2015 Recap & 2016 Ambitions (Image Heavy)!

Aloha world!! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and received all your stitchy desires. :D 2015 is drawing to a close so I thought I'd better start working on my recap post since our Internet is probably going to protest the whole way.  We've just had a ton of rain, more than was really necessary and I think all of our state is closed due to the drama it has caused.  They've moved the planes at our local airport to higher ground because the Mississippi River is in major flood stage.  We are up on the bluffs so no danger here unless getting stuck in the muddy driveway is a danger!

Cross-Stitch
I managed 2.5ish SALs this year! In order to not have so many images in one post, I made a (rather ghetto) collage of them.

2015 finishes!

One SAL was Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching. I think it was the most successful even if it doesn't have the most finishes.

1. I designed and stitched a Muppet "baby sampler" for a friend's first baby! I think turned out really cute (sorry, I won't show the whole thing because it contains the full name of their child). Would you believe I still have it?? We've been trying to get together for a while but life has just not played fair. I am afraid to mail it because it's somewhat large and with the glass and questionable mail services...! 
2. Next was the Dolphin Trio, a Dimensions kit given to me eons ago which turned into my longest WIP that I just sorta snacked on when the mood hit. I am so happy to have it finished!  It is not finished-finished but you know how it goes with finding Perfect Frames.
3. Next was Rathalos, a wyvern glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, a game both my husband and I love playing together.  The plan was to also stitch Rathian to go with him but silly me mentioned how nice a cube would be so four more are being planned.  Rathian colors continue to be a struggle.  Maybe I just don't like olive greens!

before

after

The next SAL was the Flower of the Month SAL hosted by Alyssa at Brownie's Chair.  This SAL seemed to fizzle out at the year went on though several did manage to keep posting about it.  I finished January, February, April (March was finished years earlier!), and May.  They are all done on 14-count ecru huck towels.  Since this post will also serve as the last FotM update, I made a tiny bit of progress on June's flower.  It felt good to get back to Xs after all the yarny things I've been doing lately!  And while I was stitching on this I thought to myself, "Hmm, these look somewhat like Rathian colors."  And then it hit me, these ARE Rathian colors!  I think.  But they do look right in the floss toss.  I'll probably fret some more over them though. :b

before, dug out in June

Lastly was IHSW hosted by Joyze at Random Ramblings.  I decided to work on Final Fantasy III during the weekends of this SAL took place/I felt like it!  It started off with a troublesome mistake which I finally put on my big girl panties and fixed it by means of doing the letters.  I keep feeling disappointed in myself over this piece thinking I hardly had any progress but with the before and after, it doesn't look too bad.   And the mistake is fixed!  I shall be very glad when I never have to stitch on it again though.  This one is determined to drive me nuts.

after

Crochet

just three more!

Since learning this in 2014, I feel like this year was a year to kinda expand my knowledge.  I joined a CAL that went waaaay too fast for me haha. But now I know Very Well how to do corner-to-corner crochet thanks to the zillion squares in the Christmas blanket yay!  I have all nine of the main ones complete now and have the others planned out in charts.  It is so very tempting to say yay~ I am done with the squares ahaha.  But I will be good and make three more so my blanket will be a more acceptable (to me) blanket size.  Rudolph was a Pain In The Buttocks.  Holy moly.  That mouth area was enough to drive me bonkers.  The gingerbread man was pretty rough too.

hey, more Rathalos colors?

doily in action oooo

I also made my first doily and first pair of house slippers, both of which I'm happy to say went over really well with Mr. Husband. :D  It's nice to have such an appreciative guy.  I will be making another pair of the slippers for myself (bluuuue) as my house slippers are currently disintegrating.  You can find the free pattern for them here (ravelry link).  I am disappointed to say this little doily is all that I managed to get finished, though.  Even though each motif takes about 1-1.5 hours, there just aren't enough sneaky hours in my day without ignoring everything else that needs done!  But now I don't have to be sneaky so I'll be able to work on them more often.

Knitting

dishcloths!

kitty prints scarf

This was my new adventure for the year!  I taught myself from books and am continuing to learn through a little group that meets roughly every two weeks at the library.  I first made some potholders (gotta start somewhere) and am currently working on a scarf that wants to curl like there's no tomorrow.  Since it is just the one skein of yarn, I take it almost everywhere with me.  The doctor's office, Mom's house, hotels...  I am a rather slow knitter so far though.  I am very excited to learn socks and then no foot will be safe from my needles!

Miscellaneous

this is Halloween, this is Halloween

My husband's company called for wreaths for their Christmas party with the "requirement" that they be the main colors of red, black, and white.  There was only one solution to that in our household! :D  We had a lot of fun making this and I learned a new thing about Mr. Husband -- he's really, REALLY good at picking colors and making little felt flowers (those swirlies at the bottom were all made by him proud peacock wife moment).  Sally's hair is a bit long in this picture; I trimmed it afterwards to make it even with the bottom of the wreath.

soooo tasty!

Next were these little ornaments made for some friends we have over for game night.  This little cat is named Airou and he's from the Monster Hunter world (same as Rathalos and Rathian).  They're made from felt and stuffed with yarn ORTs and felt scraps haha.  I love how these turned out and I think I should probably make another one for ourselves. :D

Overall and Ambitions Onward
I think I did okay for 2015.  I learned a new skill and that's always an amazing thing!  I also bought two patterns online (Frosted Pumpkin patterns, too! Eee!) for the first time ever (if you don't recall the vaaast majority of my stash is freebies and/or thrift store finds).  My goals for 2015 (this post) were mostly met *scooting FFIII under the bed* and thanks to the generosity of some stitchy friends, I got TWO needleminders!  They are remarkably useful inventions and I'm not sure how I survived without them.  One thing I mentioned in passing without any real goal was getting a calendar for my stitching.  My husband provided a small planner from his workplace (he does everything digital so he doesn't need it) and it worked rather well to track hours/days!  I hope he can get another one for this year and I will include crochet and knitting in there too.  Maybe.  :)

I'm not going to be overly ambitious in 2016 and just do what I want (like I don't already :b).  I have already signed up for 2016 GG so I can continue putting a dent in my gifted collection!   I love this SAL!  I don't know if the FotM SAL will continue but I will keep working on my huck towels because I want the set to be finished.  If IHSW continues I'll try to make appearances in it once in a while.  TUSAL will keep going too, maybe with yarn ORTs this time, oooOOOooo.

I WILL HAVE FFIII DONE IN 2016.  RAR.  famous last words

I think that is all from me.  I hope you all have a fantastic 2016!  My husband and I are rather stick-in-the-muds.  We'll probably just go to bed tonight and not watch any ball drop.  But we will have black eyed peas for supper on New Year's Day. Greens will have to be a salad haha. :)

Gifted Gorgeousness, TUSAL - December Edition, Late Again!

click to join the fun!

I've zero stitchy progress to show, isn't that awful? :( Poor Rathian, she'll get love someday.

But I do have gifts to show! It seems they're all crochet this time. I'm typing this in the wee hours of the morning before Sir Giftee removes himself from bed, and hoping the Internet will work long enough to get some photos uploaded. Sorry for some duplicates; they're a little easier for me since they're cached. :)

almost like a snowflake

Remember this? I do have some completed doilies though not as many as I'd've hoped. I thought I would show an older in-progress picture to show how the individual motifs appear.

needs a good blocking!

Isn't it lovely? I'm glad I did choose to alternate the colors. I love the delft blue. It's such a pleasure to work with. The white is a bit more ornery. I will post finished pictures after Christmas!

is it a loafer?

Next up, a house slipper! This was an amazing pattern though I do believe my first attempt was not correct. It's not possible to really tell though, thank you variegated yarn! :D But I do really like the pattern otherwise; it works up so fast! If I didn't have to sneak and do other things, these could easily be finished in a day. The flap is not attached in this picture because I wasn't 100% sure I wanted it (it is optional in the pattern). It has grown on me but I will have to tack it down.

What you can't see is the sole on these suckers.  I'll take a picture of the next one as I piece it together.  It has foam between two pieces and I made it... fluffy. :D  I can't wait to make a pair for myself after I gift these out. If you're interested, it's a free pattern found here (Ravelry link).

Not a gift, but I did finish another couple of squares for the afghan. I'd like to post pictures but the Internet just gave out trying to upload them here. I have the gingerbread man and stocking done and am currently working on the last of the main squares, Rudolph. As easy as the stocking was, Rudolph is a spaghetti mess! The pixel square afghan has been my project in the evenings when I have time to sit down and can't fish out the gift goodies.

join all the fun!

last "strings"

Lastly, TUSAL!  Since there was no stitching and I haven't been saving my yarn ORTs, this picture is from last month.  :/ What a sad and neglected way to end the year!

Anyway!  I am boxing up cookies to send out today.  I did not make double batches of everything this year since one of our dear giftees passed away and we had so many leftovers last year.  But there's still enough for all! :D  Oooo I hear Sir Giftee stirring, must wrap this up!  If I don't get another post up before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all! 

FotM SAL ~ November Edition, Late!

First of all, thank you to those who have emailed me despite my blog silence. I am okay! While I am still a bit busy with Christmas stuffs, the silence has gone on longer than expected. Our Internet is still quite awful and I cannot always load blogs. I have been reading your posts through a bare bones reader, no backgrounds, no sidebar images, no avatars, etc. and that helps a lot, though I cannot leave comments that way. I had to give up reading some blogs (MrXStitch for example) because they do not allow the full post to show in the reader.  I would feel guilty allowing comments without leaving comments of my own.

click for more info!

I must admit posting about this slipped my mind. Not that it matters much, since there was absolutely no stitching progress. On anything, really. Maybe I was subconsciously hoping that I would eventually have something to show.

before

after

This is supposed to be June's rose. Maybe that is obvious. You can totally tell it's a rose from that speck of green that hasn't changed in a month, right?

elf!

wreath!

I did finish two more squares for the pixel square afghan CAL (which has completed). I have decided I will do three extra in addition to the nine in the CAL to make a longer afghan. I don't like toes poking out when I snuggle down. The first one is the elf. I really like how he turned out. I have no idea what that dark blue yarn is, something dug up from the depths of the crafty inheritance, but it is so soft and fuzzy. The second is the wreath. It turned out about 1" smaller than the other squares. Why? I dunno! Perhaps I've somehow managed to crochet even tighter.  I am about 3/4s done with the gingerbread man who is square #7 of 12.  Slowly but surely.  With Christmas gifts being worked on, I don't think this project will be done in time for the holiday.

kitty prints

I have been working on a scarf for my next knitting project. I love the yarn (Yarn Bee Soft Secrets) but I am so disappointed with how the scarf is knitting up. It is curling something awful. One of the ladies at the knitting group said I should be able to crochet around the edge and that will help.  This project has been put on the back burner for now because there are other things that have deadlines!

I'd like to post about those things but, surprise, surprise, the 'net won't let me upload anymore. Bah humbug.  Maybe since they're gifts they're better suited for GG which I will hopefully have up in a slightly more timely manner.  Maybe I should start prepping the post now.  Until next time~!

FotM SAL - October Edition

Aloha! I am happy you're still reading despite my continued silence. :) I am no longer ill and am capable of breathing through my nose, how exciting!  Are you prepared to be wowed by my spectacular progress on the next flower?

click for more info!

before

after

Yaaaaaa-- wait, that's like, eleven stitches. I won't bore you with the struggle it was just to get those few stitches in.  I haven't touched cross-stitch since then; I'll get back to it eventually but argh.  I'm a bit sad I didn't get any Halloween stitching in.  I may be able to squeeze things in eventually but right now... I dunno.  Guess I'm in a funk.  Or maybe cross-stitch isn't as warm as yarny projects because...

various stash yarns

I did finish another square for the CAL! This is number four of at least nine (I haven't fully decided I want a small afghan haha). I really liked this square though I still hate that black yarn.  The yellow trim at the bottom of the sleigh was a different weight; I should've doubled up but didn't ah well.  Next up is the elf!  He looks like he'll have a couple of fiddly rows where I have skeins of yarn draped everywhere with all the color changes, bah.  I think I've finally learned my lesson about carrying yarn.  As long as it's touching the same color, it's okay to carry it.  If not, snip snip!

I'm still being bad with the ends.  I'll get them in eventually, with much complaining. :D

lemon and rosemary P&C yarn

I also managed to finish another dishcloth (using the same pattern). This time, I tried really hard to control my tension and it shows! However if I knit any tighter it will be a waterproof dishcloth hahaha. I crocheted around the edge out of curiosity. I was expecting to cover the edge but apparently that doesn't happen! At the knitting group, it was suggested that I knit around the edge to achieve what I was going for.

Next up is a simple scarf (yarn bought but not cast on yet)!  I am all gungho about socks and lace but it was strongly suggested that I increase my skills carefully hah. I see the logic but but but......  :)

I'm glad everyone else has been keeping busy with their stitchy goodness~  I'll return sometime.

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.