Moving things forward

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 17

It is the start of another week so that means another update to show what I have been working on over the last week.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 21

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 19 - here is a project that I will be working on each month this year and I am looking forward to seeing the continued changes on this piece.

The February section was a lot of work as it was completing all the borders that will help in the placement of 8 elements.  Once the elements have been stitched there will be a border around the entire piece.  This week I was able to get the top section of the border completed so now I am waiting to see what the March section will be.

It is amazing to think that this is the third year that Linen and Threads have released a mystery stitching along and it has been free to anyone on the internet.  Each year it has been a monthly release and the only cost that a stitcher incurs is the cost of the fabric and thread that they use as well as the time that they spend stitching.  The pattern is free.

Roses - Feb 17

Roses - Feb 22

Roses - here is one of the Heaven and Earth designs that I am currently working on.  This week I didn't get a lot of stitching completed on this piece but at least I was able to get a bit done so this design continues to get moved forward.  I  hope that early in March that I can have another page finish as that would help me see that I am actually making progress on this piece.  The next page finish will be the 4th page so it is slowly coming along.

Unleash the Butterflies - Feb 16

Unleash the Butterflies - this is a project that I started last weekend and I have been able to see some good progress on it.  Sure it takes a while to see any real images but at least I am starting to see some areas getting completed so I am going to be continuing to work on this piece as well in March.

Unleash the Butterflies - Feb 24

I have started working on the second page of this design and the page goes up to where the top stitches are visible on the picture. I know it is going to take me some time to get this page finished but I will continue to try and get a few stitches on this design then I have a bit of time.


Crafts that I enjoy is how I stitch my mind back together at the end of the day.  Stitching is the final thing that I do most evenings even if it is only a couple of stitches.  I ensure that all the other tasks that I have to do are completed and then I sit down and either just look at the piece or put a few stitches in on something to help me relax before going to bed. Stitching is either knitting, crocheting or cross stitch is a way for me to quiet my mind to ensure that when I go to bed, I go to sleep instead of thinking about all the tasks that I will be facing the next day.

It is now time to get some work done here at my desk so hope everyone has a great week and you all find the time to do the things that you love to do.

Some progress, a finish and a new start

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 9

Before I start this blog I am going to say it is going to be longer than a normal post.

It is the start of another week and sure it might be Tuesday when I am writing this but it is the start of the work week for me.  It was a holiday here in Ontario yesterday so I took the day to relax and not write this blog.  The past week was a good week and considering there was a snow day, a stitching night with friends and a three day weekend I am happy with the progress that I was able to make on some of the projects.

Yes, we had a snow day here or at least I did because my clients weren't in work so I couldn't get the answers to finish up some of the work that needed to be done.  It waited the one day and then I was able to get it finished up.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 17

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL  '19 - this is the project that I continue to work on as I would like to get the February section done before the end of the month.  I have completed the bottom section of it and now just need to add the blocks to the top of the piece and complete the outline.  I hope to have this finished before the end of the month so that I can keep caught up on this piece.  The March section will probably be released February 27th.

This section is taking longer than I expected to complete as there is a lot of work involved but with a bit of effort this week I hope to get it done.

Roses - Feb 9

Roses - this week I decided that it would be great to see if I could at least get a few stitches in on this Heaven and Earth design. I made a little bit of progress on one of the pages so at least this got moved forward a little bit.

Roses - Feb 17

The overall piece is going to take quite a while to complete but I keep working on it a page at a time and that is helping me see some progress but again it is slow moving but I understand that.  I think I was able to add around 400 stitches to this piece so not a lot but at least it was something.  If things go well this week I would like to get a few more stitches in on it to see if I can get a little closer to getting another page finished before too long.

Unleash the Butterflies

Unleash the Butterflies - this is the new start that I did this week and again it is one of those projects that is going to take quite a while to finish.  The finished size of this design will be 13 inches x 18 inches when completed.  The actual section that I got done this week was 1 inch by 3.5 inches so a little bit of progress but again not a lot when you think of the size of the piece.

Unleash the Butterflies - Feb 16

You're Not An Avocado - Feb 15

The thread that you see at the top of the piece are threads that I am going to be using when I move to work on the next page of the design.  I decided that instead of bouncing all over the piece, like I normally do, I was going to try and finish one page at a time so these threads are parked and ready to be used when I start the next page.

You're Not An Avocado - here is a fun piece that I was asked if I would stitch.  I have been working on this piece for a couple of weeks but didn't want to post any progress on it until it was finished and given to the person.  This piece was a nice change from all the projects that I have been working on.  It isn't something that I would normally stitch but I am happy that I was able to get it stitched up as quickly as I did.  I think I was able to get this completed in 5 stitching sessions so again not a big piece.   This piece is around 4.5 inches square so something that was fun and quick to work on.


It's a four day work week here so that means that the days are going to be busy but I hope that most evening I can find even a little bit of time to relax and stitch my mind back together.  It is now time for me to get the work done that needs my attention and I hope everyone else finds a bit of time each day to do the things that they love.

A bit of progress and a finish

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 3

It's Monday morning and here it is the start of another week.

This was busy this week but at least I was able to find a bit of time to stitch and get some progress on a couple of pieces.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - I was able to get some progress on the February section of the Mystery Stitch-a-long this week.  Of course, this is another big section so it is taking longer than I thought to see some progress on it.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Feb 10

After finishing off the section that I am working on now I still have the blocks to outline above the Peacock.  It has been interesting seeing all the comments on Facebook about this piece because a lot of people are saying the same thing that this month's section didn't look too bad but it is taking quite a while to stitch.  If things go ok this week I hope to get more of it completed and then I can put the piece away until the March section is released.

We have been told that there will be eight smaller designs that go around the Peacock and then two month's worth of the final border around the entire design.

Roses - Feb 9

Roses - Jan 27

Roses - this is the Heaven and Earth design that I have been working on and I picked it up as a bit of a break from working on Mystery SAL.  I was able to get another page finished of this pattern so that is now 3 pages finished but still there is a lot of stitching to go on this piece.  I enjoy working on this as it is fun to see how the roses are starting to appear a little bit at a time.  I hope that when I get into some of the pages above where I am the actual roses will start to look more like roses than they currently do.

The only disadvantage of this piece is I am only using one colour floss on it so it is difficult to work on for very long considering Mystery is only 3 colours it doesn't give me a lot of variety.   I do have a couple of other pieces that I am thinking of picking up just so that I have some colour variety.

Taffy - Easy Goes It - Feb 6

Easy Goes It Shawl - here is the shawl that I have been working on for the last couple of weeks.  I am happy to see yet another shawl finished and this one is the one that I made using the new Prym knitting needles.  This shawl was made with one ball of Sock-Ease yarn and it worked up quickly.  I am looking forward to working on another one of these shawls as they are quick and easy to make and I do enjoy wearing them.  I have found that I can wear them with a sweater and they dress up the outfit a little bit.


It is nice seeing that I can continue to get some things moved forward.  I hope that I can continue to see progress on things even a little bit at a time.  Sure, I don't get a lot of time to craft but when I can find a bit of time to do something I make sure that I can enjoy what I am working on and also see some progress on the project.

It is now time for me to get some work done that I need to do today and then I will see if I can find a little bit of time to work on a project and see how things go.  I hope everyone else can find a bit of time to do what they love doing this week.

some progress

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL'19 - Jan 24

Where did the last week go? I think I know where the time went and I can admit that I really enjoyed everything that I did.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL'19 - After having some time to wait for the February section to be released I figured I would work on some of the other projects that I have on the go and instead of working on any of my cross-stitch the knitting needles go used and some progress was made.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL'19 - Feb 3

On January 30th the February section of the Mystery SAL was released and it was once again time to try and get some stitching done.  The outline of some of the borders has been released so that has meant some time sitting and stitching around the peacock.  I will be continuing to work on getting the rest of the border done this month and will see what other stitching I will be able to get done as well.   It is fun working on this piece as I am starting to see it come to life and I am liking the colours that I have picked for this year's piece.  I know they are the same threads like last year and I think they will work well for this year's piece as well.

I hope to get back to working on the border around the Peacock this coming week but will have to see how things go.

Knitting - I have been able to get some knitting done in the last week and a lot of it was fun.

Small version - Workday scarf

One project that got done pretty quickly was a smaller version of the workday scarf.  I was asked to make this version for a doll so that meant it was a quick stitch as I only had to go from 11 stitches up to 30 stitches and then back down again.  It was nice seeing how quickly this scarf worked up and the person is happy with the finished piece.

Besides working on the smaller version of the workday scarf I finished another regular version of it using Sock-Ease yarn in the colourway Taffy.  This scarf is a lot of fun to make and it is something that I can pick up and knit a couple of rows when I have a bit of time. 

Workday scarf - Taffy

This weekend I was able to wear my purple version of the Workday scarf to an event on February 1st and a number of people commented on it. I will be making a couple more versions of this scarf using different yarns as it is fun to make something that really doesn't take too long to do.

I am also working on the Easy Goes It Shawl using the Sock-Ease yarn so I hope to have it finished before the end of this coming week. The Easy Goes It Shawl is using the new Prym Ergonomic knitting needles that I wrote a review in my previous post.


It is now time for me to start getting some things done today that I need to get done.  I have a meeting as well today so will see how that goes.  Until next week hope you can find some time to do what you enjoy doing and know that even if you can't do something each day at least doing a little bit when you can will help you feel a lot better about things.

Prym Ergonomic Knitting Needles

Prym Needles

Prym has released some different knitting needles here in Canada and of course, I wanted to try them out.  The description was they are ergonomic needles so I wanted to see what they were like so I went ahead and purchased three different size needles.

I purchased 5.0mm needles at Michaels as that was the smallest size they had in stock. Michaels carried both the double point and straight needles ranging in size from 5.0mm to 10mm but only the whole sizes.  After finding those I contacted one of my local yarn shops to see if they had the needles and sure enough they did.  We headed off to The Yarn Guy who has the full range (or most sizes) and I picked up a 4.5mm circular needle and 4.0mm straight needles.

Once I had the 5.0mm needles I started to work on an Easy Goes It Shawl with some yarn that I had in my stash to try out the needles.  The needles do feel very nice in my hands and I was able to make some good progress on the shawl.

This is the description that I found about the needles:

Simply knit more easily The detail is decisive: The new drop-shaped tips optimize the picking up and guiding of the yarn. These hook tips make the start easy for the beginner and enable the experienced knitter to work quickly and quietly - even with complicated patterns. Click Heads, Triangle Shape, Hook Tips and Steel Cord.

Now here are some of my comments with regards to the needles.

US vs International Boxes

 1. The boxes vary depending on where you purchase the needles.  The needles I purchased from Michaels are in a box that is basically a US box and the description is in both English and French.  The needles I purchased at The Yarn Guy is the International box as there are multiple languages on the boxes.

Tips of needles

2.  The tips of the needles are something that I am finding interesting to work with.  The tips have what they explain as a hook but I would describe it more as a small ball.  The little ball does make it easier for your needle to slip between the needle and the yarn and doesn't split the yarn.  I was finding that using these needles meant that I wasn't fighting as much doing the different stitches, example purling, knitting and knit-two-togethers.  All of those stitches seemed to work very well with a lot less effort and a lot less splitting of the yarn.

3. The needles click/slip together so that you can basically use them as a stitch holder.  I wouldn't be clicking them together as I think doing that would wear them out faster than slipping them together.  I have found that sometimes when you pick up the needles after slipping them together that they do come apart so it is something you have to watch.  I think they would be good when putting a project into a bag and taking somewhere as long as you put the needle with the stitches on it pointing up.  For needle storage they will stay together making it easier to find the set.

In Action

4. The sound of the needles is something that even my husband noticed as they are so quiet.  These needles are quieter than any other needles that I have and I have a few different types of needles in my tool kit.

5. The steel cord on the circular needle to me is a win because it means that the cord will stay straight and not have that normal twist that we knitters have to normally deal with. As soon as I purchased the circulars I pulled them out of the box and they went nice and straight immediately.  I tried to get the normal twist that most circulars have but it didn't happen.

6. Texture of the needles is a little different.  The actual needle goes from round to triangular which is something that you have to get use to.  I have also found that some yarn doesn't slip as easily on these needles but in some ways that could be an advantage because the stitches won't slip off the needle.

7. My overall opinion of these needles are a win because they lighter, quieter and easier to knit with.  I am really looking forward to trying a knit-three-together to see how that goes.

One comment I cannot make is how long they will last as I have only had them for a couple of weeks so time will tell. Now to see if I can wear them out and how long it takes.

Overall review:  Will I purchase more of these needles?  YES

If you have used these needles please let me know what your opinion is.

Some good progress

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 19 - Jan 20

 Here it is another week and yes I have some progress to show.  I am happy to say that I am getting back to doing the crafting that I love doing. I have started to pick up my needle most evenings which is great and even on the weekends, I am finding time to just sit and do some of the projects that I have missed doing. I will explain why later on in the post. 

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Jan 24

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - this is once again a twelve-month project but it is going to be smaller than it was last year so that is great.  The first part of it was the center design and that is the Peacock and it did take quite a bit of time to stitch but this week I was able to get it finished and now I am waiting to see what the second piece is going to be.  The actual title for this piece is A Peacock's Garden so looking forward to seeing what we will be adding to the garden over the rest of the year.

Linen and Threads 11,000 Members - Jan 26

11,000 Member Design - this is another design from Linen and Threads and it was released through Facebook when the group reached 11,000 members.

I decided that I wanted to work on something a little different so this weekend I picked the fabric and pulled the threads for this design and actually got it all stitched on Saturday which made me very happy.  Yes it was a nice quick piece to do and it measures 6 x 4 so now to just get a frame and it will be finished. While I was stitching this piece I was thinking about how I could stitch it again so it might be stitched again but with some different colours but I will wait for a while and see what I feel like.

Temperature 2019 - Jan 13

Temperature 2019 - Jan 26

Temperature - here is a project that still isn't caught up but it doesn't bother me because I know that I can get it caught up quickly if I would just sit down and actually work on this piece more than I have. 

I have only worked on this design for two days this month so I am thinking that I am going to need to try and focus on it for a couple of days if I want to get it caught up so I will see what I do this week.  If I don't get it caught up before the end of the month that is fine because I will focus on it next week and see how it goes.

Roses - Jan 17

Roses - Jan 27

Roses - this is my largest project that I currently have on the go and I decided that it needed a little bit of attention this week so I saw done and worked on it for maybe three hours. I am starting to see that I am making some more progress on it and right now I am going to be trying to get another page finished on the design so it would mean I would have three of the 68 pages completed.  The piece looks rather large in the photo but it isn't as it is currently 9 inches wide by 4 inches high.  The finished piece is going to be around 21 inches wide by 27 inches high.  So yes I am getting there but as you can see I still have a long way to go before I have this piece finished.

Easy Goes It - Burgundy - Jan 24

Easy Goes It Shawl - I decided that this week I was going to try and finish a shawl that I had on the go for a while.  Actually, I started this shawl in November and it was going to be a gift but after some time I decided it wouldn't get done so I made the other burgundy shawl that I gave as a gift.

I was extremely happy to see this shawl finished as it just kept reminding me about a hand issue that I have been dealing with for some time. Yes, I have had to deal with severe tendonitis in my left hand for the last few months and that is one of the reasons why my actual crafting has been down.  It took a couple of specialist appointments to figure out what it was because of course, I ended up having it in the pinkie finger side of my hand.  I am a lefty so it meant a lot of things got impacted and crafting was only one of the things.  My work took longer for me to do each day so that meant that by the time I was finished doing what needed to do I was dealing with pain and crafting just didn't happen.  In the last two weeks, I have had a cortisone shot in the area and am happy to say that the pain is a lot less and I am getting back to doing everything at a normal speed again.  I asked the second specialist what could have caused the problem and her answer was it just happened.  I had thought it might be due to the typing or other things that I do and she let me know that it wasn't repetitive stress that caused the problem it was just something that happened.

Other knitting - I am also working on a couple of other knitting projects and will be writing a separate blog to show off some new knitting needles that I have discovered.  I started both of these projects within the last week and now to write up a blog explaining these new needles.  One project is using the new needles and the other project is using needles that I had so I am going to compare what I have discovered about the new needles.  I hope to have this other blog posted later this week.


It is now time for me to get some work done today as it is getting close to the end of the month and there are things that need to get finished up.  I hope to find some crafting time this week but will have to see how things go as this is a busy week for me.  Hope everyone has a great week and you find time to do some of the things that you love doing.

Progress on projects

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL '19 - Jan 13

This week was a week of trying to make some progress on a bunch of projects and I think I was able to do just that.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 19 - now this is a project that I am trying to make some good progress on and I would like to see the January section done before the end of the month.  The Peacock is slowly starting to make an appearance and now to see if I can continue to work on this piece and get the rest of the Peacock finished before the end of the month.

Linen and Threads Mystery SAL ' 19 - Jan 20

Roses - Nov 24

I am enjoying working on this piece but have to admit that it is taking me longer than I thought to actually get this section finished.  I hope that now that I have the outline done on the second half of the feathers that I can continue to see some good progress on it over the next week.

Roses - this is one of my Heaven and Earth Designs and I decided that this week it was time for it to get a little bit of attention and that is what it got.  I had hoped to get some more of this piece done over the weekend but things just didn't work out as I had hoped so I wasn't able to focus on getting some more of this piece done.  The good news is I have finished another page of the pattern so that is nice and now to see if I can continue to work on it and get some more of it finished before the end of this week.

Roses - Jan 17

The nice thing about this pattern is once I start working on a section I seem to be able to see some progress on it pretty quickly which is nice.  I am thinking that I am going to try and spend some time working on this design this week so that I can see some more of it moved forward before the end of the month as well.  I am thinking that if I can get another page finished before the end of January then I would be happy because it would mean that I have three of the pages finished and that is at least a good start.

Cocker in the Rye - Dec 23

Cocker in the Rye - this is another Heaven and Earth design and I am hoping that this is one of the projects that I might be able to get finished before the end of 2019.  I know it doesn't look like I was able to get a lot done on this design this week but at least I was able to add a few more stitches and sometimes that is all I can ask.

Cocker in the Rye - Jan 17

I hope that now that I have picked up this piece again once I have finished Mystery that I can work on this piece for a while this month and maybe see some more of the design start to come to life.  I know that it isn't going to be a quick stitch but I hope that once I can get into the habit of working on this piece even a couple of days a week that I will be able to see some good progress on it.

Work Day Scarf - Jan 15

Work Day Scarf - now here is a knitting project that I started just after Christmas and I am very happy to say that I have finished it.  I enjoy working on this pattern as it is a pretty easy design so it doesn't take long to make once you start working on it.  I wanted to make this scarf as I wanted to wear it on February 1st so now it is finished and I will be wearing it when I go to an Alzheimer's event. The reason I wanted to knit a purple scarf is I am helping at the Alzheimers walk here in Toronto on February 2nd and figured it would be nice to have something that is the right colour.  My fundraising page is here and if you would like to make a donation please know that I would appreciate any amount.

This scarf is something that I have enjoyed making and I hope that during the year that I will be able to make some more of these in different colours.


I continue to try and work on a bunch of projects and I still have a couple of other projects that I haven't taken pictures of.  I know that just continuing to make progress on a bunch of things makes me feel so much better.

I really don't have a lot of time to craft but at least if I can find even an hour or so each day I feel so much better so that is what I am trying to do.  I have work that needs to get done and that is the priority but at least find a bit of crafting time each day helps me regain the focus and it makes work a little easier the next day.