Snap

I have finished my first ever pair of socks. They are not perfect but I am pleased with them.

Knit with Regia yarn using the free basic sock pattern that came with the ball ofyarn.

Baby Photos

It is very hard to take photos of baby guinea pigs since they hardly ever stay still but yesterday I took the babies back to my mother and she helped by making them stay still so here are some photos of my tiny ex-house mates.

It was sad to let them go but at least they are only at my Mum's so I can go visit. I think she is going to keep one of them and give the other two to my sister.

Half A Happy Dance

I have a sock. Now in I just have to create a matching pair and avoid getting a pile of single socks. In just a week I have somehow managed to aquire a small mountain of sock wool, all of which I am itching to knit with.

I also have to report that my dinning room has now been turned into a maternity ward. I am currently looking after my mother's guinea pig who this afternoon produced an unknown number of babies. I have counted at least two babies but there may well be more. She is doing very well so far so I am leaving them alone as much as possible. I shall try and get photos later in the week once she has adjusted to motherhood, this is her first litter and she is currently looking a little bemused.

End of the 50 Project Challenge

I have made the decision to drop out of the 50 Project Challenge. I have come to realise, with the help of my doctor and several very good friends, that I put far too much pressure on myself by setting so many goals and targets that it would be impossible to achieve all of them. When I fail to meet goals, however unrealistic they are, I then get down in the dumps, annoyed and stressed out. None of which is good for the mind and soul. Especialy since my hobbies are often what keeps me sane. So I have decided, for the time being at least, to stop setting myself goals and targets. So the excel spreadsheet detailing what knitting, stitching and beading I need to do over the next 2 and a bit years (yes I am truly that anal and it was going to take at least that long to complete the challenge) has been deleted. I am still going to try and keep my stash purchase to a minimum as I would love to reduce my stash but I am not going to worry too much over it. Last night I put away all my ongoing projects (apart from my socks as I can not be parted from them) as having them lying around the living room was only serving to remind me how much work I have to do. I intend to then concentrate on making progress on the pre-stitching for the classes that I am doing in the autumn and to use my smaller stitching projects and my socks as light relief. But other than wanting to get the pre-stitching complete I have set no targets for myself relating to my hobbies.

My first sock is growing I have successfully completed the heel and am now onto the foot, hopefully I will complete it this weekend. The only problem I can see is that I run the risk of having dozens of single socks. I have been spending my lunch hours this week surfing the net for patterns and have amassed a rather sizable collection all of which I would love to knit.

Weekend Report

This past weekend I went away for a long weekend in Derbyshire with a collection (not sure what the collective noun for a group of stitchers should be) of UK stitchers. Four days of sunshine (for the most part) stitching, knitting, eating, drinking and laughing was the best medicine and I now know that I can once again cope with being in a large group of people without freaking out & having a panic attack. The place we stayed (Dove Farm) was ideal and even had its own herd of alpacas that included an adorable baby called Cocoa, before leaving we had to count the alpacas to check that none had been kidnapped. The cottages were also in easy reach of a lovely patchwork shop where I just had to visit and I gave in to the need to have some fabric.

While away I managed to make good progress on the pre-stitching for one of this years classes and also on the UFO round robin that I am currently participating in. I also gained a new obsession – sock knitting. I managed with a tonne of help from Maria, Karoline and Paula, to make a great start on my first ever sock.

Awhile back I had purchased several balls of sock yarn convinced that I would be able to teach myself how to knit socks but after several failed attempts put the yarn in the back of the wardrobe. Now all I want to do is knit socks. To ease the pain of having to return to work after a four-day weekend I spent my lunchtime searching the web for free sock patterns and sources of inspirations & supplies for sock knitting. I have to confess that, despite being on the stash wagon (for knitting, stitching and beading), I also acquired 3 balls of sock yarn over the weekend and gave into clicky finger syndrome at lunchtime today and purchased enough wool to make another 3 pairs of socks. I had always planned to allow myself a reward for reaching the halfway point on my 50 Projects Challenge so I shall just count the purchase of sock wool as my reward even though I am a few finishes away from the 25 mark. I can see that I am going to have to start a new stash list just for sock yarn as I can see that as soon as the challenge is over I shall be making several purchases.

A Happy Dance

I stayed up until a few minutes past midnight last night because I just had to put the last few stitches into Vicki by Bizzi Creations before going to sleep. This has been a really fun, and for me quick stitch. Yesterday afternoon I spent a very happy couple of hours going through my stash trying to decide what to stitch on next. Part of me (the good part) says to work on one of my WIPs but there is also a naughty little voice in my head urging me to start something new. In the end I have decided on a compromise and have pulled out one WIP (Above the Clouds by Teresa Wentzler) .

and four new projects:

Cherry Heart & Mother's Heart by Shepherd's Bush, Celtic Heart By Dinky-Dyes and Random Hearts by Erica Michaels. My plan is to work on whichever of the new starts shouts the loudest until it stops shouting and then to put in a few hours on Above the Clouds before working on another of the new starts. I shall proceed in this manner for as long as I am enjoying it or until I have finished all the projects whichever occurs first. While working on these projects I also have the last two rounds of the UFO Round Robin to complete and some pre-stitching for a class to get done so I am going to be a little busy but since all I want to do at the moment is stitch I might a well take advantage of being well and truly bitten by the stitching bug.

Bugs

Today I finally gave in to the cough that has been annoying me for the last week or so and went to the doctor who, after telling me off for not looking after myself, gave me a prescription for antibiotics and told me to go home and rest since I have a nasty chest infection and shouldn't be out of the house. So I phoned my boss and took the rest of the week off work. Luckily I have also been bitten by the stitching bug at the moment so a day spent sitting on the sofa stitching was most welcome.

So far I have finished two blue & silver humbugs which I did the stitching on last week and have also done the stitching for two more humbugs, hopefully I can get the finishing done on these tomorrow. I have fallen in love with these little humbugs and they are a great way of using up bits and pieces of threads, fabric and beads. Several of the ones I have finished recently are destined to be posted out on Saturday as thank-you gifts. Fingers crossed the reciepients will like them.

As well as stitching the humbugs I have been progressing with Vicki and hope to have this piece finished by the end of this weekend. I am finding this piece a little addictive and hard to put down. This weekend I also want to get back to some of the larger projects that I have and also get some pre-stitching done for a class that I am taking later in the year.

A Lazy Rainy Sunday

I love rainy Sundays because they give me the perfect excuse to sit on the sofa watching TV and stitching. So far today I have finished two more humbugs:

stitched using Cranberry thread by The Gentle Art and a couple of scraps of fabric that I just knew I would find a use for one day. These are finishes 17 and 18 on my 50 Projects Challenge.

Since finishing the humbugs I have been working on one of my WIPs (Vicki by Bizzi Creations).

In a little while I am going to stop stitching but only to go to the pub for something to eat before heading back to my sofa, stitching and the TV. Fingers crossed tomorrow will be another rainy day since it is a Bank Holiday and I can get more stitching done.

Still Here (Just)

Sorry for the log time between posts but I have been struggling with my energy levels and have been coming home from work and just wanting to sleep. Since the end of last year I have been battling with depression. It has taken me sometime to admit to myself that I had a problem and need the help of doctors, friends and family to get better. I find it difficult to talk about such things and to admit that I can not cope on my own. I was feeling much much better but then I came down with a chest infection which has set me back a little and has taken away all my spare energy. Thankfully I am now very much on the mend and have a long weeekend off work to help the recovery process.

Happy Post Day

This morning I recieved in the post a most wonderful Pay It Forward gift from Belinda, she stitched the most delightful scissor fob for me and also sent a couple of Art Stitch charts with the DMC threads to stitch them. I am sure that I have just the right fabric to stitch them on and can not wait to make a start. It also reminded me that I owe Natty a PIF gift, and I have finally made a decision on what to make for her so should make a start on it this weekend. Natty is the only person who has requested a PIF gift from me so if anyone else would like a little stitched gift please leave me a comment or email me. If no one asks for one by the time I have finished Natty's gift I shall randomly select who will recieve the other four gifts that I need to make.

I have not been doing much stitching recently but have decided that in order to get the bug back I will for the moment at least concentrate on stitching small things so that I can start (and fingers crossed finish) several projects. The first of these was a tiny humbug that I stitched using a hand-dyed thread and tiny piece of fabric from my stash so I am counting it as a 50 Projects Challenge finish. I used the instructions from Nicki's Blog which I found really easy to follow.

Last weekend I had a major tidy up of my craft room and now have one double and two single wardrobes full of all my crafting stash. I have organised everything by type of craft so that it should be easier to find things and therefore there should be less excuses for buying stash. In the tidy up I found several things that I had forgotten that I had and am now full of plans for what to do with all the odds and ends of stuff that I have brought over the years just because they looked pretty. The reason for the tidy up was the arrival of two new bunnies in my life who are house rabbits and currently live in my craft room, hence the need to put all my stash into boxes inside rabbit proof wardrobes. This is Basil who is a rather handsome blonde lion head, he is very charming but a little short on brain cells. His girlfriend is a grey smooth haired camera shy rabbit who I will post a photo of just as soon as she will let me take one.