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Weekending - a finished gnome, a variety of crafts and some friends

The last clue for the Gnome Mystery MKAL dropped on Thursday night, so on Friday I did the knitting, and on Saturday I sewed her up. She's pretty cute. I'm going to knit her a matching teeny tiny ice-cream, and then she'll be done and accessorised. 

Every Friday during lockdown Elise and I do a Zoom call, and this week I sewed the buttons on my mother's cardigan during the call. The buttons took a long time to get here, and then I procrastinated sewing them on. Sewing buttons isn't my favourite I'm looking forward to giving it to her and seeing how it looks on. 

I also FINALLY got my embroidery threads and hoop. The post was really slow and then it went to the post office instead of my house. 

I picked it up on Friday, on Saturday I watched the video tutorial on setting up. My aim is to do a stitch every day, after work, but I don't know if that is realistic.

I cleaned the 600 grams of fleece I bought. To wash lanolin out the water has to be above 65 degrees, and our tap hot water is not that hot. I used my dye pot and Leon's brew pot and managed, in batches to get the whole lot cleaned. Once it's dry I'll put it through the drum carder. 

Look at the difference in colour between the clean and dirty fleece! The colour of the water I put down the sink was something to behold.

Sunday was much less crafty. I ran in the morning (17kms) three time around Albert Park Lake. it looks like such a wilderness in this photo, but it's actually very urban, with loads of people.

 Afterwards I made muffins and met Rachey and Raph in the park. I've just discovered the Sweetest Menu blog and I basically want to bake everything! These park meetings are not great for knitting, because it's currently  just a little too cold to knit outside. I brought my oldest blanket, that I crocheted while I backpacked in Europe in 2000 and 2001. We actually had a table, so Rachey used it to stay warm.

I did also start Stephen West's MKAL 2021. I'll post more about that when I've knit more of it. 

So that was my weekend. Lots of bits and pieces, some things finished, some things started and some prep for the future. 

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