Hello Blogging Friends. I am still trying to get caught up on my blogging; posting as well as reading your blogs. I have a cross stitch project that I finished over the summer but couldn’t post, as it was a wedding gift.
It is called My Love by Madame Chantilly. I stitched it on 16ct Aida Jamie’s Kilt from Fabrics by Stephanie. I stitched it as charted, except for adding beads in some of the flowers and in the heart. I also added the names and date. The frames was supposed to be a white washed frame, but it came back looking like cream. This was a gift for my son and his now wife. They were married last month.
It was a nice outside wedding and I think they are happy with how it all turned out after a year of planning.
My Seagrass Shawl that I was blocking during my last post, turned out lovely.
I wasn’t quite sure how to show it. I hope you can see all of its awesomeness! It blocked really well and I am so pleased with it. It is the Seagrass shawl from Woolenberry. The yarns are listed on my previous post if you are interested. I can’t wait to stitch up another shawl from Woolenberry.
Before vacation, I picked up this crochet project:
When I picked it up, it was only about half the size that it is now. And while I do enjoy crocheting, my crochet skills are still not very good. I can just about figure out how to do all the different stitches,. But when it comes to my ends and beginnings, I really need more lessons. So my sides are going in and out and it is not from crocheting too loose or too tight. It is because I don’t have the correct number of stitches. So, on Wednesday I will be going to my local yarn shop to see the crochet expert and hope that she can set me straight. I would like to finish this blanket without the frustrations. I don’t know that I will rip any of this out. Maybe continue on the right track and hope that the border will hide my imperfections. I will have to wait to see what the expert suggests.
This last weekend, hubby and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. We drove up north and stayed in a hotel on the beach. It was cold, windy and rainy the first day that we arrived. But we went out and walked around town and to the beach anyway. We saw the Mackinac Bridge and had to go back later when it was dark so we could see it all lit up. Beautiful. But I am still not ready to cross it. The next morning, we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise on the lake. I am so glad we were able to catch it as it was cloudy the next day. I already want to go back to my hotel room on the beach.
Next year we will go back in the summer and I will see if I can get my courage up to take the ferry over to the island. But we had a fun weekend of sightseeing. I even started a new travel shawl.
I am knitting the Funny Rainbow shawl again, but with a different yarn. I am using Knit One Crochet Too’s Kettle Tweed in Winter Blossom. I couldn’t find a project in my stash that didn’t have an intricate pattern. So I opted to do the Funny Rainbow pattern again because it is pretty much all garter stitch with adding stitches to one side. So we will see how it comes out. While looking for this project, I found out that I have so many yarn projects waiting to be done. So many beautiful yarns and projects I had forgotten about, too. I am sure it is over 30!! I have written them all down and organized them in the little cubbies on my shelf and have put myself on the no more buying yarn list until I get quite a few of the projects done. I should probably do that for cross stitch, too, as I have way more cross stitch kits than yarn kits, but let’s not go too far, ok?
So how much yarn do you have in your stash?
My Time Stitching 
Love all of your knitting projects! And the cross-stitch gift was just lovely!
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Thank you, Johanna ❤
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that’s a lovely wedding photo, and a gorgeous wedding gift you stitched there!
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Thank you, Claire93. When I first saw the pattern, it reminded me of the kids’ save the day notice. The jars of flowers, so I knew I had to turn it into a wedding piece. The fabric was in my stash and was perfect. The photo was from their “first look” photos. It was the first time he saw her in her wedding dress. It was sweet.
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that’s a gorgeous photo. IT looks like it was a very personalised wedding.
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Thank you, Paula. The photographer did a photo shoot just before the wedding called “first look photos”. I had never heard of it before. They took my son out to a spot and made him keep his back turned. She walked down to the spot and walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see her for the first time in her wedding dress. It was really cute and the photographer let me take some photos, too and I was able to capture this sweet moment.
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Congrats to your son and his wife, they looked super nice. 🙂 Great gift idea too.
Your shawl is stunning, and I love the second one too. They are just so nice to wear when its a bit chilly.
And your blanket is pretty, keep going. I am pretty sure the border will straighten it all out. 🙂
Congrats to you and your hubby too, and for going to such a stunning place. It is beautiful. Worth a visit anytime.
lol. I have stopped keeping up with my stash. I think it grows by itself. Whenever I want to make something, I go into my spare/craft room and just happily go through all the drawers and unpack and repack them, discovering the yarns all over again. I normally find something I want to use. 🙂
Have a wonderful time, keep warm and take care.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you, Joey :). I am planning on continuing on with the blanket. For now I am waiting until Wednesday to see the crochet expert. Hopefully she can pinpoint what I keep doing wrong and I can correct it from here on out. I would like to finish it before the end of the year. I did have a lot of fun going through my yarn projects and rearranging them. Some I had even forgotten about and was getting excited about doing them. And that doesn’t count all of the yarn I have in bins out in the garage! Hubby is right….I have way too much stash! Now to have fun with them and start bringing them to life.
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All the best today meeting with the crochet expert. 🙂 That sounds like fun.
I am sure it will be finished soon, you are going at the very good rate.
It sounds like you have a lot of yarn, have fun with them and all the projects too. 🙂 It is nice to have them around when the days gets cooler.
Enjoy your day and take care. 🙂 xx
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Congrats to your son!!
Love that shawl, it turned out so pretty.
The Wedding stitchery is beautiful!
What pretty fabric.
I have about 1/2 closet full! 🙂
You know how it is, when you go back, it won’t be there!! 🙂
Marilyn
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Thank you ❤ I definitely know what you mean, Marilyn. There was one project that I knew that I recently packed when we cleaned up the spare bedroom. I couldn't find a box with it in it, so I had feared that I had given away a box of things that I had meant to keep. But then I found a bag full of projects and it was there., Whew! Your 1/2 closet full of fabric sounds wonderful 🙂
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Congratulations and celebrations all around on the wedding and the anniversary, Ginny! Your cross stitch gift is beautiful.
I love how your shawl turned out. (And that’s a lovely picture to show it off.) Looking forward to seeing how your current shawl project goes.
The stitches and colors in your crochet blanket are yummy, and I don’t think the variations in the edges take away from the look. I’m no cross stitch expert, but I too hope the border makes you happier.
Lastly – let’s just not talk about the yarn in our stashes, lol! 😉
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Thank you, thank you, Anita ❤ I thought about taking a picture of myself wearing the shawl, but it takes me longer to get it adjusted right (like forever) than to put it over a hanger. I am glad it showed well ;). As much as I want to work on the new shawl, I want to save it for a travel project as it is the one mindless knitting project I know I have. So it may be a while before I finish that one. Unless I get antsy to finish it 😉 I do enjoy crocheting all those wonderful stitches, but my sides are horrible. So hopefully tomorrow I can get it drilled into my head what I am doing wrong. My step mom taught me to crochet when I was 11 years old. But she didn't teach me how to read from a pattern. She taught me to crochet chevron afghans, so I made lots of those. She taught me the basic stitches, but I don't remember learning chaining and where to put my hook next depending on what stitch I was doing. So, fingers crossed I learn something tomorrow. About the yarn stash….I remember getting rid of a lot of yarn at a few garage sales years ago. But you know how it goes… buy a few skeins of yarn and they multiply! LOL
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It’s wonderful to learn new things and make them yours! Have a great time crocheting. 🙂
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Ginny, what a lovely gift and photo! I read about how they did it in the comments. Very sweet. Love the sneakers on your son, too. 😜Smart guy!
The finished shawl is just beautiful! And the next one will be as well. 👍
As for stash… sigh. It all fits in one closet, with my fabric and fiber stash as well, so it isn’t completely crazy… but it isn’t organized by project either…. you are way more organized than I am!
Congrats on the wedding anniversary! A beach is always a good place to spend a special day. Why do you need courage to take the ferry?
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I had no idea about my sons attire until the day of the wedding 😦 I guess the bride wore sparkly sneakers, too, but I didn’t see them.
I am looking forward to making more shawls with different patterns, I joined the Woolenberry shawl club (just this month) and looking forward to knitting all of her seasons shawls.
All of you stash in one closet… love it all in one place. I hope to get there one day. I am getting better about not spreading it throughout the house…I think… maybe not, LOL
I am deathly afraid of bridges and not a fan of boats either. I may have taken the ferry this time, but it was so cold and windy and the water was so choppy. I would have been a nervous wreck the whole way (all of about 15-20 minutes). It still would feel like forever to me. But I would love to see the island and the Grand Hotel. So fingers crossed I get there next summer 🙂
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My cousin and all her bridesmaids wore pretty keds to her wedding, also outside in April. It was muddy so that was smart
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Oops, hit send too soon! Can’t wait to see your other shawls come along!
As for bridges, I get that, don’t love them myself. But I am OK on boats. Been around them my whole life. Funny story, when Mom and I went to WI a year ago, we took the ferry across Lake Michigan. When we arrived, the first TSA type guy told us it would be pretty rough. Might want some dramamine. We said we were good. He said it sometimes is hard on folks when they get way out there. We said thanks, we were good. As he was checking the car, he spotted the Maine plates. “Oh, I guess you will be OK!” Next stop, ticket booth. Same story. Free dramamine, please take it. No thanks. “Is this your first time across?” “Yes” “ you know, when we get in the middle and you can’t see land, and it’s rough lots of people get sick.” By now we were really wondering what they were talking about, because it was flat calm. We thanked him, said we were OK with being out of sight of land. He saw our licenses. “Oh, Maine? You’ll be fine” so we get in line and darned if the next guy doesn’t start in all over again. So I stopped him and asked what they considered rough, and what was wrong with the boat? He cracked up when he saw the license plate. “You’ll be fine, it’s not rough, we just tell everyone that so they aren’t shocked at a wave”. Sure enough, there was a little chop in the middle, nothing that bothered us. Much better than driving through Chicago! I am sure that your ride to the island will be far easier and even more calm.
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Looks like a beautiful wedding 🙂 I love the cross stitch and your shawl is lovely too! I suspect the uneven edges on your crochet are caused by having lots of different stitches which don’t all end the same way. I did a blanket like this a while ago and finished the edges by crocheting some borders all around. If you click the “2015 finishes” tab at the top of my blog you’ll see how it looks. I think it turned out well.
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Your blanket is beautiful! I just love seeing all the different stitches. I think that is what drew me to the Spice of Life afghan and the Spicier Life blanket. It is a pain weaving all those ends though.
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Thanks. I did the weaving as I went along for the second half. It was much less painful that way.
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Well, how a lot has happened! Happy late congratulations to the wedding anniversary. I love what you stitched for your son’s wedding, it looks amazing. And all that crocheting…all of it looks so good, even if you need to redo some parts of it. I am trying to catch up on updating my blog to as well as reading blog posts. I got way behind.
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Thank you, Ivydade234. I replied to your comment and a few others yesterday on my phone, but I guess they did not post. Thank you for your comment. I went and visited the Crochet expert at my LYS yesterday and she has gotten me back on track going forward. Had to rip out the rows I put in at the shop once I returned home as I ended up with more stitches. Ugh. Ripped out and put in 15 rows last night and so far I still have the correct number of stitches. I will get through this blanket 😉
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Ya, sometimes the app on the phone is not always putting them up. Some far for me though that hasn’t happened in a while which is good. I’m so glad that the lady at the LYS was able to help you and that you are back on track now. Happy stitching and crocheting. 🙂
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What a lovely gift! Such a lovely piece for the happy couple. Your shawl looks lovely, good luck with your crochet lesson. I’ve never tried to crochet, but I think I would struggle if you are!
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Thank you, Catherine. The crochet lesson went well and after having to rip out more yesterday, I put 15 rows in and I still have the correct number of stitches and my sides are still straight 😉 You would be able to crochet, I am sure. I just have this issue with my ends and just can’t seem to get it through my head where the stitches are. But the crochet expert showed me how to put a stitch marker on the beginning stitch of each row and so far it has helped me stay straight. Yay!
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Salpal1, That is a funny story. You knew you would be fine. We went to Wisconsin last year, and I just couldn’t do the ferry. So we went the long way around Michigan and up Osh Kosh. The ferry ride was about 4 hours, correct?
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I love all your projects. And that crochet blanket looks so interesting and snugly!
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Thank you, JJ Crafts ❤ The blanket is warm on my lap while I am stitching. It will definitely be warm and snugly on a cold day 🙂
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is it the Spicier Life CAL? I have the exact same problem. I think the problem is with the pattern. Love the cross stitch and the shawl is beautiful!
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Yes, It is the Spicier Life CAL. I do know that some of the stitches pull or stretch out the blanket, but my problem is not consistently having the correct number of stitches. I never know where to put my hook at the beginning of the next row and have had many rows where the last stitch is left unworked. Hopefully I have it all figured out now. With my stitching marathon finishing 2 shawls and working on the blanket, I have tendonitis in my elbows. They are healing, but I want to give it a bit more time. Maybe this weekend I will pick up the blanket again and hopefully get it finished soon. Oh, the crochet expert I went and saw says she will help me fudge the border. Where the blanket dips in, I can do a 1/2 double crochet in place of a sc. So I will take it to her when I am finished the body and have her help me even it out. Good luck with your CAL.
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