A Knitting Hippie

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Heather

I love Ravelry. It is a great place for knitters and crocheters to hang out. I’ve discovered some great patterns, learned lots of fabulous techniques, and even made a few friends. And, it was for one of those friends that I test crocheted a pattern for this month.

Those Crazy Hippies by Stephanie Horn

Isn’t she cute? And, yes, I’ve made my crocheted hippie into a sedate knitter. I’m going to wind up a wee ball of yarn to put in her other hand. She is made from Bernat Satin and Mary Maxim Starlette yarn. Her eyes and knitting needles are made from Sculpty III.

This is a very cute and easy pattern, and very, very customize-able. I know I’m going to make more of these. If you are interested in the pattern, check out the pattern page on Raverly: Those Crazy Hippies. Seriously, check out that page and take a look at all the cool variations. I wish I was half so creative.

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Ornament of the Month – January

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Heather

This month’s ornament is Peace Tree by M Designs, from the 2004 JCS ornament issue.

Peace Tree from M Designs

It is stitched on 28 count white evenweave (Lugana, I think?), using Threadworx in colour 1089 Bleeding Hearts (which I believe was a gift from Erica). The beads are leftovers from a Dimensions kit, but I’m not sure which one.

I cheated a little bit with this design. Generally speaking, I’m not overly thrilled with how a full cross stitch looks over one. In some fibres and colours it looks okay, but, to me, it can look crowded. So, for this design, I only did half stitches. But, because of how the letters curled around, I knew I could end up with weird looking lines if I wasn’t careful. So, for one half of the design, I did my half stitches like this / and for the other half I did them like this \. I think the results are wonderful. The tree looks graceful and light. I’m really looking forward to finishing it into an ornament.

That’s now three of my fourteen ornaments done. So far, so good! With February being short month, I’m tempted to do another easy ornament. But at this rate, I’ll have used up all the easy ones, and will have a problem if I ever have a busy month. So, I’m thinking I will pick something somewhere in the middle. Maybe Dragon Dreams’ You Are My Gift (2010) or Julia Lucas’ Home for the Holidays.

And, guess what? Still no new stash! Yay! Okay, I haven’t been to LNS this year, but there is always the Internet. 😉

How are your stitchy New Years’ resolutions coming along?

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15-Sided Biscornu – A Start

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Heather

Because I don’t have enough projects on the go, I recently started the 15-sided biscornu design being offered from one the designers at my LNS (take a look at the Chair Necessaires on this page. I really, really would like to do one of these). Anyway, Kathrin is designing fifteen squares for a biscornu and offering them for free every Friday on her blog.

Now, as you know, I have way too many projects in the works. But, when I saw Darlene’s WIP, I decided I had to do this design too. And really, a 20×20 square takes almost no time at all to stitch, at least compared to a Chatelaine or a TW or knitting a pair of socks.

After a bit of a rummage around in my stash I came up with two skeins of DMC (208 for outlining the squares and 209 for backstitching) and a skein of Needle Necessities (1481 Mystique). For fabric, I picked Enchanting Lair’s Ametrine (you can see a very good picture of its true colour here) in 32 count, rather than the 28 count called for in the pattern. Why? Because that is what I have in my stash. I wanted to use silver beads, but unfortunately, I don’t have any in my stash. (This is the first time the stitch from stash rule has hurt, and I don’t think it will be the last.) Instead, I’ll be using the Mill Hill ice beads #42010.

15-Sided Biscornu - Parts 1-3

I’m pretty pleased with how it is turning out. The backstitching colour may be a little light, but it almost looks like a shimmer on the fabric with you move it around, and I really like that.

In related news, I’m still doing well with my no new stash resolution. It’s what, twenty-two days into the year? Only 343 more days! Yay! All these fabulous new releases are killing me, though. Like Lizze*Kate’s new ABCs of Parenting or a couple of the kits from the spring Mill Hill releases. And seeing all those kits for the Cat’s Whisker’s chairs on sale at ABC Stitch is awful. But I’m staying strong. I’ve bought a couple of magazines, and that’s it.

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Half of January’s Socks

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Heather

I’m sure you all have been waiting with bated breath to hear about my progress with my self-imposed sock club. (You have, right? 😉 ) Well, it is about halfway through the  month, and I am halfway through my first pair of socks.

I was worried for a little while that things were going to go very badly right from the start. The handy random number generator at random.com told me to knit a pair of socks who’s name I can’t remember right now using Classic Elite Yarns Classic Silk (a lovely worsted weight yarn that is a silk/cotton/nylon mix). The pattern is fabulous, and the yarn is very lux. However, the two did not go together well at all. I was part way down the leg before I gave up. I knew if I continued I’d end up with a pair of socks I’d hate and waste a lovely yarn (bought by the husband all by himself).

So, I went back to the random number generator, and ended up with Flame Wave Socks (Ravelry link) using Cascade Fixation in colourway Orchid.

Flame Wave socks by Ann Budd

Unfortunately, this isn’t the best pattern/yarn match either. But, I’ve been happy enough with them to keep going. Thankfully, I’m pretty sure about all the other pattern/yarn matches in my pile ‘o socks, so things should get better going forward.

And one more thing! I’ve been meaning to mention a giveaway hosted by moviemuse/Erin on her blog. Head over here for a chance to win a fabulous cube timer.

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Virtual Crazy January

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Heather

I’m sure a lot of you cross stitchers out there have heard about Crazy January. The idea, for those who don’t know, is to take the traditional guilt-free January to new extremes. So, instead of starting a new design or two, you start one new design for the first fifteen days of January. 15 start! Holy cow!

With a WIP list that contains well over forty entries, I couldn’t take part in Crazy January and still stay sane. But, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t given it a little bit of though. So, here’s what I would have stitched if I was crazy (or maybe I should say, crazier):

  1. Velveteen Rabbit by Lynn Nicoletti
  2. Gingerbread Stitching House by Victoria Sampler
  3. Growth Rings by Ink Circles
  4. Santa’s Dragon by Dragon Dreams
  5. Rapunzel by Teresa Wentzler
  6. Peacock Tapestry by Teresa Wentzler
  7. Stitcher’s Trove by Enchanting Lair
  8. Wheel of the Year by Joan Elliot
  9. Celtic Sewing Box by Enchanting Lair
  10. Living with Charm series by Lizzie*Kate
  11. Green Flip-It series by Lizzie*Kate
  12. one of the Brooke’s Books witches
  13. Yo Ho Ho Ho by Sue Hillis
  14. My Needle’s Work by Little House Needleworks
  15. Voodoo Girl by Haberdashery Designs

How’s that for an eclectic list? My tastes are varied, and all of these are things I would love to stitch really soon, but I know I probably won’t.

In coming up with this list, and thinking about how things go at Christmas, I’ve decided that I will be taking a few things off my “stitch it one day, hopefully soon” list: the stockings for myself, my husband and my parents. I love the stocking I made for Baby Man, but it is really small.  So, at the after-Christmas sales this year, I picked up a nice selection of blue and silver stockings that rest of us can use. Maybe, one day when I have more time, I will knit everyone stockings. But, until then, store-bought for the adults and the cross stitch stocking for Baby Man are just fine.

So, anyone want to buy/trade for some Dimensions stocking kits? 😉

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H is for Me

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Heather

One of my goals this year was to stitch the four Victoria alphabet samplers that I have (H, K, M and W).  They are actually pretty quick to stitch up, so I’m hoping this is one goal I can accomplish this year. And, happily, earlier this week I did finish H is for Homemaker.

H is for Homemaker by Victoria Sampler

As I’ve said before, Victoria Sampler designs aren’t really my style, but I love doing all the specialty stitches. This design, more than any one I’ve stitched, had elements in it that I really didn’t like at all. So, I made some changes on the fly and ended up with a finished piece that I love. Some minor changes include leaving off some beads and changing the colour of others. The major change comes with changing the homemaker figure significantly.

Two Homemakers (VS left, mine right)

My version is on the right, and the Victoria Sampler version is on the left. Oddly, the colours I picked for my homemaker’s clothes matched the colours I was wearing the day I stitched it. Funny how that worked out. (I can pass on my notes re. my changes if anyone is interested.)

For those who like to know these things, the design was stitched using the Victoria Sampler thread pack on 30 count linen banding.  I’ll be stitching all the other designs on the same banding.

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Stitch Pink Prize

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Heather

Back in December I was lucky enough to win one of Gracie’s giveaways over on Needles, Pins and Dragonflies. I was just expecting to get one of DMC’s Stitch Pink kits in the mail from her, which I was, well, tickled pink about. But look at what she sent:

Gracie's Giveaway

That’s the Stitch Pink kit, some breast cancer awareness ribbon fabric, a ribbon charm, DMC Colour Variations #4180 (the colour DMC uses in its Stitch Pink patterns), a tin of cinnamon hearts, and a lovely card made by Gracie. (My name is on the front, blurred out because the husband insists I try to keep my real name off my blog. Goodness knows, most of you who read my blog already know my real name. 🙂 )

If you are interested in learning more about DMC’s Stitch Pink initiative, you can head over to their website here. There are a few free charts to download, and information on early detection of breast cancer.

And thank you again to Gracie for hosting this fabulous giveaway.

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