For the latest tiny needle project, I decided to move onto something a little different than cross-stitching. You may remember a post a few months ago where I talked about the embroidery kits mom and I got.

I decided this weekend was the perfect time to get started. the kit comes with everything you need except the fabric you are going to embroider on. The kit suggests denim, but I wanted something a little lighter.

I decided on a solid mid-grey cotton. This is one of the bolts I keep in stock for background fabric with the quilting. As you can see, the kit also comes with the patterns printed on these genius little sticky papers. You just stick them on, stitch over top, then they dissolve away with cold water when you’re done.

Now – I did consider doing a few practice pieces first.. you know… since I’ve never really done any embroidery (the odd stitch face on a stuff doesn’t really count). But this is me, so I decided to dive right in.

Things got off to a pretty good start. My stem stitch could probably use a little work, but it wasn’t bad enough to rip it out, so I kept going. With Lemmy’s help of course!

Soon enough I had all the leaves and stems done and was already moving onto the flowers. Embroidery was definitely going faster than cross stitch!

Then I hit a snag…. the dreaded French Knot. I do have experience with the French Knot because it comes up occasionally in cross stitch. And I have NEVER been good at it. It took me a full half hour just to get these few little knots done.

And they are far from perfect…. and you can see how many more knots I have to do! Sigh…

It was going so well.

It’s going to sit in a time out this week and I’ll try again on the weekend. I will get those knots knotted if it’s the last thing I do!

I needed another knit on the needles so I dug deep into the stash and came up with a ball of Alley Cat BFL.

Back when we closed up the yarn shop, I dyed up the rest of the leftover undyed yarn. I did several balls in mostly solid colours so I could use the for lacework… just like sock above. I’ve called this colour Ancient Oak because it’s close in colour to the leaves as they fall off my neighbours oak tree.

The pattern is Mercury. It’s a pretty easy lace pattern, and it grows pretty quickly. It’s also nice and stretchy – everything you want in a sock.

I’m hoping to have this pair off the needles by the end of the month. I think I can… I think I can…

Here we are in mid November and there are STILL flowers in the garden. The weather has been much cooler, and very wet, but it hasn’t been enough to knock down these hardy ones…

Most of the coneflowers have gone over, except these dark pink ones.

It’s called Ruby Star and it’s reseeded in several places in the garden – and each clump is all still blooming.

Both climbing roses are still in bloom

Chrysler Imperial has one bloom and several buds.

I’d like to say the buds won’t get a chance to bloom, but I’m done making predictions about the garden this year. It does what it wants.

In the summer, we (along with the rear neighbour) cut down the trees along the back property line to put up a new fence. Since then, I’ve noticed a marked drop in the squirrel population in the yard. And the ones that do come around seem much more shy.

When I was taking pictures of the jays, a couple decided to be brave and snatch a peanut or two while I was watching.

I’ve been sad not to see them as much, because I really love the little characters.

With the cold weather returning, I’ve started filling the sunflower seed feeder again. It’s always popular with the squirrels so hopefully they will be coming around more.

The love affair continues…

They’ve moved from the wicker laundry basket, and can now be found almost nightly snuggled in the pink chair.

They certainly are the “odd couple”

As expected, I was able to finish up the second clown barf sock. But you may notice the title… like many of you noted, the yarn didn’t actually look too bad knit up… and Mom said they look like crayon colours… so I give you…

The Crayola socks. Nothing fancy here (as usual). 1-1 rib for 15 rows of cuff. sock math for heel, and 2-2 rib across the top of the foot. Easy peasy. I did end up with yarn left over, but probably only enough to add a 1/2 inch to each cuff.

So now I have another pair of socks for the draw – which is good, because I just noticed a hole in an older pair… sigh… I think next year I may focus on building up my personal sock stash.

But for the next project… I have a couple options… mainly “extra gifts” for Christmas. Stay tuned!

Back when I finished up the Blockhead top, I also fussy cut a pile of bee squares from some of the scraps, and I’d started turning them into nine patches.

When this past Sunday dawned grey and rainy, I decided it was a good day to get the remaining ones turned into nine patches.

It took all afternoon, and for some reason it was exceedingly tedious, but at the end of it Burton and I ended up with 35 identical nine patches.

We have a plan for them, but it involves making more blocks. Right now, we’re auditioning fabrics to decide what they will be made out of.

We’re leaning toward the two on the bottom, at the moment, but Burton is notoriously fickle, so who knows what we’ll actually land on!

Guess what dear readers!!!

I got the last leaves done over the weekend. And normally, I only stitch on the weekends – but since I only had those little light blue stars and dots left to do – I did a little stitching on Monday to finish it up and I’m so glad I did (Even if it did cut into the sock knitting time.

There are 10 moths and butterflies in the series by this designer.

And now I have two completed. I’m not sure If I’m going to do all 10, but I will definitely do more. Just not for a little while. I think I need a break from the black aida. But you’re going to have to wait until next week to see what new project I’ve decided on.

I had hoped to have the Clown Barf anklets off the needles before the weekend. But despite Relic’s best efforts to keep me in one spot and knitting…

I have not finished them. I am through the gusset at least.

The rest of the foot should go fairly quickly, so I should have no problem getting them finished THIS week.

***

And since Relic is here, I realize I haven’t given you an update on his health. Happily, a few days after his vet visit, his mysterious nose bleeding cleared right up. So that was a big relief.

His ears however, are another matter. Despite cleaning and treatment, his ears just keep gunking up. It’s likely a side effect of his FIV – he’s immune system can’t keep the demodex mites in check like they would in a perfectly healthy animal. It’s not a life threatening issue… it just means I have to keep his ears clean manually so they aren’t causing him any discomfort.

Thankfully, he’s VERY good about having his ears cleaned. I wait until he comes and sits in my lap in the evening (like in the above picture) and give them a quick clean. You can tell he doesn’t love it, but he puts up with it. I imagine he knows it helps him feel better.

Last Sunday, the afternoon was sunny and fairly warm so I decided to head out to the bird feeders for another shot at Jays in action.

I changed up my setting so I could just hold the shutter button and it would shoot continuously. Even still those birds move darn fast!

I got more levitating jays.

But eventually…

Things started to look a little better – if facing the wrong direction.

Eventually the direction got better, but the pics still weren’t as good as I’d hoped.

But finally, I’d got it! The kind of shot I’d been hoping to get!

And then it got even better! Whenever I fill up the feeder, I generally get anywhere between 3 and 10 jays coming to the yard. They take turns going back and forth to the peanut ring. This time, there were around 5. But two of them…

They did not want to place nice with each other. And I just kept snapping.

Talk about action shots!

And as if this wasn’t cool enough…. this guy showed up…

He’s a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a new one for my bird collection!

It’s amazing what you can see when you hang out near the bird feeder for an hour or so.