Tag Archives: cowl

Jan29

January 2024 wrap-up

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Hello friends

It’s time for our January wrap-up and the sewing machine has been earning its keep!

My Stitches and Slapdashery YouTube channel is an absolute joy, and since the high activity levels of Vlogtober and Vlogmas I have been keen to keep talking to the camera! My sewing output has been pretty high, as I decided to start building an  inventory for farmers and crafters market season. I haven’t yet applied for any but I’m hoping to get a table at a desirable location. 

The things I’ve been making so far include zippered pouches, little snap pouches, book sleeves, phone cases, and soon drawstring bags and whatever else takes my fancy. I’m doing my best to use mostly stash fabric and accessories, and it does feel good to be using what I have and hoping that people will enjoy the products. 

I added a Ko-fi link to my vlog, where people can “buy  me a coffee” with a click through to my Ko-fi page. That felt kind of weird at first! If I decide to do online sales, I have the opportunity to add a shop aspect to Ko-fi, but I haven’t yet taken that plunge. The thought of overcoming hurdles like shipping has prevented me from starting so far. The cost of mailing things in Canada can make it twice as expensive to buy something online! 

Other projects I’ve been working on this month have included:

fabric baskets for displaying my wares at the market

book sleeves using old jeans

blankets for the cats at the SPCA (the granny squares were going to be for some wacky pants [trousers] for me, but they just weren’t working out)

amigurumi from scraps of stash yarn (I need something to do with my hands when I’m waiting for my husband at the cancer centre)

a positive potato (yes, a crocheted potato with an encouraging message in its little hands for my husband)

a bandana style cowl (or buff) which knitted up in a couple of days (Nottawasaga Buff)

I’ll add a link to my Ravelry project page here to make it easy for you to take a look at the photos and notes, as it would take up too much space here. 

https://ravelry.com/projects/nicolaknits

https://www.ravelry.com/projects/NicolaKnits

And works in progress are:

the scarf for my husband which is a log of the progress of his cancer treatment – 6 colours, knitting a tube so the ends are hidden inside – green for radiation days, rust for chemo days, blue for rest days, etc. If you’d like to follow the progress of that, you can check out the Ravelry project page. 

the Festoon shawl, which is a crocheted shawl in sock yarn, with a small hook, and I have been letting it languish for far too long!

I’ve published seven vlog episodes in January, and two tutorial videos. The link to my channel is here.

https://YouTube.com/@stitchesandslapdashery

https://www.youtube.com/@stitchesandslapdashery

Yup, I really do love to talk! The tutorials are for fun zipper pouches out of chenille or fleece, and little denim baskets or yarn bowls that used upcycled denim and grommets, and are really simple. Be aware that these are not short pithy videos! I talk, I explain, I show as much of the process as possible, because sometimes people need to know WHY they are doing something a certain way, and what needle/interfacing/fabric is recommended for the project.

As for my husband’s health, well, he’s going through cancer treatment which is always horrible! There’s no way to sugar coat it, it really is a brutal way to try to get someone back to health. He’s having weekly chemo to zap any wandering cancer cells, but the main treatment is the radiation five times a week. His medical team consider his cancer to have been caught early, and don’t think it has had the chance to spread, so that’s good. But both chemo and radiation affect your entire body negatively, not just the cancer cells, and the list of all the things he may suffer from over the course of the treatment seems to get longer every week. We are two weeks in, out of seven. As time goes by, he is having more trouble swallowing. Eating a meal takes longer. He has been told to snack often to keep his digestive system busy and also to maintain his weight. He is using a mouthwash to try and keep sores at bay. He has Lidocaine to spritz in his throat when it gets too painful to eat (we’re not there yet). He has sennosides and Imodium, for the times when the drugs plug him up or give him diarrhea (hasn’t needed those yet either). Silver lining – he’s bald already! And shouldn’t lose his eyebrows!! Oh yeah, I forgot about the long term effects of head and neck radiation, which include loss of function in some salivary glands and tastebuds. Dry mouth is a thing. 

I am past the shock and disbelief and have  made it as far as acceptance. I also have faith that he will survive this. He has been told he is one of the healthiest cancer patients they have seen – no co-morbidities, healthy weight, non-smoker, non-drinker, healthy diet. He has barely ever needed to go to a doctor since I’ve known him. He is now on medical leave and can focus entirely on himself, without work stress, and I am doing what I can to support him. 

Well, that’s enough of that. Thanks for reading, if you made it this far! Please do go and check out my videos on YouTube. I do my best to make them fun and interesting. You might want to have some knitting or crochet on hand when you switch on, though, I do tend to ramble! 

I wish you all a peaceful and healthy February. 

PS: I think my two links above have been duplicated. When I pasted this into my post, I got a warning that it wouldn’t embed so I manually added the links. I’ll leave them as is. If one doesn’t work, the other should!

Oct6

The plague has hit!

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The family was taken down this week. Oldest son was spared, maybe because he has his bedroom and bathroom downstairs. But Mr Fixit and the two younger sons and I all succumbed to covid so there has been a lot of sleeping, nose-blowing, coughing, etc happening.

Now that the headache has gone, and the cold-like symptoms mostly gone, the things I’m having the hardest time with are the sore mouth (a dry mouth and braces do not mix – I hate waking up to find my braces sticking to the inside of my mouth) and the loss of smell and taste. Sweet stuff started to taste bitter a couple of days ago, but now I really can’t taste anything. That’s a kick in the teeth!

We have all been doing what we can to rest and recuperate and after a couple of days of doing nothing I did manage to put some meals together, do some laundry, and knit a bit.

This is what Elizabeth Zimmermann would have called a swatch cap. I have a sweater in mind that I want to knit so I checked how many stitches were in the body for the 42″ finished size and it was 160. So I cast on 80 and am knitting a beanie which will turn out exactly half the circumference of the sweater. A useful and accurate way to check gauge! That EZ was a genius!

Please note I did not pay full price for that yarn. It was vastly overpriced until it went on clearance at 70% off.

The cowl I was crocheting in the last blog post has been finished for a while. I used up every scrap and it is the perfect length to double up around the neck. I think I may have to get more of this yarn (Lion Brand Mandala Ombre).

So far, three scrubby dishcloths have been made with the other clearance yarn I picked up recently. These are going to be made in between other projects, or if I need something portable.

I have made notes, and will write up the pattern one of these days.

Today I dug out some T shirts I was saving for T shirt yarn. I cut off the bottom hems and cut from bottom to armpits in a spiral to make long strips. I was pretty slapdash as usual and made the strips wider than intended but I think my crochet hook is big enough to accommodate the thickness.

I intend to make a crocheted basket and possibly braid the hems for handles. Not sure how to use up the rest of the pieces but I’d like to keep most of it out of the landfill.

I will show you the result later.

Happy pumpkin season!

May19

Small finishes

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I had a day off today and it’s been very enjoyable. It started slow with a pot of tea and my usual routine, checking emails, Ravelry, playing my word games.

My daily yoga was, as usual, led by Mady Morrison on YouTube. I chose a spicier session today to get myself stretched out and warmed up.

I had a good workout at the gym. An hour on the treadmill with some “hills” followed by leg machines and some back and chest work. That felt good. I’ve been eating less the last few weeks with the goal of feeling more comfortable in my jeans. I’m genetically a pear shape so when my tummy started to expand, exacerbated by menopause, it felt very uncomfortable. Time to shrink the spare tires!

The photo at the top is my finished cowl. I finished the third colour left over from the beanie and the cowl was 24 inches around, which is a perfect size, so the remaining two balls of yarn have been returned to the stash for now.

This little pouch is from a video tutorial by Tendersmile Handmade. The body is slightly gathered to fit the round base which is actually nice because any tucks and pleats in the fabric are intentional! This caravan fabric has been in the stash for ages and there’s still a large chunk left.

Dinner was a simple affair: what I like to call “refrigerator soup”! You get to use up lots of vegetables and even some leftovers (in this case, kidney bean dal and cooked rice) to make a meal. Add in some wholegrain bread and leafy greens and you’re set.

And tonight I’m vegging out on the couch.

Mar19

Fluffies and goodies

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I showed you the beginning of the grey cowl last time. It only took three days to knit two cowls. Ten mil needles and furry yarn make a project fly off the needles.

This is Spindle Buttersoft which is a discontinued yarn from the store where I work. Shame because it was very popular. It only took 42 stitches and about 40 rounds to use up the skein.

The Vegan Knitters and Crocheters group on Ravelry is planning an April KAL. It’s going to be a shawl knit/crochetalong, so knowing I wanted to use my stash of Berroco Modern Cotton in the colourway Matunuk I did a search on Ravelry for something in DK that wasn’t too challenging but also not completely mindless.

This shawl design by Annie Baker looks perfect. It’s a paid pattern on Ravelry. I don’t buy many patterns but this one drew me in. Freesia I caked up the three hanks of yarn last night. Doesn’t the yarn coordinate perfectly with my Caspian knitting needles!

I had some happy mail yesterday too.

A while ago, maybe a couple of months, I heard my name mentioned on the Little Drops of Wonderful podcast. Ali said I had won something in one of her makealongs and I was very excited! The package arrived (and was a total surprise because I had forgotten about it by the time it got here)!

I won a project bag and book and Ali had put in a couple of ‘You are a Little Drop of Wonderful’ pins and stickers. Fun!

I’m itching to do some fun sewing this weekend. Not sure what yet. Depends how much time I have.

Mar14

A caterpillar on my couch

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Look at this lovely fuzziness!

I’ve had these two balls of Spindle Yarns Buttersoft in the stash for some time. I made the simple cowl pattern on the back of the ball band in 2018 with my first ball of the fluff and then couldn’t get any more.

When it came in the second time I grabbed two more balls as I regretted giving away the cowl. I’ve cast on a new one – it’s a very simple pattern – 42 stitches and knit in the round until the yarn runs out. It’s so soft!

I was tidying my sewing room tonight which is something I do when I’m not sure what I want to work on. This is why I ended up with a new knitting project!

It’s not perfect. The floor now needs vacuuming again because I was pulling stuff out. But at least the work surfaces are clear. The project sitting next to the sewing machine is my hand-stitched sashiko vest of which I should probably get up to date photos.

My other knitting project is the top down sweater. The circular yoke is almost done, at which point I’ll try it on. I am having teensy weensy reservations about the gauge and wondering whether I should have used smaller needles for a denser fabric.

No up to date photos of that either.

I did play with strips of fabric and made some fabric twine which is something I’ve seen a couple of YouTubers do. Lorrie Nunemaker and StitchesbyJulia, I think. I put on a movie last night (it was suggested by Netflix, a Ryan Reynolds one called The Adam Project) and twisted the night away! I did more today.

Interestingly it made my left wrist sore, the one which was gripping the strips, rather than my right wrist which was doing the twisting.

So pretty though.

The couch was covered in threads though. I had to vacuum afterwards!

I’d better get off the couch now. I want to go to bed but the dish fairy failed to show up so there’s a few things to wash. Take care, and keep crafting.

Oct27

FOs – knitted and gnomey

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This supersized superbobbly cowl pattern is called F77 Shiba Sakura. I found it, of course, through Ravelry. It’s free at fairmountfibers.com.

The yarn is Cygnet Chunky in a deep dark blackberry. It’s a bit on the thin side for a chunky but I used it triple-stranded with 9mm needles. The cowl weighed 150g when finished.

It only took five days. The bobble instructions look a little daunting at first, but there are only four rounds with bobbles, the rest being just rib. By the end of the first round of bobbles I had it memorised.

I’ve made more gnomes, this time for Christmas. These guys are gifts for three friends. The bases are dollar store socks stuffed with wheat berries and polyfill, the usual faux fur beards, wooden beads for noses and buffalo check fleece for hats.

These stickers from a seller on Etsy arrived quickly. They are for my yarny Advent calendar. I still need to get some more small things to go in the bags.

We’re in deep fall now. Since I took this photo early one morning, the leaves have all fallen off my walnut and apricot trees. It hasn’t been particularly cold yet, but we have turned on the heating indoors. It’s been hovering around 9°C the last week, with lots of rain.

I have pulled my fleece jammies out of the closet, and the slippers, and am embracing the cosiness of the season!

I hope all is going well with you. Talk again soon!

Aug17

August FOs

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I just realized I left you hanging, partway through my All That Jazz cowl and the sashiko project with the green fabric.

Well, both are finished. Here’s what I made from the pieces of denim and green cotton.

That was fun.

And just yesterday I bound off the knitted cowl made from Lion Brand Mandala.

It’s been washed and yanked about every which way to try and even up the stitches a bit. The maroon segued into the blue, so one strand traveled throughout, and then I added contrast with different parts of the same colourway.

I am very pleased with my corrugated ribbing – it’s only the second project I’ve made with that feature.

And today I spent a few hours in my sewing room, accompanied by various podcasts from Kate at The Last Homely House, sewing a bag for a yoga teacher.

Do you like the play on words? Namaste Llamaste! I couldn’t resist it when I saw the llama fabric and buttons at work.

And I can’t believe I used to be scared of sewing vinyl. It sews like a dream.

We’re having a cooler week, thankfully, but there’s still a lot of smoke in the air. A new fire started just south of us two days ago.

It’s a little worrying to see that view from your home. It quickly grew and spread and caused homes to be evacuated in the area. We’re ok here but I have friends who have had to relocate until the danger is past.

There’s an even bigger fire north of us as well that makes this one look like a campfire.

I feel like I have smoker’s lungs now and I’m pining for clean air.

I hope all is well for you guys reading this and that you’re able to enjoy your creativity.