Week 40 of 2025

This week I finished combing enough of the wool I washed in August for a sweater (I hope!) -

I combed about 300g of the white and 50g of the brown.

I combined the wool with some brown cashmere and white Angora that I have had for quite a while. I also added some leftover bits of handspun that I cut up, and a bit of sparkle.

I used a drum carder to blend all the fibres (over 400g total).

This is the first skein.

Photos from Around -

I had some company while working in the yard.

Molly didn't want to share her broken egg treat with one of the young chickens.

Pouring rain this morning, but the chickens still came out for a treat.

It is interesting to see who eats with who.

All the best!♥︎

Week 39 of 2025

This week I finished another Ranunculus (pattern by Midori Hirose) -

For this one I used some commercial yarn I had leftover from my first top down sweater, that I made 12 years ago. I had just over two skeins of worsted weight wool and I never thought I would be able to make a sweater (more like a vest really). The yarn is Cascade Venezia Worsted, a merino/silk blend.

The Ranunculus is a great pattern, knit on big needles it works up fast (I even knit the yolk on another one this week, to get my Mom started on her own sweater).

Pets -

We gave the hens a big beet from the garden yesterday,

today it looked like this.

All GingerSnap! wants to do is sniff Miss Maggie, she will tolerate him when she is waiting to be fed.

Poor Miss Maggie was stepped on by Molly, so she hid under the table.

We hope when Molly sticks her nose in rodent holes that nothing is waiting to come out.

All the best!♥︎

Week 38 of 2025

This week I finished a little English Paper Pieced bag -

The pattern was from the October/November issue of Homespun Magazine (I see it digitally through the library). It is the Onwards Drawstring Pouch by Hatched and Patched.

It is made up of hexagons with pentagons to make the rounded base. I used the hexagon die for the GO! cutter to cut out paper hexagons, so my bag is a different size than the pattern because I used hexagons with 1" sides. For the pentagons I used a tutorial online to draft them with 1" sides too.

It makes such a nice round base. After the base is made there are just rings of hexagons to add depth to the bag.

When I stitch the hexagons (and in this case pentagons) together I stitch them side by side, not right sides together, so the stitches are less visible on the front (this is from a Craftsy class years ago).

A lining, channels and cord to finish the bag. I didn't do the stitched appliqué circle.

It made the perfect size bag for my sock take-along project.

Photos from Around -

The baby chickens (3 red ones - they still like to stick together) are almost the same size as the big hens.

Molly still likes to play with Miss Maggie, although she doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as GingerSnap!.

GingerSnap! coordinating with the fall quilt on my bed.

Beautiful fall colours outside (lots of birds on the wires, and lots of rain).

All the best!♥︎

Week 37 of 2025

This week I finished another set of thrum towels -

Just one of twenty, 10" squares with overlocked edges, just like the ones I finished a few weeks ago.

I wanted to have a good selection of little towels to use instead of paper towels/paper napkins, and these are perfect. More details and photos can be found on my Ravelry project page.

My husband and I also finished making a little stool from a dead ash tree that fell in our yard this summer - very rustic, but surprisingly sturdy (Molly is in the background waiting for someone to throw her ball she dropped on the deck).

Photos from Around -

A couple of sunsets.

A couple of sleepyheads.

And a few curious hens.

All the best!♥︎

Week 36 of 2025

A couple of knitted finishes this week - 

A sweater and a pair of socks.

Handspun socks - knit toe-up, two-at-a-time on a 2.5mm circular needle, 64 stitches. The stitch pattern is a 4 row repeat with 3 rounds of knit and one round of knit 1, purl 2 - it works great with striped yarn.

The pattern for the sweater is Ranunculus by Midori Hirose. It is a pattern from 2017 and is always in the top ten most popular patterns on Ravelry (there are over 30,000 projects on Ravelry), and now I see why. The cover photos don't do it justice, but when I started hearing about what a flexible pattern it was - knit in any weight yarn, knit top down all the sizes start the same, so it is easy to get the fit you want, plus it takes very little yarn I was sold (I already started another one and have yarn for a third!).

I knit this one with some handspun (spun during TdF this year), held with a strand of commercial mohair/silk (Aloft from KnitPicks leftover from another sweater). I didn't use all the yarn and the sweater weighs about 250g. I was really surprised that I was able to make a long sleeve sweater with the little bit of handspun I had, and thought it would only be a vest (plus I have enough yarn leftover to make a hat).

Photos from Around -

The beginning of the week started hot, then we had a big thunderstorm (lots of rain, winds and hail), and the weather turned cold for the rest of the week (the reason I was able to get so much crafting in).

More rain later in the week, and a little rainbow.

The wild asparagus is easy to spot around the yard now, covered in red seed pods.

Evening walk.

Miss Maggie in the morning.

Surprised to see the cats sleeping close to each other.

All the best!♥︎

Week 35 of 2025

No finishes this week, but a few works in progress -

A pair of handspun socks that are almost finished (started the ribbing - this is my take-along project).

A new weaving project on the loom - another set of thrum towels (the last ones are so useful).

Knitting sleeves on a sweater - the sleeves have taken me a lot longer to knit than the rest of the sweater (I am knitting the sleeves two-at-a-time so there is a lot more adjusting of stitches and yarn than knitting the body of the sweater). I spun the yarn for this sweater during TdF this year (the green), and I am knitting it with some commercial mohair/silk yarn (the blue/grey).

Photos from Around -

Sunset walk.

Sunrise - we have had so much rain and the grass is green again.

The Mountain Ash tree is so full of berries, and here it is full of birds too.

GingerSnap! resting in the hot sunroom (we have had probably the last hot days of summer this week).

All the best!♥︎

Week 34 of 2025

Still lots of canning happening, but I did wash another raw fleece -

This isn't a full fleece, I am certain that I spun some of it years ago.

There is 682g after washing (should be left with about half after combing).

I combed, spun, and knitted a little sample, and it is so soft.

My husband recently started wood working in his retirement, so this week we figured out how to work our son's homemade Alaskan mill, and cut up a few boards from an ash tree that had fallen.

Photos from Around -

Molly snacking with one of the baby chicks.

The big chicks foraging for grubs.

The baby chicks are incredibly curious - GingerSnap! doesn't mind,

but Miss Maggie isn't too impressed  - here she is hissing at them (they just kept following her).

All the chickens live together now.

We had 3.5" of rain one night earlier in the week, so the yard,

and garden are flooded (it's all slowing drying up, but we did have more rain throughout the week).

With all the rain GingerSnap! had to find ways to use all his energy inside!

All the best!♥︎