May Monday progress

This past weekend has been a lovely time of rest and relaxation after a very stressful week at work. I've cooked myself some lovely food - Asparagus cannelloni due to the bargain aisle at Tesco and then couscous, pittas and houmous yesterday. Having time off also meant I got some stitching and knitting time in.

Yesterday I got some stitching time in Autumn watergarden, which I've fallen behind with a little. I've now managed to get part 1 finished, beading and all and got a fairly good start on part 2.



I've also been stitching on my part of the group wallhanging that I'm part of and that's almost done too.

Knitting wise, I've been knitting on a couple of pairs of socks. First up, the Socktopus club socks from last month's parcel have made some progress. The people in my knitting group have heard my frustrations with these socks at the last meetup I made it too as I was having problems with one of the pattern lines that was in turn causing problems with the stitch count. It turns out that one of the written pattern repeats had an extra yarn over in it but the chart didn't. I had been using the written pattern, hence my problem. After getting over this, I made quicker progress. The first sock is knitted and I'm now on to the icord embellishments of that sock.



Whilst I was really frustrated by the problems of that sock, I cast on the first of a pair of socks from the new Cookie A book - Kai-Mei in Malabrigo sock in Lettuce.




I have done a little yarn buying over the weekend though. I've been trying to find a little cardigan to go with my dress without luck. I did, however manage to find the right colour of cotton yarn to knit one so hopefully with a firm deadline, I hopefully should get it done. The yarn is Drops safran and I'm planning to use the pattern Marigold from Rowan 45.

April progress and May goals

For April, I said I would

1. Finish a Lacy cardigan that I'm currently knitting. I've only got the sleeves to go.
- Yes I finished it.

2. Finish at least one pair of socks
- I finished my Jungle stripe socks

3. Start and finish my Socktopus April sock club socks once they arrive.
- I've started them but I'm having a few problems with the pattern on one of the rows and with the stitch count.

4. Finish at least part 1 of Autumn Watergarden and try to finish part 2.
- Didn't even manage a stitch in it.

5. Finish the box side of Japanese Octagon box and start the next part.
- Yes and I've made quite a bit of the progress on the next part, the first side of the scissor holder

6. Stitch my part of a group wall hanging project that I'm part of.
- No


For May, I plan to

1. Stitch my part of a group wall hanging that I'm part of.

2. Finish the first half of the Japanese Octagon box scissor holder and make a start on the next part.

3. Finish Part 1 of Autumn watergarden and start part 2

4. Knit 1 pair of socks from the new CookieA book for the Cookie A KAL that I've joined on Ravelry.

5. Finish my Socktopus club socks provided I can get the pattern problem sorted.

Friday progress

I'm continuing to make some progress on my goals for this month but I fear I may run out of month before I run out of goals.

I have finished one of the pairs of socks that I currently have on the needles - Plain stockinette socks in Lorna's laces shepherd sock in Jungle stripe.



I've also made a start on the latest Socktopus sock club socks - Over the garden wall toe up socks by Loumms creations. The yarn is Artist's Palette sweet feet in sweet pea.



Toe up socks are a new thing for me so I'm learning a lot. Mostly that they are easier than I thought they would be.

Finally I've finished the side panels for Japanese Octagon box. I really want to get this all finished up soon as it will look perfect in my bedroom which has a lot of oriental bits and pieces. Last week I finished redecorating my bedroom and this would just set it off perfectly.

Sunday stitching progress and some goals

Lately the title of this blog has been a bit deceptive as there's not been a lot of stitching going on around here. The yarn and knitting projects have been calling pretty loudly. My stitching WIP list is huge though so I've been spending a little time stitching this week.

I managed to finish one of my WIPs, Spooky spots by Shepherds Bush.



I did start another project though - Autumn Watergarden by Chatelaine designs. I moderate two forums on the Chatelaine BB and one of them is for this design so I thought I'd better get cracking with the stitching as I'm already a little behind. I've only managed a little bit so far as I had to buy some threads to go any further.



Finally I've been spending a little time working on another WIP also by Chatelaine designs - Japanese Octagon box. The bit I'm currently working on is the side of the box. I might make this my stitching focus for a while as I really want this finished and on display.



I'm going to try setting myself some goals for this month to see if it will help me make more progress on the things I want to do.

This month I'm hoping to

1. Finish my Central Park Hoodie - I only have a little bit of each sleeve, the hood and the button bands to do so its achievable.

2. Finish one pair of socks currently on the needles - again achievable as I'm on the second sock of one pair

3. Stitch at least the first part of Autumn Watergarden

4. Finish stitching the box side of Japanese Octagon box and make a start on at least one more section.