Week 3 1/2 summary!

Do you like the wrapping job on a gift for a friend? I love using part of the gift as the "wrapping paper"! That counts as creative right?

Well posting on Sunday like I planned didn't happen! Mostly because of the "easy" "quick" crafty/decorating project I found on Pinterest! We don't have a lot of Valentine's day/ winter decorations for the house so I thought this one looked fun and I had most of the materials....2 HOURS of yarn wrapping later and an hour+ of cutting out felt and figuring out how to make roses later we had a new wreath! It is nice, just much more labor intensive than expected.

I did do something creative every day be it knitting a few rows on the aran sweater (not enough to make it worth a new picture!), got the border on the quilt and tonight I basted it all together. In anticipation of machine quilting the larger quilt I made a couple of mug rugs/potholder/trivets to try out wonky piecing and remembering how to machine quilt. I've already given one away without a photo and no photo yet on the 2nd one. Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday morning I can machine quilt the large quilt and actually get it DONE!

 I did sketch out a couple of Zentangle patterns and the really fun thing was the kids I work with at school were doing it in their art class so I got to show some of them patterns that I had learned! Much fun paying it forward.

I did another Pinterest style craft last weekend - Initial Pictures for the girls made out of a small art canvas, scrapbooking paper, buttons and Modgepodge. Initially G didn't want one but after seeing R's she put an order in as well! No pics on R's as she is snoozing away as I write this!

So craft goals are to get more of the sweater done, quilt the quilt (hee hee) and try to do at least 1 zentangle!

Personal goals - I have eaten better although not great, got to the gym more but need to go even more frequently! and Fafsa is at least started which MUST get done this weekend as one of the college deadlines is Feb 1st!

Week 2 summary!

Well I finished week 2 of the creative every day challenge and I'm still going! Although it is kind of easy I have to say when you are a knitter because working on a few rows of a project each day counts! But I had set some goals for myself last week on particular projects so I should check in on those!

Quilt - the main panel is done! I really like the way it looks and am trying to figure out the border and backing...I really shouldn't/don't want to spend more $ on fabric so I might make a pieced border and just do crazy squares on the back which is something I haven't done before...Ideas? The rest of the fabric stash to go with this is pictured below...Not enough of any one to do a decent sized border but I could use the bottom green to do the binding. The pattern is modified from the 2012 Spring/summer Quilt sampler magazine Sleep Under the Stars

 

Wingspan scarf - the scarf is done - I'm on the fence about if I should have gone longer on it - it basically wraps twice around the neck but is a bit short....I may give this one away. Here is the link (I hope) to the pattern on Ravelry wingspan

Darjeeling Socks - I'm deciding if I need to go longer than the 5" above the heel before binding off sock #1... I may just bind off as I am not enjoying these and start the 2nd one as I did like the foot part! The pattern is darjeeling by Cat Borhdi

Aran sweater - pattern for the body is figured out and I've cast on and done about 3" I still need to figure out how to up-size the sleeves and neck from the original pattern which is the Master Charles Sweater which I am sizing up to a boys 14

Zentangle - not much action - practiced a couple of patterns....


I'm thinking of also using the blog to check in on some of my other goals for 2013 - Better Mother to the monsters (they really aren't monsters but lovely young women!), losing 15 lbs before my 25th reunion (a continuing goal - the reunion is just additional motivation!) and getting a better handle on our finances!
   In that spirit I did go to the gym 3x last week and 3 hrs of downhill skiing yesterday with the ski club! Plus ate more salads than usual! Still need to avoid the convenience store and the bad habit I have of buying "bad for me food" when I go in there!
  I have been making an effort to be less dictatorial with the girls but it doesn't always work....
  I have started the paper work sort for filling out taxes and Fafsa/Css as that needs to be done in the next 2 weeks for some of R's college deadlines. This also meant that I cleared a huge amount of paperwork off my craft desk where it had been fermenting and making me feel guilty! Only 2 more spots to go before it is all cleared up and ready to be put together when the last 2 W-2's come in.

Ok Goals for Week 3!

Creative Goals

• Quilt - get the border worked on and start the back
• Knitting - bind off the first Darjeeling sock and start the match, get at least 1/2 way to the armpit on the aran sweater and figure out the sleeves and neck shaping.
• Zentangle - Draw 3 full Zentangles and "learn" 3 patterns from Pinterest (LOVE THAT SITE!)

Personal Goals:

• Weight loss - At least 3 more visits to the gym this week and use the MyFitness Pro app to track food and exercise!
• Finance - Clean the upstairs desk looking for more tax documents and sort the final stash of paperwork left in my craft room!
• Mothering - Try to corall the kids into playing a game!

Days 4-6

Well it is Sunday night and I wish I had gotten more done this week although I really did get a lot creative done. Especially if you include "building" a cheap side table to put the new printer on, grocery shopping, re-teaching my Mom how to Yarn Over (she originally taught me LOL), meeting up with with the Friday Night Knitting Crew and general "Mom of Teens" tasks!

Accomplishments:

1. Finished the Wingspan Scarf
2. Did 1 1/2 Zentangles (plus bought more pencils for shading as mine went missing - Kota or G are the prime suspects...)
3. Sewed together the top row of the quilt and started the second row. I am headed downsairs to work on it more and watch Downton Abbey when I finish this!
4. Got R's Senior picture framed and hung up

Goals for the next week:

1. Finish the top of the quilt
2. Block the Wingspan
3. Modify the Aran sweater design for size 14 boys and actually start it!
4. Start a journaly sketchbook of Zentangle patterns - it will help me learn them I hope
5. Take some pictures of stuff!

Day 3

Ok Day 3 of the challenge and I've been creative again! The knitting part is easy for me - just working on what already on the needles - currently there are 2 projects The Wingspan scarf:

I plan on knitting on this until I am almost finished with the skein and then decide if I want/need to use the 2nd skein of the Auracunnia (sp?) that I have in this colorway to make it longer. Wingspan is a fun easy knit that works up in lots of different weights and looks great in all the pics I've seen of it!
 

 

The Second big project I have bee working on is a star quilt that I bought the material for last Fall and started to get cut out but then it got buried under Christmas projects and the general "Craftermath" that happened in my craft room/studio. It is going to get one more row of the blocks so the row closest to you will reapeat at the bottom and it will be sashed in the white. I have no idea what I am going to do for the borders and backing - which is typical for me - it will depend on what fabric is left over after the main body is done. I hope to get the body done by Sunday.

 

These socks are the Darjeeling pattern in Clara Parks' Book of Socks that have been hanging on the needles for about 8 months and I only have one of them 3/4 done....The yarn is a one of colorway by The Kangaroo Dyer at Webs and I think the yarn is Charlemont but at this point I'm not sure!

 

And the last bit of creativity work is playing with Zentangles! These are new to me and I have enjoyed it but I have never felt very confident in my drawing ability.

In some ways this Blog itself is today's creativity!!!

Creativity a day challenge!

Trying this Blog stuff again to try a Creativity a Day challenge! Lets see how it goes!

Jan 1 spent the day working on a Quilt that has been lanquishing on the Craft Desk and am trying to re-start my knitting classes! I also knit a few rows on the burnt orange Wingspan scarf!

Jan 2 - worked on the quilt some more - got the top row mostly pulled together! Am going to do some Zentangles before bed while watching TV!

I'll play with this later to add pictures!

Ok I am still knitting like mad even though I haven't posted anything here in a dog's age (or longer......)
Currently on the needles is a pair of Leyburn socks which I beleieve I am knitting in Opal but I have lost the yarn tag and I'm just not sure......
I will try to blog some more about my knitting and crafting but no promises!

Catch-up!

Ok - I admit it has been WAYYYYYY to long since I updated this post so I am going to try and do a relatively quick recap of the past month (or so) in my knitting life! My only real excuse is the crazyness of life with 2 pre-teen girls and ALL their activities!
The above pic is an inprocess picture of the Lucy Bag by Two Old Bags. I used bunches of "scraps" of cascade 200 wool left over from various previous bags. I cut of chunks and spliced them together to get the variagation - LOTS of work. I finished the bag this past Thursday and it is drying on the hearth. LOVE the finished product! I'll post a pic later. I did find as I was doing the handles that I royally messed up and instead of increasing to 120 stitches at the bottom - I increased to 160! I decided I wasn't willing to frog it back 12 inches and just adjusted the math on the handle placement to make it work. THe bag doesn't look too wide so I guess it worked!

This is the Orchid sample of the Vintage Bubble Bag. I tacked in cord in a spiral design before felting it which came out OK but I had to cut it out the cord after felting becuse it pushed through in a couple of places. The bag is not "perfect" but it will do. I believe I'll donate it to the silent auction for my college reunion next weekend.

This is the same bag in an ocean blue also made with the felting workshop. I sewed in a daisy pattern before felting.

These are DH's camo socks that I have been poking along on. The pattern is a basic garter rib. They are at 8 stitches per inch so are going fairly slowly.

This is the successful My Little Companion bag that I was concerned about in the last post. The Mauve is still Mauvey but the flower design pocket came out really well in my opinion! Pat G. bought it from me before it was fully dry! This is a great little "quick" project.

Ok - yet more....THis is the Vintage bubble bag AGAIN, but this time I actually followed the directions (who knew I could do that!) and used Cascade 220 AND Noro Silk Garden which is what has given it a lovely color variation and a soft slightly fuzzy feel! No plans for where this one is going yet - maybe when I eventually get my ETSY shop off the ground....

Very old pic of the "valentine socks" that I believe I posted about earlier. Very comfy.

The month in knitting also brought a fun workshop with Ruth, Mary, Nancy, Robin and Pam. That's where we made the Bubble bag. A couple of them came over a couple of nights later to finish off the bag and we had such fun. It was such a joy after a crazy day running the girls everywhere to be able to sit down with them and knit and talk and pull their bags together!

Mary and I road tripped to Webs to see the Yarn Harlot speak. It was fun, it was a mob scene, we bought more yarn than we needed. One of the pics on her blog is of the kids who were in front of us in the very long signing line! I was able to meet Mary's friend Lee who does the dancing crow blog about playning with color and fabric. Here is the link to her which I am putting in badly http://dancingcrow.typepad.com/my_weblog/
I have a lot to learn about making this blog thing work so it is "pretty"

Well I need to go and shower, do some gardening and get ready to drive to NY with my Mom so she can go to a b-day party for an old college friend of hers while I get to gether with an old college friend of mine. I do believe there is a yarn store in the plans.......