FotM SAL - September Edition

Hi there! It has finally turned cool here (thank goodness). The cornfield has been harvested and looks so lonely now. The soybeans have turned a lovely shade of gold so they will be harvested next. I have started fall housecleaning which, if you're new to my blog, means an entire dismantling of the house and clean everything from the ceiling down to shampooing the carpet. I am allowing one week per room since this year I am also caulking around all the windows, doors, and floorboards. We'll see if that doesn't help with how drafty this place gets in winter!

click for more info!

A little late in the year, but I was playing with the GIF maker before life got hectic and made this little button for the SAL. Feel free to use it if you want. :)

before

after

I have finished May's lily of the valley, finally! I do like it now that it is finished but it was a struggle to get it done. I am sorry that I do not have a "movie" of my stitches for this one.  I may go back and make one later when I have time to sit down.  I have yet to start June's flower, the wild rose, as I just picked up the huck towel this past weekend. I did manage to get it kitted up though!

I am still considering changing some of the colors. I am missing three, the hazelnut and the two lightest apricots. I'm fine with the unknown brown I fished out of my stash but not sure the lighter pinks fit in. Maybe I will start with the other colors and buy the missing ones whenever I can get down to the store.

Technical Details

• "May: Lily of the Valley" freebie pattern by Ellen Maurer-Stroh, found here
• 2 over 1 on 14-count ecru huck towel (called for 3 over but I thought 2 looked okay)
• Finished size: 4.50 x 4.50" (11,50 x 11,50 cm)
• Started: July 9, Finished: September 13. 12 hours.  

doily by my great-great aunt

Lookit, lookit! I am so excited at winning such a stunning batch of floss from Santa Nancy! I won Mother's flower garden!!  I have left them in the box because they look so pretty and I want to keep them looking pretty and not full of cat hair haha.  When I saw that I had won these lovelies from Nancy, the first chart that popped in my head was the "Welcome" chart (just visible in the thrifty stash picture) I picked up on a trip to visit friends.  I will have to consider it some more but I think they would look lovely with that design.

Frosty!

Update on the pixel square afghan CAL: I have finished the snowman! I despise that black yarn.  It says it's the same weight as all my others (mostly Red Heart Super Saver) but it was so not.  You can kind of see the distortion of the square in this picture caused by it.  It will block out, but still!  I liked the applique star idea from the Christmas tree so much that I decided to make a little holly and berries applique for his hat. Of course, I promptly misplaced them. :) They will turn up eventually. Or, if they do not, they are not difficult to make so I will make more. And then the others will turn up for sure.  I have not yet started the next square, the sleigh.

it's almost square

And knitting: I can knit a thing!  This is my first little (and very messy) dishcloth, #3 from this freebie pattern on Ravelry.  There is one very obvious mistake that I will need to ask the ladies about at the next knitting get-together.  I am guessing I slipped a stitch but didn't notice until I was several repeats away. Let me tell you, casting off was an adventure all on its own.  I apparently knit (and crochet) tight and that doesn't work well casting off!  I could barely squeeze my needles back under the stitches let alone slide the one up and over, yikes.  Maybe I should practice that more and my tension will improve for both yarny endeavors!

PS.  I have TEMPORARILY disabled comments.  I am so sorry.  Nothing is wrong! This time of year is very busy for me and I can't make comments like I normally do.  I would feel guilty receiving comments knowing that I couldn't reciprocate.  I have been reading but staying quiet.  Thank you for understanding.  >_<

September Edition: Gifted Gorgeousness, TUSAL, and More!

Whew, this post has a lot of tags! Prepare yourselves for all the excitement and exclamation marks!

click to join the fun!

before

after

Tadaaaa~ Rathalos is finished and I am so happy with how he turned out! I showed him to my husband (stitched for him) and he got that goofy big kid grin ehehe. I asked him how he wanted it finished and he said Rathalos can't be alone. Good thing I have the Missus (Rathian) charted up already! He didn't answer my question on how to finish this so I may have made a mistake because I thoughtlessly said, "Wouldn't he be cute as a cube!?" Well, obviously a cube has more than one or two sides so I suppose we'll have to figure out four more Monster Hunter glyphs to chart up! I'm sure Brachydios will be one, as well as "The Pickle."  I hope GG is running for the next 100 years hah.

Technical Details

• "Rathalos" glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pattern charted by me.
• 2 over 1 on 20-count light tan jobelan fabric.
• Finished size: 3.50 x 3.50" (9 x 9 cm).
• Started: June 9, Finished: September 7. 12.5 hours.  

bad photo, sorry!

I have been continuing on with the Christmas afghan CAL found on Repeat Crafter Me.  I finished up the next square, the Christmas tree, the weekend before last.  I have somewhat figured out how to carry my yarn within the stitches so, as you can see, there are MUUUUUUUUUUCH fewer tails to deal with.  Also, because this is turning into a major stash-busting project, I've been changing around the colors.  My yellow is a bit on the pale side so I was afraid the star wouldn't show up.  I made a small applique star using this freebie pattern.  After the ends are woven in (can you tell I'm avoiding these things like the plague hah) I will attach it to whichever side looks the prettiest!

about 50% complete

I have also started the next square!  Here you can see the C2C method growing since it's worked in the diagonal.  It's an interesting way to crochet!  I am trying something different with the yarn since there are so many color changes (one line changed color 12! times).  I set the skeins out in order of the line I'm working on, and then rearrange them as I go.  I don't wind up with a big blob of spaghetti yarn and it helps eliminate some of those ghastly tails.  I'm also using two skeins of the same color for the background as it's too far to carry from one side to the other.

knit stitch

knit & purl!

I can knit! (!!!!!!!) I practiced casting on for about a week, then moved on to the knit stitch which got practiced for another week. Then, the purl! Knit and purl combine in various ways to make all sorts of strange patterns but this is just knitting one row, purling the next row to create the basic stockinette stitch. I was so excited by my little practice blob I ran around the house brandishing my needles with it attached at my husband who was amused.  Yay!  I found a couple of dishcloth patterns that I will probably attempt, though I'm still not sure I'd use them as dishcloths!  I will probably make them into potholders.

join all the fun!

Last but not least, TUSAL as hosted by It's Daffycat! There's a healthy sprinkling of Rathalos in there as well as the Flower of the Month SAL finish (hallelujah).

I could keep going on and on but I think it would be safer if I stopped here!  Thank you for reading and I'll hopefully ramble again for IHSW!

FotM - August Edition and New Learnings!

You know what the awful thing about data caps is? When you reach your limit, you can't use the Internet without paying extra. Yes, I am a little grumpy about this but it's a new month which means we're reset, weee~

Here's my sad progress on the Flower of the Month SAL hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair. I am still not in love with this pattern though I do like it a bit more as it takes shape.  But because I'm not loving it, progress is very slow.

before

after

Even though there's not a lot of progress cross-stitching, I have not been completely idle! In the world of crochet, I have randomly found a cute Christmas CAL last week that I'm attempting to complete. I have the first square done and you can find it on her blog (linked above) or here on Ravelry.  So far, five squares have been released: Santa, a Christmas tree, a snowman, a sleigh, and an elf.

sorry for the weird angle

Santa! :D These squares are all done using corner-to-corner (C2C) crochet which makes for a kinda neat texture... and a heavy one. This will definitely be a warm blanket.  These are done in half-double (US terms) instead of the double crochet C2C is normally done in and my square wound up to be a stretchy 14" (pattern says 15").  I haven't quiiiite figured out the color changes to prevent the strange little joins.  Some are okay, others not so much. I'm trying to be creative with the tails to kind of hide the pointy bits. On the blog, it says to put a single crochet border around but I haven't done that yet. I am not sure exactly how this is going to become an afghan/throw so I don't know how many stitches will be needed (or if that will even matter).  But oh, the tails.

*cry*

Can you feel my pain? I can feel my pain. In fact, I can feel my pain down here in the basement and Santa is upstairs, in my yarn bag, haunting me. I can only take so much weaving before I get bored so I do a little here and there. I have his beard and part of his hat done.  I am trying not to think about his face.  Or that I'll have to do this on all the other patterns.  I think I will try to do two skeins of the background color in the next one though, to see if that helps to eliminate some ends.  It's hard to carry over stitches when working diagonal!  I'll get it eventually.  Maybe before the last one is released. :)

so tiny

I have also decided to learn tatting and knitting. Thanks to Preeti and Aurelia for their tatting site suggestions, I can now do a double stitch!  Sort of!  My first impression is that tatting is Very Difficult.  I am having the same problem as I do with crochet -- tension.  Wrapping the thread around my fingers and then working with them is like, oh, I dunno, octopus in spaghetti!  Another issue is that the shuttle I have might be too large for my hands.  I never thought that I had small hands but I cannot weave the shuttle over/under the thread fully.  Or perhaps I am not yet used to the movement.

practice makes perfect!

Knitting is also difficult for me, especially as I cannot watch YouTube videos often (inconsistent speed and data usage, buuuu) so I am trying to learn from written tutorials and books.  I can cast on!  I think!  There is a local knitting group that I have wormed my way into recently (with crochet lol) and they are all sweet ladies.  Their expert opinions were that my cast on stitches looked good so I will defer to their wisdom in such matters.  I think the thing that draws me to knitting is sweaters.  I love sweaters.  Crochet can make some pretty tops, they just don't compare to knitted beauties. I'm a long way from a sweater though! Maybe I'll start with a scarf or potholder, just like crochet. :)  But first I better get the knit stitch mastered...

Hooray for new brain wrinkles!  :D  My Ravelry library is going to explode with patterns at this rate.  Thank you for reading and sharing my "string" adventures!  And before I forget, Santa Nancy is getting started early (or maybe she never stops haha) with the giveaways since she has the wonderful new floss box sets.  I entered Mother's Flower Garden and the Halloween giveaways.