Yay - I caught up to last year!!

Yippee I finished the stitching retreat sampler. I did it before the next one which is scheduled for March. I also finished another big section of my hardanger tea cups project. An update will be out on that soon. In the mean time, check it:

Oh And....

Apparently I have a new convert to the stitching revolution....

I converted her father too - if only for one project...well, two ;-).

Woof!

Yesterday I finished a gift for a close friend of mine. I was up against the deadline, not so much because the person for whom it was made had appeared, but because I was in the country where she lives and figured it would be easier to get it to her there than try to post it later. So here it is...

The idea to decorate a onesie was one of her friends. I think it's a great idea; however, a practical person and responsible mom-to-be pointed out that she feared getting decorated onesies with glitter and puffy-pens that would not be wearable. The stitched one met the cut ;-). I just hope its not too scratchy on the inside!

I did a little on last year's stitching retreat sampler today, but mostly I was knitting because I have a scarf that I feel should be finished before summer.... but we all know how that goes!!

Organizing and Finish I Can't Post (Yet)

I'm starting to get back into the stitching mood. Not that I don't want to finish knitting the scarf I started for myself, but hey - it's a hobby. I don't need to follow the rules!!

This week I stopped by the store on the way to work one morning and found closet organizer stuff on sale. I've been meaning to come up with a better way to store my fabric collection - voila!

The details? All counts of 26x36 are on the top, then 32ct 18x26, then 28ct 18x26, all counts of 18x18 are on the left of the next rung and misc sizes in the other cubby, then the left two on the bottom are 32ct and 28ct 13x18 and the right two are 32ct and 28ct 9x13. I'm thinking I need to get more just to fill in the spaces! Nothing like a good addiction :-).

I also completed my first cross stitching finish of the year. Sadly, since it's the nametag for the stitching retreat in March, I can't post a photo of it lest I give away my fantastic design! My next project won't be able to be posted right away either because it is a suprise gift for a friend. But I promise I'm going to get them up as soon as they are revealed. Hopefully I'll have lots of other stuff to post soon.

ADDED: Oh and I made big progress on the hardanger teacups project at the stitch in the other night. Maybe that will be the first finish I get to post.

And Here's the Finish...

Tada... here's the other scarf I finished :-).

It has little pockets at the ends for cold hands. I knitted it using the seed stitch - pretty easy and rhythmic to work up. I have a bunch of left over of this suede feeling fiber, so I'm planning to do a little stuffed toy with it. Hopefully soon. In the meantime I'm finally working on a scarf for me. I had a bit of a stressful moment today when I dropped an increase stich, but I bulled though. I'll see how bad the booboo is tomorrow.

New Year, Less Money...

Well, it's been a good new year so far. Not that I'm deep into it yet, but hey it's good to start out on a high note!

I went to Toronto to visit friends on the new year. While I was there we knitted a bunch. Unfortutanely, I forgot to get a photo of the scarf I finished. Hopefully I'll remember to get a pic of that before I give it to the intended scarfee. I did pick up some gorgeous yarns at a the local shop:

 The top one is a 100% merino wool, the pink one is a cotton cashmere, and the blues are a 100% wool. I'm planning to use the merino to make some socks. I'll have to practice with something else first though. I'm thinking a scarf and mitten set with the wool. I couldn't decide what to do with the cashmere, but one of the ladies at work today was chatting with me and we decided on an open weave shawl to wear with a little black dress :-).

Just before Christmas I signed up for the Stitching Retreat run by Jan at A Stitcher's Garden (my LNS). I'm really looking forward to the fun in March. Of course, now it's the dreaded name tag challenge that's hanging over my head! The theme for this year is Americana. I have some ideas for the piece, but have no idea when I'm going to work on it now that I'm running a triathlon training program at one of the local Ys and have weekends filled up with visits to Canada (maybe for more yarn?). I'm sure I'll be able to pull through!

I am going to the stitch-in at my LNS this week, so at least I'll be getting in a little time on a few of my open projects. Maybe I'll work on the teacup hardanger piece this time.