I've been a very bad blogger recently, I've also been a very bad stitcher, but I have been a much better crocheter recently. This is the start of a blanket that I'm making as a gift, world's simplest pattern, in the world's most garish yarn, I love it. I've also just discovered the Russian join, which is genius, it wouldn't work for colour changes, but for something like this where it's the same yarn over and over, it's great.

Secondly (and modelled by my rather chunky foot and shin)  is another gift that I'm working on (can you see a theme here?). These will be a pair of shark socks, so the shark is biting the ankle. They're fab, although I accept that this one doesn't look like much yet. But, considering that this pattern has been my absolute nemesis for the last 6 weeks, the fact that I've got this far is a miracle. I'm not wholly convinced that this is the right size for the intended person so I'm going to give them one with an IOU note for the second one.

Finally, I had a go with a pom pom maker for the first time today, it's easy, I like easy. This will be Rudolph's nose.

Crochet and Shoes

Hello my dears, how are you? I have an admission to make... I haven't stitched this week and *whispers* I haven't missed it. I'm a little obsessed with my crochet and so that's what's been taking up all my time. I've done six stripes in the last week which is loads, I've more than doubled it, so proud of myself, starting to believe in the blanket (rather that suspecting that it might end up as a scarf). So much so I've started to debate what I'm going to do with the finish. Originally it was going to be for me but, true to form I've got 3-4 other blankets in various stages on planning and kitting and I have to admit that this is my least favourite colour scheme of all of them, so I might gift this to someone else, at the moment I'm debating inflicting it on my loving mother or Grandad. Possibly more of a mum colour scheme, but her birthday is in February and I'm not convinced I can hit that, so my Grandad's birthday is more realistic, but at the current speed, who knows.

Secondly, this is how I've spent my evening. My first ever attempt at comic book shoes, they're not perfect, but I'm certainly quite proud of them. I found quite an annoying tutorial on youtube to give me a vague idea of what I was doing (and quite a lot of anger to vent at the presenter. She'd obviously no interest in the comic book style other than because it was very 'on trend' at the moment, but my main problem is that she had no idea what she was doing. Having done something there was a quick cut and she was suddenly explaining how she'd just been told that she was doing it wrong, and this was how she was meant to be doing it). Anyway, I quite enjoyed it, it wasn't as time consuming or as messy as I expected. I'm not saying I didn't end up covered in Mod Podge, but I was covered in a lot less of it than I was expecting, and it used a lot less paper than I was expecting so I've got loads left, enough to do a second set, possibly even a third, and that's nothing to how much Mod Podge I've got left, I'm currently looking around my flat trying to work out what else I could use it on!

Hopefully I'll have some actual stitching to show next week, I do intend to. Happy stitching all!

Hello blanket

I realised that it was a long time since I updated on my blanket, although it's also a while since I've had much time to work on it. However I've had the time to get back to it again and am loving it. I did all of the light green, finished the pink and started the dark green yesterday, so all in all it went well. 

And secondly, Heroes and Heroines appears as my HAED challenge on the Supersized page, I haven't managed much, but I have managed my 400 stitches, in fact I think this is about 800 (although once again I feel like 800 should look like more).

He returns

Dragon Rider is supposedly my focus piece, and I've just realised that I haven't work on it since April, there have been far to many projects (and new starts) in my life for the last six months, so Dragon Rider is back on the frame and back getting some attention, at least he was... ooops! I've signed up for the two HAED SALs this month, the normal one and the SS one. Dragon Rider is my normal one. They're not challenging targets, 100 stitches a week for four weeks, so 400 altogether (I know you already worked that out, don't worry :-) ). This is 900 stitches on this page, which I find oddly depressing, I feel like 900 ought to look like more than a smudge, but what can you do? However, as I've hit the target on that I'm now going to move onto Heroes and Heroines for the SS SAL, but Dragon Rider will be back, my guilt over how long it is since I last worked on him is strong, so he'll get some more love very soon. I'm not even putting him away properly, just to make sure that I really don't have any excuse.

 And this is my other offering this week, he's only little, but I'm rather excited about my little crochet owl, for many reasons. He's the first time that I've ever really done proper shaping using increases and decreases, and that seems to have worked so yay! He's the first time that I've used a magic ring and again, it seems to have worked, so yay! It's the first time I've done anything 3D as opposed to flat, so also my first time stuffing, and that seems to have worked, so yay! And finally, he's my first ever commission. Someone at work requested this little dude from me, so that's the first time someone's trusted my crochet enough to ask for something. And seeing how many firsts there were for me in this, she was quite brave, and he's only a little cross eyed. Lets say that it makes him unique. This was actually a free pattern so if you want to make it yourself you can find the chart here

F Word *Does happy dance* Actual F word

I know dancing is a bit of an extreme reaction, but it's so rare that I actually manage an F word (especially one where I'd been stressing about the time frame I'd set myself) that I have to celebrate at least a little bit.

I'm set up for a couple of stitching challenges this month, but then I have a new start planed, maybe two... woo hoo on all front.

Now I can go back to the land of colour and variation!

So close...

The title says it all really, I'm so close. I'm optimistically saying that another week will do it, but I suspect that that's being a little ambitious. I did manage quite a lot last week but Ben was away so it was pretty much all I did in the evenings, plus I had two days off mid-week so I've really flogged myself to get to this point this week, but I'm nearly there, colour isn't that far off in my future, I can feel it!

A bit more

It's definitely growing, I am definitely getting there, I am in no way craving bright colours and wishing that I could work on my other projects. I have rather ambitious plans for this week (I'm always over ambitious, but let's give it a shot), but if I do manage to complete them as I plan then I'll suddenly feel a lot better about getting this finished!

It grows

I meant to post this picture on Monday, but have spent the last two days forgetting, meaning that I am actually a little further on than this now, but it's growing, and that's the important thing, even if the chances of me finishing this on time are practically zero!

Whole sentences have made an appearance

It's growing, woohoo. I've got a month to finish it... ARGH Doomed!

Why do I do these things to myself? I've got 10 lines to do in 8 weeks, the first four have taken me about four weeks. I'm officially doomed! I have prety much immersed myself in it this week and am trying to not work on others things (why do you instantly get a pull from other projects when you've got a deadline?). I reckon I can get quite a lot done then next couple of weeks due to how my shifts and days off fall, after that I need to re-assess and see if this really is practical or if I'm just torturing myself for fun!

I accidentally bought four charts from HAED this week, then I'm involved in a Paine Free RAK event so I've been gifted two for joining in the event, and will then receive a gift voucher or charts from my partner at some point in the month as well... and then I accidentally bought two lovely crochet hooks last night, and was gifted another one on Thursday (although it's now been confiscated until my birthday). Help me, drowning in projects!

New Start

It's a present though, that's how I'm justifying it. This is intended as a wedding present for friends who are planning a relatively geeky wedding. It's We Are Geeks from Paine Free Crafts with a slight modification to tie in with my friends tastes!

Went to Yarndale today, has a fantastic time, so many pretties! Next year we've decided that we're going for both days!

Bad blogger, Bad Bad Blogger!

 I have been a very bad blogger this month, flat stuff and holidays have got in the way of stitching and blogging. We were out of our flat for a couple of days while having some work done on our bathroom then went straight on holiday so blogging didn't happen. I do have updates but they're mostly crochet based. Here's the progression on the scarf I posted many moons ago. I say progress, I actually pulled it all out and started again so while I call it progress it's basically a brand new project. I've started to suspect that I pull my stitches too tight so I'm trying to rectify that, and this was the project that suffered for it. I am succeeding because I finished my gloves and one was slightly bigger than the other, so I know that I've managed to loosen my tension a bit. I've mostly managed to salvage the gloves so it's okay!

Next is my second attempt at a twiddle muff and I think I much prefer this one, for a few reasons. I decided to try working in the round which seems to have worked so there isn't an ugly join anywhere. You can see where the line is but it's a lot neater, and I think you can only really see it because I've just variegated wool so you can see the colour jump. I also much prefer this wool, it's chunky which helps, so it crocheted up really quickly, it also just feels much nicer, it has such a soft silky feel (and also quite cosy). I'me debating blanket plans with this wool (or this brand, not necessarily this colour, that's part of what I'm debating), it would be quite heavy but would be seriously snuggly!

I've also just started my first blanket (I'm a little obsessed with the idea of crocheted blankets at the moment), it's a lovely Attic 24 pattern and yarn pack. The foundation chain was 213 so I was very releaved when I finished the first row to find that it added up. :-)

Off to Yarndale this weekend so I foresee a lot more yarn and crochet in my future. Having said that I do have a lovely stitching project that I'm concentrating on at the moment, it's a gift and I don't think I have enough time so it is my main focus at the moment, with the crochet coming up when my neck can't take the stitching anymore, so I'll post of progress pick of where I'm up to with that at the weekend as well.  

I Scream, You Scream, We all scream for...

I've finished my first page and I love her. I admitted to Kimberley from Gecko Rouge earlier that when I'd done the first two snowflakes (where I posted last week) that I wasn't convinced by the charting, they seemed to faint that you could hardly see them and I was a bit worried that that was what they were all going to be like. But now I see the page coming together with the other colours and see how they look within the page I really like them and it. I admit, not much to see yet, but I love how she's stitching up!

Ice Queen from Gecko Rouge

I've not managed to get a very good picture of this, due to the lighting and my own impatience. This is a beautiful piece, so far I've mostly stitched grey (with a tiny bit of blue) so it really doesn't look like anything.

However, please believe me that this will be beautiful, there's a picture quite a way down on the right bar if you want a look of what she'll look like.

Page finish and oops, how did that happen?

 I got the page finish on Ex Machina by Cris Ortega, loving how it's stitching up, although I'm only now starting to realise what a world of brown I've let myself in to with this. Was really excited to see this released though, so loving working on it.

Having said that I did get distracted by a new start this week. I know, my whole 'no new starts this year' has turned into a complete bust. However I recently discovered and fell in love with some of GeckoRouge's designs. This small grey line has grown slightly in size since I took this, it's now three stitches high, but I'm aware that it looks like nothing yet. One day, in the dark and distant future this will turn into Ice Queen by Medusa Dollmaker from Geckorouge, and I've got my eye on a couple more.

I've managed to get a little bit more done on Ex Machina, my stitching ban is slowly being lifted, I can get a little bit done at a time, and I'm trying to put my little bits of time to good use. I've finished the first colour of my first page of Ex Machina, I'm so happy! I love this chart and it's so sad that I'm not being able to progress like I'd like to. I'll get there one day.

July re-cap

When I was thinking about this months re-cap I was a bit disappointed that I hadn't achieved much, but now that I've pulled the pictures I realise that things have happened.

I finished the Belle dress, and more importantly it survived the day, I was so excited, and proud!

Heroes and Heroines as it started the month

And I got the page finish for the end of the month

And my crochet had returned, and more importantly I'm starting to actually work out what I'm actually doing and how to make things.

So, I've started a corner to corner scarf, which I'm rather liking the effect of in variegated wool

And I finally finished the twidle muff, woohoo!

A bit of a mish mash

 As this titles suggests, I've got lots of little bits to show this week, I've been crocheting quite a lot, partially because of circumstances, and partially because I hurt my arm and was put on a stitching ban by my chiropractor/other half.

Firstly I've finished the basic bulk of my twiddlemuff, this is the first thing I've ever crocheted, so I'm quite proud of it, especially as I only had a knitting pattern to work from. This was partially an experiment, it's not quite turned out how I was planning, but it's kinda worked. I went for a looser stitch on the top layer so you could see the other colour through it but I should have gone for a more contrasting colour on the underlayer because you can't see it that well. I've also realised that I should have crocheted in the round because you can't see my terrible join on here. I was only planning on making one, but because I can see ways of doing it better I am now debating a second one just to see if my improvements would work. I just need to bling this one up to finish it.

 Second up is my first attempt at corner to corner. I had a couple of longish train journeys ahead of me so this seemed like a nice portable project with me. I literally learnt how to C2C about two hours before we left for the train (I had to find a left handed idiots guide). I rather like how it's turning out though, loving the colours on the yarn.

Finally, as promised, I started Ex Machina by Cris Ortega. Unfortunately due to my dodgy neck/shoulder, this is all I've managed in a week and a half, which is slow, even my my standards.I woke up a week and a half ago with a trapped nerve in my neck, and have to say that I've never felt pain like it. Thankfully my other half is a chiropractor and helped me through it, but I'm just waiting for the damage to heal now, and it turns out that I'm particularly bad at that, also I was back in work after two days and it turns out that sitting at a desk for nine hours a day doesn't really help matters.

Anyway, I do love this chart, I just hope I can work on it a bit more in the up coming weeks. While writing this the floor stand that I finally gave in and ordered arrived so we've just constructed that, and I'm hoping it'll make stitching a bit easier at the moment, and also mean that I injure myself a little less regularly because I do ruin my neck and back quite regularly, I'm just lucky that other half can mend me just as regularly.!

Hey look, a week of finishes or sorts

First up, I finished the dress, woohoo, so here's a pic of us before we headed out to LFCC for the day. It was good fun, and the dress stayed intact for the entire day, which is some kind of miracle. There isn't a single photo of me on my own, so this is me with the very talented Steffi who is an amazing Elsa, amongst other things.

Also, this is interesting. The SyFy channel does a SyFy Fan Cam and it's kinda cool, even for the unphotogenic like me, just because it's fascinating to have that frozen shot from all angles. You can find Steffi and I's shot here.

I'm already planning my next costume (it may be a little bit addictive), although this time I intend for there to be a lot less sewing involved.

Secondly, I managed to finish my third page of Heroes and Heroines, which means that I have moved onto another (new) project. I love how this is stitching up but after three pages I was starting to wane, so I've moved on before I lose the love, Next up, ExMachina, but I'll be back t this very soon as I do absolutely love it!

So close...

I was aiming for a page finish this week, but as you can see that hasn't quite happened, although I am quite close, and the staircase is definitely starting to look more like a staircase, rather than just random stripes.

Also, the fact that I'm back working on this means that the dress must be finished! It is, I'm so relieved! I'll try and get a decent picture of the finished article some time this weekend and so hopefully I'll have something to show what it looked like but next week!

I miss my cross stitch, but...

... the Belle dress is nearly finished. This picture is incredibly unflattering (and may well be the first time that my face has appeared on my own blog) and bodice is inside out and held together almost entirely by pins, but, it kinda looks like a dress. I'm actually much further on than this, having spent the entire of today stabbing myself with a needle (it turns out that the fact that I cross stitch most days does not mean that I am any good with a needle, I have visible stab marks). The top is now almost complete, I've just had to order eyelets and a little tool having discovered that I don't have everything to do that with, but it's quite sad how proud of myself I am for achieving this, and it's also quite sad how much I've missed my actual stitching, but hopefully I can now get back to it.

I'm so slow!

 

I am loving working on this, but progress has been a bit slow this week, as I've been concentrating on other things, but you can kinda see the stairs taking shape.

And this is what's distracting me. You've seen some of the progress pictures on the bodice, here's my first shot of the skirt to go with it. It was laughably large at this point (ie I could fit a friend into the waistband with me - we tested, and it was dragging on the floor, I'm short but I'm not that short) but I have now elasticated the waitsband so it's all rouched and I've started taking it up so it's now ankle length, but I'll be honest, I don't have the energy to try and take a decent shot tonight, and hopefully it means that I'll have something to show next week. All my time is going on this right now because I've suddenly realised that I've only got two weeks left to finish it, so my stitching has fallen by the wayside a bit, and it turns out that I really miss my stitching. But, the sooner this is done, the sooner I can get back to it, and I wil be really proud of myself if this turns out even vaguely recognisable. And as it's all hand sewn (I really must get a sewing machine) I'll also be really proud of myself if it holds together for the entire day.

And I've already got an idea what my next costume should be, and this time I might be able to convince Ben to join in. He was debating this time, but I think I've lost :-(

June re-cap

If I say so myself, June has been a surprisingly productive month, I'm quite proud of myself.

I've started my bodice for my Comicon outfit, this is draft three, and it almost fits, so I'm getting there.

This is where Family Values by Paul Kidby, charted by Paine Free Crafts started the month

And I finished the month with a page finish, so I'll take that for a win.

Heather as she started the month

And Heather how she finished the stitching retreat. Not as much as I was intending, somehow I got distracted with all that chatting instead.

This was a new start this month, Heroes and Heroines by Aimee Stewart from HAED. That chart is 104 pages, so this is the first three pages, two partials, and I'm now working on my first full page, this is a bit of a long term project.

So I'm carrying on with Heroes and Heroines, I don't know if I'll make it to the end of the page before I move on to something else, but I decided to carry on while I was on a roll with it. Scarlet's skirt is showing at the bottom, and you can see the beginning of that on this page as well, but this page is mostly bookshelf and stairs. I haven't got as much as I've had to show the last couple of weeks but it's still progressing nicely.

Next up I'm continuing with the attempted bodice making. On the left is draft two, it horrible fabric while I work out the size, but it vaguely fits and I'm proud to have got it that far.

Below is the bit I was really scared of, starting in the proper fabric, obviously it still needs a bit of work, and I had to tuck it slightly at the arm hole, because it was gaping, but I'm starting to vaguely see what I'm actually aiming for.

IHSW

Last thing on Sunday evening and I suddenly remember that it's been IHSW (and that I've actually been involved for once) and that means that I need to post an update. I'm a little disappointed as I was hoping for a page finish, although I'm not too far off, only one page left, but not bad progress, even if I do say so myself, especially as I've been working today.

Hope everyone else who joined in had a good weekend.

I'm loving Heroes and Heroines

The title says a lot, I'm loving Heroes and Heroines, I've finished the first partial page (I record of five days) and am now enjoying the second page. I know it doesn't look like much yet, this is the bottom right corner so it's really just bookshelf. In the very top of the first page you can see the beginning of Scarlett's skirt, and if you squint at the second page you can see the continuing shape of the bottom of the skirt. Loving it!

And it's IHSW this weekend, which I haven't been able to join in with in ages because of my shifts, but I'm hoping to actually have some stitching to show for it this weekend.

Bits and Bobs

So, firstly I've manage to finish the second page of Family Values, and the page really came together at the end, especially the scythe, I really wasn't seeing that until right at the end.

Secondly, excuse the gratuitous boob shot, which, now that  type it probably isn't the thing to type on something that could be searched by google, but now the idea of someone searching that and ending up here is amusing me so it's going to stay in. Also excuse what is an incredibly unattractive photo of me. Anyway, I'm learning to sew. I'm trying to make a costume for LFCC but I've never made things in my life. I bought a pattern, got it out of the packet, stared at it for a while then put it back in the package and messaged a friend who is good at sewing, she is not teaching me to follow the pattern. This is a mock up of the top, it's the wrong fabric and too small, but it's tailored and I'm proud of that fact that, with her help, I actually managed to make something of sorts.

And finally... when I started this year I said that there wouldn't be any new starts but gave myself a couple of get out of jail free cards. These were mostly gifts for other people, but also included two designs that I knew had been sent to charters and so I was just waiting for them to be released. Typically they were both released in the same week and I'm now officially doomed. Here's my first of these starts. Heroes and Heroines, Supersized by Aimee Stewart and charted by HAED. It took me quite a lot of staring to work out what this is, it's pretty much nothing but bookshelf, there isn't really any picture in this page.

Progress of varying degrees

 So, Family Values is progressing, little stitches fill in the blanks now, so it's coming together quickly, but at the same time this last bit seems to be taking me ages and I really don't know why that is, so I'm still working on it. However Heroes and Heroines Supersized was released today, so I need to finish that page off so i can start my new project.

In other news I was at the Crafty Kitten stitching retreat this weekend with the lovely Angie from Miamina's Musings, Dawn from Crafty Kitten, Sarah from Paine Free Crafts and Eileen from Thread Pickerz and many other people, but they're the only ones that I can reliably link to. We had a fantastic weekend, but I didn't achieve quite as much stitching as intended due to spending far too much time talking instead but here's what I did achieve. I carefully set her up so that I wouldn't have to count at an point during the weekend, so at least that went well.