Cross stitching

Last week my son and I went to do a few errands and ended up stopping at the local needlework shop, Moore Stitches. I had planned on getting some yarn to do some of the mittens that the Yarn Harlot had designed.
I did get the yarn and was merrily heading out the door when I got to chatting with the owner and a old friend. The talk eventually went to the Mirabilia pattern I had started about 10 yrs ago.

It was the Santa's Magic pattern and had about 2/3rds done with it when I put it away so it would not get messed up over the holidays. Somehow, it has disappeared. I have found the original pattern, envelope, and photo of it. But, the project is still missing.

When I was looking to see if the shop still had a copy of it I found the newer Santa pattern - Winter White Santa. It was beautiful, and part of me wanted to buy it, however, I had just bought the yarn for several pairs of mittens.

Nope, I was not going to buy this pattern.

I don't need to get back into cross stitching. Not going to go there, or look in the UFO bin of projects I have to finish. So I went to put it back on the rack when my son asked to see it.

He proceeded to go to the counter and purchase it for me.

I was sunk.

But, I decided I would finish the 2 projects on the frames before I even think about starting the new project.

So once home the frames were pulled out and I started working on the "Queen of Freedom". It was the project with the smallest amount done on it at all. Only a bit of the stitching by the small red area was done. Which satisfied my desire to start a new project while not really starting it.
Right?

This is being done on 32 ct linen. Stitching done 2 threads over 2.

Anyhow here is the current amount of stitching done so far:


Its going well, and I am enjoying it.

The mitten yarn is still in the bag. Lets not discuss it.

Black Ice

What a strange winter we are having. There have been 40 degree days lately. Winter was taking a vacation - until yesterday am. I was on my usual rush of a week when Mother Nature had decided I needed a wake up call.

I was heading to work like I do most Wednesdays, when I realized the road looked a bit more wet than it did a few miles back. Almost glass like. Actually, I thought to myself, it almost looks mirror like in a way. The temperature gauge on my dash, it had dropped several degrees in a very short time.

The wind was whipping the snow across the roadway, making it a bit difficult to see. Traffic was slowing and I had been following a plow truck when it suddenly turned off the road near the small private airport. As I passed the airport I noticed about 10 tractor trailers pulled off and sitting there in front of the now stopped plow truck. Somewhere in the back of my mind an alarm went off.

Black Ice.

I slowly turned the wheel and drove towards the edge of the roadway. Apparently I was not alone in this idea. Two coal trucks in front and some in back decided this was a good idea. I left the car just slowly come to a stop, placed it in park, and took a good look around.
Vehicles were sliding and slowing on the road. In the distance I could see an emergency flare burning. Vehicles on the roadway came to a stop.

I called work and told Mary(Boss and little sister) what was up. Called my husband and left him know. Then, I did what any sane person in the situation would do, I pulled out a sock and began knitting. Mary called, they were shutting down the road. I kept knitting. I had coffee, food, heat, and knitting.

Best part - No Interruptions!

I worked on a sock and finished the leg portion, worked on the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up the gusset stitches and started the decreases. I was sipping coffee, watching the snow fall, and enjoying the time alone.

Finally, after about 1 hour or so, the traffic started to move again. I watched for a bit - and finally set down the knitting. The sun was up and the ice had gone. Slowly I eased the car back onto the roadway, and getting to the next exit I turned the car around, heading back towards home.

One blessing of a large family - I have a few places I can stop at on way to work and back. I stopped at my youngest sisters which was about 10 min from where I had been pulled off. Got to spend a bit of time with my nieces and nephew. After spending the day there I headed home.

Now most would think Black Ice would be a reason to think a day was ruined. But, thanks to that, I got to spend time with some tiny people, and enjoyed some mandatory down time. Sometimes, we need to listen to Mother Nature. Taking a break and just being alone is a good thing at times.

Some times I need that kind of reminder.

The quiet time of the day

This is the time I look forward to. When everyone else is in bed and its just me, the german shepherd, and my glass of wine. Add to that some knitting or as in the case tonight, some spinning and it is the perfect end to a long day.

Earlier today was a bit busy as we spent 2 hours exploring the newly opened Hobby Lobby. It was a bit overwhelming. I am not sure I have recovered from it yet. The space was previously a nice sized grocery store and a AC Moore. Now it is combined into one large mega store. The good part - I was walking around the whole time, although I did stop a few times here and there.
I managed to escape pretty unscathed. It was close though. Thankfully, I did get 2 small pillow covers, one Tim Holz texture fades- the Damask & Regal Flourishes set A2, and some things for the youngest.

It made for a nice day. Add in the spinning tonight on the Jensen Ultimate Production was the icing on it all.

I wish you all a wonderful end to the week like this. Its been a crazy, cold, windy, snowy week. This quiet time now? Perfect.

A New Start

So last year is finally done. Thank goodness.

I won't go into how glad I am to see it gone, suffice it to say I am looking forward to the New Year.

But before the end of last year I had the chance to visit the National Coverlet Museum in Bedford Pa. and get some pictures of the displays.

A Scottish coverlet

Jaquard Woven Coverlets

The amount of information and beauty of this museum is so wonderful. I could have spent a day just looking at all of the detail.

If you get a chance to go - Please do! It is more than worth the time.

Other notes - I have closed the fiber shop. After a year of considering what to do about it, I finally made the hard decision. While I love to spin, knit and dye things, I don't have the time to maintain a shop too. So it is closed.

At the moment, I am happy to knit and spin for myself. I promise to share more of the projects with everyone this year.

One of the things that has been keeping me busy, other than family, is working at SMart Resale LLC.
The chance to help recycle, reuse and keep things out of landfills is so important. This year we are hoping to grow the business even more. As the business grows, and we are working with not only used IT equipment, but with some wonderful vintage items.
This past year the business became a Microsoft registered refurbisher, and affiliated with a electronic recycler to securely recycle outdated and broken IT equipment.
The business not only works with large corporations, but individual persons. If you have something that is no longer of use to you - Please contact them to see if we can help you. One woman had some old toys she mentioned she wanted to throw out.
Instead of putting them in the trash, she brought them to SMart Resale. Each item was researched and the suggestion was made to see if we could sell them. That box which would have ended up in the trash instead gave the woman over 400 in cash. Talk about "Found Cash"!

Visit the website and keep us in mind if you have old laptops that are just becoming large paperweights.

Happy New Years all.