NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 28

So I made it to the end of NaBloPoMo 2016 and managed to post 28 or the 30 days!!  I only missed two days and I consider the challenge a success!!  I did find that it is very difficult to keep up with blogging each and every day.  I found that several days I simply had a little bit of almost nothing posted just to be able to say I posted something!  I want to continue to post on a more regular basis but I doubt I will post every day unless I get into another challenge!  I really do need to get on track to posting at least once or twice a week though and hopefully this challenge has settled me into a nice routine of posting more often!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 27

I can't believe I completely forgot to post yesterday!!  Sigh.  But posting 28 out of 30 days is not too bad!!

On Sunday I began a mystery Advent Scarf.  It started a few days early so that we would not have as much knitting to do every day.  This way we have 30 rows to knit each day (and the rows are 47 stitches long).  The pattern is a mosaic design and so far I am really enjoying the knit!  The goal of the scarf is to give knitters a little break and some "me" time each day during this busy time of the year!  I usually try to do most of the knitting in the morning over a cup of tea before work, but sometimes (like today) I am knitting in the evening.  Either way - I am making a bit of down time to do something I enjoy!

Here is my progress so far over the three days:

Sixth Year of Projects - Week 22

Blocking is pure magic!!  I had two projects that needed blocking and made the time to get those done this past weekend.  One project - Celtic Myths Shawl - is a recent finish and did not languish long awaiting blocking to finish it off completely.  The second however has been waiting forever (or so it seems!)  For the past several years I have participated in an Advent Scarf Knit Along.  This December will be my fourth year!  Anyway, I finished the 2015 scarf back in December 2015 and have still not blocked it!  For shame!  Actually I did the same last year - I blocked my 2014 Advent Scarf in December 2015...  At least I am consistent!

So, blocking is magic!!  I use my colorful mats that I bought at Sam's Club and some T-pins and away I go!  I add a little Eucalan wool-wash to the water and let it soak for an hour or so.

Before

Soaking

Close up - before

After!

Before

Soaking

After!

In other news, my Coffee Cantata Socks have seen some growth in the past week!  Here is how they look now!  Again, thanks to everyone who encouraged me to continue knitting this project!  I appreciate the push!  Maybe these socks will be done before 2016 is done!!  At least I should have them done before the next round of Sock Madness begins in March 2017!  I need to free up my Addi Turbo Sock Rockets for more sock knitting!!

And I started an Advent Scarf this morning.  The pattern is being released four days early so that each day's clue is not too daunting!  The design is mosaic and I am eager to spend a little bit of time each and every morning knitting!  I will make a cup of tea and will work the pattern each morning.  I tried to buy an Advent calendar tea package (a different tea for the 24 days of Advent) but I was slow and missed out.  I ended up buying another tea sampler package and this one had 28 different flavors and types.  Bonus is that we will have the pattern coming out over 28 days instead of 24 and I will have just the right number of teabags to make it through!!  I am quite easy to please!!

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees by paying me a tiny commission if you buy something.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 25

Recently I read about Morning Pages and thought it was something I wanted to try.

This also comes from the book "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.  She also has a workbook that is devoted to this process.  I have not yet read the book, but plan to do so in the near future!  From the creators webpage "Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page...and then do three more pages tomorrow."  

I have found this to be a fun and beneficial activity!  I did my first entry on November 16th and I have not missed a day yet (granted only ten days but that is impressive for me!!)  I find that it does help to clear my mind and it allows me to spend about 15 minutes in the morning letting all the random, disconnected thoughts in my mind to go somewhere.  It sometimes turns into a random to-do list, or a recollection of the previous day's activities, or plans for the upcoming day, or descriptions of a dream I had, or sometimes just writing I have nothing to write over and over until something else pops into my head and onto the paper.  I am happy I began doing this and can see myself continuing with the process for the foreseeable future!

For my Morning Pages I am using a Moleskine hardcover notebook with a cute cover and (until I ran out of ink this morning) I was using my Pentel EnerGel black pen.  I have ordered a Pilot Metropolitan fine nib fountain pen and as soon as it arrives I plan to switch over and will use that to write every morning.

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees by paying me a tiny commission if you buy something.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 24

Over the past few months I have been following a Zen Art Challenge on Facebook and have been loving it!!  I gives me a little time each day to relax and learn something new.  Many days it takes only a few minutes and some days it takes a bit longer if the design is complicated for me.  Either way it has been fun!  I joined up in September and have been following on a "mostly" daily basis since then.  I also backtracked and worked on the ones from previous months too.

I have several supplies that I use for doing my Zentanging:

1.  I love my Faber Castell Pitt Pen Set
2.  I also love my Sakura 6-Piece Pigma Micron Ink Pen Set
3.  And I love my Copic Markers Multiliners

I actually alternate between each of these pens.  I like to have the sets with multiple sized tips and use the different ones for different types of drawing and sketching.  I also need my ruler, pencil, and eraser to practice and work on the design before I commit to using pen!  I make a lot of mistakes, my artwork is far from perfect, and I love it!

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees by paying me a tiny commission if you buy something.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 23

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family in the US!  I am fat, full, and happy and am posting quite late today!

I have been looking over sales and planning out some shopping for myself!  What great deals!!  I love these pencil crayons and these watercolor pencil crayons and these watercolors!!  I am glad I have saved up because my Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping is going to be fun!!  I plan to use each of these in my bullet journal (which I plan to blog about soon!)  Now to get some sleep and dream of the fun I will have using these treats!

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees by paying me a tiny commission if you buy something.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 22

I am finding that I enjoy quilting.  Mom suspected she would bring me to the dark side!!  All I need is another hobby!!  But one I will happily add to my ever growing list!  I do however need some supplies!  Mom cut the fabric for my Advent Table Runner for our church communion table and I sewed it together and will do the quilting on it by machine today.  What I did find was after sewing the strips together I needed to trim down the edges to make them all nice and straight again.  I don't have the needed tools to do this easily so had to use my scissors.  I have added a cutting board, ruler, and rotary cutter set to my wishlist!  It is not expensive and a better deal to buy as a set instead of piece by piece.  Mom has each of these pieces and I have seen how they make cutting quilt pieces so easy and perfect!  I want one!!  And I suspect I will be buying fabric...  Another thing for me to hoard and collect :)

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees by paying me a tiny commission if you buy something.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 21

I spent a good amount of time today working on my Coffee Cantata Socks and am almost done the second leg portion.  I think I have about 16 rounds to go and the second leg is done.  Then we move on to the heel flaps and then down the foot.  Hopefully it will move faster once I get to the foot since only the top has the cabling!  I am using my Addi Turbo Sock Rockets - I love these needles!!  I am a fan of doing my socks magic loop and I tend to work my socks two at a time in tandem - which means I do some on one sock and then do some on the second sock.  I don't usually work one sock from beginning to the end first and then do the same for the second sock - I go back and first between each!

* This post contains affiliate links, which cost you nothing, but do help to support this site's maintenance and fees.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 20

Today I did some sewing!!  Mom cut some fabric for me when I was home this past summer so that I could quilt a table runner for the new communion table at church.  Today I finally got around to starting on it!  I got the pieces all sewn together and got the three layers all pinned down. Tomorrow when I have better light I will do the quilting part and will get the binding on too.  We can take it to church on Wednesday night!

Sixth Year of Projects - Week 21

Back with a few finishes this week!!  I finished off the fingerless mittens for Sarah and since I had a bit of yarn left I also made her a little cowl to go along with the set.  I have to get the mittens and cowl into the mail for her tomorrow!

I also finished knitting my Celtic Myths Shawl yesterday!  It needs blocking and i plan to get that done this week so I will post a after blocking picture next week!

And after the encouragement here I decided to continue along with my Coffee Cantata socks.  The first leg is all done now and I am continuing along with the second leg now.  Thanks for the push to keep knitting on these!!  They will be gorgeous when they are done!

Excuse the poor quality pictures - my good camera has a dead battery and I cannot locate the charger...  Until next week!!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 18

I finished my Celtic Myths Shawl today but the battery in my camera is dead...  I will post an update tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 17

WOW I did absolutely nothing craftwise yesterday!! I spent the day watching YouTube videos and reading through all sorts of Bullet Journal stuff and Ravelry forums.  I got nothing accomplished all day!!  I suspect I needed a down day!  Today is off to work to teach one more class before the Thanksgiving break begins.  This afternoon when I get home I need to spend some time tidying up the dining room table so I can start working on my Advent Table Runner on Saturday!  And I want to watch some TV and work on my Celtic Myths Shawl.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 16

I am set to begin on WIP-it Down Day 2!  I have the day off work and will spend a significant amount of time working on my Celtic Myths Shawl.  It is quite close to completion and I am hoping to finish the knitting today!!  Check back tomorrow to see how much I did!!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 15

WIP-it Down Day 1 was a huge success!!  I finished Sarah's fingerless mittens and I also managed to start and finish a small cowl for her.  I almost used up all the yarn in the two skeins I had!  Now I have to get it all packaged up and sent off in the mail to her!

Today I have classes to teach and won't be home until after 9pm, but on Thursday I plan to spend my time working on my Celtic Myths shawl.  It is getting closer to done so maybe, just maybe I'll get the knitting part done!!  Once the knitting is done I have to soak and block it.

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 14

WIP-it Down Day 1

The plan for today is to finish Sarah's fingerless mittens and work on a keyhole scarf for her to use up the rest of the yarn but while perusing Ravelry I decided on a small cowl instead.  I hope I have enough yarn!!

I'll update tomorrow about what I got done!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 13

I soon have some days off work coming up over the next two weeks so I am planning a WIP-it Down time!!  Each day I am free I will focus on one project and see how much I can get done on it!  My list (subject to change) of viable suspects and dates for them include:

1) Tuesday November 15th - Finish Sarah's mittens and start a keyhole scarf for her
2) Thursday November 17th - Celtic Myths shawl
3) Friday November 18th, Wednesday November 23rd, Thursday November 24th (these are each partial days with other commitments so I will not have a complete day on this one) - Cross stitch horses
4) Saturday and Sunday November 19th and 20th -  Make the quilted Advent table runner
5) Monday November 21st -  Coffee Cantata socks
6) Tuesday November 22nd -  Scrappie socks
7) Friday November 25th -  Sock scrap-ghan

Each day I plan to post a before and after shot!  On some of these days I have a few other commitments so can't spend all day on the given project.  Also during one of these days I want to sort, photograph, and inventory ALL my yarn!  Not sure which day yet - in other words this list is not 100% confirmed yet!  But I am planning to get a goodly amount of crafting done over the next two weeks!!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 12

Sixth Year of Projects - Week 20: 

Rats - I missed posting yesterday!!  I did not have time since we were driving to visit a friend of ours in the hospital.  It was a two and half hour drive each way.  We left at 9:30 am and got back home about 11:15pm.  Long day but we had a wonderful visit!!  A few days ago I decided to knit a hat (she has undergone chemo and most of her hair has fallen out) and since I had some more of the same yarn I thought I would make a pair of fingerless mittens to go with the hat.  I did not get the mittens done in time so I will mail them to her once they are done.  I am also contemplating making a keyhole scarf but I don't think I have enough yarn - I will probably try it and see - start at one end, keep checking my yarn weight, and make sure I am at the half way point along the scarf so I can manage it.  We shall see!!  The hat is all done and all that is left of the fingerless mittens is to make the thumbs and tuck in a few ends.  The pictures of the hat and mittens are with the same yarn even though the pictures don't reflect that!!

Sarah's hat all done!

Almost done!!  Just need to make some thumbs!

I also made some progress on my Celtic Myths shawl!  Maybe I will be posting a finish next week!

And I am reconsidering the pink cable socks!  I plan to spend some time on them over the next couple weeks so hopefully I can make some decent progress!

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 11

Made it!!  The hat is all done and ready to give away tomorrow!  I also started a pair of fingerless mittens but am not sure if I will get them done in time.  If not I will still finish them and mail them to her :)

NaBloPoMo 2016 Day 10

Today I decided to make a hat for a dear friend of ours.  She is a young lady (18 years old I believe) and she has just undergone a bone marrow transplant.  She had to undergo chemo and because of the treatments her hair has come out.  We are hoping to go visit her in the hospital this weekend (it is about a two hour drive from where we live).  Her Mom posted some pictures on Facebook about her hair mostly coming out in the past week.  I have scrounged through my yarn stash and found two skeins of Bernat Alpaca.  This stuff is incredibly soft and the color is gorgeous (the color is Persimmon).  The hat is a simple design called Scarlet.  I almost finished it!! I started with a needle size too small (largest circulars I own) and then switched to double point needles instead.  Those slow me down as I am so used to magic loop!  I am working on the decreases at the crown and it will be done (after I tuck in the two tails also).