I haven't blogged in ages. Apart from the fact that blogging has fallen out of fashion in a world of Instagram and Tiktok, I think the pandemic has had the effect of making a lot of us simply want to cocoon in our own private world. I seem to have lost the drive to make new knitting patterns while I focus on painting our house's interior, advancing my sewing skills, making yogurt, and sending James off to live and work in the EU.
Where to start? Who would have guessed that it would be so much fun to paint the interior of our house? It's become my pandemic project, one that I can tackle at my own slow pace. Our WW1- era bungalow is small enough to demand a cohesive colour scheme, and here is what I've chosen.
From left to right: Wickham Gray, Boothbay Gray, Paperwhite, Distant Gray, and Linen White, all from Benjamin Moore.
Names are deceiving. "Distant Gray" is actually a clean, fresh white. "Linen White" is a cream with a very pale, slightly yellow undertone. The palette is light, neutral, calm, but not boring. My intention is to bring as much light into the house as possible without going for the ubiquitous all-white look. The vestibule is looking better in blue greys after I opened it up by removing the ugly and dysfunctional folding closet doors. It took a week to get rid of all the wallpaper.
And here's the living room with its newly refreshed walls.
At my feet is my current sweater project, Mr Greenjeans, proceeding at a glacial pace.
I decided to reduce the size of the raglan eyelets by knitting into the horizontal thread between two stitches instead of making full-blown yarn overs. Also, I'm making the sleeves full length. If it's cool enough for a wool sweater, you generally want your forearms to be warm. Yarn: BT Shelter from stash.
My latest sewing project has been Style Arc's Adeline. An easy pattern, but not one to be undertaken by novices given the scanty instructions. For anyone looking for an excellent YouTube tutorial on sewing V-necks, I recommend this one. As usual, instead of an interfaced neck facing, I opted to make the facing out of batik cotton, a fabric that is dense and non-stretchy. See?
The mauve colour isn't my favourite; put it down to the perils of online fabric ordering.
Finally, James has made a move to Ireland to live and work. We had a lovely day together in Prince Edward County before he and his freshly washed sweater collection left. Here he is enjoying pizza and cider in Waupoos overlooking Lake Ontario.
I mean to go back in September with Bill when the crowds are gone and the air (and apples) are crisp.
