Ever make a life changing decision and then kind of regret it

Good morning,

So first off, in the fibre world, my sweater is in time out. I finished the arms, but I've decided that since I have plenty of extra yarn, I'm going to pull out half of the sleeves and increase the width a bit more. The arm holes are a bit smaller than I like so I was trying to make the sleeves to match, but I've decided that they need to be a bit wider to be comfortable.

In other news, I've started a life change (the one I reference in the title). I'm doing a 30 day challenge that is offered on bodyrock.tv. A very intense personal trainer work out series for 30 days. We'll see how well I did. Yesterday was day one and I'm about ready to keel over, but I have day 2 tonight.

I only regret it because of the pain I'm in, and that pain is really just because I've done NOTHING since I had surgery in June. Here's hoping this kicks my butt back into gear.

I'm also trying to pump more veggies in my diet and such.

We'll see how this goes.

How Fast Time Flies

Good morning!

Sorry I missed a week there, life got crazy, I was sick, I was visiting my dad who lives on the other side of the country, and yeah, Life got in the way of blogging.

In fact, I didn't get much done on anything crafty over the last week. I finished the sleeves on my big autumn sweater, but since I'm making up the pattern as I go along, I now need to rip back half of them and add a few more increases as they're way too narrow.

I got some of the backstitching started on my Cross stitched penguin, but I'm not very good at cross stitch so it's taking me a bit.

Other than that, It's just a matter of recuperating and such. I hope to actually have pictures for you tomorrow.

Till then.!

Pengie Penguin

Not much to talk about, except my little penguin who has all his cross stitch done.

All he needs now is his backstitching and his french knot eyes and he'll be done!

Gotta love giveaways

Just a quick post to say that you should check out Stitchwraith's blog where she's having a blogivversary blowout and you can win one of two prizes (depending on where you live).

Why I love to Teach

When it comes to fibre crafts, I'm a teacher. I love to show people how to start a project, watch as they learn the steps, and see the joy of whatever craft they're doing take hold.

I've got two students right now, one for cross stitch, who is also now asking me to remind her how to cast on so she can make a cowl, and one for knitting.

They are both hooked now, with the cross stitcher planning on making ornaments for Christmas, and picking up the needles again to knit, and the knitter bringing some friends, one of whom would like to learn, to our next knit night on Friday.

It's just such a warm and fuzzy feeling to see people learn something new and find a love in it.

I also love taking pictures of first projects in progress. Those hands are so unsure right now, but as they go on they will be filled with muscle memory and pretty soon will be flying through projects!

In other news, the penguin is becoming more apparent.

The Stitching goes on

Good morning,

Not much to write about today, I've finished the body on my bulky sweater, have the toe done on my socks, need to get started on the herringbone pattern for them, and got the hat done on my penguin.

And have pictures of none of it. The husband took my iPod last night and didn't put it back in my purse.

Luckily, I have a stash of cute cat pictures to draw from, so have a picture of Peari being queen of the castle.

The Rules of the Wall of Shame

As with this blog, I've come to the realization that in order for me to actually go through the wall of shame and complete it, I must give myself guidelines. Therefore, the rules.

1. I am not allowed to buy yarn for any new project until everything on the wall of shame is completed or frogged. The exception to this is yarn for socks for my Grandpa. I can buy yarn if it is to finish a wall of shame project, because otherwise it would be redundant.

2. I am only allowed to work on one WoS project during the week. I must choose the project, put it in my bag, and that is it! I am not allowed to hopscotch around the projects because then I'll fall back into my usual trap and nothing will get done. Once a WoS project is off the needles (doesn't need to be blocked), I can then go to the pile and grab another one.

3. In addition to the WoS project, I am allowed to have 2 other projects on the go, the first is a simple project that doesn't require a pattern, because sometimes my laptop's dead, or I just can't focus on a difficult pattern. Having a pair of vanilla, or close to vanilla, socks on the needles will allow me to continue to knit no matte the circumstances. I'm also allowed to work on a single cross stitch pattern. I'm not going to have a million UFO's for cross stitch (yet). So I have to keep it to small, fun designs.

4. On the weekends I'm allowed to pick up this monstrosity and add to its bulk.

Peari decided to help me show off it's size.

This is a sock yarn blanket based off of Shelly Kang's blankie. It's going to be big enough to fit on my queen sized bed. It's currently at the proper width, but needs a lot more squares to reach it's proper height. This will take me a while, but is rather too bulky to take with me everywhere. So I'm going to work on it on Fridays at knit club, and then possibly on the weekends at home, if I'm at home. I'll do Monday blankie updates I think.

This past weekend I only added about 3 small squares, but I was teaching someone to knit, and I was only home for a couple of hours in the morning on Saturday and Sunday each, so cut me a little slack.

The current WoS project is this difficult to see pile of ribbing.

This started life as a baby blanket for a boy. I originally thought that the yarn was gold with lovely maroons and burgundies, but when I brought it out into real light I realized it was rather more pink and violet than what I thought, so not so good for a young lad. However, I had been smart enough to make it fairly wide, and folding it in half allowed it to become a sweater for me! I'm almost done with the body, then it's just a matter of knitting up the sleeves, and once again I'm a bit worries about the amount of yarn I have.

Are you noticing a theme?

My cross stitch project is the penguin card from The World of Cross Stitch magazine.

I started with the white and sand colours. I learned a while ago (the hard way) that when doing small projects like this, it's often a good idea to start with the lightest colours, or your whites get all muddled by the other colours. Right now it's fairly boring, but with luck I can get some more colour into it so the next time I show you it will be pretty.

So that's that, hopefully I can continue the FO brigade of the WoS and soon have some pretty stash acquisitions to show you.