Crafty Updates

The finished product will be centered in that hoop!

What I'm currently working on: I just started my first cross stitch piece and I love it! I am also excited to help Emily test her new PC Stitch software. 😉 I don't know why I'd never tried cross stitch before, but I saw this kit at Fancy Tiger Crafts and decided now-ish is the time! To me this has been kind of an instant gratification craft, easy enough that I'm happy with how my first project looks, but it's difficult enough to be entertaining.

Supplies and skills needed: Really just the kit and a pair of scissors, plus a bit of patience and pattern reading ability!

How likely that I'll finish: Definitely going to finish. Maybe a better question is how soon will I start my next one? Probably very. 😄

What I just finished: A baby blanket for a friend's soon-to-be-here baby number two! They decided to wait to find out on the gender, so I tried to keep it as gender neutral as possible but kind of ended up with half traditional girl colors and half traditional boy colors, so hopefully they are also cool with that.

I think this might be my first actually squared blanket! Usually the cast on or bind off row is tighter so it's more of a wonky rectangle, but this one is pretty much even all the way around. I also changed up the yarn I usually use for blankets and tried Mighty Stitch for the first time and so far I like it! The last few times I used Brava and it just felt a little squeaky/plasticy while knitting, which seemed to increase each time I washed the finished blanket so I'm trying to find a nice washable alternative. I'm anxious to see how it will hold up, but it already seems better and so soft!

What's next: I've been reading a lot about punch needle rug hooking and I really want to try it but I'm not sure I need to try any new crafts ever so I haven't bought any supplies yet. 😖 I also started another sweater but got busy with other things and then a little bit intimidated by the colorwork because I'm to a spot where I'm knitting with three colors at a time (it's not in the pattern that way but for some crazy reason I decided it was a good idea). Following my intimidation I continued with nonsensical decision making and bought the patterns for Alyseska and Zweig, also both by Boyland Knitworks, so we'll see how my current sweater goes before I try either of those. I have great dreams of being an amazing colorwork knitter, but so far I've still got a ways to go!

Ernestine May helping with photos