Category Archives: Fiber

Recognize this?

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2

Given that I was offered slave labor by one of my daughters late this morning, I could hardly procrastinate any further on cleaning/organizing in the garage.

The end count was three huge boxes completely emptied. A pile of clothes to be charity donated. A large number of lose items folded and packed. Contents of previously unknown two boxes identified. A very large duffle bag with various family treasures packed by Maus (and taken home by her). The dear girl also claimed two completed cross stitches as “hers” and will do the finishing. A third will make an ideal present for a friend of hers – so that went out the door as well. 

There is now a nice, clear, open space at the front of the middle section of the garage which can be turned into a metal stamping area by Daughter #2 who needs some place to pound other than her kitchen counter.  One of the old sheepskins is now decorating the floor and will make a great and comfortable nesting location for which ever of her dogs needs to accompany her.

Back to the thing –

Sansa Nano

It was in the sleeve pocket of one of my uniform shirts. I am forgetting the exact name – I was issued three that last tour in Afghanistan. They were designed as essentially a long sleeve pullover which could be comfortably worn under kevlar. I think I remember someone calling them “tanker’s shirts” but I could be wrong. The zippered sleeve pocket was great, and not to be confused with the various other velcro closure pouches and pockets. It has a standard port as well as a location for a micro chip (not that I think I have a reader for anything that small anymore) and a regular port for ear buds.  (Yes, my dears – this was long before blue tooth…

I am going to charge it and see what happens. If nothing else – I could find a card and load one of the dozens of audio books I found in the garage still sealed in our original household goods shipment boxes.

Cross stitch

Not a lot has been accomplished today. I managed another two blocks on the Tetris upper border. Otherwise – the outline for the first tree in Caroline Mannings – Tree Hugger SAL. The fabric is 18 Aida Shale by Picture this Plus using the called for DMC.

Tree Hugger #1

I need to add the Owl on the upper portion and fill in the entire tree…Only about 600 stitches more…

Sick of Pink

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And I have almost a thousand stitches to go yet in the bottom section.

Bleh.

But I will say that it is shaping and up and actually a fairly rapid stitch as there are huge whacks of color.

Aster’s Amazing Adventure

is actually the official name of this stitch-a-long but I am likely to continue to call it the Space SAL (which is not the same as the Solar System SAL – just saying…)

There are only four colors of DMC pink – 961, 962, 963 & 3354. The fabric is 16 ct opalescent Aida which I ordered from DoveStitch but is actually Fabric Flair (if I am remembering correctly). I still need to add a dark navy stitch along the outside. And after all of this, I may change my mind completely once I see the section of the actual SAL.

 

Beside the Sea

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2

This weekend the last part on this SAL (stitch-a-long) was released. Normally Patty releases her pattern updates on Friday, but delayed till today.
That was fine with me. It is not like I don’t have enough other things to work on. 

I was caught up, but for a small portion of the frame to the outside of the lighthouse. 

The final part added a pair of seagulls. 

1054 stitches later, I could claim I was done!

Beside the Sea

stitched on light blue Aida (sorry about the lighting) with Sulky instead of DMC. Main colors substituted included 1001 (Parchment) for the gulls and lighthouse, 4055 for the frame and little blue beach house, 

My first DONE of February (and likely the only one). 

Otherwise, I started a simple blanket in a half-log cabin pattern and just switch directions about every 12 rows/6 ridges of garter or when I get bored. It is a great project for Zoom conversations and meetings..

FFN

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and I just picked up another new acronym. FFN = finished for now. It is perfect. Not for just any old piece of stitching or knitting; not when you are bored or frustrated. That is not the point of this little gem.

It is for when you have gotten as far as you possibly can on a piece with the current amount of pattern than you have.  The classical use is for a section of a SAL (stitch-a-long) where the parts are released at regular intervals. There are those individuals who arduously keep up with the clues and have their stitching current to the most recent release. There are those who mutter along for a while, then fall behind, never to catch up. In neither group are those wait till the whole project has been released, then jump on board.

But for me – this gives me an expression which expresses that the particular project is not exactly a WIP (work in progress) because there is absolutely NOTHING else I can accomplish till the next portion of the pattern is released.

The following – for example – count as FFNs –

 

From CloudsFactory – there is no Planet B. A year long SAL delivered the first of each month.

Wonders of the Solar System – releases on the 15th

Dreaming Girl started 1 Feb and releases every two weeks.

But for now, they are FFNs

In contrast – the following are NOT FFNs –

In all cases, I finished the segment for the month well before the next portion of the pattern was released. BUT, all of these SALs have frames involved. The frames were released prior to the start of the year. To be FFN = I would have to have everything stitched that was available so far.

And I pretty much prefer to stitch frames as I go.  There are several reasons, perhaps the biggest being that stitching a frame is a significant investment of time and materials without knowing whether or not I am actually going to like the pattern. By not starting the frame ahead of time, I can decided not to play. Now that I am committed, I will work on the frames both as I go and in any extra stitching time that I have.

Clear as mud – right?

B is for Broadway

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Is what I am going to assume in this particular stitch-a-long.

The designers love musicals, so I should not be surprised.  They released the frame for this particular piece well prior to the 1 Feb start.  The frame is simple, but a freaking lot of stitches.

Started on 4 Feb

 

The portion of the frame that you see (the black marquis with the yellow spotlights) was stitched prior to this week. I had a few other things to complete first, so didn’t get the “B” started till yesterday morning. Thankfully,, it loads into PatternKeeper. I groaned on discovering that there was a measly (!) 2330 stitches in this section. Frankly, that is actually a bit much for a SAL that releases every couple of weeks.

But by late this afternoon, I managed the 1169 stitches that remained after yesterday.

From Les Mis

I had no clue, but Jill identified the “can you hear the people sing” and Graeme nailed the musical. French flag rounds out a portion of the clues.

Embroidery Scissors

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Probably aren’t necessary – I could cut floss with just about any sharp tool. But they are definitely an indulgence. Unlike kitchen shears which can cut just about anything successfully (not discussing poultry shears here) or fabric scissors which also come in a great variety with different material targets – embroidery scissors need only have relatively sharp edges and a pointed end.

Usually small, I have discovered that there is a huge variety of scissors ranging from the cheap to the incredibly and indulgently expensive. Now, I like shiny as well as the next person – but give me a choice between half a dozen to a dozen pairs or one pair costing more than 100$US and I am going opt for the variety.

Instead I go for the cute pairs –

like this small cat

or 

the adorable owl

or a fancy version of the traditional stork

 

These were just the three that came quickly to hand. I have a few more…

 

Three Done

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I mentioned last month that I was “participating” in a number of mystery cross-stitch-a-longs. Each SAL is released in segments on a regular (for it) basis. The most common interval is once a month. A few are every other week. The rare pattern gets released on a weekly basis – but this type of SAL is usually a short term project of no more than six components.

Not that you wanted to know any of that – but to avoid personal confusion, I print out a calendar each month I can write down the dates that patterns will be released. Allegedly, this will let me plan what I will stitch, when.  In reality, I am likely to go with whatever shows up first, which ever looks the more interesting, or which ever is going to be the hardest to catch up on if I fall behind. 

I may just have bitten off too much, but we will see.

Anyway – today is Wednesday, 3 Feb and I have completed my first three pattern segments for the month.

  1. First up is a 12 month SAL by TinyModernist called Zodiac. There is a rather large and complicated frame which was available, and I could have stitched ahead of time (Dec) but I didn’t since I was finishing up December projects. In January, I decided that “frame as you go” was good enough. That meant that the 1200 stitches of the fish required completion of the two circles on the right hand side. If I stay ahead of things this month, I will fill in a bit more of the decorations around the frame. This pattern segments are published monthly.

Pices

2. Second up is Dreaming Girl by Barbara Ana. This is an every two week pattern drop. Unfortunately, this pattern is not compatible with PatternKeeper, so I have no clue as to how many stitches were in this first part, but I have the feeling that it is over ½ of the total. 

3. And I finally was able to pick up fabric for the Wonders of the Solar System by Climbing Goat Designs (no, I couldn’t possibly make this up). The first planet – Mars, was released the 15th of last month which means that I will see the next planet up in less than two weeks. Pattern Keeper compatible – 827 stitches to the Red Planet.

Planet 1 – Mars

From here, I have a start (for the third time) on this year’s Linens and Threads Mystery SAL and a number of others in the queue. Progress will be made….

a find

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I started out thinking today was going to be pretty much of a loss. Not in terms of family, but in the realm of getting progress on any of my cross stitch projects.

There was the 0500 broadcast from WHO re: Neglected Tropical Diseases (leprosy among others) and the next in a series of occupational medicine broadcasts re: the construction industry at 0900. From there I made a mad dash over to the Eldest’s house (meeting up with the youngest for errand running) in order to make the 1100-1200 & 1200-1300 schedule. Even tho all were not “Zoom” since Cisco’s Webinex was in the mix – I was totally & completed zoomed out.

So anyway – Maus wanted to cruise the thrift (charity) stores for some household items and used furniture. Over the next few hours, we stopped at four (or was it five?) Goodwill locations, a consignment furniture store, and Out of the Closet.  She made out like a bandit. Found some picture frames, candle sticks, a most excellent tea kettle, serving bowls, and a couple of vases. 

I purchased one picture frame at a Goodwill – then found this lovely thing –

my new cabinet

 

Obviously (grin) it is a jewelry cabinet – a top that lifts up for precious storage on top, four draws with dividers inside, two draws below. 

Now, I don’t have jewelry. But I have floss, beads, and lots of notions. This lovely little cabinet is going to replace a number of cheap, plastic containers and look elegant in doing so. Price? $25US.  After it airs out a bit, I will move it to a place of honor in my sewing room. 

 

Kid Icarus

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which is not one of the 8-bit games that I remember, but forms the basis for this month’s PixelPrime segment of the SAL. I elected not go with one of the alternative power-ups, but stitch with pretty much an original interpretation.

Jan segment

Unfortunately, I think my color choice on the one character is a bit dark. I could restitch him, but probably won’t. As you can also see, I managed to extend a portion of the frame.

While I am thinking about it – the original program in the US was on Nintendo in 1987. If you want the background – probably about the best short vid is here on Youtube.

Tetris

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You all remember Tetris – right? The Russian origin 1984 game that addicted millions.

That fun game with blocks fall from above which had to be slotted such that you filled up layers. In most games, the layers disappeared as you filled them up with the goal being to survive for ever (as the blocks fell faster and faster) or to complete so many lines at each level…

As I started looking into the history of the game (the reasons why should be evident shortly) I was also looking at what colors were normally used in the blocks. I branched from there out to other 8-bit games of that era (meaning early 80s through mid 90s). There are seven different shapes, originally grey scale which morphed into distinct colors. Standardization of the colors did not exist for the first 15+ years of the game.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because PixelPrime decided to release a SAL based on the old 8-bit games. I was a bit floored at the size of the initial frame (17k stitches as computed by PatternKeeper).

Rather than stitch the whole frame – I decided to stitch each portion as that month’s segment was released. As it turned out -the first section started in the lower right corner. The fabric is 14 ct Aida, the thread is Sulky.

start of both the frame and the pattern –

Two down

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and a number to go.

Release dates on SALs (you remember – Stitch-a-long) can vary.

There is the ever popular first of the month. There is the alternative every-other-Thursday. Or Friday. Or every three days. Or the 15th, the 25th, the…. you get the idea. For someone participating in one or two SALs, keeping track is not an issue. I have more than two, so printed a calendar in order to be able to track what is due when. This is important for a couple of reasons: the first is that I don’t like getting behind; second being that, while some designers mail out their patterns, others don’t; third is that the list seems less intimidating when spread out.

So today – I am going to mention two SALs (which both came out actually on the 31st)-

1. Besides the sea – by FourBoysAndAnNLGirl (Etsy here). Patty designs clear, easy to stitch designs. This is a five part plus frame lasting about six weeks (give or take). The first part, a cute lobster, wound up being a bit fatter on my fabric than initially planned. I looked at him, decided I would leave him fat rather than frog and restitch. The fabric is 14 ct White Aida, the threads are Sulky 12wt

fat lobster (center section about 4 stitches too wide)

2. Funk Menagerie by Lindy Stitches (link here) which is a monthly release x 4 months. Stitched on 16 ct (something blue from Fortnight Fabrics ) and stitched in the called for DMC.

Upper left quarter

leaving me only a portion of one creepy critter and a pink bellied bird to complete.

The year of the SAL

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As all of us have figured out over the last several months – we are not going anywhere for a significant amount of time.  This leaves me, like many of you who are no longer employed full time with the dilemma of what to spend all those waking hours on.

I could clean and organize. – Right.

Next idea.

That leaves me with free time in which I can read, listen to audiobooks, write things, sew, knit, cross-stitch, spin, or more than one of the above.

Oh yes, then there are several other things on my plate (why do all of these ideas come to me after I have gotten part-way down my list?). Including guest lecturing in a couple of UCBerkeley’s courses, continuing education on line, performing research (volunteer status) for a couple of organizations…

Which takes me right back to the idea of hobbies & crafts. Last year I started a reasonable size full-coverage cross-stitch as a project for the new year. Only 76K+ stitches, I finished it in June along with working on the occasional other random project.

This year, I want a bit more variety so I decided to sign up for a few mystery SALs.

SAL stands for Stitch-a-long. The idea is that the pattern is released in sections (rather than all at once) over the course of time which can vary from weekly to monthly. The shortest SALsThen  have 4-6 segments, the longest is 25 (on a q2 week basis).

Since I am not going anywhere in the near future, I don’t have travel to write about. I don’t play on Facebook or Instagram so I am not posting pictures of anything in those social media locations ether. I originally started this blog in 2007 and mostly posted about knitting and a bit of our life in Heidelberg. After retiring from the military, my posts became more about traveling and knitting. Since moving to California, my interesting in knitting has fallen by the wayside. After all, there is a real limit to my need for woolen knitted garments. I have a world supply of scarves and shawls if anyone would need one.

And now I am back around to cross stitch. Over the next several weeks, I will introduce projects, give you more opinions that you care to read and perhaps summarize what I finished last year.

Portland

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After staying in Ashland this past night, I drove the rest of the way to Portland. Discovering that the people for whom I was hauling toys from my garage lived in the SW area which turned out to be the easiest to reach. Lovely, I avoided downtown Portland completely.

I don’t think that Keith was expecting the number of boxes and toys which I off loaded. He was thinking small, circular sock knitting machine. I have one of those but it is still buried somewhere in the garage. Instead, I happily gifted the two larger knitting machines complete with stand, a spool rack, a warping mill, several rigid heddle looks, and a bag of weaving toys.

Unfortunately, looking at my garage, the absence of these items hardly makes a dent….

Otherwise, I had a lovely afternoon. There is a lovely coffee shop with in walking distance followed by stitching, listening to an audiobook and and sipping my latte.

Ashland Oregon

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A friend assures me is a lovely town, well worth a visit in non-Covid times. There is a Shakespeare Festival, historic inns. It might be lovely, it might be industrial, I have no clue. When arriving off I-5 around 1900 in the evening it was impossible to tell. Most certainly it is not a town that is spending significant resources on street lighting. Located 16 miles north of the California border, the sign for Ashland was a welcome sight.

The sun is setting earlier and I do not enjoy driving in the dark. Not in the dark, not up and down hills (mountains?), nor around curves. We will not speak of the fact that more than 50% of the vehicles sharing the road with me had twelve wheels or more. They sail down hills before gradually slowing as they grind their way up the next. Their head lights provide an unwanted glare in my rear view mirrors. The few other cars dart past, between the trucks sometimes managing a speed only marginally faster than required for overtaking.

This kind of excitement and stress do not bring me joy. I really, really no longer enjoy driving at night and have decided that I will not blow this particular popsicle stand prior to decent light in the morning.

In case you are wondering, I am currently headed to Portland. There is a knitting friend there who is also a weaver. He is a brother to a much longer known friend, indie.dyer and yarn shop owner in the San Juans. I have “toys” that have been occupying space in my life, our garage prior to our most recent move to Germany if that gives you an idea on the age. I am never going to use them again. Selling them is just too much of a pain. So why not give them to an engineer? Neither he nor his son have a clue as to what fills the back of our  VW Golf. But I was reassured that there was plenty of space in his great room.

We shall see….

and she is done

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not that this needs to be sent out to everyone –
but Baba Yaga is finished.

Baba Yaga

Pattern from Witchy Stitcher. 14ct Fiddler’s Cloth. Threads converted to Sulky.

 

 

 

A quiet weekend

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Not much happened and little to report.

I stitched, George got some work accomplished.  We took out the trash. One of those kind of weekends.  Then there were the Tampa Bay Rays who slid past the Yankees. That was a positive. The Minnesota Vikings who, as a result of really stupid coaching, lost their game on Sunday.

There was minimal organizing and cleaning other wise –

I have a lot of Zoom on the schedule for this coming week, along with a run to the Apple store since I need to replace my phone. I have had it for a number of years (replacement for the one that went down the waterfall in Iceland – or perhaps the one that was stolen in Nepal). In any case, the battery lasts 3-4 hours which is enough to drive any reasonable person totally and completely nuts. George has conference calls most of the week as well.

Bleh – it feels like ground hog’s day…. *the movie.

Stitching –

 

Which “Pro”?

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This is a discussion that will not interest many. Inside the world of crafts (not Minecraft, or Witchcraft or whomever craft) meaning stitchers, knitters, crocheters, sewers and the like about whether someone is a process person or a product person.

This battle often rages fiercely with each side putting forth arguments and claims about the validity of their stance.

All of which is pretty silly when you really think of it. Other than when dealing with digital – very little in life is binary. Certainly, most crafting is not binary. It is more than “I do this or I don’t do this,” Why? Because there are stages of doing. One can collect the materials needed and just have a stash (the fancy name for a hoard). Or, supplies can be put together ready to be made into something or another. In cross-stitch it is often referred to as kitting up a project.

From there you can move on to starting things. One thing, several things, a dozen things. If you are a serial starter – obviously your pleasure comes from starting something new and when that particular project gets to be difficult/repetitive/boring you just move on to something else.

Then there is the discussion which centers around those who have dozens of projects and those who are monogamous and finish each project before stating the next.

I because seriously tired of listening to the arguments. I am a progress person. It isn’t quite loving the process for me, it is seeing that I am accomplishing something. The product? Meh, it may sit without final finishing for months. What I have also noticed is that having too many things underway starts to make me nuts. It means that no progress is made, or the progress is so glacially slow that it hardly counts. I actually like having things organized, but I hate keeping notes.

End result?

These two projects are excellent –

The first being Stitchonomy’s Halloween 2020 and the second pattern is from Tiny Modernist – Halloween Calendar. I am happily stitching a square on each every day. Nice, bite size piece, each complete in its own and not overwhelming.

However – there is also

Baba Yaga

Pattern by WitchyStitcher that I am attempting to put in at least two thread lengths a day. The great thing about this one is that, altho there might be seven or so colors, it is really almost all black which provides large solid areas to stitch.

and the fourth and final project for today was Halloween Sampler (also by Tiny Modernist) –

starting on the second row

yes – progress is being made

Out of the running

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Well, it was a good effort – at least through the first of the wild card playoffs – the As managed to squeak by the Chicago White Sox. Then, down two games in the second series, they managed to pull it off yesterday. Not so today. They tried, at least some of them did, and some of the time. It just didn’t click – with the final score being 11-6. Ah, maybe next year? 

Meanwhile, I can completely ignore baseball from here to February. Or perhaps later – it all depends. Basketball (Women’s) is also over. I am not for football (American).

So I can go back to my audio books – and stitching….

 

New light

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is being shed on me.

Ok, I decided to not get too far into the puns. Just to relate that I purchased (thank you Amazon) a new small lamp to sit next to my chair in the living room.

simple, useful…



Oh, of course it was on sale. But it has several important features – like a long cord, two outlets and 4 USB plugs besides having a lovely and bright light which I can direct toward my computer, reading, or stitching.

Otherwise, it has been a Webinar day – starting at 0600 which is too early for any reasonable human being (but corresponds to a reasonable time for the speakers in the Philippines and South Africa). I guess I should just be glad that I am not living in Hawaii… 

Tomorrow will be more of the same. The great thing about virtual meetings? Among others of course, is that I can listen, learn, and stitch or knit at the same time. Multi-tasking!

Speaking of which – 

 

UCSF Medical Grand Rounds

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Since the start of the SARS-COV2 Pandemic, the regular Medicine Grand Rounds have been co-opted by COVID-19 epidemiology, research, medications, treatments, and the like. Thursdays at noon saw hundreds of us linked in by Zoom to hear the latest which was not always the greatest or good news. 

UCSF stands for University of California – San Francisco and is comprised of a hospital system, dental, research, and the affiliated professional schools. Where I did my undergraduate and medical education – University of Minnesota – everything was more or less located on the same campus. As a result, there was a lot of cross-course work between basic sciences, public health, and the medical/dental/nursing schools. Not so here in the Bay Area where much of the basic science graduated programs and the School of Public Health are at UCBerkeley (aka CAL) across the bay and about an hour + by public transportation. 

Prior to the pandemic, there was little participation from my side of the Bay in UCSF weekly educational activities – the travel time just made it prohibitive. Now? Zoom, my friends, ZOOM.

Anyway – the usual Tues Grand Rounds were preempted today by a discussion of current status of COVID-19 as it relates to certain events of this past week and weekend. It was a moderated, good, free wheeling discussion of actions, testing, current treatments, and how you manage all of those. 

The link is here

If, for any reason you happen to think that wandering around (at least anywhere there is ongoing transmission) without a mask – you might want to watch and see a discussion of what happens when people blatantly disregard common sense and medical recommendations.  

(FYI – the rounds are posted on YouTube that evening if you are interested in a bit of pandemic history as it developed in the US).

In more fun stuff – stitching progress –