Tag: Softyarn Designs

Happy 2026!
Country Cottage Needleworks · cross stitch · Fabric · Knitted Shawl · Knitting

Happy 2026!

My Time Stitching5 Comments

Happy New Year, my blogging friends! I am hoping that 2026 is much kinder and filled with love and peace for all. And with that, my word for 2026 is Peace. I struggled with finding the right word for this year. But when the word Peace finally came to me, I knew it was the right one. I want Peace of mind this year. I want peace for my heart, peace for my country and of course, peace for the world. Yes, Peace.

So what have I been up to the last few days? Well, I spent New Year’s Eve day tying up loose ends all over the house. Lots of boring, but necessary things and some fun things. First, I finally washed and blocked a shawl that I had finished knitting in November.

Mermaids Dance shawl is finally blocking!

The Mermaid Dance shawl was a Mystery Knit A Long from Softyarn Designs that started in October and ran until around mid-November. I loved the yarns that I chose, and I really enjoyed stitching this shawl. So many fun stitches in this one. I used Baah’s La Jolla in color Black Pearl, and the other yarn is Rosewood Yarn Shop Classic Sock in the color Cosmic Cloud Cover. I thought it was a great Mermaid color and would pair nicely with the black. I was not wrong. I love how they look together.

It has been sitting on my couch waiting to be washed and blocked since finishing it in November. Now it is all ready to be worn the next time I venture out.

I also spent some time knitting on a shawl that I started on the way home from a Fiber Expo in October. I saw a cute shawl at a booth that would be a great travel knitting project. So, I bought the yarn for it and had it wound at the show on the way out the door. I had my interchangeable needles set in the car so I was able to start it on the drive home.

Here is where I am on this one. The Knitterly Things Yarns are so soft and squishy. They just might be my new favorite ; I love knitting with them. The gray yarn is Vesper Semi Solid Sock Yarn in color Silver and the striping yarn is Vesper Sock Yarn in color Queen of Hearts.

I also spent some time going through my cross stitch fabrics and matching some with some of my projects for WIPGO.

I had fun going through fabrics and serging them and fully kitting up some of the projects. I’m still waiting on some hand dyed fabric for one of the projects that has 4 pieces. I am really looking forward to doing WIPGO this year and getting some Christmas projects started. For this first week of WIPGO, I am working on Big City Christmas, which has been my project since November 21, 2025. I am almost finished stitching on the Hotel.

The Hotel is the 5th section of this project. Just 2 more buildings after this one. I will definitely finish this project this year. I can’t wait to show you the amazing frame that I have for this one. These patterns are from Country Cottage Needleworks and I am stitching them on 16ct Aida Swamp Monster from Laura’s Fabrics.

So that is what I have been up to the last couple of days. I am looking forward to stitching all of the things in 2026! How about you? What are you stitching on?

I will leave you with another picture of this yummy little cake that hubby bought for us. It is my favorite; White Cake! From our favorite little bakery down the street. I think I will have another piece 😉 Happy New Year, my friends!

Happy Stitching,

ginny

Knitting, Cross Stitch and Vampire Diaries
Craft projects · cross stitch · Elegant Ladies · Knitted Shawl · Knitting · Mermaids · Mirabilia · Project Bags · storage bags · yarn

Knitting, Cross Stitch and Vampire Diaries

My Time Stitching12 Comments

Hi! How are you? Are you still hunkered down? Are you finding things to keep you busy? For me, the answer to both questions is Yes. I have submerged myself into crafting and watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix. I have been enjoying the series immensely and will be sad when I am finished. Which will be pretty soon, as I am on the last season. So I think I slowed down on the viewing, trying to drag it out as long as I possible can. So what have I been working on while I have been getting my Vampire fix?

Well, I finished stitching Lady Mirabilia. She turned out beautifully!

Just look at all of those sweet, sparkly beads!!
I love that the designer chose this design to commemorate her 25 years of designing Mirabilia designs.

I have pulled another WIP to work on, but haven’t stitched on it too much. I will post more about it in my next post.

I have done quite a bit of knitting. So much so, that my tennis elbow has flared up. So I have been wearing my brace and trying not to knit so much at one time. On July 28, I joined the Mermaids in the Waves shawl. It has mermaid in the title; I just had to 🙂

For this shawl, I decided on yarns from AJHC Wools. I chose colors Min and Blushing Bride (the variegated) both in Basic sock. I had it in my mind to do a Coral mermaid, and these colors are perfect.

I loved knitting this shawl so much. It took me 17 days, in between another knitting project. I will get to that one in a minute. It still needs blocking and I still have to figure out how to wear it, but I love it. I think I may need a shawl cuff. We’ll see. The pattern is by Softyarn Designs and is available on Ravelry.

So the other knitting project I started is the Sharon Show MKAL by Casapinka that started on August 7. I chose yarn from Miss Babs in some pretty pastel colors.

The yarn is Caroline, and I have mixed feelings about it so far. It has knitted up nicely, but so far 3 of the 4 balls have been a mess, coming out in hunks from the center. I have wound many, many cakes of yarn and this is the first time I have had this happen. That is why I am leaning towards it being the yarns fault 😉 This yarn creates some little fuzz balls that attach and tangle the yarn! How in the heck does that happen? And I have found some places where the double strand is broken 😦 So, I will see how this ends up. For now I will keep knitting.

Clue one complete.
Clue 2 complete

I am now working on clue 3 and I will try to get a better picture when I am finished. I am really enjoying the knitting on this one and so far, I have been able to watch the Vampires while knitting without any trouble.

Did you notice the knitting bag in my photo above? I had Clevergirl Designs make it to match my June project bag. It is so cute and was just perfect for the mermaid KAL. And here is my July Project Bag. My special order knitting bag arrived with it.

July Project bag and Mermaid knitting bag

Another mermaid project bag! Squee!! I forgot to get a picture of the back of it. But it has lots of cute mermaids on it. I will have to get a picture for next time. I received my August project bag on Friday. A sweet Summer theme!

August Project Bag

The back has the same fabric as the top. It is so cute and perfect for summer. I wonder what project I will put inside….

So this post has taken me many hours to do. WordPress has changed their format again, and I have no idea what I am doing. All these blocks keep popping up and boxes with a plus sign in them. I was just getting used to the old way. I really want the old way back. I do not like this block thing at all. But I got throughit with most of my now gray hair in tact. I had better hurry up and hit publish before I lose it all.

So that is what I have been up to. What have you been doing the last month and a half?