And so it begins

Yes, it's November, crazy as that sounds because I'm fairly sure that yesterday it was June or something. (Ok, maybe it's just felt like June but still, November? Really?) Before I forget, (TMTI)Heather and I had deemed this month "Fall Finishing Frenzy" month, figuring we'd have stuff to finish for gifts and the like. Now I'm not sure about H, but I've actually got a few things that need to be finished. Some could even be gifts. Most are ornaments that I've finally found backing material for. I need a serious day of just working on them. Not sure when that will happen.

In finishing news I wanted to let you see pictures of the infamous "cubie". I believe I mentioned that H. and I had agreed to do our finishing at ASG. (This will NEVER happen again. We will finish it before or after, but never again at. Although I must admit having someone to share the craziness that was the finishing of this particular piece was nice.) I finally sat down today and finished the tassel on my fob and took some pictures. So....




So, that's the entire thing. All stuffed and fixed and put together. It really is very adorable. I ended up putting the spot for the scissors in a different place then she said in her directions, mainly because somehow I couldn't find the piece of ultra-suade that was supposed to be with my kit and had to use some from my own stash. But it all worked out and I'm happy with it which in my book is all that really counts. Oh, and apparently I can't read directions because those with a very discerning eye will note that part of the top is done with 2 strands of silk and she only called for 1. (I'm not upset about it though since I really like the way it looks.)

Tonight I worked on Eileen Bennett's piece from ASG, Little Green Acorns. I'm trying to help DF Jean in her loss of stitching and knitting mojo by working it with her. Managed to finish the top portion and do the 1st of the bands.


The squirrel looks kind of odd. I think it looks like it has little squirrel boots on. Still it's cute. That's a lot of knots to make it's little body. That's also a lot of backstitching or double backstitch or whatever I ended up doing on all that, plus some Queen stitches thrown in for good measure. All in all, pretty. I went ahead and put 2007 at the top as the date I started, and will date it when I finish at the bottom.

I'd like to think I could manage NaBloPoMo, but I'm not sure I can do that and so I have not signed up saying I'd even try. Although I have a better chance of that then NaNoSweMo. I don't think finishing a sweater in November counts. Sigh.... maybe one year.

After the weekend...

in which there was much rejoicing as my college football team won against University of Alabama, I find myself very blah. Blah because it has rained since Sunday afternoon. Today is worse then yesterday was. In fact, it's raining quite heavily right now. Not that we don't need the rain. Rain is good, it means the likelihood of a fire goes down. But this is what the weather people call a "nor'eastern" which means is well...blah. Not a lot of sunshine mixed with the rain. Just rain. Since I haven't quite finished the top of my "cubie" I won't regale you with that.

October's theme is "Obligation October". Which really has to do with anything you need to finish for Christmas presents. I'm not sure what I'll be stitching on. I do know I'm still trying to get my cardigan finished before I leave for Louisville on the 18th. It may happen, but I'm becoming doubtful. I also have some socks to finish for an exchange. Worked on them last night some. The only other thing I've been thinking of for a present is for my aunt. I may get that done for her for Christmas. I'm not feeling very Christmas-like, probably because of the rain. Maybe soon.

Ever been on a "roll"?

Apparently I'm on one with "cubie"/"All Year Squared". As I stated last night, I managed to finish the Spring side. So with no further ado....
Isn't it precious with the bunnies and the flutterbi-s? I think the butterflies were supposed to be the same color, but that didn't really work for me. Plus, I love the yellow ones we see around here all the time and last year we saw one in that violet/purple color in the yard. Like with the frog, I haven't put the beads on the eyes. Don't want them to get messed up.

Even though I got home late tonight (after a day spent driving from practically one end of town to the other...and in Jacksonville, FL that can be a fair distance), I attempted to start on the bottom square. Let me state for the record that I started watching the PBS series "The War" by Ken Burns. (If you haven't watched this, you should. It's amazingly well done and tells the story of the war in a very different way, very personal, while still giving you the glimpses of the atrocities that happened. I wanted to watch because they talk not just about the European theater, but also the war fought in the Pacific and specifically the events that surrounded the bombing and sinking of the ship my maternal grandfather served on and died on.) So anyway, the bottom is composed of my initials and the year. and then a diagonal upright cross variation over 4 and then the double wrapped stitch around the entire thing. So I thought I'd be smart, and work my first initial, then count down and work some of the outline to figure out where to start my diagonal upright cross variation (DUCV for short). It was really cooking, moving right along, threads flying, needles skimming through the fabric with ease. The PBS show went off. We ran the tape back and started watching "Dancing With The Stars". (This is the only "reality" show I've ever really gotten in to. I mean, DWTS is just cool!) So here I am...stitching away and I get to the point where I can put in my "B", having worked some of the border and some of the DUCV, and what do I realize....yep, I miscounted. Of course it's way back at where the DUCV starts. I added an extra wrapped double backstitch set over 4 threads...I'm not 4 threads off. There's only 1 way to fix. FROG! Hey, at least the "T" was still right!

(After sitting through that little pity party, you deserve something pretty to look at....)Aren't they so pretty all lined up in order? So, tomorrow night I have a meeting and Wed. I always have band. Thursday my DF Jill arrives for the big football doings this weekend here in Jax. (For those not in the know, FSU (Jill & my alma mater) will be playing Alabama (as in "Roll Tide") The game of "dynasties" as some are calling it, although both FSU and Alabama have seen better days when it comes to football.) With both 'bama and the 'Noles looking to achieve the glory of years past (they still revere "Bear" Bryant, and we have our own guy by the name of Bobby Bowden with some glory attached to their names) this should be fun. We're planning some MAJOR tailgating action Saturday. I might even have some pictures. Even with all that going on, I may, just may, be able to finish the stitching on this one. The putting together, that's another story. I'm forgoing work on other stitching projects right now in favor of this one.

There is some minor knitting going on, but I'm going to have to buckle down on the Lynton sweater. I'm stalled on the back. I think I only have a couple of inches to go until I can bind off, but I need to measure. I didn't take it with me today when I went with my dad to the cardiologist. Took the August dishcloth instead. (Yes, I'm well aware it's almost the end of Sept., but I started a month late, so technically I'm not really behind...yet.) If, and this is a BIG IF, I can get the stitching done on "cubie", then I can knit on the sweater on Sunday while I watch football and racing. That should put a dent in the sweater.

Wow, the month is almost gone and I've not touched a couple of items on my list, not to mention I need to start thinking about October...and ASG...and seeing friends!

Finally a post and some pictures

To distract you from the fact that I haven't posted in almost a week I bring you pictures...
This would be a halfway decent picture of a 3 sided piece that has a very long history. It's the 1998 Commemorative Scissor Fob from Spirit of Cross Stitch. I'm sure that takes a few of you back.Here's another side. Don't you love my bunny? I though he'd do a fine job holding the fob. So, more on the story. I actually had this stitched in 1998, as you can tell from the next picture.
But for some reason I didn't manage to put it together. Well, if the truth were to be told it was more I was too scared to try and put it together. The finishing isn't all that hard, but back then I hadn't done much finishing. So, maybe last year, or the year before I found it in my stash and decided to put it together. Somehow I had a VERY LONG piece of twisted cording for it that I used and got it all done, except stuffed. At which point apparently I put it away until I could get to the bag of poly. I have. When I was going through all my stash for "September Smalls" month I found it and thought why not get this piece completely finished. So, here it is. It really is very pretty. I have no idea what I'll do with it. Right now it's sitting in a bowl with a couple of other smalls I have.

The rest of this week has been taken up with working on this...
That's the bookshelf my uncle made for the end of our kitchen island when he redid the countertops. That's with 2 coats of stain. I know, it looks kind of red now. The stain is "Dark Mahagony" or something like that. It will eventually turn black. That's eventually, after several more coats of stain. I wanted the black because, even though you can't tell, there is a black fleck in the countertops and we're looking at grey and black tile for the back-splash along the countertops and under the counters along the wall. So, it will all work together...eventually...when I've got enough coats on it.

The bad part is that between the weather we've had and the smell from the staining that's going on in the kitchen I've developed a migraine. So far, its staying somewhere around halfway bearable. Although this morning it descended into "must find a bed and cool sheets" for awhile before some medication kicked in.

Oh, I almost forgot! I finished something else last night....
Meet the "summer" panel for "cubie", or "All Year Square". That's right I finished. (If you want to see it a little larger, you can click on the picture to make it bigger, btw.) In the class she told us we could use several different options for the lily flowers. One was bullion knots, another was detached buttonhole. Now, knowing that I have something like 24 bullion knots to do on the pin cushion from Indigo Rose, I decided that if I did more here I wouldn't want to think about those. So, I opted for detached buttonhole. The only thing I haven't done is put the beads on the frog for his eyes. I don't want them to get messed up, so I'll wait until I'm ready to put it together. In a show of optimism, I started on the "spring" panel after I finished this one. Not much done, just the first row of long-arm cross and part of an "A". I've left this one for last since it has the rabbits on it, and I love bunnies so much that I thought it would spur me on to the finish. We'll see.

The weekend is looking interesting. I'm hoping the weather will be nice, but not sure what to expect. We've had lots of rain this week, which we needed, and they say we'll get more tomorrow. I'm not going to complain. My football team isn't playing this weekend, but we'll have a big game next week. I'm also hoping I'll do a little better with the blogging. But now you're all caught up!

Finally pictures

As promised....

The top on I took without a flash, the bottom one with a flash. The bottom one actually shows the color better. But, since I didn't get a chance to retake the photos, this is what you're stuck with.

For those who were wondering about my dad, he went back to the G.I. doctor yesterday. He's quite pleased with how well daddy looks. Said more then once he thought daddy's color was more normal. I've noticed he is looking less like death warmed over and more like a living person lately. The doctor said he feels the iron therapy is working and that he's also not loosing blood anymore from the AVM's. He'll have to go next month for a blood test to see what his levels are. He also has an appointment with his heart specialist on the 24th so they can all decide whether he should go back on Coumadin or not. Until that's decided he'll stay off it. His G.I. doctor doesn't want him to go back on it because of the bleeding, but we'll have to see what the heart specialist has to say because of the atrial fibrillation.

In further stitching news, I worked on the Summer block of "cubie" again tonight. I'm down to the "ribbon" portion at the bottom. I'm leaving the lily flowers to the end. She gave us 3 different ideas on how to do them, none of which are thrilling options and I might add, none of which she gave directions for. I'll probably go with bullion stitch, but only because I have directions for those right there in my bag since that's all that's left on the Indigo Rose piece I have out to work on this month. The other likely choice is detached buttonhole. I might just do that, if only because my friend Judy hates that stitch and I don't mind it all that much. I'll decide when I get to it.

Lastly, for some reason I think I've lost my mind even more then normal. I said to my mom yesterday that I needed to email my friend Melody about this Sunday's guild meeting. Obviously I was momentarily crazy and thought it was October already. Now, I'm looking forward to October. October means a trip to Louisville for ASG, time spent with my friends, some of whom I only see there. However, I'm really not in favor of the year going any faster then it's been going already. In fact, I wouldn't mind if things slowed down a bit. I know, that's asking way too much, but it was worth thinking.

Tuesday musings

Tuesday's seem to be an odd day around my house lately. Not exactly sure why. Today was no different. I can't tell you exactly what made it odd, it just seemed that way to me. Of course, some of my friends may be thinking that it's not the day, it's more me. That could be true. Not to mention that today was 9/11. It's a hard day for so many people. I was blessed not to have lost a loved one or friend that day. But like many, I took time today to thank God for those who serve each day to try and make our lives a little safer. From the soldiers, sailors and air men & women to those who check our bags at the airport, I'm thankful that they are there to do a hard and often thankless job.

In other news, I actually finished putting my little turtle scissor fob together this evening. I finished it quite a bit differently then the model. Added some beads in the finishing to match the way I finished scissors sleeve. I'll try and get a picture tomorrow when there's some decent daylight.

Continuing with theme of "smalls" I worked on the Summer panel of "cubie". The frog is finished and I've started on the lily pads. Yes, I'll take a picture of that as well when I get the camera out tomorrow.

This weekend I went to the first FSU home football game of the season. Thankfully we won! It wasn't pretty, but it was a win and to be honest that's really all I cared about. I worked some on my pal's HP sock on the way over and on the Lynton jacket for a bit when we were heading home. Most of that was while we sat in the parking lot waiting to get into traffic and then through town while I still had some light. I did find that I'm beginning to be able to knit without having to look, or in this case in the dark. The problem came with knowing which row I was on so I could decrease. So far I've managed 11" of the back. That's more then half-way! Yes, I'm excited. Of course I haven't worked on it since, but my dad has a doctor appointment in the morning so I'll take that with me to work on while we wait.

No other news, which is probably a good thing. Now, if only the weather would get cooler....

It's Wednesday already?

Seriously, I'm totally off by a day this week. I know, that's what happens when Monday is a holiday. But still, I usually can figure it out by the Wednesdays. Not this week. I completely forgot that I have both a standing meeting and band practice on Wednesdays. Oh, I remembered it at some point today, even told someone I had band practice and a meeting. But when it came right down to it, I forgot. I think it had something to do with going to JoAnn's and finding the perfect materials for 4 smalls I've finished in the last year.

Yes, that's right, I went to JoAnn's to find fabric and actually found something that would work. This of course means that I'm one step closer to doing some actual finishing. I think I'm almost inspired. Who knows, I might sit down tomorrow afternoon/evening and get to work. Not that anyone should hold their breath or even be waiting patiently to see pictures here. No, just the thought of having what I need is not enough. I need to feel inspired to do finishing. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

While we're discussion stitching...I took some pictures of what some friends I and affectionately call "cubie" today. Thought you might enjoy seeing what I've managed to accomplish. The first is a picture of what I've actually finished. The top is the "Autumn" side, the bottom the "Winter" side. Oh yeah, the actual name of this piece is "All Year Square" and it's by Betsy Morgan. It was a class from ASG back in 2005.
As you can see I started working on the "Summer" side. What it's not obvious that this is the summer part? You can't tell that's a frog there in the center? Wow, I can't imagine why? I'm actually quite pleased with how much I accomplished yesterday night. I'm sorry that the picture doesn't show the fabric color that well. But I'm very happy with how well you can see the alphabet in this picture. I don't think it shows up this well in real life, but that's just me. This is really a cute piece, so we'll see how much I can get done during this "month of smalls". I went through my stash today and found several pieces that are smalls and that are almost finished. I'll be working on some of them this month as well. Maybe clear out a few things.

Speaking of WIPs. On one of the boards I read someone asked how many WIPs everyone had, whether they thought they'd finish them all, and finally what keeps you from finishing something. Well, I was appalled. Only a few people had answered, but still, here they were apologizing for having 5 of 12 of 17 WIPs. Amatures! Seriously that's nothing. You want embarrassing, try somewhere in the 75 WIP range (give or take a few). That's potentially embarrassing. However, I'm not embarrassed. Why should I be? I enjoy stitching. I do it to relax. I do not stitch to be the first to finish a piece. Rather I stitch to be somewhat creative and, although here I'm repeating myself, to relax. I think the first year I found a stitching retreat I thought I'd found heaven. Here's this opportunity to go, take classes and learn something and get new patterns. I thought it was wonderful. So wonderful that for as many years as I went to those stitching festivals...and some of you know which ones I mean...I took at the minimum 5 classes. And then there's ASG. I have been to every fall ASG since Rae & Ron first starting having them. So that along is another 4 projects each year. It's amazing how many actual class pieces I have. And since I like to start stitching in class, all of them have some stitching on them. Heck, I could stitch from my class stash alone for several years.

Anyway, I loved the question, but kind of felt odd with my answer to the first question. And really I should finish more stuff. And as you can see, I actually do finish things. I especially finish when I have a real deadline. I'm not so great with fake ones, but the real ones I can usually manage. So, anyone else want to give a shout out with their count of stitching WIPs here in my comments? I'd love to know I'm not alone out here with this many WIPs!

Weekend Round-up...sort of

Friday Night I managed to finally get out and to the knit in at KnitWitz. I've been so sporadic with going what with work, being sick and just stuff. Glad I went Friday though. Managed to purchase the new Cat Bordhi book "New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One". There were only 2 copies left and I snagged one when I figured out what it was. Let me just say this book is so very cool. So very different...and so very totally making me want to sit and knit socks. So, Friday night when I finally got home after knitting and eating fabulous Mexican food, I found a single skein of yarn that I was fairly certain would work and did my little gauge swatch like she tells you to, well almost like she tells you to, and then started the 1st of the practice socks. I worked on it Saturday and then finished it Sunday evening. Between the book and working on my HP year 2 Sock Exchange sock, all I did was knit from Friday until Sunday. Actually I only knitted yesterday for Labor Day (what a funny name for a holiday...Labor Day and we get it off, well some of us do at least.) Anyway, it was an all knitting long weekend.

But back to the new book....I highly recommend this book. It has great pictures to help those of us who need visual aides as well as great written directions. I haven't quite figured out that very cool cast-on she shows you, but I'll get it eventually. I was too excited to really sit down and concentrate. Just had to get started on this first pathway sock. I've started it's mate, so it will eventually go to some deserving child. Just have to figure out which one.

In other knitting news. I also put together my Eliza Tank on Friday at the knit-in and got to ring the bell! I haven't posed for pictures with it on yet, stay tuned for those. Finally I did work on my Lynton cardigan yesterday while watching football. At least I managed to do something constructive during a game that for at least half of it I was not feeling the love, or the football for that matter. Let me just say that I have hopes that the rest of the season will go a bit better now that they have that nastiness out of their system. But I'm a realist and know that an almost entire new offensive coaching staff and a few months does not a National Championship make. But like my Michigan friends I have other things to look forward to in the season and I'll set my sights on those little tidbits of possible football joy. (BTW, yes, I did graduate from Florida State, so I earned the right to be a 'Nole. I fully believe that if you graduated from any school you have the right to be a huge fan. But that's another post, for another time.)

A quick stitching note. September is "September Smalls" month, which means working on any of those small projects that have accumulated in my WIPs/UFOs/Stash. I deviated from the normal Tuesday Christmas Ornament stitching to pull out "the cubie" and have a go at it. I have fall and winter side done, so opted for Summer, since hey...technically it's still summer. Managed to get a bit done. I'll try to take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

I think that does it. Happy knitting and stitching!