Slow Sunday Stitching - June 9, 2024

This is going to be a VERY quick check in; I am reading the lessons today at church and need to check in early so they know I'm there.    (Also need to make sure the ribbons marking the readings are in the right places in the Bible - I've had that not happen in the past and it's disrupting and embarrassing.)

It's been a good week - feels like I am on a 'stay-cation'.  I've worked a lot in the garden, my tomatoes and sweet peppers are all blooming like crazy, the summer squash are just exploding into masses of leaves and I'm about to harvest my second crop of lettuce (hopefully I'll get a decent batch over the next six to eight weeks before they bolt in the summer heat).  I'm still holding out hope for the cucumbers this year, five of the six plants have made it to the 'beginning to climb the trellis' stage.  So they are already doing better than last year.

And of course there's been crafting. 

I finished up the June section of the Birdhouses SAL on Friday - it's so stinking CUTE.   I love the bee skep birdhouse.   And the watering can was fun to finish.

On the knitting front, the hat is up to five inches (including the ribbing).   I think it needs to be about 6 inches before I start the colorwork so that I can also test the shaping.    It will end up being a stocking hat of sorts if my numbers are correct.  

I'm also working on clearing out my closet and donating old work wear that I don't need any more.  I already have two boxes to take for donation and I'm just getting started on the decluttering!   Trying to get in the habit of getting unwanted stuff out of the house.   Not leaving this stuff for my son and daughter in law to cope with!

Linking up with the SSS crew.

Slow Sunday Stitching - June 2, 2024

Well, I can say (with an entire day under my belt) that I'm enjoying retirement.   😊 

I turned in laptop, etc on Friday afternoon (since I ended up working a bit this last week after all), and Saturday morning I went out, bought myself a new computer and spent the afternoon getting everything set up and loaded.  Not a difficult task, just tedious.

Then I cast on this:

"Wait a minute," you say.  "That looks like the yarn from the Brown Yoke Sweater, but that's not part of a sweater, is it?"   No, it is not.   It is a 'swatch cap'   So named by the late, great Elizabeth Zimmermann of "Knitting Without Tears" fame.  An adult sized hat is large enough to be an excellent sized swatch for working out colorwork or cables IN GAUGE and knit in the round, there's no variance due to the technique either.    This one is large enough that I will be able to test three different colowork yoke ideas with two repeats each.   Stay tuned - as I'm knitting ribbing, I'm also playing with graph paper......

This week in and around subbing for a co-worker who had an unexpected family trip come up, I did get a bit over five hours put into the KC Plaza Sewing bag.   Finished off the shadow color on the left-hand horse and got started on the right-hand fill in.  I'm working in two areas on the fill in, with the head and mane in progress when I am rested and able to focus and the rump when I just need to be able to cruise along.   Let me tell you, over one on 34 count linen is not fun.   That count is where I discovered the need to switch to tent stitch for over one!  But I will soldier on with full cross since that's what I started with.

The sewing bag will go on the back burner for a bit.  Starting this afternoon, the monthly Birdhouses SAL will come out for the June assignment!   I'll come back to the horses for the rest of my ten hours once the SAL section is done.  

Linking up with the SSS crew here.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 26, 2024

Not a lot of stitching this week, the garden is exploding and we've had enough rain that I need to weed pretty much every day.   My tomatoes and peppers are all blooming, so I hope for another bumper tomato year!

What time I did get to stitch was getting back into the KC Plaza Sewing Bag.   Fill in on the statues in the fountain is what's up next.  Right now I'm working on getting the shadow color on the right hand horse.   I did finish the last little dolphin statue over on the far right.

I also got the short rows to shape the back shoulder area done on the yoke sweater, but no photo of the whole sweater laid out, since it doesn't really look any different than last week on the needle.   I have discovered German Short Rows and I like them SO much better than the wrap and turn variety of short rows.  This style is darn near invisible.   Here's the wedge formed by five short row sets (so ten rows) and other than tracing a row of stitches from the front of the sweater on the left side around, can you see where the 'seam' is?   I can't and I know where I put them!   I also got the repeats marked with ring markers. 

The other news is that there was gifted stash acquisition!  One of my co-workers is a knitter and she gave me retirement sock yarn!   The Meilenwiet is in my preferred sock colors of blues, teals and purple toned greys.  The Dream in Color Smooshy is a lovely rainbow - I think that one will become a scarf or shawlette.  

Linking up with the SSS crew (a little later than usual).   The current round up is here.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 19, 2024 AND Rotation #2, Slot #1 (Historic) Changeover

Well, I put in 10 hours on the Blackbird Design piece - "Keepsake", which is Loose Feathers #33.  I got very close to having the foliage all finished; it was a new start this rotation. There's no rush on this one. Next up is the KC Plaza Sewing Bag.

And as is par for the course, I picked up my basically abandoned sweater just in time for the mid-day temps to hit the high 80s here LOL.   I got myself all sorted out and everything onto one long circular needle.  I have a few short row shaping rounds, then I need to sit down with some graph paper and actually design the colorwork.   First retirement project!

Not a lot of other news to report.  By this time next week, I will be on 'terminal leave'  (IE using up the vacation I still have on the books, since my company doesn't do a vacation buyout.).  This going to feel so very odd. 

Linking up with the SSS crew (this week's round up here).

Finished Knitting - November 2022

Rework on Bob's Christmas Stocking 

 

 Winter Forest Hat

Links to my Ravelry page.

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 20, 2022

 Hopping on early to activate this post before I dash off to church.  Bells are playing this week for the second (larger) service.  It's been so great to get back to a full choir.   

It's been a busy week crafting wise as it has been an easy work week.  Forecast was for our first snow of the year on Tuesday, so we all got to work from home that day in addition to our usual days.   It was more sleet than snow, so I was glad to not have to drive in it!  Freezing rain is always so nasty.   Give me real snow, please!

First up, I put in some more work on the Blackbird Designs piece.   It's now got 20 hours in.  I do like the purple and yellow flowers in the basket.   All the stems are there now, but lots of leaves, buds and flowers and background circle motifs yet to go on the bottom half of this piece

I've been working on the Unicorn Pillow every Friday for about an hour and a half to two hours to meet the Full Coverage Fanatics (on Facebook) challenges.  This week, I got to my two hours and there was just about 45 min left to finish off the rest of the background, so I put some time on Saturday and voila - all done but the remaining goldwork and making it into an actual pillow.

So this project will continue with the couching on the horn as the 'not counted thread' project and next Friday, I will get a new start on a full coverage piece.   I have two kitted up and will start on the smaller one - a Sugar Skull for a work friend who is of Hispanic descent and loves the 'Day of the Dead"/All Saints and All Souls.  I'll share a picture of the set up and pattern cover next week.  

Remember when I was in the early stages of the project how I was grousing how off register the printing was on this and how much better a hand painted canvas is?   Proof is in the final corner.

Square?  Not in MY book!  Two stitches off over just 14 inches!  BOTH dimensions even.

Knitting.  Thank you to those who recommended in comments and IMs that I should work in the ends on the shawl as I go.   I went back and caught myself up.  This is about 2/3 of the way through the peach colored stripe.   The rows get ever longer, though, so not very far into the knitting at all. 

Unfortunately, I am not as far on getting the ends woven in on my other knitting project.

But the fact that I am weaving them in at all means that the re-work on Bob's Christmas Stocking is DONE.   Which is a good thing since I will have to return both of the stockings back to my sister at Thanksgiving dinner later this week.   Kimi's on the left c 1979.   Bob's on the right.    Kimi's is slightly less dense yarn and a slightly tighter gauge.   I was not so good with my colorwork tension back then either.   But the gauges are not too far off considering there's 40 plus years between them!

All those ends are waiting for me inside Bob's stocking.  I'll be catching up with the SSS crew (link to the current round up) and working on those ends when I get back from church in a bit. 

Slow Sunday Stitching - October 30, 2022 and kicking off Rotation #5 with my birthday start

 Almost ready for the invasion of miniature goblins tomorrow!  I love Halloween.

Speaking of Halloween, I finished the "Halloween Candy Hat".  I got the last of the knitting finished while waiting for Carl's play to start and finished off the the crown when I got home Wednesday night. (It's just a dozen or so ever decreasing rounds and running in the ends).

Of course, at that point I had to cast on another one because I had Alexis' music program on Thursday, so I dug in the sock scraps and came up with these:

colors remind me of a winter forest

And got another hat cast on.   These things are like the old potato chip commercial, "Can't just have one!"

 The other knitting is positively Christmas!   Got the instep done on the re-knit of Bob's Stocking, and it LINES UP!   So happy.   I'm hoping to finish the heel flap, turn and gusset this week.

With the Changeover Post on the Full Coverage slot (link to that post), I am now starting Rotation #5 for this year.  I will not be able to get through it again in the two months remaining of this year, so I think what I will do is to have five hour slots instead of 10.  Just for this round, then I'll do the usual formal reset of the rotation on New Year's Day.

I have a new start.  Kathy Barrick's "My Day Complete" on 40 count Vintage Country Mocha Newcastle Linen with one strand of DMC over 2 threads.   I'd love to get the NPI silk threads for it, but I had to replace two of the tires on my car going into the winter, and while I'd saved up for that, I had NOT intended to also have to pay for a septic pump out this year! So DMC it is.

I have never done an official 'birthday start' before, but the stars aligned just right to let me officially call this one!    The colors on this one are so autumnal and go with the flowers that my sister and BIL sent me

Linking up with the SSS crew

Slow Sunday Stitching - October 23, 2022 and a detour on Rotation #4 (not counted thread slot)

Well, there's some good news - both of the deer are done on Bob's stocking.   Kimi has seen it and approves.

And there's bad news - there was knitting surgery when I discovered that I'd made a counting error and the entire foot was rotated several stitches and there was no way that I could get the colorwork motifs to line up.   I'm sure it happened when I was so frantic to get last minute Christmas crafting done last year.

Could I have left it?  Yes, and either fudged the numbers or just had motifs that didn't line up.  Would I have cringed every year when I saw it?  Also YES.   So off the foot came, yarn emerged back out of the stash, and the stitches are back on the needle.   I'm doing what I didn't have time to do last year and doing the foot argyle style.  NOT my favorite technique.  But I have re-learned how to purl back in two stranded color work and each row is a bit easier.   

This means that all of the Swiss Darning on this piece is done - the rest the project is knitting.   The deer took me about five hours; so I still have five hours on the 'not counted thread' slot of the needlework rotation.  I think I'll come back to the other five hours later, or probably just be done with it for this rotation.

The travel hat, at least, is behaving itself.   

  But at any rate, there will be more stranded colorwork after I check out the SSS crew (link to current round up).

Bob's Christmas Stocking Redux

 When last we saw the Christmas Stocking for my sister's Significant Other, Bob, it looked like this:

In time for Christmas last year, it was gifted with all the knitting done, including all the stranded colorwork bands.  The stocking is completely functional, with the ends woven in and even the hanger loop added.  But there is a ton of  'blank canvas' in the center and the top of the foot.  Bob has been introduced to the 'promissory note for Christmas' that is pretty common in my family LOL.

Kimi handed both stockings back to me when she was in town recently with the request that I finish the embroidery on Bob's stocking in time for Christmas this year.

I'm sticking this into the "not counted thread' slot on my needlework rotation.  The embroidery will be in the "Swiss Darning" technique, which is basically working from a chart like counted cross stitch, but using yarn instead of embroidery thread and duplicate stitching over a knitted ground.  

It's often used in conjunction with intarsia since it allows for single stitches which are difficult with the intarsia technique of colorwork. 

The plan for the leg area is a "leaping deer" chart from Mary Corbet's excellent needlework blog "NeedlenThread.com.  My area to fill is narrower than the chart, so I'll drop out the tree and just do the two facing deer.

With Kim's stocking underneath to show that my gauge hasn't changed much since the 1970s!

Slow Sunday Stitching - November 14, 2021

 Don't know whether it's a side effect of the COVID vaccine boster, the time change, the normal start of winter blahs or what, but I've had really low energy the last couple of weeks and almost no crafting has happened. 

I DID get the sixth connecting block for the Lucy Boston "Patchwork of the Crosses" done, though!  Halfway point on the number of these I need to put the center of  the table topper together.  

Here's to hoping I get my mojo back soon.  I'm at the point where I need to set up the heel flap at start of the heel on Bob's stocking.  I need to get going on the embroidery and the rest of the stocking as it has to been done soon!

 

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching even though I have very little to report!

Slow Sunday Stitching - October 3, 2021

 Things were reasonably calm this week, other than having to take my car in for a $2K repair (ouch).  The more bells and whistles, the more that can go wrong and computer chips in automobiles are EXPENSIVE!  But I'm back on the road and good to go.  I do want to replace this vehicle at some point, but not yet.  I'd like to get a couple more years of no car payments.

On the crafting front, I have remembered why a timed rotation works for me.  If I set a goal for a certain amount of stitching instead, it leads to stitchy procrastination!  Back in July/August, I set a goal to finish the right side frittelaria and parrot motif on Dutch Beauty, and it took me until THIS WEEK to get it done!  There were weeks where I didn't put a single stitch in.   I deal much better with my 10 hour chunks.   I've (re)learned that lesson.

I restarted my rotation with Dutch Beauty as the first 10 hours.   I still had one big flower and one parrot to do when I started on this rotation slot, and getting the motif done took me a bit over three hours.   I moved the qsnaps and am now working along the bottom border that remains (three pages worth), filling in the quatrafoil leaves and buds.  

I did take a break from Dutch Beauty over the last couple of days for the monthly Blackbird weekend SAL.  Still working on Moon Garden.   I put in some time on this one yesterday and will be working on it today after I check out the SSS crew (link to current roundup).

#LunchHourCrafting continues to be Lucy Boston's "Patchwork of the Crosses".  Still so much to do.  Here's the second of the connecting blocks.  Like I said last week, they all look the same.   I figure the only way to show progress is to take pictures of all of them.   

Got several inches done on the Sock Yarn blanket, about 12 inches (30 cm) to the next corner.  I've used two of the seven balls/cakes of yarn that I made out of the leftovers from the woven coverlet.  There were two balls and two cakes that were about 50 grams each, and three balls between 25 and 35 grams.  I'm using them smallest to largest.  

I sourced all the materials for my brother in love's Christmas Stocking.  (He's a 'Brother in Love' instead of a 'brother in law' because they aren't married yet.  Kimi says there's no hurry since they won't have any children.  They've been together for ten years now, which is longer than some marriages last!)

The colors are deeper than Kimi's Christmas Stocking - burgundy instead of bright red, and pine green instead of bright green.   The base color is as similar as I could get, considering that the one I'm 'matching' is 40 some years old!

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 17, 2020

Hello SSS crew, late to the party again this week (link to current round up).  I do better when I write the post the night before!  

My work announced that we will be work from home until "at least" July 15.   I wouldn't mind this being permanent to be honest.   I don't miss the commute one little bit!  I'm continuing to use the two hours a day, three days a week = six hours a week that I usually have to spend on the highway to do some long needed de-cluttering projects around the house.   My basement hasn't been this clean in DECADES.   It makes me smile whenever I go downstairs.   Once the new furnace and AC are installed, and the last nooks and crannies are empty (or sorted - looking at you, storage room), I will work on getting the upstairs bedroom converted into a small sewing room or maybe a library.   I have given the boys notice that anything they left when they moved out is fair game.   Come and get it or it will be tossed.   They are in their 30s!  It's WAY past time I got the benefits of an empty nest LOL.  Now I just need to get them to come by and dismantle the bunk beds.

And yesterday, I picked up this bounty: two sweet peppers, four tomatoes and six marigolds.  All for my container garden.   I can't wait to get them all set up and see how they do.

Crafting is also happening, of course.  Needlework continues to be the main thing as I am participating in the Facebook online needlework group "Mayina".  Lots of the people there are doing new starts, but I'm focusing on three projects.
The current rotation is at seven hours on Dutch Beauty:   Page 15/O is on the last set of motifs, so I'll probably keep working on it until I get the page finished.

The Sampler Sweetbag is closing in on getting all the stitching done!  Just four more detached buttonhole petals on the flower.  

And JC's USMC seal is at the page finish on page 4!  A quarter of the way around!!

Rosemarkie Waistcoat knitting is going well - picked up the stitches for the front button bands and the neckline.  And I'm on row 4 of 10 on the ribbing.   Two more rows before I have to deal with buttonholes (NOT my favorite part).

Quilting mojo is entirely MIA still (sigh).   Maybe once I have a dedicated sewing space it will come back.

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 10, 2020

First of all, it's Mother's Day in the US.  So a virtual hug to moms, grandmothers and great-grandmothers, to aunties and daycare workers and kindergarten teachers and everyone else who loves and nurtures our future generation. 

My son and grandson dropped by yesterday and helped me get some trash and boxes out of the basement so that my new washer and dryer could be delivered.   It feels like I have been saving up for them for months and they are finally here!  Delivery was this morning, which is why I am late linking up.

There's been some crafting this week, of course. 

I cut the front steek on the Rosemarkie waistcoat and tried it on - it FITS (such a relief).  When I went to pick up the stitches, my longest needle of the appropriate size isn't long enough to make it all the way around.   A new, longer cable for my interchangeable needle set has been ordered and it shipped yesterday, so this project shouldn't be on hiatus for long.

Looks rather more like a vest now, doesn't it?

On the needlework front, also good progress.   Got that last little bit of the back of the sweetbag done, and I have gotten to the detached buttonhole on the front.  This part is very fiddley, and this stitch has a tendency to curl up at the edges.  I've discovered that pin blocking for a while helps.  So six more petals to go and the stitching will be done, but there's a lot of assembly before it's an FFO (Fully Finished Object).  (ETA)  The oak leaf design is from Marion Scoular's book, "Why call it Blackwork" - Folio Pg 8 / Design 5.

Dutch Beauty did get some time, but I don't have a good picture, we will revisit that project next week.  In the mean time, I'm going to work on it for a bit and go look at everybody's projects over on Slow Sunday Stitching (link to current roundup) while the laundry runs!

Slow Sunday Stitching - May 3, 2020

Well, the needlework obsession continues - which is rather weird, usually I default to my first craft of knitting when I am stressed..  I may have signed up for the Maynia facebook group.  But that does NOT mean that I am starting 31 projects in May!!!!  You can do 'Monogamaina', where you stitch on just one project all month or do your own thing.  I'm going to keep working on three projects:  My usual rotation of Dutch Beauty (with the goal of 10 hours this month) the Sampler Sweetbag (with the goal of getting the stitching all done) and JC's USMC Seal (goal is 1,000 stitches this month). 

So a couple of hours into Dutch Beauty this week.   I'm working on the tall 'lily' vase that is the motif that spans the page break between 15/O and 16/P.   I need to get a bit more of it done before I can move the Q Snaps down and fix the poor headless lion.   I discovered during the virtual retreat that my 'happy space' for working on my floor frame is the bottom six to eight inches.  When I get further up than that, both my shoulder and my eyes get unhappy.    (Picture is dark, it's cloudy here today.)

I am continuing to make excellent progress on the back of the Sweetbag.   I want to get the stitching finished - including the detached buttonhole - so that it can go into the finish/frame slot in the rotation.  I figure another two or three hours should see the back finished, the remaining section is easy, but I do need to spend some time with graph paper and figure out what to put into the sides, since I dropped out 24 threads on each side and now the space is too small for a half motif of the original design.  (Same designer as the sweetbag - Sharon Cohen of the Nostalgic Needle)

And my son's USMC Seal is also chugging along.   I was going to set my goal for this to be 100 stitches every weekend, but I'm managing more than that so far.   But the very small and precise over one would be very easy to burn out on.  I'd rather put it away wanting to do more, than dread taking it out!

With all the counted thread embroidery, I don't want you to think there hasn't been knitting!  I got the second arm ribbing done on Rosemarkie this week and that side bound off.   Just need to run in all the ends and tack down the facing formed by the steek.   I may try to do that today for my Slow Sunday Stitching.  (link to this week's roundup)   Looking forward to cutting that big center steek and seeing if the thing fits!

No quilting AT ALL again this week.   All my sewing mojo still going into masks.  (sigh - I'm beginning to dread them, but I still have a few that I've promised people.)

Slow Sunday Stitching - April 5, 2020

Good Morning SSS crew, what are you all up to?  (link to this week's round up)

I have had a very busy week.   I'm an accountant, it's quarter close.   I'm still working a full work day plus, just from home.   There hasn't been as much crafting as usual because I've been working on the yard.  We had some lovely days this week, and then an ice storm on Friday.   Not QUITE as unseasonable as the year we had snow on the first of May, but enough that my poor hyacinths are toast, all limp and slimy. 

I did get the first arm ribbing finished and bound off on the Rosemarkie Waistcoat, but don't have the ends on that side woven in yet.  

And the Victoria Sampler piece is prepped for some drawn thread work. 

But the main craft work of the week has been making some filter masks for my sister.   She's allergic to something, maybe latex, in the masks that her company has provided.  So I'm making her some of the cotton masks, using the Missouri Star tutorial and bias tape  But those aren't hand work, so they only get a passing mention. 

Hope everyone is staying safe at home.  

Slow Sunday Stitching - March 29, 2020

The quarantine continues, our state is now in lockdown and we've had the first local death - a woman just five years older than me. 

But here at Casa Threads, there is work and housework and handwork aplenty to keep me occupied.  I do miss the social interaction, but my son is checking in on me regularly and there are the daily video calls with my co-workers.   And of course my online communities are busier than ever.  (I am linking up with one of them - Slow Sunday Stitching.)

And I have been knitting up a storm.  As I mentioned in my 'travel project' changeover post, I rather binge watched a couple of BBC historic/anthropology series that are available on Amazon Prime last Sunday, knitting all the while on the sock feet and got my socks done by mid week - no work knitting this week, I was slammed with month end things.

I was able to keep them matching until down toward the end of the gussets, but when I hit the FIFTH knot in these two balls, I was out of matching yarn.  So the feet are at best fraternal twins.   But at least the part that shows when you wear them are more or less matching.

Then my knitting attention turned back to the Rosemarkie vest.  I cut the first arm steek,

picked up the ribbing and have the first arm ribbing almost done!

And for those of you who are going "she cut a hole in her knitting????WHAT!!!!", here's a shot of what's going on inside.

The checkerboard is one half of the steek (the temporary bridge of stitches across the arm opening which was created to allow the work to continue in the round), cut up the center of the white stitch as in the photo above.  I then picked up the ribbing well in from the cut edge (which is also secured by the line of hand stitching I put in before cutting).  The steek then folds in to make a nice facing. 

Even the very edge right next to the cut is holding up pretty well to the stress of having the ribbing put on and will continue to felt into the body of the vest as it is washed and worn.  This is an historic technique that works well in Shetland style yarns - they are 'hairy' and will felt from just normal humidity and wear.  I will tack the steek edge down to encourage that once the ribbing is finished.  I have just three more rounds to do before binding off this side.

With the socks done, I introduced "Lucy Boston" as my new carry along project.  I know I said I wouldn't work on Block 7 until after the quarantine was lifted, but then I needed to see if my colors would work, right?  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) 

I have all twelve of the dark pieces prepped and the remaining light ones cut and ready for basting.

And last but not least, the cutwork continues on the Victoria Sampler piece.  So far, so good.  That middle section where the thread does not go across has held up to the cutting and thread removal at least.   We will see how the weaving goes after (online) church - that's my SSS goal for today.

I'm trying very hard to resist the spate of 'quarantine quilt alongs', 'start a new stitching project for self care', 'are we bored yet knit alongs' that are happening.  I have enough stash and works in progress to keep me occupied, thanks.  That being said, I did pull out an old UFO stitching project that was a class back in 2000 and worked on it for a couple of hours Friday night.  It's a Sharon Cohen sweet bag that was published in Just Cross Stitch back in Aug 1996.  Technically, this should be waiting patiently until I finish Dutch Beauty and a space in the 'historic/vintage' slot opens up since it's inspired by pieces from the Elizabethan period.   But it's better than a new start or throwing my needlework rotation out the window altogether, right?

where I started

after a couple of hours of 'guilty pleasure' stitching

Stay safe, everyone. And happy stitches.