by the end of the weekend!
The to-do list in the sewing room is still miles long, but I decided to take the weekend off. Well – not off – I just had another project that needed doing as much as the stuff in the sewing room. And it involved paint and wood.
Ages ago, I got a project panel from Home Depot, and had Dave cut it into a couple squares for me – with plans to make a couple of barn quilts.
We live near several Barn Quilt trails here, and I see so many when we go out for out drives. I’ve long wanted to make one of my own, and one for Mom. We don’t have barns, so technically they will be Shed Quilts, but that doesn’t really matter – the idea is the same.
Mom knows I’m making her one for Christmas, but she doesn’t know what it will look like… so I can’t show you hers. But I can share mine.
Because my shed isn’t very big, mine is quite small – only 10″ square. It made it tricky to lay out the design I wanted, but with a tiny ruler, and a big eraser, eventually I got it all worked out.
Naturally, I chose cats for my barn quilt. It’s the snail trail cat pattern. I’d love to make an actual quilt with it one day, but for now I’m content to have it as a Barn Quilt.
The paints I have are just cheap craft acrylics, so it took many, many, many coats, and almost all weekend to get good coverage. Naturally, I had “help” periodically throughout the process.
Once the colour was solid enough for my liking, I tackled the outlining with my hand paint pens. My hands just aren’t steady enough to do it with a brush anymore.
Purrfection! Now it just needs a good thick coat of clear! And I’ll have Dave hang it on the shed in spring!
Dad’s finished birthday sweater. I started in on June 1, 2022, intending it to be for his birthday last year. That, of course, didn’t happen. But I finally pushed and finished it on November 26 of this year. So, one-and-a-half years of not-so-steady knitting.
The pattern is Southwood. It’s a basic top down raglan – lots of sizes (child to adult) and very easy to follow. It’s a free pattern too.
The yarn is Patons Classic Wool in a pretty, light grey/white marl.
Simple, classic, and very warm. I’ve still got a fair bit left, so there will probably be some hats and such as some point. But not for a while. I’ve had enough of grey for now.
One of my favourite things about this time of year is picking out a poinsettia. I couldn’t decide this year so I got two!
As usual, I will try to keep these going as house plants past December. They usually die by March, depsite my best effort, but maybe this year will be different….
And speaking of murdering plants….
It’s been ages since I murdered a Cyclamen! That’s mostly because it’s been ages since I’ve actually seen a Cyclamen anywhere!
But maybe it’s just good timing, because I’ve learned so much about Cyclamen from my gardening shows, I might just be able to keep this one alive.
I’ll give you an update on it (and the poinsettias) in the New Year!
With the outside decorated, it was time to get the inside done. Like the outside, I keep things simple. I have one bin of Christmas decorations, plus the tree. There is still room in the bin, so I can add some more decorations here and there.
I loved my Hallowe’en gnome bunting so much, I had to get a Christmas one.
Such sweet little gnomies.
You will notice that Skiing Sock Monkey is back, counting down the days for us.
And beside him is a little friend, dressed or winter. He’s new. I found him at the grocery store and just had to bring him home. He’ll probably hang out all winter, not just for Christmas
Same with this little gnome I now have hanging on the livingroom hutch.
He’s so cute, he’ll probably be a year-round resident.
But back to bunting… when I picked up the gnome bunting, they were buy one get one free so…
I got this cute one of Santa’s clothes and hung it on the dining room hutch! Check out Santa’s underpants!!!
And of course, there’s the tree. You may remember we have a small 4 ft tree. The first year we got it, we put it on the ground with no cat issues. Last year we had Lemmy, so it got moved to the plant shelf but it wasn’t high enough…
While I was decorating, Dave was repairing some of last years casualties…
So this year, we put the tree up on top of the hutch.
It made it a little harder for me to decorate (hence no star at the top) but it’s done! Let the countdown begin!
Wandering Cat Studio 