Tag: In Progress

In which I talk about works in progress

Progress, Progress

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December 13, 2007

10:46 am

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 I’ve been trucking along on Checking His List. The cross-stitching is done (except for several rows at the top, where Little Miss’ name goes), and I’ve backstitched the little bunnies, the bag full of toys, and Santa’s legs. My goal is to finish by Monday, including cutting out the frontpiece and the two felt pieces, so that it can be all sewn up before next Friday.

I always think the backstitching will take longer than it does.  (I hope I didn’t jinx anything now!)  As I got down into the bottom half of the cross-stitch chart, K kept saying, “You’re almost done!” And I kept saying, “No, I still have all the backstitching.”

“Skip it,” she suggested.

But now that those little yellow blobs have outlines that make them look like stars, the glory of backstitching is apparent.

While I work on this, I keep eyeing the three skeins of Smooshy that arrived earlier this week.  Lovely, lovely yarn.  But there will be no knitting until this stocking is done.

Pictureless

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December 5, 2007

7:09 pm

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I meant to take a picture of Checking His List this morning, I really did.  It’s coming along nicely.  I’m way down at the bottom, stitching in the toys in Santa’s bag.

I am well aware that it’s less than 3 weeks ’til Christmas.  Maybe I should have bought that little pink Baby’s First Christmas stocking I saw at the grocery store.

I’ve been so wrapped up in cross-stitch these days, in fact, that I missed the deadline to download the final clue for Secret of the Stole, but DK emailed me a copy.

I have to say that the SotS knitalong was really excellent.  The pattern was lovely, the guessing game for the theme was fun (although, man, I was way off on those first few clues), and DK has been wonderful in offering advice and support through the Yahoo! group and commenting on individual members’ blogs.  I’m already signed up for SotS-II.

But, first, the stocking.

WiP Wednesday

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November 7, 2007

2:10 pm

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I had Halloween off from work, so, while Little Miss napped, I finished clue #3 of Secret of the Stole.  I seem to be falling farther and farther behind.  And I’m okay with that.

I have no idea what the theme is.  For a while, I thought the large motifs might be flowers, and then someone said they looked like spiders, and that’s all I could see for a while.  And that little X at the top looks sort of like, well, one of those guys who waves in the airplanes at the gate.  I’m pretty sure that’s not it.

Last week, something very bad happened to my lovely MacBook, and the widget that was counting down the days until Christmas Eve went with it.  (Since my iBook is still running Panther, there are no widgets on that one.)  But even without the clock, I know there’s not much time left, so all crafting efforts are currently focused on one thing:

10/25/07

That’s “Checking His List”, as of two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve finished the red portion of the coat and started on the trim. I might manage to finish this stocking yet.

FO Friday!

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October 19, 2007

1:03 pm

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That’s the Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket, all done and washed and dried and laid out and sat upon by the cat and brushed off and taken away from the cat and laid out again.

I put a bit of a rush on it early in the week so I could take it to a meeting on Wednesday to show the folks who might want to purchase it at next month’s fundraiser.

Pattern: Genia Planck’s Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket, a KnitList pattern I found through Ravelry.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun in Colonial and Williamsburg, a bit less than one skein of each.
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size US10.5, with a cord that just kept getting longer
Modifications: None
New Technique(s): I used the Lighter Circular Beginning (scroll down) to cast on.

Since I was pushing to finish the baby blanket, I thought I was going to fall way behind on Secret of the Stole, but I finished Clue 2 this morning while Little Miss was napping.

The picture quality isn’t very good. The sun was a little too bright for the light yarn on the white blanket. I’ll get a better one after I finish clue #3, which I’ve just printed out.

Clue #1, Done

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October 8, 2007

3:44 pm

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Bright and early on Friday, I downloaded the first clue for Secret of the Stole. I like a pattern that begins by advising, “DO NOT PANIC.” Always a good sign. I did not panic, and I was glad to see that my inability to wind my hank of laceweight into a single ball actually turned out to be a good thing.

Over the weekend, this:

turned into this:

I had a little issue with the beads.  I didn’t bother to look up the technique for attaching them, and I was several beaded rows in before I learned that, no, you’re not supposed to knit the stitch first.  I’ve decided to go with it.

I think next week’s clue will go a little more slowly, since I’m working Friday and Saturday, and knitting lace is definitely not an appropriate activity for the Reference desk.

Wednesday Again?

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October 3, 2007

7:02 pm

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Oh, I have been busy. But first, an important announcement.

Very, very soon (like, this weekend) Aimee is doing the Lupus Walk. This is a cause near and dear to my heart, so you know I’ve already contributed. She’s getting closer to her fundraising goal, but let’s push it over the top. Besides that warm and fuzzy feeling of doing some good, you could win a prize!

Go, Aimee!

Things have been a little rocky on the health front around here, too, lately. Not, not me, or K, or Little Miss – we’re all fine. (Aside from the pain of teething, that is.) K’s mom, who cares for Little Miss on the days that both K and I are at work, was hospitalized last week. She’s home now and recovering, but I’ve gotten an unexpected week’s vacation. During naptimes, I’ve been working on this:

Nancy Bush’s Meida’s Socks, from Favorite Socks.

It’s a quick knit – ankle socks in sportweight yarn. I memorized the lace pattern pretty quickly. My only real complaint is that only one size is given, with a note to adjust sizing by changing needle size and adjusting the length. I went up to US2s. I’m using Lang Jawoll Sport, which turned out to be a little short. I got down to about 40 stitches around in the toe decreases when I ran out of yarn. I ripped back and redid the toe, decreasing every round (instead of doing the alternating even rounds). This makes for a short toe, but the sock is almost perfect on my foot. I did not continue the slip stitch pattern on the underside of the heel – I just ribbed it.

With 81 and a fraction days until Christmas Eve, I’ve also been working on the stocking:

santa071003

There was an incident involving a knot, a tangle, and a bunch of ripped stitches, but I’m back to making progress.

Progress is also being made on the Pinwheel Blanket, but no picture of that today. It looks just like the last time I took a picture of it, only bigger, with more stripes.

WiP Wednesday: Colonial Williamsburg

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September 19, 2007

5:46 pm

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Yes, that’s what I’m going with. The Colonial Williamsburg Pinwheel Baby Blanket is on the needles. The plan is to donate this to a fundraising sale. Twice before, I have donated to this particular sale, and I was frustrated both times by the fact that the items were sold for less than half of what I paid for the materials. It seemed that it would be more practical to just donate the money. But this time, I am knitting out of my stash, from Lion Brand Homespun bought way back sometime in the first year or so I was knitting.

Doesn’t look like much, does it? I did the Lighter Circular Beginning after all, but I’m not entirely sure how I did it. And trying to get 5 stitches of Homespun to stay on 4 size 10.5 bamboo DPNs was an adventure. But I seem to have a circle, rather than a Klein Bottle, so I think I even managed to avoid twisting the stitches.

On the financial front, I’ve decided to go back to using my familiar Quicken 2004. I tried several different money program demos, and I didn’t find anything I liked better, although MoneyWell came close.

WiP Wednesday, At Long Last

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September 12, 2007

6:33 pm

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This WiP Wednesday thing is working out really well, eh? While I haven’t been posting, I have been busily stitching away on Checking His List.

 

I’m nearly done with the top half of the chart, if you don’t count the backstitch detailing. Or the lines where Little Miss’ real name goes, which I’m saving for last.

Sunday night, I got together with some lovely ladies from church to do some knitting. I cast on for a Snicket sock, modeled here by the metal piece that sits on the top of our Lava Lamp.

I’m using Catania cotton yarn, which might not have been the best idea ever. For the little cables that make up the lattice pattern, something with a bit more spring to it would probably work better. Especially since I cable without a cable needle. I quite like the way the colors swirl in the ribbing, but they seem to be breaking up differently as I start the lattice part.

I also pulled out Amish Shadows and took a look at it, but I haven’t done any work on it in a while.

I don’t know what to take to see the Yarn Harlot on Saturday. I have a copy of Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles slowly but surely working its way over to my library, so maybe I’ll be able to cast on a simple sock before Saturday. Although I’d need to pick up a couple of small size cable needles first.

I Am Such A Joiner

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August 30, 2007

9:29 pm

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Spending all of my free time on Ravelry wasn’t enough, clearly, even with the 20 groups within the site I’ve joined. One of those groups is the one for Secret of the Stole, a mystery lace project. What can I say? All of those MS3 posts got to me.  And I did just buy that Lisa Souza Lace.  Tomorrow I go in search of beads, having discovered that my five packets of Mill Hill seed beads are size 11, which is too small.

It’s not even like I needed a new project. I’ve already reached QBLE – Queue Beyond Life Expectancy – and I keep adding more.  And, yes, several of those projects could have used that yarn.

And LM’s stocking is ticking along. I took a few days of rest and cast on some Debbie Bliss Merino DK for Branching Out from Knitty, but I’m back to it. The background trees are done, along with a large chunk of the scroll, Santa’s face and beard, and most of his hat. I’m fascinated by the way cross-stitch is like an impressionist painting. I get so used to looking at it close up, examining each stitch, but it looks so pretty from a few feet away, when each little X or / blends together with its neighbors.

WiP Wednesday: Christmas in July

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July 18, 2007

9:40 pm

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Everything Else

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For months, I’ve been saying that I wanted to cross-stitch new Christmas stockings for the family. K has a stocking her mom made for her when she was little, but my stocking is plain red fake fur (although my dad did recently send me my childhood stocking), and Little Miss doesn’t have one yet. So, when JoAnn Fabrics sent me an email about their “Christmas in July” sale, I went for it. I ordered three stocking kits, all featuring Santa. I’ve started on the one for Little Miss. It’s a Dimensions pattern, called “Checking His List”.

So far, I’ve finished Santa’s belt and a bit of the jacket. I have a long way to go.