It's Done!

I finished my purple shawl this morning! I bought some yarn last night on my way home from church, and finished it earlier today, despite my aching fingers. My Mom really likes it, so I may end up making one for her. It was very easy, and once I switched over to the bamboo needles, it went even faster. Definitely use circulars for this project. I had to change needles partway through because I had too many stitches for my straight needles. If anyone's interested, the pattern is available here.

Weekly Goals

Last weeks goals and progress:

• Knitting~At least two more repeats on shawl, or better yet, finish it. It's a long story. I got the nine pattern repeats done, and didn't have enough stitches. I also wanted it longer, so I decided to do one more pattern repeat. Halfway through I ran out of yarn. I'm doing Mom's grocery shopping this week, so I'll stop at JoAnn's and see if I can find some more yarn.

• Sewing~Make another door slammer stopper thing. (And clean up the mess I made in the sewing room.) I cleaned up the mess in the sewing room. Kinda. It's in one spot and somewhat organized now.
  
• Tatting~Finish the medallion. I really need some 'Enforced Tatting Time' I did a little bit, but not much. I'm apprehensive as to whether or not it will work out this time.
  
• Misc.~Cross stitch or quilled coasters. It's not cross stitch or quilling, but still falls into the miscellaneous category. I pulled out a candlewicking project I've had for many years.

The picture on the left is how it will look when it's done. The picture on the right is my actual progress. I had some trouble photographing them, so I hope you can see at least one of the pictures clearly!










This week my goals are:

1. Find yarn and finish shawl. I know I promised a picture, but it's so close to being done I might as well wait until it's finished.
   
2. Finish the candlewicking. All that's left are the leaves, border, and French Knot branches.
   
3. Work on tatting. Maybe if I don't use the word 'finish' I'll accomplish something.
4. Get started on squares for Warm Up America. I want to try and use up the ball & possibly start the skein.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah

Don't Knit If You're Tired - Or Else...

Before I went to bed last night, I decided to finish the pattern repeat on my shawl. There were only 2 or 3 rows left... Halfway through row 11, I thought I was on row 10 and had started knitting instead of purling. So I tinked back almost to the beginning of the row and about 3 inches from the beginning realized that I really was on row 11. I started forward again. 4 stitches from the end of the row I remembered that I didn't make the YO's at the center. After tinking back to the center and putting in the YO's I finally made it to the end of the row. Even though there was only one row left in the repeat I thought I should quit while I was ahead. So I dumped everything in my knitting bag and went to bed.
This morning I finished the 12'th row and decided to start the next repeat. At the beginning of row 9 I noticed I was almost of of yarn. I thought to myself 'oh there'll be enough to finish the row.' That's where Murphy's Law comes into play. If you think there's enough yarn left for one more row, I can guarantee that you will run out of yarn. Sure enough, 6 stitches from the end of the row I ran out of yarn. I attached my new skein of yarn and made it to the end of the repeat, at which point I decided I'd had enough knitting for one day.

The bright side to all this is that there are only two more pattern repeats (16 rows total), a crocheted bind off and it will be done. The camera is currently unavailable, but I'll be sure to have a picture for my next goal list.

Happy Knitting~
Sarah

Weekly Goals

Last weeks goals & progress :

1. Join LovePurl ~~I sent the e-mail, and am waiting for a response.
   
2. Finish the tatted medallion ~~I finished another corner. I'm going to have to start taking it to Church - I always get there early, so it will be some Enforced Tatting Time.
3. Knit: shawl or Warm Up America Squares ~~I finished two more pattern repeats. That leaves 4 to go. However, I have too many stitches on my needles. I'm going to buy some circular needles tomorrow.
4. Mending - my mending pile is expanding rapidly, and taking up too much space. ~~3 items were mended.
5. Cross Stitch: Pick a project, any project! ~~I worked on Appomattox Courthouse. Here's a picture to prove it. (Compare to picture here)

Some other things I did this week:

• Made a second attempt at the door slammer stopper thing. (First attempt here.) Pictures coming soon. Can anyone come up with a better name??
  
• Continuing in the I'm-tired-of-it-sitting-around-so-I'm-gonna-finish-it mood, I pulled out this quilled coaster tonight. It didn't quite have space for the pearls, so I used some leftover half-pearls from this project. It sort of works, but not really. As you can see, I'm holding the bottom piece on with my basketry clamps. Any suggestions for how to make it stay stuck to the coaster??

Goals for the week of February 19:

• Knitting~At least two more repeats on shawl, or better yet, finish it.
  
• Sewing~Make another door slammer stopper thing. (And clean up the mess I made in the sewing room.)
• Tatting~Finish the medallion.
• Misc.~Cross stitch or quilled coasters.

Have a happy crafty week!
~Sarah

Creative Streak

For some reason my creative streak/talent decided to sneak out and get busy. Maybe it was just the"I'm-tired-of-this-sitting-around-so-I'm-'gonna-finish-it" mood.
The candle in the jar above had burned down. I put the candle in the freezer to remove the remaining wax and removed the design that appeared to have been shrink wrapped to the jar. After washing and drying the jar, I applied this rub-on transfer. It's not very straight, but I think it's pretty good for my first try.



Next I found this box that a friend gave me quite a while ago, stained it cherry and applied some more rub-on transfers. I think that was one of the easiest/simplest projects I've ever done. I can guarantee that it falls into the rare category of 'finished in 24 hours.'


After that, I found another box. This is supposed to be like an old-fashioned tea box, in which loose tea was stored. Only mine is much smaller. I covered it with scrap-booking paper and stickers. Today I finally got around to painting on mod podge to finish it. It just needs one more coat. I'm sure there was some logical reason why I put the border on the lid upside down, but it escapes me at the moment. Since I've been a day late with my other 'regularly scheduled posts' on my garden blog, my weekly goal list is going to be a day late too. Look for it tomorrow. :)
~Sarah

Do Crafters Have GADS?

Carol at May Dreams Gardens has had some interesting posts about GADS; Garden Attention Distraction Syndrome. I'm wondering if this is simply spilling over into the rest of my life, or if there's another syndrome that I don't know about. You see, last night I was getting my swimming bag packed for this afternoon. When I opened the drawer where I keep some of my toiletries I realized that I still didn't like the way I had it organized. So I re-organized the drawer. I thought to myself "wouldn't it be great if I had another basket like this for the loose stuff in this drawer?" Then I realized I do have another basket, and it's holding my calligraphy inks. If I can find it I could see if it would work out.
I look in my calligraphy box. Not there. I try my desk drawer where I keep everything else that doesn't fit in the calligraphy box. Not there either. Then I realize it's on top of the desk in the space below the drawers. So I decide that another basket will work out just fine, and I should buy one the next time I'm at W-M. As I put the ink back I looked at the bottle of cleaner, and remember a couple of nibs that needed cleaning. I found one and cleaned it, and as I was searching for the other, I discovered that my desk was falling apart. The nails that hold the drawers/cubbies in the top of the desk are pulling out. So I start thinking...."Dad has those big clamps, right? So if I get some wood glue and the clamps and some towels for padding it should work out..." As I head down to the basement I realize it's half past twelve, and immediately justify staying up late 'because it's Saturday tomorrow and I don't have to get up early.'
So I get down to the basement, find the clamps, discover that they weigh a ton, grab the glue and a couple towels from the rag box, and head back to my room. Once there I realize that there's not enough room to clamp the clamps to the desk. I take the clamps back downstairs. Then I had a brilliant idea. Wedge the phone books under the section while it dries. So I put glue in the spaces, wedge the phone books under, and realize that the one on the left needs more height. So I wedge a few notebooks under the phone book. Pretty good. Off to bed, right?
I looked at my bed, and realized that I had to do something with all the stuff I dumped there. I dumped it back on the desk and went to bed. It was only 1:30, and I didn't have to get up early.
All I really wanted to do was pack my swimming bag....
Here are some pictures of my desk - before and after dumping everything back onto it.










The Yellow Pages may never be the same...
And I really need to organize my desk...while I'm at it, I could use a chair for my desk....that way I could put my computer on the desk instead of sitting on my bed or the floor all the time...and if I could put the computer on the desk, the desk would be slightly more organized.
See? There I go again.

Weekly Goals

Here are last weeks goals and how I did:

• Get back to my tatting. I want to try and remake the failed medallion properly by the end of Craft Night on Thursday.
• Umm....I started it over, and made the same mistake...I've run a thread through the two picots that should be connected to hold them together while I tat the second round. If it comes out ok, I can keep the two together with a straight pin when I pin it on the styrofoam ball.
  

• Finish knitting Queen of Hearts Afghan square.
• Well, I finished it, but my gauge fluctuated drastically. Let's just call it a practice square and take the afghan off the wip list for now.

• Join LovePurl. LovePurl is a KAL for charity knitting.
• Haven't quite gotten there yet.
  

Goals for this week:

1. Join LovePurl
   
2. Finish the tatted medallion
3. Knit: shawl or Warm Up America Squares
4. Mending - my mending pile is expanding rapidly, and taking up too much space.
5. Cross Stitch: Pick a project, any project!
   

I Voted Today!

This is a craft blog, and I have no desire to start any political discussions, but today was 'Super Tuesday' and I wanted to encourage people to vote. If your state has not yet voted, please go to the polls and vote when it's your turn.
I especially want to encourage the young people - I've heard that a lot of you don't vote. Your vote is important. Every vote is important. I believe that one of the best ways to bring about change is to exercise my constitutional right to vote.
As I stated above, this is a craft blog, and I don't want to start any political arguments. I'm going to stop there so that I can avoid starting any arguments.

~Sarah

Weekly Goal List

Since I've been having trouble meeting my goals, I'm only setting three simple ones this week.

• Get back to my tatting. I want to try and remake the failed medallion properly by the end of Craft Night on Thursday.

• Finish knitting Queen of Hearts Afghan square.

• Join LovePurl. LovePurl is a KAL for charity knitting. I'm interested in:
  

1. Warm Up America: My local craft store has a box for finished squares, and I even found some yarn in the 'basement stash'.
   
2. Mother Bear Project: The bears are so cute and look like a lot of fun to knit up.
3. The Snuggles Project: I need to call or e-mail Lollypop farm and find out if they could use the blankets and if there are any special guidelines regarding yarn type.

I got 16 rows done on my shawl last week. For some reason it doesn't look like the finished picture, though. That always annoys me. I'm using the yarn called for, and checked my gauge before I started. Maybe it'll get better as I go along.









I also worked on my Appomattox Courthouse cross stitch. I got it at (guess where?) Appomattox Courthouse when my grandparents took me on a Civil War vacation a few years ago. It's going pretty quickly. I like that the kit came with DMC floss, so if I run out I can get more.
Mom and I stopped at JoAnn's on Thursday. I found some yarn for the scarf for my sister, a pretty box to hold my tatting supplies, teardrop Swarovskies for a beading project, and some tatting shuttles - I'm going to be teaching a friend to tat sometime soon.

Google Reader says I'm subscribed to 133 blogs, and I figured it was about time I updated my blogroll and share my favorites with you.
Happy Crafting and blog-reading~
Sarah