A Finish

Tonight, I knuckled down and finished off Traveling with Santa.  I think it turned out great.  I am so close to having all of Em's ornaments done.  I think I am going to give her the box for her birthday even if I don't have all of them completed.  There are only four left (plus the one for this Christmas).

We don't do Santa Claus in our house but I thought this pattern was really cool with the cute penguin.  I modified the sled to have the personalization.  I also omitted something that looked out of place.  If you look at the picture in the magazine, you should be able to spot it.

Mad New Skillz

A few weeks ago, I decided to go back to trying to knit with needles.  I have completed two small projects since then.  It is not as bad as I remember.

I decided to start two more ambitious projects that have nothing to do with cross stitching.

The first is a knitted prayer shawl.  I am using the "Original Knitted Prayer Shawl" pattern with 57 stitches.  It is a knit 3, purl 3 configuration.  I have had to restart it several times but I think I finally have it right.  My original needles were too short, so I bought some longer ones.  I also figured out that I was doing the pattern wrong and I have corrected that this last restart.  So I am hoping for no further massive froggings.

While I was at it, I also decided to try my hand at crochet.  I have a book that is supposed to teach crochet visually but I was having issues understanding the diagrams.  So, I found a video on YouTube which made everything clear.  For my first project, I am doing the "Original Crochet Prayer Shawl"

What traveling actually looks like

For some reason, I had problems uploading an updated picture of Traveling with Santa, so here it is finally:

Stitch from Stash - March Update

I was going to wait to post this until I finished Traveling with Santa but the projects are coming due so I decided to do it now before I forgot.  I was well under budget at $.40

I had two starts that I also finished:

Just One Bite

Irish Blessing

And I am nearing completion on Traveling with Santa.

Crazy Week

Well, this week has been crazy, which is why I didn't post.    I had some major projects that are coming due, I had to do my taxes, and my husband injured himself on a ladder at work so we spent Wednesday doing worker's comp stuff.

Despite all that, I managed to finish the purse.

I knitted the body of the purse on size 8 needles and did the strap with my Clover Wonder Loom.

For my next project, I want to try to make a prayer shawl but I have not yet decided exactly how to do it.

Some weekend work

Today was one of my husband's Saturdays to work so it was me and the girls and also Chris who was up here to put in a deposit on an apartment.  I was going to go to knitting and crochet at the library but unfortunately, it was damaged in our last freeze and is closed for cleanup (a sprinkler pipe froze and burst).  They were going to hold it at the senior center but since Em was sleeping over at a friends, I was sort of stuck.  So, I did a bit of crafting at home.

After the success of my first knitted project, I decided to try something a little larger.  This is going to be a purse (I am hoping one of the girls will like it).

I also put a beard on Santa.  Now, I just need to do his head and hat and the ornament will be done.

Just Like Riding a Bike

Today was an interesting day.  The girls went to the dentist.  It was Adèle's first time going.  Here are some pictures.

In case you were wondering what they are staring at, there's a TV attached to the chair.  Tiny Toons!

If you follow Edgar's Blacksheep Blog, you know that he is always posting exciting pictures of the sights of San Francisco.  I lamented to him that all the sights I have are of cows.  He told me to post some.  So, Edgar, here are some cows.

I think they are Black Angus but that's just a guess.  I'm sure they are tasty, whatever breed they are.

I also glued the backing onto the Dragon Dreams Ornament I made.  Here's a look:

I might add some personalization and glue it onto the back.

Today, I also decided to take something up that I have not done in ages.  I KNITTED WITH NEEDLES!!!!

Once upon a time, my mother did teach me to knit with needles but I didn't like it and stopped doing it and eventually discovered counted cross stitching and loom knitting that I preferred.  As cool as loom knitting is, there are still some things that traditional knitting and crochet do better.  I found this kit for $3 at Dollar General that had a book on how to knit complete with needles and yarn so I decided to give it a try.

The hardest part was figuring out how to cast on (but eventually, I got it down).  I tried "their" way to knit but eventually settled back into how I used to knit (which was a lot faster).  I also seem to purl better than I did. It didn't take me long, and I had this knitted:

The bottom is how it will look after I sew it up.

Lastly, here are the new lamps that we got for our bedroom from a customer.

Oops

Well, I haven't been stitching much this week (doing more reading) but I did manage to do the finishing work on the Irish Blessing piece.  Then I put in the envelope to send to my mother, sealed the envelope and promptly realized that I had forgotten to take a picture of the finished piece.  Oops.

Walt the Malt

I was able to finish Walt last night by adding the missing buttons.  Here he is:

Stash Arrival and Stitching Progress

I got my package today from Needle in a Haystack.  It was my backordered JAB Buttons!  Just missing the By Jupiter charm now.  It doesn't count toward my Stitch from Stash since I ordered it in December.  Now I should be able to finish Walt the Malt.  Stay tuned!

Special thanks to the folks at Needle for figuring out which heart to ordered (there was an error in the pattern).

I also was able to stitch some more on Traveling with Santa.

Dragon!

I finished stitching on "Just One Bite."  It just needs some backing fabric and it will be ready to go.

And Now for Something Completely Different: A Dragon with a Chocolate Chip Cookie

I started another ornament this weekend because I've been itching to do it and also because I was running low on 310.

It's "Just One Bite" by Dragon Dreams from the 2013 JCS Ornament issue.  I've made decent progress.  Soon I'll have to add the fuzzy white stuff on his hat.

Suddenly...a Penguin

I got a bit of stitching done the last two days.  The homework is tapering off a bit before Spring Break next week and I had some extra time.  The Penguin stitched up quickly.  I'll start on Santa next.

My back order from Needle in a Haystack is on its way here.  I am not sure what is all included so it will be a surprise when it comes!  It should be a By Jupiter! charm and some JABs but I'm not sure if it's all the rest of it or just some of it.

An Irish Finish

I finished stitching the little Irish Blessing piece today.  Here's what it looks like. The finishing fabric is next to it.  I am not quite sure how I will finish it yet but I will post a picture of the finished product.

I ended up changing all the colors. I used two colors of DMC for the shamrocks and two colors of Kreinik #4 Braid for the "flowers."  I think it looks a lot nicer my way.