April, May, and some of June

Ok . . . so this is the post where I catch up with the counted cross stitch stuff. And then I'll be better about updating stuff, I swear this time!

So I decided tonight to take a pic of Melena. I really ought to work on her more. (I'm putting her first as I mentioned her in the previous cross stitch post):



That peachy bit is part of her cheeks.



Ok . . . so most of the time, I was working on the secret-can't-talk-about-it-until-July-or-so-project (so looking forward to being able to post that pic). But I did bounce back and forth between that and other cross stitch projects as well as spinning.

One of the ones I worked on a little bit (like a day or two) was the Shinysun's Cross Stitch Single Flower Iris (Lachri). I think I basically have like a page or a page and a half left to that. I did a lot of filling in of confetti. Yet another thing I want to attempt to do/get done by the end of the year, if possible. Here's the loveliness:





I know somewhere in there, I did work for a day or two on Rendezvous, but I forgot to take an update pic before this post. Ooops. Next time.

And I was supposed to start Daddledore on May 30th. Unfortunately, that didn't quite happen. Partly because I hadn't actually unearthed the fabric and had yet to start the gridding. Plus, after the "secret project", I just needed a break. So . . . I decided to pick up a project I had put down the year before. The pot-bellied Dragon!

White Willow Stitching

Pot-Bellied Dragon

Dee Dreslough

Full crosses 3 strands over 2 on 28 ct hand dyed fabric (I dyed it)

Started December 6, 2012

Finished June 15, 2014



I also started the second part of a four-part project. I had gotten Joan Elliott's Bewitching Cross Stitch book years ago. There is a pattern in there of a wizard looking into a crystal ball. And there are 4 possible patterns to put in the ball for him to look at. The one that was stitched in the model was the castle. The choices were an unicorn, a castle, a dragon, and an owl. I, of course, started with the dragon one. I did finish that one and put the other 3 aside for a while. Well I decided to start on the owl. Too bad I misread the symbol for 762 as 341. I frogged that and did restitch that. I don't have a pic yet, but that's because there's not much to see. However, here's the dragon:



And last night, while watching Camelot and Salem (so I say that's why I didn't get further along lol), I started Daddledore finally!

Here's the gridded fabric:



And here's after about 2 hours:





And as a bonus, I finally picked a shawl pattern to use the lace weight alpaca. I didn't feel like I could use it for socks as it is lace weight instead of sock/fingering weight. So I picked up a size 5 circular needle on my way home at Michael's. Hopefully, I'll be able to use it, even if it is 16" instead of 19". And I found a new sock weight yarn I want to try out. I bet I can get two whole pairs of socks out of it! So I picked the silvery grey one called "cool grey" to test it out. I'll start with a pair for my sister. She usually gets the test stuff. lol But it's nice and soft, so I can't be too unhappy that Michael's did away with the super nice yarn that had cashmere in it. Plus this stuff (ok it's mostly acrylic, but also has nylon) is only 2.99 so even better. But here's the alpaca lace weight yarn I had gotten, thinking that it was size 1/sock weight. Well, that's what the description said, at any rate. It is so pretty, it's got a subtle shading between pink and slate pink and a lavenderish and is super soft.



Ok so it's hard to see the lovely change in color. But the color name of "mother of pearl" is perfect for this. Hopefully, this will knit up nicely. I found a free pattern on Ravelry, called, "Tuscarora Beach Shawl" by Rachel Howard. The description says it features the "passionflower" motif. (The Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns) And I liked this one best for this yarn due to the fact that the material used for the the sample was 1 skein of Cascade Alpaca Lace in the color Amethyst Lace. And I like that is the same as my not-sock-weight yarn. So . . . now to wind it into a ball (I think I need a ball winder, btw) and then start knitting. I'm also going to need to figure out how to block this . . .