Knitting: Although I have vowed not to have more than one knitting project at a time, this is an exception. A few weeks ago I was in between (knitting) projects, and finally decided to start a stash-busting afghan. I'm not sure how successful the stash-busting will be, but it should use up some yarn. The afghan is 'Beside the Seaside' from Debbie Abrams 100 Afghan Squares to Knit. As you can see, I've made marvelous progress! (not)
The reason for starting a second knitting project is that the little boy I babysit will be moving to Italy, and I finally came up with a going away present for him! I'm knitting another backpack in John Deere Tractor colours, and the pocket will look (hopefully) like the John Deere logo. The colours aren't quite perfect, but when it comes to specific shades of yarn, you have to go for the closest shade available. I wandered the yarn isles looking for colour, instead of brand. Progress on this project is much more promising. However, when I bought the yarn, I forgot that I will need fabric to line it with, so now I have to go back to the fabric store.I seem to have a thing for afghans going. Besides the knitted one, I'm working on a crocheted afghan, have plans for another knitted one, and have started a cross stitch afghan. I finally finished the backstitching on the first (and only) motif. The motif is from Tiny Little Teapots, a booklet published by Cross My Heart, Inc. My plans for the afghan have gone through multiple changes; the current plan is to use all the motifs from the booklet, and fill in the empty spaces with quotes about tea.
Once again, I was quickly reminded of how much and why I despise stamped cross stitches. I figure it's old enough that the stamped colors won't wash out, so I have to make sure they are covered, and I want it to look like real cross stitch as much as possible, so I try to make adjoining stitches go through the same holes. Not fun.
My current embroidery project is a set of pillow cases. I am expecting them to take at least as long as the first set of pillowcases I embroidered. (Several years, in case you were wondering.) I can't seem to find a photo of them, but next time I feel like rummaging around in my hope chest I'll photograph them. Here's a picture of the current pillowcase. I've discovered that I don't enjoy satin stitch, and that's the stitch for most of the flowers.
Over the weekend I picked up a new hobby. What's that? Oh. Yes, I know I really don't need any more hobbies, but there was a sale...I got two patterns at 50% off! I'd seen Punch Needle Embroidery at the LNS, and was interested, but I never saw any patterns I liked. They were having a sidewalk sale, and I found two patterns I liked - a rose and a heart. I haven't made a lot of progress- it's a little harder than I thought. I also couldn't find any suggestions on a setting for the punch needle. I am using #3 for the border/outline and #4 for the fill-in colours. I think for the rose I will try settings #1 and #2. 
So with all these WIP's you can see why I didn't know what to work on. (I didn't even mention or photograph my quilling and sewing projects). I think my first priority will be finishing the backpack. I have no idea what I will work on after that.
~Sarah
