Saturday, August 23, 2014

The Quest TV Show


Finally a fantasy show that's like playing Skyrim in real life. Enjoying it. The voting is BS as with most "reality" shows. But the competition and challenges are very entertaining.


Thursday, July 31, 2014

TDF 2014

Tour De Fleece spin along.



I was on only two teams this year.  The Painted Tiger and the Lanterne Rouge teams.  I had a goal of 12 ozs, I ended up spinning 16 ozs.

Colorway: Water Lillies

Colorway: Lakeshore

Colorway: Peacock



Camp Loopy and SSK 2014

Time for an update.  I somehow moved my works in progress and stashing over to You Tube.  I know right, not my style at all.  I have really gotten into cross stitching and there is a wonderful community of stitchers on You Tube.  It has replaced Ravelry as my go to place to hang out with other crafters.  I am still on Plurk daily and I check in on Instagram when I remember to turn on my phone.   So lets start with the knitting.

Camp Loopy Project #1
Traveling Woman Shawl in Trekking XXL




Camp Loopy Project #2 Boneyard Shawl in Cascade Ultra Pima in Ginseng
For the third and final Camp Loopy 2014 Project I am going to knit a sweater in Cascade 220 Como Blue. I originally chose the Harvest Cardigan from TinCanKnits. However, I saw a sweater in the try-it-on room at SSK that I would really like to knit as well, the Modular Angle Cardigan. Tomorrow is cast on day so I need to make up my mind tonight.

Speaking of SSK, it was fantastic again this year. Lots of new friends were made. I actually got some knitting done this year. I also had an opportunity to work the vendor market. I lent a hand to Sadie of Knitter's Knightmare. I really enjoyed it. My roommate this year was Amy Beth of the Fat Squirrel Speaks. I got to spend some quality time with some of my favorite people in the world.


My stitching area in Gibson Hall at Scarritt Bennett Center.
The Grand Ole Opry from the window of the shuttle.
The beautiful self striping minis Sadie gifted me. 

Sunday, June 01, 2014

Camp Loopy 2014

Campy Loopy 2014 starts today.  I have completed the setup rows in the Traveling Woman Shawl which I am knitting in Trekking XXL.


I finished two pairs of socks. That makes a total of 748 yards towards Stash Dash 2014.


Bluebeard's Princess is more of a siren than a mermaid. I want to stitch her instead of my other cross stitch projects. I am doing a stitch along so I am trying to pace myself. The colors are so beautiful though, I want to keep stitching her hair and tail.

 

 In other news I just reached 102 Subscribers on You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGjHdRFmxZrJCH3wmPuCASvYGJUkz_Vz

Friday, May 23, 2014

Stash Dash 2014

Yay!  La La of the Knitgirllls is continuing the tradition of doing a craft from stash marathon while she is on summer vacation.  I love trying to accomplish these stash dash goals.  This year it is 5000 meters.  I have been saving the toe of my rainbow tube socks until today, when Stash Dash officially begins.

I just finished one toe, and I am starting on the toe decreases of the second sock.

One of my goals this time around is to work through my fiber stash.  I am going to start with some very old bumps of Crown Mountain Farms.  They are 8 ounces each and are prepared as pencil roving.  I want to spin 3 ply yarns out of all four bumps.

Lots of stitching going on as well.  I have an intermittent finish.  I have (too) many new starts and progress on a couple of wips. 

Save The Earth

Treasure Hunt Bookshelf aka the epic cross stitch project - Page 3 completed.

Sherlock and The Door combo.

Mirabilia Bluebeard's Princess. I love beading, I did not expect to enjoy it this much.

I put this California Map on time out. I did some back stitching in the wrong color and it was a pain to pick out, yada yada.

I have one other new start that I have not even taken a picture of yet. I am trying Sullivan's embroidery floss on this one. So far I love it, zero knots or twists and the coverage is excellent. When this one is done it will look like this.
No quilting or sewing. I do want to sew a couple more cross stitch zippered project bags. I bought another Atenti bag, Blue Sue, from the Loopy Ewe for my frames and hoops. I bought a Namaste Hermosa bag for my cross stitch kits, magazines and booklets.

 










 Speaking of The Loopy Ewe, Camp Loopy 2014 starts June 1st and the theme for project one is a favorite book, movie or TV show.  I am going to knit another Traveling Woman Shawl, based on Angela Montenegro in the Bones TV Show.

  The other two Traveling Woman shawls I knit took three days each. I hope this one knits up as quickly. I am assigned to team Glamper 4. Several other Glamper 4 members are also planning to knit this shawl for project #1.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Knitting and Spinning - Not So Much

Not a lot of knitting or spinning going on right now, but I did finally ply the Loop batt that has been on the bobbins for months.







I finished my KP Comfy blanket in blues.  I tried a crocheted border on it in Planetarium but did not like.  I ripped that out, wove in my ends and called it done. 


I cast on a pair of tube socks in Perchance to Knit Tarnished Rainbow.

Stitch Crazy April

Cross Stitching has been dominating my stitching time.  I have two finishes and lots of progress on some of my wips. 







I have been asked about my frames and gridding on YouTube and Instagram so I thought I would post a detailed answer here. I have gone through several frames and hoops since I picked up cross stitching again.

I have tried:

1.    Qsnaps = excellent tension, easy to keep the fabric tight while stitching,
 2.   wooden scroll frames from F.A. Edmunds = did not like, cannot keep the fabric tight,
 3.   Susan Bates plastic Hooplas = works well enough, have to keep re-doing the fabric
 4.  Jennoop stand = excellent tension but very awkward to get to the back for tying off threads
 5.  Morgan no slip hoops = the absolute best hoop I have tried.

I have a Millennium frame on order and I just received a snap on frame from Pelagiya on Etsy. I will review them when I have tried them for awhile.

For gridding I recommend watching this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7HYmvJQ_TU

Stitching Mae on YouTube is the person I learned from. I use the pens she suggested, Clover and DMC water soluble or erasable marking pens. I use one of my blocking tiles to pen the fabric on as I count out the 10 stitch blocks. Mae is also the person that enabled me to try the Millennium frame.

Feel free to see my cross stitch shenanigans on You Tube.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGjHdRFmxZrJCH3wmPuCASvYGJUkz_Vz

Someone had also asked about parking threads. This is the method I use.
http://www.scarletquince.com/parking.php

Heaven and Earth Designs is having another sale so I bought a third Aimee Stewart Chart pack, The Fantastic Voyage

Friday, March 14, 2014

March Madness

I am nearing the end of my Comfy Blanket in the various blues.  I have 2 1/2 balls of the main colors left to knit.  Then I will put a border all around it.  I don't know what to do about the colorwork mittens I have on the needles.  Now that the deadline for the Knitting Blooms knit along has passed I am not really interested in finishing them.  I think I will mark them as hybernating in Ravelry.

I have received my prizes from two of the "alongs" I completed earlier this year.

My prize for the Knitting Blooms Spinuary spin along.  Really cool Bobbins Up storage bobbins.
 My prize from the KnitRunDig Clear the Decks knit along.  A beautiful skein of Serenknitty sock yarn.


I pieced a backing for the Fus Ro Dah quilt and ordered black batting.  I am ready to spray baste them all together and start quilting.  I bought a pack of 10" squares of Kona Cotton and just sewed them in strips to make this backing for the Skyrim pixel quilt.

I have mostly been focused on cross stitching lately though. I started watching the stitching videos on You Tube. Through those videos I discovered some wonderful cross stitch designers, and I also picked up some more pattern charts from my favorite Etsy shops.  

The Big Bang Theory from Wee Little Stitches.

The Big Bang Theory from Pattern Porn.

I chose an epic cross stitch project from Heaven and Earth Designs.
The Treasure Hunt Bookshelf designed by Aimee Stewart.
 Page 1 of 25

I am almost finished stitching this little gift as well. The Pinball Machine.

Lastly, I have not delved into the game Thief as I had planned. The game glitched on me and when I downloaded the fix I also downloaded the DLC for Don't Starve. Crazy changes in Reign of the Giants for Don't Starve. I have only survived 30 days. Hopefully I can put the cross stitch down long enough to complete the first heist in Thief this weekend.