Happy Thanksgiving!  Okay, I’m a day late and the turkey is almost gone, but I do hope all of my Canadian readers had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

When surfing the interwebs this weekend, I noticed a lot of people asking what Canadian Thanksgiving is about.  We don’t have pilgrims and Native Americans as part of our Thanksgiving “myth.”  Canadian Thanksgiving is simply about… wait for it… giving thanks for the fall harvest, our blessings, and whatever we happen to be thankful for.  Because we are, generally speaking, further north than our American cousins, our fall harvest starts and ends earlier, which is part of the reason for the earlier date. (I say generally more north, but Portland, ME, for example, is a fair little bit further north than I am here in Toronto.)  If you’d like to know more about Canadian Thanksgiving, check out this Wikipedia article.

Anyway, on to the knitting and cross stitch!

This weekend, not only did I cook a turkey dinner (with some help), I also knit a pair of Fetching.  I used the leftover Super Cable Aran (in colour 6434 Aubergine) from my Central Park Hoodie.  I did knit a pair, but I need one hand to hold the camera.  So, just image another hand, with the cables crossed the other way.  (Isn’t that a nice touch?)

Fetching by Cheryl Niamath (knitty.com)

I wore them out today, and I will admit I felt a bit like a Charles Dickens street urchin wearing fingerless gloves, but they did the job.  My hands stayed warm, and I was able to wipe Baby Man’s nose with a tissue without taking them off.  That is a total win in my book.

I also made some progress on Sampler de Noel 2009, and discovered why my stitching is so off centre.  It turns out I’m using fabric that isn’t the same count in both directions.  I used this fabric last year when I stitched Teresa Wentzler’s Father Winter Ornament, which is supposed to be square. Click that link and you will see that it is not even close to square.  And look at my Sampler de Noel 2009.  That empty oval is suppose to be a circle.  Yikes!

Sampler de Noel - Part 5+

To make sure the whole piece will fit, I stitched the rest of the left border.  I still need to stitch the bottom border, but I can tell it will fit and leave me about 4cm (~1/5″) left.  I really need to find the larger piece I cut this from and remove it from my stash!

My first Creativ Festival class is Thursday evening, and I’m totally booked all day Friday and Saturday.  I’m also planning to attend the dinner on Saturday night since Erica talked me into it.  And Sunday morning I’m going to Jennifer Aikman-Smith (Dragon Dreams) and Teresa Wentzler’s talk about creativity.  I’m very excited, although I’m pretty sure that my I won’t get total shopping satisfaction since there will be so few cross stitch vendors.

Two more things to tell you about:

• Dip Diddly Designs is having another draw.  Stop by to read all about it.  She also has a great freebie in the same post.
• Anna from Stitch Bitch turned me on to Regretsy.  Check it out, but be prepared to a lot (and I mean A LOT) or not safe for work/little eyes stuff. Yikes!  The first image to load right now is off lady parts.  You’ve been warned.

Aren’t Those Fetching? is a post from Reflections in the Pond

I’m having another of my grand moments of indecision.  Today (this week?) it is about which projects I should be working on.   Notice I didn’t say which projects I want to work on.  It’s getting towards the end of the year, so that means gift stitching and knitting and ornament stitching should be dominating my rotation.  Instead, yesterday I worked on my Mermaid Socks (and screwed them up so bad somehow that I’m going to have to rip them out) and cast on for a pair of Pink Ribbon Socks (link to the pattern pdf).  I also got started stitching Take Time to Read from Jeanette Douglas Designs, which was a gift from Erica and which I have been dying to start but was supposed to be an after-all-the-gifts-are-done reward for myself. Notice that none of those are Christmas-related projects.

I should be working on the Christmas gift I have about 1/3 done, on Baby Man’s scarf, on Baby Man’s stocking, on Sampler de Noel 2009 (part 5 is out), and on another stitching gift.  I should also be knitting Baby Man the pumpkin hat for Halloween, and a pair of fingerless gloves for myself.  I’d also love to get some Halloween ornaments done too, but I think that is nothing more than wishful thinking.  Clearly, I need to review my October goals and seriously think about what I want to accomplish.

Halloween by La-D-Da is on my October goal list, and I finished stitching it just the other day.  I used Dinky Dyes silk Black Coral and DMC Colour Variations 4124 (Bonfire).  I think it turned out really nice, and I will be finishing it into a small pillow using some black faux velvet for the back.  The quilt shop down the street has some fabulous Halloween fabric that I would really like to use for this, but since this is supposed to by my SALsuffit project, I can’t buy anything new for it. *sigh*  Oh well.

Halloween by La-D-Da

I also found my Sampler de Noel, which Baby Man had stuffed beside my computer desk.  I’ve got started on Part 5, but still have a ways to go.  I’m certain I didn’t centre the project on the fabric correctly, but I should have about 4 cm (~1.5″) at the bottom.  Not great, but enough for finishing, I hope.

Sampler de Noel - Part 4

I’m also getting really excited about the Creativ Festival next week.  I’ve hunted down the cheap “daylight” lamp I take with me (a whole $10 at Wal-Mart, and it does a great job helping me see in those dim conference rooms).  I’ve made a small list of things to look for when I get a chance to shop, although with the lack of cross stitch vendors this year I’m not expecting to find much.  It’s the classes I’m most looking forward too, and to seeing people I only see once or twice a year.  I’m so shy they probably don’t know how much I enjoy seeing them, though.   Also, I wish I could remember if the conference rooms are hot or cold.  I always guess wrong and end up dressed wrong.

Anyway, back to the grindstone.  Today it will be Baby Man’s scarf, casting on my fingerless gloves (Fetching using the leftover yarn from my Central Park Hoodie), and Baby Man’s Christmas stocking.  If I’m lucky, I may get a little bit done on Sampler de Noel as well.  We shall see.

I’m also on book 8 of the 10 Book Reading Challenge: Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire.  I’ve slowed down considerable because I’m not really enjoying this book, but I don’t dislike it enough to stop reading it.  I’m also reading book 9: Way of the Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock.  It is a really great book about, not surprisingly, green witchcraft.  I’m finding it really inspiring.

Don’t forget: the online Needlework Show is happening until October 12th.  There are lots of great designs to see (a couple I really would love to have), a few free charts, and some great door prize draws.

Halloween Pumpkin and Christmas Sampler is a post from Reflections in the Pond

It’s the last day of September, and I am in full on Christmas preparation mode.  Only, perhaps, to be broken by a little bit of Halloween stitching next month.  We shall see.

On the knitting needles is a Christmas gift, so no pictures of that.  I will be knitting Baby Man a pumpkin hat for Halloween, which I will share.

I’ve been diligently stitching away on Baby Man’s Christmas stocking, and have achieved my September goal of finishing the toy sack and Christmas tree.

Naughty or Nice Christmas Stocking

My goal for October will be to finish up all of the stitching with the exception of the back stitching.  All this work on the stocking means that I have fallen horribly behind on the Papillon Creations Castles in the Air SAL.  But that will be going on for about another year and a half, so I think I will be able to get caught up.

I’ve also completed Part 3 of the Sampler de Noel SAL.  Part 4 is due out on Thursday, and I’m ready.  (Yes, I did say Fridays before, but my French really is so bad that I get days of the week mixed up.  Cereal box French doesn’t really get you very far on the Internet unless someone is giving away something for gratuit.  That’s free for those of you who’s French is even worse than mine.)

Voilà:

Sampler de Noel - Part 3

Lovely, isn’t it?  The very uneven linen I am using makes it look a bit off in a couple of places, but everything is just as it should be.  I think it gives it a bit of an antique look.

This brings me to yet another SAL, or rather Read Along.  I’ve finished book 4 of the 10 Book Reading and Stitching Challenge from Reading and Stitching.  It was A Good Yarn (Blossom Street, No. 2) by Debbie Macomber.  Please forgive me.  I know I said I wouldn’t read any more of her books, but I figured that I had to be missing something since so many people like them.  I’m not.  I didn’t enjoy this book either.  I think it is because I want a mystery or a historical event or something to underlay the story.  I don’t want to just read about someone’s life.  (Jane Austen is an exception here, and only because she is a fabulous writer, and they are historical novels now, right?  Anyone?)

I’m halfway through my next two books.  The first is Empire by Orson Scott Card, which is hibernating because the story has gone silly.  My husband read it last week and thinks I should stick with it.  And the second is Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith (aka Paul Linebarger), a fabulous old school sci-fi novel that is making me want to reread some classics on my bookshelf.

And one more SAL to round out the post: Tempus Fugit is hosting another SAL.  This time she isn’t providing a chart (like her fabulous SALexander).  The aim of this SAL is to finish at least one project every month using just what you have in your stash.  She means completely finished, so turned into a pillow, framed, made into a pinkeep, whatever.  It will run from October to June, and I’ll be taking part.  Goodness knows there is enough in my stash to do this. Head on over and read about the SALsuffit.

Stitching Christmas and a Pile of SALs is a post from Reflections in the Pond

I little while ago I posted about taking part in the 10 Book Reading Challenge that Vickie from Reading and Stitching is hosting.  Can you believe, I’ve already finished three books.  I may have mentioned that not only am I a voracious reader, but I also read very quickly.  So, a couple of late nights (far too late, really) and reading when I should have been doing other things, and I have finished:

1. History of Hand Knitting by Richard Rutt
2. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber
3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Of the three, I can only really recommend number 1 and 3.  Both were excellent in their own genre, and since both focus on England, they left me feeling a bit English for a time.

Next on my bedside table: Empire by Orson Scott Card.  I think it is time for a bit of a change of pace after those three genteel books.

As for stitching, which I am still doing, I have finished Part 1 and 2 of the SAL I mentioned a little while ago, Sampler de Noel. I’m using the DMC colours listed for the blue version, and stitching over one on a very uneven 32ct. slightly-off white linen.

Sampler de Noel SAL - Parts 1 and 2

It is very sweet, and very French to my Canadian eyes.  I can’t wait to until it is all done.  Carole is offering Parts 2 – 12 on her blog every Friday from now until December 3rd.  If you’d like to take part, head over here and send Carole an email.  She will send you Part 1 and you can join in.  (The site is in French but there is an option to translate it in the left side bar.)

I’ve also put some work into Baby Man’s Christmas stocking.  My goal for September is to finish the toy sack and Christmas tree, and as you can see, I’m doing pretty well.

Naughty or Nice Stocking from Dimensions

Good news, you can now click on any picture to enbiggen it!  I know, I should have figured this out ages ago, but I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I would rather spend time with Baby Man and quanta, or stitching or knitting, instead of screwing around on the computer.  Shocking, isn’t it?

I’m also going to plug Anna one more time; don’t forget to vote for the Swirlgig you like best over at Stitch Bitch.  Mine is there.  Can you guess which one?

Sampler de Noel and Book Challenge Update 1 is a post from Reflections in the Pond