Mini Archie's January Furtle Around The Blogosphere

Furtle (v): to have a rummage or delve into the contents of something

Hello! I think January 2021 has surely been the longest January since records began! However, it's meant I've got a surprising amount of stuff done since the December Furtle - I hadn't realised how much until I came to sort photos for this post because the beginning of January feels so long ago that I thought they'd been done last year.

I finished the socks for Mam:

Pink yarn is WYS Sarsaparilla, patterned is from Made By Penguins

And knitted a pair for me, although I've technically finished these twice as the first time round I'd somehow made the feet a tad short so had to pull back the toes and add a few rounds before redoing the toe. They fit perfectly now, thank goodness.

Yarn is Aqua by Made By Penguins

And I cast on another two socks for me:

I also cast on another sock last night but as they're for a friend and she wants a surprise (she saw the yarn when she bought it, obviously, but has no idea what it'll look like knitted up) so I can't show you until they're finished and on her feet.

I finished the Winterkist top and now need to come up with a plan for the back which uses as many of the spare tomtes as possible - I see a lot of appliqué in my future!

I laid out the scrappy trip blocks, quickly discovered I preferred the 6x8 layout to the 7x8 one I was making for and then spent quite a while laying them all out and deciding which eight blocks I like the least. (I originally planned for 48 blocks but then had enough of the plains to make another eight blocks so I made them without further thought. I should have sketched it out first! The spares will become big cushions for the conservatory so all is not lost.) There's no photo of the blocks laid out because it was too big for the floor in the front room and so too big to get a decent picture. I've labelled all the blocks and am currently sewing them into fours - I've done five so far (but they haven't yet taken themselves to the iron):

And number six is halfway there:

We had a surprise delivery from Just Sew Now which Mini Archie promptly claimed:

These will make spiffing tents and sleeping bags for when we camps out by the sunflowers in the garden
 to protect them from Pirates (and slugs and birds) *beams* Fankoo, Aunty Eleanor!

And, just to round off the month, I've emptied* the sewing room (but, fortunately, not The Cupboard Of Possibilities (previously known as The Cupboard Of Doom)) ready for the decorator coming tomorrow  (I'm going to stay with Mam for a few days to make it safer):

*Well, almost emptied - there are bits, like the drawers, which I can't move until the morning and two bookcases which he'll have to work round because there's nowhere for them to go.

I also need to choose new flooring as the carpet now doesn't fit the floor space (CoP is slightly shorter than CoD so I've been left with a bare strip) and I'm thinking about a patterned lino - I'll see what the chap has when I ring him for a quote. I had been going to book him for the week after next so I didn't have to empty the room (yet) again, but I decided that two different workmen in the house in under a fortnight wasn't sensible given the current infection rates and so I'm waiting.  The upside is that it gives me more time to sand and paint the drawers, which I'll definitely need as I've only got as far as removing the handles, buying the paint and locating the sandpaper!

Phew, no wonder I'm jiggered!

Never mind jiggered, no lying down in the winter sunshine for you until those socks is on feets, those blocks is
all joined together in one big lump and the drawers is painted. Then you can buy the shelfs you has beed
promising I for monfs and find a handyman to put them up. I finks we might need new quilts and beds
 to celebrate our new home...

Linking up to the January Furtle 

If you're linking up, please add a link (one per person, please) to your blog post, which could contain: a mosaic of all you've made in the month, something you've made/started/worked on, a goal which you'd like to achieve in the next month (and then in next month's post you can reflect on that goal and set yourself another one - I find this particularly handy if I'm in the midst of a big project and finding the making of hundreds of blocks to be interminable), anything crafty you'd like to share. This isn't just for sewing or quilting, but is for all crafts so if you knit, make lace, make clothes, do anything which could come under the heading of 'craft', then please link up. Please visit the link immediately before and after you and leave an encouraging comment, and more if you can manage it - we all know that comments create joy, so let's spread some around. Also, please treat all the linked posts and their authors with respect - I want this to be an inclusive space for all crafters and crafts and all are welcome. If you're not sure if you're welcome or you belong, you do - this is by no means a closed space and if you want to join, then you are most welcome. If you need help linking up, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help. Please add the Furtling button to your blog post: copy the code below and paste it into your blog post - it should then magically appear when you publish your blog post (I'll do my best to help if you have any problems) and it will help people find the Furtling page with all the details of the link up.

<p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://archiethewonderdog.blogspot.com/p/furtling.html"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTXDD7-BYr5nXJtGn7HIFUcDUZfLGBTpazWKP8TCUWdkA6zd2285lbJX4aoMug6QyKDdxtxA-njWnhvf0GugU-An4z5lTFcqmYnae0Gb68FR0ZmydWYETGSa2oF1NeQDMVNwZBnUHTpsD7/s200/textgram_1548790799.png" alt="Archie The Wonder Dog" /></a></p>

To link up, go to the link at the bottom of this page and click on 'link up' (it's a blue button) and then add your link (website URL), a title (this could be your blog name but could also be something interesting to draw people to it (keep it clean!) if you prefer), and your email. This last one doesn't appear on the link (I will have access to it - I won't use it unless there's a problem and I need to contact you) so don't worry that you're about to share your email address with the world (or the handful of people who find this link), you're not! The link will remain open until 17th February; if you're seeing this post after this date, I'm afraid you can't link up to the January Furtle, but you can link next month if you like.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter