Seasonal Start

The weather here has been so fall-ish that I decided to start something seasonally appropriate after finishing up Winter Wonderland. So I dug through my stash and pulled out the October Word Play chart from With Thy Needle and Thread. 

This is stitched on 35ct. Abcedarian, which I am really liking, with GAST threads.  This is my progress after a few days work.  It would be great to get this finished in time to hang up for October so I've been working exclusively on this although I did pull out another WIPocolypse piece that happens to be seasonally appropriate as well. 

I decided my next WIP focus piece will be Nora Corbett's Halloween Fairy.  The regular stitching is pretty much complete but it's the specialty fibers and the beads that are left and not my most favorite of things to stitch.  I hope to give that piece some time tomorrow.

Double TUSAL Update

I took a picture of my August TUSAL but just never got around to writing up a post and uploading the picture so I thought I'd post both my August and September updates.  As you can see from the September photo, most of the month was dedicated to stitching on BBDs Winter Wonderland.

 August 2012 TUSAL Update

September 2012 TUSAL

Speaking of that finished piece, I took it to Michael's yesterday (thinking it was AC Moore complete with AC Moore 60% off coupon in hand) and picked a frame.  Did you know that Michael's accepts competitor coupons?  I had no idea they did but was very happy to learn that they had no issue with my AC Moore coupon.  What would have cost me $221 ended up costing me $83 with archive quality glass.  Thank goodness for a coupon!

Vacation Knitting Start

 Thanks for the kind stitches on my BBD finish.  I am going to try and make it to AC Moore tomorrow to pick out a frame and I will be sure to share the final finish. For me, picking the frame is the hardest part of the whole process.

After tackling my first baby sweater, I decided to make something for myself that would be fairly challenging so I could stretch my knitting skills.  I think I saw this pattern somewhere on the whirlpool that is Ravelry and loved the color contrast and that fact that this pattern was multi-functional so I went ahead and bought the pattern and some yarn.

For my Cosette, I chose Madeline Tosh DK in Golden Hickory and Bark for the contrasting picot trim.  Since it's primarily stockinette, I thought it would be a perfect vacation project because there weren't a lot of tricky details to keep track of while chatting with family and friends at the beach. The shaping is done with short rows and wrapping stitches and that is why there are so many stitch markers - they've started to chime musically as I move the piece around the needles. 

I'm sorry the photos are so bad but I just couldn't seem to get a good one that truly shows the colors.  They are really gorgeous and remind me of all the gorgeous fall foliage we get in these parts.  And that change has started thanks to cold nights and warm days - it was 34 when I got up this morning!  I'm so not ready for that yet but it's on its way.

Computer Avoidance

I'm not quite sure why I have found it so hard to sit down in front of my computer and create a post but the good thing about my lack of computer time means that I devoted more time to stitching and as a result, I finished my BBD Winter Wonderland on Saturday.  Thank goodness for college football season - I've been watching a lot of it.  And it means that I've completed one of the projects on my WIPocolypse list which I'm very happy about.

And even better news is that there was a 60% off framing coupon in my email from AC Moore today so I hope to get this up to be framed this week.  It will be ready for Christmas viewing finally!

All Good Things Come to an End

It's back to work for me tomorrow so no more mornings like this one, spent on the deck with a good cup of coffee and some stitching.  I guess I have to go back to pay for the vacation stash I acquired right?

I did make nice progress on BBD's Winter Wonderland (blasted Blogger won't upload correctly).  I hope that I will have a finish to share soon but it's back to a busy couple of weeks so I'm not sure how much stitching will get done.  I'm ready for another vacation!

The BEST way to spend a vacation day!

I'm a couple of states away at the beach and while my family decided to go to Chatham to shop today, I had other plans.  Before I left home, I used the Hoffman site to see if there were any needlework shops within a reasonable distance. 

I was overjoyed to find that there was one within 10 miles of where we are staying.  I can't imagine why I never did this before as this is my 3rd time staying where we are.  I think this is the first non-online shop I have been in in the past 2 years which is a sad testament to how many of our LNSs have closed.

But maybe the third time is the charm because I spent 2 hours poking through a dusty room digging out some great stash. I went to Town-Ho Needleworks in Brewster if you're ever going to be on the Cape.  While I think it is primarily a needlepoint shop, they had a very decent selection of charts and an amazing variety of threads thanks to the needlepoint focus!

Here are some photos of what I came away with:

I just couldn't resist this Cricket Collection when I saw it in person.  It's amazing how much more you buy when you can actually see the chart design!  LOL  Or at least that's how it works for me.....

I was definitely in the mood for some Halloween goodness as you can tell!  This is The Goode Huswife's All Hallow's Eve, Prairie Moon Bow Wow-llowween and The Primitive Needle's Witches Nine.

 I bought three Halloween Prairie Schooler's All Hallow's Eve, Cats, Bats & Witches and Sweeping Cobwebs as well as a fat quarter of 32ct Lambswool and the DMC to start them in case I didn't bring enough projects with me (which I did of course)!

 Prairie Schooler Reindeer Round Up, BBD My Gift to You and a Cricket Collection I had never seen titled A Walk in the Woods.  It's #53 and was published in 1988 so I'm wondering if it's OOP and that's why I had never see it.  It's such a pretty pattern.

Knotted Tree Red Bird Fraktur and the Crescent Colors floss needed to stitch it.

The orientation is wrong but I bought a 10x13 plastic mesh project bag, 2 GAST threads which were all I really needed, a set of 6x6 Q snaps and Prairie Schooler Knock! Knock!

August WIPocolypse Udate

My focus this past month was mainly on BBDs Winter Wonderland so that's what I will show you.  I managed to accomplish quite a lot due to Olympic stitching.  Too bad they aren't on every year... or maybe not!  My house is a mess.  :-)

I'm on vacation for the next 10 days so who knows, I might even have this finished for the next WIPocolypse update! 

Project Frustration

Have you ever had a project that just seemed to be jinxed?  Well, I think Ann Sandles is that project for me.  I had made a fair amount of progress restitching it on 40 count except for the fact that the next time I picked it up it dawned on me that I had started too far in from the left and that I was probably not going to have enough fabric to frame it.  Evidently I measured over 3 inches but had cut my fabric for a 2 inch border.  Talk about frustrating!

So I proceeded to pick out the inner border area and used the remaining outside border to become the inside border instead.  This is where I left off the last time I worked on it.  I have not felt sufficient motivation to pick it up again but I will.  I'm going to win and get this project stitched.  I just hope there's no more frogging 40 ct in my future.

I have been dedicating a lot of Olympic watching time to BBD Winter Garden so I should have some great progress to show for the next WIPocolypse update.  I hope your stitching is going much more smoothly than mine has lately!

What's kept me away....

The baby sweater is done!  I sewed the last ends in last night and took these photos - that's why they are so dark.  While I could be critical about some of my stitches, overall I'm really pleased with how this turned out.  It's my first completed sweater ever and I'm done with 2 weeks to spare before the baby shower so I'm really pleased to have it completed.

While most of my time has been devoted to knitting, I contributed a bit more to my TUSAL jar since the last photo.  A lot has been due to ripping out which I will take about later this week but there was some progress made.

July WIPocolypse Post

I was much more productive on the stitching front in June than I was in May.  For my WIPocolypse update, I worked primarily on BBDs Winter Wonderland, CHS Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow and WTNT's Ann Sandels.

First up is CHS Christmas at HRH.  Where I started in June:

As of today:

 Most of what you see was accomplished today as I had the day off for the 4th of July holiday.

 Here is the restart of With Thy Needle & Thread's Ann Sandels:

 I restarted it on 40 count fabric and am much happier with how it looks.  I hope to give this piece a lot more attention in July.

And finally, my progress on BBD Winter Wonderland.  I think this is the piece I made the most notable progress on.  I hope to keep up the momentum but I'm dreading having to stitch all those windows and the walls of the house!  I've tried loading the new photo three different times and it won't load horizontally as it was photographed.  Sorry!

I hope you had a great 4th of July for those who celebrated.  I walked in our town's parade which gets bigger every year.  It was fun but I think next year I want to be sitting on the sidelines and watching.  We were very close to the end so we didn't get to see much of the beginning floats and entries.  It's back to work tomorrow.  :-(

Summer Weekends

I had company this weekend and the weather was perfect summer temps.  There was time spent at the beach working on tans.  The weather was in the 80s with amazing blue skies.  The water was its usual bone chilling cold and although I tried, I could only stand to mid-calf for a minute at most.  I just don't understand how people can swim in that stuff!  And little kids at that.  I miss my warm gulf coast water.

 We also went into Portland and toured the Old Port which was surprisingly uncrowded for the weekend before a big summer holiday.  I wonder if its because the holiday falls in the middle of the week but whatever the reason, it was nice.

Sunday morning meant a lazy breakfast with some yummy pecan buns in miniature from the Southern Living Almost Homemade cookbook.  And of course the NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle.  I can definitely recommend the pecan buns.  I sent the remainder home with company as they were way too tempting.

I made some additional progress on my baby project but I'm kind of stuck at the moment with the directions.  There may be some reverse knitting in my future.  Hope you had a great weekend as well!

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