January Goal Review and SALSuffit

Posted on January 31, 2010 by Heather

January, we hardly knew ye.  You started out cold and a little mean (a handful of baby sick, thanks), you warmed up a little in the middle and got better.  Now, at the end, the weather is cold and windy.  Snow is beginning to fall again, and we are reminded that it is a good time to be indoors working on accomplishing our goals.

Non-crafting-wise, I didn’t do so well this month.  I had one great week back on my eating plan, and then when things got bad with Baby Man not sleeping, everything went downhill.  I also did well for a few days working on writing exercises, but that was also put aside when things got rough.  I think that I have learned something important this month: while it is important to be true to myself and not just become “Baby Man’s Mom”, I also need to realize that until he is older, he is my major priority even if it seems like he is growing up.  I’ve also learned that writing takes a lot more energy and mental power than cross stitch or knitting.

So, that brings me to my January goals.  They were:

  • crochet Planet June’s Sea Turtle for Baby Man’s birthday
  • make significant progress on socks for my husband
  • make significant progress on the wedding gift
  • clean out Baby Man’s closet and toy box
  • Establish a weekly writing practice

Let’s see… I did finish the sea turtle and I cleaned out Baby Man’s toy box and closet.  I didn’t get to the cedar chest in his closet, but that is a whole different project.  I tried writing, and I will get back to it.  As for the socks and the wedding gift… well, no.  I haven’t been knitting on the socks because they are being made with wool yarn, which causes me to feel ill and since I haven’t been feeling well I thought it was a good idea to leave them be.  As for the wedding gift, I just forgot about it. 🙂

I did accomplish a lot though, considering the small amounts of sleep I have been working with.  There was the Sea Turtle, and the Groundhog, the Pyroclastic Socks, and the crocheted Swiffer cover (which is fabulous!).  I made some really good progress on Kitchen Blessing and Sewing Seeds and on my Francie Socks.  And I kept up with the Kris Knits KAL, even though it seems Kris herself has fallen behind.

And, I did get around to my SALSuffit for this month.  I spent the afternoon framing two pieces that have been waiting for my attention for months.

Black Hatter by Sue Hillis Designs

Halloween Fairy by Mirabilia

As for my February goals, I need to think about them a little bit.  The Wagon is holding the Stitching Olympics again, and I plan to work on Egypt Garden for them.  And of course I will continue on with Sewing Seeds.  I’ll post what I decide tomorrow.

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Progress on Love

Posted on January 30, 2010 by Heather

We’ve had a small victory here: Baby Man has slept through the night for the last two nights! Yay!  I’m not fooling myself into thinking that things are back to normal yet, but this is a good start.  And this means Mommy has had some sleep, which means that I have felt like stitching.

After a walk yesterday I managed to get in a bunch of time on Sewing Seeds.  Baby Man has tired out, and just wanted to play with his cars and trains.  I’m certainly not going to complain about that.

Sewing Seeds

Sewing Seeds

The heart in the middle is so very pretty!  A picture doesn’t do it justice at all.

Sewing Seeds Heart Close-Up

Sewing Seeds Heart Close-Up

If you are taking part in the SAL on the TW board, please post your progress pictures.  I will be doing a draw for a small prize tomorrow evening.

Thank you, also, for the comments on Roses are Red.  I really do like the fabric choice, so I think I will look for a darker brown GAST or similar thread the next time I get to my LNS.  I would really like to make this design work on this fabric.

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Groundhogs Instead of Sleep

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Heather

In the past two years or so I’ve been surprised by the deep reserves of energy I have found.  In the first weeks of Baby Man’s life I think I had no more than three or four hours of sleep a day, and yet I was able to function, keep the house tidy, cook, and occasionally pick up my needle and thread.  These last few weeks though, when Baby Man has decided to stop sleeping through the night, I have discovered that the energy reserves are no longer as deep.  The lack of sleep is begining to wear on me, and I’ve even come down with a sore throat.  But as all you mothers know, there is no rest for Mommy no matter how badly she needs it.

I’ve been a bit like the walking dead for the last little while, and have chosen to read or do less taxing crafts instead of my beloved cross stitch.  I did actually put needle to cloth the other day to start La-D-Da’s Roses are Red, but I think my fabric choice is totally wrong.  One of the thread colours blends into the background too much.  I don’t have the heart to pick it out right now, so it will rest for a while, until I get some rest of my own. The fabric is a very dark Days Gone By from Silkweaver, and doesn’t look anything like the other piece I have.

Roses are Red by La-D-Da

I did manage to finish up the crocheted groundhog the other day, while Baby Man was napping.  (One of the funny things about being so very tired is that sometimes you are so tired you just can’t sleep.  So, I craft.)  I think he is super cute.  And, according to Baby Man, groundhogs says “grrrrrr!” Now you know.

Groundhog by Planet June

I have also started to work on the heel flap of my Francie socks.  I think they are coming along quite nicely, and I might have the first sock done by the end of the weekend, assuming I don’t lapse into a coma. (Oh, how I wish!)

Francie Sock

Today we took one of the sides off of Baby Man’s crib in hopes that that will help with the crying-in-the-middle-of-the-night-because-he-wants-out-of-bed problem.  Of course, he may just end up crying at his door.  (He has mastered doorknobs, but the door to his bedroom sticks, so he can’t get it open.) With luck, all of us will sleep through the night tonight and I will feel up to picking up my needle again.

Oh, a few things I thought I would mention:

  • The Stitcher’s Village is offering a Krazy Kitties for Haiti chart to raise money for charities helping out over there.  The chart is $5.50, and all money after PayPal fees is going to charity.  The chart is of a cat nurse and doctor in the style of Janie Hubble from The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio.
  • Ravelry has set up a way to help designers who want to donate some of the proceeds of the sale of their patterns to Haiti relief.  Log into your Rav account, click on patterns, and then click on the Help for Haiti link.  I bought a couple of patterns, including Francie, that I have been eyeing for a while.
  • If you donate to Doctor’s Without Borders and are a knitter, send a note to the Yarn Harlot to let her know.  The Knitters Without Borders total is now over $1mil.
  • And, while not related to Haiti at all, I thought I would point out the cute new series Lizzie*Kate has released: Green Flip-Its.  I am so in love with them, but I can’t justify another new project right now. 🙁  You can see them here on the Stitching Bits and Bobs site.
3 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch, Knitting, My Life | Tagged , , , ,

Trying to Do Good One Sock at a Time

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Heather

Yesterday the husband and I took Baby Man to the doctor for this 24-month well baby check-up… in the pouring rain.  Yes, a good old downpour on January 25th.  It hit a high of 6°C here yesterday, which is exceptionally unusual for January.  And because Baby Man gets car sickness so easily, we had to walk.  Thankfully the doctor is close, and Baby Man had a great deal of fun splashing in all the puddles.  (The doctor also offered a solution for his car sickness. Yay!)  Baby Man is doing fine.  He is a bit tall and a bit thin for his age, but he is perfectly healthy and on track developmentally.

Beyond celebrating Baby Man’s birthday (thank you for the good wishes) and the doctor appointment, I haven’t had too much free time.  Really, when do I have much free time?  However I did manage to cast on for a pair of Francie socks.  Through Ravelry’s Help Haiti system, the designer of this sock is donating $6 to Doctors Without Borders from every pattern sold until the end of February.  And, if you finish a pair before the end of February and send her a note on Ravelry, she will donate another $1.  These socks have been in my queue for some time, so I figured this was a good time to knit them.  I’m using Crystal Palace’s Panda Cotton in colour Powder Blue.

Francie Socks by Rebekkah Kerner

Francie Socks by Rebekkah Kerner

I’ve also put in some time on Planet June’s Groundhog.  Yesterday afternoon Baby Man helped me stuff the body.  The husband insists it looks like a seal, but I think it will look more like a groundhog once all the limbs are attached.

Groundhog by Planet June

Groundhog by Planet June

Okay, in that picture it doesn’t even look like a seal. Really, it is much cuter in person.  And I have a good reason why there is in earring hook in its nose: you are supposed to mark the nose to help with eye positioning and embroidering in the nose later.  However, I have misplaced my package of stitch markers and just used what I had on hand.

As for cross stitching, well, I haven’t had the time.  I’ve been reading a really good book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell, which has got me thinking quite a bit about where the things I am buying come from and just how is it that they can make it all the way here to Canada and be so darn cheap.  As an extension, I’ve also been thinking more about where the food I eat comes from and what sort of chemicals I’m using to clean my house.  I have a feeling that some soul searching and some big changes may be in the works shortly.

But, on the other hand, how can I say I care so much when I knit with bamboo (rayon) and acrylic, both of which are created through processes that aren’t exactly environmentally friendly.  *sigh* It really is hard to know how to do right in the world today.  But, I suppose doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

And, since we are having yet another dull and cloudy day here today (but it is more seasonable at -1°), I thought I would share some fun pictures of Baby Man playing with me on the sofa.

Baby Man

Baby Man

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Happy 2nd Birthday, Baby Man

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Heather

Today my little man turns 2.  He has grown so much, and is well on his way to becoming (I hope) and an intelligent, kind and gentle person.  Some days are hard, and some days are so much fun.  I look forward to what the future holds, especially if it means he goes back to sleeping through the night.

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Socks, a Sea Turtle and Some Cleaning

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Heather

I’m a little bit rough around the edges these days.  We’ve gone from Baby Man going to bed very easily at night, to him crying for up to an hour before falling asleep, to him waking up sometime between 12:30 and 1:30am and refusing to go back to sleep.  That means I’ve spent the last two nights sleeping on his floor with him.  And this is because Baby Man is a little strange: once he wakes up he is wide awake and it takes a couple of hours for him to fall back asleep.  And he has been like this for over a year, the being awake part not the waking up bit.  It is endlessly frustrating to me, since I am the one who usually goes in to sleep with him.   Honestly, I’d like to put him in a twin bed soon so that I have somewhere to sleep when he does this nonsense.

Thankfully, when he woke up the night before last, he settled down pretty quickly after I joined him and fell asleep in about an hour.  That meant I got almost a full night of sleep. (Six hours is enough sometimes.)  And that meant I had enough energy to finish up my Pyroclastic socks from the Winter 2009 Knitty.  They are knit using Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in colourway Misty Greens.  And I will tell you in all honesty that I am only so-so on these socks.  Oh, they fit great and I love the yarn, but I’m not totally impressed with the pattern or the look.  Because of the way the sides swoop up and over the lace pattern, a chart of what exactly was supposed to happen would have been very helpful.  As it is, I had to make some guesses when I wasn’t able to properly follow the lace pattern because of swoop.  Also, I think that maybe this particular lace pattern wasn’t the right choice for this sock, as it definitely looks better on one side than the other.  Perhaps a good solution would be to knit one sock as the mirror image of the other.  Regardless, they are done, and I have my only piece of green clothing now.

Pyroclastic Socks from Knitty, Winter 2009

On Thursday I finished up a gift for Baby Man’s birthday this Sunday.  I crocheted him Planet June’s Sea Turtle, the pieces of which I have shared with you before.  And here he is all finished:

Sea Turtle by Planet June

It was a lot of work to piece him together, but he is so cute and so it was totally worth the effort.  I don’t know what Baby Man will think of him since he is more interested in cars than soft toys, but that is okay.  I enjoyed making the turtle, and I am sure one day Baby Man will love it.  I actually love all of Planet June’s patterns, and will be starting her Groundhog later today, assuming everything goes well and I don’t fall into a deep, horribly needed sleep.

I had one other small finish back on Wednesday, a simple and clever cover for my Swiffer Wet Jet.  I used two colours of kitchen cotton held together to get this look.  The husband likes it because he says you can tell when it is dirty because of the white, but it won’t look too dirty because of the blue.  If you are interested in this pattern, you can buy it here on Ravelry or at this shop on Etsy.  And it is super cheap and really easy to make.

Swiffer Cover by Red Berry Crochet

Baby Man Testing the Swiffer Cover

I’ve also made very little progress on Sewing the Seeds.  I mean, I only have two hands.  If I’m knitting and crocheting, I can’t be cross stitching. 🙂  I’m trying though.

Sewing the Seeds - January 23, 2010

If you are taking part in the SAL on the TW board, please post your progress!  I’ll be drawing for a small  prize at the end of the month.  There aren’t a lot of posts, so your changes are pretty good.

Tomorrow is Baby Man’s second birthday, so I will be attempting to bake a carrot cake today.  I’ve never baked a cake before, so I’m hoping it goes well. Wish me luck.

2 Comments | Posted in Cross Stitch, Knitting | Tagged , , , , ,

Bits and Pieces and Some Thread

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Heather

I was on the phone with my mom last night, and she told me that she thought it had been too long since I posted on my blog.  So, here I am, posting on my blog. Hope you enjoy it, Mom.

First, if you are taking part in the TW/Dragon Dreams/Black Swan SAL over on the TW board, please head over to this thread and post some progress pictures.  I will be awarding a small prize this month to someone who has posted in that thread.  Post pictures, and leave comments!

Below is my progress on Sewing the Seeds.  It is a much softer looking design than what the cover model shows.  As you can see, I’ve backstitched most of the over-one lettering in the darker pink.  I’m glad I didn’t do the larger “Love” that way, since I like my mistake better.

Sewing the Seeds

Sewing the Seeds

I’ve also been working on one of Planet June’s creatures as a gift for Baby Man’s second birthday.  Here is all sea turtle pieces.  You’d think I have the bulk of the work done, but putting it together will be very labour intensive.  I’ve seen June model in person though, and it is totally worth it.

Sea Turtle by Planet June

Sea Turtle by Planet June

And, yesterday was the new moon, which means pictures of my TUSAL jar.

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