Monday, December 26, 2016

A good week of progress

Monarch Butterfly - Dec 13th
This last week I was able to make some progress on a number of different projects and it made me very happy.

The first project that did get some attention was the Monarch Butterfly as it was just about finished.  Well, at least the actual stitching was just about finished.  I finished up the stitching on the 23rd of December and am now working on getting some of the back stitching done.  It is going to take a bit of time to get the back stitching done as I need to figure out where it is going to go and how much I really want to do on the design.

Monarch Butterfly - Dec 23rd
I am happy with how the design turned out and once I finish the actual back stitching I think I will be even happier with the finished design.  Of course as I look at the design I see things that I could have done differently but it is still nice to see this design basically finished now.

Besides working on this cross-stitch I was able to find some time to work on the Cecilia Shawl and it is now off the needles and ready to be worn.  The pattern is very easy as it is just instead every second row by two stitches at on end.  I got to the 200 stitches that the pattern called for and did the cast off and the shawl was done. One of the reasons this shawl got done as quickly as it did was because I also had a bit of incentive to finish this one up.

Cecilia Shawl - Dec 23rd
See the incentive was some really soft yarn that I wanted to make another one of these shawls with but I had to finish the original one first. I picked up the Unforgettable yarn called "Dragon Fly" on Thursday and of course being a true crafter I wanted to start the new shawl immediately.  I wasn't allowed to start the new shawl until the original one was finished and not just put onto a circular needle.  This rule was set by my dh and of course that also meant that he took the new yarn away from me until I could show him that the original shawl was off the needles and yes finished.

Cecilia Shawl - Dec 25th
The new shawl is working up very quickly and I think it is going to be larger than the first one because I have two balls of this yarn and I am just going to knit until the yarn is finished.  if I get to more than 200 stitches that's fine.  The yarn is rally nice and soft to work with but it is something that you don't want to make a mistake with.  The yarn isn't as easy to take out so doing this simple pattern is great.

Stitch A Long - Joyful World - January - Dec 24th
After finishing the Monarch Butterfly design it was time to figure out something else that  I wanted to work on. There are other projects that are on the go but as it is Christmas time and I hope to have a bit more time to stitch I decided it was time to start a project that I can work on through this next year. This pattern was a Stitch A Long on Facebook in 2016 and it was called Joyful World and is a different block and pattern for each month of the year.  I decided that I was going to wait to see all the designs before I decided if I wanted to stitch it or not so in November the final design came out and I decided it was something that I wanted to do.

The final design size is around 26" x 26" so yes it is going to take some time to work on.  What I like about this design is each month is a separate some pattern so that is how I am going to be stitching this design.  I am going to work on only one month at a time and not work on getting all the borders done first and then try to work on all the different patterns at the same time.  I figure working on a month at a time will also show me some progress through this design.

Besides starting this design I got out the pattern that I am going to be starting on January 1st, 2017.  As it is Canadian's 150th birthday I am going to start a Canadian design so that is what will go onto a q-snap on the 1st of January.  I guess before then I am going to have to try and get a bit more stitch in on the Stitch a Long.

This week there is still some work that will need my attention as it is getting close to year end.  I also hope to be able to find some quality time to craft. Next week I hope to have some more progress on Joyful World and a bit of work done on the Canadian design to show off.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and I want to wish everyone Happy New Year and all the best in 2017.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas.
Hope you received everything that you wanted.

If you do not celebrate Christmas, All the Best of the Season to you.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Another week of progress

Monarch Butterfly - Dec 7th
Well this week has been a very interesting week for crafting as I was able to find some time most evenings to craft.

The Monarch Butterfly got some attention early in the week as I was hoping to get all the actual stitching done this week but it didn't quite happen but will see if I can the stitching and back stitch done before the end of the year. I am very happy with how it is turning out and am looking forward to seeing what it looks like once all the stitching has been completed.

Monarch Butterfly - Dec 13th
This week I decided that since I was close to finishing the Monarch Butterfly I would work on another project that I started at the beginning of September.  This is a piece based on a drawing by someone we know.  I started the piece on September 2nd and then after realizing that I didn't like it on 22 count fabric doing full crosses and it would look nicer as a petite point.  Well that meant that Wednesday I got a piece of 25 count canvas and restated the design and am happy with how it is looking now.  I only worked on this piece Wednesday night and was able to make a good start on it and am now looking forward to seeing how it looks once I start adding some colour.  This design will be around 7 x 9 inches and is an oval design.

Flower and Butterfly - Dec 14th
My shrug that I have been knitting while listening to mp3's is still coming along and is around 18 inches now so it is at least getting there.  I have been listening to mp3's and watching video's while I am studying for an exam.  Being able to knit on something simple means that I don't want to start looking at other things on the computer when I should be focusing on listening to the presentations.

Caron Cakes Shawl - Faerie Cake
On Wednesday we realized that there was one gift that we needed so I went to Michael's and picked up a ball of Caron Cakes - Faerie Cake and decided to work on a shawl to see if I could get it finished by this week. The shawl is very simple and it became the project that I worked on while listening to the mp3's over the weekend.  The shawl is now done so that is making both of us happy because we wanted to give it to someone this week.

Cecilia's Shawl
Now after all the blues and greens that I have been working on I realized that I needed a bit of a change in colour so found some yarn and a pattern for a shawl for me.  The yarn was for a project that I realized I would never make so it needed to be used for something else. I started this shawl last night and am happy with how it is working up.  Yes the design is for a shawl that is not the normal triangle and I am loving it.  I am not sure how long it will take me to get this shawl done but I will see how much of it I can get done between now and the end of the year.

This week looks like it is going to be busy at the beginning of the week and then as Christmas approached work will slow down a little bit.  If work slows down some it means that I may have a bit more time to craft but will see how it goes.

To everyone who celebrates Christmas - Merry Christmas.  If you are a crafter, I hope that Santa makes sure you get the crafting items you wanted.  If you aren't a crafter, I hope you get what you wanted.

Monday, December 12, 2016

Slow week

Monarch - Nov 9, 2016
This last week I didn't find a lot of time for crafting but I did get a bit of work done on the Monarch Butterfly design which makes me happy.  I am finally seeing that the butterfly is starting to look like it should and that is making me happy.  I will have to do some backstitch on the butterfly and the flower once all the stitching is done but at least I am feeling better about the design now.

This week I hope to be able to put some more time in on this design as I would like to see all the actual stitching finished and then I can focus on the backstitching.  Just being able to see the rest of the butterfly appear will make me happy and then I will start working on another one of the projects that I have on the go.

Monarch - Dec 7, 2016
I didn't get a lot of knitting done either so the shrug is still around 13 inches so a long way to go before I can start wearing it. I figure that the shrug should get some attention as well this week as I have some mp3's that I need to list to so that is what I will knit while listening to them.  I also figure that I would like to get the shrug done soon so that I can start to wear it now that the cold weather has arrived.

The reason for not getting a lot of crafting done in the last week was that my computer decided that it didn't want to work as well as it should.  This meant a lot of additional stress on both myself and my dh as the computer is what I use for work.  After some investigating we figured it would be a good idea to just get a new work computer so that is what we did this weekend and I am back up and working and happy about that.

Now to try and get some work finished up so that this evening I will be able to maybe find a bit of time to craft.  This week I have a few other projects that need my attention so crafting is still going to be slow but I hope to at least find a bit of time for it.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Moving Forward

Teal Shrug - Nov 27th
This last week I finally decided that I needed to spend a bit of time in the evening trying to stitch my mind back together.  No, it didn't happen every evening but at least I was able to do it some evenings which is great.

The shrug that I started a week ago did get some attention because it is something that I can work on and not have to follow a pattern. The shrug is very simple now so that means that I can do it while listening to some mp3's that I need to listen to over the next couple of weeks.  I am knitting on the shrug so that I don't get distractions while listen to the mp3's and it seems to have worked at least yesterday.  I hope to be able to get through the other 11 mp3's that I need to listen to quickly and I will also see how much more of the shrug that I can do while sitting and paying attention to what the mp3's are about.
Teal Shrug - Dec 4th

Besides working on the shrug I have been able to put some time in on a cross-stitch and that was Cirque des Cercles that got the attention this past week.  The pattern does work up pretty quickly when  you can sit for a little bit of time and get some of the circles completed.

Cirque des Cercles - Nov 27th
I am loving the colour that I am using for this design because it is a nice bright teal blue and on the white it looks great.  I hope to be able to spend some more time on this design later in December but I think it is time for another project to come back up for some attention this week. 

Cirque des Cerles - Dec 4th
I did start a small design this weekend and it is a reindeer designed by Kathrin Ellison of Gitta's.  The design for a gift to everyone that went to the Christmas Open House at the store on Saturday.  I got a bit of the design stitched but not a lot so I hope to be able to get it finished up quickly so that it will be something else finished and not sitting partly done.

This week I am hoping to be able to spend some time during the evenings stitching but will see how things go.  I know that there are other things that need my attention so will see how I can juggle everything.

Now to get the work done that needs by attention and then will see what I can work on this evening.