January update

Well my plans changed again.  But only by a little bit.   I'm still working on Fairytale for the HAED SAL and aiming for 6 pages, still working on Mini At the Steps, aiming to finish in November  and working on Cat Nap.  However I've changed my mind about starting both the Aimee Stewart Sanctuary for stitchers and Lakeside Cabin Crop.   I know Aimee Stewart patterns are hugely popular, but I feel a lot of detail is hard to make out, even in the super sized versions. I would never do a supersized version, as I want a chance of finishing and even the regular sized version is bigger than what I want to work on.

I toyed around with cropping the Lakeside Cabin crop, but it was still too big and do I really want a huge picture of basically an armchair, on my wall. So I abandoned that idea.

 So here is what I did in January.

Mini at the steps.

In January I put in 5829 stitches over 10 stitching days and did 28 hours.  This takes me to a total of 27,152 stitches out of 61,200 and 44%

Cat Nap was started on Xmas Day and this is what it looks like now.

I have a page finish.  I've done a bit more than in this photo, but havent taken another picture.

In January I did 5561 stitches over 7 days and did 22 hours.  In total I've done 9826 stitches out of 179,000 for 5%.

On 1st January I started Fairytale for the HAED SAL.   

I've done the first page for a total of 7795 stitches out of 88,650 for 8.8%. I worked on this for 12 days and spent 22 hours stitching. 

  I had a yearning to do another Long Dog piece.  I decided on a small one called Flirtation, from their Peccadilloes range.  This is what the finished piece will look like.

And this is what it looks like now. 

I'm using Silks4u left over from Sans Souci and it is 2 x1 on 18ct Aida, full cross. I started on 14 January. 

I am stitching 1 thread a day on this, which gives approximately 100 stitches in 30 minutes. I've so far done 1581 stitches and worked on it 14 days for 8 hours.   1581 out of 7643 for 21%.  This is a small project so I expect to finish in April.  

In total for the month, I did 20,766 stitches, 19185 on full coverage,  stitched on 29 days and a total of 101 hours.

Plans, continue working on the above. In February I am going to start my first Stitches Sew Beautiful pattern.  The one I want to do is Gloria and the Gargoyle by Alisa Smith Williams.

I just love this picture. It just makes me feel happy when I look at it. 

I will be entering the Stitches Sew Beautiful Sal. The conditions are to stitch either  250 full cross or 500 tent each week for a month and get a reward chart at the end. I will be doing my usual 25 count 2x1 tent. 

I also finished a knitted garment, the zipper vest by petite knit.  

This pattern calls for a bulky weight yarn. I used Southlander from Skeinz in the colour oatmeal.

That's all for now.  I will update again at the end of February. 

2020 dressmaking and cross stitching accomplishments

 Reigniting my passion for knitting has really put a dent in my dressmaking and cross stitching.

Last year I made 35 garments and 1 lingerie item for a total spend of $890 on fabric, average cost $25 per garment.

This year I made just 9 garments for a spend of $202.5 for a cost of $22.50 per garment.  

These are the items I made

From top left to bottom right

Lyric skirt, adapted from Lyric dress by Love Notions

Cadence dress by Love Notions

Pia dress by Tessuti

LDT by Love Notions

Sonya dress by Colette - failure!!

Vivace top by Itch to Stitch

Cayman pants by Love Notions

Archer Shirt by Grainline

Cape Cod Capelet by Itch to stitch.

I don't have any plans for 2021 for dressmaking.

My cross stitching has also slowed down, especially since October.  I've constantly changed my plans and discarded projects started.

I did finish one, Witching Hour by HAED

I've currently decided to stitch on one at a time.  I am close to a finish on one and have made good progress on another.  So first I will aim to finish Healing Rose

Once that is done I will work on Naida.  She is currently on the q snaps but this is a screenshot from Pattern Keeper showing progress

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End of another lockdown, another cast on, cross stitch update and a sewing finish

 On Monday 31 August Auckland came out of another lockdown.  This lockdown was level 3, so not quite as severe.  It is now mandatory to wear face masks on public transport and recommended to be worn in other public places.  I haven't been back to the gym yet as there have been a number of cases in a suburb close to my gym, so not feeling too comfortable going there.  However I did buy myself a spin bike, so I can happily watch some of the classes online and get my exercise in.

In July I sewed another pair of Love Notions Summer Caye pants.  This time I narrowed the legs a bit as I didn't want them as wide.  They are made out of drill from Spotlight.

I couldn't resist another cast on.  Skeinz had some Melilla from Cascade yarns come in that has an ombre effect,  It is a thick yarn so thought I could quickly knit a poncho and still get some wear out of it before it becomes too warm.  I am making the Minjia poncho, this is what it will look like

  

It is a versatile pattern as can be made in various yarns, has options for collar, cowl or turtleneck and can be knitted to whatever length you want.  Here is my progress so far.

I've just done a little bit more on the first of my socks.

Cross stitch progress round up.  First is Ornament Healing Rose

I'm just over half way on this.

The next 2 are screenshots taken from Pattern Keeper as they are both partially hidden on the QSnaps.  All the blank space is what still needs to be stitched.

First is Naida, top of her head is appearing.

Next is Cosmos, the tigers ear is appearing.

That's it for now.

Sewing, Knitting and stitching update

I realise I haven't stated anything about the Covid 19 pandemic in my last post.  NZ is now at level 1, meaning there is no community transmission.  Apart from our borders being closed, returning Kiwis required to isolate in hotels that are overseen by the military, life is back to normal.  This happened a few weeks ago.  It has made me so much more appreciative of things we used to take for granted.

We are still seeing cases, but only in those that are returning and are in isolation. Given the pandemic is escalating world wide that is to be expected.

Very little in the way of sewing to report for this month.  Just a few small items.


I made a couple of bags.  The first was a drawstring bag for knitting projects.

The top part is quilting cotton. The bottom is corduroy.  It has ribbons for the drawstrings and also a handle in the corduroy fabric.

There are corduroy pockets on the outside which are embroidered using stitches on my sewing machine.  There are also a couple of pockets inside.

I made a cable holder to go inside the bag for spare cables that I'll need for the project.  There are a couple of snaps that hold it closed.

In the same fabric I made a case to hold my 9" circular needles for sock knitting.

A friend is now working mainly from home.  She uses a plug in keyboard with her laptop and told me she had looked for a bag to carry it in but couldn't find one.  I offered to make her one.

I loved how this turned out.  The bees are super cute and I found fabric to match.  The outside is cotton drill fabric and it has a zipped top and carry handles. I stitched these inside the 2 different fabrics and then sewed them partly up the plain fabric so they don't flop around.

I found some cotton on special that went perfectly to line the bag with.  My friend was very happy with this bag.

I have another kntting finish.  My second Reyna shawl.

I did a few extra rows than the first one.  I had intended to make it a lot bigger, however I really want to start my next project and told myself I couldn't start until I'd finished Reyna.  So Reyna got finished  a bit earlier and a bit smaller.

My next project is this Potowatomi poncho.

Other knitting that is on the go is the Flax Light jumper.

I am down to where I need to put the sleeves onto waste yarn, then knit the body.  I've read a tip that its a good idea to start the body, then do the sleeves.  Apparently it is easier to knit the sleeves without having to twist the body out of the way, but also once the sleeves are done you know how much yarn is left so can lengthen or shorten the body as desired/needed.

The other project on my needles is a sock pattern in this self striping yarn.

I'm making up my own pattern after reading a lot and watching a lot of sock videos.  The plain vanilla sock seems to be pretty standard.  So I'm casting on 64 stitches on 2.25mm needles.  Knitting 2 rows of K2,_P2 rib, knit 60 to heel, then probably 60 to toe.  I will then put in an afterthought heel.

I have already made one sock, but this was on 2.75mm needles and I was very disappointed that the multicoloured yarn just gave me a brown sock, very little of the pink appeared.  On 2.75mm it was too big. 

A bit of experimentation may be needed to find my perfect sock recipe.

I also bought a little bit more haul for knitting.

 A few more yarns for another pair of socks.  I bought the green to do contrasting toes and heels.

Onto cross stitching.  I've worked on my 3 HAED designs this month.

Naida

Healing Rose Ornament

Cosmos

that seems to have been a long post.

Cross stitch Finish: Sans Souci

I have a finish.  Sans Souci by Long Dog Samplers

The details:

Design 162x266 and according to PatternKeeper is 24252 stitches.

Time to stitch:  124 hours, total number of days worked on: 43 days

Started 31 Oct 19. finished 29 May 20

Stitched on 32 ct Weeks DyeWorks purchased from The Embroiderer and with Silks4U  PR147.

While shops are now open, I will probably wait a few more weeks until we are down to level 1 before I get this framed.  The framer I go to has quite a small shop area, so not sure they will be able to do physical distancing.

Pandemic level 2, a knitted hat, sewn capelet and a shirt and haul

We've now been on level 2 for 2 weeks.  Restrictions have eased further, with gyms reopening, shops open again but practicing physical distancing.  Our confirmed and probable cases have only risen slightly since my last post and are now 1503, deaths have risen by 1 to 21.  Over the last 2 weeks we have only recorded another 2 or 3 confirmed cases.   We find out on 22 June if we can move to level 1.

I went out on the weekend for a friends 60th birthday and inadvertently attended a wedding.  A wedding was being held at the restaurant.  It was a lovely and simple wedding.  It was a Maori wedding and a lot of traditional aspects were followed which was lovely.

I'm now back at the gym, but needing to get back into it gradually as my fitness has really dropped off over the last few weeks.

On to what I've been making.

I made the Itch to Stitch Cape Cod capelet.

It was an easy sew.  It took me around  1 1/2 hours, done entirely on the overlocker and coverstitch. However I think I picked the wrong fabric for it.  The fabric works but it is a very lightweight wool, only suitable for wearing in summer and not sure I'd want to wear a capelet in summer.  A heavier fabric would have been more suitable for a winter and autumn/spring capelet.

I also made the Grainline Archer shirt

This is a very popular pattern amongst sewists.  So when Grainline had a sale I bought the pattern.  I can see why it is so popular.  It comes together beautifully, instructions are easy to follow.  It is a classic shirt, with yoke, and back pleat, stand up collar and plackets and cuffs at sleeves.  I made this in a stretch poplin that I've had in my stash.  This took me around 8 hours which I think is pretty good for a shirt.  The only alteration I made was to leave off the pockets on the front.  I think next time I should shorten the sleeves by 1 inch as they are a bit too long, very unusual problem for me!

I also had another knitting finish.  The antler toque pattern by Tincan knits, a free pattern on Ravelry.

To be honest, I have never worn a hat in Auckland in the 39 years I've lived here.  It just isn't cold enough in winter.  But I might be encouraged to wear a me-made hat.  I enjoyed knitting this and it only took about 6 days to knit, doing other things as well as the hat.  I even bought a fur pom pom to finish it off.

Cross stitch is still progressing and I finished a rotation on His Eye is on the Sparrow.

As soon as we went into level 2 and were able to go into shops I had to visit Ribbon Rose.  It was the busiest I've ever seen it.  I made a good haul

Lots of yarn, new circular needles, interchangeable needles and stitch markers.

4 ply Ashford MacKenzie 100% Merino, colour Sangria, to knit Flax Lite by Tincan knits.  free pattern on Ravelry

Opal Butterfly sock yarn, self patterning. 75%wool, 25% nylon. For Vanilla Latte socks, free pattern on Ravelry

Rowan 100%wool, colour Gold. Used for the Antler Toque hat

 Zauberball colour Tonspur, for Vanilla Latte socks.