Sunday, March 17, 2024

Catch-up Post and Mischievous March

Hello again, things conspired so I didn't get a chance to put a post up, but I have been stitching. I also remembered to pick up my Mischievous March projects! Rachel is working on some beautiful ones as well and I chose to start some new kits from Sweet Annet. 

The first one will eventually look like this:
    

And after a few days of work it looks like this:
    
Dragonfly in Flowers Stamp by Sweet Annet
stitched 2 over 1 with kit threads on included wooden framework

The second one is by the same artist, and will eventually look like this:
    
and I've managed a fair bit of sky:
The Little Prince stamp by Sweet Annet
stitched 2 over 1 with kit threads on included wooden framework

I'm trying to use up one colour at a time, sort of like I do with Mill Hill kits and that seems to be working fairly well so far. 

I have 3 more to go, and although I did get a few stitches in the new one today; I'm very sore after a hockey tournament yesterday and it wasn't really worth taking a photo yet. 

I've also managed to progress more on Ondulations, my March focus project and am almost at the left side. There are 2 photos since I had to move the Qsnap:

Ondulations by Jardin Prive
stitched on 28ct rainbow gradient fabric by BeStitchMe

There's a bit more to the left side, so I should get there in another couple days of stitching. 

I'm also keeping up with Do Not Meddle, in fact it might have the most progress of any of the projects I've worked on so far. Here's where it looks now!
Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams
stitched 1x1 on 28ct white fabric as charted

Hopefully this week will bring more stitching, but we'll have to see how tomorrow goes. It's an interesting feeling when everything in your body hurts. My quads are the worst, but ice and painkillers have helped. 

I hope you're all feeling well and had good stitchy weeks!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch





Tuesday, March 5, 2024

New Monthly Project Alert!

Here we are in March already! And like most of you said, Do Not Meddle does need to get finished, so I think I'm going to try and do a thread length in it every day before I start stitching on anything else. Here it is now!
    
Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams
stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

I think I'll try and keep up with the current trend of finishing up whatever colour needs filling in. That's been sort of a sense of accomplishment and keeping my interest, so I'll keep it up for now. 

The new project I'm going to work on for March is Ondulations by Jardin Prive. Here it is when I last worked on it back in July 2021 for the July Olympics start extravaganza I did with Rachel
Ondulations by Jardin Prive
stitched on 28ct rainbow gradient by BeStitchMe as charted

I still haven't decided if I want to add the colours that it asks for or use some of the specialty threads I've accumulated over the last several years. It might be fun to dig through what I have for something close to the charted threads. 

And Wiglaf has grown substantially, I'm maybe close to halfway done now? 
Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe
knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 
and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

Next  week I'll update with more progress on everything hopefully. Have a good week everyone!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch


Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Little Bit More of Everything

Here we are, last week of February already somehow and even with the extra day tomorrow I can't believe how quickly the year has disappeared. We're having very unseasonably warm weather for the Northeastern US as well, which might be making it seem further into the year than it really is. 

Speaking of Leap Day/Leap Year, any new starts planned for anyone? Thursdays are my very busy day, so unlikely I will get any stitching in at all, but I did help plan the Leap Day playlist for my Thursday Night hockey group. If you're interested, this is the list:
                        The Wizard - Black Sabbath ( a member was born on Feb. 29)
                        Jump Jive N Wail - Brian Setzer Orchestra
                        Jump - Van Halen
                        Jumpin' Jack Flash - Stones
                        29 Palms - Robert Plant
                        Jump - Kriss Kross 
                        Jump Around - House of Pain
                        Jump (for my love ) - Pointer Sisters
                        Waiting for the Great Leap Forward - Billy Bragg
                        Jump for Joy - Peggy Lee
                        Jump for Joy - Warrior Soul
                        Leap of Faith - Bruce Springsteen
                        Leap of Faith - The Interrupters
                        Jump Into the Fire - Harry Nilsson
                        Jump Into the Fog - The Wombats
                        Look Before you Leap - Marcia Ball
                        Give - The Suicide Machines
                        Bodies - Drowning Pool (singer born on Feb. 29)
                        The Mob Rules - Black Sabbath

And now, what you've all been waiting for, a bit of progress on Do Not Meddle! ;)
Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams
stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

And I was doing more knitting than stitching after another migraine (boo) hit me on Saturday. Not as bad as the week before, so still able to get some things done. Here's Wiglaf:
    
Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe
knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 
and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

If you can follow the colour changes, the blue stripes were decreasing in height until they hit 4 rows, then the white rows will increase to the same height as the blue near the bottom, then it starts over again, so the middle will be mostly white with blue stripes and the 2 ends will be blue with white stripes. 

Jo asked if this was named after Wiglaf from Beowulf, and it was! Here's the designer's note:

- A note on the name: Wiglaf is my favorite character from the Old English poem Beowulf. The protagonist, Beowulf, when faced with a dragon who is terrorizing his people, is abandoned by all his chosen companions. Except Wiglaf. In Beowulf’s darkest hour, one man stands loyal by his side and will not abandon his king.

It's a very easy knit, good for beginners if anyone is interested. It's just garter stitch, but carrying the colours up the side is a nice way to not have to weave in a lot of ends, and it makes a nice edge. 

I hope everyone has a good week and enjoy your new starts if you're having one!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Halfway There?

 

Look! Look!
Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams
stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

I finished a dragon! So excited! I hope I can get the words done tonight, they're almost done, then it's one more dragon. There's a chance this will stay out a few extra days if I get close with the second dragon. I'd love to get this one finished. 

The rest is all knitting, more work on the Wiglaf scarf:
    
Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe
knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 
and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

And I made a few hearts for Valentine's Day:
    
made with fingering weight yarn

That's all for this week, so we'll see where next week gets us. I hope you've all had a good stitching week!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Secret Stitching Sweetheart

Happy Valentine's Day to all who celebrate! More importantly, it's Secret Stitching Sweetheart day!

Without further ado, who does this amazing piece of stitching belong to? 

Love the finishing on this one and the gorgeous colour and matching trim. 

Also, check out Jo's page for everyone who's found their match!

Enjoy something special for yourselves today or start something new, I give you permission! :)

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Mid-February Update

Another weekly update on stitching and knitting. I added a few rows to the Wiglaf scarf:
Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe
knit with Fiber Me This and Sassy Black Yarns

And I finished the PWHL hat! Still not in love with how the floats show, but maybe it will block out. That's the knitters way of trying to fudge something that didn't turn out quite right. 
and I love the top!
PWHL team hat by Sydney Gerzymisch
in Berroco Ultra Wool in a deep red, green and cream (although it looks white here)

I'm going to make another one in the same colourway, but watch a few videos on how to hide floats first to see if we can lose that kind of stripey look you get in the white part of the hat in the top photo. 

Next comes stitching!

Do Not Meddle came out a few times and I'm almost done the dragon on the left:
Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams
stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

I was debating about outlining the dragon on the right as well before going back to fill it in, but I really, really want to finish the dragon on the left. I had some lighter colour left over after finishing it on the left dragon, so started a bit on the right, but went back to the left dragon with the next darker shade of light green. I think there are 7 shades of green in this one?

I'm still not sure if it will be a finish this month, but definitely the dragon on the left will get finished and maybe the saying as well. It's mostly there as it is. 

I also pulled out Winter Feast again to get one night on it:
Winter's Feast by Mill Hill
stitched as charted with kit threads and beads on perforated paper


So lots of things worked on and a little progress on everything, plus one more finish! Not a bad week. I hope you've all had a good week as well. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch





Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Start of February 2024

Here we are again, so far posting once a week is sticking, so I'll try and keep up with it. I've definitely missed it, and feel like I'm maybe in a better mental space to keep up with it and stitching now too. I did get a lot of knitting in this past week, so we'll start with that. 

I managed another knit finish, although this is a terrible photo. 

Vanilla shortie socks in Christmas Robin colourway by WYS

These are very slightly smaller than the ones for my mom. DD's feet are already a size 6ish, so she's on her way to get to 9 like me probably, if not more. 

I also finished a scarf in the Boa yarn that was from my Grandma's yarn stash and still smells like her. I forgot to take a photo though and have put it away for now. When I remember I will get it out again.

I started a new scarf:


This is the Wiglaf scarf and you can find it on Ravelry. I'm using slightly less contrasting colours than they use in their model, but these yarns spoke to me when I was stash diving. I'm trying to actively use up stash this year as much as I can. 

I also got distracted by the PWHL hat, a free pattern on Ravelry The model is in the colours of the Montreal women's hockey team, and a friend I used to play hockey with and I were discussing what colours to use. Neither of us had picked a favourite team yet, Montreal and Boston are the closest ones to me, and the Detroit Red Wings are her favourite team, but there's no Detroit team yet. So, we came up with using our old team colours from the London Devilettes. They're similar to the New Jersey Devil colours at the time, so they're red and green predominantly. Here's where I'm at so far:
PWHL team hat by Sydney Gerzymisch
in Berroco Ultra Wool in a deep red, green and cream (although it looks white here)

I did have to buy this yarn, but it's quite inexpensive and the hat is knitting up fairly quickly if you don't count the colourwork. I'm not great at it and might watch some videos about how to hide the floats better. You can sort of see the vertical lines in the white, and those are where I caught the floats behind. You have to bring along the alternate colour with the other colour, and catch it every so often. I'm maybe not doing it correctly, but this hat is my practice piece and I'll work on improving. I will definitely make more of these. Any extra support they get will hopefully keep the league going. 

Finally, on to some cross stitch. After debating about what project to start on given the disappointment with the last one, I decided to pull out a dragon to go with Chinese New Year. You may remember seeing this one on and off over the years. This is where I started:
and one night got me here:
Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams
stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

I have some hope of actually getting this one finished and sent to the recipient this year. I won't say it will happen this month since there's still a lot of the month left to get through. I enjoyed the stitching though, so I think I finally made my progressive glasses strong enough for 28ct now. ;) I believe I started it back when I didn't need the extra magnification. 

I hope you've all been having a good week!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch




Catch-up Post and Mischievous March

Hello again, things conspired so I didn't get a chance to put a post up, but I have been stitching. I also remembered to pick up my Misc...