Catching Up Part 1

It's been a busy couple of weeks and I'm starting to have withdrawals from not reading blogs and writing mine.  It's split in two because I squirreled last night when downloading the photos and forgot half of them.

This is the heaviest item I've knit.  1 kilogram/35.3 of yarn and it all went in the jumper apart from just over a foot of yarn.  It's oversized, which means it will be perfect for throwing over my pjs.

On Wednesday Driftwood Tee by  Tarasovich-Clark was cast.  Yarn is Cotton Candy Blend by Lion Brand.  It's some of my Santa Sack yarn.  It'll be perfect for wearing over a long sleeved tshirt in the fall.  It's knit flat in two pieces and the pattern is straightforward.  There was a bit of number crunching and crossing fingers, as it's a heavier weight yarn than the pattern calls for, so I'll double check the measurements after a few inches and frog if necessary.

It's pumpkin making season.  The bottom one is crochet in Mainstay yarn (Walmart brand).  My tension is improving, so I'm happy about that.  I don't know what the stitch is called.  One row is crocheted.  On the next row, the back/top? stitch is picked up and a single crochet is worked.  It gives a nice texture.

The others are knit in Lion Brand Mandala Ombre.  The top one is single rib.  The orange is garter stitch.  Mistake rib for the blue (cast on an odd number of stitches and knit as for 2 x 2 rib.)  It's my favorite rib pattern just now.  It's squishy and looks corrugated.  That description makes it sound so unattractive, but it has a lovely texture.  The pink is double rib.

They're easy to make.  Knit/crochet a square, join two sides, run a length of yarn through the cast on/off (doesn't matter which), pull it tight. (That's where these are at.) Then stuff, close off the bottom and sew yarn through the middle a few times, pulling tight to make indentations, then add stalks, leaves, vines etc.  An instant pumpkin patch!

Getting ready to finish pillows.  The flowers on this fabric are a bit hard to see.  I think there's some daisy trim in the stash, so that will be added, too.

Spider web seems perfect for this one.

This fabric was green and white before it was overdyed to grunge it up.  I like it much better now.

This one will be made into a cover for a pillow.

BEB had a bit of a hissy fit over this one.  She was grumping and grumbling over all the WIP stitching.  She was told if she wants some new starts, she needs to have some finishes.  lol 

These will be made into needle cases.  The fabric scrap is all that's left of a meter of hand dyed fabric from 2001.

The two pieces are from this book.  This pic is a reminder where they are, as I always forget!  More on this project in part 2!

 August's Cross Stitch Camp project is halfway through.

The motif is from Quaker Christmas by Bygone Stitches.  It's being stitched on black 14 count aida with 12wt Gutterman Sulky.  The challenge is to use a floss or fabric you've not used before.  I've used the thread for hand quilting and embroidery and love it for that.  It works nicely for cross stitch, too.  There's more on Sulky threads in part 2.

This little book came on Wednesday and is the reason I've been finishing the stitching on other Halloween smalls.   I've got no problem with starting all thirteen of these, but don't want twenty one smalls on the go!

This is the first one I'll be stitching after dyeing some floss.  I want the grey, brown and red to be the same as the crow in the pic further up this post.  More in part 2!

I've been watching deer in the yard, but need to start my day.  It's going to be a busy day and I'd like to catch up on some blog reading later on, as well as write part 2 of this post!