A Desperate-for-Spring Monday Update

Well, I would just like to state for the record that I am done with the cold. I guess it would be one thing if it was just bone-chilling cold all the time, but down here, it can be arctic one day, and 70 the next, and that's nothing more than a tease - not to mention wreaking havoc with your body (skin & head, especially). The windchill at last Thursday's game was in the 20s - I lasted until just after halftime, then I had to go to the car. I didn't think I was ever going to get warm. But if the wind hadn't been blowing, it would have been more than tolerable. But the good news is that it is supposed to be 70 by this weekend - Little Kid & DH's season-opening tournament, far from home. Good thing; I'll even take games in the rain so long as it's warm. As for Big Kid, their record is currently 2-1-1, with the tie coming in on Friday - I didn't go, which is probably a good thing, as it became a rather brutal game, with two red cards, coaches going at it, and all-around poor reffing (which, as always, allowed it to escalate to stupid proportions) and generally a waste of time & effort. I hate high school ball - it is so unsophisticated. Glad I missed it - and only 2 games this week, one of which on Little Kid's b-day, so might not go to that one, either...

On to the stitching update. I finished BoInk on Saturday :) Can't see the pic until tomorrow, though - sworn to secrecy. I can't believe it's done, and that I'm done, as well. I have to thank Tracy for her generosity and for her creativity - this piece was considerably more involved than many of the big freebie SALs you find out there, since so many of them are samplers of a color or two, with repeating themes. I also want to thank all of my fellow stitchers for the inspiration you provide - the sheer range of color choices and design modifications was and is quite overwhelming, and I look forward to seeing even more finishes come in, as people are even now just starting. There are rumors that Barfy the Cat might be seen on the Ink Circles site tomorrow, so you might want to check it out sometime during the afternoon tomorrow :)
http://www.inkcircles.com/

And, as promised, as soon as I got BoInk finished, I put my first stitches into Tanglewood :) I only worked on it a couple of hours over Saturday & Sunday, as I had other things calling my name :) But now, after BoInk, the knots seem pretty familiar - smaller, which is nice - so I see this going pretty quickly. I love the colors in it - and the thistle part I see getting used in other places :) Here's my start, on Silkweaver's 32c Heritage:
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/70/Tanglewood_by_Ink_Circle#1

Last week, I mentioned that I was working on a biscornu for the Jan Houtman Foundation. I completed side 1, and will start Side 2 this week during lunch. I had a piece of 28ct white Monaco left over from my RR piece, and I had a mystery spool of Vikki Clayton' premium silk, so what better use? I did pick a matching DMC for the bs edge - I wanted to use the Holbein stitch along the whole thing, which doesn't work so well with variegated thread, so a solid DMC it is. Here is Side 1(Side 2 will be a slightly different design):
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/55/Travel_Projects#13

My main focus all week was Knotgarden. I was hoping to knock out the green corner I just barely got a start on last month, but didn't know how far I'd get, with going to 2 of 3 games during the week. But since I did no housework all weekend, I made up some serious ground Saturday night and yesterday afternoon :) Of course, I have 4 loads of laundry that I need to jam in tonight, since we have a game tomorrow - but that's why I have child labor :) I got the green done, and the brick wall section of the bottom corner, so next time, I want to do the outside of that right side, connecting those two corners. Here is the overall, and the detail of this week's progress:
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/40/Knotgarden_by_Chatelaine_Martina_Weber#14
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/40/Knotgarden_by_Chatelaine_Martina_Weber#13

This week, I work on Foursome Reel, and hope, even with being gone to the tournament all weekend and two hs games this week & and a 12th birthday, to get as close to finishing as possible. I don't know what I'm taking with me to the games - Tanglewood, if it's not wet out - Carrie's thread is not colorfast, and I have not taken the time to get some Retayne ($5 to ship a $2 bottle, btw) and treat the threads. I'll see how far I get on Side 2 of the biscornu - don't think I want to do any finishing from the sidelines :) If it is nearing completion, I may take my Kit o' Ornaments and work on Pegasus. We'll have some time to kill in between the games on Saturday for sure. I have next Monday off - my boss is going to Japan for 3 weeks, so I need a 3-day weekend to prepare, though I hadn't planned for 2 of those days to be at soccer :( At any rate, I hope to have the whole of that Monday to make progress on L&U - could use a 1500 stitch week on that, too :) Or maybe I'll work on something entirely different during the day. Who knows? Until next week, Happy Stitching, everyone!!