Reflections on Crafting: Late 2025 and Early 2026

sweetstitchingcrafts — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:57:52 +0000

Music credit: ‘Rise’ by Natalie Duque

Back to the Joy of Making

It feels wonderful to be getting back into the rhythm of making again. Even though I haven’t been sharing much about my projects during the latter part of 2025 and the start of 2026, I’ve still been busy creating. Life gets hectic sometimes and can pull me in all sorts of directions, making it easy to lose my footing. I really miss putting my thoughts on paper and connecting over my love for making. So, I’ve decided to jump back in—no guilt, just a fresh commitment to why this blog exists: to feel connected again and see where the journey takes me in the making community.

What Have I Been Up To?

Lately, weaving and spinning have captured my heart, especially working with locally sourced wool. If you’ve followed my earlier posts, you know I’ve been bringing raw fleece to a local fiber mill, Wool 4 Ewe, and getting it processed into roving to spin on my wheel. I spent much of last year and even this year spinning that fleece into yarn for weaving projects. One big goal was to spin enough yarn to use as weft for a couch throw I made for someone. After finishing that project on my larger 45-inch Leclerc Fanny loom, I felt inspired to keep spinning for more throws—and maybe even bigger projects like a twin-size coverlet measuring about 60 by 80 inches.

For my previous project, I used an 8/2 cotton warp set at 16 ends per inch, as recommended in a book about traditional coverlets by Helen Jarvis. The single-ply wool yarn I spun was about DK weight. After wet finishing and drying, the blanket had a scrumptious drape—cozy for chilly nights, and light enough to hang nicely on the couch.

On my smaller antique loom, I’ve been weaving hand towels using Venne organic cotton 8/2 yarn, a new discovery for me. I’ve been mixing purples in a shadow play pattern from a Nov/Dec 2021 Handwoven magazine issue. I often wonder about the difference between regular cotton and organic cotton. Honestly, after washing and drying on low, these towels feel so much softer in hand. I’ll definitely revisit Venne organic 8/2 cotton yarn—it seems worth the extra splurge!

Knitting has been a bit slower lately. I’ve been working on finishing a pair of socks using hand-dyed yarn from a swap partner (who dyed it herself!). I tried using the yarn in different projects, but didn’t love how it looked, so I boldly ripped it out and kept hunting for the right pattern. This lace pattern I’m working with now lets the yarn’s color variation shine without pooling too much in any one spot.

Looking Ahead: Goals for 2026

My main goal for 2026 is more spinning and weaving—no surprise there—especially using natural, locally sourced fleece in new weaving projects.

I also want to get back into knitting sweaters. I’ve spun yarn for sweaters before but sometimes get distracted by quicker projects. Although prepping samples and doing gauge swatches isn’t my favourite, I know it’s important for getting the right fit. Right now, I have some alpaca yarn from a local fiber mill that I hope to use. I have my eye on a few patterns, but I’m not rushing—finding the perfect sweater pattern for that yarn is part of the fun!

I’m sure there will be more projects popping up and joining my to-do list, since I like to keep things flexible and let my creativity lead the way. Until next time, happy crafting—and I’ll be back soon to share more adventures!

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Harvesting Creativity: Crafting This Fall Season

sweetstitchingcrafts — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:43:13 +0000

Music: Passage by Jakob Ahlbom & Trust in You by AK Silla

Nature is my go-to source of inspiration, regardless of the season. However, I must admit that the changing colors of leaves, the bright autumn afternoon sun, and the pine needles covering the forest grounds rekindle my imagination. I have a strong desire to recreate the mood of comfort, stillness, and crispness that I experience during my woodland walks in the fall. What crafts am I gravitating towards this fall to reflect this change of pace?

Rug Hooking

My current rug hooking project is from an older Buttermilk Basin pattern called Patriotic Sheep. Using primitive cut wool strips (1/4 inch wide strips of wool) in rustic colours such as burgundy, mossy greens and burnt yellows. As you can see, I still have the main body to work on. I have a variety of creams and white wool fabric waiting to be felted and cut into strips. The final project will be a 3-dimensional sheep that will hopefully decorate my craft room.

Weaving

Weaving with my multicolored handspun using a crackle weaving structure. The pattern is called the French pattern, and it is from Marguerite Porter Davidson’s book, A Handweaver’s Pattern Book. This book has a great compilation of older weaving patterns, but using this pattern along with my multicolored handspun is giving this old pattern new life while preserving the vintage feel and look. I will admit my initial choice of a gray color was more subdued, but I am glad I changed my mind. This fall season is bursting with color, and I wanted my current projects to reflect this.

Knitting

Knitting socks during this time of year, I am obsessed with staying warm and what I can make that will keep me warm. Naturally, my feet are the first part of my body that get cold quickly, and it is not even below 0 degrees. I start rummaging through my yarn stash to find the perfect yarn that is sturdy and warm enough to start a new pair of socks. Then, I finish all the last year’s sock projects by closing the toes and weaving all the loose ends.

Punch needle

It is not a craft that I often work on, but I do enjoy it immensely when I do. This pattern is a Michelle Palmer original punch needle design, and of course, I was drawn to it because of the cute sheep design. It was featured in a summer 2019 issue of the Punch Needle and Primitive Stitcher magazine, but I felt the color selections in this design reminded me more of fall leaves that decorate the forest floor instead of summer flowers in full bloom. I have the pattern stretched on some wooden bars for increased accessibility while I am cuddled under some blankets and sipping on a hot cup of tea.

Quilting

I find binding quilts takes a long time when I make blankets. But it feels good to be under the blanket while doing it. I usually bind quilts in the fall, after piecing them together during the summer when there’s more daylight. It gets too hot to manoeuvre the blanket while hand-sewing the edges. I feel good when I finish because I have a new blanket to keep me cozy during the winter while I work on other crafts.

What crafts are you drawn to when there is a change of season, especially when the weather gets cooler? Please feel free to comment below!

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