last time
Photo, above, of where I was 3 weeks ago with my dolphin sampler. And photo below of where things are now.
now
I didn’t get as much done as I’d hoped, but this dolphin is a rather large one, and I never expected to get him stitched in 3 weeks.
Lets hop over and see what other SAL members have been up to.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie,
Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,
and we’ll be back again in 3 weeks.
In January of this year, I admitted to having a serious yarn addiction, totting up ALL yarn lurking in drawers, bags and cupboards around the house, and realising I have a problem (27.538kg of a problem).
Since then, I’ve therefore been concentrating on getting that weight down.
After this sweater in January
500g out
This sweater in February
600g out
Two tortoise memory games in February & March
approx 280g out
That’s 500 + 600 + 280 = 1380g out meaning 26.158kg still to go. I’ve begun work on another sweater in aran. Knitting up a pattern I’ve used twice before, the “Shavo” sweater, I’m making a version for myself in a very pretty green, which should make good use of a further 600g..
“Shavo” in progress
This is how it looks so far . . . approx 150g knit up so far, Knitting at a fairly leisurely pace since I won’t need a snuggly sweater in the coming months, but it feels good to be working towards my yarn weightloss goal.
I’ve also been doing a bit of sewing with stretch fabric.
baby dragons
On the right, a pair of leggings belonging to Toddler Tattoo (brought them home to repair a hole). And on the left, a pair of baby dragon leggings, made by yours truly. I’m waiting for Mrs Tattoo to let me know how they are for size, before I cut and sew more. Since my Juki is all set up with the special “stretch fabric” needle, I also plan on making a few pairs of leggings for myself, for this summer. Not in baby dragon fabric, sadly, because I don’t have enough in my stash, although that would have been fun lol.
It’s SAL Sunday again . . . is it me, or do these 3 weekly updates seem to come around fast? Time to link up with fellow SALers to show progress on our current stitching project. Mine is an ABC design, that I pulled out of my UFO drawer last month. Last time I was here.
This time, a much better photo of colours . . . and a fair bit of progress.
Here’s the list of other members, if you fancy a blog hop to admire some very inspiring stitching.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie,
Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,
I don’t seem to be getting much done in the crafting department because of other things getting in the way this month. One of the “other things” is Le Bleu. We noticed he had a very swollen cheek on Saturday night (16th) but it was too late to get a vet consult. First thing Monday, I managed to get him an appointment. The vet said it was an abces, and she’d keep him in for surgery that afternoon.
after surgery
Here he is after surgery. Didn’t need a plastic cone. Just 4 days worth of antibiotics. Le Bleu is quite a geriatric cat now – 16 years old next month. He’s lost even more weight recently and barely tips the scales at 4.5kg these days (used to weigh 6.5kg in his prime) . . . we therefore also had blood works run, dental check-up etc done while he was at the vets for the op. For a cat his age, blood works were surprisingly normal. No kidney failure on the horizon. Heart, teeth & gums are all healthy. Which is great news but doesn’t explain the general lack of appetite, resulting in weight loss. Anyhoot . . . I’ve been splashing out on all the top of the range cat foods, trying to find something to tempt him. He seems happy enough, and doesn’t have any trouble going up & down stairs, hopping on & off the bed etc . . . so I guess we just have to accept that he’s simply getting old, and do as much as we can to try and boost appetite to prevent more weight loss.
I gave myself a bit of retail therapy on-line. I know my resolution is to work my way through my yarn stash and avoid adding any new supplies to my overflowing drawers, but . . . I’ve still got a bee in my bonnet about making some miniature amigurumi and I saw that Scheepjes has just brought out a new line of fine crochet thread: it’s called Candy Floss and is the equivalent of a n° 10 thread. I already had 3 balls of Scheepjes Maxi Sugar Rush in my stash (which is the equivalent of a n° 8 thread) .
Scheepjes haul
Above is photo of my new Scheepjes stash. The 3 balls on their sides, with label showing, are 50g balls I already had. As you can see, I ordered in a further 14 in that weight, including skin tones and hair tones, with a view to doll making. The smaller balls are the 20g balls of Candy Floss. Bought 15 balls of those in total, again with a view to crocheting some dolls. I’ve started work on a project with the Maxi Sugar Rush thread, on a 1mm hook . . . hoping to work my way to the finer, Candy Floss, thread afterwards, for which I’ll be using a 0.75mm hook, maybe finer.
I also made some headway with my diamond painting project. Which has gone from this
to this
So . . . a bit of this and that! Another project in progress is a second family of crocheted tortoise, making a second memory game . . . but not far enough along to have taken any photos yet.
I’ve just picked up a partially stitched project that had been gathering dust, to work on as my next SAL project.
The design is
a kit bought several years ago on ebay for only 2€. I did make a start way back then and got this much done before shoving it in a drawer.
A few evenings stitching and progress has been made.
Joining in with the lovely group of SAL members, showing updates on our stitching every 3 weeks.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Jackie,
I’m back to crochet . . . enjoying having a quick an easy project to hook. Above was the start of this tortoise memory game. It’s still a WIP because I have to make the mother tortoise next. However, all the babies are made.
I’ve made 20 babies, ie 10 pairs. Am making using Stylecraft DK on a 3.5mm hook. Lots of fun and making a change from knitting.
I’ve been flitting from one thing to another in my crafting space recently. A bit of diamond painting (which had fallen by the wayside since last summer).
Quite a lot of knitting.
making a XL sized version of the sweater I knitted in pink. Photo doesn’t do the colour justice. It’s a dark denimy blue. Am knitting this one for the husband, therefore altered the pattern and knit some 2×2 ribbing on the bottom band. 400g of aran used so far.
Have some repairs to do too. The husband wears braces to keep his trousers up and all his trousers have ugly chew marks from the teeth of braces on the waist band. I’ve come up with a (not very pretty) solution of adding some denim to the chewed areas.
Didn’t even bother doing it neatly, and have overlocked edges visible, but since the aim is just to keep the trousers going a little longer, for gardening and dog-walking. There are various other rips and holes on trousers, usually around the pockets, some of which I’m not even trying to mend.
And . . . I’ve started a new crochet project.
This is a DK stash busting project (pattern says to use aran, but I’m going with DK) and making a tortoise memory game. So far, I’ve made a start on my baby tortoise body shapes – need to make 10 pairs with different coloured centres.
Dolls’ house in place
The dolls’ house has been moved upstairs to my sewing room, where I had a rearrange of some of my dolls to make room for it. Looking very proud !
And I’ve started work on making some furniture. Very inspired by Julie Warren, and two of her books I treated myself to, I bought in a supply of balsa wood in the correct thicknesses.
And set to work carefully measuring, cutting, sanding & glueing, following a sofa pattern from the book on the right.
underside
side view
general view
Above photos of all the basic sofa. The husband then set to work with some wood stain, while I made padding, and some more furniture.
sofa in house
There’s the sofa, in living room, to give you an idea of scale.
with armchair and nesting tables
And here, with an armchair and nesting tables. Need to make padding for the armchair, and the husband will be in charge of staining. I was a little uncertain about my ability to make 1:12 furniture, but have to say, the Julie Warren books are fabulous. Everything is explained, step by step, and it just requires a little patience.
tables actually “nest”!
Furniture sitting on a cutting mat with grid in centimetres if you’re wondering how big/small everything is.
I’ve slipped a very quick project into my cross stitch agenda and will be sharing it with you over two SAL updates.
The design is something I charted very quickly myself, with pen and paper.
“oui”
As the backstitched date suggest, this needs to be finished by 22nd February, when Mr Tattoo is going to make an honest woman of Mrs Tattoo at the registry office. Just a little something to mark the occasion and for them to keep as a souvenir. A full reveal on our next update, after the event.
In the meantime, let’s do a blog-hop and see what other SAL members have been up to.
Avis, Claire, Gun, Christina, Kathy, Margaret,
Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon,
Daisy, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Cindy, MaryMargaret
Ten days ago, I shared photos of a new project the husband and I are working on together: the dolls’ house.
Things have progressed.
the back is on
House is looking more finished now that the the husband has fixed the back panels in place. I’ve been doing some woodwork of my own. With the house only having 6 rooms, and with two of those being more like an entrance hall and upstairs landing than proper rooms, I came up with an idea to do without a loo and bathroom.
fake doors
I made 2 wooden doors (out of scraps) which will be glued to the far walls . . . hopefully giving the impression that the house extends back farther than it actually does, and resolving the problem of having to make bathroom furniture!
window frames
I’ve also glued 4 window frames together. These will be given a coat of wood stain before sticking them in place. And then, I’ll be making French windows and the front door.
Slowly but surely, the house is taking shape.
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