Knitter in Progress

I am a little late in posting my Totally Useless SAL progress but here it is: I decided to start using two jars; one for knitting, one for stitching. I didn't get a lot of time to stitch this weekend--it is always harder to find time when everyone is home. I am going to to kick it into high gear this week. I love, love, love the thread I am using for this. I have always admired pieces people have done with DMC 115 and love it even more seeing it in person.

I've been working on some baby knits for my friend Sam's upcoming arrival. We had her shower yesterday so now I can unveil the the socks and hats I knit for her little one. The pattern is a personal baby sock pattern and I used a few yarns: Dream in Color Smooshy, Pagewood Farms, ShiBui sock, and Socks that Rock. These are too cute and very quick knits. It is the Handle pattern by Larissa Brown; I found it on Ravelry. I used Jitterbug and Opal Harry Potter yarn. I also bought her a few other store bought gifties. Now we just need to wait for the little one to arrive!

Fabric, floss, and pattern ready: Just waiting for Opening Ceremonies to begin, so I can begin :)

I have been working on Blackstone Fantasy Garden as an Olympic warmup. I finished the main design and now I'm just filling in. This will actually be set aside until after the Games. I love how it looks.

I've been hearing about this book in various places and I've been following the blog . I decided to read it and see if I was inspired--I'm still working my way through it but I'm fascinated. I love the idea of setting monthly, themed goals and adding to them each month. Although the book is a chronicle of the author's personal happiness journey, it could be tailored to fit anyone's personal goals. Even if you never read the book, you should take a look at the blog. I look forward to reading the posts every time they pop up on my bloglines. Maybe I need to use what I learn in it to find a way to make time for all of the things that make me happy: knitting, stitching, reading, family time, alone time, exercise time, etc.

I figured I should transition my mind from knitting to stitching if I plan on meeting my Olympic goal of starting/finishing Ink Circles The Bramble and the Rose , so I pulled out Blackstone Fantasy Garden(also by Ink Circles) in order to get my mind and fingers back in the stitching groove. I started this piece quite a while ago and have just pulled it out of the WIP pile. Stats: Fabric: 28 count white evenweave, the exact type I can't remember Floss: I'm changing the colors from the original piece. So far I've used DMC 814(the reddish color) and DMC 803 (the blue). I'll be using DMC Impressions floss for the rest of the piece. Stitched: 2 over 2 I'm hoping to have all the outlining done before the Olympics starts. When I first picked this back up at the beginning of January I only had about 1.5 pages done(of the outlining)--now I only have 2 of the 9 pages left before I start filling in :)