A finish, a start and progress

Here it is another week has gone by and there have been a lot of different things that needed my attention. The weather here has been a roller coaster of temperatures which has made it difficult for a lot of people.

A lot of people have been dealing with some sort of virus which has seemed to want to hang on for a lot longer than anyone wants it to last. I have been dealing with a cough for the last couple of weeks and it still doesn't want to leave which is now getting very frustrating. Hopefully taking it easy this week will help me feel better.

Now that work is slowing down as a lot of people will be on vacation and companies will be closed for the two weeks of Christmas and New Years it means that I have been able to work on getting a few things moved forward.

Ramsay - here is the third of the three Ramsay's that I have stitched this year. It was a lot of fun getting this one finished and now to just get them made into ornaments. 

My goal for these ornaments is to have them finished by the end of this week so now to work on getting them all done and taking a picture of them. It feels good seeing this one done and now to see what I will work on.

Magic of Books - here is a project that I haven't touched since the beginning of the year. Part of the reason I haven't given it much attention this year is because of the large section of black that needs to be completed. I would like to try and move this project forward again so that means getting that section done.

The good news is that last week I was able to pick this up and work on it for a while and I am starting to see some progress on that large section. Sure, I still have quite a bit of it to go but if I can continue to try and move it forward even a bit at a time, I will be happy. Hopefully before the end of the year I will be able to add some more stitches to this piece as I would like to get more of the black completed so that I can then start working on the rest of the piece.

Garter Stitch Knitted Shrug - here is a new knitting project that I started this last week. The pattern is very easy so that means I can easily pick this up and work on it when I have those few minutes and want something easy to work on. This is going to be a project that I will work on a bit at a time and will see how it goes. I don't have a deadline that I want this completed by, so it makes me happy to have this type of project. I will be working on getting it finished but will see how it goes. It is so different working with worsted weight yarn again after using fingering weight yarn for quite a while.

Other projects - I have been working on a couple of other projects this past week but there isn't enough progress on them to show right now. Hopefully before the end of the year I will be able to show what I have been working on.

I hope everyone is taking that bit of time each day to take some time for yourself and recharge your personal battery. This time of year, can be extremely busy with everything that we need to get done but we need to remember we need to take some time for ourselves as well.

Have a good week and hopefully I will be able to get some projects moved forward this week and I will have something to show you next week.

 

Progress and a finish

Here it is another Monday morning, and I know that there are things that I need to do today but I wanted to show you what I was able to get done last week. I didn't get as much done as normal but it was a busier week so that meant that crafting wasn't something that I focused on quite as much. I did decide to stop working on one project.

Vignette Wrap - this was a project that I had started a week ago and I was running into some issues with the yarn that I was using. The yarn was slipping and leaving loops where there shouldn't have been loops. The first time it happened I was able to fix it but it happened again and that is what I decided to stop working on the project using that yarn. The yarn wasn't that expensive, and I think I will try to use it on a different project and see how it goes. I am happy with the decision I made to stop working on the project.

Ramsay - here is the cross stitch project that I have been working on and I was able to make some progress on it this weekend. It has been nice working on something small and I hope to have it finished before long. This is the third one that I have stitched and once this one is finished it will be time to get them made into ornaments for Christmas gifts. It has been a lot of fun working on this piece.

It is nice when you can work on a smaller project that works up quickly for a change. I will get back to working on my other projects after Ramsay is done, but given Christmas is fast approaching I need to focus on this project until it is done and hopefully that will be in the next couple of days. 

Ex-boyfriends shawl - here is the project that got the most attention in the last week. I started working on this shawl on November 29th as I figured I would be working on it some evenings after I had worked on the Vignette Wrap. Well after I decided that I wasn't going to finish that wrap, this became my focus for the last week.

This project was using a five-skein fade, and I must admit that I loved working on this project as it was something that was quick and easy to work on. Each ball of yarn was 28 grams, so they did work up relatively quickly and they were fun to use. 

I think being away and not having a bunch of other projects that were trying to get my attention also helped. By the time we got home from our quick trip I had just the final ball of yarn to finish knitting up so that being something that I wanted to do before the end of the weekend.

The shawl is now off the needles and all I have left to do is to sew the ends in and block it and it is done. It was a really nice shawl to work on and I know that I will be making this pattern again as it is something that is easy to work on as well as something that is nice to wear.

Other projects - this last week I didn't pack up and work on any other projects as I wanted to focus on getting things finished. We will see what this week is like as I know that there are things that I would like to work on. I know that Ramsay is going to get some attention this week and other than that I am not certain what I am going to be working on.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery. This week I hope to make some progress on a couple of things and hopefully will have something to show you next week. Have a good week.

 

Two finishes, some progress and new starts

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully this week I will be able to continue to make progress on some of my craft items.

With it being the start of a new month there are work things that need my attention so I will be focusing on getting those things done today and then I will see what else I can do. The weather is cooler than it has been but at least we didn't get the snow that north of us got. Some areas got over 5 feet of snow over the weekend which is a lot.

This week I have some plans on what projects I would like to work on so I am going to see how things go and maybe I will see progress on things. I do know that I have been loving my knitting recently and have been doing quite a bit of that.

  Let Flowers Grow - this is one of the projects that I have been giving a bit of attention to, but I still have a ways to go before this is done. I have been trying to work on this project a bit at a time as I would like to get it finished.

Part of what I am not looking forward to is working on the little bees that are on this piece as they are going to take quite a bit of time for how small they are. I hope to be able to get them started before long because then I can work on them a bit at a time instead of trying to do them all together.

Ramsay - here is the last Christmas ornament that I need to stitch. I decided it was time to pick it up and get it started. I don't think it will take me long to stitch it. Once it is done, I will have to finish the three of them into ornaments so that they are ready to be given as gifts on Christmas.

I stitched the other two of these in the summer and am not certain why I didn't just get this one stitched at the same time. At least I have a couple of weeks to get this one done but I think it is going to be a focus so that I can get it finished.

Noelle Scarflet - this last week I decided that I was going to work on getting this project finished up and it didn't take me long to get it finished. I enjoyed working on this project and hopefully I will be able to make another version of this before too long. I do know that I would knit it on slightly larger needles next time.

The yarn that I used was slightly tonal which meant that the scarflet is not all one colour. It would be nice to get another one of these done before long and see the difference in the two of them.

Little Meg Shawl - I am happy to say that I did get the last stitches cast off on this shawl and it is now finished. I am very happy with how it turned out and I do know that I will be knitting another one of these before too long. I still need to block this project but other than that it is ready to wear. Of course, you know what happens when I finish a project, I quickly need to have something else on the needles.

Vignette Wrap - here is the project that I started shortly after finishing the Little Meg Wrap.  This is a wrap, and I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I got this pattern in the Knitvent 2024 book by Helen Stewart.  This project again has an increase section but after this there is a section that is straight and that is where I will determine how long I want it to be. The pattern says the length is 104 inches, but I think I may be making it a little shorter than that.

This project has been enjoyable to work on and it does have the feather and fan sections in it so that does give it a different look. I hope to work on this some more as I would like to get into the straight section before too long.

Ex-boyfriends shawl - after starting the Vignette Wrap, I decided that I wanted a simple project that I could pick up and knit on when I needed something like that so I started this project. I am not certain how big this shawl is going to be because I am using a 5 skein bundle that I got a while ago. What I am going to do is just knit each of the skeins until they are finished. This is going to be a fun project to work on as I can just pick it up and not have to think about the pattern because it is only two rows.

Other projects - I haven't worked on anything else in the last week but given that I have been working on all of these projects I think that is enough.

This week I hope to be able to try and focus on a couple of the projects and I will see what happens. I do know that I will try and get Ramsay done and I also know that I will be working on my knitting as I have been really enjoying making the various shawls.

I hope everyone has a good week and you remember to take a bit of time for yourself each day to recharge your personal batteries. If things go well, I should have something to show you next week.

 

English Paper Piecing - November progress

Here it is December 1st and time to show you the progress that I was able to make in November on my various English Paper Piecing projects. If you read by other blog posts, you will know that I have been spending a lot of time knitting in the last month.

Popsy's throw - this is the project that got the little bit of attention that I gave my EPP this last month. I cannot believe that I only got four flowers completed because I thought I had worked on it longer than that. 

I know that at least I have been able to continue to move the project forward and that is the main thing but given all the other projects that I have on the go I need to focus on moving these forward again.

Other projects - I can honestly say that I haven't worked on any of the other projects that I have on the go. Hopefully in December I will be able to start to focus on my EPP a little more and maybe even see some good progress on things. I know that I just need to pick it up a little more often and that would help.

This coming month I would like to spend some time working on getting at least a couple of projects moved forward. I know that being able to focus on my EPP a little more would be nice so maybe that is what I will try and December. Hope everyone has a good month, and I will be back at the end of December with what I was able to accomplish. 

Lots of progress and a close to a finish

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will be able to focus on some projects and maybe see things moved forward.  Of course, there are other things that need my attention as well so that means that I will get the work done that needs to get done and then try and focus on seeing which projects get the attention this coming week.

The weather has now turned quite a bit colder so that means more time to be inside and hopefully more time to do some crafting or at least I hope that is how it works.

This past week I was able to make some good progress on a couple of projects and some other projects didn't get as much attention as they could have got.

Let Flowers Grow - this project got a little bit of attention but not as much as I would have liked to give it. The house still needs the door outlined and the front walk finished but I am making some progress on it.

This week I hope to be able to continue to move this piece forward as I would like to see how much of it I can get done. I am going to try and move this piece over this week as I would like to have the house finished as well as more of the remaining sections also moved forward some.

Sea Opal - here is a project that I decided to try and give a little bit of attention to this week, and I am happy that I did. Instead of picking it up for a hour or two, I was able to give it about 4 hours attention one day and it felt good seeing the progress that I was able to make on it. There is still a very long way to go before I can see this project finished but I am happy seeing that I have made a bit of progress on it.

Once I have finished working on Let Flowers Grow and stitching another Christmas ornament, this might be the project that gets a little bit of attention towards the end of the year.

Little Meg Shawl - here is the project that got most of the attention this week. I am really enjoying working on this project and of course I had to make some changes to the pattern.

This pattern comes in two sizes, a small version (which I knit before) and a large version (which I was knitting). As I was knitting it, I realized that the large version was going to be bigger than I really wanted my shawl to be so I did a bit of calculating to see if I could make it a medium size version of the pattern. The large version had four pattern sections, and the small version had two so I decided to do three pattern sections so that was an easy modification to do. The border for the two versions were also different widths so I checked the border on the small version and the large version, and I then just did the middle of those two border widths. 

As you can see, I am working on casting off the shawl now and should have it finished hopefully at some point today. I will then sew the ends in, and it will be time to block it and see what it looks like and how I like the size of it. I am looking forward to being able to wear this shawl before too long. It has been fun to knit, and I may make another one of these because I have enjoyed making it and also using different yarn will make it look so different.

Noelle Scarflet - here is the other knitting project that I have been working on. I started this scarflet about a week ago and have been slowly working on adding a few rows to it. The pattern isn't hard at all which is nice, and this has been a project that I have tired to work on some evenings. I haven't got a lot of it done but it is working up quickly.

I have just started working on the center section of the piece so that is something that I have been enjoying. I know that the last section of the pattern is just the reverse of the section that I have already completed, and it is just going back down in width. Hopefully I will be able to spend some time working on this project after Little Meg is finished.

Other projects - I haven't done a lot of work on any other project as I have been trying to continue to stay focused on only work on a small number of projects at a time. It has been nice staying focused because I am seeing results and that makes me very happy.

I hope that this week I will be able to continue to work on moving projects forward. I know that I would like to get the Little Meg Shawl finished and then I will see what the next project finished will be.  This time of year, is when things are starting to get busy because of the holiday season so I will see what I can continue to get done.

Remember to take time for yourself each day because it is very important to recharge your personal battery. It doesn't need to be a long time, but that little bit of time can make a big difference. I hope to be back next week with some progress to show you.

 

Progress and a new start

 

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will be able to make some progress on a few things. I know that there are a few things that I would like to try and get done so that means that I am going to have to try and focus on them and see what happens.  

I hope to be able to spend some time working on the projects that I would like to move forward so will see what happens. The weather is cooler now so that means more time to be spending indoors and curling up and working on my various projects.

Let Flowers Grow - I was able to spend a little bit of time working on this project and I have almost finished the house. I hope that I can continue to move this project forward as I would like to have it finished before long.

It does feel good seeing that I have been able to continue to move this project forward as I didn't give it as much attention this week as I would have liked. Hopefully this coming week I will be able to spend some time moving it forward. 

This last week I decided to focus on an area of the design instead of working on one colour through the entire design and I think that has helped some. It now means that I am getting sections done. Hopefully I will be able to continue in this manor and see more of the piece come together.

Little Meg Shawl - this project did get quite a bit of attention last week as I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it is finished. I did have to finally put the shawl onto a circular needle because I was running out of room on the straight needle that I had been using.

I am making progress on the shawl but must admit that the rows are taking a while to do now, and I still have another 200 stitches to increase on this pattern before it is done so it is going to take a while. I am loving how it is turning out and cannot wait to see what it looks like when it is off the needles.

I hope to be able to continue to work on this piece this week and will see how much more of it I can get done. Seeing what I can get accomplished in a week is good, but it still shows me that I have quite a ways to go before I am finished with the shawl.

Noelle Scarflet - here is a new project that I just started over the weekend. This is another Helen Stewart pattern, and it isn't going to be very wide at all. This pattern was in her Knitvent book for this year and the pattern was released on Thursday and when I saw it, I immediately wanted to start it.

This pattern uses sports weight yarn instead of fingering, so it does seem to knit up faster and because the rows have been so short that also has helped. I am going to try and work on this project a little bit at a time as I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like when it is finished.

Other projects - I have been able to get a little bit of my English Paper Piecing done as well so I will have some to show you are the beginning of December. It does feel good seeing that I have been able to move it forward a bit as well this month.

This coming week I am not certain what I will be working on, but I do know that I would like to move the shawl forward a bit more as well as my cross stitch. Being able to try and stay focused on just a couple of projects makes me happy because I see progress on them.

Hope everyone has a good week and remember to take that bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery.

 

Making progress slowly

Here it is the start of another week, and I do have some progress to show from the last week. It is a bit all over but at least most days I was able to find a little bit of time to work on things which does make me happy.

This week I hope to be able to spend a bit more time working on the various projects because I think that would make me happy. If I could focus on a couple of projects, I might see some good progress on them but only time will tell.

This last week was a very difficult week for us as it was the week of the funeral for my mom. That meant that there were things that needed to be done for that as well as I just needed time for myself, and I did take that.

Let Flowers Grow - this project didn't get a lot of time this week as I just couldn't seem to focus on it. I was able to spend a bit of time over this past weekend working on getting more of the design stitched and that does make me feel good.

This coming week I hope that I can continue to work on this piece as I would like to see how much of it I can get completed. Knowing that this piece is done would be great as I do have another project that I would like to work on for a while.

I am currently just over 45% completed on this project so that means that I need to focus on it for a little while and maybe I can get it done. I hope that this week I can at least make some progress on it. I would like to see if I can get this piece done by the end of the month but will have to see how things go.

Mini Sea Opal - here is a project that I haven't picked up for over 2 years, but I felt it was time to see if I could add a few stitches to it. This is a full coverage piece, and it is going to be around 18 inches square once it is finished. I am looking forward to seeing if I can spend some time working on this piece over the next while as well.

It was so nice to pull this piece out again because I wanted some of the brighter colours to work on and given this has a lot of blues and teals in it, I was very happy to get back to working on it. The first thing that I had to do was organize all the floss for this project because it was all just in the bag and not sorted like I normally have my threads.

I am not certain how much of this I will get done through the end of the year, but I am thinking that I might try and at least give it some more attention. For me just seeing that I have finally picked this piece up again makes me happy because it is one that I love and would like to see if I can get it finished.

I currently have four full coverage pieces that I would like to work on, so maybe next year I will try and make some progress on them. Of course, full coverage pieces do take quite a while to complete but they do take even longer when you don't work on them, and you just let them sit like I have been doing.

Little Meg Shawl - here is the knitting project that I have been focusing on. It has been so nice to see how much of it I could get done in this last week. I have been trying to work on this shawl a bit each day and I have been able to do that most days.

The rows are getting longer now so I can't get as many rows completed each day. Hopefully I can continue to move this project forward because I would like to see it finished so that I can wear it. Being able to see some good progress has been nice so I will see what I can get done this week.

Other projects - this past week I did pick up my English Paper Piecing for a little while and at least made a bit of progress on it.

Taking a bit of time each day to focus on something that I enjoy doing has been needed in the last while. I hope everyone else is remembering to take the time to do things that you enjoy most days.

I am not certain what this week is going to be like, but I do hope that I can find some time to do some crafting and maybe make some more progress on these projects. Hopefully, next week I will have some more progress to show you and until then have a good week.