Covid testing and crafting

Over the weekend I seem to have come down with a cold .... which is of no surprise to me as it seems to have been making the rounds (from what I read on Facebook, which we all know is the gospel, lol).  Now, here is the kicker .... I had been off work for 3 days (in which time the cold made its appearance), yesterday I phoned my manager and explained to them that I had a cold and asked what my next step should be as I was scheduled to work the next day.  Turns out, I can't return to work until I have had a covid test and it comes back negative.  I scheduled a time to get my test done (today) and it looks like I will be quarantined for 10 days .... less if the test comes back negative and my symptoms go away.

On the home front, though, I have managed to weave 9 dishcloths on my rigid heddle loom and I've gotten 1 winter sock done for Sunshine .... she's 2 1/2 and I have yet to make her a thick pair of winter socks.  For the winter socks, I always use Berroco Vintage but my local yarn store was sold out when I went to buy some so I ended up getting Estelle Worsted instead, it's 50% acrylic 40% wool and 10% nylon and I hope that this yarn will be as warm as the Berroco has been.

On another crafting note, my nephew and his wife are expecting their first child in December so I'm working on getting my floor loom warped to make a baby blanket for them .... it's very slow going as I run out of energy pretty quickly right now (because of this cold).  But, it will hopefully be warped very soon and then I can start weaving on it.  I've chosen a self striping purple that has very long colour changes, which are also gradient changes rather than sudden ones.  I'll try and post some pictures of it once I get going on it.

Well, I better sign off now .... my dog is wanting to come in from outside.  Hope you all have a blessed day.

Dusting off the blog

 For some reason, I decided to check out my blog ..... it's been several years since I had posted and thought that maybe I would dust it off and start posting again.  I'm not sure how dedicated I will be to keeping it updated, but thought it might be fun to start it up again.

For those of you that have read our blog before, you may remember that when I started blogging our children were homeschooled ... they have grown and moved out and we now have 2 Grandchildren.

My crafting is still going strong and has actually expanded .... I have my own floor loom that I am weaving baby blankets on.  This year, my sewing machine (an old Viking that we found at a Thrift Store and converted to a treadle as the motor was shot on it) has even been put in to the work force as I have been making many, many, many face masks for myself and my coworkers.  My rigid heddle loom that I had for so long finally wore out so we bought a new one .... I'm really not loving this new loom & after much discussion with my Husband, we have decided to dismantle it so that we can use parts from it to make me a new 2 shaft loom (hopefully it turns out as well in real life as it is in my head, lol).

Today is a very cold morning .... last I checked it was -20C, it's been a long time since it's been this cold in October.  I'm very thankful that I get to stay in where it is warm ..... think I'll put on a pot of soup in the slow cooker and maybe make some biscuits to go with it for supper.

The little town where we live recently opened a used bookstore .... it's a cute little place that has a coffee bar in it, places to sit & visit and they have started up a Knit Night there (I haven't had the chance to go to that, but I am planning on attending).  On one of our numerous visits I discovered that they have a bunch of the classics, which have been on my reading list for a very long time .... I managed to buy several and am looking forward to reading them:  The Call of the Wild, The Scarlet Letter, The Picture of Dorian Gray, A Journey to The Center of The Earth, Gulliver's Travels, Frankenstein, and A Tale of Two Cities.

Hope you all have a blessed day and that you stay warm.

Christmas Tree Candle

I've been meaning to make these for most of this year ..... just been mulling around in my head how to make it look, in real life, the way it does in my head.  This past Saturday, I finally grabbed some yarn and my dpn's and sat down to create the Christmas Tree Candle & it worked - it looks just like I had envisioned it would.  Soooooooo, without further ado - I share my pattern with all of you and really hope that you like it (oh, this pattern has not been test knit, so, if you have any questions about it just ask & I'll try my best to help you out with it).  ˚Ü˚

Christmas Tree Candle

Materials:
     - 4.0 mm dpn
     - medium weight yarn (I used Red Heart Soft Touch for the candle and Bernat Glow in The Dark yarn for the flame)
     - clothes pin
     - darning needle

Instructions for the candle:

- Cast on 15 stitches, join in the round (being careful not to twist the stitches) and knit each round for 19 rounds.
- *knit 2 tog, knit 3; repeat from * around (12 stitches)
- knit 2 together around (6 stitches)
- knit 2 together around (3 stitches), break yarn
****At this point, I take the tail and weave it through the 3 stitches that are on the needles and then pull it down the center top of the candle so it is on the inside of the tube for the candle, making sure to keep those 3 stitches on the needles because you'll need them to make the flame with.

Instructions for the flame:

- with the yarn for the flame, knit in the front and back of each of the stitches on the dpn's (6 stitches)
- knit 1 round plain (6 stitches)
- knit in the front and back of each stitch around (12 stitches)
- knit 1 round plain (12 stitches)
- knit 2 together around (6 stitches)
- knit 2 together around (3 stitches), removing each dpn as you go until all 3 stitches are left on 1 dpn.
- cut yarn, leaving 4 - 5" long tail (probably overkill on how long the tail should be, but I don't like having too short of a tail when I'm doing the finishing work on a project), thread darning needle with tail.  Insert darning needle in stitch furthest from stitch with the tail.  Slip the stitch from the dpn onto the darning needle, repeat with the other 2 stitches on the dpn.  Pull the darning needle and tail through all 3 stitches, pull tight, tie a knit (making sure that it is as close to the tip of the flame as you can get).  Now, take the darning needle (with the tail yarn still threaded in it) and put it down the tip of the flame, through the bottom of the flame into the candle so that the tail from the flame yarn is on the inside of the tube for the candle.  Remove the darning needle, trim the tail (from both the candle yarn and the flame yarn) & insert the clothes pin (handle will be closest to the flame).  Place candle on tree by squeezing the sides of the candle to open the clothes pin, place on tree branch and let go of candle.