I have been stitching! Honest I have! And I come bearing proof. A couple of finished pieces, some wips and stash! As always - click, click, click to embiggen. :D

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Happy stitching in 2010 and thanks for looking!

I finished Olde Santa just under the wire. :)
( OOOOOOOHHHHHH! You better watch out, you better not cry... )

I also put my BoINK into the soak last night and ironed it out today for a fresh start on the new year (boink_sal members will see this twice -- check that community for a message about a reboot!).
( Fresh and clean and ready for 2010! )
Also please click through -- these previews look awful. I promise the full size pics are better! :)

Lastly -- I was bad bad bad and started a new project last night. It's another Mike Vickery design (same guy did the Glastonbury Cross project I've got started) and of course I adore the palette.
( Dragonflies! )

Xenobia Bailey

Seriously -- who else has heard of this woman? She's incredible. These hats look like some cross between crowns, the spires on the top of St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow, and something you'd find clinging to the side of a coral reef someplace. She's effing unbelievable.

YAHOO!!!  Finally, I can stop bugging you guys!  This fabric hunt comes with news that will make you all want to strangle me and news that will make you all melt.
( Click for the frustration first followed by the cute stuff :) )

I figured I'd tentatively post my goals for 2010. I didn't stitch as much this year as I wanted to mostly due to the knitting frenzy at the first of the year and at the end. But I do have goals I really really want to accomplish this year... And they are mostly finishes!

*Finish Hippie by Lynette Nicoletti (about 1/4 done now. It really is an easy chart but I get bored with the same colors so easily)

*Finish the Pretty in Pink Flamingo (which is 3/4 done and I can't find the last page anywhere!!! I was devastated and am thinking of emailing the company)

*Stay on top of the HAED SAL and finish it. Its really not that bad and the color changing keeps me happy.

*Finish Autumn Dragon by Patricia Allison (about 1/2 done at this point... but all the tiny leaves aggravate me so I stop often and work on something else)

*Finish Mermaids of the Deep Blue (maybe 1/3 done?)

Thats it for now. Happy New Year everyone!!!

(x-posted to my own journal)

I've come a long, long way since the first picture I posted way back in the summer of 2008!

( Progress of the 10 Doctors since summer 2008 )

I wish everyone here in this forum a very happy New Year 2010!

I just wanted to wish the community a wonderful 2010!

My stitchy goal for 2010 is to stitch!!!

I personally went through a long period of not stitching, and as such, any stitching is a fantastic achievement :)

Something I've learnt this year - Never feel inadequate in your stitching! If you're stitching, that's fantastic :) Everyone has different circumstances and some people can spend more time stitching, and some people have less time available to them, so if you happen to stitch less than someone else, that's ok!

I found this a very important lesson for myself this year. One of my friends pointed out that while I had made (what I thought was) a simple cross-stitch, I had still spent the time working on it, and it looked how I wanted it to - that's worthwhile :)

So, my wish for you all, is to find time and motivation to stitch!

Thankyou all for making this community a wonderful place, I'm so pleased to have you all here!

Starting cross stitch projects in April must be something I enjoy doing.  I seem to have done it more than once.

( The rest of the story... )

If anyone will have the answer to this one, it's you guys!

I'm looking for wasabi, preferably powdered. I'm not having very good luck with the last couple I've tried, they've been disappointingly bland. Is anyone able to find a brand of good wasabi (outside of restaurants) locally?

I finished crocheting my first pair of slippers last night. After weeks of crocheting for gifts, this is the first thing I've crocheted for myself since the first few experimental projects. So it's the first good thing I've made for myself. I finished them in two nights of crocheting casually.



More pictures and details at my journal...

A friend of mine's kiddo is turning 1 this week and I was going to crochet him this hat, but I'll need to make it a little bigger. I'm still basically a crochet novice so I have no idea how to make it a little bigger. Where it keeps going on "2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc into next 8 stitches", should I keep going with the 2 sc then 1 sc into 9, etc? Plus, if this works out then I can make it for mine when he hits a year ;)

It's my own invention, inspired by churros, aviator hats and other headgear that keep your ears warm.



I posted the pattern on my journal if you'd like to make one too.

I've had two requests for crocheted hats in the past week. So, I'm working on making a 'practice' one. I have't made any hats since last year (I made about thirty hats last winter!) with the exception of a slouchy hat this year. Hopefully this will be easy as it's a pattern I made up myself (when I was learning to crochet) and I never wrote it down (heck, I couldn't even read patterns at the time!). Wish me success!

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but I do have some cross stitch plans:

- I'm back working on Earth and Moon as both my husband and younger son have asked repeatedly when I'd get back to it. I plan to do at least one full page, and if I'm not fed up by then, keep going.

- Depending on on how my progress goes with Earth and Moon, I would like to finish Growth Rings this year.

- After those big projects, I'd like to get some of the small projects from the 2008 and 2009 CreativFestival done. No plans yet for what order I'll do them. (All are from classes by Teresa Wentzler, two of which were joint classes with Jennifer Aikman-Smith.)

I've just started crocheting, and I'm making myself a hat. The pattern says to go in rounds, but as mine has gotten larger and larger, it has folded and sort of crimped over itself, as I've done each round - it hasn't stayed flat. Is it because I've messed up somewhere, or is this normal?

Okay, so I'm trying to make this Day of the Dead skull pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/day-of-the-dead-crochet-skull

I haven't been crocheting for too long, & the eyes are giving me issues. If anyone has made this before, or can just look at the pattern & help me I would REALLY appreciate it!

So, it says to chain 13 & join with a slipstitch, which I'm fine with. But once I do that, 28sc will not fit over that ring without overlapping over previous scs. I've tried making my chains as loose as possible so the ring will be bigger, then making my sc as tight as possible, but it's just not working out for me. Am I doing something wrong? Reading the pattern wrong or something?

I did manage to finagle a magic-ring-esque 28sc ring, but then I ran into more problems trying to attach the two eyes- I didn't just sew one stitch like i think i should have, I kind of incorporated a few of the stitches together to hold it tighter... which I realized was a mistake when I got to the 3rd round.

I'm frogging the whole thing & starting over with new eyes, & I really don't want to mess it up again. If anyone can help I'd be so grateful! Thanks in advance!

Thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post. Tippy-loaf enjoyed all the attention!

Several new (and better) pics of Chuck in his sweaters:





Cats have their way with us all year long...why shouldn't we mess with them once in a while? :)

____________________

Edit 12/30: Thanks for all your kind words about my handsome boy! He feels even more special now!

I recently got a kitten, and besides him needing his regular shots, I'm pretty sure the poor thing has a urinary tract infection. However, I don't know of any vets in Hamilton. Close to downtown is preferable, but as long as it's in Hamilton I should be able to get there. Thank you so much for your help!!

I did try to get him finished before Christmas, but, yeah. :)

( About half loaded, and not on eggnog. )
Aren't those reds vivid? :)

ETA: As of 12/30/09 he's finished! Will post more pics soon!

Mother Moon is moving along.  I've been taking her to work and stitching during my breaks.

Here she is in December:

( Mother Moon pics... )

New hat design, a simple fairisle. (A christmas gift)
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After crocheting 4 scarves for friends this x-mas, I needed to make somthing adorable for myself (and a scarf for my sister-in-law)
I decided to make a pair of fingerless gloves for myself, and a 1 skein, easy scarf for my sis! 

Also, I borrowed the book 'Crochet Me' from the library, and am dying to make the thigh high socks!  Has anyone made these before?  What yarn brand did you use? 

( Pictures and descriptions )