Pressies

I have recieved two lovely packages in the mail this week - both from members of my online stitching group. Jodi sent me this lovely yarn - it is unbelievably soft! I couldn't keep my hands out of it - LOL It's a great color and I'm already mulling over some options for working with it.

I also received this wonderful PS tasseled pillow from Danielle. I just love it and her finishing is wonderful although she always thinks it's not. She sent me the spring and summer PS charts so now I have all four seasons and she included some yummy Crescent Color threads and two great pieces of fabric. And some yummy candies that got opened right away - Haribo gummy bears and Sour Patch kids.

Thank you ladies for thinking of me!

Week in Review

Okay, I was not on the computer much last week because I spent every waking minute trying to finish this - and I finally did on Wednesday night. I still haven't decided if I'm going to put beads on the end of the ribbon or not. I bought four different kinds/colors of ribbon and ended up using this matching rayon velvet ribbon. It hugs the fabric better so not as much slipping around as with the satin ribbon I also bought. The fit is pretty good with the exeption of the ribbing. I didn't knit it tightly enough - maybe I should have gone down another needle size - so there isn't much of a blouson effect when it's worn but I'm very happy with how it turned out. And oh so happy to be done that endless stockinette!

Friday night I had to go to a company event so I didn't get much time to work on the Stitcher's Wallet so I put some time into it on Saturday morning. I should be able to finish this panel when I get back to it this Friday. I think it's looking good!

I have more to post about but Cowboy needs to go for a walk so I'll save it for tomorrow! Stay tuned......

Stitching Update

I worked on my Stitcher's Wallet SAL piece on Friday and a bit more on Saturday. I really like how the blue and the "orangey" color work together. I feel like I'm about 1/2 way through this panel and hopefully I will be able to finish it off this coming Friday. For some reason that K is still bugging me!

I also picked out my pin exchange piece along with the fabric and the fibers - yummy silks this time! The finishing construction is one I've not tried before but looked interesting so I hope I don't botch it too badly when putting it together. I won't be able to show you that until some time next month as the mail date is August 15th. Aren't I good to be starting so far ahead? LOL I'm sure I'll be scrambling to get it finished on the 14th!

One Legged Happy Dance

Well, last night I finally finished my first SOS 07 sock. I have to say this pattern is very close to giving me the one sock syndrome because it felt like it took forever to get one done and I'm not that enthusiastic about starting the whole process over - but I will before I start another pair. Hopefully the second will go much more quickly than the first one did!

I need four more people for my pay if forward challenge so please leave me a comment if you'd like to participate.

My Turn Paying it Forward

Jennifer, who is part of the Yahoo group I belong to, posted that she is doing a pay it forward thingy and I was one of the five people who signed up. Thus it will be my turn now to pay it forward. So, if you'd like to be a receipient of something from me, the first five people will be on the list but you must in turn pay it forward for five others!

How it works: I will send a handmade gift to the first 5 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I have no idea what that gift will be and only promise that you will receive it within the next 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog (or - in your life - if you happen to be blog-less). I hope you will join me in this exchange. All I need is 5 interested people - I am not restricting it to stitchers - you can knit or sew something but it must be handmade!

I look forward to creating something I hope will surprise and delight others and that they will in turn enjoy that pleasure as well!

More Things I Shouldn't Be Trying!

I bought this book on a recent trip to Patterworks in Center Harbor, NH. I have been trying to resist getting involved in beading or jewelry making but several ladies in my Yahoo group bead and I've fallen in love with many of their projects. See, I'm blaming this all on them! while at Michael's this weekend, I bought some steel crochet hooks and some practice wire so I'm all ready to test out my skills.

I heard about Earthfaire from one of those ladies (Laura made the bracelet at the bottom of this post) and of course had to go online and buy this Bead Stew Bracelet kit called Rock Candy. It's a kit for knitting a bracelet with beads - how could I resist? And the project uses Kreinik braid so that's kind of like stitching right? LOL

I must say I was really pleased with the company - the package arrived promptly and they even included some bead samples to try - very unexpected. They happen to match some beads and wire for a project I want to make out of Crochet with Wire so I think I will incorporate them into the project. This is the project I thought I would start with - the first in the book and it's labeled "EASY". I couldn't the exact shaped beads but I think the ones I did buy will be fine for a first project.

I MUST stop looking and buying - I must start doing projects, I must! Thank goodness I have some vacation time coming at the end of the month. I certainly won't lack for projects now will I?

I Couldn't Resist

I'm not supposed to be buying any charts - I have enough to open a shop of my own - but when I saw these on Thursday at Shakespeare's Peddler, I picked up the phone and called right away. How could a Halloween/Fall lover resist? They arrived on my doorstep yesterday and they're just wonderful! I must, must, must finish my Stitcher's Wallet but boy is it tempting to start the Pumpkin Patch immediately! Theresa does a Crescent Colors conversion so I may wait to get that instead of starting with DMC - although PS is a genius with picking DMC colors. We shall see!

Here is my Stitcher's Wallet Progress after Friday's SAL. I managed to get the K back in and the bird. I'm still not sure I like how the K looks even thought it lines up with the P which was my intent. However, I'm not ripping it out so I'll just have to get over it. I had hoped to start the band below but it got pushed aside for some sock knitting.

I have completed just over 3 inches of the 5 inches needed for the leg. I had really hoped to have this completed by this evening however I got bored and switched to working on my quilt. I am going to sit and work on this a bit more this evening so maybe I'll be able to get it done!

Happy Fourth of July!

Some of us celebrated with an outdoor pool session until the water got turned off.

Others of us walked in the town parade - ours is one of the best I've ever seen - very long and tons and tons of people lining the street. I'm not walking next year so that I can see the whole thing!

Some of us also took advantage of having a day off to do some knitting! I've finished the heel and started on the leg. I would have been a bit farther but I discovered a dropped stitch half way through the heel and I couldn't figure out how to pick it up and make sure the stitch was wrapped so I had to rip back pretty much all the way. It's all pattern knitting now I'm not sure how quickly I will get it done but I am working hard to complete it this weekend at the latest!

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Independence Day! It's back to work tomorrow and then another parade on Saturday for an Old Home Days celebration.

June Recap

Well, I can't believe it's July already but I guess I'll have to just get used to it! I don't usually do a recap but I thought I would do so for my own organizational process.

Summer Reading Challenge

I finished two of the 10 books on my list, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Up next is As I lay Dying by William Faulkner which will be my first book for the Southern Readers Challenge. I'm a bit behind as I'd hoped to have started that in June but there's been a lot more knitting than reading or stitching going on at Casa Pearl these days.

Summertime Tunic KAL

Well, I've finally managed to get past the endless 12 inches of stockinette above the ribbing and have begun to work on the back - I've got a little bit more than 1/2 an inch done of the 4.5 I have to do. I had hoped to be done this by July 1 but that darn stockinette was endless.

Summer Of Socks 2007

I've just started the increase rounds for the heel so I'm almost 1/2 way through the first sock. As you can see in the photo, the pooling has finally changed from an all vertical line to more of a horizontal one. I'm moving slowly along - the pattern part requires all of my concentration.

I've decided not to get to angsty over how slow the projects are going and just enjoy the process - both of reading and knitting.

Stitchers Wallet SAL

I worked on this on Friday but unfortunately it doesn't look like much because I had to rip out a fair amount. I had started the K and ended up having to rip out the right side bird as it was going to prevent me from fully stitching the K. Then I got about 2/3 of the way done with the K and realized that it was much higher than I thought and would bother me if I left it that way so I ripped it out. Unfortunatley, my initials contain two very wide letters, the A and the K so it's been a challenge to fit them correctly. I will have to move the right side bird over more than the chart called for but I think it will still look fine.