finished!

I have finally finished the August Cozy Blue Stitch Club kit.

Those tiny leaves took a lot longer than I thought. Of course, I was also distracted by knitting a sweater and other parts of life.

Speaking of life, I know I have not been any where near consistent with my daily post goal for November. I added a “blog” line to my habit tracker in my Bullet Journal. Yes, I am one of those Bullet Journaling people. Mine is not pretty and there is no washi tape but I have started using the habit tracker and I like the at-a-glance of my accountability aspect of it. Anyway, if I keep the blog line in my habit tracker then maybe that will remind me to blog more often, or like at all, when it is not November. I am going to place the blame firmly on the election and the emotional aftermath thereof for my lack of daily posts this November. It may sound like a cop out but it is true.

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leaf progress and a reading list

I have made progress on the leaves. See?

I am quite pleased with how they are turning out but I am also looking forward to embroidering something else.

When talk of a Muslim registry started up and was being justified by the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, I decided that it was time to reread Farewell to Manzanar. A couple of days after I posted that Facebook suggested I might like to see a the Stop Trump Reading List. Sometimes Facebook is really on top of what I would want. I am going to read From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation from that list next. Feel free to read along with me. Knowledge is power, in spite of what others may want you to believe.

satin stitching leaves, food for thought

My day: I walked the dog, wrote emails, went to the laundromat to washing sleeping bags and satin stitched leaves.

I also thought a lot about this quote from American Gods by the incomparable Neil Gaiman.

It’s almost hard to believe that this is in the same country as Lakeside,” he said.

Wednesday glared at him. Then he said, “It’s not. San Francisco isn’t in the same country as Lakeside any more than New Orleans is in the same country as New York or Miami is in the same country as Minneapolis.”

“Is that so?” said Shadow, mildly.

“Indeed it is. They may share certain cultural signifiers—money, a federal government, entertainment. it’s the same land, obviously—but the only things that give it the illusion of being one country are the green-back, The Tonight Show, and McDonald’s.”

Not the same country. That explains so much.

embroidery, sunflowers, and congress

I spent some quality time with my embroidery today and made progress on the outline of the house.

I also wanted to share this photo I took of the sunflowers I bought myself at the farmer’s market.

They are so cheerful! I need cheer because of things like having to call my congresswoman to ask her to speak out against a white supremacist being placed into the incoming president’s cabinet. I have never called my representative before! There is a first time for everything.

ticks and stitching and folding, oh my

I found a tick on my dog. I did NOT take a picture of it either before or after it was removed (you’re welcome). While my husband was patiently trying to remove the tick without leaving any bits in the dog or squeezing the body and potentially leaving pathogens in him, I wondered if this was another metaphor for the election and our new president. I am not going to think that one through but I’m sure there is something there. Let’s just leave it that. The good news is that the tick is off and the dog got a bath out of the deal. He didn’t think the bath was good news but he sure liked the treat I gave him afterwards.

In crafty news, I started working on my embroidery again.

I’m going to finish the house and then work on the leaves. I might be reading too much into everything, but I do feel the symbolism of working on an embroidery of a house, like I am turning inward. As I said, reading a lot into everything.

I also folded a paper bird for my husband.

He bought something called “muscle wire” which he plans to use to make the bird’s wings flap. I am intrigued to see the finished product! Hopefully that bird works, but I found a lot of different origami bird instructions online. This one was supposed to fly like a paper airplane as well but I think I did the tail slightly wrong and it didn’t glide nicely like the video I watched.

Look! I posted two days in a row!

so tragic

So, I missed two days. Whoops. Then today I realized that I was a month off on my accounting of the Cozy Blue Stitch Club kits. The one I have in progress currently is the August kit, not the September one. I just received November’s, so I now have three club kits waiting to be stitched, plus one kit that I had purchased in June. Double whoops? I better get to stitching!

I finally got a picture of the cowl that I finished.

1-2-3 Cowl

Tiny yarn on tiny needles, so it turned out tiny. My 10 year old son has adopted it, though, and it’s a good size for him, so it all worked out. I’m also doing very well with the sweater I am making for him.

Ryan Cardi in progress

Since I took this photo I have picked up the stitches for the other side and started the i-cord bind off. I’m quite pleased with this sweater, I hope my son likes it when it is done as well!

Catching Up

I haven’t been knitting all that much in the past year, but I do have a few finished things and WIPs to share.

I knit a bunny for a friend’s baby.

I knit a hat for my son, at his request.

I am now working on a sweater for him in the same yarn. It is almost done but I don’t have a good photo of that. I will save that for another day.

Using the same pattern as the green hat for my son (Droste Effect), I knit a few chemo caps.

I donated the above hats to The Bay Cancer Connections. They use the caps to provide to local cancer patients to provide comfort. Nothing like handknits for the comfort factor! I hope they helped someone.

I knit myself a two color cowl, with two balls of the same yarn, but with the color changes at different points. I like the way it turned out, and I enjoyed the brioche pattern.

In February, I went to Stitches.

I didn’t buy a lot of yarn, but I bought some silk from Redfish which I think will become a color affection one of these days.

Also, these adorable stitch markers.

And a lovely Jenny the Potter mug which I have since cracked. Now it sits on the window sill in my kitchen so I can enjoy looking at it, even if I can’t use it.

To justify the “need” for yarn, I started a cowl with the previous year’s Stitches yarn purchase. I have since finished it, even though it is the tiniest yarn (lace weight) on the tiniest needles (1s). I was starting to think it would be never be done, but I was luckily wrong about that! I don’t have a finished picture of it yet, but, again, a picture for another day.

In June, I took up embroidery. It is all my friend Rebecca’s fault, or her responsibility, depending on your perspective. I joined the Cozy Blue Stitch Club and have been embroidering the club items, as well as purchasing a couple of kits.

June

July

A kit I purchased because I love this sentiment.

August

September, in progress. I better get it finished, since October is waiting and November will arrive soon!

Whew, that is all my crafting over the past year or so. I used to be much more prolific, but life changes and time commitments with them! One of the things that changed was that we got a dog in May. He is the main attraction of my Instagram feed.

Also, he is totally adorable!

Okay, now that we are caught up, I can post like a normal person starting tomorrow. Also, maybe I will actually start to do candletime tomorrow! Whoops.