Goodbye July

Another month over.  Honestly, you’d think that the passage of time wouldn’t come as a surprise, but it always seems to.  It has been a busy month for me: Baby Man’s year and half check-up, a wedding, a shower, a day at the office, a hair cut, a couple of knitting classes, donating blood.  That sure shows how my life has slowed down, doesn’t it?  When that small number of events means it has been a busy month something is either really right or really wrong.  I feel really blessed and happy that  my life has a slower pace now.  I’ve got lots of time for crafting and lots of time for Baby Man.

With it being the end of the month, it is time to review my goals:

1. Finish the remaining secret gift
2. Make significant progress on Baby Man’s Christmas socking
3. Make significant progress on Baby Man’s birth sampler, Victoria Sampler’s Heirloom Birth Sampler (yes, I still haven’t stitched one)
4. No more stash of any sort (with the exception of the two cross stitch charts I have on order and am still waiting for; no rush for those)
5. Finish the pink socks
6. Finish a Baby Surprise Jacket for a gift
7. Lose 3lbs (for real this month)
8. Complete part 3 of Castles in the Air

Let’s see.  The secret gift was Morgan, and we all know that turned out poorly.  I did make great progress on Baby Man’s stocking and I started the birth sampler.  I also finished the pink socks and the Baby Surprise Jacket.  I did not lose 3lbs or complete Part 3 of Castles in the Air.

I’m also so happy that I finished things that weren’t on my list, mainly the Ribbed Lace Bolero and the Scroll Lace wrap. Yep, I finished that up last night.  It still needs to be blocked, so it looks a little odd right now with the lace scrunched up and the bind off rolling over.

So, what about August?  The hottest time of the summer isn’t the best time to knit.  (Although we haven’t had much of a hot summer here in Southern Ontario.)  But, then again, fall will be here very quickly, and I need more socks and a scarf to complement my new jacket. So, my goals:

1. Crochet all the bear pieces for this afghan my mom is making for Baby Man (so far I have five heads and half a body done)
2. Make significant progress on Baby Man’s Christmas stocking
3. Lose 3lbs (I mean it this time!!)
4. Make progress on entrelac scarf (which I still need to share you all)
5. No Stash!!
6. Complete part 3 of Castles in the Air and start Part 4
7. Start another pair of socks
8. Think about Christmas gifts
9. Finish crocheting the African violets

I think that all sounds reasonable.

You may have noticed that I didn’t comment on my no stash goal for July.  To be honest, I did buy some things.  I bought a cross stitch kit that will be a Christmas gift (doesn’t count), some floss for the wedding sampler for my sister-in-law (doesn’t count), yarn to finish up a  project I’m working on (kinda counts), and yarn for the Scroll Lace wrap (counts, but I finished it, so that sort of makes it not count since it is not stash now by a finished object).  And today at my LYS’s sale I bought some yarn… two more balls of Rowan Calmer in the same colour/dye lot that I already have (which means I can make something other than a scarf from it all now) and four skeins of Berroco Touche at a great price to make a… well, a scarf.  But it will be cool and full of cables!  My thought is that there is so little yarn I can use due to the animal fibre allergy problem that it is okay to take advantage of a sale to get things I can use. That and all of that yarn today cost me less than $37Can, a steal!

On to other news, Lynn B from Happiness is Cross Stitching is having a contest on her blog to celebrate 1 year of blogging.  Congratulations Lynn!  Here is the first prize:

Isn’t that fabulous?  Head over to her blog to see the 2nd and 3rd place prizes and to find out how to enter.

As for my ball of Ultra Alpaca that I was thinking of offering as a draw, I will most likely do it in early September.  Just in time for hat making and other cool weather knitting.