September Update

Only a week late since the start of the month, so not too bad  this time. It's been a busy time, one of the community bands I play in had a concert at the end of September and it was really hot that day, so it took the next day to recover as well. Plus I had to work a couple extra days to make up for being ill at the end of last month, so not too much time for posting. 

First, the big news, it's a finish! Peacock Infinity Feather is done!

Peacock Infinity Feather by CrossStitch4Everyone

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Amethyst Spirit by Chromatic Alchemy

I'm glad to have this one complete. I have so many of these smaller confetti-heavy projects, and this felt great to finish. Not sure how to fully finish it yet, but something will come to me. Ideas are always welcome too!

I picked up something easier, plus worked on this while we were on a shortish road trip. You've seen it recently, so just a little update:

Animal Parade by Lanarte

stitched 1 over 1 on kit fabric with kit threads

Stitchy-wise I decided to go back to Starry Night and catch up a bit, so I'm now on week 23. I think the last published week was 31, so I'm not too far behind. 

Starry Night SAL by Urban stitches

stitched 1 or 2 over 2 as charted with DMC

I also managed to finish the socks for DD, and start a new pair for my brother. He's having a big birthday this year. Here's the finished pair:

Vanilla sock pattern with West Yorkshire Spinnery in the Nutcracker colourway

And that's September! Most of the month was taken up by finishing the Peacock Feather, and I have a feeling a lot of October will be catching up on Starry Night, but I'm sure I'll pick up some other projects as well. 

I hope you all have a fun month and enjoy Spooky Season!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

August Wrap-up

Slight delay in getting this post up, but I'm sure no one is surprised at this point. Great excuse this time though, another bout of what was likely COVID-19 kicked my butt again. Fortunately no one at work or at home caught it, so no one else was down for the count at the same time. 

August was a little bit different in that I completely ignored Starry Night to obsess over one of my sort of full coverage projects. This is the Peacock Inifinity Feather when you last saw it in April:

and now I've added a lot more to it!

Peacock Infinity Feather by CrossStitch4Everyone

stitched 1 over 1 full cross on 28ct Amethyst Spirit by Chromatic Alchemy

There's less than 400 stitches to go, so I think I'm going to try and stick with it to a finish. That will make it easier to accept starting some new full coverage next year. 

I also managed a little more progress on Animal Parade, to here:

Animal Parade by Lanarte

stitched 1 over 1 on kit fabric with kit threads

Apologies for the blurry photo, this was taken while we were in the car driving to pick up a car for a friend. It was about 3 hours away, so I did manage a decent amount of the more repetitive black stitching on the ground. The fabric looks great in that light though, this is pretty close to how it actually appears. 

I also mostly finished step 21 of Starry Night as well, which looks like this:

Starry Night SAL by Urban stitches

stitched 1 or 2 over 2 as charted with DMC

Not sure if I needed a break from the backstitch or all the blue, but still obsessing over the Peacock Feather. I set up my old scroll frame on my new lap stand, which is fantastic and works really well to get the whole project available to stitch, so that may be part of it as well. 

I fully finished a couple other projects as well:

Moon and Back by Heart in Hand

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct linen with Gloriana threads mostly

I had already sewn the backing onto this project, so I need to sew in the dowel rod. I used the "invisible" thread, which is a bit of a pain, but does look amazing when you're done. DH hung it up in DD's room and I'm not sure if she's noticed yet. We did it while she away at her grandparents for a week. This is also likely why I had time to get this fully finished. 

Another fully finished project:

Normal is Just a Setting on the Washer by Lizzie Kate

stitched 2 over 2 with stash threads (WDW, Carrie's, Jodyri)

I had picked up a sign at Goodwill that had this hanger, so I ironed the heck out of this project, although it doesn't look like it in this photo... Then attached it to the frame so the hanger was still usable. I think this will be a gift for someone, possibly for a friend with an autistic child, but it would certainly fit in our house as well. 

There's some knitting progress as well! When I was feeling really sick I didn't have the mental strength to stitch, plus I was trying to isolate myself away from everyone, so I picked up the two colour cowl I'd been struggling with since December last year. In February this year it looked like this:

Very Merry KAL by Claire Slade

knit with Fiberstash superwash sock yarn

I think I had grumbled about this one back in February because I don't seem to have the knack for colourwork. I did somewhat figure things out over the week I was sick and staying home from work, so I managed to get all the way here before going back to work:

And at that point there wasn't much left, so I kept at it when I had the energy and finally finished it:

I do really like the final result, I think the pattern was great, the problem was me, not the instructions. I love how the yarns worked together, it's very striking, but I don't plan on pulling out another colourwork pattern unless there's a very good reason. 

Also another pair of vanilla socks complete!

Stockingette stitch socks

Nutcracker by West Yorkshire Spinnery

I'm still working through the giant amount of WYS yarn I picked up a Must Love Yarn a couple years ago. I had a gift card and decided I needed multiple skeins of all the colours. Some day I'll get through it, but I won't need to buy Christmas sock yarn for a while. There's some left in the skein, so I'm starting shorter socks for DD. Her feet keep growing! 

I think that's all from last month and we'll see if next month can bring a finish on Peacock Infinity Feather. I have a few days off this month, so maybe! I hope all your stitching has been going well. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

February Update

Hello again! Here we are partway through March, so definitely time for a February update. I got a little behind in things after catching cold after cold most of the month of February, but I'm caught up again somewhat. I hope everyone else  has been staying healthy!

First off, my Starry Night full coverage blackwork SAL progress. This is week 8:

And the whole project so far:

Starry Night SAL by Urban Stitches

stitched 1 or 2 over 2 as charted with DMC threads

With being sick, I didn't get much stitching accomplished otherwise, but did manage to finish these 2 smalls:

Birdhouse Cards by Durene Jones

stitched as charted  2 over 2 on  28ct scrap evenweave

from WOXS, not sure which issue, printed in 2016 from zinio

I didn't progess on Witch's Gate, but I did get some knitting done:

    

Summer socks by Laines du Nord

Very Merry KAL by Claire Slade

knit with Fiberstash and on part 3 now

Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure

knit with Noro Sonata Shima col. Chaigasaki

Pretty straightforward knitting for the 2 projects I finished. I usually knit those while watching the PWHL hockey games so I can pay attention to what's going on. The colourwork still slows me down in the cowl, but it's growing slowly. It's time to cast on another pair of socks now that these are complete. And I have a shawl I'd like to knit with Noro Sonata as well. It has silk, so it's not as scratchy as wool. 

I hope you've all been having good weeks of stitching!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2025 Ideas and Plans

Time to figure out what to do for this year. I have a loose plan that I'd like to try and get under 50 active WIPs by my birthday next year. I think it's achievable since I have a few smalls I could work on. I've also started a couple new projects because of course I did! It's a New Year after all. My first new start is this one:

Mystery Project

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct one-off evenweave from Chromatic Alchemy

I'm not going to post who this is yet, because I'm interested if anyone can guess. There are 2 well-known comic characters (in North America especially) and this is about half of one of them. 

I'm also trying something completely different, although not Monty Python related. This is full coverage blackwork by Urban Stitches. 

It's going to be released one week at a time, with a few breaks throughout the year and it lasts over one year. So no worries if I get behind. It's been interesting so far. I had to frog once so far, but I've come up with a better system now I think. Here's where I'm at so far:

Starry Night by Urban Stitches

stitched 2 or 1 over 2 on 28ct white evenweave as charted

I'm also maybe going to participate in the Peppermint Purple 2025 blackwork SAL, but waiting on the first few patterns to decide on that. 

My loose plan is to work on Starry Night release, finish that, and then pick up a small and hopefully finish a few over the next few months. Not rushing myself or stressing myself out with anything. I hope to pick up some knitting projects to finish too. I worked on a couple advents in December, so I didn't get much stitching done at all. But I finished a pair of scrappy socks:

Christmas Smorgasbord by Becky Greene

stitched with scrap sock yarns and Regia heels and toes

And I started a scrappy Advent shawl by Renee Strouts. This is an easy one with lots of garter and between the 2 of these, I've used up lots of scraps from my sock yarn bag and it can close again!

Hope everyone has a good stitchy year!

Tiffstitch

It's Finally Complete!

Some of you that still follow my sporadic posts will be surprised to see I have actually managed to finish one of my older WIPs! Last time you saw it, it looked like this:

and now, it's complete!! And it's even been mailed to the person I was stitching it for. Good thing they have remarkable patience. 

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Fire Designs

stitched as charted 1 over 1

on 28ct Monaco

It's so nice to be finished with this one. It's been waiting a long time, and it's great to get a finish. And then it took me a couple days to figure out what to pick up next, so I did some work on the intarsia blanket for DD:

Rainbow Days Blanket by Mary-Ann Lammers

knit with Jody Long cotton and Juniper Farm Neve

This one only needs another couple pattern repeats until the finish. I also finished another project while my elbow was healing. I still couldn't stitch for any significant length of time for a couple months after my injury, but I could knit a few rows a day. That meant my science officer version of a Star Trek inspired shawl was completed! It's funny how not being able to craft makes you want to do it more. 

Farpoint by Vanessa Smith Designs

knit with FiberStash fingering weight yarns

And I decided on the next project I'd like to tackle. Since I missed almost all of the planned October stitching, I picked up Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind to get some progress and possibly a finish before I start December stitching. Last time you saw it, it looked like this:

and I managed several thread lengths to get it to here last night:

Witch's Gate by Whispered by the Wind

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct Mirage by PTP

with DMC 167, 738, 3823 and 3866 as changes to the original colours

This has a fair bit of work to get it finished, so I don't know if it will be a finish, but we'll see how it goes. Also, Whispered by the Wind is not going to be designing any more, so if there's anything you want, order soon!

Hope everyone has a good week and enjoys Thanksgiving if in the US. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

April Catch-Up!

Hello all! Busy month of April up here in the Northeastern US. First the big total solar eclipse on April 8, that was amazing! I've never seen one before, and it was unbelievable. My best photo was this one:

So interesting to watch. It got completely dark in our area and the birds were really loud about a minute before the total eclipse, then became very silent during the eclipse. When the sun came back, it was almost like there was a spotlight that quickly widened to encompass the entire area. 

The week after the eclipse felt like it flew by as well, probably just the feeling of having such an overwhelming experience. Then it was book fair week at our local school and DH is the president of the school and community organization, so he was very busy with that and I was able to volunteer a bit to give him a break. 

Next a friend flew in so we could go to some PWHL games this past weekend! We used to play hockey together in high school and she lives several states away now, so she flew into our area and then we spent a few days in Montreal watching 2 games in Montreal and one in Ottawa! We had great seats for the first and third game, but the second game was at the Bell Centre in Montreal, where the Montreal Canadiens play, and we were all the way up in the back row!

Montreal beat Minnesota 4-3

Toronto beat Montreal 3-2 in overtime

Ottawa beat Minnesota 4-0! (one player had a hat trick)

And we spent one day walking around Montreal a ton, but I won't keep showing photos of that. How about my April project? It's been a while since I've had this one out, but I decided to focus on Stormlight Quotes for this month:

And so far I've made it all the way to here:

Stormlight Quotes by Taylor and Cromwell

stitched 2 over 2 on 28ct black evenweave with charted threads

I started working on this in early April and thought I had some chance of a finish, but seeing as I've had several days of no stitching given all the busyness we've had, that doesn't seem likely. There's lots of B5200 though, so you never know what I might get accomplished. 

I also managed to get both PWHL hats complete for us to wear to our games:

PWHL team hat by Sydney Gerzymisch

in Berroco Ultra Wool in a deep red, green and cream (although it looks white here)

The pom-poms are faux fur that I purchased at a LYS, Must Love Yarn. They have a snap and you have to sew the bottom of the snap onto the hat, then they work. I tried just snapping them in between layers and the pom-pom flew off! It was kind of hilarious. I had to go back and ask at the store and they said "Well, you sew this part on.." and then I got it. 

And since we had to travel a fair bit to get to Montreal, Ottawa and back, I managed a lot on the Wiglaf scarf:

    

Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe

knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 

and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

This is over halfway complete. The other side will have the blue pattern repeat. I've hit the widest part of the white and am now slowly decreasing until the blue starts getting wider again. 

I hope you've all had good weeks so far in April and hopefully I'll get a chance to come see all your wonderful crafting!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

A Recent Obsession

 I made it! Less than 2 weeks since my last post. That was what I was hoping for.  I had ideas of posting earlier, but there was a reason this post had to wait. Check it out!

Ondulations by Jardin Prive

stitched on 28ct rainbow gradient fabric by BeStitchMe

It's done!! I asked DH and friends about adding colour or not, and since the fabric itself is so colourful, I went with only DMC 310 and no colours. That made it easy to get all the way to a finish before the end of the month. 

Here are a couple close-ups if you're interested:

Because I got carried away with getting this to a finish, I don't have any progress on Do Not Meddle, and still haven't taken a photo of my 3rd Mischievous March project, but I do have a photo of my 4th Mischievous March start. It will eventually look like this:

And here's my start:

Journey by Urban Stitches

stitched 1 over 2 with charted DMC on 28ct Red Tide by Chromatic Alchemy

I did get a few more rounds on the 2nd PWHL hat, and it's moved up to here:

PWHL team hat by Sydney Gerzymisch

in Berroco Ultra Wool in a deep red, green and cream (although it looks white here)

And that's where we are after almost another 2 weeks. One more start tomorrow and that will put an end to Mischievous March! Plus soon I'll have to decide what I'm going to work on in April. That's 2/3 finishes for my focus projects and one that's pretty darn close that I'll keep working on in April. 

I hope you've all been having a good couple weeks and Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

New Monthly Project Alert!

Here we are in March already! And like most of you said, Do Not Meddle does need to get finished, so I think I'm going to try and do a thread length in it every day before I start stitching on anything else. Here it is now!

    

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams

stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

I think I'll try and keep up with the current trend of finishing up whatever colour needs filling in. That's been sort of a sense of accomplishment and keeping my interest, so I'll keep it up for now. 

The new project I'm going to work on for March is Ondulations by Jardin Prive. Here it is when I last worked on it back in July 2021 for the July Olympics start extravaganza I did with Rachel. 

Ondulations by Jardin Prive

stitched on 28ct rainbow gradient by BeStitchMe as charted

I still haven't decided if I want to add the colours that it asks for or use some of the specialty threads I've accumulated over the last several years. It might be fun to dig through what I have for something close to the charted threads. 

And Wiglaf has grown substantially, I'm maybe close to halfway done now? 

Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe

knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 

and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

Next  week I'll update with more progress on everything hopefully. Have a good week everyone!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

Little Bit More of Everything

Here we are, last week of February already somehow and even with the extra day tomorrow I can't believe how quickly the year has disappeared. We're having very unseasonably warm weather for the Northeastern US as well, which might be making it seem further into the year than it really is. 

Speaking of Leap Day/Leap Year, any new starts planned for anyone? Thursdays are my very busy day, so unlikely I will get any stitching in at all, but I did help plan the Leap Day playlist for my Thursday Night hockey group. If you're interested, this is the list:

                        The Wizard - Black Sabbath ( a member was born on Feb. 29)

                        Jump Jive N Wail - Brian Setzer Orchestra

                        Jump - Van Halen

                        Jumpin' Jack Flash - Stones

                        29 Palms - Robert Plant

                        Jump - Kriss Kross 

                        Jump Around - House of Pain

                        Jump (for my love ) - Pointer Sisters

                        Waiting for the Great Leap Forward - Billy Bragg

                        Jump for Joy - Peggy Lee

                        Jump for Joy - Warrior Soul

                        Leap of Faith - Bruce Springsteen

                        Leap of Faith - The Interrupters

                        Jump Into the Fire - Harry Nilsson

                        Jump Into the Fog - The Wombats

                        Look Before you Leap - Marcia Ball

                        Give - The Suicide Machines

                        Bodies - Drowning Pool (singer born on Feb. 29)

                        The Mob Rules - Black Sabbath

And now, what you've all been waiting for, a bit of progress on Do Not Meddle! ;)

Do Not Meddle by Dragon Dreams

stitched 1x1 full cross on 28ct white with recommended DMC

And I was doing more knitting than stitching after another migraine (boo) hit me on Saturday. Not as bad as the week before, so still able to get some things done. Here's Wiglaf:

    

Wiglaf scarf by Lizi Lowe

knit with Fiber Me This You and the Stars 80/10/10 MCN 

and Sassy Black Yarns Connecticut Snow 100% baby alpaca

If you can follow the colour changes, the blue stripes were decreasing in height until they hit 4 rows, then the white rows will increase to the same height as the blue near the bottom, then it starts over again, so the middle will be mostly white with blue stripes and the 2 ends will be blue with white stripes. 

Jo asked if this was named after Wiglaf from Beowulf, and it was! Here's the designer's note:

- A note on the name: Wiglaf is my favorite character from the Old English poem Beowulf. The protagonist, Beowulf, when faced with a dragon who is terrorizing his people, is abandoned by all his chosen companions. Except Wiglaf. In Beowulf’s darkest hour, one man stands loyal by his side and will not abandon his king.

It's a very easy knit, good for beginners if anyone is interested. It's just garter stitch, but carrying the colours up the side is a nice way to not have to weave in a lot of ends, and it makes a nice edge. 

I hope everyone has a good week and enjoy your new starts if you're having one!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch