In other news, the 16 year-old's birthday went well Monday - I actually got a picture of him smiling :) But it's on the other machine, so I'll have to go add it in here later. He did mention one day this week, when I asked him why he hasn't really had a girlfriend since about the same time he started playing WoW (coincidence???), that he didn't drive or have a job, and that has a lot to do with it. Well, if he wants to get a job, far be it from me to stop him - so long as that doesn't involve me spending lots of time & gas driving him all over to do so. There are grocery stores 3 miles in either direction from the house - he can bag groceries or stock shelves to his heart's content - if he can work out a schedule with soccer...
Well, since Saturday was a rain-out, I got to go to the monthly meeting of our local stitch group, PINS - Purple Iris Needlework Something. The restaurant they meet in is kind of dark, so it limits what I can take to work on - Lyne's RR on the blue fabric would probably be too hard to see, as would D is for Dog. Hmmmm, what to take? I know, Celtic Banner! And of course, I forgot to grab my hair clip to keep the other 3' of fabric gathered up, but did have plenty of needles, to I carefully pinned it up - and only stuck myself once or twice while working. Then it took some time for my eyes to adjust to seeing the 36ct in the gloom - window right behind me, but with the rain outside, that was no help. But I finally adjusted and got some progress on the border - then had to undo half of the outermost top border, as I got the middle part over and it wasn't lining up :( Apparently, I can't talk and count - who knew? Anyway, here's what I got done in the few hours - including frogging & fixing:
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/72/Celtic_Banner_by_Marilyn_Leavitt-Imblum#3
In a celebratory mood Friday, for having survived the 3 weeks my boss was on vacation with little or no bloodshed, and for NOT having a game to go to, I wanted a little reward, so I picked up the next ornament in my to-do pile, DD Christmyth Pegasus. And I finished him Saturday afternoon :)
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/68/2009_Ornament_Challenge#7
I forget which one's next - either a Mermaid or a Salamander. At any rate, I see a finishing day coming up soon - I now have 9 ornies in need of finishing, though these DD's will be the quickest ones to do....
My main focus of the week was Knotgarden, and I planned to work the entire outside border of the right side - gates, pots, greenery & birds. I forgot the yellow inner border that runs the entire length, and that took me 2 nights. But I got all the pots done, the gates have the black done (except one stitch that I now see in my pic that I missed), and got a start on the plants. Didn't get the eyelets done inside the yellow, either, but that's okay - I like to save those for when the brain is less than 100% :) Here's where I left it when I put it up last night:
http://rifestitch.multiply.com/photos/album/40/Knotgarden_by_Chatelaine_Martina_Weber#15
There's a second picture after this one, a bit closer-cropped.
I also worked on Lyne's Santa last week - lots of backstitching, and a start on the horse's mane - but nothing really photo-worthy. Wow, is the bs in this piece subtle - I really had to look at it from a distance to see what I'd done :) I'll try to get to a stopping point on the horse before I get it ready to move on...
This week, I get out the small over-1 piece of Foursome Reel and see if I can't crank out a good bit of that, in between games. Even though it's small, that over-1 on 36ct makes it NOT travel-friendly - gotta have my Ott light on to see it, and stationary in the floor stand. RR to work on, Tanglewood & World Tree are both hollering at me, and am waiting for a DMC sale somewhere so I can buy that for Tuscany Town Mandala; yes, I bought that one, too, with a bit of splurge money I made for myself :) I will also be buying into Martina's Desert Mandala at some point, but I won't even attempt to do it as a SAL - Mystery X is still hollering, wanting me to hurry up on Knotgarden :) And I won't mention the new Papillon SAL that I am collecting - the ones from the last two years are hollering at me, too, as is the other several Papillon charts I have in the stash - and I need to get Cotillion for that gorgeous piece of Phantom the Jubilee Girls RAK'd me with last fall :)
Would have liked to have splurge money for the PTP sale over the weekend - I wish they did custom cuts, as I need to buy a fat half of Gothic for Dragon Carousel, when I don't need that big a piece - but I need bigger than fat quarter. Maybe Silkweaver will develop a similar color that I can then order a custom cut :) But I'm also still dithering over count - because of all the beads on Carousel, I'm thinking I need to use 28ct, to make sure they all fit. 32 would be my preference, but I hate trying to jam beads into too small a space - which is why I pretty much stick with 28 for Chatelaines, too. I'm so far from starting Carousel, I don't know why I bother worrying over it now - except I like to be ready :)
Well, that's the news - as always, this having to work for a living is just cutting into everything. Check back next week to see if I manage to get anything done this week - hopefully no new starts - I've got the Kitted pile temporarily stifled...
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