Things are ramping up for the holidays around here. One more bell choir rehearsal before we play on Christmas Eve. All but one of the gifts are here, and mostly wrapped. There's a bit of baking yet to do, but I'm off on Friday the 23rd, so will go pie and cookie crazy then LOL.
And there have been several 'waiting' times for various appointments, school programs, etc which have been the perfect time to work on the red cowl. It is as good for a travel project as I had hoped it would be. Only a few places where I need to pay attention - on either side of a 6 stitch purl panel at each of the four markers.
It's just as soft and textured as it looks. The way that the decreases stack up every row makes the four decrease points ruched up and spiraled around on the left side of each purl panel. And the increases cause the right side of the purl panel to fall into soft pleats. It's a very organic look that is unlike my usual style, but I rather like it. This will be an 'accessory' cowl, not an 'outerwear' one. My office is always SO cold. My cubical is just outside the server room (which of course is kept very cool), so I like to wear (or at least have with me) a lightweight something to keep the back of my neck from chilling. The one advantage to working in an office set on 'arctic' is I can wear handknit socks year round!
On the needlework side of things, the fill in on mama swan is coming along well. See this post for discussion on the changes I made to the pattern. This is right at 10 hours, so ordinarily, I would move on to the next project in my rotation. HOWEVER, it's coming up on the 23rd anniversary of the start on this thing (1/2/2000) and I really, really want to finish it before it ticks over another year! So I am throwing the rotation to the winds and focusing on this for the next two weeks. There's a lot of fill in to do and there won't be much stitching time with all the holiday stuff, but maybe, just maybe?
Linking up with the SSS crew (current roundup).
Your cowl is a very pretty colour and looks so soft and cozy. 23 years on one project? Time to get it done! Have you track the number of hours you have spent on Dutch Beauty? I can’t wait to see it in its full glory! Gail at the cozy quilter
ReplyDeleteLong past time for a finish on this one! Granted it hibernated from 2003 to 2008 and again from 2009 to 2017. I totally credit the SSS crew to keeping me "on task" since I picked it up in the standard rotation in Feb of 2018. It's been about 210 hours since I started logging it in the rotation for SSS and I was just before the halfway point then, so 425 to 500 hours. I wish I had the numbers from earlier, but I was handling my rotation much differently then.
DeleteThe cowl is lovely, and so is your stitching! Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteHi Karla, that cowl is such a pretty shade of red! Wonderful project and good to keep you warm in that colder space you work in. Well done on your cross stitch piece, you are moving it along now. Enjoy the holidays and happy continued stitching from me outside Ottawa. :)
ReplyDelete