Wednesday, December 28, 2005

A Busy Holiday

A few days off work with nothing to do but eat, sleep and relax with family and friends and not only I am I feeling fantastic but I have managed to finish several small projects. I had a wonderful Christmas at my sister's house being well looked after by my sister & her husband and being bossed around by my 2 year old niece.

The first projects that I managed to finish are a very fuzzy scarf and hat knitted in Cosmic yarn from a free pattern that came with the yarn. I am off to spend New Year with very good friends who are currently residing in Rega and I thought I needed something to keep me warm. It will be great to catch up with my friends - I just hope that I do not catch a cold while out there.

















The second is a lacy ribbed scarf knitted from a pattern booklet called Scarves of Hope available from FiddlestitcksKnitting.com with country silk yarn also purchased from Fiddlesticks. The yarn was a delight to knit with and I shall definitely be buying some more once I come off the stash wagon.


I also finished a bead bauble and a knitted baby jacket but both are gifts for friends so no photographs for the moment.

This all means that I have made a dent in my knitting stash and am well on the way to my aim of reducing my knitting stash pile to 5 projects. My stash count was at 16 projects but with these recent finishes I am now down to 12 projects. Only 6 more finishes before I can start planning for a new purchase.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful & healthy 2006.

I am off now to spend the Christmas period with my family and am in the middle of my usual pre-holiday packing dilemma - just how many stitching and knitting projects will be enough. I am so used to having my piles of stash around me that taking just one or two projects with me never seems possible. But on the other hand I am only going away for three days so surely 2 projects will be enough to see me through. I think I may just have to add a few extra projects into my bag.

Monday, December 19, 2005

A Festive Stitching Finish


Over the weekend I finished this piece of cross-stitching. The design is by Lizzie*Kate and was really fun to stitch. I now just have to add the buttons and decided what to do with it.

I now have a head start on reaching my 2006 goal of reducing my pile of stash to somewhere below 50 cross-stitching projects. I can not decide which project to stitch on next so instead I am working on a knitted scarf instead.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Stash Lists & 2006 Plan

Well I have finally got around to cataloging all my stash (well I think this is all of it but there may be some more hiding somewhere). I have only listed those projects that I have all of the supplies for. I will try and reduce these lists before worrying about the partially kitted projects.

Cross-stitching and other counted stitching projects

  1. Beth Russell - Orange Border (80% complete)
  2. DMC - Sweet Pea Fairy (5% complete)
  3. L&L - Angel of Spring (80% complete)
  4. TW - Above the Clouds (30% complete)
  5. TW - Noah's Ark (15% complete)
  6. TW - Peacock Tapestry (5% complete)
  7. Barbara Thompson Designs - Skyscape
  8. Barbara Thompson Desings - Around the World in Cross Stitch
  9. Bent Creek - Swirly Sampler
  10. Butternut Road - Earthdancer
  11. Coleshill Collection - Sunflower
  12. Derwentwater Designs - Rose Window
  13. Derwentwater Designs - Rose Bouquet
  14. Derwentwater Designs - Macintosh coaster 1a
  15. Derwentwater Designs - Macintosh coaster 1b
  16. Dimensions - Power of the Serengeti
  17. Dimensions - Toy Shelf Birth Record
  18. Dimples Designs - Wee Beasties Part 5
  19. Dimples Designs - Wee Beasties Part 6
  20. Dinky-Dyes Designs - Celtic Heart
  21. Dinky-Dyes Designs - Celtic Knot Diamond
  22. DMC - Laburnum Fairy
  23. Just Nan - Amethyst Snowflake
  24. Just Nan - Celeste
  25. Just Nan - Christmas Jewel
  26. Just Nan - Ice Blossom
  27. Just Nan - Grace
  28. Just Nan - Serena
  29. L&L - Angel of Autumn
  30. L&L - Angel of Christmas
  31. L&L - Angelica
  32. L&L - Heavenly Gifts
  33. L*K - Bless the Baby
  34. L*K - Wanted! Santa 02
  35. Lanarte - Orchid
  36. Maria Von Scharrenburg - Night
  37. M-Designs - A
  38. M-Designs - A + D + Heart
  39. M-Designs - E + J + Heart
  40. Mirabilia - Royal Holiday
  41. Mirabila - The Fairy Moon
  42. Moira Blackburn -Growing Like A Tree
  43. Sheperds Bush - Cherry Heart
  44. The Silver Lining - Royal Affair
  45. The Silver Lining - Joy
  46. The Silver Lining - Hope
  47. The Silver Lining - Honor
  48. The Silver Lining - Grace
  49. Thea Groverneur - Jays
  50. Thea Groverneur - Pheony Rose
  51. Thea Groverneur - Rhapsody in Blue
  52. Thea Groverneur - Rose
  53. TW - Celtic Cross
  54. TW - Futurecast
  55. TW - Knotwork Bookmark
  56. TW - Paisley Corner
  57. TW - Stretch
  58. TW - Tempest
  59. The Victoria Sampler - Beyond Cross Stitch Level Six No ?
  60. The Drawn Thread - Toccata Number One

Knitting and Crochet Projects

  1. Black Dune Scarf
  2. Blue Fuzzy Scarf
  3. Baby Jacket (Penny & John)
  4. Haze shawl
  5. Scarf of Hope 1
  6. Scarf of Hope 2
  7. Collinette Jumper
  8. Black & White Jumper
  9. Black sleeveless jumper
  10. Toddler Poncho
  11. Socks 1
  12. Socks 2
  13. Ripple Scarf
  14. Hat
  15. Lacy Lattice Stole
  16. 63 square afghan

Beading Projects

  1. Beaded Box (10% complete)
  2. Romanov Bauble
  3. Fandango Braclet
  4. Fuchsia Scissor Tassel
  5. Aurora Stars (x3)
  6. Toulouse Chocker Necklace
  7. Georgian Bauble
  8. Turkish Rope Tassel
  9. Persian Tassel
  10. Art Deco Bauble
  11. Starry Night Bauble
  12. Mayur Necklace

So there it is I have 60 stitching projects, 16 knitting & crochet projects and 12 beading projects. Far more than I can hope to finish in a reasonable timespan maybe more than I can finish in my lifetime. Unless I win the lottery and can retire very very early. So I have decided that I am going on to the stash Wagon at least for a while - no more significant expenditure on stash for me till I have made siginificant progress towards my ultimate goal of having a stash list consisting of no more than 5 projects in each category. Obviously this will take many many years to achieve so the goal for 2006 is to reduce each stash list by at least 5 projects. I have 3 planned cross stitching purchases already for next year so will have to finish at least 8 cross stitching projects.

Since the vast majority of my stash is stitching I aim to concentrate on reducing this list first. So the plan for 2006 is to work on one main large cross stitching project at a time completing each project before starting a new one. I will also work on a second project selected from any of my lists to provide me with a travel project or a quicker finish to prevent me from becoming bored. I will only be allowed to purchase a new project when I have finished at least 5 projects. I have not decided which projects I shall work on as I don't want to restrict myself I shall just pick up whatever I fancy working on next.

I would love to finish 2006 with less than 50 cross stitching projects but this may well be beyond me so I am not going to beat myself up if I do not achieve this after all these are supposed to be hobbies and hobbies are supposed to be fun. In order to get a head start I am trying to finish a few projects before the end of 2005. In fact I finished one last night, admittedly a very small finish but none the less a finish.

It is called Damask Rose and is designed by Sue Hawkins.