Tag: AJHC Wools yarn

Some Knitting Finishes
Knitted Shawl · Knitting · yarn

Some Knitting Finishes

My Time Stitching11 Comments

Hello Blogging Friends and Happy June! So sorry I have been absent for a couple of months. I have been doing a lot of stitching, but also a lot of thinking, reflecting and soul searching. I have come to the conclusion that you just can’t please some people, no matter what. I have accepted it and am now moving on.

So let’s talk about what I have finished. First up is the Liva Cardigan.

Liva Cardigan finished

I am pretty happy with the way this cardigan turned out. This photo is before blocking. The sleeves are a tiny bit short, but since they are knitted in garter stitch, I think I can stretch them a bit when blocking.

Beautiful Mitered squares

I do love how the back of this cardigan looks. The Mitered squares look so awesome. This was a new technique for me and I enjoyed knitting the squares. This sweater has been on the blocking boards since yesterday, so I am assuming it will be a few days before it dries.

The blocking

Hopefully I have stretched the sleeves enough and not too much. I can’t wait to wear this in the fall or on a cool night to the lake. The Liva pattern I used was in a book put out by Berroco and the yarn is Topaz by Berroco. The pattern is also available on Ravelry.

Next up is the Fairy Correspondence Shawl. This one turned out so pretty and I loved all the different stitches. So fun.

Fun stitches
Fairy Correspondence

This one turned out beautifully! The designer, SoftYarn Designs, never disappoints with her mystery knit a long’s. I used 3different yarns for this shawl. The 2 purple yarns are From Jilly & Kiddles in colors Tour de France and Bonjour. The pink is Ishtar from AJHC Wools.

Fairy Correspondence Shawl

The drape on this shawl is just gorgeous and I am so pleased with it.

Next up is a Baby Blanket for a special little someone arriving this summer.

Sweet baby blanket start

I have been wanting to use this yarn for quite some time. The very large skein is actually 4 different yarns tied together and they are so soft. The pattern is Making Waves Baby Blanket and was on the inside of one of the ball bands. I believe that it is also available on Bernat’s website.

Making Waves Baby Blanket

The pattern was easy to remember, so it made for easy knitting. Except that 3 of the 4 yarns are quite bulky and using a size 11 needle did cause my hands to cramp at times. But I pushed through, and knitted in short chunks at a time.

Beautiful waves
Making Waves Baby Blanket

This blanket is so soft and warm and cuddly. And it really is a quick knit.

Sweet, soft and cuddly

I am going to miss knitting on this beautiful blanket. It did keep me warm while knitting and it is so soft. It will keep a sweet little baby warm and snuggled in. The pattern called for 3 of the very large skeins, but I only used a small amount from the 3rd skein. So I will have to find something to use up the rest of the yarn.

So that is what I have finished stitching. In the month of May I also created or finished 32 scrapbook pages. Woo Hoo! Next time I will share what I have been cross stitching.

So that is what I have been up to the last couple of months. What have you been up to?

Juggling Four Projects
cross stitch · Fabric · Fairies · Floss · Fox and Rabbit · Hand Dyed Fabrics · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mirabilia · yarn

Juggling Four Projects

My Time Stitching11 Comments

It is April 9 and it does not feel like Spring yet. I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning 😦 I had planned on going to a Spring Fiber Fest today, but too many other things came up this morning and then it just seemed to be too late for the drive. Hopefully tomorrow I can get there. Even though I really do not need to add any more yarn to my stash. I did find out that there will be a booth carrying not only yarn, but cross stitch products too. Oh yeah, gotta go 😉

So as my title indicates, I have been juggling 4 projects lately. I have juggled 2 in the past, but not 4 that I can remember. Usually I knit in the morning and cross stitch at night. But I am all over the place with 4 projects. So, first up is the Liva Cardigan.

Liva Cardigan

Yep, this one is still on my needles. This is a pattern in one of the Berroco books and can be found on Ravelry. I am using the called for yarn, Topaz by Berroco. I have picked up stitches along the left and right front and for the collar. I have to knit 6″ on about 300 stitches. I think I have 4 1/2″ stitches in right now. So, it is going slow, but I am getting there. Once that is finished all I will have to do is to sew on pockets (of course pockets) and weave in ends. It has been a few days since I put any stitches in. The Fairy Correspondence Shawl is the reason why.

Section 2

This is section 2 and my least favorite of this one. The bobble row took me over 3 hours to get across :O Wow! They are not perfect either, but they are staying as is. There is a little v at the top of them that I don’t think is supposed to be there, but I’m ok with it. The Weeds and Thickets section before and after the bobbles were not fun either. None of these sections were hard, just very time consuming. I love the look of the Weeds and Thickets, but I am really hoping that there are no more of these or bobbles in this shawl. I am loving my color choices. That pop of pink is perfect with the purples. Purple yarns are Jilly & Kiddles Tour de France and Bonjour and the pink is Ishtar from AJHC Wools. Yesterday I finished section 3 and love it!

Section 3

This section was called Conifers and it was so rhythmic and relaxing to knit. I was even able to watch tv while knitting this lace pattern. Though I guess I did get a little too into the “Bridgerton’s” as I forgot a yarn over a couple of times and had to unknit several rows. But I didn’t mind as this pattern was wonderful to knit. Section 4 doesn’t come out for a few days, so hopefully I can get the Liva cardigan finished.

The other 2 projects that have captured my attention are cross stitch. You know I can’t not have a cross stitch project going on in my life 😉 So now I have 2 going, LOL First up is Blossom by Mirabilia.

Blossom

This one is a joy to stitch. The colors are so vivid. There are more than a few stitches in each color, so it isn’t like confetti stitching. I am stitching her on 16ct Busy Izzy from Fabrics by Stephanie. It is such a pretty fabric and I am loving watching Blossom come alive on it.

A special piece of fabric finally arrived for a project that I have been wanting to stitch since February. It is not the normal Aida that the dyer usually dyes so I wasn’t sure it was going to work. It is a rather flimsy Aida and the sizing looked to be off. One of the reasons that I use Aida is that I am a tight stitcher and having a flimsy fabric like Lugana or linen does not work for me. This Aida feels like a Lugana, so I am trying to be conscience of my stitches not being too tight.

Fox & Rabbit MSAL

Yes! I finally started the Fox and Rabbit 2022 Mystery SAL. The fabric is Winter Wishes by Fabrics by Stephanie. Like I said, this Aida is different and the Winter Wishes is a bit lighter than normal. But it is working. The floss I chose is DMC 115. I went with a color way out of my color comfort zone and I feel like I made the right choice. The way the colors change in this floss is awesome! I really like the continuous stitching with one floss. This is where I left this piece last night.

Fox & Rabbit 2022 MSAL

This project is quite large, using a 29″ x 29″ piece of fabric. I am not sure when I will be caught up with this one. The section that is stitched above is the February section. So I have all of the borders of the January section, the March and the April sections to do. I think after this section that I am stitching on now is finished, I will stitch the April section and hopefully have some time to do some catching up before the next section comes out May 1. This pattern is the 2022 Mystery Sampler and is a free design from Fox and Rabbit.

So that is what I have been up to. Juggling these 4 projects has been fun. I am enjoying each of them when I work on them. How many projects have you juggled all at once? I’d love to know.

And now I leave you with a most glorious sunset that I just saw out of my craft room window ❤

Ginny

Happy Blogaversary!
Knitted Shawl · Knitting · yarn

Happy Blogaversary!

My Time Stitching19 Comments

Hello blogging friends! Today my blog is 10 years old! Yep! 10 years ago today I started this little blog to document my cross stitch, knittng, crocheting and whatever else I have been up to. I have really enjoyed it and have met so many wonderful people from all over the world. Yesterday I spent a lot of time looking at my older blog posts and reading the most wonderful, loving, supportive, encouraging and sweet comments. I thank each and every one of you who has visited my blog. I also thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment. I read each and everyone and love hearing about what you have been up to, also. I look forward to many more years of blog posts and sharing my love of crafting with you ❤

So, what have I been up to? The past couple of months have been a rollercoaster of emotions and I have immersed myself into crafting and cleaning and more crafting. I won’t bore you with the details, but in the coming days I will share with you what I have been crafting. Today I will start with what I am knitting.

First up, the Liva cardigan. Yes, I am still working on it and I can happily say that I am into the final stretch with this garment!

DPN’s EEEk

This chaos is the reason I have been slowed down on this project. Double Pointed Needles! They are not my friends. This is sleeve one, and I did get through it. With many starts. FYI: When the pattern says to end the yarn after stitching up the side, but not to cut the yarn…cut the yarn. I tried several times to get the sleeve going on the DPN’s and every time I ended back at the beginning of the round, I had a long length of yarn between the stitches. Now I have knitted with DPN’s many times and I just couldn’t figure out what in the heck was going on. After about the 7th try, I cut the yarn and started with a new length and what a miracle! I had no problems. So I won’t be doing that again. But I made it through and then knitted the right side. And then it was time for sleeve 2.

sleeve number 2

Sleeve 2 went much easier and much quicker, but I am still not a fan of Double Pointed needles. I will be learning magic loop before I have to deal with them again.

Garter stitch

I have added the hem and am now knitting the collar and front bands. I have about 1 1/2″ done. About another 4 1/2″ of mindless, soothing knitting in between the sections of the Fairy Correspondence Mystery Knit Along from Softyarn Designs that I have started.

A Mystery Knitalong
Yummy Yarns

I have chosen these yarns for my mystery shawl. The purples are Bonjour and Tour de France from Jilly & Kiddles and the pink is Ishtar from AJHC Wools. I am loving these colors! The Knitalong started this past Monday, but you can still join if you want to get in on the fun. You can find it on Ravelry and if decide to knit this, don’t forget to join the group on Ravelry and get in on the chat. With this knitalong, we could sign up to write an actual letter to someone else that has signed up. Lena matched people up and our first correspondence is due in the mail today. Mine went out yesterday and I can’t wait to hear back from my “knitting pen pal”. So here is my start on the mystery shawl.

Fairy Correspondence shawl start

I am loving my color choices with this first section of the shawl. My little pink flowers look a little wonky, so I am calling them Fairy Dust. Maybe they will look better once it is washed and blocked. Section 2 comes out later today and I can’t wait to get back to knitting on this.

So that is what I have been knitting on. What are you working on today?

Where Did April Go?
cross stitch · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Pillows

Where Did April Go?

My Time Stitching29 Comments

Hello my blogging friends! April really got away from me.  I didn’t post anything!  And here it is almost mid May.  I don’t have much to show in the way of crafting.  April kept us busy with the basement issue.  I am happy to say that the construction part is done, aside from a couple of minor issues.  Painting is scheduled for near the end of the month and hopefully carpet will follow.  While the actual process wasn’t too bad (we’ll be cleaning concrete dust from everything for months to come) the work we had to do before was the worst.  Packing and moving everything out.  And we will have to unpack it all and move it back soon.  We thought about painting and recarpeting the whole house, but that is going to have to be another time.  We live in a quad level house and there isn’t much space for moving furniture out of rooms, so I am not ready to do all that again.

So, what have I been up to?  A lot of scrapbooking while the workers were here.  Evenings were spent knitting or cross stitching.  Last week I finished the “Waiting For Spring” shawl from Woolenberry, that I started in February. And today I took it off of the blocking mats.

Waiting for spring shawl start

Waiting for Spring progress

Waiting for Spring shawl off the needles

shawl blocking

Shawl on the blocking mats.  It is quite the process trying to get it all evened out and as close to dimensions as possible.

wating for spring shawl blocking

Love how the pattern looks all stretched out.

waiting for spring shawl 1

I think it came out so beautiful!  Love the way this yarn drapes and it is so soft.

waiting for spring shawl 2

So pretty!

Waiting for spring shawl 3

It will probably have to wait until Fall to be worn.  Or maybe some chilly evening.  I do love how it turned out.  Again, the pattern is Waiting for Spring by Woolenberry and is available on Ravelry in her 2019 Shawl Club.  Next week the Summer Shawl will come out, and I am thrilled to have the Spring one finished before the Summer one comes out.  The yarn I used is AJHC Wools Basic Sock in Silenus colorway.

I have also been working on the Sun Flower pillow.  It is slow going, with lots of confetti stitching, but I am determined to get it done this year 😉

Sunflower Pillow progress

So that is what I have been spending my time doing.  What are you up to these days?