Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Craft On - Knitting & Stitching

Linking with Nicole at Frontier Dreams

I'm still going slow with the RA acting up, especially in my left wrist, but I am still knitting!! I've been making sure to switch out the knitting with some stitching as that seems to help from getting sore, and of course the amount of time I can spend doing either one isn't as much as I'd like, but it'll get better soon and I'll be back at it in full swing!!

It is FINALLY feeling like autumn around here (as of yesterday- before that it was in the 90's), so I wanted to knit something that feels like 'autumn' to me...
So I worked on this sock:) I am really loving the colors in this yarn, even with the teal and navy blues, it really says 'autumn' to me:)
I am also working on this cute little witch, who wants to be a frog!! This is by Sunflower Diaries and can be found in Just Cross Stitch Mag Halloween issue from this year. I'm stitching it up to be an exchange gift and even though I'm not much of a Halloween person, I just love her:) I'm about done with her, just have a little across the bottom to finish up, her boots and a little back stitching to finish her face and the frog eyes. Then I will make her into a little ornament. Hoping to have her done by Friday as I need to get it mailed off on Monday!!

Well, that is all for now. I'm hoping that my wrist/hands/fingers start cooperating with me so I can get more done!! I have all kinds of projects I want to work on this autumn!!

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Craft On - I am Addicted

Linking up with Nicole at Frontier Dreams and her Crafting On posts:)

I'm not sure if it's because socks are a small project that can tote around easily and get finished (relatively) quickly or what, but I don't see this trend of knitting socks going away anytime soon:)

First off I finished my first Wool-Free yarn sock...
This pattern has you cast on 64 stitches and it is noticeably bigger than the last 2 pair I knit. It fits, but I think it's going to stretch out and be a little too big. However I like that the leg part is longer and the toe has a little decorative stitching to it (I'll show that better when they are both done). Like a good girl, I cast on the second sock - but just barely!!
Because I somehow found myself at Hobby Lobby yesterday and found another colorway of Wool-Free sock yarn that I really like. There is lots of brown/rust/cream with hints of teal and dark blue in it. I decided to follow the pattern again, except to cast on 60 stitches instead of 64 and see if that helps. The other option was to use size 1 needles instead of size 2, but I don't have size 1 right now, so 60 stitches it is!! :) 

For a little fun:

While I was trying to take pictures for this post, I had a some help...
Pumpkin (above) is pretty chill. He looked around and nudged me just a bit to get petted and then sat down close, but out of the camera view.
Jack, on the other hand, is my boy, and he knows it. And he's jealous of anything that comes in between him and me petting him. He nudges, nips, jumps up on me, and uses his claws just enough not to leave a permanent mark, just about anything he can do to get my attention. He was flitting his tail on the yarn ball as I was trying to get it wound back up, nipping at my fingers and bumping my hands with his head as I was taking pictures. I love him though I'm glad he's outdoors or I would never get anything done. Plus I wouldn't be able to breath - we are all pretty allergic to cats, and breathing is important:)

Off to knit more socks!!!

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Craft On - More Socks:)

Linking up with Nicole at Frontier Dreams.

I am for-sure hooked on knitting socks!! I finished my daughter's socks...
Used THIS pattern 
And yes, I took this picture in her car. She wanted these for when she went ice skating (I went with her into the city since she had never driven there before) and I hadn't yet taken pictures. So I resorted to this:)

And then I started these...
Using the pattern on the yarn wrapper
These are made with 'no-wool' yarn which has been quite a bit different to work with than the Kroy yarn I made the other two pair with. First off, it is stretchy almost like elastic which means I need to be careful not to pull too much. They are also turning out quite a bit wider than the other pairs, so I'll have to see if they fit right or not. I do like the self striping that it is doing and that while the pattern is really pretty close to what I used before, there is a little difference. I want to keep learning different heel and toe options as well as eventually learn to knit toe-up socks. 

No pattern - just a basic bubble stitch (crochet)
And I decided that this beast needs to get done before it gets cold again. I think I started this afghan before Christmas last year but put it away when it started getting warm. I know I'm more than halfway done with it, but haven't measured it lately.  The colors are almost a perfect match to the socks I'm working on. I gave my daughter a hard time about her black/gray/white socks being a boring color scheme, but I'm thinking that maybe it was better than grey/white/tan :) I like it anyway!!

The knitting/crocheting (and stitching as well), has been slow going for the past few days. I have a mild form of RA and the last couple months it has been hitting harder than normal, however it has been mostly my feet/toes that have been affected. But in the last week or so, my left wrist has been really sore. I can still do a bit here and there, just not quite as much. I know it'll pass, which is a huge blessing, so I'll just do what I can for now and wait for it to pass (hopefully not on to the right wrist, but that's usually how it works before it moves on to another area). It seems to get worse during allergy season, and I've also not stuck to my gluten free diet very well. I need to get back on track with that and should be feeling better over-all in a couple of months:) For now, I'll just take it a little more slowly.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Weekend Stitching

I started this post yesterday, but got interrupted and never ended up getting back to it:) I had a nice easy day at home yesterday, which was really nice. You'd think that after 18 years of being a 'stay-at-home' mom I'd be tired of the days I actually get to 'stay-at-home', but I really do enjoy just staying in. And you might be surprised by how few days I've gotten to stay at home during that time:) 

Saturday was one of those days that I had planned to be home, but those plans got changed. My daughter decided she wanted to go into the city with a friend to go ice skating, but she was nervous about driving as she hadn't driven by herself there before. I showed her a map of how to get around the worst of the traffic with the fewest turns so she wouldn't get lost, but in the end she asked if I would go with her. She still drove, I was just there to help. I grew up in that city and it is on the smaller side by comparison to some in nearby states. I think the pop is around 300,000, but when you grow up in an area where a traffic jam means that a combine is blocking the road (or they are moving cattle to a new pasture, or harvest is going on and there are family cars out to feed the farmers), well it's a bit different than she's use to:) Actually she did just fine getting to the ice rink and then to the mall and back home. She really didn't need me, but she felt better that I was there and next time she'll be ready. And I felt better too. At 18 years old, I know there won't be many more times that she'll need to ask for my help in these matters.

Anyway...

When I have been home, I've kept my hands busy, not only with knitting which I'll show off in a day or two, but with stitching as well:) 

I'm SOOOOO close to being done with Spring Snapperland..
by Bent Creek
Just a tiny bit around the side and the words along the bottom!! I want to frame this once it's done, but it may be a while before I can find the right sized frame for a price I'm willing to pay as it's a bit on the long and narrow side. We will see what I can come up with.

I have all of 'Tis the Season Sewing Bag' stitched except for the words...
by Blackbird Designs
I'm still not sure what saying I'm going to use yet. My sister-in-law has a chart that she thought I'd like, hopefully I'll be able to get that from her this week:0)

I made a start on a new project...
Halloween Frog Hat by The Snowflower Diaries (2017 Just Cross Stitch Halloween Mag)
I'm doing the froggy-witch for a Halloween exchange. I think she's super cute;0)  We've not been into Halloween so I didn't have any charts to use for this exchange. I had to go out and buy the new 2017 Just Cross Stitch Halloween magazine. Even though I probably won't stitch much more from it, I do like the pumpkin truck chart that is right next to the cute little witch, so I think I'll stitch that one up for myself. 

I also started playing around with the next Wordplay that I will stitch for my mother in law...
by With thy Needle and Thread
I will be making several changes to this chart to suit what my mother in law is wanting. First off, she just wants 'Autumn' with no Halloween theme. October's chart does have a Halloween theme, but also has more 'Autumn' words than any of the others. I *think* I'm going to take the apple tree out of September's Wordplay and put it in place of the witch in this one. I will also take out a couple words like 'witch and crow' and replace them with 'apples and mums'. I've even thought of using the above pumpkin truck and adding it to this piece, but I'm not sure yet. I have a good starting point anyway, so I may get started on this one today!! :) 

I have a bit of errand running to do today - actually thought daughter was going with me, but she woke up with a fever, so back to bed for her. After I get home, I have some housework that needs done, but should have late afternoon/evening for some stitching and/or knitting time. That is always nice:)