FICKLE FEBRUARY

Good day blog friends !

I say "fickle" because we've had the coldest weather this winter in February and now back to record highs again.  I know I know - it is Florida and many of my northern and Midwestern friends would scoff at my complaining after the record bearing winter you've had to suffer with.  Well I always seem to start my blog with weather reports but I really wanted to report on Off the Ocean rug camp.

This was the 20th year of OTO.  It started off in 1999 as On the Ocean and was held at Atlantic Beach.  As it turns out there are 2 teachers and 2 students who have attended all 20 of these rug camps.  My DF Annie T, teachers Sibyl Osika and Diane Stoffel and the director Katie Puckett.  Katie's mom Judy Colley who is now suffering with Alzheimers started this camp and they co-directed up until about 5 years ago.  Such a sad and horrific disease.

So I once again was in Diane's class.  I saw this rug on Facebook and you could order the paper pattern thru Etsy.  I'm sorry - I don't remember the name of the designer.  I'm afraid camp didn't  go too well for me this year.  It started on Friday night and that went well, Saturday was good but by Sunday I wasn't feeling quite right.  I thought I had a sinus problem because my face was hurting, also my jaw in that area.  By Monday I was hurting more and decided OH SHOOT - maybe it's that tooth the dentist said 2 years ago I needed a root canal.  Called the dentist office and no answer.  Monday night was hateful - didn't sleep much and was taking motrin for the pain and swelling but by Tues that wasn't even touching the pain.  Got a dental appt. for Wed. so I went over to class on Tues (yes thankfully it's a local camp for me) and I tried real hard to work and focus but I was just in so much pain I packed up all my stuff and I was out of there. 

So here is the very cool Alice in Wonderland rug and her falling down the rabbit hole.  When I left camp I had very little done - actually I got more done than I would have thought considering how I was feeling.  This rug is wool all dyed by Diane.  It is mostly in a 4 cut for my rug hooking friends and there is quite a bit of 3 for small detail.  The rug is 24" X 36" on linen backing.

I'm sorry I didn't stick around for our class "thrown down" - It would have been nice to have photos of the class progress.  I also didn't get any photos of the exhibit.  Just wasn't feeling up to par.

 So for the past two Sundays I have worked a few hours on Alice.  I finished her dress, sash, skirt and started the leggings.  I also worked on the checkerboard under her dress.  I am hoping to keep working on Alice on Sundays as much as I can.  I am very pleased with the white rabbit too. 

 Next up is a beautiful piece of needlepoint I have been working on for years on end.  It's mostly in basketweave and tent but the blue background is a decorative stitch and yes I am working in hand.  To me , it's relaxing to hold work in your hand.  This was another piece I hoped to keep out and keep working on but there are so many old WIP's that I love and want to finish one day.  So so many and I am knitting more all the time and stitching less.  Not because I don't love to stitch but because after coming home from work - almost never before 7pm and then not getting in my chair till around 9 - my eyes are just so tired from being on the PC all day and then I have a bad habit of picking up my Ipad and running thru all the wonderful projects on FB.  bad bad.  I am trying to limit my time on FB - even my DH is noticing that I am not "crafting" any more as he calls it.

 This is a beautiful finish for 2019 - this is Alchemy by Woolenberry - Janina Kallio from Finland.   I have mentioned before how much I love her designs and how perfect they are for Florida weather.  This one is a little heavier and quite large.  The gray is moss stitch in a sport weight yarn called Shalimar Enzo - a gorgeous 80/10/10 blend of merino/nylon/cashmere and the green is by Blue Moon and is all superwash merino I believe in a stitch she calls a star stitch I believe.

 Last up is my current most loved WIP is Fading Waves by Steven West.  Yarn a "fade" set by Madelinetosh in Merino light.  I don't know why everything is gray all the sudden. I've never been a gray/black/neutral person but there is lots of flecks of turquoise and pink in this colorway.  This is quite a large shawl but I am rocking on and have about twice as much of the dark gray as shown in the photo.  The shawl grows as you go along so it's getting bigger and the short row shaping makes the color shift.

I wish I had a bunch of cross stitch finishes to show but I don't.  This is the time of year I just keep starting new projects.  You know they say "everything is all anew in January"  the year is young and all that jazz!  Anyway - I'm a believer in those words apparently evidenced by the pile of stuff by my chair that I have started in the past 6 weeks.

Thanks for commenting on my blog - I appreciate them all.  my best to everyone and I hope your new year is shaping up just the way you hoped it would.