Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Sometimes coming up with a title is the trickiest part of this journal, particularly when it was a routine day without any surprises.

I got a lot of computer work done this morning; I have a number of task reminders that come up at the middle of the month. We had a grocery order delivered early this afternoon. I thought about going to the store but decided there was no need to put myself at any risk so had them delivered. We’ll likely do an in-person shop before Christmas to pick our own veggies for our dinner.

I finished another clue in my Guild mystery. This clue, number 6, was actually intended as the final clue but I’ve decided to split it into two parts. The final clue will be now be released in April so there will still be lots of time for the participants to get the quilt top done before the June show-and-tell in whatever form that might take.

I didn’t have any luck at the post office yesterday so I brought my package back home. I’ll go again towards the end of the week. It isn’t a Christmas gift so it doesn’t need to compete with the Christmas parcels already in the mail stream.

Pat has a meeting tonight and I think I’ll read. I’m ready to move on to another story but I’m only halfway through this book. I made some progress on the knitted hat but noticed as I was finishing up last night that I have a split stitch so I want to take it back and get it done correctly. I don’t know why I’m fussing so much with this particular hat. I love the yarn I’m using and it is a really nice pattern but it will, when finished, be a donation.

Monday, December 14, 2020

I tried to fix my knitted hat last night but I ended up ripping it all out and starting over. I’m more familiar with the pattern now and I’m hopeful there will be no mistakes.

I was anxious to try my new sewing setup and I’m pleased to say it worked great. There is a little issue with where the ironing board sits when it is set up, and the limited space to move around it, but that may be something I can work out as I move along. One advantage of the way I now have it is that I can press from either side of the board.

I’m off to the post office shortly as I have a birthday present to get in the mail. I’m still finding early in the morning is too busy and I’ve have better luck late in the day (after the mail has gone out).

I’ll be grocery shopping tomorrow morning and there are still a few recipes I want to check the ingredients on.

Sunday, December 13, 2020

I was enjoying working on a new hat pattern the last few evenings but I worried that I didn’t have enough yarn. Sure enough I was seeing the end of the spool and I still had at least half an inch to knit plus the decreases for the crown.

My first thought was to take it apart and find a new pattern but I thought I would start the decreases early and see how it worked out. I did that last night and if I keep it a bit shorter than the pattern says I will have enough to finish the hat.

But as I finished it off I noticed a couple of problems with the decrease. I’m not sure if it was the pattern or if I made a mistake. Tonight I will try to reverse knit back to the error and see if I can pick it up again. If not, I’ll take it all out and start over, knowing that I have enough yarn to make a slightly smaller version.

I spent the morning in my sewing room. I decided that rather than just clean up I would do some rearranging. It is pretty much done now, except for one corner, and I like the way it looks. I haven’t tried it out to see how it works when I’m actually sewing something but I’ll get to that tomorrow.

I’m going to relax with some cross stitching for the rest of the afternoon.

Saturday, December 12, 2020

I didn’t have much planned for the day and, in my mind, I even thought i would finished off the border on my pinwheel quilt.

I made an Alias Grace block this morning. It was one that I had to design on my own based on the picture in the book. It worked out well and the three blocks I have finished are now up on the design wall (the door across the hall from my sewing room). There were a lot of half-square triangles involved in the block and I sewed some pinwheels together as a leader and ender project.

After lunch I moved on to the November block for the Guild. It too involved some half-square triangles and I was almost finished the stitching using the magic eight method when I realized I had the right side of one fabric against the wrong side of the other fabric. I have reverse stitched that and got it right this time. The last seams of the pinwheels were my leaders and enders and they are done now.

I’ll go back to working on the November block but if I make one more mistake I’m going to quit for the day.