busy, busy, busy, girl!

busy, busy, busy, girl!

I fully took advantage of the public holiday and stitched all day(as I plan on doing all weekend) and wow I finished a bunch of things…

First off I did the construction of the needle book not because I was particularly excited about it. In fact the construction stage is usually where all of my crafts go from WIP to UFO’s, this is something I’m trying to work on. For the needle book tho it was pure need that propelled me further. Since the discovery of a rust spot from a needle in my wedding sampler(something I think I can fix) I have seend the need for a book to atleast put the needles of my current projects… so I cranked this out and am very very happy with it!

With that completed and needing something to do in my hands while I watched telly I sought a project to do. Yes I know I have 8 million knitting UFO’s but I just couldn’t get into my knitting I wanted to do some stitching. Then I had an idea (I know a scary thing around this house, my husband practically cringes when I say I have an idea. Not because my idea’s are dumb, or even out right crazy, just usually very very complicated, bizarre or next to impossible feats that I imagine I can accomplish, usually in a short period of time).

Since I have been wearing more Victorian clothing lately I have wished I could wear my great-great-grandmothers cameo brooch of her mother as a young lady that was made for when she sailed over to the states from england in 1879. But the hand carved bone is so delicate it was sheer to begin with in nearly 150 years has not been good to it. What if, I copied it in stumpwork? What if? Hmmm I’ve never done stumpwork before. It’s okay tho I have a book on it! So I sat down with my husband and season 2 of Battlestar Galactica (we have just started to watch this series) and stitched away. a couple hours later I had this. Am i completely happy with it YES! Is it perfect hmm not really but pretty darn good for a first try.

So that was done and we still had more BSG to watch, what is a girl to do? I know I might as well work on my wedding sampler. I know I put this aside for more interesting techniques but simple one colour cross stitch can be really fun. seeing the design come to life before your eyes. Although I think I might unpick that bird on the ground just a bit crowded for my taste. I’ll be adding more green in to the sampler in the future.

Well that’s it for me everyone enjoy the long weekend. Next post I’ll talk about the mystery project that I have needed all the appliqué practice for! As for now I might go do some knitting or stitch more on that wedding sampler who knows!

WOOT! Finished Object and more

WOOT! Finished Object and more

Sheesh it’s been a while. I keep trying to post but have been having a hard time actually getting around to it….  What have I been up to? Rather a lot actually! I have been taking a bunch of business classes and thus trying to grow my business sense, and my business. I’ve been playing with dyeing embroidery threads and silks some more, and in general having fun!

As for actual crafts well I finished my sample socks which really need a new name :-)

I started to work on a small quilt. I’m fairly new to quilting in fact this is my first machine pieced quilt and first appliqué project. The quilt is only 27inches square and is a project for the local hospital. It’s a mothers day gift for a mother who baby was either stillborn or died shortly after birth. I’ve really enjoyed making it. The appliqué was good practice.

I plan on doing some more embroidery along this project but so far I’m happy!

I felt I needed more practice doing some appliqué  and I loved that pansy sooo very much that I started a little needle book… I’m really happy with how this is turning out!

Now what’s all this appliqué practice for? You’ll just have to wait and see!!

Beginings and Ends….

Beginings and Ends....

Of course right after I finish a post about my WIP’s and how I need to finish them before I start anything new, especially with the socks, I get in the mail my second installment of the Vintage Purls Summer Sock Club. Of course the pattern and the yarn is sooo stunning that I immediately had to cast-on!

I love these colours and I love that to socks don’t match instead are exact opposites! I did make some minor changes, I really, really hate garter stitch like really hate it so I replaced that with plain stockinette I have othe plans for the cuff to add texture just you wait and see! And it was kind of okay that I started this sock because of how these ones are looking.

Yep that’s the “sample socks” I really need a new name for these. I have about 4 or 5 rows till I start the ribbing which will be done lickety split. Most likely I will finish these tonight. My mind is already on which pair of sock I will start next and what pattern to do them in. these are the current options:

Knitsch(a new NZ dyer who also goes to my knit night) in pewter. I really like the feel and texture of this yarn and the colours are just well YUM! I’m not sure on what to knit with it though.

Fibro Fibers Nightfall yarn in blue, I love this yarn so very much it slowly fades from blue to black through out the 50g skein and is already wound into center pull balls. I have a design idea in store for this one but I’m not sure I’m ready to really sit down and hash it out maybe. Jen who runs Fibro fibers is amazing and I want 90% of her yarn I got this also in a bottle green and I want the deep purple and the aqua too. She also has denim and tomato coloursways that make my mouth water and I want to get them in the sock in enough to do a striped cardigan.

Yberry’s Street woman, this is just wow what a combo of colours none of which I actually like that much on their own but together just WOW!!!! This yarn just keeps nagging at me and telling me I should knit with it and I know that I should but what? Part of me thinks it needs to go back in the stash to be kept for later to be used in a shawl.

What do you think what should I cast-on? do you have a favorite toe up sock? comment and let me know

UFO-a-go-go Part 2

UFO-a-go-go Part 2

Sorry it’s taken a couple of days to do the second part after posting that last post I just felt like I needed to get up and  work on a few of those projects. So I did!  the progress shall be seen in a future post. Now on to the knitting segement of my UFO’s/WIP that I’m actively trying to transform into that mythic object that heals small injured orphans and returns the sight to blind men a FINISHED OBJECT! (You  can just about hear the angels chorus sing “aaah”s??) Yet again same disclaimer  as last time this is by far not ALL of my WIP/UFO’s but just the current ones I’m working on.

This is my “big” knitting project, the Queen Anne Cardigan(ravelry link) by Christina Wall of A Knitter’s Life. I’m knitting this in alternating rows of two different colourways of Vintage Purls Sock (2 rows of each colour). I had wanted to do this cardigan for awhile but I didn’t have any sport weight yarn, when digging through My stash I found two skeins each of two colourways that were almost identical. I could totally pull it off with four skeins! I’ve finished the yoke increases, and put the sleeves both on stitch markers and started on the body. I’ve actually added about another 6 rows to this since the picture, but unfortunately its now to big for my purse knitting and is resigned to be for when watching movies and TV(which I don’t do a lot of).

Ah yes these are my Baudelaire‘s I finished the first one and this is how far I got with the second one. I really want and need to pick them back up and finish them but just hasn’t happened. I’m still partially mad that these were originally going to be knee highs but alas I screwed up the increases and they were just way too tight so i ripped them back and couldn’t be bothered re knitting them knee high again… maybe next time!

These of all my projects are the ones I SHOULD be working on. These are a thank you gift to my friend Nick who shuttled me around on a very important day! This is thankfully the second sock, But I just seem not to be working on them as much as i should, I think I’m tired of the repetitive pattern(which btw is just from a stitch dictionary) and once i can get to the heel I’ll be sweet as, I hope. The yarns is my own silk merino in the aflame colourway

Of all the projects on this page these will be the ones most likely to actually get finished. I worked on them some today when I was fed up with the cardigan while watching several movies since running to catch the train yesterday(in heels I might add) I fell and hurt my back and legs so now work for me today. I’m half finished with the heel which is good! these are my own design, just goofing around really. This is also the second sock.

And long time readers of this blog know I suffer from real severe startitis(the disease which causes you to chronically need to start things). Over my 28 years on this earth I have had to develop some nifty methods to counter act the disease, usually it’s to cast-on the toe of a second sock, or of a sleeve. This time tho I didn’t have any of those so I dug out this yarn for hubby socks and started the magic mirror socks(ravelry link) for him. As you can see I got REAL far!

So that’s about it for me for now, I guess soon I will have to take update photos!

UFO-a-go-go part 1

UFO-a-go-go part 1

as I laid out all my WIP/UFO’s that I’m actively wanting to work on a get done soon(some have time limits some just have been on the go for too long) I realized I have a lot of them that I’m currently working on thus why it feels like I’m going nowhere slowly. So in interest in not making and epic post of doomy-doom-DOOM I have split it into two posts. today will be about my needlework(I have more than what is seen here on the go these are just what I’m working on finishing!!

I have the skirt which I haven’t take pictures of cause it’s still just endless stem stitch at this point… but it’s going along fine and will hopefully be finished soon so I can proceed onto other parts of the skirt… It’s hard for me to work on this for too long because it’s such a big project all in white on black which also means I can only do it before 7pm when the lighting gets wonky. I can do maybe an hour before my fingers twitch for something lighter and colourful, although i can say this thank goodness for seat frames.

This is probably the project I want to work on the most cause it’s so much fun and beautiful. I really need to make myself a light box so I can trace designs a bit easier I also need a water soluble pen the pencil isn’t really precise as I would like. I’m loving the colours that I used for this so bright a vibrant, I believe the Victorians would approve. I originally thought this would be the pocket it’s self I think I might be more prone to turning it into a patch to sew onto the pocket. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do about the border part of me is really unsure about doing it all in grey satin stitch, and might have to add blue whipped stitch over it or maybe some green vines with French knot buds, like I did on the stem portion.

This is a tatted necklace that I’m working on as you can see I’ve gotten ever so far… I think I was rather let down when I had to redo 12 hours of work thanks to a stupid mistake that I did very early on! Well I’ve put this on my bedside so hopefully I will be able to get to it a bit everynight!

This project is multi purpose, as I have gotten more into embroidery I have collected lots of needles and need to know what is what, and thus I need a needle book. I’ve also been really interested in quilting lately and started(and put somewhere I cannot find) a English Paper Piecing quilt, in a grandmother’s garden pattern. I figure since I’m hand stitching all the pieces I might as well hand quilt it all too. Finally my fabulous new Aunt I inherited through my marriage gave me some excellent 6inch squares of Aussie fabrics, not really enough for me to do too much with, but enough for a few small projects. This is the back of my needle book which is going to be hand quilted using some of my favorite fabrics from the stash(who knows what else I will do with them :-p ) (p.s. it’s not biased i just too the picture crooked and in a hurry cause a naughty bunny was trying to eat the frame which is loaned to me)

This is a project I started eons ago; before Ryan proposed I got started on a wedding sampler, NOT as a hint, but because I knew we were getting married(we both did) I just knew how long it takes me to finish things. well that was August 2 years ago and we have been married 4.5 months and this is where the wedding sampler looks today… very far from being done…. yes I know! Well I plan on fixing that I hope to finish this this year! one of the nice things about not finishing it till after my wedding is that I can add a band that has the Celtic knotwork that is on our wedding bands.

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