a few finishes and a WIP

I have finished the February installment of the 2012 Year of Smalls SAL.

This is Garden of Love by Citrouille's Designs. I made a few little mistakes but not so much that I wanted to frog them and start over. And the raspberry silk thread had way too much dye in it so I didn't want any "bleeding" to show on my fabric either. (personal rant.... why is that a particular brand's red/deep pink silks always stain stitching? Is it too much to ask that when you pay approx. $7.00 a skein for silk threads that it not bleed all over your fabric?!.... rant over).

This was a cute, fun, quick stitch. I purchased the kit that Cathy of Inspired Needle put together. This was stitched on a 32 ct. fabric, 2 over 2.

I also finished a couple of knitted items.

A pair of Monkey Socks by Cookie A out of LunaBudKnits fingering weight yarn. Love this yarn!! She is a somewhat local KY dyer).

And a waffle knit dishcloth out of Knit Picks Dishie yarn (blue) and Sugar and Cream yarn (natural). This the is the first dishcloth that I have knit with Dishie, but it won't be the last. I really like this yarn.

And for my biggest Ta-Da....

I FINALLY finished Paradise Lost!!!!! I started this piece on October 29, 2009. I didn't stitch on it exclusively. Often there were very long lapses in time between stitching sessions, but I am so glad to finally have it finished. As soon as I find a good framing deal at Michael's, this little beauty is going to be framed and hung behind the living room couch. As much as I have stitched through the years, I have very few pieces framed and displayed. I am making a conscious effort to remedy that. I am starting to become more of a project stitcher rather than a process stitcher. I want to stitch things that have a place and purpose in my home decor rather than stitching whatever strikes my fancy just for the fun of stitching it, if that makes sense. :) (Excuse my wrinkles...)

After finishing Paradise Lost, I dug Sarah Woodham out of the WIP pile to start working on her diligently once again. She's another reason that I am ranting about those particular red silks.... Between the deep pink and dark red silks, parts of her are getting a pinkish cast that I do not like. I am very concerned about stitching all of the over one verse in the deep pink. I hate to spend so much time (and $$) stitching a project for it to look like it has been dipped in a pink bath. Hopefully that won't happen, but I am noticing some bleeding in other parts of the piece where I have used those two colors. I put this one back into q-snaps, even though I usually stitch in hand. I am hoping that will alleviate some of the bleeding if I do not have it in my hands as much.

A couple of knitting notes... started a February Lady Sweater out of Cascade 220. I haven't made enough progress for it to even look like a sweater as of yet. I plan to knit a bunch of Cloisonee mittens out of Cascade 220 as well. If I can master this pattern, everyone I know will be getting mittens for Christmas because they are so stinkin' cute! I'm also working on a Hitchhiker scarf which I will show on my next post and talk a little bit about it. (If you are on Ravelry, and would like to "friend" me, my username there is kellieps3).

I want to thank everyone for their kind comments and emails regarding my former principal. While she continues to be missed daily, her staff members are settling into a new normal. I have had the opportunity to visit the school in a professional capacity several times since her death, and while it still seems very surreal, everyone (staff and students) seem to be adapting.

Super Bowl Sunday... who are you rooting for? Honestly, I don't have a personal team that I hope wins. Jake does. He wants the Giants to win. So I guess I will root for the Giants since that is who he seems to want to win. Michael and Jake have big plans of watching the game this evening. I agreed to make some super bowl snack food and give them a party atmosphere. Personally, I will be taking my buffalo chicken dip and lil smokies back to my sitting room where I intend to stitch and enjoy my latest audiobook (Alone by Lisa Gardner) and later watch Downton Abbey.

Petey says, "Mom, quit your belly aching about silk thread and fix the super bowl food already..."

Have a fun week.

Happy stitching!

Kellie