Progress and a couple of finishes

Here it is the start of another week and one week before Christmas. We are working on wrapping up a bunch of things here at home and in regard to work, so will see how things go through the rest of this week. 

I have been doing little bits of crafting over the last week, but life got in the way for some of it, so that means that I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked to do. Now to see what the next couple of weeks are like, as I would like to see if I can spend some time just hiding and getting some crafting done.

Holly - here is one of the projects that I wanted to get done. I had completed stitching the first of the three Holly ornaments that I wanted to do, but still have the other two to stitch and also get ready to give. There weren't very big as the frame is only 2"x3" so something that is quick to make.

This weekend I decided it was time to sit down and work on getting the last two stitched and as soon as they were finished, I was able to put all three of them into their frames, and they are now finished. They were a lot of fun to work on and am now happy that the final things I needed for Christmas are now finished.

English paper piecing - this week I was able to get a few more motifs completed and hopefully over the next couple of weeks I can start to join more of the motifs onto the throw as the bag of motifs is starting to get rather large.

I also need to work on joining the large motifs onto that throw as well, as I better get back to joining motifs instead of just making them. The making of the motifs is a great thing in the evening because I don't need a lot of good light to do these, and it gets something done when I am starting to wrap up for the evening.

Simple Triangle Shawl - yes, I have started another shawl. This last week was a very interesting week and after having some issues with another knitting project, I figured it was time to pick up something that was very easy and something that I could work on and see results quickly. This one is using up some more yarn and I will see how large it gets as I am going to be working on this shawl until the ball of yarn is finished, or at least that is my goal right now on this shawl.

These shawls are very easy to work on and something that I can see results on quickly, and I will just have to figure out what I will be doing with all these shawls after they are all done.

Wavy Lace Scarf - here is the knitting project that I had issues with this week. It is a pretty easy pattern, but after messing it up a couple of times, I figured I needed to take a bit of a break from it. I hope to get back to working on this scarf this week, as I would like to see it finished before too long. 

Other projects - I didn't work on any of the other projects that I wanted to work on this past week. If things go well, some of the other projects will start to come back out, and I will see what I can get moved forward.

I hope everything is finding that little bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy doing. This time of year, is busy for so many people, but we also need to ensure that we are taking that little bit of time each day to recharge those personal batteries so that we can continue to get everything else completed.

As this is my last blog before Christmas, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hope that you will enjoy some time with the ones that you love.

Progress and bouncing around

Here it is the start of another week, and I am thinking that just getting more of the things moved forward would be nice. There are so many things that I would like to achieve, so will see how things go.

I am still trying to make some progress on a bunch of things, so will see how things go. There are still so many things that I would like to get some of the stuff achieved.  I am going to try and make sure that I can continue to get things achieved, so will see how it goes.

Mini the Forgotten - this week I didn't get a lot of time to focus on this piece, but that doesn't bother me because I know that it is a project that I will be working on for a while. The black floss is still the focus on this piece, and hopefully before the end of the year I will be able to continue to move this forward. It would be nice too more of this done before the end of the year and now just to see what happens. I would like to see if at least I can move the black forward before the end of the year.

New Doors - this is the project that got the most attention of my cross stitch projects. This piece was started on my birthday in 2022, and I would like to see it finished before my birthday in 2023. 

It has been interesting working on this piece because there aren't that many colours, but it does take a lot of time to work on some of the areas. Currently, I am trying to work on both the left side of the pattern, but also I am trying to get as much of the black done as I can. I may be moving the q-snap this week so that I can continue to get more of the border completed, as it would make happy to see that the border is at least to the point where I know that it meets up.

I have now reached the 55% complete on this project, and I would like to make a bit more progress on it before the end of the year. It might not be finished before the end of the year, but at least seeing that I am getting closer to a finish would be nice. What I have been trying to do with this project is to move it forward at 5% increments, and it has been helping. The project isn't very big, compared to some of the other projects I have done, but making sure that I can see at least some progress makes it a lot easier.

This coming week I will try and make a bit more progress on this piece as it would be nice to see more of the keys and locks stitched. Hopefully, next blog there will be more of a change to this piece, but will see how this week really goes.

Wavy lace scarf - here is a project that I haven't worked on for quite some time, and I figured it was time to pull it out and get some progress on it. I only worked on it on Sunday, but at least I was able to see some progress. It would be nice to see more of this project moved forward, as I would like to see that I have moved this forward, and I am getting closer to finishing this ball of yarn before the end of the year.

This project has been sitting for a while, so now that it is back out, I will be working on seeing if I can get it finished before too long.

Simple Triangle Shawl - this week I have continued to focus on getting more of the triangle shawl completed. What I have been doing is trying to knit around 1-hour most days just to see how much of this project I can get done.  I didn't get 7-hours done on the scarf this week, but at least I have been able to see some excellent progress on it.

It feels so nice just seeing that I can pick up a project and work on it for a while most days and by the end of the week see some pretty good progress on it. This shawl may end up a little larger than the other versions I have done, but that doesn't bother me because it is something that I have been enjoying working on.  Once this shawl is finished, I'm maybe picking up a bunch of the other projects that I have started, as I would like to see more projects finished before too long.

Other projects - in the last week I did pick up my English Paper piecing one day but didn't get a lot of progress done on it. It is always nice to have a bunch of different things that I can pick up and work on depending on how I am feeling each day and now much time I have available for working on something.

I hope everyone is finding that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy doing. It might not be a lot of time, but at least being able to see some progress on something is nice. If you read or even watch TV, it means that you are taking the time for yourself and recharging that personal battery. 

This coming week, I am not sure what I will be trying to accomplish, but I hope that I will be able to show you some of the things that I worked on. Until next week, remember to continue to take that personal time each day to ensure that you are recharging your personal batteries so that you are there for those around you.

One crazy week

Here it is the start of another week and hopefully this week will be a little better for me craft wise.

Of course, things have been busy for us, and now we are going to try to get into a routine that is going to work for us, as this last week we were busy, and things were a little off.  Now that things are settling down, I think we will be able to see progress on a few things, or at least I hope that I will.

Cross stitch - well there is no cross stitch project to show you and that is because I have been working on a secret project that I cannot show you. This has been the main focus for the last couple of week, so now that it is finished I hope that I can also get back to stitching some more or at least getting more crafting done that I can show. I have loved working on the project and hope that the person that receives it likes it as well.

Simple Triangle Shawl - of course, when I had those few minutes each day, I was able to spend it working on one version of the Simple Triangle Shawl. These shawls do work up relatively quickly, and I hope to have a few more of these made so that I can possibly have them as items at a craft sale, or I could also donate these to a charity.

I like working on these shawls because they do work on quickly, and it is something that I can just work on when I have those few minutes between the various things that I am working on. This pattern is also great when you are attending a webinar, and you just have to listen, and you don't have to have your camera on.

Of course, I finished this shawl on the weekend and immediately had to go and figure out some yarn that I could use for this next version of the shawl. This version of the shawl may be bigger because I do have a bit more of this yarn. This yarn is closer to a solid colour, but it does have a bit of variation of the shades, so that is nice. Now to see how much I can get done on this shawl this week, as I do have two webinars to attend and both of them are just me listening to the presentation.

English paper piecing - last night I decided that instead of working on my knitting or figuring out the next cross stitch project that would get my attention, I would work on some more motifs.

It felt great working on these, and it was rather difficult to stop making them, but it was time for bed, so I put them down and will see how many I can get done this week. One thing I do like about these motifs is they are quick to make and something that I can do when I want to relax, and it doesn't involve a lot of concentration. 

Other projects - I haven't been working on any other project in the last week, as I was focusing on getting the secret project completed.

I hope everyone is finding that time each day to do something that you enjoy doing for yourself. It is important that each of us takes that little bit of time each day to recharge your personal batteries so that we can be there for others.

Hopefully next week I will have more projects or at least progress to show you, as I think I now have things a little more organized and know what I would like to be working on. Until next week, have a good week and enjoy your personal time.

A bit of progress and a quick finish

Here it is the start of yet another week and another week of I am not sure what I will be getting accomplished. Live is starting to get back to being busy, so I am now juggling and trying to find some time when I can focus on my crafting, even for a little while. I do make sure that I take a little bit of time each day no matter what to take time for myself.

This time of year, is always a little busier than other times of the year, so now to see how the rest of 2022 goes.

Mini the Forgotten - I did pick up this project for a little while this weekend and I got a few more stitches in. I am still working on getting the black completed on the entire project. I am looking forward to seeing the piece once all the black is completed. I will take it off the q-snap at that point just to see where I am on the piece.

I am enjoying working on this piece, and it is so different from how I have stitched any of my other full coverage pieces. I figured I would try doing it this way, so that is why I am doing all the black on the piece before working on a lot of the other colours. I did start working an entire section at a time, but then thought I would try this method instead. I will figure out what I like doing best.

Holly - here is a project that I started quickly after I received the pattern in an email newsletter. This pattern is from Hello From Liz Matthews, and it was sent in her latest newsletter. Of course, I looked at it and decided that I could get it stitched up quickly, so after a trip to the local Michael's to get the floss that I was missing, it was time to sit down and get it done. I loved how quickly it worked on, and within a few hours I went from looking at a pattern to having a piece finished.

The project is nice and small as it is only 27 x 33 so something that you can stitch up quickly. I do think I will probably be stitching some more of these, as I think they would make some nice ornaments. I am glad that I picked up the floss and got the first one completed.

Simple Triangle Shawl - here is the project that got the most attention this week. I decided after finishing the last shawl that I wanted to continue making this shawl, so I grabbed another ball of yarn and immediately started another version of it. I was also looking forward to seeing how quickly I could get one of these shawls done. I set a goal of 7 hours knitting on the shawl for the week, and by last night I had done those 7 hours. I am very happy with the progress that I made on the shawl, and I am looking forward to seeing how much longer it is going to take me to finish it.

I am loving working on this pattern as it is something that is easy to pick up and put down. Just having one row to do makes it nice for a change, and this shawl is also a nice way to use up some of my yarn stash.

Other projects - I haven't worked on any other projects this past week, so will see what happens this week. I know that I have a few other things that I should be working on, so will see how it goes.

I hope that everyone is trying to find those few minutes each day to do something for yourself. I know that being able to spend the time knitting or stitching has helped me refocus, and it has made it easier to handle everything that has been doing on. Have a good week, and hopefully I will have things to show you next week that I got moved forward.

 

A busy week so slow progress

Here it is the start of another week and of course that means that there are things that I was able to get done last week but not as much as I would have liked to do. I was busy with a lot of other things this past week, so crafting was something that got little bits of time, but it still meant that I was able to see some progress on a couple of things. Now to see what this coming week is going to be like.

Mini The Forgotten -- this project did get a bit of attention as I wanted to see if I could reach the top of the pattern before long. The first thing that I had to do was move the q-snap, so I did that, and then it was time to see if I could at least reach the top. I have now reached the top of the pattern and have finished outlining all the black areas. I hope that through the next couple of weeks I can start to add all the black stitches in, and then I will know where a lot of the other sections go.

 

Simple Triangle Shawl - I have been working on this shawl quite a bit, as it is something that I can pick up and work on for a few minutes at a time and sometimes see some good progress on it. Over the weekend, I once again decided to do the hour a day from Friday through Sunday to get some progress on the shawl. Well, this weekend, those three hours meant that I was able to get the shawl finished

I don't know how long it really took me to knit this shawl, but it was a lot of fun to do. This pattern is extremely easy and with the yarn that I have been using it has made it a fun project to do.

Other projects - this past week I didn't work on anything else because I didn't have a lot of time. I was happy to see some progress on these two projects, and now to figure out what I am going to be working on this week. I would like to see if I can get more of the black done on Mini the Forgotten, and I do know that I need to have another knitting project on the go.

I hope you continue to find those few minutes each day to do something that you enjoy doing. I know that it is helping me recharge those personal batteries so that I can be there for others. 

This coming week I will figure out which projects will get the attention and then hopefully have something to show you next week. Take care of yourself so that you can be there for those around you.  See you next week.


 

Some slow progress this week

Here it is the start of another week, and I can honestly say that I am not sure where the last week went. 

 

It is hard to believe that another week has come and gone because with everything else that was going on I haven't been able to spend much time working on things. I did find some time most days to at least find a few minutes to do something that I love doing.

New Doors - this project at least got a little bit of attention, which meant that I was able to work on getting another key done as well as work on the border and another one of the locks. I hope that before too long I can start to see more progress on this, as it would be nice to see it getting closer to a finish.

I would like to try and continue to work on this piece a bit each week because then I would be able to see the progress that I want to see on it. I might not get a lot of stitching done but at least moving it forward would be nice and maybe now what I am going to try and do is see if I can get at least one of the colours of keys finished before too long.

Mini the Forgotten - here is a piece that I am trying to work on getting more of the black finished. I would also like to see if I can get the outline done on the rest of the black so that I can reach the top of the design. I have already been able to touch the bottom and both sides, so now it is just a matter of working on the black to reach the top.

I am so happy with the progress that I have been able to make on this piece because I think I am now going to move the fabric on the q-snap so that I can continue to work on the outline of the rest of the black sections. 

I would like to be able to get to the top of the pattern before too long, as well as get the rest of the black finished. I can see that I am getting closer to the top, but there is still quite a bit of black that needs to get stitched. I think I still have around 3,500 stitches of black, but it is between the top of her dress on the top of the pattern, so will see how things go over the next couple of weeks.

Simple Triangle Shawl - I am continuing to work on this project as it is making me feel so good to see the progress on it.  I have been trying to work on it a bit each day because as the rows at getting longer it means that it is taking longer to see progress on it. I would like to see how much of it I can get done this coming week because the ball of yarn is now starting to look like that is less to use. I am not sure how many more stitches I will be increasing on this before it's time to cast off, but at least just seeing it moved forward it is making me feel wonderful.

After I finish this shawl, I am not sure what I will be working on but I am starting to think that I need to figure out my next project. I don't think I will be finishing the shawl in the next week, but having the next project figured out might be a good idea.

I am happy that I have been able to continue to knit a bit most days, so will see what this week is like, as it would be nice to get more of this shawl completed.

English paper piecing - this last week I wasn't able to spend a lot of time working on my motifs or attaching them to the scrap throw, but at least I made a bit of progress.

I would like to see if I can continue to make the motifs because having a bunch of them ready to join makes it so much easier. I do know that I still have lots of motifs to make and join together, but this project is currently fun to work on and also very relaxing. I have found that when I have those few minutes at the end of the day I am picking up this project as it is easy to do, and it doesn't take a large time commitment. I am finding that even either making a motif or two or joining them is a nice thing to do, and it helps me refocus my mind and get me ready for the next day.

Other projects - I haven't been working on any other projects this week, and I think part of that is because we were busy with other commitments of our time. I am not sure what this coming week is going to be like, but I do know that it does look a little busy again.

I hope everyone finds that bit of time each day to do something that you enjoy doing. It doesn't matter what it is but making sure that you can find that time to do something for yourself is very important. If things go well this coming week, I should have something to show you, but only time will tell. My pile of things that I would like to work on continues to grow, but I do know that just taking those few minutes at the end of my day is very important, as it helps me recharge my personal batteries so that I am there for everyone else.

Have a good week and I hope to have something to show you next Monday.

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.

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.