Lots of Starts

This is fall piece I'm stitching on that Picture This Plus linen

This is my Leafy Loomed Ruffle Scarf.  Tutorial coming soon.

I am trying to make a mini version of the Oxford Metered Square Scarf I made Emily.  The race is on to finish it with this small ball of yarn.  I only have one and I'm sure it's out of production.

A Purling Sprite pattern:  Garters Amidst Ruffles

Ruffled Up

I finished my first ruffle scarf.  Emily is going to have this one.  The blue scarf is a slightly different pattern that I'm working on posting to YouTube if you're interested.  Both are created on a loom.

I also put up my fall decorations since it's the first day of fall

Sunday

I finished up the owl ornament today and bought some more ruffle yarn for another scarf.

My husband surprised me with a bouquet of roses and a cute froggy.

Knitting Progress

Today was the knitting circle at the library so here are some pictures of what I'm working on.

The baby blanket is steadily growing longer.

The ruffle scarf is getting longer too. 

The pattern is really becoming apparent in the Westminster Eyelet Scarf

A Hoot

This piece has been a hoot.  I'm making good progress. Needs one more shade of green at the top and then the ornament and borders.

It's Looking Like Something

Now that I've added a few extra colors, you can see that my ornament is starting to look like something.

Frustration, a blanket and a new ornie

I've been frustrated the past few months with a certain little situation that's been going on behind the scenes.  I won't go into details, because they're not important but I think it might be someone that most of us crafters have faced at one point in our crafty lives.  I had someone basically tell me, you are so talented, I wish I could do what you do and oh, by the way, you should make one of those in these specific colors for _____ (which was someone that that person had a special interest in).  I was like "excuse me?"  

I like making things for people and everything but I like it on my terms.  I don't like to be dictated to.  It's my hobby and my time and my money and, well, it should be my choice with what I do with it.  Now, I have asked people what they would like me to make and I have had people nicely ask if I could make things (such as shawls for shut-ins) and I don't have a problem with that.  I have problems with people expecting that I'm going to do stuff because I can do it.  

There, my rant is over.  Weigh in if you've ever been in that situation.  If you want the details, I'll only discuss it over email.  

On to better things...

My blanket is growing longer.

And another ornament is in the works.

There's not much to it yet.  It's being stitched on that 32 ct linen my husband got me a few weeks back.

Sautrday String Run

My husband came home early yesterday so we headed out to Plano to get some string from Needleworx.

First on my list was some Needlepoint Inc silk.  I didn't realize that it wasn't overdyed or anything and I couldn't justify buying 10 skeins at almost $4 a skein when there wouldn't be much difference between it and me using run of the mill DMC so I scrapped that idea.  I picked up the Silk 'n colors skein that I needed though.

Second on my list was some Weeks Dye Works.  I've never worked with it before so this is going to be fun.  I also picked up a Mill Hill charm I needed.

There's another fall piece I've been eyeing up.  I may get the materials for that in a few weeks.

I also finished the Christmas tree piece today.  It will sit off to the side until I get all the materials to make the box.

It came

My linens came!  Stay tuned to see them in action

A Scarf

I found instructions on how to loom knit one of those ruffle scarves that seem to be all the rage these days.  It's actually quite easy, so I tried my hand at it.

It's coming along pretty nicely.  I am using the Martha Stewart loom but separated into two pieces because you have to move the pegs from one side of the long loom to the other after every row (it's a much better alternative than trying to purl this stuff.

Explanation of an earlier picture

A few posts down, I posted a picture that I said I would explain later.  Well here it is.

It's a lot easier to see since it's over halfway completed and off the Q-Snap

It's a Christmas tree made up of smaller Christmas trees with "Merry Christmas" backstitched in the background.  It is going to serve as part of the fabric to go on Em's Christmas box.  More about that later.

I am expecting a package from 123stitch.

Just Cross Stitch Christmas (yes, already)

I have been toying with getting a subscription to Just Cross Stitch because the only place I can get it is Barnes and Noble and that's not always reliable.  They had a good deal online - get the first issue free and then 7 more issues for $21 with digital access to the last two years of back issues and digital access to my free issue which was the Christmas special issue.  So I downloaded my issue and started looking through the ornaments.

I had picked up the Ornament preview issue back in July when I saw it at random at Wal-Mart (haven't seen JCS there since).

The one on the left is "Red Penguin" from the preview issue.  The one on the right is "Yellow Penguin" (which I stitched on blue Aida because I could not find yellow) from the ornaments issue.  I added Adele's name at the bottom.  I am going to finish them as round ornaments put back to back.  The only other work that needs to be done is adding the eyes which are Mill Hill beads.

A Saturday Post

I've been working a new project these past few days.  Here's a peek:

I'll let you know what it is and what it's for probably this week sometime.  Stay tuned ;)

I hit SCRAP today and got these items:

We have last year's Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue for 25 cents, some silver cording for trim (at the top) for $2 and three balls of yarn for $1 each)

I went to the knitting group at the library.  There was a huge tangle of yarn in my bag so after an hour we finally got everything untangled.  I have decided to go with this pattern for the baby blanket:

I like Brenda's pattern but it was taking too long for my needs.  I also put a few rows on my scarf.

Extra Finishing Work

I put the finishing touches on some finished ornaments from earlier this year.  I tried something new and I'm not terribly happy with how it worked.  But it was an experiment...

To finish it, I used a piece of stiff cardboard and cut it with a template I had.  I then cut identical shapes from cardstock.  I glued the Aida to the cardboard (I would have used sticky board but I was out).  And then I framed it with cardstock.  It didn't assemble as neatly as I thought it would and the edges looked bad.  So, I finally found some nice lacy edging that I used to give it a better look.  On the cat, it's glued on the edges.  On Dumbo, I glued it on the back.  Then I used a gold pen to add the name and year.

Pretty String

I had a comment from yesterday's post about what I was going to do with that Watercolours Thread I got yesterday.  Well, here's what I did with it:

It's stitched on metallic gold perforated paper and it's double sided so I had to stitch two and then sew together.  I think it turned out great.

Not a stellar day

So my day started with groggy children and just got worse from there.  My husband left his phone (one of those Galaxies) on the hood of his truck on accident and then went on the freeway.  At least we have insurance so one expensive deductible later, he'll have a phone in a few days.  Still, it was an expense I'd rather have avoided.

But my husband made it up to me by stopping at the LNS in Plano and getting me this:

It's 32 ct. Belfast Linen with some Watercolours floss.  They aren't for the same project, in case you were wondering.

I finished the owl while I waited on hold for the insurance people.

I had a shot of the backing fabric but forgot to upload it.  Oh, well.

A cute owl

I finished the cute Fall Owl today.  I need to get some backing fabric to finish it.  I omitted the year

I worked on the HAED a bit too.  Almost have another block filled in.

Still, it's not really that much stitching in the grand scheme of things.

Have a happy and safe Labor Day!