Yarn Yarn and More Yarn

In order to help with my de-stashing I decided the other night to start a re-organsation of my stash. The first stage of which was to pull together all the knitting yarn and I was a little shocked at the size of the mountain (all the crates and bags pictured above are stuffed full of yarn, the lid on one crate only closes because the other crate is sitting on top of it). I have also put away all my other crafting projects with the exception of Awake the Dawning Day, Spring Bird & the UFO round robin pieces and I plan for the time being to concentrate on turning a few of the many skiens of wool that I have into something usefull. To this end I have started a baby blanket and some blanket squares. I have however decided to wait to count the skeins of wool until after I have finished a few since there are not enough hours in the day.

Flying By

For some reason this year is flying past, yesterday was the longest day of the year but it hardly feels like summer. Since my last post both my father and my friend are making good progress towards making full recoveries from their illnesses although the doctors are still puzzled over the reasons for my friends ill health. I have been busy both with work and my crafting (I have managed to finish the baby blanket pictured below) and have been away on holiday.

The first weekend in June was spent in a lovely cottage in Derbyshire in the company of several fellow stitchers. It was great to get away for a few days although spending a weekend in the company of other crafters has resulted in me gaining several charts to add to my collection thanks to the generosity of Sheila, Lindsay and Paula. As well as gaining stash the other problem with spending time with other crafters is that they bring along things to share and to show which results in the need to start new things. In this instance I have decided to finally give in to the desire to learn quilt making so on the way home I called into a quilting shop and have started my quilting stash with the purchase a three pieces of fabric and a book. Two kits to make chickens also decided that they needed to come home with me. Now all I need to do is find the time to learn how to make a quilt.

Lazy Sunday

I am having a very lazy day today, I am spending a lot of quality time with my sofa and doing nothing more energetic than a little bit of knitting and some stitching. The last couple of weeks have been a real rollercoaster ride and I need some down time. I finally got myself back to what passes for normal for me when one of my closest friends and neighbour became very ill - she still has not had a definate diagnosis but is scheduled for exploratory surgery this coming Tuesday. And then on Thursday my father was rushed to hospital in extreme pain, after a sleepless night for all the family he has been diagnosed with gall stones and an infection. Once the infection is under control he will need an operation but is feeling much better now he knows what is wrong.

All this has left me with little time for the internet but I have been crafting. Since I last posted I have completed several braclets (apologies for the poor photographs)

and have added a few personal touches to a plain plastic pot that I had lying around which I am now using to contain my finishing reward fund.

Yesterday I put in the last few stitches and added the buttons to Spring House by The The Trilogy but forgot to take a photograph before taking it to my framers. While at the framers which doubles as my LNS I purchased five charts by Heart In Hand Needleart, the border for their Monthly Markings series and the first four months. This is my first purchase since I started my finishing reward fund. I now just need to finish a few more things so that I have some money to spend on more stuff.