Olive Hope » knitting

Feeling Scatterbrained

olivehopedesign — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:16:13 +0000

The past 2 weeks I’ve felt like I’ve been trying to do a number of things, but not really finishing much of anything. Last week my son got sick with some stomach virus (the first one for him!). He was only really sick for 1/2 a day and then his energy was mostly back. I felt a bit under the weather after that, and took it easy for a couple of days. I’d always wondered how I would deal with a sick, vomiting child, as the smell makes me gag. I was amazed to find that I could just go about cleaning up the bedding and my son without gagging or feeling nauseous. It wasn’t pleasant, but at least it wasn’t made worse by me getting sick to my stomach as well. We’re both fine this week, which is good, because it’s been a busy week, plus I decided to start spring cleaning this week. I decided to start, but that doesn’t mean I’ve accomplished much yet I did finish the worst (for me) job – cleaning the fridge. Amidst all this, I’ve had little time for stitching.

I started a group on yahoo, where I’ve started a SAL for this Teacup Sampler:

Teacup Sampler byOlive Hope Design

I accomplished a little stitching on this sampler last week, but haven’t had time this week:

progress as of May 8/09

To join in on the SAL, join the group here.

I’ve also been working on the EMS Rose Sampler. Most of my progress on the 4th part (the letters) was accomplished earlier in the month of April:

progress as of May 4/09

I also have a finish to share! After working on it sporadically for almost a year, I finished knitting a sweater for my son, and it actually looks like a sweater:

sweater finished May 3/09

I was having visions of sleeves being different lengths, back and front not lining up, etc. It’s a little big on him, which is fine, as then it might still fit him by fall so he can actually wear it. Next time I will try using long enough needles to knit both sleeves at once. At least then I won’t have to concern myself over if they’ll be the same length

I’ve let my etsy shop sit empty for a few weeks. Partly because I did forget when the last items were expiring, but mostly because I was trying to decide what to do with it, whether to keep selling, or to close the shop. I will no longer be selling my cross stitch charts through etsy, unless it’s a special release or limited edition, etc. I do have some items that I want to work on over the next month to add to the shop. So while there’s nothing there now, the plan is to have some items there within the month.

In other news, we had a bit of snow this morning! Yes, snow in May. Somehow I don’t think the fish will be biting very much for Opening Day tomorrow – and I definitely don’t want to be out on the water in this cool weather!

A Post a Day…

olivehopedesign — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:48:21 +0000

…until the end of March. At least I am going to try a post a day Monday though Friday until the end of March. If I can get a post or two in on the weekend, I will, but it will be quite an accomplishment just doing Monday through Friday.

I hope you won’t find this post too boring, especially since I don’t have any pictures to show, but I’m just going to talk about my day today (well, and a little about yesterday). I will definitely have more posts with pictures more often.

First, what I accomplished yesterday: I finally finished knitting the first sleeve of my son’s sweater. That was quite an accomplishment! I knitted and ripped the same sleeve three times, and finally the fourth time, I have a sleeve. I’m not without my reservations, though, but I’m trying to hold out scrapping the whole project until I’ve at least finished the second sleeve. I’m crossing my fingers it’ll actually be wearable out in public when it’s done. If not, I think I may stick with scarves and slippers for a while.

Today, I framed a birth sampler that I should have had finished long ago for a friend’s son (he’ll be 2 in August!). We’re getting together tonight, so that spurred me on to get it finished in time to give to her.

I also finished charting two new designs today. One will be part of a set of Christmas ornaments, and the other is for a group exchange. It may end up as a complimentary chart on my website, or it may become part of a set. I’m just not sure yet.

Coming out of hibernation…

olivehopedesign — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:16:45 +0000

Well, what was supposed to be a 2 week break from blogging, turned into nearly 2 months. I didn’t plan it; it just seems that for the past 2 months, blogging never made it to the top of my to-do list, until now. I’m happy to report some progress on the design front: 3 new design releases!

Life Words 1, Spring Sampler, & Winter Sampler

There are now complimentary designs on my website! I have yet to make them easily accessible (ie, putting a tab in place to link to the page), but I will provide a permanent link via this blog (to the right). There are only 2 designs there now, but I do plan to add to them in the near future.

In stitching progress, I’ve joined a small group of stitchers for an annual SAL (stitch-along). We’ve chosen the EMS Rose Sampler for 2009. This was my progress as of February 4, and I’ve made a little more progress since then, although I spent a good part of yesterday evening frogging

EMS Rose Sampler progress, Feb 4-09

I’ve made some progress on the sweater I’m knitting for my son; I’m now on the sleeves. However, I’ve nearly finished knitting the first sleeve 3 times already, and each time I’ve found I made a mistake and needed to pull it all back to the beginning. Finally, on Monday, I figured out my error – I was misreading the instructions. Instead of making an increase at each end of the needle, I made an increase at one end of the needle, so of course it’s not going to work out right! Fourth time is the charm?

Knitted Sweater Progress

olivehopedesign — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:11:45 +0000

I worked on this sweater a bit on Saturday so I’m a little further than this picture shows, which was taken on Friday. With the chillier weather we’ve had in the past week, I better get moving on this. It certainly could be put to good use very soon, provided it won’t be too big for my son once it’s done. So far I have the back done, and am about 2 inches from starting the decrease on the front.

Knitted Sweater Progress Sept. 5

What I’ve Been Doing Lately…

olivehopedesign — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:20:00 +0000

I’ve talked about posting some pictures of what I’ve been working on over the past few months, and I’m finally getting around to doing it. I’ll start with a WIP: I’ve been wanting to learn to knit for a while, so I decided that with the laptop gone, it was as good a time as any to learn. It took a while – having learned to crochet first, I had some difficulty figuring out how to pull the yarn through without having a hook at the end of the needle. I was just about ready to give up, and then I figured out the knit stitch. Then the purl stitch was giving me a headache, and once again I was just about ready to give up – I was thinking, “I can crochet, I’ll be content with that” – but then I figured that out too. So I decided knitting a ribbed scarf would give me lots of practice with those two stitches. Next I’ll tackle increasing and decreasing, and learn some more ways to cast on; so far I only know how to do the knit cast on.

Next is my crochet hook case:
I absolutely love this case! I had crocheted a case a couple of years ago, but I was getting increasingly frustrated with it, and just didn’t like it anymore. With my limited sewing skills, I was able to finish it in a couple of hours. I plan to do one for my knitting needles as well, sometime.

Next are a pair of slippers:

I crocheted these for my husband. I’d started a pair last winter, but I really didn’t like the pattern. Now, I’ve found a pattern I really like, and these are kind of similar to ones my grandma used to make (although I have this feeling she didn’t need a pattern to crochet those, lol). They didn’t take too long to make, so I don’t think I should have a problem keeping my husband in good supply of slippers year round.

I’ve finally sewn a bag to hold my cross stitch WIPs:
I admit I love all the fabrics, I’m jut not sure I like them the way I used them for this bag. Actually, I’m only unsure I like the way the front pocket turned out. I actually had to settle for that fabric, as I’d goofed on the pocket the first time I tried it, and the white flowered fabric was the only one large enough to accommodate the pattern pieces. I should have just waited until I could get to the fabric store again, but I had the sewing bug, and really wanted to get this bag done. Oh, and I’m not sure I like the handles for this bag. I do like the handles, I’m just not sure for this bag. I plan to sew a bag for my knitting and crochet using a different pattern, so we’ll see how that turns out.

Next is something I’ve found has really come in handy while using my sewing machine: a sewing machine catch-all!
I don’t have a specific sewing area, so I spread out on the dining room table. This catch-all has been really handy for putting my bobbins and thread – they are close at hand, and I don’t have to worry about them rolling away! And, when I clean up, all I need to do is roll it up and store it with the sewing machine. Very handy!

Lastly, my scissor case:
I admit so far I have not gotten any use out of the strap. I thought it would be very handy for keeping my scissors close at hand, but safely out of reach of my son, especially if I had to step away from my stitching for a minute or two. But, if I’m going to do any needlework while my son is playing, I tend to reach for the knitting, since it’s so easy to start and stop anytime. But I’m sure this case will be especially helpful if I choose to take along some cross stitching while driving, as I’m able to keep my highlighter and pencil, as well as a package of Stitchbows in this case. It is so much nicer to look at than the Ziploc bag I was using before.

So that’s it for now. I’ve been working on some cross stitch projects as well, but no progress pics yet.