A Great Big Happy Dance!

1995 Commemorative Sampler
Designed by Jean Farish Huls
forThe Spirit of Cross Stitch Festivals

I took this as a class in 1995. I think that was the first year I attended Spirit. Jean Farish actually taught the class, which I think was listed as an intermediate class. Mainly because of the pulled thread work on either side of the quote. It's hard to get a good picture of this, although this is pretty close to the colors. I didn't try to get close-ups of the pulled thread work, but if anyone wants to see it I'll give it a try and edit this post with them. I made a single change. After "In Celebration of" there is supposed to be a line that says "Spirt of Cross Stitch Festival". To be honest, I really didn't want that on my sampler. So, instead I took it out. Now it's just in celebration of...well life I guess, and stitching, and all the wonderful things that I've gotten from stitching over the years, like friends I've made because of it. So in reality, it's in celebration of all of you who I know through this blog and who have been my friends for years and who share my passion of all things made by hand.

I think I'll go work on something different from my stash in the spirit of March Madness. I've been so obsessed with finishing the commemorative sampler that I've not kept up with this month's theme. Must rectify that. I have a meeting tonight, so before I have to leave I think I'll stitch a little. Enjoy your Tuesday!

ETC: The year I took the class, as Jill pointed out it wasn't in 2005, but rather in 1995. Big difference.

One year ago today!

Can you believe that one year ago today I started writing this blog? My how time does fly. It's been an interesting year, but I have to admit that I hope the coming year is much better then the last one. So, Happy Blogiversary to me!!!

In stitching and knitting news there really isn't much to report. I've been working on another gift, the coffee "Slingshot". I'm hoping this will work out well. If so, then I think I'll make a few to give to some of friends from church. Stitching wise I've kind of stopped working on different things every day and am trying to finish a sampler that I started in 1995, yes, that sampler. I'm halfway done with the pulled stitches on the right side. That means I have the pulled on the left side and some beads to put on and it's finished. I so want to get this one done. Hopefully tonight and tomorrow I'll have some time to work on it and finish so I can take some good pictures.

Speaking of pictures...I think I owe you all better pictures of my Chocolate Zombie socks.
I'll leave you with some pictures of the azalea bushes at the side of our property. This year they seemed to be so full of blooms that they look like waterfalls of pink.My dad's lemon trees are also blooming. I can't send you the amazing scent, but I can send you a picture, or two, of the blooms.They are so sweet smelling. If you've never smelled citrus blooms you have no idea what you're missing. It amazes me to think that these small blooms will develop into large lemons. Not the small ones those of us in the US are used to seeing in the grocery store. These are large and full of juice.

I leave you with a butterfly in the lemon tree, enjoying a wonderful spring-like day.

Whee! Glad that's over!

I think I survived Round 1 of Sock Madness 2. According to the website there have been 21 people in my division who have finished their Zombie Socks. When I left for class there were 19. I think I've made it since the cut-off this time was 40.

I have to say I love this pattern. I wasn't to sure about them to begin with, but I'm so in love with them now that they are done. Plus I had ton of yarn left over. After so many people not having enough I realize that I'm lucky. Oh, and this yarn, it was fantastic to work with.

All right already! I know you want to see the finished product. This picture is a little dark. I took it in a hurry so I could get it posted. I'm going to take one tomorrow in the sunlight and let you see them then.They fit perfectly too. You can't see the pretty pattern with the dropped stitches. I promise I'll take pictures tomorrow that show all that off. Also the pretty chocolate color of the yarn.

I really don't like scary movies, so I had to name these Chocolate Zombies so they wouldn't feel so scary. Sad isn't it?

So, now I can relax for a little while and think about what other yarn I need to get for this. I hope the laceweight stuff isn't next.

We interupt March Madness...

To bring you Sock Madness. (Unless you are one of my friends who live in Atlanta and now have a completely new idea of March Madness. See Lottloft's post for more information.)

But my craziness is Sock Madness 2. It's fun, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make the 2nd round. I have finished one sock and have finished 3 repeats of the second, but I'm tired and have to get up early in the morning for church. So, I doubt I'll make it to the heel flap before I fall asleep. No pictures of the finished sock. BTW, this is all I've been working on since about 7 PM on Thursday. That's just insane!

Day One of Sock Madness 2

For me it ended around 3 AM this morning. I don't think I got as far along as other, especially since at least one person finished. I did manage to get through 3 repeats of the leg pattern and started the 4th before I thought my eyes began to grow very heavy and I actually craved my bed.

The pattern name is "Zombie Socks", so mine are "Chocolate Zombies" since the yarn is called Chocolate. It was in my stash and is a hand dyed that my DF Jean picked up for me at The Whole Nine Yarns up near her. It's lovely to work with and I really like this pattern, so I'm very happy with the sock(s) so far. A quick picture, then I'm off to spend the day at my LYS, KnitWitz.

Oh, why not?

According to my "Getting in Touch with Your Inner B*tch" calendar that's what today is all about. Not sure what I'll do where I can say that today since Wednesdays are always so busy for me, but I'm putting it out there for the rest of you. Why not just do something crazy, like hop on a plane or buy a ticket to hop on a plane to go somewhere amazing that you've always wanted to go. I'm actually planning on saving this day for Friday. I plan on spending it at my favorite LYS working on my sweater that I can't seem to get done. I'm hoping that a full day of knitting on it and not working on other things will get it, if not completely finished, at least very close.

A few updates, and even a picture or two.

The gift for my cousin Kathy...I'm such a goof lately. I actually took the picture with the dishcloth upside down. So if you stand on your head and look at your monitor you'll see it the right way. Or, you can just imagine. The color looks gray/blue, but it's actually green, like National Guard green. So strange. If you are a NASCAR fan, and you knit, or know someone who does, head over to Woodhill Design Knits and find your favorite driver's number and knit you up one of these. I finished this in a night and it takes a single ball of cotton yarn, or less.

Monday I decided to work on this...It's a nice large count fabric and pretty over dyed fibers. Perfect to take with me to Mom's doctor appointment. Unfortunately her appointment lasted all of 4 minutes. But I decided to keep working on it that evening after I got home from my class. I accomplished a little more and realized I was missing a button from the button pack. Here's what it looked like after my "day" of stitching on it, which is about 1 1/2 hours.There are these adorable buttons that attach to this from Just Another Button Company and in working on it I realized I was missing a pink tulip. So Tuesday I called them and a very nice woman helped me and is sending me my missing button from the packet I bought. Love it when customer service is great like that. No questions, just figured out what was missing, took my address and said she'd put it in the mail to me. Let me just say I won't hesitate to purchase more of their products. Oh, the pattern is from Shepherd's Bush and I bought it at least a year ago, if not more. I need to get one more fiber that I don't have so I can really finish this one. I think it's adorable for spring.

Yesterday I worked on one of my older samplers. I've mentioned before that I have a lot of WIPs, I mean A LOT! This is one that's probably one of the oldest and I really love the colors and the saying. I managed to get a fair amount done. I may pull a Heather and work on it again this month after I've worked on something "new" that day. It's very close to completion. Here's how it looked before I began...
Once I get a picture I'll show you what it looked like after I spent the evening stitching on it.

I really do love this month's theme. I like working on one thing for a day and then moving on to something else. Plus I can see some progress, so that helps some too.

Not so "mad" weekend

You would think that the weekend would be the perfect time to really dive into the spirit of this month's theme. For me, not so much. At least not this weekend. I blame it on the time change. Seriously, it totally messes with my brain. So, what did I manage to get accomplished? Very little.

Saturday after dinner mom and I decided to take a quick trip to the new "big box craft store" that opened last week near us. This is a new store for me, not one of the 2 I normally run to for things I need like glue sticks and flowers and such. I'm not sure how impressed I am. I have a couple of friends who rave about this store/chain. Either they really downsized for us, or I'm missing something. Sure it's got TONS of stuff for scrap booking, and if I actually tried to finish a couple of mine that would be very nice, but otherwise, I wasn't impressed. I did score some stripped cotton yarn for DF Jean that she's been looking for and bought a skein of solid for something I wanted to make. Otherwise, nothing. Maybe I need to go again and see if that changes things for me.

Speaking of the solid cotton yarn, I got it to make a surprise for my cousin Kathy. She had to have some surgery a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to make her something. She, like the aforementioned Jean, is a big Dale Jr. fan. Now, if you know nothing about NASCAR I'm going to loose you, but just skip down if you're bored. Jean, made me a very nice washcloth with a 99 on it for my favorite driver, Carl Edwards. I love it! So I thought I'd make an 88 for Kathy. Found a great green in honor of Jr. driving the National Guard car and set to work. The pattern is easy, but I may make some changes when I make another one, which I'll have to do since if I don't make one of my uncle with his favorite driver's number there may be rioting in WV. I would like it to be fully reversible so I'm going to see if I can't make that happen. Otherwise, the patterns are wonderful! If your interested go here and find your favorite drivers numbers, only Sprint Cup series are available and if your's isn't there yet, keep checking she's working on all of them. Haven't taken a picture yet, but I will soon and will post it.

Sunday I started working on another square for the VJ afghan project. I just knew I had it going. Easy 4 row pattern, figured out the math for the repeat on sleep deprived brain, all was good. I even managed to cook a fantastic, if I do say so myself, dinner of roasted chicken and orzo rice dressing (tres yummy!). All was good until I sat back down after dinner and started looking at my square and thought that it looked larger then the previous. I was right, by about 1-1 1/2"! Ripped it out and will have to restart it. That was it, I couldn't think any longer.

I still haven't cast on for my 2nd I Dreamed of Africa sock. I'm not sure if I can manage that in the Dr. office. May take something I'm already working on for that little trip.

It's March Madness!

You have to love this month's theme. How can you not love the idea of working on something different every day you knit, stitch or crochet? Ok, I know there are some of you that have only one project going at a time, but there are far more people who are like me and have project ADD. So far I've managed quite well to live up to the name of this project while finishing a few things as well. I actually didn't stitch or knit much most day's but here's what I did manage.

March 3rd - It's race day so that means I'd be working on a square for the Victory Junction afghan project over on Ravelry. I finished another square that day.
I also cast on for another square, but didn't get much done. I decided to do some of my squares and work on some patterns from some of my British knitting magazines. So far I've done 2 and love both of the patterns.
March 5th - Knit on the Water Bottle Sling. Didn't quite finish it.

March 6th - Knit on the Water Bottle Sling and finished it so moved quickly to finish the first of my I Dreamed of Africa socks. Success!
March 7th - Started the Coffee Sling to match the Water Bottle Sling. Finished stitching the outside of Catherine Theron's lovely Quaker Sewing Case. The picture shows the front and back to the scissors fob which I finished right after the class 2 years ago.In my world, working on the individual pieces that go inside this case will be working on a different thing. That's my interpretation and I'm sticking to it!

So, that brings us to today. I haven't had a chance to do much of anything today. I had thought I'd do some finishing work, but that may wait. I need to cast on my 2nd I Dreamed of Africa sock so it will get done. Mom has a Dr. appointment Monday and socks are my go-to travel project lately.

I'm waiting for my sock yarn to be dyed for my Hogwarts pal's socks. I'm anxious to see what they look like. A local dyer is doing it and I'm very excited. Love everything they do.

So, that's March Madness so far. Not to bad!

I know, it's been 2 weeks!

That's a long time without a post and I can't believe that it's actually been that long. So, here's a list to try and catch everyone up.

1. Waiting to hear about the job. Apparently the person in charge at the company where I'd be working went on vacation for a week around the time they got my resume. So hopefully I'll hear something good this week.

2. Knitting - I've been working on a couple of things and not working on something I keep saying I want to finish.

a) My Lynton cardigan hasn't been touched in weeks. I think I've messed up on the 2nd front and just haven't found a good quiet time to figure out if I'm right or not and if I am right how to fix it much needs to be ripped out.

b) I finally got the heel turned on my "I Dreamed of Africa" socks and even got the boring foot part done. Now to work on the toe. I want to try a toe that I found in one of my sock books so again, I'm waiting for a point when I have an uninterrupted hour or two to do it.

c)The waterbottle sling I've been working on is nearing completion. I ended up starting this all over again and re-working the pattern since I wanted it for a smaller bottle then the original pattern was written for. I've actually kept some notes so I can tell you all what I ended up doing differently when I get it finished and post a picture.

d)I'm making squares for afghans to be sent to Victory Junction. It's part of a Ravelry group project for charity. I'm not the quickest, but I've managed to finish 2 squares. Part of my slowness is I wanted to try out some patterns so I'm having to work to get them the right sizes.

3. Stitching - Not so much. I've picked up a few things and stitched on them a little, but nothing worth discussing.

4. Everything else - Probably more of the same. Trying to get more things organized around the house, which takes way to much time in my opinion. Then there's the normal stuff that happens ever week in my life. I think we're all reasonably well. This weather is not helping my sinuses, but they aren't infected, so I'm pretty happy. Did have a couple of days last week where I didn't have a voice, but hey, that's nothing.

5. Have you ever noticed that lists can get boring?

6. Reading - that's been falling off lately too. Not sure why. But I'm trying to finish the book on Elizabeth I that I've been reading for awhile now. I think I've given up on Mansfield Park. I just read it last year and it's not my favorite Jane Austen anyway. Maybe I'll read it again in a few years. For now, there are too many books I want to read that are sitting on my shelves to not pick one of them up and ditch MP.

7. I'm woefully behind in reading the blogs that I enjoy. Hence my silence on commenting. I'm trying to catch back up, but it's slow going. Bear with me, I'm still here.

8. I've been trying to get more sleep, they say it helps with weight-loss. So that means I'm going to turn off my computer and go to bed!