December went by in a blur of cold and snow. It wasn't a fantastic month for finishing up projects, but an excellent month for slow, deliberate stitches and marking time in minutes instead of days.
To recap, I finished a pair of knitted socks. These socks were completed using the pattern Peacock Socks by Alex Anders, I used a yarn from Frankie Grey Fibres in the colourway rain showers. Which was perfectly suited to snowstorms and frost covered trees as well.
I whipped up a quick last minute Christmas Simple Waffle Weave Scarf by the Rogue Weaver for deserving recipient.
I also decided to challenge myself immensely by tackling my first ever Yule Log. Of course, the version I chose was a Baked Alaska Yule Log, because why no bring ice cream into it. It's a perfect match for the weather.
Somehow September felt like the longest month ever and the shortest month.
This month I finished knitting a pair of socks. I didn't follow a pattern at all, just inserted slipped stiches in lines to breakup the pooling of the colours in an interesting way. The yarn I used is an old colourway from Crafty That Way called Sour Berry Twist in a BFL/nylon.
I finished a set of towels I had on my loom and conquered my fear of sting heddles. Spoiler alert: there is absolutely no reason to be intimated! String heddles were actually super easy to work with once I understood the process.
I LOVE the texture on these towels and can definitely see myself weaving up more towels in other colours. The pattern I used is from The Rogue Weaver called Let it Snow. I highly recommend the pattern, considering I had never used string heddles before and was able to walk through the steps easily.
I'm pleased with how my garden is doing this year! Got some peppers on the way!
This month, I rekindled my love of baking and whipped up some Buttered Toast Sugar Cookies by Ruth Tam. So delicious!
July came and went. I mostly hid in my house. Here is this month's recap:
Some finished socks! These are Simply Ribbed Socks with Square Heel by This Handmade Life using Biscotte Yarns Felix Self-Striping in the Carousel colourway. These were fun to knit, and being a ribbed sock had lots of knit/purl changes. I did not do anything special in the heel knitting to accommodate for the self-striping yarn, but they turned out great anyway!
I've seen significant growth in my teeny tiny little garden where all I have going is some raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, and some peppers.
Color of my Fiber had a sale and I took advantage and purchased six skeins for future projects (socks!).
After completing a pair of socks, I immediately cast on a new pair, these are Woodnote Socks by This Handmade Life and they are adorable. I used some deep stash that has some micro striping. It may not have been the best pairing, but I was honestly curious to see how the yarn would knit up in a very textured pattern. I did a solid colour heel flap and toes out of some scrap yarn, still ended up with some pooling around the decreases, but that's ok! They are fun and I enjoyed knitting them! I have a decent amount of the yarn left for another project.
Since I yet again, did not have socks on my needles, I got right to it and wound up two 50g cakes for a new pair of socks. I'm looking at Sweet Woodruff by This Handmade Life because I think they would indeed be sweet in the newly acquired Peach colourway by Color of My Fiber.
This month, I came into possession of a huge bag of apples from a backyard apple tree. Lucky me! They were small but tasty. I decided to peel and slice about a hundred of the little suckers and made apple pie filling. My fingertips are still numb but my tummy will be satisfied for months to come.
This month wrapped up my 2 Cubed Tea Towels by The Rogue Weaver and they turned out better than I could have hoped considering the new challenges that the double heddle introduced! I love them and have already put them to work.
This month I cast on a new pair of socks. This is a made-up pattern but I'm fairly certain the yarn is called The Wicked One in 80/20 Merino nylon from Crafty That Way.
In the spirit of old projects, I decided to tackle one that got abandoned, poor thing, during the pandemic of 2020. I actually made a massive calculation error and had to ponder how to rectify the fact that I did not initially acquire a large enough piece of linen to house my houses on. Of the three houses going across, in a grid, the rightmost house and that entire column going down are hugging the fabric edge so tight you'd think they were in a Abby Jimenez novel. I love these houses so much, that I am going to continue stitching and pretend I didn't notice. I'll deal with the problem later, or maybe it will magically go away.
New socks on the needles, September usually causes me to feel like casting on something fall feeling. So I did! These socks are Cozy Autumn Socks by This Handmade Life and the colourway is Leave a Penny by Crafty that way in a 80/20 Merino Nylon.
A continuation of alternating hand quilting and resting my fingers, wrists, and forearms.
This month, I attempted a very challenging project on my rigid heddle loom. This pattern is the 2 Cubed Tea Towel by The Rogue Weaver and was my first attempt to used two heddles on my loom. I figured if anyone could step me through warping two heddles, it would be Tammy... and I was correct. There was definitely some hurdles and some evident mistakes, all my own fault, mostly losing my place in the weft pattern as I have (documented([!]) challenges with my working memory But that's OK! That is literally how I learn, and I like to think the little bloops that I notice won't be noticed by the kitchen appliances.
I chose pink and green 2/8 Cotton by Maurice Brassard in, I think, Rose Pale 1768 and Vert Fonce 1152 for the first and my plan is to switch out the green for a red, maybe Framboise 5193 to make a set of Christmas themed towels that have a vintage feel of pink, red, and green.
I finished weaving and pressing and hemming my Martin's Towels by The Rouge Weaver.
Then, because I was having so much fun I got right to warping up another set of towels, which are the Diamond Delight by, of course, The Rogue Weaver. These are GORGEOUS, like, there may be some beginner errors or quirks that I threw in there, but overall, I cannot believe I made these. I am so excited. I think I will be making another set of these soon because the ones I just finished were given away as a gift.
To get in the seasonal spirit I decided to knit the famous Christmas Balls by Arne and Carlos, these were knit with the Rowan Norwegian yarn recommended in the pattern, these were a really fun project, and now I just have to decide what to do with them. I was thinking to make a sort of garland, but making loops to hang them seems reasonable too. Hmmm.
This month, I have a new weaving project on the loom, this is Martin's Towels by the spectacular Rogue Weaver. I am using a colour combination that felt semi-Christmassy to me. Evergreen and Reindeer, I'm just gonna go with that.
Finished knitting my Rainbow fish socks in an unknown yarn with my made up pattern.
I wove a scarf start to finish and used pick up sticks on my loom for the first time. There is a ton of terminology that comes with weaving and therefore things can sound really scary because the names and concepts are foreign. But after reading through the instructions from The Rogue Weaver's pattern Easy Waffle Weave Scarf, I felt confident I could do it, and I was right!
Seriously, if you are having any trouble or want to dip your toes into weaving and have access to a rigid heddle loom, I highly highly recommend The Rogue Weaver and she has so many patterns to chose from that I'm certain you will find something that appeals to you. Bonus, she sometimes offers online classes and in house classes (if you live in her area).
And the big news is that approximately 10,000 years ago, I made a quilt top called The Good Old Hockey Game by KristaOCD and for reasons I don't understand, I never got around to taking it any further. Not drumroll, I managed to sandwich and quilt and knock this quilt out in two days! So, that felt really really good, and I made a little human very happy!
This month, I cast on and made headway on a new pair of socks, this pair is just a simple ribbing I am making with Crafty That Way fingering weight yarn in 100% superwash merino in a colourway called Sweet Surrender.
So, I somehow justified buying myself a rigid heddle loom. I'm told it is a natural fibre progression, knitting, spinning, weaving. I think next is buying raw wool and carding it myself, but I am going to try really hard to resist any futher developments.
I wove a very simple set of towels from a pattern from the weaving genius and brilliant teacher, The Rogue Weaver, who is so generous with her weaving tricks and tips. Her patterns are extremely well written and have so much information, even a raving loon like myself can figure out the steep learning curve that is weaving. She is literally so inspiring, and her weaving projects are the reason I finally caved and bought a loom.
One of my previous handspun yarns is so pretty and I have been trying to figure out what kind of knitting pattern to pair it with, so in the end, I have decided to knit a Madison Scarf by Suzanne Middlebrooks, which is knit with a lace weight yarn. The handspun I knit is very light because I left it as a single ply and I think this pattern will allow for some discretion in varying thickness and the amount of yardage I have available. This was a 100% superwash merino fibre in a gorgeous colourway called Costal Retreat with deep blues and yummy gold green seaweed from Crafty That Way.
