Pattern: "Moonlit Garden" Loose Feathers #22
Designer: Blackbird Designs
Fabric: 30 count "Broomstick Brown" linen by R&R Reproductions
My rotation is all messed up after being sick for a couple of weeks and not being very energetic. I'm feeling marginally better, though the cough is still lingering (darn asthma that lets every virus that floats around land right in my lungs). So, I'm afraid I might have to break the streak of pumping through the entire set of projects in a month. That's OK; the annual plan is to get through the rotation every 6 weeks at a max (which when you drop out 'Full Coverage February' gives 8 full rotations a year). I'm currently on Rotation #8 for 2026 so I don't mind slowing down the pace a bit.
Andrew over at The Runner Stitcher (link to his YouTube channel) is hosting the second #WIPintoShape as he prepares to run the London marathon in late April next year. Last time when he was setting up for the Sydney and then New York marathon, I worked on my pictorial, which was "Mead Dragon" at the time. The marathon stitching got me through the boring background on that piece, but I decided that I didn't want to do another pictorial since "Santa of the Forest" is so close to a finish that it wouldn't get me very far into the challenge. My next pictorial project is still in the 'charting into Pattern Keeper' stage (more on that in a few weeks when the Santa is closer to a finish) so it's not really challenge appropriate either.
I settled on using "A Quaker Christmas" for the challenge piece. Andrew reports his training miles every day and we are stitching 10 stitches for every mile he runs. He's even set up a Google doc to track everything. I'll also be reporting on my progress here the last Sunday of the month.
Since the start of the challenge, I have stitched 888 stitches. The project is at 15.66% as of today's stitches. Like all conditioning plans, this one starts out with small, achievable goals. Therefore, I have less progress this rotation than some, but as we get further in, the distance (and the number of stitches) will increase steadily. This first bit is all under 100 stitches a day, most days are 3.5 to 5 miles (35 to 50 stitches). Tomorrow's goal is 100 stitches for his first 10-mile run. I feel like we have reached a milestone!
Here's where I am at the first month's check in. All the stitches were in the 'cluster of stars' half medallion and the word beside it.
And what the whole thing looks like now. I'm still heading down the left border of half medallions. This next motif is one I've named 'butterflies and branches' and it will get me all the way to the bottom left corner.
I'm going to hop over to see what the rest of the SSS crew is up to this week. (Link to the roundup here.)
Still have a cough and sinus infection (ugh) and zero energy 😫.
I did get to 65% on "Moonlit Garden" - which is on pace for a finish this month! But no progress on knitting or quilting at all since the first week of October.
But the big news is the mid-month check in for "Santa of the Forest". He's 92.35% finished! And I'm down to the last color of DMC; unfortunately, that final DMC color has about a thousand stitches left, but I'm thinking I can get through it by the end of the month with no problem. That will leave the gold metallic and two metallic/DMC blends and beads yet to do in November. New Goal - finish the stitching and beading by Thanksgiving and do a temporary mount over canvas or stretcher bars to display for the holidays this year.
I'm late and I don't have much to report. Honestly, it's been a terrible week for crafting. I'm down with a head cold and am still very raspy and sneezy. Ugh. What little tiny bit of attention I have had over the last few days has gone into the Blackbird Academy piece "Moonlit Garden". I am at about 42.5% (including the verse) and have finished a couple of the colors.
The first of the week, before I got sick, I did finish the Vintage German needlepoint piece (Finish post is at this link.) And I did manage to get 890 stitches into "Santa of the Forest"; there were a couple of days with very minimal progress, but any stiches count, right?
I apologize to the SSS crew for the late posting. Hopefully I'll get to feeling better soon. Link to the current week round-up here.
Vintage German Needlepoint Kit attributed to Tapex Vienna Company c 1965
Gifted to me by my mother-in-law, who found it unstarted in a secondhand shop in Wiesbaden
Kit materials plus extra DMC Tapestry Wool where the kit material ran short
10 Count "Penelope" canvas with printed design
Stitched in half cross - using basket weave technique wherever possible, a tiny bit of straight stitch embellishment
Begun 11/23/2025
Stitching Finished 10/7/2026
Approx time = 88.5 hours: 18,600 stitches
Frame/Finish TBD
I have been ALL OVER the place with my crafting this week. I'm bouncing from project to project like a demented squirrel getting ready for winter. And we are sneaking into Autumn here in Kansas (finally). The leaves aren't really turning yet, and we haven't had a hard frost, but I pulled on a hoodie to let Dela out yesterday morning. Sweater weather is coming! And look! I have a sweater shaped object to report on. The Brown Study Sweater (link to my Ravelry page on it) has been getting steady attention over the last few weeks, though I have barely mentioned it.
I am up to where all the decreases are done and the neck shaping starts; I'm planning to do a short row neck with three or four turns on each side (depends on how it fits when I try it on). And I'm noodling about the neck finish. Even though I used ribbing on the bottom and cuffs, I think I'll do an I-cord edge on the top. This sweater will be worn over collared shirts or turtlenecks and so it doesn't really need a ribbed crew neck. An I-cord edge gives a nice smooth finish and quite a bit of structure - win/win. But before all that happens, I need to close the underarm seams so I can try it on. Right now, they are on rigid stitch holders; the pokey ends would get in the way and affect the fit. Even if the worst happens and the yoke fit is wrong, I will only pull back as far as the lifeline, which is above the underarm seam. So the next report will be underarms and fit. Keeping my fingers crossed that all my numbers were right.
