Time is getting short

It feels like there is so much to do here in Cross Eyed Kat land, and so little time to get it done in. The Needlework Show deadline is looming. Here is what needs to be done in the next week to be ready for it:

• Blue Thing #1 must be stretched, framed and photographed
• Blue Thing #3 should be finished, stretched, framed and photographed
• Model set #1 must be finished and photographed
• Model set #2 (currently in the hands of the US Postal Service) must be finished and photographed
• Virtual booth setup needs to be completed
• Bags need to be ordered

Additionally, it would be really nice if I could complete the layout of the charts for the Blue Things and Model sets 1 and 2, so that things would be ready for orders when the Needlework Show actually opens. Finally, I have to ship another order that came in today (yay) and order more ink. On top of all this, I have some baby gifts to finish (the baby is due very soon - the planned birthday is next week) and major cleaning to do as parental units are coming to visit. Where's a TARDIS when you need one?

Time to try and put the cat to work!

The Cat Ate My Knitting!

The cat, once pictured here, who never ever messes with my cross stitch flosses has decided that knitting yarn is very interesting. Admittedly, before I started knitting, large pieces of yarn and/or string were viable toys for her. So, I'm knitting on my little baby booties a few rows every night, then I put it and the dpns back in the yarn and put the yarn in the big basket of yarn on the floor. Now a few mornings ago, I did find a ball of yarn had apparently escaped from the basket. This should have been my first clue that the cat was having fun messing with the yarn in the yarn basket. Two nights ago, I go to pick up the bootie and, upon taking it out of the yarn skein, I discover that the working yarn is no longer attached to the skein of yarn! The cat has bitten right through the yarn while playing with it! Since I was at the end of a row, I fearlessly rejoin new yarn (far away from any residual cat spit) and knit a few more rows. Then I make the big mistake: I put the bootie and yarn away in the same spot. What did I discover this morning? The partially knit bootie, on the needle, no longer in the yarn and no longer attached to the skein of yarn - again! That's right, the cat ate the knitting twice. At this point, I may start over as I really hate joining yarn anyway.

The real reason the cat has been able to do all of this is because I haven't finished said bootie because I've been diligently working on my cross stitch. Blue thing #1 is completely finished! Yay! Now it just needs to be stretched and matted. Blue thing #3 is progressing - just the quote, baby stats and beading left. of course, I need to rechart the baby weight and date from European/Metric stats to American/English stats. I also bought fabric and other goodies for finishing the other models. Hopefully, I'll find time to do the finishing on them this weekend. Then I really need to be a good designer and wrap up some designing! Oh, and I'll try to post some final questions for the trivia contest next week.

Blues progressing

Blue thing number 3 is progressing well. I'd like to get both blue thing number 1 and 3 done this week if possible. The beading took me three evenings, though, so I'm not sure. There's lots of cleaning that needs to be done with a parental unit visit coming up in the near future. If I ever retrieve the camera from DH, I might document how bad my craft room/office has become.

Anyway, all this blue stitching has made me feel somewhat blue. I don't know if I'll keep to it strictly tonight, or if I'll slack and say, knit 3 rows on some multi-colored booties. I've also got some finishing work to get done (which would be easier if the office was cleaner).

Ziplocks now ahead 2-0.

Upgrades

Recently, I upgraded to the newer beta Blogger. It has a few differences, but seems overall much the same. One of the main differences was that I had to change my login to a Google account and this now means that I can't leave comments on non-upgraded blogs who require a login. This seems somewhat weird to me, since the blogs are run by blogger, and it would seem that it could cross reference the user database, but I guess it can't.

I also recently upgraded my iTunes to version seven. I'm liking this upgrade. The interface is just somehow slicker, especially when I hook up my iPod and select the different options. Of course, I still haven't managed to get it to sync up with Outlook, but that's a different story.

Finally got my print job finished off and shipped. Sometimes shipping is a job in itself; I was all ready to ship everything off on Tuesday and managed to walk out the door without the address. D'oh. Yesterday I was very good and got a bunch of stitching on blue thing #3 done. It is progressing nicely and showing no signs of frogs. Keeping fingers crossed on that one, as deadlines are looming. Now to start thinking of a name. Some designs come already named, but this one I'm still thinking on. "Baby Boy", "It's a Boy", may be functional, but aren't that grabby. On the other hand, if I call it "Kolya" after my nephew, I may confuse everyone. And obviously, there will be a girl version to follow (I have a niece, too), so I can't just call it "Baby Sampler". Quandry to solve.

So far ziplocks are ahead 1-0. :)

Arg! Stitch Like a Pirate!

Yar(n)! It is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! And to celebrate, I've made a little complimentarrrrry design for stitching (not pirating - arg!). Here's the picture:

You can get a pdf of the design on my website. Enjoy, and if ye be stitchin' it up, send in a picture and I'll post it!

In non-pirate-y news, I took a quick trip over the weekend to Baton Rouge to visit my folks. It was fun, but short. Mom and I went shopping and a trip to Hobby Lobby just for some thread managed to find some silk flowers (on sale) and some more yarn (also on sale) and some new knitting needles (because I needed them) and of course the thread. However, I spent more at Office Depot buying ink! We twiddled around some antique stores and ate shrimp (yum)! At my Dad's house, there was football to watch, although the local teams lost, and jambalya to eat. I also got to pick up some of my Grandmother's paintings to bring home with me. Looking at these paintings it is as if I can reach through time and reach out to her through the brushstrokes. This is the legacy of any art or handwork that is passed down through the ages. On the way back from Baton Rouge, I got to talk to my brother a bit and hear my nephew jabber in the background - he is turning into such a talker! All in all, a good, although short trip.

In stitching news, some models returned home, yay! Now to get to work on finishing them off into their final forms. I'm trying to be good and working on Blue thing number 3; it is coming along. Some more baby booties have come into existance, I'm not sure how. I was also trying to print off a batch of designs to send off when my printer ran out of black ink. When I replaced it, it tried to tell me it was out of cyan and magenta as well. Luckily I was able to coax the seven pages I needed printed out of it without it stopping completely again. I'll have to gear up on ink and new bags before the Needlework show.

Speaking of new bags, any opinions - ziplock top vs. foldover (resealable) adhesive bottom?

The Good and The Bad

We don't have any Ugly to talk about.

First the good: I was very good and went to the gym last night. It has been a while since I've been. Just this and that get in the way. I wanted to get home, and I forgot my iPod, so I only did about 30 minutes, or about 1.5 miles. I could tell that I wasn't as up to the running as I used to be, so I really need to keep going. Of course, I'm not going tonight.

Second the bad:

I did not stitch last night, instead this came into being. Here's the story. This was made from my Texas A&M sock yarn. We have some friends who have moved out of town, who are now expecting a bundle of joy. Unfortunately, they are not Aggies, they attended another school slightly west of Texas A&M. Anyway, it was postulated that some booties in the other schools colors might be appreciated by them. But before I bought new yarn, I needed to see how the sock yarn would do with the pattern. Because, to further complicate things, the bootie pattern I decided upon was designed for a larger weight yarn, but made to fit a 3-6 month old child. Therefore, I reasoned that a smaller weight yarn might fit well on a 0-3 month old child. Alas, it appears slightly on the small size. (Alas because I also know someone who attened A&M who is expecting early next year). Anyway, this pattern can probably be used with the sock yarn with some small finagling.

Tonight - back in blue? Maybe? Tonight - to the printer with me! Orders to be filled!

What's right with this picture?

That's right - so far, we are avoiding the frogs that so plagued Blue Thing number 1. I didn't officially count the side to make sure it was 155 stitches; it was stitched in three sections and I counted each of those. However, the squiggly line between the top box and the bottom box landed in the right spot. Also, the rest of the border connected in all of the right places - deep breaths there.

I was sorely tempted last night to make some things that were like blue things 4 and 5, but that weren't blue. I think I'm suffering from a blue overload. Today I wrapped up the design work for "Triangularity", which will be a companion for "Maze" and "Labyrinth". I didn't really intend to make this design, but what started out as an off-hand comment somehow stuck in my brain that just one day attacked and came out as a design. That will be the end of that series, though. No more. I'm hoping to start soon on the last of the "Old World Samplers" - or maybe they're more like funny alphabet samplers. I've also got some other original ideas to try out. All the designs cry for their time, but it is hard to get to them all. We'll just have to wait to see what happens.

I had to upgrade my iTunes yesterday and I poked around a bit in the music store, so I've got my brain churning on some podcasting ideas (did I get a magic time machine somewhere?). Since I've started knitting, I've been wondering - what has knitting got that stitching doesn't? Why do they podcast and have so many books and stuff and we don't? Let's get cross-stitch into the cool zone! I'm hip and I stitch too! (Ok, well, maybe I'm not that hip, but I'm Gen X) There's also some other Cross Stitch as Art ideas flickering in my head - I wish those would come out as well.

c:>copy brain:\cross-stitch\ideas\*.* c:\

Anyone?

What happened?

I came to the blog and actually hit refresh because I really thought I had posted more recently. Apparently I am posting in my head again. Whoops. Anyway, I had a somewhat busy weekend. The blue things multiplied and we now have:
Blue Things 3, 4 and 5. Blue Thing 3 is a variation of Blue Thing 1 done in all DMC, but on a dyed Jobelan fabric from Wichelt. Blue Things 4 and 5 make a pair of bootees (funky Brits can't spell booties right) and are from Zoe Mellor's 50 Baby Bootees book. They are for a co-worker whose wife is expecting a baby boy soon. They are also my first knit object to be completed. (And there was much rejoicing). I bought this book because (1) the booties (or bootees, whatever you want to call them) were terribly cute and (2) it seems like coworkers at both my office and DH's office and other friends are suddenly expecting new family members in the next 9 months (or less). Knitting bootees seemed like a good idea. We'll see how it goes. Maybe the first pair will just breed.

Other stitching happiness: model supplies got sent out! Yay! This means that I should have something other than Blue Things 1 and 3 for the October Needlework Show (now looming dreadfully close). I'm also working furiously on several ideas for Nashville. Must cram more hours in a day somehow.

On Labor Day, we labor

Not that kind of labor - the move furniture around the house, clean rooms down to the kitty-cat dust-balls, rearrange the house kind of labor. This was our second annual Labor Day house-cleaning, rearranging fun fest, and since we're Aggies, that makes it a Tradition (note the capital T). My arms and legs still hurt. We'd somewhat recently received a large number of books from DFIL, and while they were doing okay in the garage, it wasn't the optimal place to store them, primarily because it is hard to read books that are in boxes in a garage, but also because it tends to be an invitation for book worms (or the equivalent) to take up residence. So the books needed a home inside the house. Which means room had to be made for them. So some rearranging was done. I think it was less than last year's rearranging, but we still have bookshelves to get.

As a side note, the craft room/my office was not touched and is still a complete disaster area. Another project for another day. But not tonight - tonight it is stitch night at the LNS (tomorrow night it is stitch night at the other LNS). I will finally get some stitching done. I may start on blue thing #3, which will be a non-embellished version of blue thing #1. I'll also finish picking some fun fibers for a model to send out to a stitcher. We're officially 5 weeks away from the online Needlework show (and maybe some cooler weather). Time to get cracking on those Nashville designs!

How did it get to be September?