Progress This Past Week

There is no picture today for the simple reason I didn't make any noticeable progress on any of my projects this past week.  There has been a lot of other things that have been taking my time so crafting hasn't been something I have been able to concentrate on.

Part of me has been dealing with an issue with an online group that I belong to and actually am the owner of it.  I have been fighting with the decision to close the group or not and then finally on Friday I decided that considering it is turning into a ghost town with no posts it was time to close it.  I posted a notice on the group on Friday and will be closing down the group this coming Saturday.  I am feeling a lot better now that I have made the decision even if it means a few people will be upset.  The funniest thing is I think the people that are going to be upset are the ones that haven`t been posting to the group with the reason they belong to too many groups.  Belonging to various online groups does mean a little effort on your own part because you need to ensure that you are not just a reading but also a contributor to the various groups.

I have also been trying to get a bit more writing done in the last little while but have to admit that lots of little ideas have come about but nothing has actually made it into a piece of completed work.  The writing is something that I want to focus on for a bit so that I can actually see some ideas get past the idea stage.  I also have a few items for our website that need to be reviewed so think that part of this week is going to be working on them and maybe even getting them onto our corporate website.

Writing is a hobby for me as well as part of my professional life so it`s an escape from some of the other things that demand my time.

Escaping for a day

Me taking lots of pictures

Yesterday with the weather being as nice as it has been +22C in March we decided that it was a day to get out of the office and home and enjoy some of this weather.

Our day was sent at the Toronto Zoo and it was a lot of fun as it wasn't too busy but they did have a couple of new animals on display.  The first was a 5 month old polar bear, born at the zoo and the other was a 2 month old penguin also born at the zoo.

Now I have to admit that I love polar bears so you can image where I spent some of my day.  Of course I did walk around some of the rest of the zoo but had to make sure that I got lots and lots of pictures of the polar bears.  We were lucky and arrived near the polar bears just before feeding time so that meant I was able to get some pictures of the three adult polar bears getting fed.  The best part of catching the feeding was we were also lucky to see them feed the baby polar bear that is in a different area than the adult bears.

Baby polar bear looking for his lunch

 The picture of the little bear running is when he was let back into his area after the staff member put some food out for him.  He came running out of his little holding area to quickly find and eat all the food that was put out for him.  He was so cute and full of energy.

After watching him for a while we decided to walk around some of the zoo and see some of the other animals, like the elephants, impalas, gorillas and the penguins.

Baby polar bear

Before we were going to leave the zoo for the day I had to go back one more time to see what was going on with the polar bears.  When we arrived the baby was playing with some bottles and pipes on a rope.  While we were away from that area he was also given some ice blocks as a way to cool off.  After playing with the bottles for a while he went over and played with the ice blocks and that is where two of these pictures were taken.  He was having a lot of fun licking and trying to chew the ice blocks.

This trip to the zoo has really got me wanting to start a new cross-stitch kit that my DH bought for me a couple of months ago.  This kit as you can guess is of polar bears so it is going to be started as it is the project that I want to be working on while I am at Gitta's Getaway which is coming up on April 13th. 

This cute little polar bear probably won't be as small when I see him again but it was a great day to escape and enjoy seeing him.

Weekend Progress

Treasure Them Now...Or Eat Them!

 This weekend I decided that I was going to try and get some of the back stitch done on my dragon so that I didn't have all of it left to the end.  No, I really don't like doing back stitch so this is one way to avoid having to do it all at once.  Besides getting the back stitch done I was able to even get some stitching done on the dragon.

As if I didn't have enough projects on the go I decided to start another project.  This one is called Sisters and Friends by Drawn Thread. 

Sisters and Friends

I picked up the pattern on Wednesday night as well as the floss so it was ready to go so considering I want it finished by early April I needed to get working on it now.  The truck of the tree did seem to take a long time to complete but now I have the branches to do on the tree and the leaves.  The pattern doesn't have a lot of detail so I should be able to get it done in time.

Besides working on my cross stitch this weekend I actually did a bit of crocheting as well as I am trying to complete a baby afghan.

This week looks like I am going to be able to hide and cross stitch at least one evening so will have to decide which piece I actually work on.  I am looking forward to seeing the tree come to life but I also want to see the rest of the baby dragons appear with the mom dragon.  Decision, decision.  I guess I will have to decide when the time comes to actually pick up the piece.

The weather is warm here which is great for March so want to try and enjoy some time outside as well.  Lots of things need to get done so now to start getting them done.

Progress This Week

Treasure Them No...Or Eat Them

I have picked up my cross-stitch this week and have made some progress on it.  Some of this work was done when I wanted quick breaks from work and some was done at Stitch Night at Gitta's last night.

I hope that this weekend I am going to be able to make some more progress on this dragon.  There is lots and lots of back-stitch on this piece so I have decided that I am going to try and get some of it done instead of leaving it all to the end. 

The picture isn't as clear as I had hope but lighting wasn't the best when I took this picture.  I hope to get a better picture this weekend after I so some more of it.

Besides working on this piece I am also working on another piece of socks so hope to work on them some as well.

Work calls so need to get that done first then I can craft.

Finished something for me

Tube Socks

Here it is the beginning of the weekend and I already have accomplished something.  I finished the second sock that I was working on this week and am now wearing my first completed pair of tube socks.

I decided that the only way to see how they really fit and what they feel like was to put them on so here is proof that there really are two socks done.  I have never used self-patterning yarn before so it was an interesting challenge trying to make sure both socks looked basically the same but they do. 

As I was finishing the second sock I was quickly trying to figure out where I had put some of the sock yarn I purchased in the past.  So the second sock was barely off the needles and another pair of socks have been started.  I am not sure how long these are going to take me as I do have other things that need my attention so this pair may take a bit longer for me to knit.  The first sock took me just over a week to knit and the second sock was only four days so we will see how this next pair works.

I do have a couple of other projects that I need to work on so I think the socks are going to be something I work on from time to time instead of them being the main project that I work on.  Now off to try and get a couple of other things done so that I can spend a bit of this weekend curled up with one of my craft projects.

This Week

Tube sock

This week I admit that I really didn't do much cross-stitching but am happy with what I have accomplished this week so far.  The picture is of the tube sock that I started last week and finished this week.  It was  lot of fun to work on and it does fit me pretty well.

I decided that I was going to try and make a tube sock instead of dealing with the heel turning as my feet are narrow and the heel always seems too large on my foot.  This pattern was extremely simple and very fast to knit which is another reason I liked this sock.  I have started the second sock to this pair and am about 2/3 of the way through it as well as hope to have it finished very soon.

While knitting the second sock I found a bag that works really well for holding a small project and it is a "Crown Royal" bag that we got when we bought a bottle of Crown Royal at the LCBO,  Basically the bag is just large enough for my sock and the ball of yarn that I am working on and it has a draw string at the top of it.  I know I could probably make a bag like this but considering everything else that I have on my plate it isn't going to happen any time soon.

I am going to be on the look-out for another bag of similar size because I just ordered another small circular knitting needle so that I can have two socks on the go at once.

Now off to work so that I can get everything that needs my attention done so that I can focus on finishing the second sock and maybe getting some more of my cross-stitch done as well.

This week's progress

Treasure Them Now...Or Eat Them

This week I didn't get to work on my cross-stitch as much as I wanted to but that is fine because I did make some progress on it anyway.

Here is the dragon before the weekend and hopefully I will be able to make a bit more progress on it.  It is still looking a little odd but considering I haven't got even half of the dragon done. 

Besides working on my cross-stitch I have also been working on a neck warmer for charity as well as trying to knit a pair of tube socks for myself.  I hope to take a few pictures of the items during the weekend and will post them once I have done that.  The neck warmer was a quick project which was great because it was something that I needed.  Having something on circular needles meant that I could pick it up and put it down for a quick project.  I also have the socks on the go for the same reason.  Being able to even put a few stitches in a project has helped this week because of all the different things I have been working on.

Now to see how much of the dragon I can get done this weekend.