What do you do at a knitting retreat, anyway?

I found out this week that I got in off the wait list for the Super Summer Knitogether 2014 (hereafter referred to as SSK 2014)! It's a five day knitting retreat held in my hometown, so how could I resist? But what do you do at a five day knitting retreat? Sure, there will be classes, but that doesn't seem to be the main focus. Unless I'm very wrong, I think you mostly sit and knit. For five days. With people you almost certainly didn't know before you arrived.

This has caused me to re-evaluate my knitting projects of course. When you go to something like this, you want to bring something slightly impressive to work on, yet simple enough that you won't mess it up. I think I'll have to start something new - surprise!

It has helped with UILI already, even though I only found out a couple of days ago. Last night I got all my knitting projects out and looked them over; sure enough, I had no interest in finishing six of them so into the frog pond they go! That leaves me with four knitting projects still on the go. Next, I have to decide what I'm going to start so I can be working on it at the retreat. :-) Vanilla socks are a possibility, a simple shawl, or maybe a sockhead hat. Who am I kidding, I'll almost certainly start all three.

UILI is coming along (there was another post describing some progress but it seems to disappeared), and several projects have seen good progress. "Party Cakes", which I'm making for my sister, has become my go-to project for craft group stitching since it only has about six colors and no scatter stitching. It's on 40-count linen so people are still impressed! The last cake is almost done and then I'll move on to the bottom border.

There are several big projects I haven't so much as touched this year because I never seem to have the mental capacity to set them up and get going. :-( There is something to be said for having a 'stitching corner' where the floor stand is always set up with a big project ready to be worked on. I don't have that right now, and I need to figure something out.

That's about it for today. I'll be making soap this morning, and probably knitting while it's cooking. It's a nice spring day!

Ok, I'm still really bad at blogging! Good intentions and all that.

I finally picked up my wee needle again this week and it felt really good to be working on stitching again. The last time I set a stitch was probably early September and I've missed it. On Saturday, I put a name on my sister's wedding sampler. A name! Four whole letters. For my sister who got married more than two years ago. What was I thinking to do this thing on 40-count linen with all the personalization done over one? I must have been suffering from temporary insanity. The pattern is 'Join Your Hands II' by Lila's Studio, and everything is done except the personalization. I love the look of her patterns, but the charting is somewhat lacking. Did you notice the heart with the couple's names? That heart is divided over four pattern pages - that's right, four! The chart also has some errors that should have been fixed before it was printed. I found myself several times with the model picture an inch from my nose to figure out what should be going on because the chart didn't make sense. There are only two colors, so it really wasn't too bad.

After I put the name on the wedding sampler, I worked for a bit on 'Petite Rainbow Row' by Barbara and Cheryl. I like to have some projects that don't require obsessive hand-washing, although I tend to do it anyway whatever I'm stitching. This one is not done in red overdyes so it's a little more relaxing!

More progress has been made on the not-so-wee needles. Knitting tends to get worked on more often because it's so portable. If I have a few minutes, out comes one of the three projects stashed in my purse and away I go! This week, I mostly made progress on my Tilting TARDIS cowl in honor of the up-coming 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. I also started a Beaded Rib Headband for my sister. (I only have the one and I make a lot of stuff for her. Or at least I start a lot of stuff. Whatever.) The headband should be finished in a few days, especially as I want to get it to her for her birthday.

Of course, more progress would have been made in needlecrafting if I hadn't been focusing on doing well on the GRE. I decided to go back to school (again) and despite knowing that the GRE really only measures how well you take the GRE, I still wanted to do well. Without revealing too many details, I did do well, yay! Now the applications need to get done. Statement of purpose, here I come.

I'm *really* bad at blogging aren't I?

Two and a half years between first and second posts - I'm not good at this am I? However it's a new year and I want to post regularly so I'm going to join the 2012 WIPopcalypse in a few minutes. That should motivate me to not only post here but also to actually work on the many stitching projects I want to finish. I don't have pictures yet, but here are the projects I currently have on the go that I'd really like to make some progress on:

"Shadows" from Nine Lives by Graphique Needle Arts

Heirloom Baby Sampler by Heart in Hand

Snips and Snails by Serendipity Designs

Sugar and Spice by Serendipity Designs

God Bless the Moon by Marie Barber

Summer Ball by Sandy Littlejohns

Nature's Bounty by Maria Kelly

Spring Planting by Serendipity Designs

Main Street by Ann Taylor Nelson Designs

99 by Ink Circles

Elegance by Serendipity Designs

Parfum by Serendipity Designs

Washing Up by Serendipity Designs

Jane Austen's House by M. Yvonne Iley

Sparkling Forget-Me-Not Sampler by Sweetheart Tree

Selkirk Grace by Textile Heritage

Sweeter Love by Plum Street Samplers

Sunshine and Shadows by Barbara & Cheryl

Spring Queen by Mirabilia

In addition (like I need any more!) there is a set of Christmas ornaments I've been "working" on, a wedding sampler to design and stitch for my sister (who has been married for several months but understands how these things work) and several small projects waiting for finishing.

I've also got several knitting projects I won't enumerate but the only one I really want to get done is a cabled cardigan for my Dad's birthday. He's a New Year's Eve baby so I've got eleven and a half months.

I'll post pictures next time so there will be a record of my progress. Now back to the hat that needs to be done!