WIP #76

My WIPs have been getting a lot of attention this past week. I find it so hard to see the difference on a cross stitch project though so I am glad that there are before and after photos.

Before

After. I filled in some of the little stitches that were missing and started on the back stitching. It is going slowly, but I am starting to feel that excitement when a big project is nearing it's end. Hopefully lots of progress will be made this week!
This is part of a huge granny square blanket I started a few years ago and then banished it to the box. Do you see a pattern here?? This is what happened to the granny stripe blanket (which is finished except for a few little bits and will be revealed soon!).
I really love these color combinations. This yarn was also used in the granny stripe blanket, but I liked it so much I started this one as well with just these four colors.
This is where I am at now and it will become my new yarny WIP to work on. I'm not quite sure how big it is now, but it is not big enough. My very precise way of measuring these is as follows: crochet (or knit) until said blanket it long enough to reach from my neck to past my toes - then it's done!! How's that for precision :o)

It's time for Tuesday Tallies!

Boy, I am really getting excited about these tallies. I have been able to keep up (so far!) and it feels great!

First up, my hexi puffs - I really like these little guys - they are sooo cute and soft.

Here are all 21 of them together! Such hexi puff greatness :o)

The next 7 fish. I think I need to actually take all of them out and make a count. I only need 180 and I think I might be getting close.
More of the squares for the Gingerbread bear afghan. See those dual colored squares? They were quite the challenge to begin with. I now have enough to put together one little part of the blanket - we'll see if I can get that done this week.
I couldn't resist showing a picture of the 13 year old sewing on her very own sewing machine. We broke down and got her this for the holidays. She has been using mine and also doing quite a bit of hand sewing making clothes for her and her sister's dolls. I love her designs - I will try to get pictures of some of the things she has been coming up with. I can't wait to see what she does next!

Her first finished projects using her machine - little bags for her friends and teachers.

More Tuesday Tally goodness over here.

Fancy Nancy Blanket

When my third daughter who is now 10 was 3 years old, she loved the Fancy Nancy books. These books were so fun to read. Fancy Nancy is a child who uses "big" words in her everyday conversations where she could use smaller words. My daughter got such a kick out of this and we read these books EVERY.DAY.BEFORE.NAPTIME. Did I tell you we read them every day?? I can recite some of them by heart which is amusing to my husband when he would read them before bedtime and I would be in the kitchen reciting right along with him :o)

One of the little cousins was turning 3 and I saw this "no-sew" blanket on sale at JoAnn's. I just had to get it. I have made these before and they a super quick and cute.
I just had to take a picture of the cutting lines!! The ones I had purchased years ago did not have these lines, you had to measure them for yourself. I guess that wasn't easy enough! It did make the blanket go even faster.
Here it is all knotted up and ready to go. I wish there had been one of these when my daughter liked Fancy Nancy. It is fleece and oh so soft and warm. The recipient was thrilled!

We also got her started on her own Fancy Nancy collection :o)

Check out Tami's blog for more finished projects.

Work-In-Progress Wednesday

I am desperately wanting to start on the next Christmas stocking!! Filling in all these little bits and then knowing that the outlining is looming (I know, outlining is a favorite for some :o) is making it very hard to stay focused. But stay focused I did!

Before

After

And then...because I just couldn't stay all THAT focused.....

I pulled out my Granny Stripe Blanket that was started two years ago. It got banished to the box when newer, more shiny projects came my way, but I decided to bite the bullet and just finish it. I had seen so many beautiful granny stripe blankets out there lately that they inspired me to take out mine. Well, lo and behold, there was really not that much to do on it. One last stripe made it the right length and I have been sewing in ends a little at a time. Once the ends are sewn in I will only need to make a border. Whoopee!! It should be finished soon...unless I get distracted again :o)

All piled up in it's Granny Goodness!

16 year old daughter last night said, "WOW! How beautiful, when did you start this one?"

Tuesday Tallies

It is Tuesday once again, and I have faithfully made up my one a day project pieces. I am really loving this way of working (for a whole two weeks now!). When I am done with 7 of one project, I move on to the next and when I am done with all three of my projects, I am free to work on something else. I finished my required pieces two days ago and pulled out the granny stripe afghan from Attic24 and began working on that. Amazingly enough, there was not as much left to do as I thought - weave in the ends and put a border around it - really not that much! I'm not quite sure why it wound up banished to a box?? But without further ado, I present today's tallies:

7 more fish. I think I will start sewing these guys together soon - I have more than 100 of them so far.

7 more hexi puffs - 14 altogether

7 tiny granny squares - 14 altogether - my plan is to sew this together in panels so the next square up for next week will by a two color square. Half one color and half the other. I'm not quite sure how this will work out, but I will fiddle around with the instructions for a bit.

As always, take a look over at Carole's blog for more Tuesday tallies.

Flounce Scarves!

The story: Over the summer we took a 10 day camping trip. First stop was Yosemite for 4 nights, then onto MacGrath Beach near Santa Barbara and then to Ventura Beach near San Louis Obispo. We had such a great time - camping is so fun and it just makes you relax. No electronics available, no specific time to do anything, no places you have to be - AHHHH! Anyway, we chose the beach camping spots so that we could visit a couple of colleges so our oldest daughter would start getting a "feel" of things. UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly were our stops for this trip. Well....no trip is complete without a visit to the local yarn shop. In Santa Barbara, we went into a wonderful little store with a very nice and friendly owner. She had a flounce scarf started and told us how easy and quick these things knit up. The girls were enchanted and just HAD to have one each. I thought I also needed one and if they were quick and easy.....well, that was just up my alley :o)

The story explains why there are four scarves in the above picture. The first one was a real pain to knit. I did not find this yarn to be easy at first. I am not good with the "just stab anywhere in the ribbon thing", I am way too controlling for that! I felt the need to spread out the ribbon, make sure I measured to the same spot on my needle each time so the stitches would all be the same length, and stab just under the top border - kind of fiddly! That said, by the time I got to the second scarf, things were going much more smoothly and I was clicking along pretty well. Four scarves in approximately five days. Not complete knitting days, days where we were playing cards, riding to a hiking spot, waiting at the chem tutor, etc. Each scarf averaged around 2.5 to 3 hours to make.

They do make quite a statement. I love the colors and the ruffles.

Each one measures 3" X approx. 55"

My colorway.

Color: 17 Teal-Black

Dye Lot: 147

US #11 Needles

The 10 year old's colorway.

Color: 22 Red-Fushia

Dye Lot: 152

US #11 Needles

She LOVES it and it matches the lining in her jacket!

The 13 year old's colorway.

Color: 20 Blue

Dye Lot: 150

US #11 Needles

You can't tell because of the red eye, but this scarf brings out the blue in her eyes quite well.

The 16 year old's colorway.

Color: 16 Lime Green

Dye Lot: 146

US #11 Needles

She has been wearing hers nonstop since I finished!

Take a look at Tami's blog for other finishes by talented crafters.

The Grand WIP!!

This Christmas stocking seems to be my project that is lodged in the Twilight Zone. It seems that no matter how much I work on it, it defies being finished. This project has been in the works on and off for a couple of years now. It is intended for my oldest daughter who is now 16 and will be going away to college in about 18 months (EEEKK!! I'm not ready for that) My big goal for this year is to finish this thing and have it hung on the mantle this Christmas.

I have done "most" of it. The cross stitches are almost complete, but it is the backstitching that needs to be done. I can tell you, I am not looking forward to that!! Hours and hours of backstitching - WOOHOO - exciting, NOT! Anyway, I am going to try to diligently work on this every evening until it is complete :o)
Yesterday when I took this photo, I had planned on working in this section - the plan was to try to fill in all the empty spaces so that next week when I took another photo, the difference would be very evident. However, when I sat down last night, I started filling in stitches on the book that is just to the left of what this photo shows. That space was just calling to me! I am hoping to have a huge update on this project by next week :o) Wish me luck!

And....to see all the other wonderful things being worked on, visit Tami's blog.