Two finishes

It's hard to believe that another week is over, and things are starting to look a little better here in Toronto. I know that it is still a way away before things are at a normal level, but at least now I am starting to feel a little better about things.

The weather is our normal crazy March weather, as yesterday we had a high of 16C here in Toronto, and now it is back to the normal temperatures of around 1C. At least the warm day yesterday melted quite a bit of the snow, so that is nice. 

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - this has been my focus piece for the last week as I wanted to get it finished. I wasn't sure when I started the week if I could be able to get all the rows done that remained, but then I figured it was going to be my goal for the week.

With a bit of hard work over the weekend, I was able to get all the lace section completed and then the job of casting off all the stitches. The casting off didn't take as long as I thought it was going to take, and now the shawl is finished. I am very happy with how it turned out, and now I just need to block it a little, and it will be ready to wear.

This shawl was pretty easy to work on as until you got to the lace section it was just garter stitch with increases. The lace section was a little more focused work, but again something that I could get done without too much of a problem.

Now that this project is off the needles, it is time to figure out which project is going to take its place. I think I know what it is going to be, but I will wait until later today or tomorrow to make that final decision.

I Love To Stitch In Blue - this is another one of those small cross stitch projects that I have been working on. I wanted to have some small projects to focus on for a bit, just to change things up a bit for myself.

I started this project last Sunday and then didn't work on it at all during the week, so figured I should try and move it forward again. I picked it up on Saturday to work on it, and I got it finished. It was a fun piece to stitch and again something small. This pattern was from The Gift of Stitching, Issue 3, April 2006.

Other projects - I didn't work on any of the other projects that I have on the go this week, as I was focused on getting the shawl done. I will see what this week has in store, as once again I have things that I want and need to get done. 

I hope everyone has a good week, and you continue to find those bits of time each day to take time for yourself. I realized this week how important it is to make sure that even those few minutes can make a difference on your energy level and how you handle everything.

Have a good week and hopefully next week I will have some progress on something to show you. Now I just need to figure out what the focus is going to be for this week.

 

Progress, a finish and a start

Here it is the start of another week, and of course that means time to look and see what I have been able to accomplish in the last week. The weather here is still pretty wintry, so that means that there is time to sit and work on the crafts. 

We are still getting work done remotely, and it is nice when we can work during the day and get everything done and then have a bit of time to do something else.

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - here is the project that has got a lot of my attention this week. I wanted to get all the garter stitch increases done, so that was my focus this week. The stitch marker on the second picture is where I was last Monday morning. I wanted to see if I could at least get those rows done and maybe just start the lace section.

Now the lace section is very hard to see right now as it is all bunched up on the needle. I am just trying to avoid having to change to a circular needle to finish this project. I think I have about 50 rows to go, so that means that I am going to have lots of stitches on this needle, as I am still continuing to increase.

I am really enjoying working on this shawl, and I am looking forward to seeing the lace section once it is all done. I would like to have this shawl finished within the net couple of weeks, but time will tell. I am not sure what is on my agenda for this week, so will see how much knitting I am able to accomplish.

Treasures in the Attic - here is a small project that I decided to work on this week. I wanted something that I could pick up and see some good progress on, so I looked through a bunch of my patterns and found this one and of course I had to start it and by yesterday I was able to say that I had also finished it.

This pattern didn't give you a colour to stitch it in so of course after stitching with red I decided it was going to be red and off I went. It is a small design and love how it turned out. This pattern is from the Gift of Stitching, May 2007.

I Love To Stitch in Blue - after finished Treasures in the Attic, I decided it was time to see if I could make some progress on another small design, so I picked up this one. This is also going to be another small, so hopefully it doesn't take me long to get it stitched. 

I have all the Gift of Stitching magazines, so I will be trying to work through some small designs in those books. They are a lot of fun to work on, and it will mean that I will have a bunch of little things that I can put on the magnetic boards that we have hung up here at home. This project is from the April 2006 magazine.

Other projects - this past week I didn't get a lot of other projects worked on as I have been trying to get a little more organized, so I have been focusing on that. This week I am not sure what I will be working on other than the shawl. 

I hope everyone has a good week, and you remember to take a bit of time each day to do something for yourself. Have a good week and I will hopefully be back next week with some more progress.

 

Some slow progress

Here it is the start of another week, and I am looking out the window at snow on the ground again. The forecast today and tomorrow is for lots of rain, so now the concern is for flooding because the ground is frozen. 

It is a holiday Monday here in Ontario as it is Family Day, so that means a day of relaxing and just trying to get things done around home and hopefully not having to deal with any work issues.

I hope to be able to get the things done around home that we want to get done and then find a bit of time to sit and do some crafting, but will have to see how things go.

Ruskin's Penguins - this is the project that has come out to see how much progress I can get done on it over the next little while. I am going to be trying to continue to work on the outside border section as well as now start to complete the middle of the design.

The border of this piece is pretty easy once you get into it, so that is what I do when I just want to sit and fill in different sections. I still have most of the white around the border to fill in, but again now that a lot of the black is done the white is pretty easy to add into those sections. 

The middle of the design is coming along pretty nicely, and it is something that I decided to work on this week for a while. I still have to finish off the word penguin and then add another penguin, and then the filling in of the middle will start to happen with all the snowflakes around the piece.

I hope to continue to work on this piece, as I would like to have it finished before too long. 

Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl - this past week, I decided that I was going to try and focus on getting more knitting done. I started this shawl a while ago and just hadn't been making much progress, and then I decided to try and pick it up a bit each day to try and get a few stitches in. 

This last week I was able to work on it a little more than I had and now am happy with the progress that I have made on it. I still have quite a ways to go on the pattern, but at least I am now starting to see progress on it and that does make me happy.

This coming week I am going to see how much more knitting I can get done on it as it would be nice to see this section of the pattern done, and then I can start working on the lace section which is what I am looking forward to doing.

Other projects - I haven't been getting a lot of time to work on other projects, so will see what this week is like. I am trying to get more organized in regard to work, so that has been taking some of my time over the last couple of weeks.

I hope everyone continues to find a bit of time each day to do something for yourself. It is important that we remember that we need to make sure that we take care of ourselves so that we have the energy to take care of others.

This week I will see what I can get done on both Ruskin's Penguins and Asymmetrical Lace Knit Shawl. Hope everyone has a good week and I will see you next week.