PostWIPocalyptica - April update

My WIPocalypse updates seem to be falling more toward the end of the month than on the full moon...sorry! Standard excuses about attacks of life apply.

I really only have one picture to show you this time around. The only thing I worked on is the MarBek Nativity, but I'm at 179 hours now. That's a whopping 25 hours this month! Here's the top part (obviously no changes to the bottom):

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I did fill in more starlight, and have nearly finished the bottom parts of both angels. There is a method to my madness - once I fill in the center shaft of light up to there, I can go ahead and move the Q-snaps.

No progress on Papillon's "Around the World in 80 Stitches, so I haven't finished part 3 as initially projected. The pattern itself is up through part 11, so I'm certainly a bit behind. But I'm okay with that.

I also failed to block the lace knit scarf. To be honest, I'm not sure when that will be done. It will be someday, hopefully before the end of the calendar year, but I make no promises beyond that.

No progress on Convent Herbal Garden or Stars for a New Millennium this time either.

Going forward, I'm basically just hoping to finish up this panel of Nativity by the end of May. I was aiming for Pentecost, but that's in less than 3 weeks so I'm not really holding my breath. I am also beginning to think that my projection of 200 hours will be a bit short. I hope it's short of 225 though.

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In non-stitching projects, I am now at 347 consecutive treadmill days. That's nearly a year straight! In that time I've covered 417 miles, with an average speed of 2.59mph over 161 hours and change. Slow and steady...

Also, I went to a(nother) Rush concert! I saw them this past weekend over in Orlando on the Clockwork Angels tour:


Rush always puts on a phenomenal show!

Unfortunately I have no decent pictures from during the concert because my only-moderately-sapient phone can't handle the lighting. See?


Much better pictures on the Rush website. Yes, there was some guy in a chicken costume in the front row! I saw him walk in before the show, and this picture proves I'm not crazy.

Well, or at least that I wasn't imagining things. My sanity is still very much up for debate.

PostWIPocalyptica - March update

I'm late, I'm late, withanother WIPocalypse update.

First up is Marbek Nativity. I've been focusing primarily on this, but have only managed 12 hours in the past month.
I did finish that last sheep, and here is the bottom in its entirety (147 hours):

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...and started on the upper part, continuing the beams of starlight:

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By next session, I hope to have filled in more starlight and made at least some progress on the angels.

I did finally start part 3 of Papillon's "Around the World in 80 Stitches:

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Unfortunately, a start is really all I've managed on it. I hope to finish part 3 this month.

I finished the lace knit scarf. This is a simple lace pattern (Simple Elegance Lace Scarf by Bad Cat Designs) in "Gunsmoke" Brown Sheep Wildfoote wool.

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I have yet to block it, but I hope to do so this month.

No progress on Convent Herbal Garden or Stars for a New Millennium this time.

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In other (non-craft) projects, I'm up to 317 consecutive treadmill days. The streak is still going strong, mainly because I'm still going slow enough that reading while walking is a viable option.

PostWIPocalyptica - February update

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'....
...and I'm overdue for another WIPocalypse update.

First up is Marbek Nativity. It's Lent already, so I've picked this up again. It will be my focus until Pentecost (19 May this year). This is now at 142 hours.

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The steps and grass are done, and I've started the sheep - the last figure on the bottom half of the center panel. From there, I move on to the star and angels. By next update I hope to have made significant progress on the star.

Before Lent started, I did another star on Stars for a New Millenium:

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I'm certainly enjoying working on this, but don't expect any more updates until May.

Another piece that saw action at the beginning of the month is Convent Herbal Garden:

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I'm up to 100 hours on this, with the 5 hours this month going toward the scrolling hedge with my Dinky Dyes "Daydream" substitution. I think it's working alright.

I can't knit (or crochet) well enough alone! Not only did I finish the crochet Doctor Who scarf (seen here alongside its knit cousin):

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I started another knit project, my first attempt at knit lace. This is a simple lace pattern (Simple Elegance Lace Scarf by Bad Cat Designs) in "Gunsmoke" Brown Sheep Wildfoote wool.

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I've never knit lace before, and I discovered rather quickly that a yarn-over in knit is *not* the same as a yarn-over in crochet. Not even close. After a few growing pains, I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Maybe by next update I will have finished this and even attempted to block it. That will be new - I've never blocked anything before.

In other (non-craft) projects, I'm up to 286 consecutive treadmill days! Some days the streak is the only motivation I have, but I'll take it.

PostWIPocalyptica - January update

Hard to believe we're almost a full month into 2013 already! Incredibly, it's also time for the first 2013 WIPocalypse update - the lunar updates have been a great stitching incentive for me, so I'm going to continue that this year.

First up is Marbek Nativity. I'm up to 134 hours now, and it's been set aside until Lent (which is only 2 more weeks away).

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I did finish the wise man as planned, and he certainly glitters like his golden gift. I've also done a little bit of the steps. By next update, there should be the rest of the steps and another sheep, to finish off the bottom half of this panel.

Once I set Nativity aside, I did the next star on Stars for a New Millenium:
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This latest star, on the right, is my favorite so far. I still feel pretty confident in my color choices.

And about that scarf:
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I finished the knit one. There is a picture of me wearing it, if you really want to see. And just for comparison, or for grins, I started a crochet one over the weekend, and am nearly finished with it already.

Full credit for the scarves goes to Tara at WittyLittleKnitter.com for the pattern, of course.

There are three projects in progress that have no updates this month:

• Chatelaine "Convent Herbal Garden" (at 95 hours)
• Papillon Creations "Around the World in 80 Stitches (untimed)
• Teresa Wentzler "Fantasy Triptych" (at 8 hours)

There will be updates throughout the year on these, just none today. During 2013, I hope to complete Convent Herbal Garden, as well as the current Nativity panel. Around the World will certainly not be complete, since it's being released in monthly installments over two years, and I doubt Fantasy Triptych will be finished either. But we'll see what I can accomplish.

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Today will be my 256th consecutive treadmill day, and I hope to continue that streak as well.

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2013!

2012 was a busy year, with triumphs and challenges. Raising a teenager tends to fall into both categories. DH and I each lost our lone surviving grandparent over the year, and we lost a beloved priest at our parish as well. But when all 3 of those parties are in their late 80s (or in DH's grandmother's case, 90), it's just the next stage of a life well lived.

The family took a trip to Toronto over the summer, which was an enjoyable mini-vacation for us all.

My main triumph for 2012 was being able to lose 20 pounds, although I suspect some of that snuck back on over the holidays. It won't be staying long, I hope. The treadmill I got back in May has certainly helped with that.

But without further ado, it's time to say goodbye to 2012 Goals and hello to new ones for 2013.

2012 Goals

• Read 5000 pages - I blew this one out of the water, reading 7883 pages! Of course, reading on the treadmill has been a big factor here.
  
• Do 10 101List items - I started a new list back in January, and a number of them are in progress, but I only managed to complete 7, alas.
  
• Lorien to Rauros - As I was almost there last year, I easily made this one, and moved on to...
  
• Rauros to Isengard (Aragorn's path) I'm at 456 of 484 miles - 94% of the way there!
  

This generic set of goals has worked out rather well for me, so I'll basically keep it as is.
2013 Goals

• Read 5000 pages
  
• Do 10 101List items
  
• Rauros to Isengard (Aragorn's path) With less than 30 miles to go, and a treadmill, I should be there by the end of the month, and I can move on...
  
• Isengard to Minas Tirith (Aragorn's path)

I've just completed consecutive days on the treadmill, and it's nearly midnight. Happy New Year!

WIPocalypse now - December update

The world did not end on the 21st. Good thing, too - I have a lot of stitching and other things I still want to do!

What will be coming to an end is WIPocalypse 2012. I've quite enjoyed having a reason to blog at least monthly. Fortunately, there will be a WIPocalypse 2013, and I've already signed up for that.

The main thing I worked on this month was Marbek Nativity. I'm up to 110 hours.

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19 hours doesn't seem like much, given that I'm on vacation, but it's been a crazy month. I did get the animals done and started the wise man. I do want to be completely done with the wiseman and steps before I put this away mid-January, but we'll see.

I also did an ornament for an exchange, as I mentioned last post. This is the star from Teresa Wentzler's "Touch of Holly":

Somehow I don't have a scan of it after I finished it as an ornament...sorry!

Speaking of ornaments, I designed this year's ornament from Tor Rhuann Designs, "Holly and Ivy":
(Want the PDF?)

I also designed some fillers for a bellpull variant of the Holly and Ivy ornaments, but I haven't stitched it yet myself.

It's Bowl Week (though it seems like Bowl Month!), which means much watching of televised football. Since I'm distraction-prone during football games, and therefore timing Nativity would prove inaccurate, I started a knitting project:

If you recognize it as the Fourth Doctor's scarf, full credit goes to Tara at WittyLittleKnitter.com for the pattern. This is the Season 12 variant.

My knitting skills are so remedial that I had to search youtube videos to refresh my memory on how to cast on, but this is coming along more quickly than I thought. I may do another one someday, and I definitely plan to crochet a version for comparison as well.

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Today will be my 225th consecutive treadmill day, and I've lost 20 pounds since last Christmas. (I have probably regained some of that the past week or so, but we won't talk about that....).

All in all, WIPocalypse 2012 turned out well. I hope 2013 does even better.

WIPocalypse now - November update

It's a few days past the full moon - I got sidelined with a cold over Thanksgiving weekend and it's taken me a while to start feeling fully myself. Being sick and too lethargic to stitch was a colossal waste of a perfectly good long weekend.

So apologies for the lateness of this penultimate 2012 WIPocalypse update.

I worked for a bit on Chatelaine's Convent Herbal Garden, bringing the total to 95:

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My estimate of 150 hours is still looking quite achievable.

I did finish part 2 of Papillon Creations' Around the World in 80 Stitches:

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Since I made no promises about part 3, I didn't get any further.

I also did a second square on Tony Minieri's "Stars for a New Millenium":
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Several other of my stitchalong-mates have done 2 squares as well, so I'm right in the pack.

I'd already said TW Fantasy Triptych would be put away for a while, so there are no updates this time.

I did work on one other item this month - an ornament for an exchange. However, since the intended recipient hasn't seen it yet, pictures will have to wait until next month.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, and I'm putting everything else away to resume work on Marbek Nativity. Just as a refresher, here it was at 91 hours back at the end of May:


Ideally, I'd like to be done with the wise man, sheep, and steps by the next update but we'll see.

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Tomorrow I will be up to 200 consecutive treadmill days, and DH will be at 10 today. No weight update yet - I didn't do an official weigh-in this month because I was sick and didn't get to Curves toward the end of the month. So more on that later.

WIPocalypse now - October update

Another full moon, and an all-too-eventful one for many folks along the east coast of the US due to superstorm Sandy. I hope all of my readers and their loved ones who were in the storm's path have pulled through with no serious ill effects.

Despite being in a state known for hurricanes, Sandy was a non-event for us. DD had the day off school, and we got some wind, but nothing worth noting.

It is time, however, for another WIPocalypse update.
I've put in a few more hours on Chatelaine's Convent Herbal Garden, bringing the total to 82:

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My initial estimate for this piece was 150 hours, and it may well still be a reasonable estimate at this point.

I did hedge my bets last month on whether I'd actually get part 2 of Papillon Creations' Around the World in 80 Stitches done. I didn't, although I did make some progress:.

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I should have part 2 done by next update. I'm not making any promises on part 3.

As if I didn't have enough other projects on the go, I had two new starts this month.

The first new start is a large canvaswork piece, Tony Minieri's "Stars for a New Millenium". I'm working on this as a 2-year-long stitchalong with several other stitchers, and we've all had fun choosing our own color schemes for this. I don't have enough experience with canvaswork to make a reasonable estimate, so I'm not bothering to time it. Here's square 1 of 12:
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I've devised my color scheme around Waterlilies "Appalachia", and it's working quite nicely so far.

My other new start was a jump into a long-running October stitchalong for Teresa Wentzler pieces. Other than Needle Guardian and Stretch, I haven't done any TWs in several years, and the TW SAL has been running for at least that many Octobers. So I started Fantasy Triptych:

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I'm doing this on 32ct Silkweaver "Blue Dynasty" lugana, and I'm 5 hours in. I may not work much on this until next October, so progress pics on this may be scarce until then.

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In other WIPs, I'm up to 165 consecutive treadmill days, and I've lost another pound. Slow but steady progress.

Like my stitching.

WIPocalypse now - September update

End of September and another full moon, and time for another WIPocalypse update.
Believe it or not, I made comparatively speedy progress this month (primarily thanks to a quiet Labor Day weekend.) I did a whopping 28 hours on Chatelaine's Convent Herbal Garden, bringing the total to 77!

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Clearly I did finish those corners after all.

The flip side, of course, is that I didn't get much done on Papillon Creations "Around the World in 80 Stitches". I'd predicted a finish through Part 2, but that didn't happen:.

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I might have part 2 done by next update, but we'll see.

In other encouraging news, I lost another 2 pounds, bringing my total loss up to 15. I'm also at 135 consecutive days on the treadmill, before I hop on tonight.

That's all from this end until next update!

WIPocalypse now - August blue moon update

Once in a blue moon seems to be my posting frequency of late, so a WIPocalypse update on a blue moon seems particularly apt.

As always, I haven't done as much stitching as I would like, although I am up to 106 consecutive treadmill days. School has also started back up for DD, so my schedule has less flexibility again.

I did do 7 hours on Chatelaine's Convent Herbal Garden, bringing the total to 49:

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I expect that the corners will take me a while - I will be very surprised if they are done by next update.

I also completed Part 1 of Papillon Creations "Around the World in 80 Stitches":.

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Football season has started up again, and since this is my non-timed piece, Part 2 might actually be complete by next update. We'll see, of course.

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I'm still keeping up with my streak on the treadmill, and I've lost 3 pounds since last month. That's 13 pounds since Christmas. I'm aiming for 27 more between now and next June.