Tag: Life in the Long Grass yarn

The Year Is Half Over!
cross stitch · Hand Dyed Fabrics · knitted scarves · Knitting · Mirabilia · yarn

The Year Is Half Over!

My Time Stitching11 Comments

Hello Blogging friends! It has been a minute since my last post. The last couple of months have not been the best. In fact, this year has been not so great. Let’s just say that I am hoping that the second half of 2024 is much, much better than the first half. I’m still having trouble balancing everything and trying to fit all I want into a day, and I don’t like that my Blog has suffered. So, I am making time today to get in a post. Enough of that, let’s get on to what I have been up to.

Since it has been a while since my last post and the post before that, it’s hard to remember everything I have been working on. So, let’s start with what I have been currently working on and a couple of finishes.

This is where I am with the 2024 Fox & Rabbit MSAL as of last night. I am working on the June section and should have it finished tonight and then I will have the July section to catch up on before the August section comes out August 1. The fabric is 18ct White that I picked up at Michaels.

Another project I am working on is The Deadly Aquarium from Lola Crow Cross Stitch.

The Frame portion of this SAL came out in April, and we were given 6 weeks to complete it before the first exhibit.

I loved stitching the frame. The Sea Gulls are so cute. The fabric is 16ct Beanstalk (the called for fabric) from Fabric On A Whim and is actually more blue than the photo is showing.

The first exhibit arrived in my email box on May 24 and then weekly. I was working on another project when the exhibits started.

This is exhibit 1 and part of exhibit 2. Just look at that scary eel peeking out of that treasure chest!

Here I am all caught up with exhibits up to 5. That Killer Coral on the left was very tedious but looks so cool.

Last Friday exhibit 6 came out and I finished it in a couple of days.

I am enjoying this SAL and can’t wait to see what will be added to the Aquarium tomorrow.

I also have had a few finishes. I will show my latest cross stitch finish.

I finished Blossom by Mirabilia. She is so beautiful! I love everything about this piece. The fabric is 16ct Aida Busy Izzy from Fabrics By Stephanie. I used all of the called for floss and beads. Frame was picked out by my husband. I tend to gravitate to silver or gold or white frames and didn’t even see this frame until he picked it out. I decided to go with his choice and I am very happy I did. It’s perfect. Another WIP off of my list 🙂

I also have a knitting finish.

My Lace & Fade Boxy pullover from Joji Locatelli is finished. I still need to block it, but it is finished, and all of the ends are woven in. I love how it turned out. I made it one size smaller so it wouldn’t be so boxy, and I added 4 stripes to the bottom to make it longer. The sleeves are a little snug, but I think I can stretch them a little when blocking. I can’t wait to wear it this fall/winter. The yarns used are from Adelaide Fiber Co., The Wicked Knittah, Fiberspates, and Life in The Long Grass (LITLG).

The only project left on my knitting needles is the Alexander Airplane Scarf.

This is my travel project, but since I haven’t been doing much traveling and it has been on the needles for a long time, I have decided that I want to finish it by the end of August. The yarn is Aerial Color from Berroco Yarns. It is a lace weight yarn and I love knitting with it. Fingers crossed I can get it finished this summer. There are so many knitting projects I want to start but I am holding out for now.

Well, that is just a little of what I have been up to since we last chatted. I will share more in my next post. What have you been up to lately? Tell me your favorite project you are working on in the comments. I would love to hear about it.

Happy Stitching!

ginny

Crafting the Days Away
Knitted Sweater · Knitting · Storage · yarn

Crafting the Days Away

My Time Stitching9 Comments

Happy May Day my blogging friends! Wow! 2 months have come and gone without a post from me. I don’t even know how that happened. I even missed my 12-year Bloggaversary! I have been crafting, organizing, purging, donating and watching lots of flosstube. I have stitched quite a bit the last couple of months too, and I am not even sure where to begin. So, let’s start with what I stitched on today. I knitted on my Lace & Fade Boxy Pullover by Joji Locatelli. This was a project I planned over a year ago. Remember this?

Well, I had made some changes in the yarns. Added some, took away some. Changed my mind several times. I finally landed on my colors and started this in February.

I just love all of these colors and think they play well together.

I was so excited to get this started. I had a bit of a setback in the beginning. This is my first top-down sweater, so it was different. But once I figured it out, it was easy going. The lace is easy but does need my undivided attention.

Oh so pretty! My first lace stripe is finished!

I had so many cables hanging that were holding stitches. I was so happy to get them all put onto one needle and start knitting in the round. You can see a sweater taking shape! And here is where I ended this morning.

I just added my 6th color. The pattern says to add the ribbing partway through the last color stripe that I added, but it is way too short for me. So, I added another lace stripe and the last color shown above. I will probably add another lace stripe after this and then add another stripe of this same color and then go into the ribbing. I will have to put the stitches on some stitch vines and try it on at some point. But I am really loving how this is looking. The colors are just beautiful. You can’t tell in the photo, but the shoulders and the lace mohair are a very light pink. So lovely. I am working on 420 stitches around, so not so quick. But I am enjoying it. My word for 2024 is Enjoy, and I have been enjoying all of the projects I have been working on.

I mentioned that I have been watching a lot of flosstube. Recently I have been watching just one channel. I stumbled upon a video mixed in with my flosstubes and have just been drawn to watching all of her older videos. The channel is Stitched By Mrs. D and her name is Paula. She is from the UK and I can just listen to her all day. She makes me laugh and her knitting and crocheting are beautiful. She sews adorable little bears and knits sweaters for them and sews their skirts. she also makes lovely project bags. I hope to purchase one of her bags someday. A lot of the knitting patterns she does, I have done, or I have them in my ravelry. Anyway, if you are into watching those kinds of videos on Youtube, give her a look. I love that she says everything is “Lovely”. On one of her videos, she showed a beautiful shawl called Dust of Snow by Helen Stewart. Ooooh so beautiful! I looked it up on Ravelry and it was already in my library. So, I decided I should start gathering some mini skeins to start that one in the near future.

This past Saturday was Local Yarn Store Day, and I visited a shop that is about 35 minutes from me, and this is what I brought home.

The skein at top left is just beautiful and I had to have it. It has sparkle in it, too and it will become a lovely shawl or cowl someday. It is a fingering yarn from Just Bee Fibers. The next 3 skeins are La Jolla from Baah yarns and they are the called for colors for the Local Yarn Store shawl pattern called Garter Me This. I love La Jolla yarn. So soft and squishy. And while at the store, they had minis! So, I picked up 12 of them for the Dust of Snow shawl. They are also from Just Bee Fibers. I will need 12 more for my shawl and can’t wait to go back and pick some more beauties. I will have to save up for that. The pattern calls for a mohair to be carried along with the fingering minis, but I don’t think I will be adding the mohair. I would need 4 full skeins of the mohair and that will be another chunk of change. I think the shawl will be lovely without the mohair. In fact, Paula, from Stitched by Mrs. D didn’t add the mohair to her shawl, and it is beautiful. Lastly, the 4 little balls of Happy yarn I picked up to add to my jar.

I always pick up a couple when I see them because they are just too cute! And I just love looking at them all together in my jar. Someday I will make something with them.

So, I think that is where I will leave it today. I have so much to share, so be sure to come back. What have you been stitching up over the last couple of months?

Happy Stitching,

ginny