Knitty the Impaler

Stormwind Map:

Poor Stormwind is languishing. I have made no progress. But I swore to myself that I would include it in every update and maybe having to post the same picture with no update with motivate me to do a little something on it.

I've changed my goals to: 1. Finishing the top row. Not to any specific deadline. Just finishing it. And 2. In 2017 I am looking to finish half of the second row. That's 3 pages.
So if you put it together the goals is 4 and a half pages. But splitting it into the two separate goals is sitting better with me so I'm running with that.

Wanderers Cove last time:

Wanderers Cove now:

This is very much my happy place in my stitching right now. I'm sure my love for Stormwind will return eventually, but for now I'm going to try not to feel guilty stitching where my bliss takes me. It's the name of the blog! Rather anathema to do otherwise. Stands to reason.

Since I mentioned goals I might as well toss out that in 2017 I want to complete 4 pages on Wanderers Cove.

I would have the first page finished but for the fact that I do not have DMC 895 in my stash and there seems to be some kind of block when I go to buy it. On two separate occasions I have accidentally purchased 890 and 986 in its stead. I tell you, the next time I am in a store that sells floss I will make sure to buy multiple... but I'll do it with my eyes shut or something because being deliberate about it certainly hasn't worked.

Beloved's cable throw is in repeat four now which makes it possibly about 36% of the way done! Hoowoo! I say possibly simply because I don't know how many repeats I'm going to do. I'm thinking 11 but that could easily change.

I have made progress on my Birthday Whirl socks, however they are in timeout for malicious behavior. Long story short, one of the needles went about an inch and a half into my left foot. I was cleaning and had everything piled into the center of the room only it turns out this project wasn't in the center... I grabbed a box from the top shelf in the closet and stepped backward and boom. But thank God, because it missed hitting bone. And I still had antibiotics in my system from the sinus infection I was just getting over so that made things far less worrisome.

The takeaway lesson is not that crafting is dangerous. It is that cleaning is fraught with peril. (Or, you know, refrain from piling crap on the floor. Especially pointy things.)

Here you can see both the bloodthirsty culprit (looking deceptively innocent) and the hickey that resulted from slapping the back of my hand to my mouth and gasping in shock.

2017: First Post in the Year of AWESOME

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

Yeah, so I may have lost Stormwind mojo. There is the very tiniest bit of progress shown in these photos but not very much. I don't even have any decent excuses.

This post is going to be full of pictures with really horrendous lighting. I apologize. I couldn't seem to snag any daylight ever because winter.

I ordered new fabric for Wanderers Cove. Heaven and Earth Designs came out with a much more vibrant, much more color true, much happier WC chart and so I have restarted the whole thing YET AGAIN, which is sort of a craziness I don't even want to dwell on. I wanted to make a completely fresh start of it this time so the new fabric was a necessity psychologically speaking. Not to mention that it's also a necessity physically speaking because having multiple starts on the same fabric means I doubt there's enough room for yet another... I haven't measured because of the psychologically speaking aspect. Anyway, because this project has been such a problematic one (there were issues with it I haven't mentioned from before I started blogging about it as well), I decided to splurge and treat myself to some Picture This Plus lugana for extra oomph. Because pretty! I picked it up from 123stitch when it was on sale a couple weeks ago.

I'm going to do the max color supersized version. At this point I don't care if it takes me five more years than the regular size or even if it winds up taking twenty-five years total, I'm doing it. I'm throwing number crunching and logic out the window.

I bought the chart for 25% off which isn't a shout from the rooftops kind of deal. But it's my birthday present to myself so the timing was kind of not negotiable.

Beloved's cable throw had been pushed to the side in favor of other projects for awhile now so I've been giving that some love. I even managed to come back to it and figure out what row I was on without any frustration or hair pulling or anything. Even still, I'm going to try to be a lot more diligent about writing these things down.

I, um, kind of accidentally started another pair of socks. I only really meant to cast on but then, you know, like five inches later...

It's a pattern called Lakeside by Julia Vaconsin. They'll be knee highs. The pattern is so enjoyable I want to make them in seventy billion colors. Or at least five. I forgot to take a picture, so I'll make sure I do that next time.

Crochet update!
Man, I haven't crocheted in a long time.

I made a unicorn hat for my unicorn niece for her birthday.

I had made one for her when she was born and she's two now so obviously that doesn't still fit. Unicorns are a theme with her, one that I started so I kind of feel the need to carry on with it since her parents have encouraged it with such gusto. Her mom especially expects me to be the unicorn enabler.

Rainbow mohawk. RAINBOW MOHAWK! Just sayin'. This was the original hat.

For Christmas I made her unicorn pillows for her Imaginarium corner. They're kind of awesome.

They did, however, make clear to me that a piping foot for my machine would be a really spectacular thing. I first used a zipper foot and then switched to my walking foot and it worked, but I feel I could have done a better job with the proper tool.

Not Too Shabby

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

I've gotten so much done! It's a pity that it won't be enough to get the top row finished by my birthday as I had wanted... Sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces. I'm trying to keep stitching as if I might though. If nothing else, I will reach the far corner by then and that's not nothing.

The brownish reddishorangeish blob down below the lake is part of the Dwarven District. And I'm just about to get into a little bit of the castle. Really, this whole thing will be a little more fun to talk about when I can call more things out. They may still just look like blobs, but they'll be specific blobs.

You know... I know that my time is my own and doing what I enjoy is my business, but sometimes I think my beloved will come back and see what I've been up to and wonder why in the world I spend my time on such ridiculous things. Other times I'm pretty certain it's just going to add to his thinking that I'm the most amazing person on the face of the earth. Largely this is because that's what he tells me now. One would think me continuing to be me will be all that's necessary to keep that train going. Love is indisputably silly.

The stockings are finished!! And they were finished in time for their deadline. Victory! I am so very happy with how they turned out. My first pair of socks! How fantastic is that?

I went my own way with the decreases along the back. It's not perfect, but it's certainly not bad either and I learned a lot while doing it.

They are so crazy soft I don't want to take them off. I do want them to remain looking as nice as possible though so I'm only wearing them with slippers to keep the soles from getting dirty. I think probably my next pair should be in a color. That might help.

They don't like to stay up even with the ribbon. I want to try to put some elastic in at the cuff, but that is something I'm fine with putting on the back burner for now.

I've also been doing stitchings of the sewing and embroidery variety. These bags are for the Mickey-obsessed lady who is on Jean's Christmas list and are in lieu of the cross stitch banner we had started. There are five bags in total with three different Mickey poster patterns. Two of the patterns are of Mickey cartoons and the other is Disney movie posters.

The embroidery patterns were all purchased on Etsy. I think they added a nice touch.

Carrying the Banner

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

I got the banner stitched! Wheee! And you can actually read it! Mostly I have decided that all of the text that will be on this thing isn't really going to be perfectly legible, but that's okay because anybody who is really going to appreciate it already knows what it says. They know it's Stormwind and they know which section is the Dwarven District and which is the Mage Quarters, etc. By convincing myself that the entire project is a stitching of a drawing of a map and more artistic than functional, so to speak, I was able to get my pedantry to sit down and shut up. But, all the same, I am quite pleased that this part is actually legible. Sure, the r and m are a touch muddled, but all in all I think it's pretty good.

Which is great because up close things looked a little dubious on that score.

I made excellent progress on stocking 1 this weekend too. The six row repeat in this simple lace pattern is really easy to memorize and knitting it is has been very enjoyable. My hands get tired long before I do.

Stormwind Week 23

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

I'm saving the banner for when I start my next audiobook, which my beloved has been excited for me to check out for awhile. It's theme is very fitting to the project and so it felt right to leave it listen to it while stitching the great big Stormwind banner. I've just got to finish up the one I'm currently listening to first.

I scrapped my pink pop test socks. They had served their purpose insofar as learning is concerned and I realized I didn't particularly care about having a pair of socks like that right now. Maybe some day. So I dove into ones that I do want now.

Currently they are only cuffs, but someday they will grow up to be thigh-high lace stockings.

October Dramedies

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

I think that maybe it's a possibility I am keeping on target? It could happen. The world is full of possibilities. I'm not sure which target that would be though. Month? Year long? I'm not crunching any numbers right now. I'm just stitching along and trying to remain as zen as possible whilst doing it. I mean, part of its purpose is to be a target for my pent up emotions that are the result of the brutal estrangement from my beloved because he's been banished to the other side of the country to toil at a lost cause! Exiled in misery! Languishing in the depths of despair!* It really doesn't serve as a cathartic aid or do me a whole lot of good to get all worked up and pressure myself about my progress.

* Really mostly spending all of his time working, playing WoW when he isn't, and, you know, pining for me. As miseries go it really isn't the worst ever. Hyperbole is fun though. And while this whole situation is infinitely more complicated than what I present here, I try not to be too much of a baby about it.

Beloved's Throw has come a long way but it hasn't been an especially smooth ride. I've made a lot of mis-crosses. This doesn't surprise me given the sheer number of them, but it can get a little frustrating. I am compelled to fix them. There's no way I can leave them once I've found them. Usually this happens only a few rows away so laddering down isn't too big of a deal. But then I found one back on row 10 of the very first repeat while I was on row 19 of the second repeat. That meant laddering down more than 50 rows! And we're not talking just doing it to a few stitches.

I dutifully set about fixing.

Crappy phone pic is crappy.

After 9 rows I realized I hadn't actually gone down far enough to fix the problem. How I managed that I have no idea. I ripped it all out again plus two more rows.

Fifteen rows later things were going wonderfully.

Five rows after that I saw I'd made another mistake back in that "wonderful" section. Boo hiss.

Rip back. Redo. Rip back. Redo.

The entire process was a two steps forward and one step back situation.

It was totally worth it in the end. I would not have been satisfied if I'd left it. And honestly, it felt like a lot but given that I was only on the second repeat and I'm betting I'm going to wind up doing ten or eleven, it could have been worse. I have to be better about looking my work over more often. I don't expect that I won't make more mistakes, but it would be a lot happier to catch and fix them sooner rather than later!

The Best Laid Plans...

So do you know what happens when you go hiking and the clouds open up and unleash a torrent of rain and you are chilled to the bone and you totally get the flu and wind up miserable and fighting to get through each day for two whole weeks? You don't quite make your goals, that's what.

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

Page four was supposed to be completed in September. I guess now October is half of page four and all of page five? I mean, October's got one whole extra day in it so obviously that should work.

I've got a couple roadtrips planned for October. I have tickets to the ballet. I've signed up for a Tai Chi class with my sister. I'm also doing graphic design for a friend's jewelry business and helping her with parties. Add in the requisite time for emotional distress flailing because of prolonged separation and I've totally got this in the bag! Awesome.

So yeah. Probably this isn't going to happen...

It still doesn't worry me about my end-of-year goals. I don't know if I'm being hopelessly naive or just confident. I guess we'll see.

Stormwind Week 17

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

I think it's safe to say that I have passed the halfway mark across the top row! Annnd I'm over 16% done with the whole project! Which... isn't exactly a milestone percentage but I'm pretending. Because two things to celebrate is even better than one.

My Excel formula is predicting April 30th 2017 for the first row finish. Such little faith it has! I'd been shooting to hit that by Christmas or my birthday (New Year's Day). I'm choosing to believe that it is still going to happen because despite my formula it's really not unreasonable. It would only require sticking to my one page a month goal. And the last page is only a partial.

Socktacular

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map at the end of August:

Wah wah wah. Fail.

I was not at all impressed with my progress, but at the same time I can't beat myself  up about it either. August was just very much an incredibly busy month and sometimes you've got to roll with it. I made some memories that I wouldn't trade for anything.

But I got a fair bit of progress done over Labor Day Weekend.

Stormwind Map now:

I swear it looks like Stormwind has a baseball diamond...

I'm happy to be on the fourth page even if it there's still some left to do on page three. Page four has the start of the banner that says Stormwind and for some reason getting that stitched feels like a big deal to me.  In addition to that, the first column in page four marks the halfway point across the row.

Wanderer's Cove last time:

Wanderer's Cove now:

This is the last update Wanderer's Cove is going to get for awhile, I think. I am, once again, disenchanted with the whole thing. It's the same ol' same ol' with me. While I adore working on it, I'm annoyed by the fact that the design doesn't match the original art for intensity and vibrancy. Baaah. Why do I do this to myself?

Moving on to happier things...

Finding knitting time in the last month was a lot easier than cross stitching time. Nature of the beast, I guess; there's less to organize.

Beloved's Cable Throw is coming along nicely! I'm so very pleased with it.

I started it originally just as the pattern was written but after doing the ribbing I decided to frog it and start over with an extra repeat. I'm glad I did! I think the size will be much cozier now, though honestly I sort of wish I'd added two.

The color has been hard to capture. I haven't quite managed a picture that truly shows it yet. I'll work on that.

I also have a new start. I never ever never thought I'd be able to knit socks. The whole concept of the toe and turning the heel sounded like it would forever be beyond me because what is this special sock language that I do not speak (!?), but then I stumbled across the Turkish cast-on on youtube and the FLK heel on Ravelry and suddenly SOCKS!!!

Basic socks hardly seem worth the effort though. I'm all about the knee and thigh highs myself and always have been. But what makes it even better is that I know my beloved is particularly fond of thigh highs and, well, that's fun, right?

This first pair is going to be plain, no lace or cables or anything, because I want to learn the techniques before I go too crazy. So lesson plans are 1. toe  2. fit  3. heel  4. leg shaping. I knitted and reknitted the toe of this pair at least seven times and the foot a couple as well, but it was totally worth it as now I know exactly how to create a lovely toe custom fitted for my feetsies.

It is a thing of beauty.

I'm using Universal Yarns Bamboo Pop in the Bright Spot colorway on size 1.5 needles.

Sock yarns made without out wool are stupidly hard to find, but I have some HiKoo by CoBaSi and and Loops & Threads Woolike and I've ordered some Unikatwolle 4-fadig by 100Farbspiele. Oh, and I want to get some Knit One, Crochet Two Pediwick as well. So it's all very exciting and also... unfortunately moderately expensive.

August Excuses

Stormwind Map last time:

Stormwind Map now:

This is the first time since I've started this blog that I didn't manage a post every week. Two weeks is still quite fine, I'm just a little sad I wasn't able to keep it up. I've been doing a lot of socializing and a lot of summer activities and something had to give.

My next update probably won't be for another two weeks again. I've got a lot of things planned but the big one and the one that will be robbing me of quite a bit of stitching time is that I'm heading out of state (500+ miles according to google maps) to go on vacation with my friend Kristina. We will be learning about communism (okay... 19th century Shakers) and hiking and doing much yoga and eating seed-to-table freshness*. I will feel so granola. I'll probably have to go see a really crude movie when I get home and eat some McDonald's to even it all out. :p

*This is really not so different from normal life. I cook a lot and much of my veg comes from the garden, but we're ignoring that fact for now.