What insomnia can lead to!

 A couple of weeks ago I had a very bad case of insomnia.  I was not able to fall asleep, so rather than the torture of tossing and turning, I got up and went wandering around on the web.

I have a number of friends who cross-stitch and although I really enjoy stitching temari, I never thought that cross-stitch would catch my fancy.  Boy, was I wrong!  I prefer geometric designs, and in my mind's eye I always see cross-stitch as samplers with letters and numbers and figures that I just do not care for.  In my wandering while not being able to sleep, I came across blackwork, and better yet, modern blackwork!

I ended up on the website called Peppermint Purple and here I found patterns combining cross-stitch and blackwork in modern designs.  I like Zentangles, but I have not had a lot of success drawing them, but these patterns reminded me of them, so why not stitch them instead of drawing.

I proceeded to do some research on how to stitch both cross-stitch and blackwork, then did a bunch of research on stitching frames.  A friend of mine stitches in-hand, but that did not appeal to me.  I settled on Q-snaps as the way to go.

I went back to Peppermint Purple and found a free Stitch Along (SAL) that was combining both cross-stitch and blackwork.  I joined.  The irony is that it is the same SAL a friend in Texas has been doing and posting pictures.  She also stitched last years.  Once I took a close look at the pattern, I realized it was the one that B was doing.

All this happened the night of no sleep, and I knew I was going to go down to Black Cat Stitchery once they opened and get myself set up for the SAL.  Black Cat is a wonderful shop in Winthrop Harbor, IL, and it is only about a 20 minute drive from my home.  It is great having a really nice stitchery so close at hand.  I like being able to look at all the colors in person, and the shop has a very wide selection of threads, fabric, and material.

Knowing I was going to buy an 11" x 11" Q-snap, I pulled out some leftover linen fabric from a dress I made awhile ago and made a grime guard for it.  Once it was late enough for the store to be open, I went down and bought thread, Aida 16ct fabric in Icelandic Grey, and an 11" x 11" Q-snap.  I came home and started stitching.  Here is Peppermint Purple's SAL through week 7.  This SAL will go through to November with a weekly fill being released every Wednesday.

I was having so much fun with the SAL that I did not like waiting a week for something to stitch, so I went back out to Peppermint Purple and purchased the pattern "Reflections".  I was planning on meeting a friend down at Black Cat a couple of days after I bought the items for the SAL, so I got what I needed for the new pattern.  This is the one that really brings Zentangles to mind for me.  Here it is so far:

It sure is a fun thing to stitch, and I had to make another grime guard.  It sure is handy having way too much fabric in my stash!

Now out on Ravelry, on the forum Weaver's who knit...., one of the members posted a link to another really cool SAL.  This one is comprised of 36 tiles of folk designs from around the world.  Well, I just couldn't resist that!  I am starting this one about 19 weeks behind, so it's just been catch up for me.

It is upside down on the stitching stand.  It is easier for me to stitch that way.  It is going to be really pretty when it's done.  This one is from Cliffside Stitches, there is also a blackwork SAL available as well.  Both of the SAL's that I am doing are provided from the designers for free.  That is a mighty fabulous thing.

I stitched for a couple of weeks holding the frames in my left hand and just stitching with my right.  I decided that I wanted a stand and so I ordered one on Sunday and it came Wednesday.  I think that it is going to really work well for my needs.  I sit in my recliner when I stitch so I wanted a stand that would work with the foot rest up or down, and this one does the trick.  It is well made, nicely finished, and very adjustable.  I am now learning to stitch with 2 hands, my right hand keeps wanting to come up from underneath, but it is getting better.

A stitching friend recommended using a laying tool to keep the threads parallel when creating the crosses with more than one thread.  Since I was ordering stuff left and right anyway, I ordered a Trolley needle.  It does what it's supposed to do, but I feel like Edward Scissorshand ✂️ using it!  LOL  Also I am using small rare earth magnets to hold the cloth rolled up and as a needle minder and when my hand gets too close, the magnets grab my finger.  Makes for interesting stitching sessions.

So that is pretty much what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks.  I am still working on the mosaic blanket, I am about 2/3 done there but stitching seems to have me in its thrall.

Almost on one track....

 I have been mostly just working on the Queen blanket.  That is surprising for me because I am generally all over the place, working on a very large variety of projects.  The blanket has really grabbed my attention and the interest in it doesn't seem to be waning.  I am a little over half done with it, starting to repeat the color bands in reverse.

This is not to say that I have not been playing with other things, I am just not a monogamous crafter😀 LoveCrafts had the small 25gr skeins of Sheepjes Catona on sale last week, so I ordered a nice selection of colors to play with.

I have been wanting to try making a mandala, and many of the patterns on Ravelry call for this yarn.  I had thought of using Maysville 8/4 carpet warp, but I really wanted a mercerized yarn.  The carpet warp would have been very matte looking even though I have a lot in my stash.

I started a mandala the day the yarn came, actually set the blanket aside😀 I told myself that I was only going to do a couple of rows a day and set it aside.  The next day I picked it up and essentially finished it!  So much for a couple of rows a day.  I  ran over to Joann Fabrics, so nice that it is close by, and picked up a couple of brass hoops.  I wasn't sure which size I would need so I grabbed a 10" & 12" hoop.

I had read to clip the mandala to the hoop with stitch markers to hold it in place while attaching it to the hoop.  That worked like a charm!

Once the 12" hoop was clipped on, I just crocheted the last row and attaching it to the hoop as I went.  Instead of doing a ch2 I sc around the hoop.  Then I pulled out my lucet, used 2 of the colors to make a hanging cord and the finished mandala is now hanging on my front door.  My camera behaved bizarrely, the colors look really faded and different hanging on the door then laying on the table.  I don't know if this is because I have a yellow wall in my hall, or because of the lighting by my doorway.  Regardless, it is done and hanging and I am overall pleased with it.  

Another little quick project was making another crochet hook roll.  A friend ordered a set of the Clover Amour hooks and I think she will need a case for it.  I put a 39-end band on the Good Wood mini inkle, and popped the band out in a couple of hours.  

The colors are quiet outside my regular color wheel, but they ended up working well with the fabric that I chose.  The 2 darker colors are Lunatic Fringe 10/2, and the hot pink was in my stash.  I have no idea where that came from, but it worked well for this band.

I did monogram the hook sized on the pockets like I did for my roll.  The monogrammer behaved much nicer this time around, none of the cams gave me grief.  The roll itself gave me loads of trouble.  Silly me did not write down how I made the first roll, so I was just kind of working through it all.  I sewed it together, discovered that I sewed the band on in the wrong direction, sewed the cover flap on wrong too.  I had to take it all apart, trim the edges, and reassemble.  I did get it to come together but it was a bigger PITA than I had planned.

I also created a Bingo card of crafting for this year.  It has on it some projects that I am working on, projects that have stalled on me, and projects that I would like to make in the future.  I want to use it as a guild line for my crafting this year.  It will be interesting to see if I get any Bingos!

Stay tuned to see how this goes!  LOL