Yopping Update #26 - Going for 21 in '21

   Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Happy Boxing Day!  This will be a quick post because I have a deadline to meet.  More on that later. 

I finished my Gansey KAL scarf, but it isn't blocked because my son is here and sleeping on the bed that I usually spread my blocking mats on - so no pictures of the full scarf until the New Year. 

Can you see the last motif?  2021

My Gnombleberry and Gnewt gnomes are finished but no pictures until the designer gives us the go- ahead.  This was my favourite gnome KAL ever, and you will agree once I post the finished projects. 

I finished my Sarah Scott Socks.

These were my 20th pair of socks in the year 2021.  My dear friend Cait suggested I go for 21 pairs in the year 2021.  So, of course, I took up the challenge. This is why this post will be short - I have less than a week to get these socks finished. 

SPIDER socks

I have the leg done on both socks and have turned the heel and picked up the gusset on one.  I am loving this knit, I am making the heels/toes/cuff in gray to make sure I have enough of the red for the leg and foot.  

The gnome tree-skirt is on hold for the time being.  These socks need all my attention.  

It started to snow on Christmas Eve, and by Christmas morning  I was living in a winter wonderland.  The temperatures have dropped to -7 Celcius so the snow on the trees and bushes is truly magical.  

My son and I went for a snowy bird walk this afternoon and we saw two varied thrushes, a towie, a hummingbird and a raven.  It was such a treat.  

When I got home I realized it was Sunday so I am getting my post done before I settle in to continue my spider socks.  

I hope, dear readers that wherever you are (and whatever weather you have) you are surrounded by peace, health, and love. 

Christmas Morning

Yopping Update #24 - Learning new tricks

 

This has been a 'learn new skills' kinda week.  First of all I needed to repair my mitered sock yarn blanket.

About five years ago I finished this:

Last Monday I discovered a hole in one of the eight-hundred squares. 

I blame Otis (the cat)

Luckily I had favourited a  blog post via Ravelry on how to replace a square in the middle of the blanket so once I located the post the rest was fairly straightforward.  

hardest part was finding my woven in ends

 First I had to undo the damaged square from the blanket making sure to catch the live stitches on two sides of the square and pick up the correct number of stitches on the other two sides. 

Then I had to start knitting each row remembering on every other row to knit the last stitch in the row together with the side stitch from the adjacent square.  With me so far?

Ready to start

More than half way done

Ta-Da!

I say Ta-Da, but it took the best part of an afternoon to complete the repair. 

The second skill I learned was how to compensate for the 'jog' in the pattern when you are knitting fairisle in the round.  I wasn't happy with the first paw sock and so I looked up how to correct the jog for the second sock.  It took me a while to wrap my head around the instructions, and I did have to chart it out for myself but once I got going it was actually quite easy and I am very happy with the result.  

Can you see how the bottom and top of the right side of the pad looks wonky?

This is because when knitting in the round you are actually spiralling up as you knit so the end of the round is actually one row higher than the beginning of the round.  

Now it looks right. 

If you are interested in the technique you can check out this interweave article here. 

Otherwise this week I have been keeping up with my gnome KAL.  I am knitting two of them in different colour combinations and I am looking forward to sharing them with you once they are finished and allowed to be viewed. 

I am also keeping up with the gansey scarf KAL.  Wolhobby releases about 20 rows a day which is totally doable and for the most part easy tv knitting.  

In between as I have mentioned above I am knitting my 19th pair of socks.  I finished the first one on Thursday 

The pattern calls for an afterthought heel, but I did a fishlips kiss heel instead.  

I am making pretty good progress on sock #2.  I am glad I didn't knit these two at a time so I could fix the paws on the back of the sock.  No-one would notice, but I am glad I had an excuse to learn something new.

 

I have been walking everyday - and my new waterproof pants arrived which I took for a test run on Friday.  They work great so I am all set for the wintery rainy weather.  We got a little snow last night , and we had a little earlier in the week, but so far nothing to concern ourselves with. 

I did get my booster on Wednesday.  I went with my husband and took my form from the doctor explaining my immune compromised health condition.  The manager said it was the wrong form, but he was very kind and I think because I was tearing up and a wee bit shaky he gave the go ahead for me to get the jab.  I am so grateful. We both had a sore arm for a couple of days, but by Saturday the soreness had gone away. 

I got my Christmas cards in the mail last week as well, and have picked up a few stocking stuffers (when I pass a store on my walks and there aren't any line-ups) so I am feeling like any Christmas shopping frenzy is well in hand.  

Today is the third sunday of Advent and the animals have joined my advent wreath.  We are still having regular whatsapp chats with our granddaughter to open the wee advent knits.  

I saw this little gnome on one of my walks this past week.  There is always something that catches my eye to photograph.  

It is a gnomey kind of Christmas 

  I will leave you with this scene from my Friday walk.  I think it is something we all need, right?

  Oh, and this too.  

Can you spot the difference?  
Two of these things are not like the others!

A dear friend sent me two books this past week.  I am really enjoying these.  I had never heard of Clara Parkes, but they are enjoyable reads for knitters and other fibre lovers.  

I am reading the anthology about stashes right now - so funny, and oh so true. 

Have a great week dear Readers.  Take time to enjoy the season.  Take a walk or drive around your neighbourhood in the evening.  This year especially the Christmas lights seem like magic to me. 

Yopping Update #20 - Spinning around

 I forgot last week to mention two things I worked on so I am going to get those out before anything else. 

My rainbow spin - I am still working on this and I do see the end in sight.  I have four more groups of the six colours and I can do a group in a couple of days.....so maybe by next week I will have it all ready to ply. 

While working on my Havana, I noticed that the raised print on my crochet hook was really irritating my thumb.  I checked all my hooks, and they all had some sort of writing in the little indentation where your thumb goes.  That doesn't seem smart.  So.....I went onto Amazon and I ordered some pencil grips and modified my hook to look like this.  

works like a charm

I have continued the weekly decluttering challenge and this week it was magazines and knitting/tatting/doily booklets - 24 in all!

I also found a home from a balance board I had in storage with the user manual and an accompanying book.  I am happy a dear friend of mine can use it in her classroom. 

I am almost done the creche - I need to find the perfect sticks for the shepherd crooks and Joseph's staff.  I also have been looking to find a pattern to knit a donkey, ox, and camel.  I will also add an angel.  So I guess I am not as done as I thought - but done as the pattern was written!

My Havana is coming along spendidly.  

I am on pattern 5.  I realized that I won't have enough yellow for pattern 7 so I made another Knitpick order.  I also had to do the math to figure out how much yarn I need for the double border.  I hope I calculated right - 500 gms I think - about 1400 yds.  I ordered a few extras (had to get the free shipping after all), and I will give them to my hubby to wrap up for my Christmas present.  We won't be going into the stores so agreed to order ourselves something online for the other to wrap up and put under the tree. This year our tree will probably be another little cedar from our yard, or I am even toying with decorating our Jade Tree.  

So there is my week.  I have got out for a few forest/pond walks, and we had a very few snowflakes fall earlier in the week.  It was cold enough one day that I wore my handspun/handknit toque and mitts.  I was feeling very stylish..and warm. 

The days seem to go by quickly and my only in person group meeting has been cancelled by government orders because the CoVid cases are going up and up here in my little province.  I do have a hospital procedure coming up in the next couple of weeks so I am a wee bit anxious about the mask/sanitizing protocols, but I imagine the doctors know how to keep me (and them) safe. 

My dear little grand-daughter has a new addition to her family.  

meet her little black kitty

I am so grateful for our almost daily whatsapp video chats.  She calls while her momma is making her breakfast, and we are almost ready for bed.  The nine hour time difference works well for our daily visits.  

So off for a walk before the next rain prediction comes true.  Happy Sunday all.  Stay safe.

Yopping Update #26 - She is here!

She arrived at 9:18am December 27th, 2018.  And don't they both look just perfect.

I haven't got to hold her yet because the hospital is not allowing any visitors due to a flu outbreak in Split, but thank goodness for texting and cell phones.

They should be home later today.   I can't wait to hold them both.

Knitting is a great way to pass the time while ones daughter is in labour.  I finished something for the baby, and for her daddy, and some tree ornaments for my daughter to hang on her tree when she gets home.

We haven't had Christmas yet because my daughter was put in hospital on Christmas Eve so when she gets home it will be Christmas and Baby and New Year's all rolled into one.

I saw this cute Santa trying to break into a restaurant window near our apartment.

We are doing well navigating the streets, stores, and restaurants near our house.  The seawall is only minutes from our door and it is a beautiful place to walk and enjoy a bijela kavu (white coffee) in the outdoor cafes.  When the sun is out it is so warm to sit outside and enjoy the view.

My husband and I went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve.  It started at 11:30 and ended at 1:20am.  It was the first time my husband has attended a mass with me.  Of course it was all in Croatian, and the church was filled to capacity.  I lit a candle for my daughter, and we were home and in bed by 2am.  Here is a picture of the nativity scene at the front of the church.

We were up at 7 to go visit her in the hospital for a couple of hours on Christmas Day and then home for a long afternoon nap.  On the 26th there was a concert at the church and afterwards a live reenactment of the Christmas birth.  The balcony of our apartment overlooked the square where Mary and Joseph, Jesus and the animals were on display.  We had VIP seats for certain.

Here is the crowd below us:

And here the kings are coming to visit the baby Jesus (who was a live baby!)

and of course the animals in the stable:

Then there was lots of chances for locals to get photos taken with the holy family:

After the show we spent some time with our son-in-law, and by 8pm he was getting messages from our daughter that labour was truly underway.  I went to bed about midnight and woke up at 4:30 to a message that her water had broken and things were well on the way.

After a few nervous texts with her husband, we fell back to sleep and woke up to the message and picture that opened this blog.  What a gift!

That night we went to her house where her husband's family had gathered to congratulate us all.  There was wine and a lot of laughter.  His family is so warm and welcoming to us.

Friday I spent doing laundry, and housework and knitting more little kits from my simply Knitting magazine.

I will have to get to a wool store sometime in the new year as I am running out of knitting to do!  Gasp.  I know, right?

So, we have a month to spend with our new grand-daughter before we head home.  It will be so hard to leave them:

Wishing all my readers the blessings of these twelve holy nights, and Peace to all in the coming year.

To follow other yoppers check out their stories here.

PS:  They are both home, and I can't stop gazing at her and her Mum.  A Christmas miracle and blessing for certain.

Yopping Update #25 - Finished Objects

First things first - no baby yet.  Patience is a virtue.  Right?

Right.

I have finished my Hitchhiker:

And I got 42 points!

I also finished my dh's hobbit socks:

And my first little kit is done:  this cute raccoon bag charm complete with a pom pom and a tassel.

I also finished another present, but it can't be posted until sometime later this year.

It was a good week in Croatia.   Not far from us is this 1500 year old olive tree.

We also went with our daughter on Wednesday for one of her check-ups and the hospital has these beautiful statues in the wing of the hospital where births take place.

After her check-up we also found a restaurant that had.....drum roll please.....Gluten Free Pizza!

Today my husband and I ventured out on our own to finish our Christmas shopping.  We did very well and I am pleased with how my language lessons have been paying off.

Last night we went to a concert in the brce (square) in the next kaštela to ours.  It was the Croatian singer Dalmatino and it was so much fun to be in a crowd of Croats and they were ALL singing along to all the songs.  My husband was interviewed by Croatian TV, and a man sharing a table with us bought me a rose at the end of the evening.  We drank mulled wine, some absinthe and had a wonderful evening.

I have discovered a pekara (bakery) near our apartment and I have become slightly addicted to the chocolate croissants.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I will go to midnight mass in the church beside our apartment.  They are setting up a stable outside our window and I imagine Mary and Joseph will be there tomorrow evening.  We have some food prepared for tomorrow - no meat - only fish as is the tradition here.  My daughter's in-laws will join us for the evening - that is, of course, unless the baby decides to make an appearance.



My love and deepest Christmas wishes go to all of you, dear readers.

Stay tuned - I am sure there will be news of a special birth very very soon.

To follow my yopping buddies check out their posts here.