Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Settling In

So the weather has just been nuts, huh?  I am looking forward to a Colorado summer and my kiddos are asking the Magic 8 ball for snow.  I am just happy with a little bit of daily sunshine.

We survived a slightly thrown together Easter and family photo shoot last weekend.  I think it is finally sinking in for the kiddos this is permanent.  I am slowly adjusting to having hubby at work again.  He has been home every night for dinner.  It has been a long time since his arrival has been this consistent.  My in-laws and I are slowly getting use to the new day to day.  They have decided to put Torryn into preschool and covering the cost til we can get financially back on our feet.  He is looking forward to next week.  It'll be really good for him.

I have a useable lap stand and have even tried it out.





 My FIL had to make 2 extensions before we got it right.  I am keeping all the "wrong" ones for when I sit in a different place.



  Still trying to figure out how to make it work for me 100%.  It really slows me down and the 2 handed method is showing me my left hand is apparently not connected to my brain?

I also ordered some counting pins on Etsy.  Her shop is here. So light weight and 2 great lengths to choose from.  I ordered late night, it was shipped the next morning.  I even got a coupon for my next visit!

So some action shots.  These are the shorter ones that I have mainly been using.


In this case I am marking where I stitch to and am liking them for that job.  Now these are the longer ones which I originally thought was what I wanted.






They are also super lightweight, but really hard to stitch around.  I have relegated them to marking long lines of stitching.

I am glad that these came up in conversation right before I started stitching over 2 on linen.  The short lengths I have done took a lot of time because of all the recounting I had to do.  Now I count once, mark it, and can happily stitch without worry of too many or not enough stitches.  I didn't get a lot done this last week.  The frogs came for about 3 dogs.  I think I was just too tired, both mentally and emotionally, and every stitch I put in I had to then remove.  But the sun has come out and the frogs seem to be gone for now at least.  Last night I had to roll the fabric down so that I could start a really long stretch of stitching.  That was an adventure all it's own, but I think I got it.

This week at some point I need to run by my LNS to get some things for an exchange and some smaller needles.  I am thinking that might help with how small these holes are.  But onto the progress.








I am stitching with variegated threads from Carrie's.  This is Seaweed.  I am having a bit of trouble with it as I am not sure how to go about making the long stretches of color to look good together.  So far I have been able to stitch with the threads being the same color next to each other.  Now that I am getting to the really long stretches I know that won't work.  Do I just end one color and start up with the color on the next thread that is the closest?  We will have to see how it goes.

Until next week...

3 comments:

  1. I was thinking of making some pins, but I don't really know how to use them. Love the ones you got, though!

    - Lisa

    ReplyDelete
  2. To make the shading look better on the variegated, I would stitch the two stitches up and down and then move over, so that instead of stitching one row and then heading up again, you are basically stitching the entire thickness of the row as you go. Also, I would find where on the skein the color variation ends, that is, the pattern of the variation ends, and then cut in the middle of the variation, and if its too long, cut that piece in half to stitch, also cutting in the middle of the variation. so when you finish with the piece you are stitching with, you start with the next piece, this will keep the color pattern the same. You want to stitch with the lengths of floss end to end.I wish I could show you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I soooo wish you could show me too!!!! So I started stitching individual crosses down and then coming back up. But now i have been stitching both at a time. Still not sure which I like better. I have been stitching end to end, like colors and all that. Then the frogs came. SO when I get back to it I think I am going to change colors...Thank you for the advice!

    ReplyDelete