Progress!

A progress update is long overdue. First up, the blanket I'm crocheting for my son; it measures approximately 34":

I haven't worked on "Living with Charm" in a while, so not much progress to show:

Lastly, a finish! I finished "Sunflowers" last month. I just need to get it framed:

It's Been A While

I have two reasons/excuses for the length of time between posts:

1. I've been really busy/overwhelmed with coursework, housework, and work
2. I've been debating whether to continue the blog

The course is done, and I'm taking a break from further coursework for at least six months.

I've decided to continue the blog, just for me to have a place to journal my projects, as I intended when I first started this, without worrying about how often I post, or whether readers find my posts interesting enough to return.

To end today's post, some progress on "Snow Family" and a new crochet project, the Dots and Dashes Throw:

Goals for 2011

Last year I felt I wandered rather aimlessly through my stitching and knitting. I guess it reflected how busy life was for me - working part-time, going to school part-time, trying to keep up with housework, and trying to find balance for it all, and not subjecting husband and son to the stressed out me too often (I don't think I was very successful on that one). I'm still working on finding balance, but I hope that setting some craft goals will help me in the coming year.

2011 Knitting/Crochet goals:
1. Finish 1-2 pairs of slippers for husband
2. Knit a prismatic scarf for myself
3. Crochet another dish mat or two
4. Knit another pair of lined mittens for son
5. Knit some dish cloths for myself and mom

2011 Cross Stitch goals:
1. Finish Snow Family
2. Finish Living with Charm
3. Finish Sunflowers
4. Make progress on Fish City, maybe finish another page?
5. Start large Christmas project (combining 2 Lavender & Lace charts)
6. Finish some of the ornaments that I've completed in previous years but have not yet turned into ornaments

Friday Favorite

Today's favorite is crochet: Elegant Christmas Tree Skirt by Kim Guzman. I've been searching for a tree skirt I like at a price that I find reasonable. So far I haven't found it. I've found plenty I like, but at a price I'm not willing to spend on a tree skirt. I started thinking this year that perhaps I'll just have to make one. If you're on Ravelry, I really like the way this one was done.

In Crafting News...

It's been a while, so I've got a bit of progress to report.

In cross stitch, I've been working diligently on Living with Charm and Sunflowers.

In knitting, I finished some dishcloths for my mom, and some slippers for my husband. Also, I've started a new scarf and some mittens for my son.

In crochet, I finished two dish mats, the first of which was previously seen here.

Knitting and Crochet Progress

This: has turned into this:

While I really enjoy making a simple knitted dishcloth, apparently I find adapting that pattern into a large dish mat extremely boring. That, and knitting with cotton is really hard on my hands. So, I frogged it and decided to try a crocheted mat. Crocheting the same size mat, however, is much quicker, and the cotton doesn't bother me. I did recently read that using aluminum needles makes working with cotton easier, so I'm planning to try that. With the quick progress I've made on this mat in a little more than a week, I anticipate this will be done soon.

Last month I finally finished my scarf to go with my mittens, so I'll have a matching set for this winter.