Baby Project Update

While I have been doing quite a bit of stitching lately, I've been trying not to forget that I have a baby gift to finish for August 2nd.  With this being the end of June, that means I've got about a month to get it finished.  Here is my progress to date:

I'm almost to the point where I will be casting off for the arm hole stitches on the other side of the sweater.  From there it will be a little bit more of the honeycomb stitch and then time to start the decreases for the other tie and figure out how to do the sleeves. 

Here is a close up of the honeycomb stitch which is made using alternating knit and slip stitches on the wrong side and then knitting all stitches on the front.  I really like how it looks.  I hope the mama does too!

I'm off to do a bit more on this project while I wait for company to arrive for the weekend. The temperature has heated back up so I think there will be some beach time in my weekend plans.  Hope you're enjoying great weather too!

Sort of New Start

I mentioned yesterday that I had restarted Ann Sandles.  I had originally started it on 30 ct WDW fabric (I don't remember the color) and I just didn't enjoy working on the fabric.  Here's where I gave up with stitching it the first time.

So I shelved it and decided I would attempt it again on 40 ct.  I dug through my stash and found a piece of 40ct R&R Lt. Cappuccino and started it over again on Sunday.

I am much happier with the look of the 40 ct. fabric.  It was really hard to put down so I'm hoping it will get finished much quicker than my previous project.  But I do want to make some WIP progress before the next post is due so tonight I'm probably going to pick up BBD's Winter Wonderland instead.  Probably......

Weekend Finish!!!

 BBD Snow Garden (Anniversaries of the Heart #1)

Started January 15, 2012

Completed June 23, 2012

Believe it or not, I finally finished BBD's Anniversary of the Heart #1 on Saturday!  The piece that gave me so much grief, that I thought would only take me about a month, actually took me 5 months.  Boy am I glad to be done with this little gem.

I wasn't sure how I was going to personalize this but as I was putting the last stitches in, it just came to me that I wanted to put in the state where I'm currently living, the year and my initials.

As I plan to eventually sewing these charts together into a sort of memory book, it seemed appropriate that the Snow Garden chart represented the place and climate in which it was stitched.  This will be the cover for the rest of the memory book.

 I really like how the eyelet detail in the peacock's tail worked out.  I love the look of eyelets. 

I immediately cut fabric for Anniversary #2 and pulled the threads.  It's ready to go but it's not the piece I started yesterday.  Remember my aborted start on Ann Sandles from With My Needle and Thread?  Well, I cut a piece of 40 ct. fabric and restarted the piece on Sunday.

I had a very hard time putting it down and I am very pleased with the progress I was able to make.  I will show you that tomorrow!

TUSAL for June

I almost forgot to share my TUSAL for the month.  It's been a very busy week!  My TUSAL is growing and there was a fair amount added this month.  Most of this comes from BBD's Anniversaries #1 and Winter Wonderland. 

I hope to be adding to this jar at least a little bit this weekend.  I hope wherever you are, you get the opportunity to stitch as well this weekend.  Thank you so much for stopping buy!

IHSW-Final Progress

While I didn't end up doing any stitching on Sunday, I was able to make some decent progress on Winter Wonderland.  That was after doing a bit of frogging and restitching that is.  If you'll notice the bottom photo shows a bit of a difference on the right hand side of the house wall. 

 As I was stitching down on the tree, I realized that I was one stitch too close on the wall and had to unstitch the right side.  While I didn't get the wall finished, I did get the tree done as well as a few more motifs. 

I have also made some progress on my baby sweater. It's slowly starting to loose the thong resemblance don't you think!  Next up is decreasing for the neck.  The section with the DPN is supposed to be where I knit the sleeve but I'm not to sure on that so I will be reading the directions multiple times I think!

IHSW - Friday Report

It's International Hermit Stitching Weekend!  Last night after work, I settled down with a marathon of The Mentalist episodes and a movie called Dragonball.  I picked up BBD's Winter Wonderland and was able to make some progress.  I worked on the right hand side, completing some of the darker green vine border, starting the tree the bird will be sitting on top of and the little motif between the house and the tree.  Although I noticed as I was uploading the photo that I might need to go back to that motif and add a row.  I will have to look closer. 

I hope you got a great start to your IHSW weekend stitching!  It's very cloudy out today so I'm going to ignore the housework and settle guilt free (that I should be outside enjoying the day) on the couch and watch some old movies and hopefully make some great stitching process.  Stitchy-butt here I come!

It's starting to look a lot like... a thong?

After ripping out about 4 times trying to get an increase technique correct and failing miserably, it occurred to me to try another technique for my baby project.  Why it took me that long to figure out a switch was the solution I have no idea - can I blame it on stubbornness?  Anyway, I managed a simple knit into the front and back of one stitch to get the increases I need and thus my baby gift start has turned into what really resembles a knit thong at this point! 

I've finished the increases and am ready to start the next step so hopefully it will turn into more of something that resembles a baby sweater rather quickly!

I'm off to register for Hermit Stitching this weekend - are you hermiting too?  The more the merrier they say!

The never ending project...

I swear I'm never going to finish this project!  I worked on it some more this weekend in between house keeping duties and it just never seems to end.  And it's not that big of a project either!!  I've put it down for a bit because quite frankly, I'm sick of working on it at this point.  I think I'm going to pick up BBD's Winter Wonderland.

We had a glorious weekend weather wise - sunny, blue skies and up into the high 70s and low 80s.  The pup and I went for a walk on the beach. I sincerely hope there are more days like this in our future!  I hope you had a great weekend where ever you are!

Baby Start

One of the baristas at the coffee shop where I go to knit in public on Thursday's is having a baby.  We are all making her something handmade for the baby and throwing her a surprise baby shower at the beginning of August.  She is having a girl so rather than start something pink, I looked for something different.  I ordered some cotton yarn in red and purple from Webs.  Once it arrived, I decided to go with the red and make a baby sweater from the book Greetings From Knit Cafe.

I've never knit anything for a baby before so I made sure to swatch.  Luckily, I got the correct gauge with my swatch and started in on the project.  This is my progress so far.  I am using Cascade UltraPima which I absolutely love.  It is the softest cotton which can be machine washed.  I hope to get more accomplished this evening so I can be sure it will be done on time!

TGIF

June WIPocolypse Update

While May was not the most productive of stitching months for me, I was able to get a little bit of progress made on some of my WIP projects.  Yesterday I showed you my progress on my HAED Story Keeper.

I was also able to put a bit of time into my BBD Anniversaries piece.

And last night I managed to put a few stitches into my CHS Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow.

I have high hopes that there will be more progress to share next month!

A good UFO day

April 1, 2012 Progress

Yesterday was UFO stitching day since it was the first Sunday of the month.  Thanks (sort of) to another rainy, messy day, I was able to make some respectable progress on my HAED Story Keeper.  The last time I worked on it was April 1 and I was able to add another 400 stitches and almost complete another strip.  Despite all that blue, I really love how this looks.  I just wished the stitching went a bit faster....those over ones take forever with all those different colors.  But it's worth it!

June 3, 2012 Progress

Rainy Day Pursuits

Our weekend weather has been less than summery but I did not let it stop me from accomplishing a goal and getting some stitching progress made. 

I've been doing the Couch to 5K plan and on Saturday - in the rain - I ran my second 5k of the summer, this time meeting a personal goal to run the whole 3.2 miles without stopping to walk.  I was a week ahead of my training plan but felt I was ready to run the whole thing.  The race was to benefit our local trails committee and there were only about 21 runners of which I was the last to finish.  I did not let that stop me though and am proud I didn't let the rain deter me from running the race.  And I beat my earlier race time from Mother's Day by 5 minutes!  The photo is the medal I received even though I did not place in any category.

And while doing what felt like 50 loads of laundry, I managed to give BBDs Anniversaries #1 a little more attention.  I finished the tree and started to work on the right side border.  My goal is to finish this before the end of the month and start the second one.  I had hoped to do one a month but that plan has obviously gone out the window!

Today is a UFO stitching day as it's the first Sunday of the month.  I had a bit of a panic because I had planned to work on my BBD Christmas at HRH piece and couldn't find the project bag with everything in it.  After twice scouring my office/craft room, I have up and pulled out my HAED Story Keeper project back and stared working on that.  It's another indoor weather type of day so I hope to have some progress to show on that tomorrow. 

Hope you are enjoying the rest of your weekend - and some better weather than we are!

May Recap

I've obviously been a bit absent the last month and a half, and that is partly due to it being quite busy around here and not having much time for crafting.  I was in Las Vegas at the beginning of the month for a work conference and it's been non-stop since getting back.  I also have a friend in CT who had a stroke recently so I've been down their for long weekends twice in the last six weeks.  I'm hoping that things will settle down a bit more so that I can get some crafting time in.

I did manage to finish the crochet coasters and the basket they fit in during the past 6 weeks and put a very small amount of time into BBD's Anniversaries of the Heart #1 but that's about all I have to show.  June should be a more productive month because I need to start a baby gift with an early August deadline and now that most of the summer prep on the yard is done, I should have more time to craft.  Famous last words right?

Blogger refuses to cooperate and upload my stitching photos with the correct orientation so I will try to post the picture in a separate post.