Grey's been making snowflake ornaments.

I drew a pattern for him, then he cut a bunch out by hand with a plasma cutter.  He heated them in the forge, beat them to give them texture.  Then put them back in the forge before cleaning off the scale and brushing them with a brass brush, which added color.

I had the easy part.  While they were at a black heat, I rubbed them all over with boiled linseed oil.  He also drilled holes in them, so I can add ribbon for hanging.  

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 Back to stitching this one.  It's going to be finished by Grey's birthday on December 27th.  It's my oldest cross stitch wip (5 years) and it's about time to finish it!  It's very doable.  At 200 stitches a day, the cross stitching will be finished in two weeks.  The back stitching will take about a week, so I'll be in by the skin of my teeth!  

I'll post weekly progress pics.  

 Boneyard shawl is drying on top of the dog crate.  It's just a bit too wide to fit, which has chopped off the points in the pic.  It was my car knitting project for seven months.

Dessert always looks better in a glass.  This one is dead easy.  It's a jelly slice without the biscuit in the bottom.  I'll put a link to the recipe when I'm on the computer again.

Yes to the yellow and green, no to the orange.  It's got too much yellow in it.  I'll keep rummaging and auditioning until I find the right orange.  If worse comes to worse, I'll over dye something to make it orange.  Or, I may choose different colors.

The other one just needs the binding.    

Started Yuletide last night.  It's fun to stitch.  It's not quite as dark as it looks here.

Stitched on this one a bit more over the weekend.   

There's less than an ounce of yarn left on the car knitting project (Boneyard shawl).  It's scrunched up on the needles, so makes for a rubbish photo.  

Same with the grey cardigan.  The back is just a bit longer than it was before!

Getting ready to do some finishing.    Found this wooden frame in a junk store a while ago for $2.50.  

Left off the star and swirl on Lizzie Kate's Peace, Joy, Love and added a charm.  Added a back stitch border, trimmed and frayed the edges.  It'll be finished flat on a square canvas board with a scrap of fabric from stash.

This one will also be finished on a board, but will 

Stand out a bit from the fabric background.  The fabric will run in the other direction, so it will look like a cold winter wind is blowing.

Will be starting the pattern for Yuletide by Plum Street Samplers today.  It's only small and will be stitched on 14 count Lurex aida.  I'm thinking maybe a row of red houses and Yuletide in green.  

The pattern is from this CD.  Takes up a lot less room than magazines!

At the pulling fabric stage for another small wall hanging with appliqué.  It will have the same background fabric as the last one and using this section of a border design from one Kim Delhi's designs from Simple Comforts.  

Clinicals are finished and there's six more classes to go.  Then I'll just have to keep reviewing to keep everything fresh in my mind until I can sit an exam sometime next year.  I had an interview on Tuesday for an endoscope technician at a local clinic.  I'll find out before Thanksgiving if I have the job.  I'm not holding my breathe, but you've got to be in it to win it, right?  

It's getting too cold to go out on the back porch before the sun come up for a cuppa.  Bailey was quite comfy on my lap wrapped up burrito style in the blanket I crocheted for him a while recently.

I put in a few minutes stitching here and there.  Finished this one.  The pattern colors were red and green, but I preferred blue.

A few more minutes here and there has this one half way finished.  The colors were changed again.  Both are on 14 count lurex aida that's been lurking in my stash for a while (aka years lol).

Arne and Carlos released an advent Christmas ball pdf.  Resistance is futile when it comes to their knitted Christmas ball patterns.  They don't use much yarn,  so sock yarn scraps are perfect.....just not the red, which is much more stretchy than the white background yarn, which played nasty games with the tension. That one's in the rubbish bin and will be knit again in something that plays nicely! 

Banged out a Christmas sweater on Wednesday for Magnus Mouse.  The holes under the armpits need to be sewn up, the ends weaved in and then I'll have a go at duplicate stitching a snowflake on the front.

I'm looking forward to catching up on reading blogs.  

 I'm  having a bit of a break.  Nothing bad, things are just super busy catching up on non-computer "stuff" and don't need any distractions! See you in a couple of weeks!

Last night, at the end of our first night of clinicals....three more to go.  Five more weeks of study and it will be done!

1/2 inch hexies glued on to cover the embossed Eclipse.  Just needs to be modge podged and it'll be ready to pop in my knitting travel bag with a couple of tapestry needles in it.

I like this hat, but not the yarn weight.  It's in worsted and I prefer fingering for slouchies.

 Caked this yarn up to see how even the variegation is.  It will work for the hat.  Not planning on starting it until January, just kitting it up with needles and the pattern, so it will be ready to go.  

Started a winter sweater for Magnus Mouse.  A duplicate stitch snowflake will be stitched to the front.   It's only 40 stitches around.  It will be good practice at joining the arms as part of the body.

This cardigan is high on my to do list next year and is knit in a similar way.   

Pulled out the wolf cross stitch today and put some stitches in, but not enough to post a pic here.   I'm enjoying stitching on it, so there may he shine some decent progress to show soon. 

Will probably pull some fabric to sew a practice block for Grey's quilt later today and clean the sewing machine.  I'll sew a couple to get familiar with the pattern and make them up into bags, so the orphan block pile doesn't get too out of control!

 

 

This is going to be finished by the end of the year.  

Oops!  That's what I get for not checking that I screwed everything together properly and ignoring the needle feeling like it was snagging.  

Knitting the back of a cardigan waiting for long cords from Amazon, so I can knit the front and back on the stripey sweater.  The yarn for the sweater is a lot thicker, so it knits up fast.  Fast as in, it'll be ready to seam up in a month.  lol. There's no shaping, so it will be a great project for knitting here and there.

Needed to do some unpicking and restitching last night, as it wasn't possible to fudge around the mistake.  Need to do a bit more tonight, then it'll be put away until the wolves are finished.