Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week and yes another week of trying to move things forward even if it is slowly.

We are still in the "Grey" category here in Toronto so that means that most stores are closed other than essential stores.  It has meant nothing has changed for us as we continue to help our clients remotely.

Pandemic - This project got a bit of attention this week but not as much as it has been getting. I have continued to try and get a few stitches in on it most days but there were days that I just didn't want to work on this piece in the last week so it didn't get the normal love that it has been getting.  I will see what I can get done on it this week.

Moonstone - this project got some attention yesterday as it was something a little different and I wanted to see if I could get the left bottom half done.  I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on this piece as it means that I am now able to see what the entire piece is going to look like.  

I am going to continue to work on this piece a bit at a time as I would like to  see how much more of it I can get before the end of the year.  It has been fun working on canvas instead of Aida or Even weave.  The project is nice and small and something that if we were allowed to travel would make a great travel project.  I do have some of these that I want to stitch later on, so I will have to remember that they are great for travelling.

Covid Christmas Snowman - here is a project that is going to be going away for a bit.  I was working on this snowman ornament and noticed that it is very hard to see on the fabric that I picked for it.  I thought that the white would show up more than it does on the Ecru fabric.  I have decided that instead of using this fabric I will use something else for the ones that I would like to make into ornaments for this year.  I may come back and finish this one later or it might just get tossed.

English Paper Piecing - this week I pulled out the runner that I have been working on and decided to start to add more of the motifs to it.  I am still a very long way from being finished but at least it got a bit of attention and I hope to continue to add the rest of the motifs to this piece before too long.

I am not sure how many more motifs that I need to make for it but I think the two colours of blue motifs are finished being made so it is just the white ones that need to get finished up. I had hoped to have this runner finished up before the end of the year but considering everything else that needs my attention it won't be getting finished by then but I will at least have a project that I can work on more next year.

ETSY - the shop is still busy, and I am going to be adding more grime guards into it as we continue to go through our fabric stash, sometimes a custom order can help choose the next fabric or fabrics (Denim coming up).  We have one more month of $1 for every grime guard sold will be given to the Alzheimer's Society of Toronto.

I hope everyone continues to stay safe and home as much as possible.  If your area doesn't have many cases be thankful as there are a lot of areas with lots of cases.  Remember to take care of yourself and try and find a bit of time each day to do something that you love.

Another week and some stitching

Here it is the start of another week and yes I have been able to make some more progress on a couple of things.  I would like to see if I can continue to see progress on projects over the next little while.

Covid-19 continues to be a challenge and Toronto has now gone back into a lockdown so will see how things go.  As of today we are in a 28-day lockdown with most things either closed or with limited access.  It means that we are going to be staying home as much as possible. We at least can still continue to support our clients remotely.

Pandemic - here is the project that has got a lot of my attention.  It feels so good to see some more progress on something.  I feel that just getting more of the different projects moved forward would make me feel a little better.  Pandemic has been the project that I have been working on and am very happy with the progress that I got in over the last week. I still have a very long way to go on this piece but at least I have got one little section moved forward.  I am not sure when this piece will really get finished but at least if I can continue to see bits of progress on it, I will feel a little better.

I do enjoy this piece as I like all the different little items that appear and how even sitting for a little while I can start to see changed in the design right now.  I know that when I get to some other sections it will take a while to see progress but that's ok as I am enjoying the stitching.

Socks - this week I finally picked up my socks to knit on again.  I haven't been working on them for quite a while so figured it was time to see if I could start to get some of these actually finished instead of just sitting waiting to be worked on. 

Maybe the cooler weather is also helping me feel that it is getting time to have some nice new socks to put on. I still need to work on the other socks as well because none of them have had the attention since October so now to get back to working on them.  I hope that now that I have got back to knitting on my socks that I will finally get some of them done considering how much sock yarn I currently have.  I am not sure if I will focus on one sock to get it done or if I will bounce between all of these socks but either way they will get moved forward again.

ETSY - the ETSY shop is also moving along and that is something that I have been loving.  DLKsCrafts is my shop where I can sell grime guards and other cross stitch related items.  Sometimes where are thread drops in stock but that is one item that has been difficult to keep in stock so now to get back to making them.  In the shop we are currently also doing a donation of $1 for each grime guard sold between Oct 22nd and December 31st to the Alzheimer's Society of Toronto.  

 

Crafting has been helping me deal with this pandemic and I hope that everyone has found their own way of dealing with it.  It has been a challenge for so many people to go through this year and know that no matter what you aren't alone.  We have gone to conferences virtually this year and in the last week we even attended a wine tasting session virtually.  Yes, there are a lot of things that can help you spend some time and not feel so alone.

I hope that you have a good week and you find a bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy.  Stay safe and stay home as much as possible and know that things will get better one day.

Some progress

It is hard to believe it is Monday already, but I have at least been able to make some progress on some items this past week.  Yes, Toronto is still dealing with a lot of Covid-19 cases, so we are still working remotely and trying to stay away from others as much as possible. Being able to work remotely does make it nice as it means that we don't have to go out very often. The city has recommended that we only go out to do essential things like grocery shopping, work and school.

Moonstone - this piece got some attention this week but it was very slow.  I am not sure why I was having such a hard time working on the piece but I continued to make progress on it but didn't get as much done as I had hoped to do.  Now to see what this week is going to be like as I have another project that has come back out of hiding and got quite a bit of attention over the weekend.

I didn't get to the 50% completed but am happy that I have now been able to add all the colours and some colours are actually finished being used as well.

Pandemic - here is a piece that I haven't stitched on since early September, but I figured it was time for it to get a bit of love, and I am very happy with the progress that I was able to get on it over the weekend.  I picked this up on Saturday evening and put some stitches in on it and then yesterday it was my focus piece.

I wasn't sure how much of it I was going to get done this week, but I am very pleased with the progress that I made.  I know that I still have a very long way to go on this piece but it was nice seeing that I was able to finally make some progress on it.  I hope that through the end of the year that I can continue to work on this piece even a bit each week so that I can see more of it done.  It is a nice piece and considering all the different little items it makes it a lot of fun to stitch.  

I am bouncing around on the lower left section of this piece but that didn't bother me.  It was nice to see some progress on something and now to see what I can get done even in the next week on it.  I think it will depend on how things go this week as I do have other things that need my attention before I can sit and work on my stitching.

Kentia Wrap - I can finally say that I have finished the first section of this pattern and am now onto the next section. The second section is very easy so it is going a little faster than the first section.  I am looking forward to getting more of the second section done as it is basically just the little dots that appear so that is a lot faster to knit.

This project is sitting near me in my office area and it is something that I can work on when I have a few minutes.  I also can use this piece when I am attending different webinars where I don't need to take notes.  I figure that this is going to get a bit of attention this week but will have to see really how much I can get done on it.

This week there are a few things that I need to do so that is going to be what I do.  I hope that everyone continues to stay safe and you find some time each day to do something for yourself.  I hope everyone has a good week and I will see what I can get done.
 

Where did the week go?

It is hard to believe that another week is over.  Yes the cases of Covid-19 continue to climb here but we are still working remotely for our clients which is good. The weather for the last week has been amazing and we are continuing to break temperature records because of how mild it has been.

Moonstone - this week I was focusing on trying to make some progress on Moonstone and I have now been able to get to the right side of the design.  The actual design will be just under 4 inches square when it is completed and I am loving how it is turning out.  I worked on getting quite a bit of the white in so that I could have areas to fill in.  It does take quite a bit of time to get the white sections in but at least it means that I then have areas where I can fill in the various colours and that is when I see the entire design start to come together.

I have been able to get most of the middle motif also completed so that gives me an idea of what I need to do in the other sections.  I hope to get the bottom left quarter of the design done this coming week but will have to see how that goes.  Of course, I start working on once section and then I continue to use one of the colours and it takes me in a lot of different directions but I love how this is turning out. It would be nice to see what an entire area looks like so hopefully next week I will be able to show you what the design will look like.

Kentia Wrap - now my knitting didn't get as much time as I would have liked this week.  I think part of it was because I was busy and just didn't have the time to focus on these rows.  Each row does take some time as it involves quite a bit of counting as well as slipping the stitches.  I hope to see more progress on this project this week but will have to see how things go. 

I have now got just over half way on the first section of the shawl and considering there are 10 sections I still have a long way to go but that is while with me.  I am thinking that once this section is done I might be able to work on it a little faster as I will know that I need to do.

I haven't got a lot of progress on my socks either lately so now to see if I can pick them up again and get more of that done as well.

Things around here have been busy which is good in a way.  I am looking forward to seeing what this week is like as I know that there are a few things that will need my attention.  I hope everyone continues to stay safe and you find some time each day to do something that you enjoy doing.  I know for me there have been days when even a couple of minutes of relax time has been great so grab those and relax.

 

A finish and some new starts

Here it is the start of another week and yes we are still dealing with more and more cases of Covid-19 in Toronto.  It looks like some restaurants maybe able to start to reopen for in store eating but will have to see how that goes next week.  For us it doesn't make much of a difference as we continue to support our clients from home.

Blushing - now here is a project that got some love in the last week and I am very happy with the results.  I had been joking around earlier in October that I was going to get it finished by the end of the month but wasn't sure if that was really going to happen but it did.  On October 30th I was able to put the last few stitches in on the piece and am very happy with how it turned out.  I have ironed it yet so the picture still isn't  the best but at least it shows that it is finished and now to start working on some other projects.

Here are some details about this pattern:

Started June 12, 2020

Finished October 30, 2020

Number of stitches: 30,625

# of colours: 90

I really enjoyed this piece and can't wait to see it framed and hanging on one of the walls here at home.  

Of course once this was finished there was another challenge and that was what project I am going to work on. I have some projects that I am thinking about working on but as of right now I haven't decided on the project that I am going to focus on so maybe the next couple of months I will just have some fun and work on some different projects and let January 1st be when I start the next big project.

Moonstone - as I said I wasn't sure what I was going to work on after finishing Blushing so I picked up this smaller design.  Yes, it is full coverage but it is a lot smaller as it is only 81 stitches squares.  I decided that this piece I was going to work on some canvas that I had so I am stitching this on 23 count canvas and it is Moonstone by Carolyn Manning.  The pattern has 1 big piece and 4 smaller versions and I decided to work on one of the smaller versions.

Of course, this piece used a lot fewer colours so that means that I am enjoying working on the larger sections but also seeing some good progress on it quickly. I am not sure how much time this project will get as it will really depend on how it catches my attention and also what else I find that I want to work on.  The piece of projects that I am thinking of working on is a little large but I will see how it goes during the next couple of months.

Kentia Wrap - here is another project that I decided I wanted to work on this week after getting Blushing done. This is a slip stitch design that I saw someone else working on and decided that it looked like a lot of fun so I have picked it up and started working on it.  

I am working on this piece as well as working on the socks so that means that I have a lot of knitting that I also want to work on so now to see what really gets worked on over the next little while.

 

 I hope everyone continues to stay safe and you find the time each day to do something that you enjoy doing.  This week I will try and work on Moonstone a bit more and maybe see if I can get more of the wrap done as well but time will tell.  Please stay safe and hopefully next week I will have more things to show you or at least more progress on these projects.