Tag Archives: boro

Jul25

Staycation – days 4 – 7

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Day 4 was a long day, mostly at home. There was library book reading, sewing and Ravellenics project planning.

I finally decided on a crochet project for the Ravellenic Games (on Ravelry, to coincide with the Olympics). I went for a bag pattern I’ve made before. It’s called the Feelin’ Groovy Drawstring Purse. It’s a paid pattern now but years ago I was one of the testers for the designer so I got it free.

I’m using Lion Brand Mandala in Chimera from the stash. I had to wait to actually start the project because the Games hadn’t started yet.

My exercise class on Thursday was Strength and Lengthen at the gym with Mr Fixit. That was a good class. The teacher was nice, which makes a huge difference.

Day 5, Friday, was an early spin class. I sweated a lot and had very sore quads afterwards. Once that was out of the way, I could get going on the crochet.

I decided I needed to make the base bigger and do six squares instead of five because the bag would have been too small. So I’ll be adapting this a bit as I go.

The sashiko on my tote bag pieces was done, so I made up the bag with a white linen lining and vinyl handles.

My muscles were glad to have a rest day on Day 6, Saturday. I cooked in the morning and we had lunch and games at our friend’s house. That took up the whole afternoon.

I finally finished Troubled Blood, the fifth Cormoran Strike novel, the one that weighs over 4lbs!

I also made more progress on the bag.

Six squares all joined up and the base circle complete.

My Little Drop of Wonderful wanted to be in my photos today, inspired by the fun photos of Ravellenic mascots in the Colourful CALs group on Ravelry.

She also came out with us today to our favourite tea shop and Costco.

I think I will name her Sparklii.

Day 7 isn’t over yet but the plan is to go to the gym for a weights workout later. And tomorrow I’ll be back at work.

Jul22

Staycation days 2/3

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Day 2 involved some housework, because I like to feel I’ve done something domestic before settling down to crafty pursuits.

Once the vacuuming was done and the bathrooms cleaned, I went back to the sashiko stitching. I spent so long on it while watching Netflix that my right hand ached later in the day.

Tuesday evening we had a yoga class so that was the exercise of the day.

Day 3 started out with a 9am Bosu Blast class. Eek, it was a challenge for this lazy girl. I sweated a lot! We did burpees, planks, dumbbell work and more on a timer and I couldn’t keep up with it all but I did my best.

After that, I went and bought food to stock up the fridge and popped into the dreaded Wal-mart for a nose around. The staff were restocking the yarn department and it actually looks better than it has in ages. I didn’t buy yarn but I did get a few T shirts for work/the gym.

After dinner, I met a friend at the beach. It was a cooler day, with a maximum of 29, and by 7pm it was 25. With the wind coming off the lake it actually felt cool (for the first time in a month) and I spent some time adding to my sashiko pieces.

There weren’t many people about but we did share the beach with about 50 Canada geese.

It was such a relief to have have a cool evening. I even pulled out a knitted wrap to keep comfortable while I continued to read my massive library book before bed.

Today the plan is to decide on a crochet or knitting project for the Ravellenic Games (Ravelry’s equivalent to the Olympics) because it starts tomorrow. And I should be able to finish the sashiko stitching so that I can move on to making something out of it. I also have a small additional sewing project in mind. I’ll update you again tomorrow.

Jul20

Staycation!

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Before inventory at work, I booked a week off. I knew it’d be something to look forward to, after the extra shifts and overtime, and now I’m appreciating my good planning.

Day 1: I looked at the week ahead and booked myself into some gym classes. Monday, I just did a regular self-directed workout, with some treadmill time and some weights machines.

I did laundry, cleaned up the kitchen and mopped the floor, and then treated myself to a few blissful hours in my sewing room.

This is another boro/sashiko project, probably a bag, but this time I’m covering the whole surface with stitching. I’m not rushing it, just stitching away while playing YouTube videos or Netflix, and it’s very relaxing.

The weather has been in the 30s every day, and even in the basement it’s been uncomfortably warm. Add to that the hot flashes that I’m getting every day now and sometimes I’m mopping my face as my glasses slide down my nose.

I’ve been reading a series of novels by Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) which are detective novels. I read the fourth one in the series first, because I picked it up at the library not realising it was part of a series. And I only realised that J K Rowling was the author once I’d finished it. So I requested the rest of the books from the library and quickly devoured the first three.

The book above is the fifth one. Admittedly it’s a large print version, but still, it’s huge compared to the others. If you’re interested, the first book is called The Cuckoo’s Calling.

What do you think of this adorable pincushion? One of my co-workers left this week, and I gave her one of the bags I’ve made as a leaving gift. She gave me this with a lovely note.

I’ve been eating quite a few apricots this week. Our tree produced a fair few this year, and even though some fell on the ground before I could get to then and others were occupied by earwigs, I still got to enjoy those little packages of edible sunshine.

Our valley has been hit by smoke again this summer from the numerous wildfires around the province but I am grateful that we are only breathing smoke and not having to deal directly with fires in my neighbourhood.

Take care, everyone.