Productive start to the New Year

New Year’s holidays are quiet here and I have filled the hours with cooking, cleaning, reading, stitching, knitting and gardening.   That all sounds more productive than it really is but I do have some results to show.

First up a Christmas Ornament (I will be prepared early this year) in a colour way I’m not sure that I associate with the festive season.   I intend to finish this as a flat ornament - perhaps tomorrow?

Then I have started another project - from an Inspirations kit, this is a Christine Bishop design.   I started on the pincushion and now the border is done I need to learn Venetian Picot.   Just maybe not tonight.

And I signed up with Westknits for the Year of Socks in which I get a designer sock pattern each month.  The first has arrived and I will hopefully get yarn next week and get the first pair finished by the end of the month.   

However before that I decided to knit the scraps of sock yarn from the three pairs I knitted late last year, into children’s socks for Operation Coverup.   First pair now finished and my shoulders and wrist tell me I need to take a break.

So I have made a start on a cross stitch project  - Quaker Motif inspired small pocket pouch.   This is all done in one colour and as I had sufficient in stash I have opted for DMC 115.   So far so good.   The fabric is Permin 32 count linen colour cream.

And The Repair Shop is about to start on TV so farewell for now.

Kiwi Christmas

 Little Sister, her husband and I went away for a short break.   Brother-in-law likes driving so he was in charge of that - six and a half hours from my house - Little Sister sat and knitted and I dozed in the back seat.   We rented a house and were very comfortable.

On Christmas Eve we went to a Tea Estate for High Tea which was a new experience for them both and an excellent way to say thanks for having me tag along.

Christmas Day was simple and relaxed and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Then on Boxing Day, Brother-in-law found a Classic Car museum and its Jukebox Diner.   So guess where we went for lunch?   Great fun.

The Arboretum provided a much needed walk for Little Sister and me!

On the 27th a friend of mine took us to a needlework shop (well to be specific, needlework, quilting, knitting and lots of Christmas bits and pieces) where all three of us managed to open our wallets.   Then it was on to the spectacular Hamilton Gardens where we ambled around the various themed “rooms” thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

The small Christmas Ornament kit I found at the needlework shop is all stitched and ready to be constructed.   I’m really happy with this and were it not for a must-see programme on TV tonight I’d get it done.  But there’s always tomorrow.

And so this year draws to a close.

This year’s Christmas ornaments

 I had a minor panic at the beginning of the week when I realised I hadn’t begun the annual ornaments for nieces and nephews.   Fortunately I have 20 years of the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue so a quick scramble through the stack, a dive into the linen box and then selecting appropriate DMC threads and I’ve managed to stitch two.  Hopefully number three will be done this weekend.

One niece doesn’t like Santa Claus decorations, another really likes Santa Claus.   One family have a large tree, another has a very small tree.   There are so many conditions that need to be applied but I like to keep up the tradition so here we go….

2024 - Number One

2024 - Number Two

I’m sure I have backing fabric in stash and will add a twisted cord hanger.   So onwards to the remainder.

And a finish

 After stitching these I came to an abrupt halt trying to follow the instructions for completing them.   Indeed I almost consigned them and the chart to the rubbish but an epiphany in the wee small hours of the night and some grim determination and all six are complete.

And my “take out” project also got completed.   Next year I will start another - that system of a project only stitched at other places was taught me by a friend and seems to work well.

Now I’m back to working on a longer term project and it is progressing so maybe before year end I will have it done as well.    There’s such a lot to do outside and so many activities on this time of year that some days I don’t even put in a single stitch.   Not good enough Margaret!

Little Treasures

 My friend is an inspiration and after she showed me her stitching I had to follow her example.  These are Betsy Morgan’s Little Treasures.   

It is next to impossible to obtain Gloriana Silks here in New Zealand so I substituted red, green and gold DMC.   Feeling very righteous about using only what was in stash, I came down to earth with a bump when I had to buy the 28mm buttons that go top and bottom of these tiny hanging cylinders.   So all I need to do is make the twisted cord and construct them!

Maybe tomorrow.   I have The Last Sock to finish tonight🙂

It’s official

 Today I reached the allotted span of three score years and ten.   After extended celebrations with family (early to avoid a clash with the birth of Great Nephew #2) and then with friends (early to avoid a clash with a public holiday long weekend in New Zealand), today I finally reached the actual day.   Little Sister kindly drove up to take me to lunch and we had a delicious stuffed potato and then shared a small cheesecake and a pot of tea at a local cafe before she willingly filled the role of personal shopper and assisted me to buy a couple of summer tops.

It has been a happy day.   The two Biblical Birthday celebrations that are recorded ended in beheadings but my day was nothing so dramatic.  Just a splendid day  filled with thankfulness for happy memories and love as well as the anticipation of what years to come may perhaps hold.

Fences

 The top of the Kensington Square box is now done and in reality the French knots weren’t as bad as I’d feared.   Now I’m working on the exterior fence - this forms the rim of the lid.

Have also started another pair of socks in Opal Sock Yarn made by those extremely clever Germans who don’t put a word of English on their ball bands!    It is knitting up well and providing something for my hands to do while I watch the TV news each evening at dinner time.   

Yesterday I went to the library to get a book The King’s Loot only to find that it is very recently published and not yet on their shelves.   However the very kind librarian said that the acquisitions committee would purchase it and as I’d recommended the book I would have the privilege of being first to read it.   So now I wait.   This is a far cheaper way to “purchase” books, when someone else pays for them (ha ha).   

I couldn’t wait for the library with Jeffrey Archer’s latest though so resorted to a Kindle Edition and then sat up through the night to finish it.   Years ago when he visited New Zealand I went to a breakfast where he was the guest speaker and had the good fortune to be seated at his table.  What a charmer!   And I do admit to having read all the books he’s written although most have been borrowed from the library so I’ve not contributed in any great way to his immense royalties!

After several days of beautiful fine weather where we were deceived into thinking the sun had arrived to stay,  it is currently grey sky and showery but while that’s not so good for lifting spirits it is excellent for the garden and my plants are all singing their thanks.   I have at least five buds on my peony and the lily of he valley that I though I had killed has sent forth four shoots.   The Nigella seed has germinated in profusion so I will have some flowers.