Moving two projects forward

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully I will once again be able to make some progress on things. The weather is supposed to be warming up as well this week so that would be nice.

Mini the Forgotten - here is the cross stitch project that got my attention this last week. I picked it up on Monday with a goal of seeing some good progress on it before the end of the weekend and that I did.

Now that I only have four pages to complete on this piece, I am trying hard to get as much stitching in on this piece as I can. This past week I worked on one colour on the two pages for 5 days before that colour was finished and I started working on a different colour. So, this week I only added two colours to this section of the design, but I am happy with how much I was able to get done.

This project is going to be put down for a little bit as I do want to add some stitches into the second WIPGO project that was called for April. I hope that I can get those stitches in quickly and maybe I will pick this up again as I am looking forward to seeing this piece finished.

Gradient Shawl - this shawl did get quite a bit of attention this past week as I have been trying to move it forward again. My first goal this last week was to get all the yarn knit back into the shawl that I had to take out and then see how much more of the shawl I could get done. It does feel good because I have now started the fourth colour.

I am going to continue to work on this shawl as I am also looking forward to getting this finished before too long. It is a fun project to work on because it is easy to do but the rows are getting rather long, so it does take a while to get across the row. Including the ball of yarn that I have on the go I have three more balls to add so it is going to take me a while yet before it's finished.

Other projects - this past week I have been able to pick up and work on my English Paper Piecing a bit, so I have started to see some progress on one of those projects as well.

This week I hope to be able to continue to work on my shawl and I will see how much I can get done on the other WIPGO project.  I would like to see if I can get Mini the Forgotten out for when a day or two to try and move it a little closer to a finish.

I hope everyone has a good week and you find time to do something that you enjoy. If things go well this week, I hope to have some progress to show you on my projects again next week. It is also Easter this coming Sunday, and I hope everyone as a good long weekend.

 

Some progress and some frustration

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully some progress on my crafting. I know that this week I have some more work stuff that needs my attention, but I also know that I am going to be trying to make progress on a couple of projects.

The weather here is still feeling like late winter, but hopefully it will start to warm up soon so that I can enjoy being outside sitting on the balcony again. 

Sea Opal - here is the first of my WIPGO projects for April. I am so happy with the progress that I was able to make on this piece in the last week.

When I picked it up, I was going to see if I could possibly get more of the bottom left page completed but then I decided that I just wanted to work on the overall piece and see what it is going to look like. My WIPGO goal is 500 stitches, and it didn't take me long to surpass that number of stitches and I just kept stitching on it all week. It is so nice having a project that I can focus on for a week and see some progress on it. 

Now that it is the start of another week it means that another project is going to be coming out for some stitching time. This week it won't be the other WIPGO project for April, but I decided that Mini the Forgotten was going to get the attention this week.

Gradient Shawl - here is the knitting project that I picked up and worked on this past week. If you look closely, you will notice that the second picture doesn't have as much done on it as the first picture and that is correct. The pictures are not out of order as I had to pull back quite a bit of the shawl earlier in the week and reknit it. On this project I decided to try the magic knot (invisible knot) because everyone said it was great, and it didn't come undone no matter what. Well, I decided to give it a try and last Monday when I was working on the third colour, I noticed that where my join was didn't look right, so I looked only to discover that the knot had come undone. Of course, with the magic knot you cut the yarn right at the knot so there is nothing left to weave in, so I knew I was going to have to take out a few rows to join the yarn differently at that join. 

Once I discovered that knot had some undone, I knew that I was going to have to check the other join between the first and second colour and as you can probably guess what I found. Yes, that knot had also come undone. So, the decision was could I rescue the shawl at the joins somehow or did I need to pull it out. I did try and rescue the joins, but it didn't work well, so it was time to take out the shawl back into the first colour. When I was looking at the shawl after making the decision to pull it back into the first colour, I noticed a stitch that wasn't looking the best so if I was going to take it out to the first colour I might as well take it back a few more rows to also make that stitch look better. It was a tough decision to make but I knew that the joins didn't look great so with the help of my husband we pulled out all of the second colour and part of the first and now I am back to knitting everything back in. 

I am not doing the magic knot like they say to do it as I am leaving some ends that I will sew in as well as tying the knot. Hopefully this will work, and I will be able to see this shawl moved forward more this week.

Other projects - this last week I did pick up and work on my English Paper Piecing a little bit so that was good and hopefully it will get more attention before the end of the month. I didn't work on anything other than that because I was trying to focus on getting some stitches in on Sea Opal and trying to get the shawl back to where it was.

This week I will be working on getting more of the shawl knit up as well as adding some stitches into Mini the Forgotten. I hope everyone has a good week and you find that bit of time each day to take some time for yourself. If things so well, I should have some progress to show next Monday. Have a good week and will see you then.

 

English Paper Piecing - March progress

Here it is the start of another month so that means showing you what I was able to accomplish last month regards to my English Paper Piecing. Well, March wasn't a good month for moving any of my projects forward very much, but at least I did get a little bit of something done.

Scrap throw - I was able to get a couple of flowers made which is good because otherwise there would have been no progress at all. I am not certain why I didn't pick up this project or any of the other ones that I have on the go.

I hope to be able to spend some time in April at least making a bit of progress on one of my projects, so I will just have to see how it goes. I know that seeing progress does make me feel better, so I need to spend some time working on these projects.

My goal for myself in April is to spend a bit more time working on my EPP, so that I can move projects forward. I will see which project or projects get my attention and hopefully I will have a bit more to show you at the end of April.

Making more progress

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully a week where the weather will improve, and we will see some sunshine. It is also the start of a new month tomorrow and I am not sure where March went as it seemed to fly by.

I have been busy working on things so hopefully I will be able to continue to get things done and maybe have some finishes before too long.

Silver Anniversary - here is the piece that got the attention in the last week. It was nice being able to spend some more time working on the piece as it is helping me move it forward.

With Silver Anniversary I try and spend one week a month working on it so that I can continue to move it forward with a goal of having it done before our 25th anniversary next year. It is amazing how much you can get done in a week when you focus on just one cross stitch project instead of many like I was doing in the past.

Now that it is a start of another week it means that Silver Anniversary will be put down and I will be picked up a different project for this week to put some stitches in on it. I have decided what project will get the attention, but it will be one of my full coverage pieces.

Gradient Shawl - here is the knitting project that I have been working on. This project is using 6 balls of yarn that are 40 grams each and it is a lot of fun to work on. This last week I was able to get the first two balls of yarn knit into the shawl, and I have just started the third ball. This shawl does knit up quickly which is nice and hopefully I will have it completed before too long.

As the shawl is getting longer, I ended up putting it on a circular needle and I am glad I did because it is making it easier to work on. I am going to continue to work on this shawl because I love the colours of the yarn (shades of teal), and I am enjoying working on it.

Other knitting projects haven't got any attention since I picked up this shawl but that is ok because I can work on them after I get this shawl finished.

Other projects - I haven't done a lot of other projects and part of that is because I have been enjoying working on the shawl and my cross stitch.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery. It doesn't matter what you do but it is important that we all take that bit of time for ourselves and do something that we enjoy. This coming week I hope to be able to make some more progress on the shawl and on my cross stitch that I pick. Have a good week and I will be back next week to show you the progress that I have been able to make.

 

Two more page finishes and a new shawl start

Here it is the start of another week, and I have to admit that I am not sure where this last week has gone. I know that things that been busy around here so that might explain why I am not certain where the time as gone.

The weather is finally starting to improve which is nice, but I am still not going to say that winter is over yet because we could still get another storm. At least the sun is shining which makes both of us a little happier so that is what is most important.

This past week I have been able to spend some time crafting so that is also good. I am also happy with the progress that I have been able to make on things so that is also nice.

Mini The Forgotten - this is the project that came back out to get some attention in the last week and it was nice to have it back out. I do have it scheduled for at least one week a month when it hasn't been called for WIPGO. This month it once again got two weeks of attention, and I am happy about that because I have been able to make some good progress on it.

In the last week I was able to finish another two pages on this piece which means I now only have the top four pages to go, and I have already started to make progress on it which feels great.

Being able to spend at least a week at a time on this project is showing me that I can make some good progress on it when I can sit and focus on it. Now to see how much stitching I will be able to get done in April on it. I do know that it is coming out at least for one week as I want to make some good progress on at least one of the colours that I still have lots of stitches to do. For now, this project is going to be put down but I know that April isn't that far away so it will come out for more attention and hopefully quite a few more stitches.

Gradient Shawl - something that I realized in the last week was I wasn't happy with the knitting projects that was working on. Yes, I was moving them forward which was good, but they didn't encourage me to pick them up and work on them. This is when after a bit of a discussion with my hubby, he pointed out that I didn't have something fun to work on, so I needed that. Well, the next morning after pulling out a bunch of yarn I decided it was time to start another shawl and have some fun. This shawl is going to be a gradient shawl as I have 6 - 40-gram balls of yarn so I am going to work on this shawl until all the yarn is done. Right now, I am still working on the first ball of yarn, so I have no idea how large this is going to be, but of course, it is using a bunch of shades of teal,so I am happy with it. 

This coming week I hope to be able to at least get this first ball of yarn finished and start the next colour so that I can start to see what it is going to look like. Of course, this isn't going to be a project that I can pick up and work on for a few minutes at a time but at least I have the scarf in the round to work on when I have that time.

Other projects - this week I haven't picked up any of the other projects that I have on the go so now to figure out when I am going to pick up my English Paper Piecing as I would like to see some progress on it before the end of the month.

I everyone is finding that few minutes each day to do something that you enjoy. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you have those few minutes to relax and get your personal battery recharged. This week I am not certain how much time I will have to work on my projects, but I hope to spend a bit of time making progress on something. Will be back next week with hopefully some progress on my shawl and on a cross stitch project.

 

Very good progress this week and a cross stitch retreat

Here it is the start of another week, and I can honestly say that I have been able to make some good progress on things over the last seven days. Part of the progress is because we decided that it was time for a retreat where I could focus on moving some of my cross stitch forward. You will see that I was able to make good progress on things and I also introduced cross stitch to someone that had never heard about it until this weekend.

Pandemic - here is the cross stitch piece that was my focus for the last week and I can honestly say that it was my focus and I was able to make some really good progress on it. During the treat I was able to get over 1,900 stitches in on the piece. Before we left for the retreat, I had already done almost 1,000 stitches so that means that this week I was able to add another 3,000 stitches to this piece. It feels good seeing that I was able to make some really good progress on this piece.

This was one of the WIPGO projects for the year, so I was required in March to add another 500 stitches to the piece, but I surpassed the total by a lot and that makes me happy. Seeing that when I can focus on a project, I can get lots of stitching accomplished makes me feel good. This project is now going to be put down again as I will be picked up a different project for this coming week.

Beaded Wizard Bookmark - here is a project that I started in 2005, and it didn't get much progress on it. I think I might have had around 40 stitches done before I picked it up this week to give it a little bit of love. It did get a little bit of attention during my cross stitch retreat this weekend so we will see when it comes out again and how much more of the piece I can get finished.

This project isn't very big at all so I know that being able to focus on it for a few days would get it done but it also means that I need to focus on it which I don't seem to do on the smaller projects. It is nice having some smaller projects that I can just pick up and work on at various times, but I am not going to work on them until they are finished within a short time period.

Ex-boyfriend shawl - here is one of the knitting projects that I have been trying to move forward and I must admit that it has been a challenge given the yarn that I picked for it. This past week I was able to pick it up and work on it at least 30 minutes a day but given we were away for three days it didn't get quite as much work as I would have liked. At least seeing some good progress on it was nice and this coming week I hope to be able to continue to move it forward as I have some webinars that I need to attend so this might be the project that gets some attention.

It does feel good seeing that I have at least been able to add some rows to this project and hopefully in the next week I can maybe finish the first ball of yarn that I have on the go and will see how big it is. I do know that I will be using at least part of the second ball if not all of that ball to get the shawl to a size that makes me happy.

This week I hope to get back to the 30 minutes of knitting on this project each day because that has helped me move it forward. It doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it is amazing how much progress you can get done when you just set aside 30 minutes to pick up a project and work on it.

Scarf in the round - here is the other knitting project that did get some progress this last week. It is nice having this project on the go as it is an easy pick up and work on it for a little while. Instead of having two pictures for this project I have left the markers in for each week that I have worked on the scarf. The top marker is for this coming week to show me where I started. So, I have worked on this scarf a bit each week so now after three weeks I still have a long way to go before this scarf is finished but I have been enjoying just getting a few rows done at a time. 

This week I have some webinars that I will be watching so either this project or the Ex-boyfriend shawl may get a bit more attention as these are both good projects to be working on when I am watching webinars.

Retreat goodies - when my husband and I were talking about doing a cross stitch retreat, I mentioned how when you go to one, you normally get a goodie bag with cross stitch stuff in it. So, of course, hubby said that's still possible, that he could go down to the cross stitch store and pick up some stuff.

We talked about different things that could be in the bag so he asked me to put together a list of things that I might want in my bag, and he would see what he could do. On Friday morning, he left the hotel and headed down to Gitta's and by the look of what I got he had a good time. He also mentioned that all the staff thought the idea of the retreat and retreat bag were a great and they loved helping out.

Other projects - this past week I didn't have a lot of time to work on a lot of other stuff but I did some a new project but haven't got very far along on it so it will be shown when I get more progress on it.

I hope everyone is finding that little bit of time to recharge your personal battery each day. For me my crafting does help a lot. This week the list of things on my to-do list is rather long so that means that I need to get working on them so that I can also find some recharge time later in the day.

Hopefully next week I will have some progress to show you on some projects.

 

Some good progress

Here it is the start of another week and of course there are things that need my attention. The weather is warming up which is nice so that means that spring will hopefully be arriving soon. 

This past week I was able to spend some working on my projects and having a focus has been nice because it is helping me get things moved forward and see progress on some of my projects.

Mini The Forgotten - here is the cross stitch project that was my focus for the last week. It was one of my WIPGO calls for March, so I picked it up and was able to focus on moving it forward a bit.

I am very happy with the progress that I was able to get on it because I am getting closer to have another row of pages done and that makes me happy. I hope to be able to get the rest of this row of pages done before long and then I will only have four pages left to go on it. Yesterday, I was looking at the picture of where it was at the beginning of January, and I was amazed at how much I have been able to get done on it.

This project is now going away for this week as I have another project that was called for WIPGO so I will give it some attention and see how it goes.

Scarf in the round - I did pick up and work on my scarf this week and I am loving having a project like this that I can just pick up and work on when I have those few minutes. It is a lot of fun having a project like this because it sits near my desk and then I have those few minutes I can pick it up and add a few stitches and then put it down again.

I don't have any idea when this project is going to be finished but that doesn't bother me because I am happy having a project that I can work on like this and at the end I will have a scarf that I will be happy to have.

This coming week I will see how much more of it I can get done as I am thinking that I will have bits of time where I can pick it up and work on. We will see what it looks like next Monday as being able to move it forward a bit more this week will make me happy.

Ex-boyfriend shawl - here is the shawl that did get a bit of attention this past week, so I am slowly moving it forward. It is a challenge working with the yarn that I picked for this shawl, but I am finding a way to get move of the shawl done.

I wasn't sure how to motive myself to pick up this shawl, so I decided to try and work on it for 30 minutes at a time. That doesn't seem like a long time, and it isn't, but I am finally starting to move this shawl forward again which is good. I am going to see how it goes this week because I am not certain if it will get 30 minutes each day but at least I am going to try and do it some days to continue to move it forward. The feel of the shawl is so nice and soft because of the yarn that I am using it is just not as nice to work with as I had hoped.

Other projects - I have been working on a couple of other projects, but they aren't far enough along to show them yet. Maybe after this week I will have something to show but will have to wait and see how it goes.

I know that this week I should have some time to work on my stitching a bit so we will see what progress I can make on the different projects. I hope to continue to move both knitting projects forward again because that would be nice to see some progress on both. There is going to be a different cross stitch project for this week and hopefully I will make some progress on it. 

If things go well, I should have some projects to show you next week with some progress on them. Finding that time each day to recharge my personal battery has been important. I hope you are also finding that bit of time to recharge your personal battery as well.

Have a good week and I will be back next week to show you what I have been able to get done.

 

Progress on items and a scarf started

Here it is the start of another week and another month. It is hard to believe that February is over after how long it felt January to go by. 

The weather here is still doing its roller coaster with the temperature so will have to see how things go this week. As it is the beginning of another month that are things that need to get done for work.

Silvery Anniversary - here is the piece that got the focus for the last week. It is nice seeing how much I was able to get done on it. It is slowly starting to come to life, and I will see how much I can get done in March.

It is nice having a project that yes, I would like to get it finished but I am also able to take my time and work on it a bit at a time. My goal is to have this finished by our 25th wedding anniversary so that is in 2026, so I have time to work on the project and not stress about getting it done. I have got jus over 12% of this project done so I am on track to get it done in time for our anniversary.

This project is going to be put down for a little while as I am going to be working on another project this week and I am looking forward to seeing how much progress I can get done on it.

Ex-boyfriend shawl - here is one of the knitting projects that got a bit of my attention this past week. This shawl is taking me quite a while to get it done and part of it is I am not enjoying using the yarn that I got for this shawl. Hopefully I will be able to set aside a little bit of time each day to just add a bit more to the shawl so that I can get it finished. Normally, I enjoy working on my knitting projects, but this is one of those projects that I will like the shawl once it is done but it is the working on it that I don't enjoy as much.

If I can continue to move this project forward a bit at a time I think I will feel better. I am not certain how many stitches I am going to end up with on the needle, but I will continue until it is done and then be happy that I will have another shawl to wear even if the process of making the shawl wasn't something that I enjoyed as much as I thought I would.

Scarf in the round - here is another project that I am working on, and I must admit that I have been really enjoying it so far. This past week I decided that I had some yarn that I wasn't sure what I was going to do with, so I cast on 100 stitches onto a circular needle and then just started knitting. 

Do I know how long I am going to make this scarf, no not really. I have two skeins of this yarn so I will see how long the scarf is after the first ball of yarn and then will see what happens. I do enjoy knitting this scarf because it is something that I can pick up and work on when I have a few minutes. I don't need to finish a row, and I don't have a pattern to follow so it is a lot of fun.

Other projects - I haven't worked on anything else in the last week as I am trying to stay focused and get things done instead of bouncing between too many projects. I do hope to pick up my English Paper Piecing this week as I would like to continue to move it forward, but we will have to wait and see.

There are a few things that I need to get done this week so that means I will be busy on things. I will make sure that I do take a bit of time each day to recharge by personal battery but doing something that I enjoy. It is so important to ensure we take a bit of time for ourselves because it does make such a difference on how you can handle things when they are thrown at you.

Hope everyone has a good week, and I would like to have some progress on things to show you need week. 

 

English Paper Piecing - February Progress

Here it is the start of March so that means it is time to show that I was able to get done in February on my different projects. It feels good this month that I am say that I have been able to make some progress on two projects. One got very little attention and then the other one got more attention, and I am starting to feel better about my EPP again.

Popsy's throw - this is the project that got very little attention, and I was able to get one flower completed before I realized that I needed to work on something else for a little while. This project has a lot of memories attached to it and I felt that I needed a bit of a break from it to try and move something else forward.

Scrap throw - this is the project that got more attention this month as I was able to make some flowers for it. Being able to work on making flowers when I have those few minutes is wonderful so that is what I have been trying to do.

Another thing that I did this month was started to work on adding motifs to the actual throw. I hadn't touched the throw itself since August 2023, so it was a little different working on it again. I am happy to have at lest been able to start to add the border to the top and one side, so I now have an idea of where to add the flowers and motifs to the throw. 

Other projects - I haven't worked on any of the other EPP projects that I have on the go but at least I am starting to get back to making progress on things.

In March I hope to be able to continue to move at least one of the projects forward but will see how it goes. I know that being able to continue to move things forward does make me happy so we will see how things go. I hope to have some good progress to show you at the beginning of April.

 

Progress and a new shawl start

Here it is the start of another week, and hopefully the weather will start to improve, and we will get rid of some of the snow that we have had lately. 

Of course, there is still a lot of work that needs to get done each week and I am now continuing to try and find that time each day to work on one of my crafts so that I can slowly start to see progress on things.

Mini The Forgotten - here is the cross stitch project that was my focus for the last week. I was determined to see if I could make some more progress on this piece as I am enjoying how it is turning out.

This past week I wasn't sure if I was going to get another page finished on the pattern, but by the time I put it down yesterday I had done just that. I have now completed 6 of the 12 pages and that is making me feel so much better about this project. It makes me happy to see the progress that I have made on this project so far this year and I hope to be able to continue to move it forward. 

This project is going to be put down for a little while and I will see which project I pick up and work on this coming week. I know that working through some of my big projects is making me feel good so we will see what I can accomplish this week.

Ex-boyfriends shawl - here is a new start that I had this past week. I had picked up this yarn a couple of weeks ago and wanted to try and get something make with it. The colour isn't showing up as it is a teal colour yarn which I love teal. The problem with this yarn is it's very fluffy to handle so working on a shawl was a bit of a challenge. I had found another pattern that I wanted to make with it only to discover that this yarn to too soft and slippery for that pattern, so I needed to look at something different. 

This pattern is written for fingering weight yarn but all I did was use a bigger knitting needle and it seems to be turning out the way I would like it to look. I hope to be able to work on this more this coming week as it is a simple project when I can just focus on knitting.

Other projects - I have been able to pick up and work on my English Paper Piecing and that has started to make me happy. I am seeing some progress on one project which is good, and I will write about that at the beginning of March.

It is hard to believe that February is almost over but at least that means that spring should be here soon or at least that is what we can wish. I know that I have been feeling how long winter seems to have been this year and maybe that is because of all the grey days we are having.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy doing. Being able to set aside those bits of time each day is very important as it helps recharge your personal battery and it also helps you do something for yourself. 

Hopefully next week I will have something to show you as I would like to see if I can get some more progress done on the shawl and I also want to work on a cross stitch project and see how that goes.

Progress and a finish

Here it is the start of another week, and I have been able to make a bit of progress on the various projects over the last week. Yes, work has required some of my time, but at least I know that I have been able to move a couple of my projects forward. It does feel good knowing that I have been able to get all the work done that I needed to do as well as be able to spend some time working on the cross stitch and knitting projects that make me happy.

Mini Sea Opal - here is the second WIPGO project that I had on the calendar for February. This project required me to add 500 stitches to the piece to reach the goal that I had set for each time it was selected.

The good news is that by the time I put it down this week after working on it for 3 days I had been able to add over 1,000 stitches to this piece. I know that given the size of this project it doesn't seem like a lot, but at least it is moving the project forward which is what I am trying to do this year.

This is one of the big projects that I have on the list of things that I would like to move forward this year so now to see how things go.

Silver Anniversary - here is a new start for this week and I decided that I wanted to start this piece on the 26th anniversary of when I met my husband with a goal of getting this project finished by our 25th anniversary which is in September 2026. This project has been enjoyable to work on and I have just been working on the bottom left section of the piece as I am trying to get small sections of it done at a time.

I am going to put this down for a little while now as I have another project that is going to get the attention this coming week. 

Turkish Delight Shawl - here is the knitting project that has been getting the attention for the last little while. As this shawl has used double knitting weight yarn it has different to work on compared to the fingering weight yarn I have been using. It has been a nice project to work on because the pattern wasn't difficult to do. The lace section was something that I did enjoy working on even though there were times that I couldn't seem to get it done correctly.

This weekend I decided it was time to focus on it for a little while as I knew that I was close to getting it finished. The good news is the shawl is now finished other than sewing in the ends and that makes me happy. Of course, now that this shawl is completed, it is time to figure out the next project that I will be spending some time working on.

Other projects - this past week I was also able to pick up and work on my English Paper Piecing a little bit which is good and now to see how much more of it I can get done before the end of the month. I know that seeing progress on a few things would make me feel good.

I hope everyone has been able to spend a bit of time working on things that make you happy. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you are able to spend a bit of time recharging your personal battery.

This week I hope to move another cross stitch project forward and I will see what else I get done. Hope a good week and I hope to have progress to show next week.

Moving projects forward

Here it is the start of another week, and it is interesting to see what projects I worked on in the last week. Of course, there was also work things that needs my attention, so I did spend some time working on those things before was able to focus on moving some of my crafting forward.

This week was a focus week so there aren't a lot of projects to talk about. I decided to try and only work on one cross stitch and one knitting project. 

Mini The Forgotten - here is the cross stitch project that I picked up and worked on this past week and I am very happy with the progress that I was able to make on it.

The goal for this project was to get at least 500 stitches on it was it is one of my WIPGO calls for February. Of course, I was able to get the 500 stitches done without an issue, so I decided to continue to work on it for the rest of the week. By the time I put it down I had completed over 1,600 stitches and I finished another page on the project. 

It feels so good working on this piece and seeing the progress that I am able to make on it. It is now going to be put down for at least this next week as I have the other WIPGO project that I need to work on as well as I have a new start coming up as well.

Turkish Delight Shawl - I have been trying to get some knitting done each day and that means that this shawl did get some attention, and I am happy with where it is right now. I am currently working on the last lace section of the pattern and then I have one more garter section and then the shawl is finished.

I was able to focus on this knitting a little more this week and that helped me at least get the rows done that I wanted to do. Seeing how much I could get done this last week made me happy because now I am seeing that with some effort, I should be able to get this shawl done before long. It is different working with double weight yarn because most of the shawls that I have been knitting use fingering weight yarn, so the overall project ends up a lot lighter.

I do have the next project already figured out that I want to work on so that means that I better continue to focus on this shawl so that I can get it finished. We will see when it gets completed but I hope it will be soon.

Other projects - this past week there were no other projects worked on as I just focused on these two and it felt good. I do need to pick up my English Paper Piecing soon because it hasn't got any attention yet this month. 

This coming week I do have a new cross stitch project start so that is going to be fun but I still need to pick the fabric and get it ready so that is something else on the list for this week. I am also going to try and get the 500 stitches in on the other WIPGO project, so it is going to be a busy week ahead.

I hope everyone continues to find that bit of time each day to do something for yourself and recharge your personal battery. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you take a few minutes for yourself.

Hopefully this week I will be able to get everything done that I would like to do, and I will have some progress to show you next week.

Two finishes and some progress

Here it is the start of another week and another month. It is hard to believe that January is over, and we are now onto a new month. I was busy last week, but I can also say that I have been able to get some crafting in and that makes me happy.

It was a good week for me as I was able to spend some time working on projects and seeing progress on things. Hopefully this week I can have some good progress as well as I have a couple of things that I would like to move forward.

2019 Mystery Stitch-along - here is the first project that got some attention this past week. I knew that I didn't have a lot more of this piece to do so I decided that it was going to be my focus until it was completed. The butterflies had more stitches than I thought it them, but I was able to focus and get them all done.

It did feel good to finally see this project finished and it is one project that has been sitting around for too long but now all the butterflies are completed and the year has been put on it. Now that I have completed this piece, I can mark it as done on my list of projects to work on and I can figure out what the next project is going to be that comes out of the pile.

Pandemic - this is one of the large projects that I am going to be focusing on this year. I have four large projects that I hope to give lots of attention to over this year.

I am feeling good about the progress that I was able to make in the last week as I focused on one section instead of bouncing all over which I had a habit of doing in the past. Seeing a section come to life is nice.

Being able to stick to one area also meant that I was able to get a page of the pattern finished so I now have 6 of the 20 pages completed. I haven't done any of the backstitch that is needed on these pages but at least all the cross stitches have been done. Hopefully when I get the other four pages of this row done, I will work on getting some of the backstitch completed so that I don't have it all to do at the very end.

Welsh Dragon - after I finished the Mystery stitch-along I decided to pull out another project and get it finished. This project wasn't too hard to finish once I picked it up.

When I picked it up this past week, I only had the border stitched so the dragon needed to be stitched. It was easy to work on and before long I was able to get the dragon stitched and the backstitch completed so this is another project off the list of things to complete that I have started in the past.

It feels good starting to get projects that have been around for quite a few years done. Now to figure out the next project that is coming out to get completed.

Turkish Delight Shawl - this is the knitting project that I have been trying to focus on and move it forward. I am happy with the progress that I have been able to make on this shawl and am looking forward to picking it up again this week and seeing how much more of it I can get done.

There are four lace sections in the shawl, and I am now working on the third of those sections so hopefully I will be able to continue to move this piece forward and get it finished before too long. The pattern is relatively easy to do, and the lace section does look really nice when it is done.

Of course, I have already figured out at least one shawl that I will be knitting after I finish this one so that has been a lot of fun and it also helps keep me motivated to get this shawl done.

Other projects - given everything that I worked on in the last week I haven't worked on anything else. Being able to focus on just a couple of things at a time does make a big difference and I am seeing results of doing that.

I hope you are being able to see progress on the stuff that you are working on. It can be a challenge sometimes to see much progress but when you step back and look at a project you can see it has moved forward even a little bit. For me taking a picture at the end of each week that I have worked on a project helps me see the amount of progress that I made.

Hopefully you are finding a bit of time each day to recharge your personal battery by doing something that you enjoy doing. This week I will be picking up a different cross stitch project to focus on and we will see how much of it I can get done.