Slow Sunday Stitching - August 9, 2026

 Most of the crafting this week ended up being knitting.  I took my grandson to his school physical.  At 17, he still needs an adult to check him in and sign paperwork. I did not have any travel project, since I'd just finished both the Muchness Cowl and the Toy Maker Santa ornament in the last couple of weeks.  So, another LOSY hat happened abruptly.  This one is in reds and oranges; Maple Leaf LOSY Hat (Knitting links all go to my Ravelry project pages).

I also finished the "Swatch Hat" for the colorwork sweater.  It looks very funky with the different chunks of pattern and slouchy fit, but I got the numbers I needed.  It will be fine as a "barn hat" for outdoor work, since I won't care if it gets lost or ruined. 

And last but not least on the knitting front, when I picked the "Brown Study Sweater" back up, I discovered a mistake on the short row section at the back of the yoke start.  When I tried to drop the stitches down to fix it, I created an even larger issue and ended up frogging the whole thing back to the join round!  It's all back on the needles, double counted and a lifeline run.  I'll redo the short row section this week and get back to the point where the colorwork starts ASAP.   But that took several hours last night.  Luckily, this yarn is not at all slippery so pulling the needles out and ripping back wholesale was practical.

On the cross-stitch front, I have a confession.  Over the last six months or so, I have expressed a bit of frustration that the 'historic' slot on my needlework rotation has been full of Blackbird Designs to the exclusion of the other historic projects in my stash.  In the past five years, all but two projects designated as "historic reproductions" or "historic inspired" have all been BBD patterns.  Now, I LOVE Blackbird Designs, and I still have over two dozen kitted projects from their Loose Feathers original series waiting in the stash.  But I would like to have a bit more variety.  I debated at the first of the year doing every other project as a BBD, but that hasn't worked out either.  I had determined that when I reset the rotation at the end of 2026 that I would add a "prim" slot and break the historic slot into two parts. That was the plan, until last week.....

This year, I have not participated in any larger Stitch A Longs or temperature stitching.  That slot in the rotation has been sitting empty since January.  I was watching Floss Tube as one does and stitching away on "It's Berry Time" when I stumbled across a couple of planning videos for a new Facebook group called "Blackbird Academy", which is hosting a ten month SAL with monthly prompts.   Any BBD project, new or WIP that fits the prompt in any way is welcome.  I looked at the prompt for August, which is "alphabets", and I looked at the WIP in my hands and BINGO.  I signed up right away.

I'm planning on working on the Academy on weekends (Friday and Saturday), continue the 111 stitches or a bit more on my pictorial every day and try to get in at least an hour on my regular rotation Sunday to Thursday.   Even with school starting up on the 19th, I'm hopeful that this is not overly ambitious.  Time will tell. 

Here's where I'm at on "It's Berry Time" after four hours (so effectively the first two weekends of August).  I'm making pretty good progress on the rose basket.  

For the record "Santa of the Forest" got 1,367 stitches this week and is now at 62.82%.   And I put in two hours on the vintage needlepoint.  Plus I set up the next Santa ornament and will hopefully get the chart into Pattern Keeper this afternoon. It's been a productive, though scattered, week!  Off to link up with the SSS crew (this week's round-up).