Knitter in Progress

I haven't had the urge to stitch in a long time but lately that has changed and my desire to stitch has come back with a vengeance. I am testing out a rotation in preparation for the WIPacolypse in January. I finished the second page of this piece last night. That ocean floor is riddled with confetti but then again most of this piece is--lots of detail=lots of different colors :) Pattern: Heaven and Earth Designs, QS Swimming with Dolphins (Tate) Fabric: 28 count evenweave Threads: 2 over 1, tent Pages complete: 2 In other news, Nanowrimo 2011 is off to a slow start for me. 2600/50000 words complete. Looking forward to some writing time tonight.

I did not get as much "hermit" time as I would have liked. It's fall, it was nice out, yard work took priority for most of the daylight hours this weekend. I was able to stitch yesterday evening. I am working my way through the confetti nightmare that is the coral :)

Still feeling the crafty mojo here and I love it! It feels so good to have the energy to work on my favorite things AND to be able to carve out the time. For the first time in well over a year I pulled out one of my HAED projects. QS Swimming with Dolphins(Nadia Tate/Heaven and Earth Designs) I put about 600 stitches in over the last week. You can see the before pic in this post from September. I am going to be working on this one until I finish the page I am on. Knitting is also getting done--hopefully I will have some progress to show soon. I am working on 2 blankets, a pair of footie socks, cupcake themed fingerless mittens, and the Cambridge shawl.

It seems that I am always on a quest to find more time to fit in all the things I would like to do. Crafting is a such a passion of mine but finding the time to fit it all in is challenging. I really want to make progress on my stitching works in progress so I have decided to try a rotation. I will work on these three pieces--finishing one page before I move on to the next: 1. Ink Circles--The Bramble and the Rose(as of today) 2. HAED QS Swimming with Dolphins(as of today) 3. HAED I Love Thee(as of today) I really want 2012 to be the year of "finishes" instead of "new starts" ;)

This past weekend was the HAED SAL Challenge weekend and here's what I got accomplished. It's great to be hitting the bottom of the piece--it makes goal setting easier--get to the end of a column and I'm done :) Busy, busy as usual. I don't know when all the craziness here is going to let up. Happy knitting and stitching!

I have decided to challenge myself during the Olympics. I believe that knitting is a winter sport and the Knitting Olympics is the Harlot's domain. So I've decided that the summer Olympics, for me at least, are all about stitching. Starting with Opening Ceremonies tonight and going through Closing Ceremonies I am going to get 300 stitches in per day on QS Swimming with Dolphins. Wish me luck because in addition to all of the this stitching, we have the madness of "back-to-school" next week. Before(8Aug08): After: 25Aug08: Olympic Update. Well, my Olympic stitching was a bust. I'm like one of those countries with like two athletes neither of which have a chance to medal they're just happy to be there. I got 1201 stitches done over the course of the games. It sounds good but in order to have reached my Olympic Gold I would have needed 4800. So I didn't make it to the podium--frankly with such a poor showing I can't even see the podium ;) I did read 4 boo...

So far I have only missed on month of the SAL Challenge. This weekend I did all my stitching on Monday night. And yes, I did get in 800 stitches. I was on a roll; I'm just trying to imagine how much I would have gotten done if I had stitched all weekend. Here's the progress: (after) (before--so you can get an idea of what 800 stitches is in the grand scheme of HAED stitching) **clickable thumbnails(if you want to see them bigger) Our Mermaid now has an arm and I am about 1000 stitches away from finishing the page! Hopefully that will happen over the next month.

This weekend was the HAED SAL Challenge Weekend and I pulled out Swimming with Dolphins. I aimed for about 200 stitches per day and I averaged just a touch over that for the weekend. I feel like I made significant progress; she has an upper body now and that's always a good thing ;) **clickable thumbnail** On the knitting front. I had rattled off a few more Barn Raising Squares last week. Now I have 5 out of about 84ish squares. Represented here are STR Nodding Violet, STR Lucy, and some leftover stuff that I believe was a Regia Cotton.

Even though this is March, it is only the second month I have participated in the Challenge. I am allowed two months off and I had to take one last month because I was in Hawaii during SAL weekend. I thought I would have had a bit more time last weekend to stitch than I did, but here is where I am: I made it to the bottom of the page which is always a milestone and I thought that green on the bottom was her tail but I think it's seaweed. Her tail is on the previous page. And those clam shells--good grief who would have thought something so small would be chucked full of so many "detail" stitches. Here is what the finished product will look like: Stats: Pattern: QS Swimming with Dolphins(Tate) charted by HAED Fabric: 28 count white Needle: size 28 Piecemaker Stitched: 2 over 1, tent(half cross) This weekend is the Sampler SAL, so Provence Sampler will be making an appearance in the Q-Snaps. I'm getting anxious to finish this one(I have a way to go) because I have n...

Over at the HAED BB there is going to be yet another Stitchalong Challenge(remember I worked on Misty Weniera for last year's SAL). This year I have moved Little Diva's piece to the SAL Challenge spot, so I can guarantee I get work done on it. Stats: Pattern: QS Swimming with Dolphins(Tate) Fabric: 28 count white evenweave Stitched: 2 over 1, tent I didn't get as much done as I had planned but I managed to fill in some spaces in the top and start working my way to the bottom of the page. Although the picture doesn't do it justice(it's overcast here today), the colors are very vibrant--not my usual M.O. I guess that's why it's for my daughter ;)

I got the kiddos to bed last night and spent some time on Little Diva's Swimming with Dolphins while watching Prisoner of Azkaban(I NEVER get tired of that movie--I think Order of the Phoenix will be the same once I get it on DVD). Here's the result: I also managed to get out over the weekend and buy this: Isn't it pretty? Click away on the picture to see what all that floss will turn into. I need a new start like I need a hole in the head but I've been wanting to try a monochromatic chart and I love this one.

I'm going to try and post weekly on my cross stitch pieces; showing my progress on which ever piece or pieces I've worked on that particular week. I'm hoping it will give me incentive to stitch more often(and hopefully my knitting won't suffer). If you want to see what the final product will look like, just click on the pictures or look in the sidebar :) Here's my progress on Misty Weniera from the HAED Yearly SAL this past weekend: And here's my progress on Swimming with Dolphins from QS Wednesday: It's no secret that I love Heaven and Earth Designs charts. These are the charts that brought me back to stitching after a 7-8 year break. I love the detail and the subject matter. I even enjoy browsing the site when I have free time--even if I'm not in the market for a chart. Michele and Bob(the owners) are fabulous to work with--they go above and beyond for their customers. I'm excited to see that they are starting to get some recognition in th...

I managed to squeeze in some time yesterday on Little Diva's cross stitch. Here's the progress: It's not a lot but those pieces of seaweed have a surprising number of colors in them. I also worked a little more of the dolphin head(aka the big blob of gray). Little Diva is loving this so far--although I think she's a bit disappointed that it's not almost done(she's not so accepting of the "it takes time" thing). She has also informed me that she wants this one to go with Swimming with Dolphins. I think I'm her one woman stitching sweatshop ;) If you want to see an amazing HAED finish-- check this out . Here's a link to the chart --just to give you the stats on how big that one is. I'm very, very impressed and envious, Arthemise.

Updated after QS Wednesday: I participated in the New Start SAL this weekend. I have had this chart in my WIP pile all year and still hadn't started it, SO this weekend was the time. Little Diva picked it out back in January for her room, so I guess I should start putting some time in on it. Stats: Chart: QS Swimming with Dolphins(Tate) Fabric: 28 count white even weave Stitches: 2 over 1, tent(half cross for the uninitiated) I totally changed my routine with this one. I started in the middle and I'm not gridding or parking--hopefully this "flying without a net" won't come back to haunt me later. I also understand now why some of these cartoony type QS's are appealing. They aren't that hard, there are huge blocks of one color throughout--definitely NOT the challenge of my other pieces, but it's a nice break. I'm very excited about this one for many reasons but mostly because it's a Quick Stitch which means I can participate in QS Wednesdays ...