Hello, it's me

Hey guys. So, I've been MIA for a while, I know. I feel like I say this at least once a year, but the blog was beginning to feel like a second job instead of a hobby, and I just needed to get away from it for a while. I received some very sweet messages from several of you in the meantime though, asking where I was, how I was. I really appreciate your concern and thoughtfulness.

As I feared at the time, I think I pushed myself too hard last summer with the Refashion Runway and The Refashioners back-to-back like that. Until this past weekend, I hadn't even touched my sewing machine since September. Even that striped sweater I shared with you in December was actually refashioned back in August as a back-up plan for the RR tunic challenge. But fear not! I busted out the serger and sewing machine on Saturday, so I'll have some stuff (albeit it simple, baby steps stuff) to show you very soon.

While my sewing creativity seems to wax and wane, my knitting juices are always flowing. Maybe it's the necessity for more creative vision and problem solving that is inherent to refashioning. I mean, if you're trying to recycling existing materials, then you're obviously limited by those materials. Whereas, with knitting, that yarn could be virtually anything you want it to be. Plus, I have a backlog of things I want to knit, so I never run out of ideas.

My tiny baby niece was born in December, five weeks premature. She progressed so well though and escaped the NICU after only two weeks, wearing a hand-knit ensemble, naturally. Then there were holidays gifts for her older brothers: a reversible, double-knit Space Invaders cowl for the 12-year-old and for the 6-year-old, a scaled-down, elongated, scarf version of my Apatosaurus Shawl with added leg nubbins for extra dino-likeness. Their father, my brother, got a viking hat to match his majestic facial hair. He's not really as threatening as he looks here, I swear.

In January, I raided my stash for pink yarn and sent thirteen hats to Washington for the Women's March. I even made another, in a slightly different style, for myself and wore it to our local demonstration. Then there was some sporty, spirit knitting in the form of a simple green hat for the hubs to wear to Dallas Stars games and a pair of socks for my mom in the school colors of the university where she works.

I did a little selfish knitting too. A friend gave me some Shibui Silk Cloud, which is a marvelous mix of silk and mohair. I used the three colors to work up a Gradient cowl, by working with three strands and changing out one color at a time for a slow color change effect. And I just completed a pair of U-Turn socks this weekend using one skein of Schoppel Wolle's Crazy Zauberball.

I also took comfort in a little political cross-stitching (patterns by Subversive Cross Stitch) and an original design, inspired by our sweet doofus, Laika.

So that's what I've been up to lately. I promise to be back again soon.

Mixed Media Weekend

On Thursday, I whipped up another awesome cross-stitch. This tiny fox - only about an inch and a half tall - is about the cutest little F-bomb I've ever seen. Don't you think? The pattern is available from HolyStitch101 on Etsy.

On Saturday, my yarn crew and I basked in the glory of DFW Fiber Fest 2016. I picked up some sock yarn, like I do.

Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Coral


Panorama Fiber Arts Socky Bombs in Grayscale


Alisha Goes Around Bevy of Swans Fingering in teal/black

I also brought home an array of hand-made stitch markers from the other Fiber Fest attendees who participated in the stitch marker swap. The shrinky dink kind seemed to be a popular choice among the vendors, for obvious reasons. There were also lots of critters, a few flowers, and all manner of beaded markers. Aren't they lovely?

For the first time ever, I saw one of my knitting patterns in the wild!
As this couple walked past us, I pointed to the guy's hat/scarf and said, "Hey, that's the HeelHead Scarf!"
"You know the pattern?" she asked.
"Know it? I designed it!"
There was much squeeing (from me), and they were kind enough to take a photo with me. It was super exciting!

Done, Done, and Done

I don't know about you, but my weekend was crammed full of crafty goodness! I knitted. I sewed. I cross-stitched. I made a shawl, a dress, a future family heirloom.

For my first trick, I started with this deep blue maxi skirt, which I previously refashioned from a huge maxi dress. It's been over two years, and I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've worn this skirt. No matter how comfy they seem, I just don't wear maxi skirts. It's just not my thing. But a knee-length jersey dress is perfect for working from home, running to the grocery store, or accessorizing for a night out with The Dude.

New Adventures in Cross-Stitching

After additional research, I can confidently say that, yes, I do in fact love cross-stitch. I've now completed my third project and have thoroughly enjoyed each of them. I finally made it to the thrift store yesterday and picked up some cheap (but cute!) frames for them. My very first project from a few weeks ago, the Hearts in a Heart pattern from Leah Lintz's book Cross-Stitch to Calm, found its way into a little ceramic frame of white scroll work.

My second completed project was a new wreath-esque decoration for our front door. The ruffled winter wreath was still hanging in hopes that winter was not truly over yet, but alas, I have given up waiting for snow. It's just not going to happen this year. Time to enjoy the lovely spring weather before the inevitable summer heat descends upon us. And what better way to greet our guests than with a friendly gnome on the door?

I found the gnome here (but it's apparently from the Frosted Pumpkin originally), and I tweaked it a little. I bought a bit of burlap from the fabric store and used scraps of worsted weight yarn from my stash and a big darning needle. I left it in the embroidery hoop for that round wreath-ish-ness. Like our No Soliciting sign? Me too! I got it on Etsy.

And finally, the pièce de résistance... The project I teased at the end of my earlier post... My proudest cross-stitching accomplishment to date! (Not that that's saying much I suppose) Behold, this ridiculously awesome birth announcement (2.5 years late) for our dogther, with her full title and birthdate! That's pronounced "LI-kuh li-NAY-uh" in case you're wondering.

I charted this up using some free alpha-numeric cross-stitch fonts I found online, with the help of my knitting design software, which, as it turns out, works quite well for cross-stitch too. I even worked in a new skill: back-stitching! The frame is a really cool black one with silver filigree around the edges.

If you look very closely, you can actually see her questioning my sanity.

The thrift shop provided lots more frames, too, for future projects. I can't wait to fill them all with handmade goodness and make a crazy, mis-matched collage on my wall!

Cross-Stitch to Calm

You guys, I think I've discovered a new obsession - cross-stitch! Just think about it - tiny little perfect x's all in a row. How could I not love this craft? I was recently given this book to review, Cross-Stitch to Calm by Leah Lintz. It has 40 easy patterns, ideal for a beginner such as myself. There's even a section at the front of the book that explains some of the basics. And isn't that little bird on the cover just the cutest?

Inspired to try something new, I ventured out to the craft store last weekend to procure the necessary supplies. Embroidery hoop - check. Needles - check. Embroidery floss - check. Cross-stitch fabric? Nah, I have oodles of fabric at home. There's gotta be something in my stash that will do. Mistake #1. Anything I'm likely to sew with will almost certainly be too fine a weave for cross-stitch. Unless you have perfect vision and the sun is always shining in your living room. I should have read the book's section on choosing the right fabric before I left the house. But I didn't. So I muddled through this first project, squinting all the way, and vowed to acquire something more suitable for next time.

In addition to the need for proper fabric, I learned a few more lessons along the way. For instance, it's better to cut shorter lengths of thread than longer ones. As a knitter, my desire to use the scissors as little as possible actually came back to bite me. A thread too long increases the likelihood of knots and tangles, slowing down the entire process each time you have to pick one of those apart. Furthermore, pulling the same piece of thread through the fabric over and over again can damage the individual fibers and eventually lead to breakage. After some trial and error, I found about 12 inches to be a decent length of floss to work with.

According to Ms. Lintz, you should always start in the center of your design. So I began with the dark pink hearts, and you can see I had lots of knots and ickiness there. The red hearts are a little better, but still not great. Then I moved on to the medium pink, and finally the palest pink is looking pretty darn good. By that time, I had also learned the best way to secure my ends under the nearby stitches on the back side and the fact that tension plays an important role in many needlecrafts, not just knitting. It turns out pulling your thread too tightly can make your hearts shorter, fatter than you might like.

Another thing I learned: pay attention! I got so caught up making adorable little hearts that I lost track of my pattern and made a whole heart where there should have only been half of a heart. See that dark pink half-heart right in front there? Yeah, I had to pick out the other half after I realized what I'd done, but the fabric underneath was left distorted from the stitches. The "pay attention" lesson can also be applied to where one places one's needle at the end of a stitch session, especially if one has a dog (or cat or kid or any other critters) with a history of eating dangerous objects. At least twice I had to get down on my hands and knees and search the carpet for the blasted thing so Laika didn't find it first.

Though there were plenty of mistakes and lots of lessons learned, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process and will definitely stitch up some more of the designs in this book. Like that cute little bird on the cover maybe. For now, I just need to figure out how and where I want to display my heart of hearts.

In the meantime, I've already charted up a few ideas of my own and have started stitching one of them. Details to come!