My Weeks In Stitches

Hello everyone!  I've had a few crazy weeks with training for my job, end of school stuff and prepping for a business trip.  I'm actually typing this blog post from the airport on my way home!  I have a few photo updates for you, though!

This last weekend I started back on my socks.  I figured I should do some work on them before it officially hits 100 degrees in the Boise area!

And I've been doing a lot more cross stitch.  I finished the brown on the first set of Dorotheos.  As you can see, I decided to do a second shade of brown as the "stems" of the flowers.  I've been doing the variegated flowers on the plane this trip.

I also printed some coloring pages from Don't Eat The Paste - they were so fun to work on when we had a little down time during our trip!  If you need coloring pages for a trip, or just to help you unwind, I highly recommend her site!

My Week In Stitches

Hooray for stitching!  And actually having progress to share!

Week before last, I had 3 days off from work, so I spent part of day 1 watching Breakfast at Tiffany's (for the first time - yes, I know, many of you are shocked!) and casting on a pair of socks.  Because for some reason that's what I do when the weather gets warmer.

I've had this yarn on my desk at work for a while - I always meant to do something with it during my breaks.  But I'm not the best at taking my breaks, so the yarn just kind of sat in a mug as a decoration.  I decided it was finally time to use it, and brought it home for my very long weekend.

It makes big wide stripes!  They make me really happy - I've had so many self-striping yarns lately that made skinny stripes, that sometimes barely made it around my foot before changing colors...

You can find the pattern here, it's called Anastasia, and I really like it.  It has an intuitive pattern, so it's easy to work on while you're watching a movie.  However.  When I got to the heel, it was too tight again (just like with the cursed socks from last fall).  I think the issue is the short row heel.  I suppose I might not be making the foot section long enough, but it seems that I have a "tall" heel, which means I need some give in order to get the foot past the ankle portion.

So I pulled it out, and cast-on again.  I'm working my way back up the foot, and this time I'm going to do the heel the way I did the Uzu socks - with a gusset.  I really like the idea of the short row heel, and maybe one day I'll be able to make it work for me.  But I also want to like these socks, so I'm modifying!

I'll have to put the socks down, though, and get to work on the sweater I want to make to go with my Easter dress.  Must have a sweater, since it's a sleeveless dress and I'm helping to lead worship Easter Sunday!  Less than 2 weeks left - I'm still waiting for an older issue of a magazine to arrive that has a bunch of cardigan and shrug patterns before I can begin.

After Easter (read: after I finish this sweater) I want to get back to working on Doro Theos.  Then maybe Fairy Sisters will wake up a bit.  You never know with me!

We have one more post for National Crochet Month, and I'm really excited to share it with you - a guest post from my friend Michelle.  I think you will all really like the story she has to tell.

And I figured out how to make a signature!  There's actually a simple tutorial for CSS here - I hate doing anything with CSS, but if I can do it, then so can you (if you want to!)!

Have a great week!

My Week In Stitches

Progress pics!  And kids growing up too fast!

Let's start with this year's Seahawks socks (I dubbed them Volume 12, referring to the loud fanbase in Seattle - the cabled side gusset reminded me of the 12 hawk wings on the uniforms).  The original pattern, which the designer called Maeva, can be found here.  Holy Cables, Batman.  Lots and lots of little cables, and the pattern didn't seem very intuitive until I got to the leg portion.  And the cuff was very difficult.  And then I bound off and fastened off without trying on - and couldn't get the cuff past my heel.  Here I am binding it off, so excited, going to wear it...

And here's the sock after I discovered I couldn't wear it:

I gave up on this pattern.  I may try again another time, because the side gusset was really cool.  But I would 1) try on as I go (which is the point of toe-up socks anyway), 2) do a different cuff, and 3) take the time to do a stretchier bind-off.  And maybe do a solid color.  Yes, I did try to salvage the sock itself, but I swear the ribbing was difficult to figure out, and I'm not very good at picking up stitches unless it's a stockinette row.  Also, I would have had the same agony of trying to make the 2nd one, and I would have bad feelings every time I looked at them.

So now I have another one started.  But all I have is the toe, and I'm not happy with it.  I may give up (again) and finger-knit a scarf or something.

Kid-knit:

(See this post for a full report on the winter accessory set I made for the girls).  I remade H's hat, properly measuring her head, ears, everything this time.  And it fits!  And she loves it!

Cross stitch:

Before

After

Yes!  Really!  I did a little work on "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" Friday night while H was at her first school dance.

!!!

Yes!  Really!  She turns 12 and goes to a school dance.  With her friends, because they're 12.  The theme was "Hunger Games", and I think the dress we found went with the theme pretty well:

Sorry for the dark picture, I barely got home from work before she had to leave, so I didn't even have time to turn on another lamp.  She had a fantastic time, and made some great memories!

So This Happens Now At My House

I was never much of a coffee drinker.  The ex-husband had one of those 12-cup models that he could program to start at a specific time every morning, which was great because the coffee was always ready for him.  I was more of a tea drinker - if I had the urge for coffee, I'd go to Starbucks or Dutch Bros or whatever was handy.  But that didn't happen very often!  Certainly not often enough to warrant replacing the coffee pot when we split up.  However, one of the (very thoughtful) attorneys at my office brought me a bag of Snake River Roasting espresso beans from a recent trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Which meant that I needed to replace the coffee pot (and get a bean grinder).

I don't think I'll ever need to brew 12 cups of coffee at a time.  So I decided to look at the single-serve models, and I found this one!  It's by Hamilton Beach (available at Walmart, or through Amazon by clicking here).  It does 2 sizes - 8 oz or 14 oz, and even has a flip stand so smaller mugs are closer to the dispenser.  And there's no need for expensive specialty cups - the scoop fits right in the filter basket and acts as a double filter.  So now I can grind and brew my own coffee in my own house!  Not every day, because I can't make myself get up early enough to drink a cup of coffee before I leave for work.  And even though this baby will work to fill travel mugs, I never drink out of them.  So for me, it's a weekend and day off treat!

As long as I'm talking about things I like, let's update some things on and off the needles!

Off the needles first: I was promoted at work!  I'm now the legal assistant to the patent prosecution group at our law firm.  I've been working on their transition since they started, and it's truly a fantastic team to work with.  So happy.  This year-long transition has meant a lot of learning of new skills, which means a lot less mental energy for blogging.  I'm trying to schedule a few posts here and there to give you new things to read!  (But it apparently also means thoughtful gifts like those coffee beans....)

On the needles:  I've been busy!  I made each of my girls a coordinating winter accessory set (hat, scarf and fingerless-mitts-with-hoods - there will be tutorials coming on the hats and mitts - pictured above is the scarf I made for K - with an "angel wing" cable pattern).  The only problem was I had to remake H's hat, because I made it too small!  I made a really cute pair of socks (Vanilla Latte - you can search it on Ravelry - very easy top-down socks, and I loooooved the heel).  I have another pair in the works that I need to frog - I bound off and fastened off the cuff (toe-up socks) without trying them on, and I can't stretch the cuff enough to get it over my heel!  I think everything else about the sock is right; the cuff was not an intuitive rib pattern, so by the time I decided I was done I didn't feel like messing with the super-stretchy-bind-off.  I'm hoping that was the mistake - I would be happy to make them a little bit shorter and redo the bind-off if that will fix the issue!  I also have a sweater I've cast on and frogged.  And I have Christmas presents in my head.  I'll do another post with photo updates of some of these pieces.  One thing I've started doing is posting progress pics on Instagram as I think of it: you can totally follow me there to see them "live."  (If you're on Instagram, you can follow me by searching for drea_dear_414.)

I'll be back with more pics later, I have to pull them from "the cloud" and get them ready to post...and be witty...maybe after I have some more coffee!

Required Disclaimer: while this post does contain affiliate links, it is not a sponsored post.  If you purchase anything through a link in this post I may receive remuneration from the website.  Hamilton Beach is not paying me to promote their products, I'm just really impressed with the value and the performance of these particular items.  And if you know someone looking for a single-serve coffee maker but you just don't want to get that "other name brand", now you have an option!

My Weeks In Stitches - a "Sampling" of Work

Sorry for skipping out last week, I was focused on getting a baby package ready to mail.  I can't wait for the mommy-to-be to open it and see the cuteness inside!  Also, I was starting a new personal knitting project.  Don't judge me; at least there will be pictures!

Shareable updates!

Fairy Sisters - I really-really-really wanted to finish the night sky on page 3 of Fairy Sisters this month.  (I know, my goal list says both pages.  I'm ambitious at the beginning of the month.)  But you'll see that I at least set myself up with a way to measure progress - by filling in this rectangle.  The right edge of the rectangle is right about the edge of page 3:

And for the Theme-a-Licious update - Great Is Thy Faithfulness.  I'm really happy with the variegated threads, and I'm happy with my other thread choices, too.  This is going to look so pretty in my room.

And I'm "sampling" making socks.  So I had to start a new knitting project.  This green and blue yarn was totally on sale, and begging to become Seahawks-themed socks, so I work on them during games on Sundays.  And they've now won 4 straight.  (I call them Legion of Boom, it's a football reference.  The pattern is Uzu on Ravelry.)

My 2 Weeks in Stitches

Whew, what a whirlwind!  As of last Saturday, I really hadn't made a ton of stitching progress.  I'd started a new sock, then ripped it out and re-started.  Then I suddenly had a burst of stitching energy on Sunday, and, as you'll see from my sidebar, I crossed 3 items off my January goal list this week alone!!!  I didn't get a picture of Fairy Sisters after I passed the row 60 mark - oops.  It looks the same as it did 2 weeks ago, just a little bit farther down.

3 squares for my 15-sided biscornu - you can see, I'm playing with the positive/negative idea.  It looks really good so far.

My striped socks - I bought this yarn on sale at JoAnn a few months ago, and had to wait until I'd finished some obligatory crochet before I worked on them.  Yarn - Premier Yarns, Deborah Norville collection Sock Weight in Teal Tease.  It took about 1.5 balls to make a pair.  It's almost all half-double crochet, with a single crochet short-row heel.  I found the directions on a forum, and promptly lost the address, but it was one of those "figure it out as you go" kind of patterns.

So other craziness from the last 2 weeks - my elder daughter was baptized on Sunday at age 8.  We're so proud of her for making this choice.  I also have had a little minor health scare - well, not really a scare, more of a worry.  I think it's resolved itself, but I go to the doctor on Thursday anyway, just to be sure.

I was also contacted by GhostStitchers again this week, asking if I was ready for another project.  With 3 goals crossed off my January list, I felt really good about saying yes.  So I will be working on finishing someone else's UFO, Quaker Diamonds by Rosewood Manor.  I've been wanting to do a Quaker sampler for a long time, and as I told hubby, this way I get the fun of stitching it without the worry of what to do when it's finished!  There will not be photo updates of this, as it belongs to someone else.

Some recent finishes!

I promised you finishes!  I'll start with the socks.  If you were following me in November, you know about my saga-like search for blue and orange yarn.  Blue and orange are the team colors of our local university, Boise State, and my hubby has gone Bronco crazy since moving home.  He saw my brown socks and asked for some wool-blend slipper socks for himself.  I was told by the LYS owner that whoever comes up with a blue-orange variegated yarn in this area will be very, very popular.  In other words, I had to order a blue and an orange, and she did an amazing job of matching the colors just from her computer screen.

Please ignore the Christmas morning mess.  You can see, I chose to alternate the colors.  And one foot is the exact opposite of the other.  So one has an orange heel, and the other has a blue one.  They're a little "trippy" to look at in person, LOL.  Yarn - Patons Aran weight - Shetland Chunky in Royal and Tangerine.  1 ball of each did 1 pair of men's socks.

Before I worked on DH's blue and orange socks, I made a pair of black and gray for our neighbor.  He and DH are fans of Jack Daniel's, so DH thought he'd enjoy some slipper socks in the appropriate colors.  DH will get his own pair of these as soon as he fishes my E hook out of my chair. Yarn - Lion Brand WoolEase in black and the lighter gray (I don't remember the color name).

And now for Book of Ink Circles - first, proof that I finished it in 2010.

The whole thing, completed.  Not yet pressed.  I'm still deciding how to finish it.  I'd like to make it into a bulletin board cover.  I realized I don't have any of my work displayed in the house!

My Week In Stitches

No pictures this week.  It's too dark in my house this evening, and I'm too lazy to turn lights on just for pictures.

Monday - I finish-finished my brown socks (you've already seen pictures of them).

Tuesday - I put in about 1.5 rows on Fairy Sisters.

Thursday-Friday - I finished the "skirt" portion of my blue sweater.  I wish I'd taken a picture earlier, because it's been a while since I posted any pictures of it.  I also started the sleeves, and I'll work on them some more tonight.

I'm feeling really good about my sweater progress - like I might actually finish it before snow flies (and sticks).  It's still a little big around the middle, and I'm trying to figure out where else to tweak it.  I was worried that it would be too heavy, but when it's on it doesn't feel bad.

It's true, I skipped BoInk this week.  I'm hoping that when I finish my sweater, I'll be motivated to finish BoInk, too.  I'm really close.  What would I do with only one real WIP????

My Week In Stitches

Fairy Sisters - I did the rest of the confetti on page one and one more row.  Because the main color right now is so dark, it's hard to see when I leave spaces for the confetti stitches.  So from now on I think I'll do them first.  At least that's what I think right now.

Blue Sweater - this received quite a bit of my attention this week.  I'm so happy with myself - I remembered to note on the pattern not only where I stopped, but how many more rows of that section I had left.  It saved me sooooooooo much frustration!  I still feel like it will need more reshaping, but I'm going to wait to do that until the skirt portion is finished.

Brown Sock(s) - I finished one!  I need more yarn to make the second one!  LOL - fortunately, the Etsy seller I purchased this yarn from still has the same dye lot in stock.  In my defense, I did the math based on the yardage of the yarn, and it was more than the pattern called for.  So, I was good.  Maybe the pattern only gave the amount of yarn needed for one sock instead of one pair, but that seems kind of silly.

My crochet pattern obsession continues...last night I downloaded 2 fingerless glove patterns one for DH and one for me - because sometimes you need to be able to use your fingertips when it's cold outside.  DH's birthday is coming up at the end of this month - I may try to surprise him with his.  Not hard, because he works evenings.  Honey, if you read my blog, now would NOT be the time to tell me. ;)

My Week In Stitches

Pictures are back!  I've started a new project (surprise, surprise).  See, I'm addicted to Ravelry's pattern directory, LOL.  I can't help it, I find myself searching for things to try.  So I found this pattern for socks to crochet.  This is my progress as of Friday afternoon.  I planned to take them and work on them at the retreat, but I got drawn into the games instead.  They were laughing at my sock!!!!  I think they're just jealous, lol.  I like them, and I'll be very happy to finish them.

Our retreat was a great success - we stayed up until 12:30 playing games, talking and laughing.  I ate too much sugar and didn't drink enough water, and came home and took a nap before heading to the neighbor's house for a Boise State football party.  I was glad when the planning phase was done, and I was able to relax and enjoy time with my friends.

The other project to show is a finish - a quick-stitch infinity scarf listed in my Etsy shop.  I love this vibrant red, and the Lion Brand Homespun Yarn is so thick and squishy to work with.  I've been playing with my camera, trying to get better looking pictures for my shop listings.  I was contacted by a blogger about featuring this item in an article.  If it happens I'll cross-promote - her blog is well-written, and she does articles about different items on a theme.