July WIPocalypse

Yes, I know I am late (for the WIPocalypse checkin) and I also know I am early (after my last update), but as we are going away for a long weekend in Hamburg tomorrow (The Lion King musical, visiting friends and relatives, and just general sightseeing), that is just the way it works out right now :) Also, I already have a bit to show off again already, so why not!

But first things first: Measi, our host for WIPocalypse has announced she's holding an olympic stitching challenge for the Olympic Games this summer. While it sounds like a lot of fun, I have decided to not participate, as I have already to much on my plate in terms of SALs and deadlines - instead, I have another little fun thing planned, which I will talk about at the end of the post. So my question to answer this month is: Tell us how this year’s stitching is going for you so far, and if you’re meeting your stitching goals so far for the year. I have to say, I am extraordinarily satisfied with my stitching this year. My goal this year was to not make goals, so I've just kind been going with the flow, and it has been a ton of fun while still leading to a lot of progress! I've been able to join a SAL when I wanted to, to include more presents in my rotation, and so far I've been even able to keep all the deadlines. Sure, there are things I thought I'd work on, but not having made plans, I'm not too upset stuff didn't work out.

Now for my current progress...I've been busyly working on the backstitching and wording of my grandchildren project, and I've managed to finish the upper page. The next one is a lot bigger, but less complex as well - mostly because I translated the upper-half-wording (the original ready 'Grandchildren are the flowers in the garden of life'), and the translation needed a few letters that weren't there in the original, so I had to try and chart those out myself...I think it worked out okay, though.

Then, I also worked a bit on the Strawberry Sampler that needs to be done by the end of August, and I finished two more bands. I didn't care much for the plait stitch, which I had to do two bands of, but Herringbone was fun, and so was the cross stitch and french knots (yes, I do like them if there are not too many) in the first actual strawberry-band. I was halfway done with that when I realized it is not, in fact, symmetrical - it's three crosses away from the edge on one side - and I had half a mind to rip it all out again, but then I thought - if I didn't realize until now, after looking at the stitched picture again and again, it wouldn't bother me too much later on, so I just filled in those few stitches the same way Jo, who gifted me the chart, did with hers.

I also had a bit of progress with my knitting - I started to turn the rest of the watermelon yarn (I gave the socks to our admin today, and they fit!, if only barely) into a pair of wristwarmers for myself, and as these knit up really fast, I already finished the first one. I also bought some seriously delicious yarn (that refuses to be photographed in all it's deliciousness), and I even made a small start on what I want to do with it (after giving it the wool winder treatment - at 330g a skein, this almost broke it down, but only almost), but I didn't like it too much so I undid it and I'll look into slight alterations for the beginnung.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, I have quite a bit going on in terms of deadlines and SALs - the closest ones being a) the start of our Halloween SAL on the 13th of August, b) having the grandchildren project finished and framed by the 26th for the birthday, c) having Stawberry Sampler finished and framed by 31st and d) stitching another page of the Fire and Ember SAL. Also, we'll be away from home for at least two weekends and four weekdays during the month, so I will have to see what I can take with me and what not. So in order to get all that done and also motivate myself, I will mostly skip regular posting for the month of August - BUT I will try to post quick picture of my current progress every day, just with less text. I hope this is something both you and I can enjoy, and I'm really looking forward to it :)