Slow Sunday Stitching - January 4, 2026

New Year, New Start.  This time around, it's knitting.   My Christmas gift yarn didn't stay in the stash long enough to even get on the shelf!  It's going to be another Musselburgh Hat!  All the first crown increases are done and it's on the way down that long stretch of straight stocking stitch in the round to the second crown.   This is the hat that gets folded in half - one end inserted into the other - to make a double thick hat with four layers over the ears.  Toasty!

love the autumnal colors in this yarn

Hope everyone had a great holiday season.  I am so not ready for the start of the second semester on Tuesday.   This whole retirement career as a teacher is not great.  I'd rather be the fun grandma that does trips and outings than the one that has to nag about homework.  On the other hand, his grades are up.

Crafting is my solace, as always.   It's always been something that STAYS DONE - unlike housework, work or now teaching.  Except when it doesn't stay done.  Current example - remember the Willow LOSY Hat that I lost the game of yarn chicken on?   Well, that line where I subbed in another fuzzy yarn to finish off the crown bugged me enough that I couldn't bring myself to donate it when the time came.  My rule of thumb for charity knits is, "Would I gift this to a family member?"  The people getting my charity crafting deserve good materials and my best workmanship.  As it stood, this hat did not make the cut.

So that hat came home from church with me, unblessed and undonated.   And I ripped it back to just an inch and a half (and it was just as difficult to frog back as I had thought it would be), dug the green and white yarns out of the stash and reknit it with spiral stripes of white and cream (both paired with the willow green) up to the start of the crown.  Look, no nasty line of demarcation! There's about the same number of rows with just the cream/green at the top and bottom areas, so the addition of the white in the center looks deliberate and barely detectable.   Should have done that when I finished it the FIRST time.

now it passes the 'family' test for donations

And here's another 'second time around FFO'!   The repair on my grandson's Christmas Stocking is done!  (See the entire saga in this post).  

Was there needlework in and around all that knitting?  Yes.  I'm keeping up the 100 stitches or more a day on the Mead Dragon.  And working on the Garden Santa perforated paper ornament.

 

I've got about 3.5 hours in on him and he's at 494 / 1727 stitches or 28.60% (plus some backstitch and embellishments to put in at the end).  Hoping to finish off his cute garden clogs this afternoon!

Linking up with the SSS crew to see what they are all up to in the New Year.