A different focus this week

Here it is the start of another week, and it looks like it is going to be a busy week for me. Not sure what I will be getting done, but hope to see a bit of progress on something before the end of the week.

This past week I decided to change up projects that I was working on as I figured I need a bit of a change. It felt great being able to focus on other things and put the cross stitch down for a week. I haven't picked up my cross stitch for just over a week now, and I have to admit that it was a nice change.

Simple Triangle Shawl - this is one project that I tried to pick up some of the days to see if I could at least make a bit of progress on it. Over the weekend I decided to try and work on it an hour a day, so from Friday through Sunday I did that, and it meant that I was able to see some excellent progress on it.

I started the week with 49 stitches on the needle and ended the week with 122 stitches, and it felt good seeing that progress. I am now going to see how much of this shawl that I can get done this week, as it would be nice to see more of it finished. I haven't really even looked at the ball of yarn yet, so should try and do that soon so that I know roughly how much more yarn I have for this shawl. I love working on this project as it is something that I can quickly pick up and work on without stressing about what row I am currently on.

English paper piecing - now here is where a lot of my attention went this past week. I decided to try and work on getting some motifs finished up for a couple of projects. I worked on motifs for three projects and by the end of the week I had completed almost 170 motifs, which is good. A lot of the motifs are for a scrap throw that I want to make. 

The picture if only the motifs that I made this week, and I have lots of the larger motifs finished for one project and the smaller motifs are only part of what I will be using for the scrap throw that I will be working on.

I decided to try and spend a week just working on motifs and then on Saturday it was time to start to try and join some of the motifs for the scrap throw. Of course, I didn't spend a lot of time working on this project over the weekend, but at least I have been able to get some motifs joined and will see how it progresses before long. I have a bunch of motifs already finished, so that means that I should be able to continue to join them together without running out of motifs for a while. I will probably continue to work on making more motifs, as it would be nice to have a bunch more ready to be attached before too long. I haven't figured out the exact size of this throw yet, but I do know that I probably will end up with more motifs than I need for it. This throw is a lot of fun because I am not worrying about where a motif ends up.

Other projects - well, this week I can honestly say that I didn't work on any other projects. I was either knitting or working on English paper piecing, and it felt good. I am not sure what this coming week has in store, but I know that I will try and work on something most days. I have found that even spending a few minutes each day doing something that I love helps me recharge my personal batteries.

I hope everyone has a good week, and you can find that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy doing. I would like to see some progress on a project or two this coming week, so that means that I will need to find those bits of time. Have a good week, and hopefully I will have some progress on something to show you next week.

Some progress, a finish and a new start

Here it is the start of another week and yes a week when I am not sure how much crafting that I will be able to get done. I am happy with what I was able to accomplish last week because I have been able to see some projects moved forward. 

Life is starting to get busier so there are times when I only have those few minutes at the end of the day to do something for me.

Mini the Forgotten - here is the piece that I worked on both Friday and Saturday and am happy with the progress that I was able to make on it. I am working on completing all the black on the project before I do much of the other colours. I was able to spend quite a bit of time Saturday working on it, and that helped me see some good progress.

I would like to see if I can spend a bit of time on this project this week, as it would be nice to see it moved forward again. 

New Doors - I decided to pick this project up a couple of days this week to see if I could at least get some of the keys completed. This is a fun project as a lot of the keys are rather small, so they do work up quickly so that you can see some results on it.

The various colours of the keys aren't showing up as well in the picture, but at least you can see that some of them have a variegated thread in them. I still have a long way to go on this piece as I need to get all the border completed as well as finish adding some more locks and some quite a few more keys into this design. 

I would like to see if I can get even a couple more keys completed this week, as it makes me happy when I can see this project move forward even a little bit each week. I am not sure how much time I will be able to give this project, but I am going to try and at least get a key or two added, and then will see what else I can achieve.

Simple Triangle Shawl - here is a new version of the shawl that I was knitting. It is using a ball of "Shawl in a Ball" and I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out. It is a quick knit, especially when you are just starting it. I will try and spend some time working on this project this week, as I would like to see how quickly I can get this one finished.

Simple Triangle Shawl - here is the project that I was working on last week and after a couple of days I was finally able to cast this off the needles.

I am happy to say that this project just needs the ends sewn in, and it will be another finish for this year. I loved working on this shawl and yes, have already started another one. Finding a project that you can work on quickly and without having to figure out what row you are on is nice sometimes. 

Other projects - I am slowly starting to work on some other projects, and my English paper piecing is starting to get some attention again. I haven't been able to get much done over the last week, so nothing to show, but maybe after this week there will be progress.

I continue to try and find that little bit of time each day to do something for me, as I am finding it does help me recharge my personal batteries and makes it a lot easier to do other things.

I hope everyone else is finding that bit of time each day to do something that you love doing. It doesn't matter what it is, but just simply spending that bit of time doing something for you is very important. A lot of us have a lot of demands on our time, and ensuring we take those breaks is important.

Have a good week and I hope to have some progress to show you next week. If things so well, there may be some progress at leas on a couple of things.

Some stitching and knitting progress

Here it is the start of another week and things have been busy around here, but at least I know that I have been able to make some progress on a few things.

Work continues to play a key part in our week but at least I have been able to find some time each day this week to do at least a few minutes of crafting or taking time for myself which is very important.

New Doors - I decided to try and start to add a bit of colour to this piece this week because after working on the dark colours for a while I wanted to see if I could at least get some of the motifs finished, so that meant that I needed to add some of the red to the overall design.

I haven't been able to make a lot of progress on this piece, but that didn't bother me because I have been able to spend some time stitching this week and that is the biggest thing right now. I am going to continue to see if I can work on this project a bit at a time, as it would make me very happy to see more of the motifs and outline completed before too long. 

My goal for this piece is to have it finished by my birthday so that means that I need to have it finished by April and if I can continue to focus on it even a bit each month, I think I should be able to have it finished. It isn't going away because I have been enjoying working on it even if I don't get a lot of stitching done on it each week.

Mini the Forgotten - here is the piece that I tried to put as my focus piece this week.  What I decided to do is to try and work on getting more of the black on the entire project moved forward. It did mean that I needed to move the fabric so that I could continue to work on the black sections, but after this week I am happy with the progress that I have been able to make. I do know that there is still a long way to go to complete the black on the piece, but at least I have been able to move it forward, which makes me feel good.

This week I decided to work on getting some of the various outline done as well because that means I should be able to work on some of the other colours as well if that is what I want to work on. This piece I would like it to be the focus piece for the next little while as it would be nice to get it moved forward because it is a full coverage so just finished one of the colours would be nice.

I haven't reached the top of the pattern yet, so that means that I will need to move the fabric again, but first I need to get more of the black finished.

Simple Triangle Shawl - this is the knitting project that I have been trying to focus on this week. It would be really nice if I could get this done before too long, but right now I keep joking that this ball of yarn is the ball that never ends. I am slowly starting to see the ball of yarn start to become smaller, but it still seems like I have a ways to go before the end is near. 

This project has been a lot of fun because of how easy it is, and it means that I have been able to pick it up and work on it even when I only have a few minutes to get some stitching in. If I can focus on some knitting this week, I would love to be able to complete this shawl before the end of this week. I have already decided on what my next knitting project is, so that means that this one needs to get finished before the next one is added to the needles.

Other projects - this week I have figured out another project that I would like to start to work on, but I haven't been able to spend the time getting it organized yet. I hope that withing the next couple of weeks I can get it organized and maybe started, but we will see what happens.

I hope everyone is continuing to find that little bit of time each day to do something for yourself. The shawl has been that for me as it means that I pick it up and even if I only get a row or two done it means that I have taken some time to myself and help recharge those batteries each day. It doesn't matter what you do, but remembering to take that time each day helps you have the energy to help others around you.

This week I am not sure what I am going to be working on, but hopefully next week I will have something to show you. Have a great week and I will see you next week.

 

At least some progress

Here it is the start of another week and yes a week when I would like to see if I can make a bit more progress on a few things. It is Thanksgiving Day for us here in Canada, so that means a day when maybe I can spend a bit longer crafting and not having to worry about everything else that is on my calendar for this week.

This past week was busy with a conference, so there wasn't much time to sit and do anything, but at least this weekend I have been able to get some time to stitch and see some progress on a couple of things.

New Doors - this is the cross stitch project that I have been focusing on, as I would like to get more of it done. This started as a project that I wanted to reach 20% on, and now I am continuing to work on it as I have been enjoying it.

I have only been working on one colour on this project this week, but have been happy with the progress that I have made on it. There are still lots of black stitches that need to be added, so that is going to be what I work on, as that will give me a good base for the rest of the pattern.

I am not sure if this is going to be the project that gets the attention this week, but I know that it won't be going very far, as I am looking forward to having this piece finished. I would like to get the border at least finished in the black so that means I need to work on that, but I also need to finish off that one motif, so I will see how things go this week.

Simple Triangle Shawl - yes, this project continued to get a bit of attention, and I am very happy with how much I was able to get done this week. This project is a great one to pick up and work on when I have just a few minutes at the end of the day.

I keep joking around about this ball of yarn, as it doesn't seem to be getting smaller very quickly. I know that at one point it will just disappear, but it has been fun working on this shawl, and I am thinking that I might be trying to make another one of these shawls but with a solid yarn after I finish this one. 

I know that I have some other knitting projects on the go and I will need to work on getting some of them moved forward as well. Now that things are getting back into a routine I am going to be trying to move a bunch of things forward.

Other projects - As you can probably guess this past week, there wasn't a lot of time to work on things, so now to see how this coming week goes. I do have quite a bit of work that I need to get done, so that is what I will focus on first, and then I will see what I can move forward with regard to some of my projects.

I hope you continue to find that time each day to do something for yourself, as I do know that it has helped me recharge my person batteries. Have a good week and hopefully next week I will have some progress on some things that I will be able to show you.

Made some progress this week

Here it is the start of another week and a week that is going to be very busy. In Toronto there is a big IT security conference (SecTor) and I am the person that is in charge of some of the community booths. It is going to be a very busy couple of days there, so not sure how much stitching I will be getting done.

New Doors - here is another piece that I decided that I wanted to make sure that I could get to at least 20% complete before the end of the year. I hadn't worked on this project since April, so I knew I had some work ahead of me to achieve that goal.

This past week this has been my focus, and I am happy to say that I did reach the 20% goal that I wanted to reach. I am thinking that it is going to be getting some more attention before too long. It is a nice piece to work on, and I would like to see how much of it I can get done.

It was nice to be working on only two of the colours because it means that I could see progress on a lot of the design. The words didn't take too long to complete, and then it was working on the border and two of the larger motifs. This week I may be working on this again when I have a bit of time, but will have to see how things go.

Simple Triangle Shawl - this is the other project that got some attention this week. It is nice having a project that you can just pick up and knit and not think about what row you are on.

I am not sure how much more of this ball of yarn that I have, but it is making me happy just seeing that I have been able to make some progress on it. Yes, the rows are getting longer, but it is enjoyable to work on. I am going to be trying to make sure that this week I can at least get a row or two done each day of the conference, as it does help me feel good about things.

Other projects - I haven't had a lot of time to work on other projects, so most things are where there were a week ago. Now to see what I can get even this week on them. I know that I would love to see more progress on things, but I don't think it will happen this week.

I hope everyone is continuing to find that bit of time each day to take time for yourself. It doesn't matter how long you have, it's just important to spend that time doing something that makes you happy. This past week, the triangle shawl was the piece that I would pick up and used to help me recharge my person battery.

This week is going to be a busy one for me, but hopefully next week I will have some progress on something to show you. Have a good week and remember to find that time each day to recharge your personal battery.