Where is Summer?

Hullo hullo everyone! Hope everyone is well and keeping warm - even those of you in the southern hemisphere - I know not everyone else suffers from black hole syndrome like those of us in Dunedin, but it has not been summery here - its been rainy and grey and miserable . I realise that when compared to the storm hitting the US, my lack of sun is a small problem.... but it's supposed to be summer!

Plus it's ruining the berry and stone fruit growing 😢.

The rain has been prime stitching and reading weather though, so I suppose that is a silver lining.  I finished 2001 A Space Oddyssey  (Dave was the space baby? How on earth did I miss that obviousness in the movie?!), and moved on to the Heroes of Olympus series. It's the follow up series to the Percy Jackson books and I have to say, a book in and I'm enjoying it more.

I have to admit, during the week days, I have been reading far more and not stitching. I don't know what it is but between the gross weather and the post christmas lull, work is just draining me. People (ie customers) just seem to be so much more.... stupid, I guess, after the Christmas  holidays. Like thier brains have overloaded and shut down for a spell - the number of times I've had to say something along the lines of "no, we cannot make you a whole wheat gluten free loaf" has gone past being a joke now. And don't even get me started on the people doing the paleo diet as their new years resolutions...

Sigh.

After all that, my own brain just doesn't want to. I did try to do a little stitching - I started one of my Brookes Books patterns but I only got a couple of lengths of floss in before I lost the will to count and went back to the books.

Peg the Plum Pudding Angel

Weekends have been more productive, even with disruptions thankfully. I worked last weekend, and eldest kid sister was in town for swimming again this week. But the Man has been working Sundays so disruptions have been balanced with alone time which is nice.

I FINALLY picked up Once Upon a Time again. It seems like forever since I worked on it. I got a little done before remembering that despite appearances this is actually a brain intensive piece. 

It will be lovely when it's finally done though. Plus I had forgotten how much I like the tea dyed monaco that I'm using.

As a reward for surviving all the stupid that's out there (it would seem that it's all still hitting nerves, though that could also be the sister visit), I thought I would reward myself with a new start that I didn't have to think about as much as Once Upon a Time.

Sleepy Hollow by Glendon Place. Worked on 32 count charcoal even weave. It's been just what I needed today after being reminded yet again that I am the forgotten sibling. As well as swapping the fabric for something more neutral, I have also swapped out the Carondelet Waterlily for a glow in the dark treasure braid. And I hate to say this, given how highly people speak of them, but I'm not liking the petite treasure braid. I prefer kreinik. It just keeps knotting on me. I mean, I'll keep with it for the sake of the moon here, but in the future,  I don't think I'll be buying it again. 

I feel like I should duck and cover for saying that. 

But then the sarky, currently bad tempered part of me reminds me that it's my hobby and I can do what I like. I don't like being bad tempered as a general rule, I just happen to do it really well (I'm blunt and honest by nature, so often come off as being a bit of a witch if you know what I mean...especially when teamed with an angry resting face) and I don't mean to wish away time, but I can't wait for the end of February. This comming weekend I have to survive an overnight work trip. As much as I love all my work brothers and sisters - they can be a bit full on (think ADHD children), and the introvert in me  doesn't know how she'll react stuck with them in a van for 48 hours. Then we have the over seas family invasion. Again, that could go one of two ways. But the last week of February, I have solely to myself and off work, and I think it will be just what I need to get me out of this funk I'm in.

Between now and then, I would like to apologize sincerly and deeply for any and all rants that I am likely to have about various things (I will spare you the one I just had about the sugar documentary we just watched). Nothing I may or may not say will be intended in any way shape or form to be offensive. But I can feel the bad juju brewing inside, and like I said - I'm blunt.  

And hopefully stitching will take the edge off. It usually does.

I think I'll leave it there for to night. I've hit the point of rambling. So, until next time 💚

Another Day

Real life always seems to get in the way of our hobbies, doesn't it? Now, don't get me wrong - I love my man and my friends, my job and work mates are wonderful, my course work I'm ambivalent to but it's for my job so we will claim that for a win. I just wish it left more time for hobbies. Maybe if we had more hours in a day or didn't need to sleep. Maybe if I was a twilight vampire.

Jeeze, did I just admit to knowledge about Twilight vampires? Lets maybe move on shall we?

Last time I posted - which was far too long ago - I mentioned that I was sick. I still am, surprise surprise. This cold that has been going around the city is kicking me (and everyone else that has had it by all accounts) around pretty hard. The extra infections have cleared up and the antibiotics have been finished, but still the hacking cough continues a month later. Oh joy. That's no excuse for a late post however. Although I guess "lateness"  is a relative term when I haven't really set "rules" on these things.

That is something I have  been thinking about over the last week or so. I was thinking about my stitchy bug and my reading bug and how they seem to come and go. Both are back now, incidentally and I will get into my progress soon, but I was thinking about these things while trawling through Facebook and YouTube and I realized that social media affects my desire to do things, but not in the way that I had previously thought. 

I knew that social medias enabled me more in my purchasing and my willingness to start new projects - a slight fear of missing out that was awakened in a way far stronger than I ever got from reading blogs. Perhaps because interactions are not as seemingly instantaneous on a blog, perhaps for some other reason entirely, I'm not sure, but on blogs I seem to be able to admire someones hard work and the piece of art that they are creating without feeling... obliged, I guess... to do something similar or to join in a SAL or whatever. Getting to know people still happens, just slower and more gradual - more natural in a way.

Social medias breed pettyness and social cliques however than I have never come across in the blogging word. And that makes me sad. That there is snobbery and people citing opinions as fact and feeling like you (or at least I feel like) are being force into choosing this side or that side of a ever raging battle between the right way and the wrong way. And the stress of that makes me not want to read or not want to stitch or not want to knit.

Of course maybe I have just been fortunate enough to avoid such things in the blog-o-verse, which would render my point useless I guess, but I can only speak from what I have experienced. Nor am I blaming social media. Petty social cliques are endemic, I have noticed, in any group of people - just look at any high school in the world. 

But when I am at home, I want to be able to be me with out fear of reprimand. 

By day, I essentially run a store. There are other people around - the bakers and the owner doing baking and owner type things, but over the last three years, I have become one of the main faces associated with the store. Its a small city, so consequently, I can rarely go anywhere without bumping into at least one customer that recognizes me. So you see, home really is the only place I can truly be me. Where I don't have to be happy or civil or tippy toe around the politically correct environments. 

At home I can be human.

I'm not saying that I'm going to ditch social media altogether - I do like it. But stepping back from it a little bit has done wonders for my productivity. Which we should probably get onto - I have rambled on for far too long and if you have made it this far without skipping, I applaud and thank you.

I have been a little ADD this last couple of weeks, trying to kick start my stitchy bug - but it worked, so we shall just deal with a lot of photos. We've just dealt with a lot of words so why not right?

First up is my Steam Punk Sea Serpant by Samsarah that I was working on in Kakanui. I have only done maybe another 20 stitches or so since coming home, but I never put any pictures in my last post so here you go - 

He still needs a head, but we will get to that eventually. I am doing the DMC conversion for this one for all bar one colour. Its a Weeks Dye Works and I'm still not entirely convinced on the thread. I know I have said before that I am boring with my fabric choices because I think that hand dyes are too busy and I think my thread preferences may be heading the same way. We'll see.

Next up I put Once Upon a Time back on the frame, but that didn't last long either.

I love how these always look so much better once I take a photo. It's like the action of stepping back and viewing it through a lens forces me to see it as a whole rather than as pixel stitches.

Then, as I said in my last post, I started Joan Elliot's The Reader.

This is about where I started the thinking of the thoughts that have been spewed out above. I got a decent chunk of it done but lost a bit of momentum because work and what not and didn't really feel like picking it up again. So when in doubt, start something knew - I am coming to terms with being a serial starter.

Just looks like random purple at the moment, but it will become Eleni of Troy by Cross Stitching Art. I am just doing her on an antique white 32 count even weave, and while I would have loved to do her all in beads, I am just doing the DMC conversion because that would have been a whole lot of money on a WHOLE lot of beads. And that money I need for house renovations right this minute. And tea. I always need tea.

Side note, this progress on Eleni was fueled by tea - t leaf T banana caramel to be specific. Its my current favourite and if you love tea - you should try this brand. I love them all - even their earl greys which until now I have never been particularly fond of.

Finally I gave my mosaic a bit of love

Not a huge amount, but I definitely think it would be a lot easier if I had a table or desk to work on, but alas, they are in storage at the moment so we make do without. Progress is happening on it though.

Hopefully I can get back on track this week. I still have one work book to finish for my course. I want it in by next Friday and then I am up to date with that. But my man goes over to Australia for a couple of weeks this weekend so at least I will have no distractions stopping me from getting that done and moving back onto getting all the pages on here updates and back only my stitching and reading. And knitting. I am going to have to go shopping (oh no what a shame). After the success of my pompom hats I have had half a dozen people ask me to make them one too. 

Practice makes perfect I guess.

Short Days, Long Nights

There is something about closing all the curtains, blocking out the world and letting the fire heat the room. Very relaxing - especially on the shortest day of the year. And I'm not going to lie - I am glad that we are now on the other side of that particular milestone. Yes, it will no doubt get colder but at least it will start getting lighter. For some reason that makes the world of difference.

I finish work every day at half past three in the afternoon, I start just before half six in the morning. Its black when I go in, the sun is setting when I leave for home... yes we make up for it with the endless light of summer, but that doesn't help my mood now.  Its that lack of light that is currently being credited with the shocking return of my reading bug after nearly a year being awol. Don't get me wrong, its not that I wasn't reading, just not at the levels that I always used to.

Marathoning Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series probably wasn't helpful either.

And by reading, I also mean listening to audio books rather than watching TV - because they have become my new addiction. I can craft and read at the same time. Crafty bits like knitting for instance 

Finished my hats!!

look at those stitches, its as though I've been doing it for years (tad proud)

The Man has been rocking round in the pink one all week, so they must be not so bad after all. For any of you that are interested, I am going to update the pages up above as soon as I hit publish on this bad boy to incorporate my reading into the blog. Nothing too special, just a rating and maybe anything of extra note for the books I've read so far this year.

From watching Floss Tube and all the lovely people on there that are entering the northern hemisphere summers, I think I must (like in many many other things) act in the polar opposite manner to everyone else. Summer seems to be the slower season for many crafters - far more exciting things to do out side after all. But I have never really lived anywhere that had good lighting. 

Winter is dark and without good lighting cross stitching hurts my eyes. Not to mention colds that turn into sinus infections with regularity and the resulting headaches (which I can feel brewing as we speak). Lighting I suppose is relatively easily fixed and when were finally get around to having our down lights replaced with LED maybe my habits will change, but until then...

That is not to say that I haven't been stitching. Just not as much as I would like. I will admit after the victory that was finish Garden Verses, I did take a couple of days off, but reading is warmer right now. Reading and winding bobbins. I was naughty and went slightly crazy on both 123 Stitch and Stitching Bits and Bob. I am now the owner of a complete set of DMCs. That is a lot of bobbins to wrap.

The love birds did get a little turn on the frames. I am finding though, that despite liking the coverage and the finish, pulling the three strands of thread through the 11 count is hurting my fingers. Don't know if I am using the wrong size needle or what, but its safe to say that this is going to take me a lot longer than originally anticipated.

Also managed another small finish. And now that it is done I think I can safely say that I am never EVER stitching over one on 32 count again. Yes, I am still under 30 but I wear glasses,especially for close work and even though this is a tiny piece (the ring in the corner is for scale), it nearly did my head in. Lesson learned.

After that trial, it would seem that Passione Ricamo is my new favourite. I am loving Once Upon a Time - even with all its confetti. It is also the first time that I have used Monaco fabric, and I have to say, I really really like it. I like that it is heavier than other even weaves. The added strength to it means that I am not getting any slipped stitches for my ridiculously tight tension and I'm not as worried about seeing carried threads (because I am definitely not a back snob). This one is a 28 count tea dyed and I can see further exploration with this fabric may be required in my future.

looking forward to beading this one, even now that I've noticed how many beads there are on it

And finally, because apparently I thought I didn't quite have enough WIP's, I made a last minute decision to join in the Steochalong. It's a free mystery stitch along with a new part every week. I have no clue what it will look like, but here is part one - 

Its just on some white 14 count (I think, maybe its 16?) that was hanging around in my stash basket. Figured why not? Whats another project to the list of unfinished.

I think I go through phases with my WIPs, just like I seem to with everything else. Sometime - and I am just coming out of this stage now - I am a serial started without a care in the world. Then all of a sudden I freak out and have to finish the bulk of them before starting anything else.

Maybe I'm just weird.

Actually, there's not really any maybe about that.

At least I will have some excuse to make so real progress this weekend. Off to a crafting retreat for a few days up by the shore. Not an official one or anything, just a batch and a bunch of crafty women. But it should be fun, I am really looking forward to it. Once I decide what project to take. That decision is always far far too hard.