OhSewCrafty Blog

Mostly this month I worked on cross stitch.  First, I picked up Petal Fairy (progress to 75% was Goal no. 4).  I acheived that pretty quickly and finishing this project is within reach, but no rush.  The only problem is the Krenik is almost the same color as my (opalescent) fabric.  A different shade of Kreinik would be preferable but I’m not frogging- that is an entire spool on the wings.  I’ll add some definition via backstitch at the end.  

Before:

Now: 

Next, I brought out Beacon at Daylight (progress to 75% was goal no. 5).  When I finished 3/4 of the chart, I realized the remaining portion (top left) was mostly half cross stitch, which is twice as fast, of course.   This piece is now finished, though not quite before the full moon.  HD post soon.   

Finally Emerald Mermaid received a turn on the scroll bars.  Finishing this was Goal No. 2.  The cross stitch finished quickly, the backstitching is mimimal, but this project has a ton of beads.  I spent several evenings beading and finally finished on April 4.  HD post soon.

As for knitting, I dug out my apres surf hoodie wip.  This is knit in a light mint green, which happens to be a popular color this year.  Back in January and February, I worked on the hems- each piece has an applied I cord edging, which you work from a provisional cast on.  Tedious, but creates a nice edge.  I realized that I actually finished all the hems a few months ago.  So, I worked a three needle bind off to join the shoulders and started the hood.  I have about 9.5″ so far and I’ll be working to 11.75″ before doing the short row shaping.  I have a small head and hoods often require some modifications to fit.  Luckily, I kept copious notes for a project with similar hood construction (Riding to Avalon), so I can make similar mods.  

Question of the Month: Which specialty stitches to you love?  Which do you dread?  I love satin stitch and I enjoy almost every specialty stitch.  There are a few stitches that I prefer in small doses- like stem stitch and french knots.  I don’t mind either, but when there are extensive amounts, I lose patience.

For next month, I’m hoping to finish the Apres Surf hoodie, work on my Mask of Colors QS WIP (Goal no.  6), and start a new project.  My cross stitch WIP count is down to 7 and that makes me twitchy.  If all seven were truly WIPs, I wouldn’t mind, but let’s face it, a few are UFO’s, and I like to have considerable variety among my WIPs.