WIP Thursday- Omnibus edition and a bonus FO

Ok strewth this has been a busy *some vague length of time*. I feel as though I’ve been getting on really well with all my various WIPs, which may be because a lot of time has passed, I’m not quite sure how much time has passed (partially because I’m not quite sure when I’m counting from???).

So, I thought I’d do a thorough update of all my current WIPs. (I also looked at my ‘current WIPs’ page and was horrified at it…)

Firstly, the conservatory cross stitch- butterfly fairy. This is kinda not really a WIP at the moment- I had to put this scroll bars away beause my sister’s cat is here for the week and parked threads on the aida + kitty =bad idea. But I have still done some more on it since the last time I gave you all a photo of it, so here it is.This is a close up of the edge of the wing of the fairy. I’ve also been doing some of the large areas of stitching (but that involves blending filament so I’m sort of avoiding doing that…), so I’m more than half way down the right side now!!!

Quick question, looking at this. Would it be better if I rotate the pictures so they’re the ‘correct’ way around for you? I’m used to seeing them this way as I’m working sideways accross the design due to the size of my scroll bars?

I’m really looking forward to seeing the cat go (although he is an adorable cat, I think he’s put me off getting a cat when I’m older), so I can go back to work on this.

Then I have three WIPs in the sitting room… the blanket is officially on hold. I just can’t really be bothered to move it. Occasionally I’ll pick it up(in the evening, when it’s nice and cool) and do a few rows, it’s just too hot to work on most of the time. It’s my official completely mindless project! No pic because it’s impossible to photograph well and always just looks that same!

The cardigan is kinda-not really stalling. I’ve done the left front, but rather than use that momentum to see if these buttons will work, I’ve moved back to doing the sleeves. I had paused one sleeve to do the main body (easy way to gauge swatch, anyone?), so I’ve now nearly finished the sleeve cap ready to do the second sleeve. No photograph of this because I am upstairs and it is downstairs and I can’t stand the thought of having to go down and up the stairs again after my bike ride this morning (so unfit! Must do more cycling!). I had previously said that this appears to be knitting itself. I’m less convinced about that now, because all my energy is on the socks, so naturally they’re the ones knitting themselves now!

I did the heel turn!!! It really reminded me why I dislike knitting socks cuff down (I despise picking up the stitches along the heel flap, but there we go. Knitting and purling two together is so much easier than the wrap and turns used when knitting toe up, so swings and roundabouts I guess (where does that saying even come from???). This appears to be knitting itself since I’ve spent quite a few afternoons knitting while watching tennis. Very exciting sport for us Brits!

And finally, the WIP in my bedroom- Stained Glass. I finished a page on it!!!

This is page 6 out of 16, so I’m more than half way accross the second row now. I also started page 7, but I’m really thinking that I don’t want to keep working on it. When I started it, I had this grand plan to ‘colour’ the areas in different colours, but I’m not sure that I’d ever get around to it, and it’s really not ‘me’. Far too monochromatic. So I think I’m going to stick it back away for a while to see if I change my mind, and if not, just toss it. Life is too short to waste on things you don’t want to make and then dont want to use after it’s made!

Ok, I didn’t actually think I was going to type that all out, but then it happened! So I guess that’s going away again then, and I’ll find something else to start doing up in my bedroom. Hmm. Or maybe not, and if I’m up in my bedroom at a loose end I’ll start playing my computer games, which I have missed quite a bit!

And finally, the bonus finished object!It’s my mum’s birthday soon, so rather than trawl through card shops looking for something suitable, I decided to make my own card! Much less hassle, cheaper (if you take the cost of the card by itself, rather than the 10-pack), and probably didn’t take that much longer than the length of time I’d spend staring at cards hating life. Win all around really!

(Re-)start it Sunday

So, having finished my bedroom desk project, it’s now time to start a new one!

And what better thing to do than un-earth an ancient UFO and give it some more TLC? (By ancient: the last time I showed progress on this cross stitch was April 2015!!! Has anyone here even followed me for that long???)

But here it is: Stained Glass (round of applause please!)

This was originally designed as a SAL, judging from the layout of the pattern I have, but I doubt very much that I ever even attempted to keep up with it! Then we got the last 4 pages all together because the shop was shutting down. I still have a few other patterns from LoveThy Thread to do…*whistles innocently*! Maybe when this one gets done!

There is also a second half to this post, because I promised MrsCraft more stash acquisition photos (and because I rather maughtily started a new project…). When I bought the buttons which will hopefully be used for my cardigan, my mum suggested I pop upstairs to have a look at the sock yarn. How could I say no to such an offer???

So, naturally, I bought some sock yarn. Two zauberballs, and a skein of Head over Heels (Stylecraft).

 

And then, when I got the zauberballs home, one of them jumped stright onto my needles (after glancing through my sock books and settling rather forcibly on a pattern). And really, who am I to say no to such an insistend baby pair of socks??? (These are now being called fish socks for reasons I have yet to figure…)

The head over heels yarn may or may not become the reindeer cowl from twistedyarn…I am as yet completely undecided about that. It’s a very pretty pattern, but I already have one cowl I pretty much wear all the time and I’m not sure that I’d ever use it. We’ll see. At the moment it’s content to sit on my desk and be petted every once in a while!

WIPocalypse the fourth

So, we’re now more than a quarter of the way through the year (and that’s a rather scary thought!), and it;s time for another WIPocalypse post. The question this time…

Which specialty stitches do you love doing on projects? Which do you dread?

I don’t do those needlework projects, so I’ve never done such things as eye stitches, or butterfly stitches (or whatever they’re called- I usually just skip to the pretty pictures!)

However, I do enjoy beading projects, and will commonly swap out confetti stitches or French knots for them (not that I hate French knots, just that I much prefer beads, they’re so pretty!)

Wow, I’m coming across rather strangely this month! I totally blame the cold I’ve got, but hey ho.

Anyway, I’m not so fond of back-stitching, but the effect of it makes it totally worth-while! As long as I don’t need to do it all in one go, but can stitch a section and then back-stitch it.

Another thing I love is using sparkly thread, although I’m not sure if that counts as a specialty stitch. I think so, as it takes more effort, but I suppose that you’re still making the standard cross for cross stitch, or back-stitch, which I’ve already mentioned.

I can’t really think of any other specialty stitches that I do really. So, onto the pictures!

I managed to finish my butterfly! Woot!

It has been ironed (gently, so as to not ruin the beadwork or blending filament), and is off at the framers. My parents will pick it up tomorrow, and then bring it up to me in July when they come up to help me move. I can’t believe that it’s so close(and yet so far still) to getting hung up!

I haven’t done much other cross stitching- I’ve been busy working on my mum’s birthday presents, but they’re sewing, rather than cross stitch, so I’ll talk about those in another post.

However, now that butterfly has been finished (and I’ve worked through a few cards to get it out of my system!), I’m ready to pick up another big piece. And next I will be working on Stained Glass again. This is how far I have gotten so far

and so hopefully I’ll be able to put a few stitches into it at some point 🙂 I also do have a few cards I need to get done, but they’re not especially urgent right now, so we’ll see what I feel like working on.

Two and a half finishes!

Woot! I had a really productive (craft-wise) week! First of all, I finished Stained Glass! I am rather please about this, not least because it means that I can get on with my work this weekend, in preparation to not doing anything like enough work next month while I work on my jumper!

Don’t you think that the bottom corner looks like an eye?

Then I managed to finish all the cards I’m sewing, here is the last design

and here is all of them together. I love how much of a set they look like 🙂

So that’s all my Christmas presents finished!!!!!!! I’m uber exciting about this, its the first time that they’ve been finished on time, never mind basically 2 months ahead of time!

So, my half finish was a gauge swatch *mutter mutter*. Before washing, I’m getting 23 stitches over 4 inches…the pattern calls for 21. It’s currently drying

and I’m thinking that’s it’s grown enough that I’m not worried. I’m knitted this on 3.5 mm, where the pattern calls for 4mm, but that’s standard fare for me now. Also, the sizes don’t quite fit me, so I’m going to be knitting the larger version, so as long as I’m not ridiculously tight, I’m not worried 🙂 So yeah, I’m all set to start knitting my sweater (wish me luck for finishing it on time!), except that I’m not going to start on the 1st, because that’s a Saturday, and the new square for November will be coming out and I want to keep up with that more than I want to knit a sweater in November (besides, November is plenty long…I’ll be able to knit a sweater in 2 days less, surely?)

Which reminds me…November’s block. I was (again) too easy on this one, everyone got Cinderella! Well done guys, let’s hope that next months block (which will be written about next Saturday) is a bit more challenging!

What a busy week!

So, I didn’t quite manage to finish the page on Stained Glass, but I think it’s fairly close! All that is left now is the bottom right corner, and most of that is blank space!I think it’s coming along very well 🙂 I’m still fairly amazed at how quickly it’s coming together!

This week was also rather productive, and I’m now more than half-way finished with my last Christmas present!

This is the second of three designs I’m stitching onto cards for a friend’s Christmas present. This design actually threw me a bit- I don’t really like all the long lines on it, for the stairs, and after I’d done 3, I’d had enough, but apparently this is the design I liked the most and so had to sew it 4 times! Bit annoyed to see the fourth- I thought I’d miscounted the number I’d already done! So I’m now on the final sprint now, just need to finish 3 more, and then stick the backs down to cover the unsightly selotape!

I’ve also cut out the triangles for my juggling balls, but that’s it! I’m not sure when I’m going to get a chance to sew them up, I’ve got so many other plans (with a deadline!) They might end up getting done over Christmas!

I realised the other say that I don’t have a Christmas jumper, and this is a travesty which much be swiftly resolved! The solution: NaKniSweMo- I’m going to try and knit an entire sweater in November. I already have the yarn- remember my aunt gave me loads of stuff back in April? (Ok, I just looked through this and it turns out I didn’t record the sweater’s worth of red yarn in a wool/acrylic/nylon blend which feels quite nice. Doh!) But anyway, I now have a plan for my first sweater- a Christmassy Nordic one with white patterns on (I’ve got some white sparkly yarn for this, so we’re all set! Yes, this will be my third attempt at my first sweater! Ahh well, I’ll get one finished sooner or later!

Also, someone on here asked what I will start working on when OUAT is finished, and I gave a rather vague answer of ‘something crafty’! I thought that I would expand on that a bit. Recently, I’ve fallen into a routine which works really well- one thing during the week, and another thing over the weekend. So far, that has been Christmas stuff during the week, and OUAT/Stained Glass/a tiny bit of the butterfly over the weekend. Obviously, this is going to go out the window when November comes around and I start on my sweater, but ignoring that, soon I’m going to have fewer demands on my time, as Christmas stuff, and OUAT are nearly finished. I like cross stitching over the weekend- I don’t need to put it down to go into Uni etc, so that will carry on. I’ve got quite a few things I want to stitch, but I think the main things will be Stained Glass/Butterfly/Cat Alphabet (yeah, I got this for Christmas and had the brilliant plan to finish a cat every 2 weeks and have it finished by the end of the year! Ha!) with some smaller bits when I get the urge to finish something already! I also think that cross stitch all the time is going to drive me insane, but I’ve got some ideas for what to do during the week- I want to finish embroidering my  skirt, and I still want to finish my cardigan, and figure out what to do with the red yarn which was going to be a sweater and then didn’t (my gauge lied to me big time so I got annoyed and hid it!), and there’s always more socks to knit! And I’d quite like to learn how to quill, and embroider some designs in hoops as decoration, and, and, and (there’s always more I want to do!) But I do think that the first things to do are my cardigan, and to finished the skirt, so when I’ve finished those I’ll have another re-think!

Ok, so while I was just finding the links for those bits in the previous paragraph, I was forcibly reminded of the insane blanket I’m knitting, which I suppose I ought to do first! Ok, I’ll carry on with that after November, and just take my cardigan home to work on over Christmas! I love having this blog, it’s such a good reminder of what I’m working on! At least, I think that’s everything I’ve got going! (Yes, I am ignoring my yearly plan at the beginning of the year to have the same number of WIPs at the end of the year as when I started, that’s just not going to happen!

So, what do you guys think about this plan? Any massive flaws in it that I can’t see?

 

Oh… hello SAturday!

So, I completely forgot hat it’s Saturday today, which means another update as to what I’ve been doing

Firstly, I finished October’s block- it feels very strange that I’m onto the bottom row now!

And… that is unfortunately pretty much it I’ve been busy working this week, and that’s going to keep stealing all my time until Christmas. On the other hand, I’m now teaching again, so yay for that!

I have joined a couple of clubs here, so hopefully I’ll still get some knitting done on a Friday when knitsoc meets up (as long as I remember my cabling needle…doh!). I also joined jugglesoc, and am planning on making my own set of juggling balls, which should be fun 🙂 So far I’ve outlined my shapes, and so hopefully I’ll get around to ironing and cutting them out this weekend, when I’ve had enough of Stained Glass!

I’m going to have three balls, made with 8 ‘triangles’ each, I’m going to alternate this stripy fabric(this is the reverse) and the plain red you can just see on the left 🙂 I’ll make some more when I start needing more balls, and then I’ll be able to mix and match 🙂 Can never have too many balls 🙂

Hmm, I wonder if I can finished the page of Stained Glass this weekend… better get my speedy needle out!

September’s Block, and why backstitching is good!

So, this week has been a veritable hive of cross stitch activity!

But I imagine that first of all you want to know about September’s block: yes, it was indeed Rapunzel. Well done everyone who guessed that (and really, how anyone thought The Brave is a little beyond me!). Ahh, the delights of hindsight!

But that isn’t all I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been busy cross stitching all week! First of all, I finished the Stained Glass SAL, which I’m very chuffed about, as I’m going to be too busy entertaining my friend this week to work on it

That’s the entire width done now, so the next page is back over on the left. 🙂 I really enjoy stitching on this, which is a bit strange because I’m not really sure that I want it when it’s finished… maybe when I’ve coloured it in I’ll enjoy it more!

Then this week I started my aunt’s Christmas present of some coasters, and they’re reminding me how much of a difference that backstitching makes!

On the left is a brown blob, and on the right…voila, a baby owl! I didn’t take before pics of any of the other small cross stitched pieces, but it’s pretty much the same thing!

The other pieces which I have finished are

a kingfisher (I do so love these birds, although typically I’ve only seen flashes of blue!)

and a butterfly (there weren’t enough different bird designs, so I had to settle for ‘flying things”!)

I still have a blue tit and a penguin to go, so they’ll probably be finished next week! These are going much quicker than planned, I am loving this idea of finishing Christmas presents early! I’ll be able to go back to my cardigan (and dare I say it? The Cthulhu mittens???)

Woohoo! Gotta love being organised! Anyway, I’ll be back next week with the first clues for October’s block!

First Christmas Presents of the year sorted

Woo hoo, I finished (decided I had enough) of cross stitching on plastic canvas for my mum’s Christmas present.

Here is it before cutting them all out

and then yesterday I cut them out and stuck on some magnetic strip. I’m not sure how well they’ll stick on, but it’s the best idea I’ve got really…

I am so glad that these things are finally done! Although I haven’t finished with the plastic canvas, as I’ve signed up for my first ever exchange- a Christmas tree decoration cross stitched one 🙂 So that’ll have to be kept under wraps for now 🙂 But if you fancy signing up, it’s being hosted by hookedonstitches.

I did manage to finish the OUAT square last weekend, and even did a bit more on the border.

After last week’s clue, which I think makes it rather obvious, I’m not giving out any more clues this week (reminder to anyone who joined after I first mentioned it, but everyone who takes part will be entered into a draw to win some goodies after Christmas. See my post at the end of July for all the (incredibly technical, I know 😉 ) information. Next week I will be telling you all which fairy tale this is based off, so last chance to guess 🙂

Then I stopped working on this (I finished both the purple/red thread and the yellow/orange thread that I was using, so it seemed like a good place to stop, rather than start new thread) and carried on working on the Stained Glass thing I’m doing

Looking at the picture, I’ve nearly reached the side of the piece, so I’m hoping to finish stitching it this weekend, as next weekend I’ve got a friend coming so I won’t get much done on this (but my first Cardiff sock might get finished).

So, going back to the Christmas presents: I now have to stitch a set of cards for a friend, and cross stitch some birds for a set of coasters for my aunt, who enjoys bird-watching.  I’m estimating that each of these will take a month to complete, so that’s October and November dealt with, and then I have December free, to do what I want 🙂 Provided, of course, that I finish the Christmas tree decoration next week! It feels very nice (but a bit strange!) the idea that I’ll have finished Christmas presents *early*! Very unusual state of affairs!

 

 

September’s OUAT block

So, umm, September’s OUAT block is very well known. Disney recently did a film of it (and the heroine was a bad-ass, despite not having much contact with the world before the story really begins). So, how to give you some clues but not too many… all the characters are human (although in the Disney version they added in a couple of animals, which, while intelligent, do not speak), and the main character (in every version that I could find online) was named after a plant her mother craved whilst pregnant.

It’s also a Brothers Grimn tale, so it can come across as very dark, although naturally Disney glossed over it all. I think that’s enough clues for now, after all, if nobody gets it I can always add in more clues next week 🙂

So, last weekend I managed to finish the Stained Glass SAL as well, so I’m basically completely caught up with everything 🙂 (Ignoring the fact that the next bits of the SALs are out, but eh).

Even more impressive (in my mind!) was that after I finished Stained Glass, I still had a few hours left over so I pulled out the butterfly I had been working on, and did about half the flowers and hearts and things around it! I’ve fallen back in love with this project, and now can’t wait to finish it and show it off 🙂

And then I even got quite a lot of stitching done this week, after breaking my brain (don’t worry, it’s on the mend now 🙂 ) so I’ve finished 4 outlines, pretty much.

This coming week I’ll concentrate on filling them, after I come back from another conference, this time in Cardiff! I’m really looking forward to it (I’m even going to be co-presenting a presentation! Eep!) but it does mean that I won’t have much time to do anything crafty. I’m planning a pair of socks to take with me, as they are the easiest thing to pick up and put down as required 🙂

Another week of ‘all the stuff over the weekend’!

So, August’s block has been finished( on time!), and on Monday I will be getting the next square to stitch, and fairy tale to either discover for the first time or get re-acquainted with. So, what was this month’s fairy tale? It was (well done fallfromgrace) The Town Musicians of Bremen (random link from the internet to the story). Next month’s fairy tale will be mentioned next week 🙂

So, I’ve decided to spend the rest of the month stitching my other SAL, the Stained Glass, so that by the end of the year I won’t be too far behind! I got quite a lot done really, which I’m very happy about, and the rest of this weekend might (fingers crossed) see me finish the page, which would be amazing!

I’ve had a friend here this week (hence the late post!), and so I haven’t done anything with Christmas presents (too much concentration would be needed to keep count of the stitches). Rather, I have been working on a sock, and I finished it! I’m very please with myself, and I now have 8 pairs of socks to wear 🙂

And just to stop this post getting boring, my spinning housemate has given me some yarn! (It doesn’t count as stash if you didn’t buy it ;))

There’s 100 grams of hand-spun sock yarn (~375 yards) so this will be turned into socks

There’s also 50 grams of possum sock yarn, which is certainly not enough for socks, even with contrasting toes and heels! So instead, I think it is going to have to be contrasting heels and toes! (Really, who just buys 50 grams of sock yarn? Certainly not sock knitters!)