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

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

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!