Jo's Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop 2024

So sorry for the late post! I should have written it right after getting up this morning, because then my day got a bit derailed (nothing bad, don't worry, just not quite as planned) and litereally only remembered when I just went to bed to sleep! So this is going to be a quick one, just in case you'e been waiting for the letter all day.

Hello and welcome to my little entry in Jo's Easter Treasure Hunt Blog Hop for 2024! Please check out her blog for all the details, but assuming you've done that, I know you are here for three things: a picture of something Easter-y I stitched - I already used this for Valentine's, but I really liked it, and it really fits for Easter too, this is Valentine's Hare by Stitcher's Anon:

A letter to collect - which is O - and the next blog to hop to: http://www.marysthread.com/

Again, so sorry to keep you waiting - have a very happy Easter, and see you soon!

March Gifted Gorgeousness

Continuing my theme of late check ins, here we go with the March Gifted Gorgeousness! This long time SAL by Jo continues to be one of my favourites, as I usually have plenty of gift projects on the go.

This year there are a lot of babies to craft for, any my current project is a granny square blanket for one of them. I'm almost done making the squares - just 6 more to go!

Hopefully, by the next GG, I'll have them all done and joined together. I am making this up as I got, so will see how much of a border I'll give it - probably a couple rounds, though. Maybe fringes, too, we will see!

One more gift project was finished this month, for my grandma's birthday - of course she had to have another pair of wrist warmers, and as she really liked the neon yarn from those socks I made, I used that (plus some black since I didn't have a lot left over) to make her some. I was in such a hurry to gift them that I forgot a picture of the full pair, though, so here is the first one and you can use your imagination to picture its twin!

The Sock-Blog

Lately, I've been very into knitting (perhaps helped by the fact that some of my closest friends have also been doing a lot of knitting lately), and I don't always know how to incorporate that into my blog here. I know many of you don't knit and have no idea what I'm talking about when I'm going into specifics, and sometimes the WIP pictures don't give you a great idea of the progress I'm making if you're not a knitter myself! I do try, however, to at least update you on any finishes I have, but it seems I have been amiss doing even that. So today I wanted to remedy that fact, and show you two pairs of socks I have recently finished. I even treated mself to some wooden sock blockers off Etsy - these 2D feet shapes that you can put your socks on so they stay in shape, as sometiems socks can look quite weird without a foot inside!

First, we got the 'Little Hocus Pocus' socks by This Handmade Life. For this, I used some really nice, super soft hand dyed merino sock yarn that I bought at the yarn fair last November. I actually started these socks right after I got home, but then got distracted by other stuff over Christmas and only finished them in early February.

I just love patterns with cables, so these were very fun to make - they are symmetrical, by the way, so the right sock has the same cable, just on the other side! 

These were made for myself (a rare thing for me, I know, but I'm getting better at it) and took me just over 21 hours to make, which seems a ridiculously time for a pair of socks...I'm not a very fast knitter, but again, getting better now that I'm getting more practice!

Then we got these - the pattern is called Mokamami and it's been designed by Birgit Ka. My friend Sam made a pair in a violent neon green and it turns out this pattern is just amazing for crazy yarn, so I dug out this Regia Neon that I got years ago and made a pair of my own.

I really like how these turned out - maybe not a look for every day, but they were so fun to make and I think would make great house socks or something. Again, took me 22 hours to make, but they are a little bigger as they are not for my own tiny feet, but for a friend of mine.

These took me just over a month, from early February to early March, and before you ask, I did start a new pair since then, but it is not much to show yet, so will get to it at some point later.

March Fully Finished Gallery

Welcome to my (very late) update for the March Fully Finished Gallery, in which I...admit defeat? Learn a lesson? Maybe both. 

March has been a bit of a crazy month for me, not because of any one thing, but because I've been sick a little, my grandma has been sick a medium amount, and Felix has been sick a lot (he's still feeling very under the weather this week), throw in a couple birthdays and a lot of work...so my best laid plans have been derailed. Crafting is still happening, but after work and chores and anything else that might come up, I just want to sit on my couch and relax, not get out my sewing machine!

So my grande plans of finishing both Little Sheep Virtues Hope (January) and Peace (March) were severely derailed. I found some time to iron the stitching and cut the fabrics, but couldn't committ to actually sit and sew! not being able to face losing my 'streak' for FFG, I tried to force it last night, sitting at my sewing machine at a time that I should actually have been in bed already...I kept messing up and making stupid mistakes, but I was tired and stubborn and pressed on. And of course, I messed up big time with the seam allowance and ended up with this...I could have screamed in frustration!

I'm moderately sure I can fix it...unpick it, cut new fabric for the front, and do it all again. The stitching is not lost. But lesson learned - I'm getting better with the sewing machine, but not good enough to work tired and under a time crunch! So I'm going to take a step back. I'm going to accept that a finished object is not going to happen this month. I'm sure I'll make up for it eventually...or maybe not, and that's okay too. I'm still posting this to show you I tried, and will (hopefully) be back with better results next year!

WIPGO - March

My second month of WIPGO was slightly less successful than the first one - I actually had to spend about 40 minutes today to reach my last goal. Now could blame that one the month being a day short; but honestly, I was also 'slacking off' around the middle of the month, focusing on a couple knitting and crochet projects, so it's not as if I don't know where the time went! Still, 40 minutes is not a lot, and I did reach my other goals for the month too, so I'm still counting this as a success.

I did 1000 cross stitches on Guardian of Wayfarers - all of them blue - then spent the remainder of my ten hours back stitching (I don't have an accurate count on that, as CrossStitch Saga counts backstitch differently than I usually do). It did bring my new total to 58.5%, however, which is nicely on track to finishing this year!

You can see the difference the backstitch makes...I mostly added the branches in the background, but also started a little bit on the dragon's wing. Lots more to go, though!

My other project for the month was the Lizzie Stitching Wallet by FabyReilley Designs. I continued where I left off the last time I worked on it (probably I couple years ago), finishing section 5 (cross stitch) and 6 (backstitch, knots and beads) of the SAL, which completed the outside of what will evenually be...well, a stitching wallet.

I then scrolled down to a fresh section of fabric, and spent some time outlining the inside of the wallet, which will eventually hold Section 7, 8, and part of 9. I even managed to stitch up all of section 7, and make a small start on section 8.

I think another ten hours might see the stitching done or very close to done (there is very extensive finishing instructions, though). I'll also need to locate the right shade of green felt (not sure if I already bought it when I started this project, or not) for section 8 and 9.

So, let's look at the board for March, then:

My plan is still working out nicely, with one call of GoW and one other project...which is Charming, my little kitty. I've worked on this one on and off over the last year or two, but never focused on it so I'm not sure when's the last time I showed it - at any rate, this is where he's currently at:

I got about 2000 stitches to go on this one, plus some (mild) backstitching, so it probably won't be done in ten hours...but it might just get close enough to try and finish it anyways. We'll see how it goes!

And there we are - add in TLoA, my monthly sheep, and some crochet, and I'm all set for another month - let's go!