Catching up

Well, it's been quite a while.  This blogging thing is tough to keep up with, but for posterity's sake I figured I should document what I've been up to.  So without further ado, here goes.

I finished two projects for Christmas presents this year.  Both were received with almost-tears, so I think that was a success.  First was for my SIL's mother, Stacia, who has basically adopted us all into her family.  This piece just screamed her name when I first saw it.  She's been going through some health issues, but has had a really great attitude through all of it.

Dance in the Rain (c) Lizzie*Kate

30 ct natural linen

started 9/19/14, finished 9/26/14

Next was another Lizzie*Kate (these make such great gifts!) for my friend Christine, who is such a dog person.

Dog Lessons for People (c) Lizzie*Kate

32 ct raw natural linen

started 9/27/14, finished 10/14/14

Like I said both were received very well which makes all of the work worth it.  I'll need to get framed pictures of each, since I totally forgot to do that before I gave them away.

What I DIDN"T finish for Christmas was the Family Sampler for my brother and Janelle.  But since it's going to cost me a small fortune to frame, I think it really needs to be a wedding present (which hopefully they will get around to eventually).  Here it is at 100 hours.

Family Sampler

(c) Little House Needleworks

32 ct vintage buttercream linen
3/21/15 - 100 hours

Next time I'll be charting out the family and name so that should be fun.  And speaking of time, I've decided to make this a 5 hour focus piece, which means I'll work on this for 5 hours in-between all of the other pieces which I'll work on for 10 hours apiece.  That way it should get done relatively quickly (and hopefully they'll be getting married in the near future!)

Next up - Antique Shoes!

We interrupt our regulary scheduled programming...

And now for something a little different, I finished 2 sets of Christmas potholders today.  They'd actually been finished for a little while, but I just got around to sewing them up today.

Crocheted Folded Potholder (Ravelry link)

A friend from work gave me a set of these potholders when we bought our house.  My husband (who does all of the cooking and therefore uses them the most) raved about them being the best potholders ever.  Not to be outdone, I told him I could totally make them myself, and have since made 21 (!) sets (they're the perfect little gift).  The only change I made is to make them a little bigger, which he seemed to like better.  I also don't add any sort of hanging loop.  Like I think I said before, I want to make them for the ladies in my office for Christmas this year.  I would need 16 sets - there's some girls I don't know as well and wouldn't mind not giving a gift to, but I'm not sure how that would look, so I'm going to shoot for all 16.  We'll see how it goes.  I have a set in progress in my car, at work and at home, for whenever I can steal a few moments to work on them.

I'm still plugging away on the Sampler, but I'm learning I need to take a break after every couple of hours.  Even with my new stand my elbow's been bothering  me.  Just need to learn to pace myself I guess.

Teeny Tiny Tardises (Tardii?)

I feel like I'm on a roll, at least with these small finishes.  On Saturday I finished Disappearing Tardis for Marley.  We're all "Whovians" and love Doctor Who, so as soon as we saw this design on Etsy I knew I needed to make it.  She just got home from a week away and I thought this would be a nice welcome home gift so I hurried up to get it done in time.  It was supposed to be a bookmark, but Marley had said she'd rather frame it, which made more sense to me anyways.  The only changes I made were to do the backstitch outline 2 shades darker than the Tardis for each one - one shade darker just didn't show up in my opinion.  I also (unintentionally) changed the spacing between the last 2 - the pattern had put an extra row between them, but I just did it the same as all the others.  Maybe it was a typo?  Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out (less happy with my picture taking skills - I need to work on that!)

Disappearing Tardis (c) DaleksTeaHouse

32 ct antique white jobelan

started 7/15/14, finished 7/26/14

In rotation news I'm still slogging through my first 10 hours of My Lady's Garden.  Between the dark fabric and trying to get used to my new stand it's pretty slow going.  Not to mention the distraction of a few new non-rotation WIP's that are, quite simply, just more fun!

New Toys

Well this has been an exciting week here at Chez Gonsalves.  First, on Wednesday my new Needlework System 4 stand came in.  I've always wanted a cross stitch stand, but never could justify spending the money.  But lately my wrist and elbows have been making it clear that I need to change something.  So after seeing Angie's, I knew it was time.  I found one for a great price, but with not-so-great customer service.  But 3 weeks later I finally got it (ignore the box it came in in the background, haven't gotten around to getting rid of that yet!):

I'm still trying to get used to it.  I've stitched the same way for 20+ years and now it's like I need to learn all over.  I keep forgetting to stitch with both hands - I'm good for a little while, but revert back to one handed eventually.  I'm also stitching on the darkest fabric I think I've ever used which is not helping matters either (tumbleweed linen for Mirabilia's My Lady's Garden).  But I think with a little practice I'll get the hang of it. And actually I've found a way to deal with these giant Mirabilia charts (at least as long as I'm working on the bottom half of the frame!)

And secondly, I FINALLY got my new car this week!  After a month long wait after the dealership somehow sold me a car that wasn't actually theirs to sell, my car finally arrived.  Luckily I had a free loaner for the month so it really wasn't that bad.  Who would have thought that the Honda Fit would be so hard to get?  Here it is - a teensy little car that's just perfect for going back and forth to work...

I also had one little finish this week.  I've been wanting to try my hand at some different finishes for small pieces (a la The Twisted Stitcher and Stitching Dreams) so I tried this little freebie from 123 Citrouille.  The blog is in french, so I asked my coworker Stella (from France) to translate some of it.  Apparently it means 123 Pumpkin!  She chuckled at the name saying after living here for so long she probably wouldn't have remembered the french work for pumpkin until she saw it written down.  Anyways, the chart didn't have any colors called for so I used GAST Chives, Cherry Wine, Sarsaparilla and Midnight.  I also changed the pot a little so it would be symmetrical (remember my whole OCD post?)

Flower Pot (c) 123 Citrouille

32 ct antique white jobelan

started 7/10/14, finished 7/23/14

I did make a tactical error with this little piece.  I decided to cut my small piece of jobelan in half in order to get two projects out of it figuring this would fit fine on one half.  And it would have been perfect - if I had stitched it in the right direction.  Instead I stitched with the design going horizontally across the shorter width of the fabric, which means I have about an inch on either side of the design (and tons of room at the top and bottom).  Rookie mistake!  I guess that will impact what type of finish I end up using.  I'm thinking maybe a little pillow?  We'll see!

I'm Back!

Well, I’m back, and stitching with a vengeance! After quite the cross stitch hiatus, I've finally dug out my old WIP’s (and of course started some new projects.) I've been knitting and crocheting away for years and that’s taken most of my crafting time. But every now and then I get a little bored with knitting and want to try something a little different.  Not that cross stitching's "different" since I've actually been doing it longer, but you get the idea.

Strangely enough this renewed interest actually started on a knitting get-away. Angie and I drove down to Baltimore for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May and made a long weekend of it. We discovered something interesting over the weekend though – we are really not “yarn festival people”. We lasted about 3 hours at the actual festival - it was hot and crowded, and everything starts to look the same after a while. So we switched to what we actually like best, and shop hopped! We had stopped at a number of stores on the way down to MD (one in each state I think), and after the festival we googled yarn stores in the area and ended up at Cloverhill Yarn Shop. After not buying ANY yarn at the festival, I did at least buy some yarn there. Next door to the yarn store was a cross stitch store, The Stitching Post. For old times’ sake I wanted to just check it out and Angie ended up buying the cutest little knitting hedgehog pattern (I may have been a slight enabler in that decision). Over the rest of the weekend I helped her get started on her project and the itch to get back to my old projects totally kicked in.

So out they came – I realized I hadn't done any stitching in years, but I had kept everything, knowing the desire to stitch again would come back eventually. I had to decipher a bit where I was with the rotation that I had been using, but was able to figure out where I was. I realized that some of my WIP’s went all the way back to the end of 2001! Yikes! The great part was I was pretty close to finishing a couple of Mirabilia projects. So in no time at all I finished:

Gathering Eggs © Mirabilia

32 ct bay leaf jobelan

started 1/22/03, finished 5/20/14 (103.5 hours)

The funny part with this one is that everyone who I showed it to asked why I didn't finish the lower left corner. The pattern left that unstitched, and it didn't bother me at all. Apparently most people think it looks a bit unfinished. Oh well, I like it.

I also finished:

Touching the Autumn Sky (c) Mirabilia

32 ct wedgewood blue lugana

started 12/23/02, finished 5/25/14 (102.75 hrs)

This one has a slight problem. A long time ago I wrote about how I had snipped a fabric thread near her hand. You don’t really notice it (unless you look close or I point it out), but I’m a little nervous about what will happen when (if) I get it framed and they stretch it. All I can imagine is it running like a run in nylons! The helpful lady at Thistle Needleworks suggested I pull out the snipped thread and then anchor and weave in another thread from the edge. This makes me a little nervous as well, so we’ll see what happens.

This brought up another kind of sad point, in that quite a few of the projects I had finished back then as well as some of my WIP’s had been started when Marley was very young and intended for a little girl’s room. Seeing as she just turned 13 (!) things in her room have changed a bit since then. So now I have to figure out what to do with some of the “little kid” projects. I've already picked out a spot for Gathering Eggs in my hallway, but I’m not quite sure about Autumn Sky. I don’t have much free wall space, so I’ll have to think about it a bit.
My latest finish this year is:

Punkin Season (c) Full Circle Design

32 ct cream lugana

started 3/18/07, finished 6/15/14

I officially started this in 2007, but had only completed the border. In the past I had shied away from small finishes because I didn't know quite what to do with them (as far as framing, etc.) Luckily I've discovered some great cross stitching blogs like The Twisted Stitcher and Stitching Dreams, where they show a lot of “smalls” and Vonna at The Twisted Stitcher also has some great finishing tutorials. So I think I want to try making this into a cube. I’ll have to raid my MIL’s fabric stash and see how it goes.
Whew – well I guess that’s enough for my first post back. I have some new (and old) WIP’s to show you, but that will have to wait until another day. I updated the pages listed on the left with all of my knitting finishes (Ravelry links), a page for each cross stitch WIP and a page for each year’s cross stitch finishes. It took forever one night, but I like having everything in one place to see (even if some of the early pictures are really awful!)

Christine's Outside the Box Clapotis

Once upon a time (2006, maybe?) Katy and I decided to buy outside of our normal color zone at Rhinebeck. I still bought some Brooks Farms Four Play (my favorite yarn!), but instead of my normal Rhinebeck-red, I bought a lovely skein of mauve, green and cream. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately didn't work out the way I planned. Basically it sat in the stash for a few years until I finally decided to do something with it. I decided to make a Clapotis, since I think that yarn and that pattern were pretty much made for each other, but still wasn't too gung ho about it. As pretty as it was, it just wasn't "me". So imagine my surprise when my friend Christine came to work after Christmas with a new coat in a perfectly matching shade of green - it was perfect for her. And luckily, she loved it!


Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Brooks Farm Four Play
Needles: Size 7
Started: Sometime in 2011
Finished: 1/8/12
My Ravelry Link: Christine's Outside the Box Clapotis

Mark's Striped Scarf

My brother and I don't exchange gifts for Christmas (just for the kids), but for Christmas 2010 I decided to make both he and Janelle scarves. I chose the Noro Striped Scarf pattern, which I love - I think this makes the 4th one I've finished, with one still in progress and plans for a couple more. I just love the way it looks, even if it takes a while with all that ribbing.

Well I finished Janelle's on time, but his languished for a year unfinished. In my current finishing frenzy I finally got around to finishing it this week. I figured since the next "special occasion" wasn't until his birthday in September I'd just give it to him now. He seemed to like it!


Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Gray and Black
Needles: Size 8
Started: Sometime in 2010
Finished: 1/10/12
My Ravelry link: Mark's Striped Scarf

Marley's Jane Hat

Since I decided that the Boystown Beanie just wasn’t cutting it for Marley, I decided to try a Jane Hat, using the same grey color since Marley loved it. This was a very fast knit, even though I decided to change to larger needles about half way through (started with 7/9 as per the pattern). The sewn in brim took a while for me to be satisfied, but it was totally worth it in the end. On a funny note, when I got to the decreases I wanted to magic loop it, since I didn’t have any size 10 dpns. The only 40” size 10’s I have are in my addi Click set, but when I went to get them I realized that I was missing a pair. Unfortunately I had put on one size 9 and one size 10 tip, so now I have two sizes of Clicks I can’t use. I started to tear apart my disaster-of-a-craft room, but no luck so far. Hopefully they will show up soon! (And I now own a cheap pair of size 10 dpns!)
Pattern: Jane Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Needles: Size 8 & 10
Started: 1/6/12
Finished: 1/9/12
My Ravelry Link: Marley's Jane Hat

Toby's Boystown Beanie

I started the year thinking I would be doing a little more charity knitting, so I figured I’d try out the Boystown Beanie, one of She Makes Hats patterns. The jury’s still out on the whole charity-knitting concept, so at first I gave the hat to Marley, who loved the color (it matches her fleece and the grey in her winter jacket perfectly). I don’t think it really works for her (more on that soon, hopefully), so I think it will be for Toby. It was a fun knit which I actually finished in one day, but it was a Sunday, and I knit A LOT that day. But what a great way to start the year off, huh? I had picked this pattern specifically for a charity hat since the ribbing would fit a lot of head sizes, but it really is a lot of ribbing (and I knit ribbing pretty slow). I think I might like to try something with a little more stockinette in the future, although I think the ribbing does make for a pretty warm hat, even if it is just acrylic yarn (hey, it was Sunday – Webs was closed!)
Pattern: Boystown Beanie
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Needles: Size 9
Started: 1/1/12
Finished: 1/1/12
My Ravelry Link: Boystown Beanie

Too. Cute. For. Words.

These are a pair of baby pants aka "watermelon pants" that I knit as a sample with my friend Rue's handpainted yarn. She is going to start selling the yarn and needed a sample of something other than socks. Her yarn is absolutely amazing - the colors are gorgeous and this yarn has a bit of tencel in it which gives it a beautiful sheen. She's going to sell the yarn as 2 half skeins, 1 of each color, tied together. So when I wound the ball the inside was pink and the outside was green. Most people would knit from both ends, striping the yarn, but all I got out of that was a tangled mess so I had to separate the 2 balls and then I flew through the knitting. The pattern is loosely based on Knitty's Cargo Pants, adjusted for the gauge of this yarn (7 stitches to the inch I think?) I hemmed the bottoms and the top to enclose a drawstring ribbon and I think they look very "tailored", as the cargo pattern claimed they would. If I was going to do them again (say, for a new little boy!) I would probably use a thicker yarn since there was a lot of knitting involved with the small gauge, but I think they came out perfect - even if my mother laughs every time she sees them!