Resuming Transmission

Well, I went and fell off the face of the earth.

I didn't mean to. I didn't even realize I had until several months had passed. At that point I was so up-to-my-eyeballs busy that there was no salvaging the situation. I just had to let the blog be dormant.

Sorry.

The "Year of 3s" thing I was trying was a flop. I have not finished any of the projects I'd wanted to make progress on (though progress has been made on some), but several new projects were started (and some finished). I'll get to those in another post.

Right now I just want to catch up on some stash building I did in February and March. I am definitely addicted to yarn.

Madelinetosh Unicorn Tails - rain water
fingering weight, 100% sw merino 208 yards

Madelinetosh Unicorn Tails - jade
fingering weight, 100% sw merino, 208 yards

Vivid Yarn Studio - snap dragon
fingering weight, 75% sw merino, 25% nylon, 463 yards

Vivid Yarn Studio - London fog
fingering weight, 50% sw merino, 50% tencel, 365 yards

The Fibre Imp - peacock plume
fingering weight, 75% sw merino, 25% nylon, 463 yards

The Fibre Imp - eye of the tiger
fingering weight, 80% sw merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon, 400 yards

Manos del Uruguay Alegria - Bataclana
fingering weight, 75% sw merino, 25% nylon, 445 yards

Manos del Uruguay Alegria - Jacaranda
fingering weight, 75% sw merino, 25% nylon, 445 yards

Ahh ... yarn-y goodness.

It's been a busy few months, I'll catch you up as I can. Thanks for reading and I'll try not to disappear again.

January Update of the Yo3s

So this is my first update for my Year of Threes Challenge I set myself. I have 3 main crafty hobbies (cross stitching, knitting, and English paper piecing) and I have chosen 3 current WIPs of each kind to focus on this year.

Here's how I did during the first 3 weeks of 2015:

Cross stitch -- nothing. Didn't touch anything.

English paper piecing -- nothing Didn't touch anything.

Knitting -- I love knitting. :)

The socks ....

The pi shawl ...

The hat ....

...

oops nothing on that one. Sorry.

Work and school don't leave me with much free time (or energy), and I find knitting is often the only thing I have the brain capacity to work on in the evenings.

Nothing wrong with knitting progress!!

1/6 of a pair of socks

I haven't made a ton of progress but the sock is growing (!!) and I am really enjoying knitting it.

I switched from dpns to 2 circular needles to 1 circular needle using magic loop and eventually came back to dpns. I find them the easiest to knit with and there isn't as much laddering on the sides. Knowing this is a good thing, cause I have an entire set of dpns. I'm glad they'll be useful in the future.

It looks like a sock!

I've made some progress on my very first sock ever ... and guess what! It actually looks like a sock. I'm so excited. :P

String Theory Colourworks' Continuum base in Atom colourway

Love the grey, love the purple, and adore the pop of green. These socks should be done just in time for spring. LOL

Plan for 2015 - The Year of 3s

2014 was a disappointing crafting year.

I gave up papercrafting and donated all of my supplies to a friend's mother and her crafting cronies.

I did a little bit of English paper piecing, but no major progress and I haven't touched it in 4 months.

I barely cross stitched. I had one finish at the beginning of February and nothing else is even close to being done.

I taught myself to knit in March and got terribly, horribly, irrevocably addicted. :)  My stash went from 0 to 60 in less than 9 months. I have finished 3 wash cloths, a doggie blanket, a cowl, and 2 hitchhiker shawlettes. Okay -- so this area of my crafting wasn't so disappointing after all.

I tried to get back into SALs and blog events this past year to encourage and motivate progress. It didn't work so well.

I've decided to try a new approach. Since I have a billion and one WIPs and am always itching to have even more starts, I need to find a way to concentrate and have a few finishes. So I proclaim 2015 to be

THE YEAR OF 3s. 

What this means is that I will only have 3 projects on the go in each of my crafty areas (cross stitching, knitting, and English paper piecing). Once I finish a project, then I can add in either a WIP or a new start in that crafty area.

Below are the projects I plan to work on and a pic of where they currently are at progress-wise.


My cross stitch projects for 2015 are:

Elizabeth (Mirabilia)

32 ct Silvery Skies lugana (Enchanting Lair), 2 over 2

DMC thread and Mill Hill beads

Started: Jan 9, 2012

Finished: ?

Stitchin' Pretty Waffles (Pattie Bennett)

18 ct eggshell monocanvas

DMC perle #5 in 311, 472, 3052, and Watercolours by Caron in 244 Olive Grove 

Started: Nov 2014

Finished: ?

Welcome (Kincavel Krosses)

18 ct white aida

Carrie's Creations in Pizzazz (silk) and DMC 3810

Started: Jan 14, 2012

Finished: ?

My knitting projects for 2015 are:

2x2 Ribbed for Pleasure Hat

Cascade Heritage Silk Paints in 9789 (green)

Needles: US size 2.5 (3.00 mm)

Started: September 14, 2014

Finished: ?

Toe-up stockinette sock with afterthought heel (no pattern)

String Theory Colorworks' Continuum (MCN) in Atom

Needles: US size 1 (2.25 mm)

Started: December 27, 2014

Finished: ?

Vortex Shawl

Knit Pick's Stroll Tonal in Summer Blooms

Needles: US size 6 (4.00 mm)

Started: December 12, 2014

Finished: ?

My English paper piecing projects for 2015 are:

Grandma's Garden Throw (variation)

 

Select fabrics from Batik Paradise collection by ConnectingThreads.com and 

random white and white-on-white fabric

Expected blanket size: 63" x 61"

hexie size: 1 1/4"

diamond size: 1 1/4"

triangle size: 1 1/4"

Started: June 14, 2013

Restarted: June 1, 2014

Finished: ?

6-point Stars Blanket

Fusions Mist by Robert Kaufman in Pear, Forest, Sable, & Ivory

Expected star size: 24" x 24"

Expected blanket size: 5' x 5'

 diamond size: 2"

Started: July 29, 2013

Finished: ?

Arrowtail Quilt

Indigo Patchwork collection by ConnectingThreads.com

Expected blanket size: 72" x 78"

45 degree diamond size: 4"

Started: (still cutting fabric)

Finished: ?

I'm planning to do a monthly review of Yo3 progress every month on the 20th. If you want to join in, let me know and I'll add a linky thingy on those posts, if not, I'll do it on my own.

I think a narrower focus will allow me to make more significant progress. Honestly though -- I freaking love my crafty time in whatever shape, size, or amount it comes in. Here's to a great crafty year in 2015!!

Knitting Skills

I'm a novice knitter. I taught myself from YouTube videos last March, and have been horribly addicted ever since.

I started a lace shawl in September and have been struggling with (and ignoring) it for several months. I gave up, ripped it out, and tried another shawl. That one didn't wow me (it is pretty but it's just plain stockinette and reverse stockinette). I needed something with more ... pizzazz.

I finally decided on the Vortex Shawl. I love it, but it required me to develop a new skill: knitting on double-pointed needles (dpns). Add to that I needed to learn how to make i-cords and figure out the "belly button/umbiblical cord" cast-on.

A few tries very late at night (midnight - 3am), resulted in a decent umbiblical cord to start from:

After a few rounds of the pattern, I switched from 2 dpns to 4 dpns, and I started to really struggle. It was just too much for me to handle. Finally, it occurred to me that I could go back down to 3 dpns, and that was much more successful. More rounds have been done and progress is being made! The pattern is super easy but looks far more complicated when knit.

It is lace (kind of), so looks pretty terrible as it is being knit. It won't look amazing till after it is finished, washed, and blocked.

I love that I'm getting used to knitting with dpns. I'm going to need this skill when I start knitting socks (maybe Christmas Day?) and other little finicky projects.

However, I am very much looking forward to being able to transfer the Vortex Shawl to a circular needle -- progress will be MUCH faster.

I love knitting.

December Turtle Trot - The Final One

I can't believe it's Decemeber already. Where did 2014 go? I have been participating in the Turtle Trot all year and managed to post almost every month. (Okay, I missed July and August, but other than that I did pretty good.)

So, let's recap. Below are the ten projects I wanted to make progress on this year. Some I touched, others I didn't, and one even got finished. :)

Turtle Trot 2014

1. Baked Alaska (Glendon Place) - didn't touch

2. Catch a Falling Star (HAED) - got another page done

 

3. Ciara Blue (Blackwork Journey) - major progress

 

4. Damask Square (Ink Circles) - a little progress

 

5. Drama Queen (custom chart by Skitzzzzz)  - didn't touch

6. Elizabeth (Mirabilia) - felt like lots of progress, but doesn't lool like much

 

7. Home Sweet Home (HAED) - didn't touch

8. Lickle Bit Shy (DMC) - didn't touch

9. Welcome (Kincavel Krosses) - some progress

 

10. Wise Wisdom (Stoney Creek) - FINISHED!!

 

Wow -- I didn't even touch four of them, and my progress on the other six wasn't massive. 2014 was definitely a very slow stitching year for me. Here's hoping 2015 sees more stitches!!

Stitching Class

So, way back in mid-October my LNS hosted an awesome specialty weekend class. They brought in the prolific blackwork designer Elizabeth Almond of Blackwork Journey to teach a 2-day class on blackwork.

While I have done a decent amount of blackwork in the past (mostly Elizabeth's design too) and currently have her Ciara Blue design on a frame, I decided it couldn't hurt to learn some tips, tricks, and pointers from one of the best.

We were given a choice of designs to work from, and I chose Floral Fantasy:

It's a neat design because it's customizable. You can choose to do all 16 squares or 9 squares or 4 squares or just 1 square. I decided to do 4 squares -- over 2 on 32 ct white evenweave. And over the course of the weekend, I got a decent amount of progress done:

I sadly haven't had the chance to pick it up again since the classes, but I do want to finish this piece. I've chosen some lovely green metallic and bronze beads to "bling it up."

Late Turtle Trot

I have been a particularly poor blogger lately. Sorry. :(  Life has been a bit nuts.

However, I do have progress to show on a few of the pieces from my Turtle Trot list. (For more info on Turtle Trot, go here.)

I've put in a few more stitches on Welcome by Kincavel Krosses.

And I have been busily working on Elizabeth by Mirabilia for the last 2 weeks (and loving every stitch).

I think there's a chance my stitching mojo is back. Yay!

Travel Knitting and Stitch Markers

I went away for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to my brother's place. Prior to the visit, I was mostly knitting on my 2x2 Ribbed Hat:

But I took my 2nd Hitchhiker with me on my travels:

I must say, not only did I make good progress, but I reinvigorated my SIL's desire to knit. Yay!

Over the last month or so, I have begun using stitch markers on my projects and I am getting a feel for what I like (not the dangly ones).  I did a little browsing on Etsy and found some stitch markers that I adore in colours I adore at Such Gwenderful Stuff:

Micro stitch markers (up to 3.0 mm), regular stitch markers (up to 5.0 mm), and jumbo stitch markers (up to US 13) in the Peacock colour way!