WIPocalypse 2012...The May Update...
...Hello again, everyone. It's that time again to update y'all about the goings-on for the WIPocalypse.
When last we left you, the dragon looked like
this.
Unfortunately, there's not been a lot of progress. You see, the weekend that I had set aside to sit and just stitch, stitch, stitch (it was going to be roughly 3 days worth of solid progress), I woke up with an ache in my right shoulder. DH was going camping for the weekend, but I figured some gym time would sort out the ache.
About a half hour later, in the gym, it was a solid ow-ow-ow-burn-pain with every step I ran on the treadmill. So I stopped running. I walked for a bit and got bored, so I did a few more easy things: some ab work, some leg work, a very little bit of shoulder work.
Then I came home. I started to do a little cleaning. Bad idea. The ow-ow-ow-burn-pain blossomed into a very serious OW-SHOOT-ME-THEN-STAB-ME-IN-THE-EYE-AND-RUN-ME-OVER-WITH-A-TRUCK-A-FEW-TIMES-AS-THAT-WILL-HURT-LESS-THAN-THIS. I may be understating that a little though. I couldn't move. I shouldn't have been behind the wheel of a car (I had a hard time turning my neck, you see).
Some heat application, ice application, tennis ball between me and the wall application was not loosening the knot in my right trapezius. If you don't know what the trapezius is, it's the muscle that runs down the side (and back) of your neck, across the top of your shoulder, and along your spine, adjacent to your shoulder blade (you have two, one on the right, one on the left). It's an important muscle for use, function, and support of your arm. I clearly need to work this area a little more in the gym, so it gets stronger and less prone to injury, although I still do not know what I did to cause this knot.
And I didn't just have a knot. I had a very VISIBLE knot there - even while wearing a shirt. I had, essentially, a useless right arm with no one in the house to help me out until the daughters got home from school. I had no clue how I caused this either, as I woke up with it and I hadn't done anything in the previous couple of days that could have been considered strenuous (or that could have caused injury - trust me, I've been over the previous 96 hours to waking up with this with a fine-toothed comb in my brain).
That weekend I put a sum total of 10 stitches in the dragon. There should have been hundreds, but I could only manage 10. In a two hour period. Yeah. I'm still feeling the effects of it - I'm still a little sore, my right arm is still a little weak. It's getting better, and I'm working it carefully in the gym, and the occasional application of something magical called BioFreeze is helping loosen things up.
So, here's the dragon now:
There's minute progress. I wouldn't feel accomplished at all about this progress, if I hadn't finished Happy Sock #2 just prior to my shoulder going zot.
They certainly are Happy Socks, and I have happy feet now.
I also have the Yarn Ball Of Death. I spent about 4 days winding this ball. It's not that it's particularly large (about 425 yards of yarn), or that I mind winding yarn by hand (as I don't have a swift or ball winder). It's that when I unwound the hank, it was a spectacular mess of tangle. A tangle that was not visible when I bought the yarn (else I wouldn't have bought the yarn). No swift in the world could have helped this be any faster or easier. That's what I did with my stitching time as my shoulder recovered - I slowly and carefully, wound yarn.
It's going to be a scarf. It's going to be *this* scarf:
Frostlight I think it's going to be lovely, and I also have a very light lavender color for this scarf too. I've not started it yet, so maybe I'll have some progress next month. Yes, knitting a scarf in May in California seems contradictory to making sense, but it does sometimes get cold here, and I do like having my neck warm, and I may have occasion to visit snowy places from time to time. And if I knit it now, it will be ready for winter when I need it.
So there. Now, my shoulder and I are going to go watch 'Mad Men' and work on a dragon...
Labels: WIPocalypse 2012
Friday, April 06, 2012
WIPocalypse 2012... The April 2012 post...
...So, here we are again, ready to report progress for the WIPocalypse. I'm sad to say that I don't think I got as much done as I wanted on Celestial Dragon, but it's still a considerable amount of progress nonetheless.
Before we get started, we lost a participant this month, as many of you know. She passed rather suddenly, and it was a shock to me when I learned it. It still is a shock to me. To wit, I dedicate my post this month to Carol of
Carol's Needle Sketches. You will be missed Carol.
Now, onto the progress.
Remember,
this is what he looked like last time we visited.
Here is what he's looking like today:
Not too shabby, eh? He's filling out nicely, and is SO sparkly. My apologies for the shiny spot in the middle - that's a reflection from behind the fabric of my mesh bag that was sitting on my stand.
Meanwhile, that's not all I worked on. Happy Sock is still in progress! I expected that I might be up to the heel by the time this check in rolled around. I was more than right.
(sorry for the blur)
I've turned the heel and am working up the leg. This makes me happy, and I'll have a new pretty and bright pair of socks shortly. Then I can start a scarf or something.
I've also started thinking about what else I might want to do for WIPocalypse as a new start. I recently picked up Mirabilia's Silver Moon Tea, but I've got Villa Mirabilia sitting and waiting for me, and I'm thinking that might be the one. We'll see - there's still time to start something new.
So, that's it for now. Happy Stitching everyone!
Labels: WIPocalypse 2012
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
WIPocalypse 2012...The March Results...
...Here we are again, on the advent of a full moon, where I am compelled to report my results of this month's efforts on the WIPs.
Well, I think I did pretty good.
First off, we have a finish! No, not a stitching finish, but a finish nonetheless. I finished Happy Sock #1. When we last left Happy Sock, I was working up the foot, and figured that I might have turned the heel on it by this posting. Well, I went to Stitches West, and I made some good progress on Celestial Dragon, so I just kept going.
So, here is Happy Sock:
Isn't she pretty? Hopefully soon I'll have Happy Feet, due to the completion of Happy Sock #2, which was cast on last night, and I'm just starting to get into the pattern going up the foot.
But the real reason we're here is to see my progress on my WIPs... the only one I worked on was Celestial Dragon, but I think you'll be impressed with the progress.
Remember,
this is what he looked like last time. But now just look at him!
I've *really* been working hard on him and he's been working hard on me. It's a real bear stripping that carrying thread from the sparkly, but it's worth it. I did have to frog out the bottom loop of his body because I mis-counted. If that hadn't happened, then I would have had at least another couple of hours done on him.
So, that's all for this round of WIPocalypse! Hopefully next time I'll have him fleshed out a little more and maybe up to the heel on Happy Sock #2!
Happy Stitching!
Labels: WIPocalypse 2012
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
It's WIPocalypse Time! - The February 2012 entry
...When last we visited, our ambitious stitcher had some big plans on her plat- er - stand. There was rampant thoughts of finishing 'Fortunate Traveller' and immediately working on something else from the list.
Well, you know what they say about Best Laid Plans...
But this time, a best laid plan came to be! Fortunate Traveller was completed! Some of you have already seen this, if you're friends with my alter ego (e.g. my real life name) on Facebook, or if you're a regular passerby on The Wagon. But if not, then here he is:
Remember that thought I mentioned earlier? The one about immediately working on something else from the list? Well, that didn't quite happen.
I started knitting a sock. Toe-up. It was my reward for finishing Traveller.
Some of you may be going, "So?" Well... when you've never knit a sock toe-up, there is a learning curve. I have to say, though, there is a very nice colorful happy sock in progress:
http://www2.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
That's Lorna's Laces Solemate in the Rainbow colorway. It's not as bright and colorful as I expected it to be (really, I wanted more red/orange/yellow), but I still like it.
Then I realized, I needed to get cracking on Something Else. But what would it be? Year of the Dragon had started, and I came to realize that I'd populated my WIPocalypse list with dragons, quite by accident. I just happen to love dragons, so it made sense that I have a lot of them as WIPs. But considering Year of the Dragon had just started, why not Celestial Dragon?
You can find his last image
here, but this is what he looks like now:
I'd say that I've made a bit of progress, wouldn't you?
Now, what's on deck for the next run of stitching? Well, more of Celestial Dragon should appear between now and then, and hopefully I'll have turned the heel on the Happy Sock. Happy Sock is my break for when I don't feel like stitching, but need to do something while I catch up with what's on the DVR.
That's all for now, folks. Happy Stitching and we'll see you next time...
Labels: WIPocalypse 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
WIPocalypse 2012 - The January Post
...And so it begins.
I figured on beginning at the beginning and as a result, I've not stitched on anything for the WIPocalypse yet. Hey, I'm posting on a Sunday, and that almost never happens either, so we're all in for something a little different sometimes.
I decided my opening post would be the introduction to the pieces that I mentioned in my
last post that declared my entry into the year of WIPs.
So, I took a few pictures today of the WIPs that are in existence for this year's run. There is one, however, that I don't have because it's still in the possession of someone else. That would be the TWRR (from 2006), which I dearly hope will move on to another person to be worked on soon.
Meanwhile, here are the contenders. In the #1 slot, we have Teresa Wentzler's "The Fortunate Traveler":
Traveller is close to being finished - the only thing that remains are the darker sets of lazy daisies and the beading. This would have been a 2011 finish (my only 2011 finish) had I not gotten hit with a small bout of finishing anxiety, and then turned my head to knitting in the colder days that closed out the year. I am determined to finish this shortly (after I finish a scarf I'm working on), so maybe I'll have a happy dance before the next WIPocalypse posting.
Maybe.
Next on the list is a Dimples Designs Round Robin that I've had sitting in my pile for quite some time. It hasn't screamed at me to finish it - it hasn't even uttered but a whimper, but I think it's time for the last of the over 1 bugs to be completed, and I know I had a plan for the bottom two sections, but I don't remember what it was:
The last two are barely worth showing, but I promised. They are WIPs - in fact, they're left over from the original Guilt Free January. The very *first* Guilt Free January we ever had years and years ago.
Meet Teresa Wentzler's "Storyteller":
I know, sad isn't it? It's such a pretty fabric (some Silkweaver solo from the original Silkweaver solo sets), but I've just not brought myself to work on it. What I did do more work on was Teresa Wentzler's "Celestial Dragon", which is being temperamental and won't let me share a pic. So you're just going to have to go
here to see it.
See, I got all the boring parts out of the way so that I could reward myself with a beautiful dragon... and then I proceeded to not work on it. I've not touched any of these in at least 5 years, with the exception of Fortunate Traveller, which is why all of these made the list.
The others I mentioned in my post to work on are kitted up and ready for me when I am, but they don't get the honor of a photo until stitches are in.
So, that's the current state of the WIPocalypse for me. Let's see how far I can get by next time...
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
WIPocalypse 2012...
...Hi everyone, I'm back. I've joined WIPocalypse 2012 - for those of you not in the stitching world, this is a cross-stitching thing.
The basic guidelines were set out on
Measi's blog, and in a fit of enthusiasm, I joined up.
I was hoping to have finished The Fortunate Traveller by then, but alas, twas not to be. It's still got some lazy daisies and beading to be completed that I could probably finish in 3-5 hours, but I'm knitting something right now and I don't want to stop. Considering my penchant for knitting, I'm going to be cautious with my list, but it's also got some big items on it.
Therefore, entrant #1 for WIPocalypse 2012 will be
The Fortunate Traveller. All links in this post will be to the source design, and not my current progress.
I'm not going to try and be ambitious, but... I think this is a year for working on some TW's. Therefore, I'm adding
Celestial Dragon and
Storyteller to the list.
There will be at least one Mirabilia mermaid, to be determined at a future date as to which one - this will be a new addition as I don't have any that are current WIPs, but I do have several kitted.
Dracolair's
Ouroborus will be started this year. And hopefully finished.
Chatelaine's
Egypt Garden will get started this year and, once I find it, the Dimples Designs round robin will also be completed.
I also plan to finish my TW Round Robin, if it ever comes back home to me.
OK. That's it. WIPocalypse 2012's list has been launched.
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