Distractions

On February 7, 2020February 7, 2020 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch, Shameless Self-Promotion, Uncategorized3 Comments

One thing about fewer blog posts: You hear fewer complaints. I never have enough time. I always want to get more done. I always have more inspiration and ideas to try.

Just because my inner mantra is ‘I never have enough time’ doesn’t really make it true. I certainly want more time but I still manage to get a lot done with the time I have. Of course, I want more knitting time. Of course, I want to get more done.

The reality is…I am highly prone to distractions. D’oh. Yes, it’s true. Distractions are just so fun though. Especially when it comes to snarky cross stitch!

This week it’s Valentines for that truly special someone.

Or perhaps, for that “special” someone. LOLOLOLOLOLOL. I just can’t get enough.

I’ve started a new 2020 Cross Stitch gallery…check it out here!

It includes gems like this one that went to live with my nephew…

You can find the Valentine’s day pieces, along with lots of other snark in my Etsy shop…Click Here! I’ve put a bunch of older stock on sale too, so get it while you can!

Overdue Update

On April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch, FO Friday, Nephew, Shawl, Sweater6 Comments

Well, Heeeeeelllo!

It’s been a while. I’ve been busy. Work, eh? Takes up all the best hours of the day! Never fear though…there has still been knitting! No time to talk about knitting but still time for knitting! I’ve finished up a bunch of projects too!

Like my Striped Esjan! It’s awesome. I’m glad I finally made one! It’s inspired me to put more holes in my knitting for years now! The ends aren’t woven and it’s not blocked yet but that has not stopped me from wearing it. It’s an older WestKnits design. The big swiss cheese holes have always attracted me to this shawl. All the increases to create those holes resulted in nearly 1200 stitches in the final rows! The bind off took an entire day but I’m super stoked to have finished it. It’s fun to wear.

There’s also my latest nephew knit! Another sweater for the little man…it’s just a top down raglan with a few stripes for interest. Hopefully he’ll get plenty of cozy time from it!

The kid is growing like a weed so I had to knit this yarn up quick before he outgrew the 3 skeins I bought! The yarn is from Swan’s Island’s ecowash collection. Don’t be fooled by that convenient name, that also sounds like it might be better for the environment than superwash. This yarn, while listed as washable, is not machine dryable which, for me, negates the whole purpose of being washable. It behaves like superwash, in that it grows upon washing. So…poooooooooh. I should have read the label closer. As much as I dislike superwash, it’s the way to go for kids clothes.

It’s gonna be a while before I start the next nephew sweater. It’s going to be a Mini Sunset Highway for his first birthday. It’s going to be incredibly adorable. I can’t wait to see him wear it. But for now it’s on the backburner. I’m shelving all knitting until May. That sounds drastic but…

I’ve been accepted into another street fair, the Bayview Mercantile, April 28th, in San Francisco, at All Good Pizza in the Bayview neighborhood. Let’s face it, they had me at pizza! So, no knitting for the next couple weeks while I prep some new cross stitch hoops for the event!

Luckily, it’s kind of addictive and I’m not upset at this self-imposed ban on knitting. I have cross stitch ideas faster than I can stitch them so a month long cross stitch binge is just what I need! My crafty Mom is getting in on the action too..she sent me a big package full of hand dyed aida to stitch on! The colors are so fun! I especially love the rainbow stripes!

I love a good pop culture reference. I still have lots of song lyrics, movie quotes and of course, Game of Thrones quotes on the drawing board…I’m curious about what you’d like to see too! Leave your suggestions in the comments!

WIP Wednesday

On November 14, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Shawl, WIPLeave a comment

The progress on my Striped Esjan is slow but steady! I’m nearly ready to make the switch from body to border. I may have to stash dive again to come up with more color choices. We’ll see…this sucker is definitely eating up the yarn!

I’m still spending most of my time preparing for the SFEtsy Holiday Emporium! I feel a Bah Humbug coming on…

Here’s the details, if you’ll be in San Francisco Thanksgiving weekend!

Now, back to the stitching and the booth building! There’s still loads to be done!

Artist in Residency

On October 30, 2018October 30, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Misc3 Comments

This week, I’m the Artist-in-Residency at a lovely, quiet retreat in the sunny hills of Santa Clara. Aka, cat sitting out in the burbs. We started our time together with an afternoon photo shoot. The boys cooperated…at least for a few minutes.

They’re friendly kitties so I had a shadow all afternoon. Like when I scoped out the chainlink fence as a potential cross stitch photo spot.

I got a late start so I missed the best light but this was a good practice run. I’m always looking for new places to take Etsy photos. A backyard with a bunch of random stuff in it, is a treasure trove of spots, just waiting to be discovered. Like the random carpet or this great wall…

In the city, we’d call this a park!

Maybe the ‘burbs aren’t so bad! I mean, how can I be mad when I’ve got a driveway to use all week!? It’s been decades since I’ve known that feeling! Woooo!

Work in Progress Thursday

On October 4, 2018October 4, 2018 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch, Misc, Toy, WIP4 Comments

‘What have you been up to?’ is such a generic question. It’s in line with ‘How are you?’…it’s hard for me to be anything but dismissive, when faced with such questions. I haven’t been at work at all week. I don’t know what I’ve been doing. Am I supposed to actually stop and think about it and then recount all the things I’ve done this week? Funemployment is different every day and remembering is hard work, okay?

Thank goodness for the iPhone…how else would I know what I’ve done? Photo stream to the rescue! I don’t have to remember what I’ve done…there’s pictures of lots of it!

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And, that’s not all…My Dragon Fade shawl is finished! Mostly…I’ve still got a few ends left to weave but I’ve been wearing it anyhow! Pics tomorrow! It’s gorgeous…I love it!

New Cross Stitch Gallery

On September 15, 2018September 15, 2018 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch2 Comments

When it was suggested that I have a page with all my cross stitching on it, I agreed it was a good idea! And now, here it is finally…

FogKnits Cross Stitch Gallery

You can also find a gallery link at the top of the homepage. In the gallery, there’s individual pics of each hoop and notes on where the designs came from. It’s a work in progress but I’ll keep adding to it. Turns out there’s a lot of cross stitching that hasn’t made it onto the blog, yet.

These two for example,

A search for Parks & Rec found this one

Found the font online, there are many Little Prince hits in a google search

Sent off as a housewarming gift. Leslie Knope approves, obviously.

The second hoop, started when I was messing with beads a couple weeks ago. The beads were the first element in place. I picked a song lyric to match the stars. I wouldn’t pick Coldplay intentionally. I rather dislike them but the sentiment matched the star beads. I picked a pretty font and a pretty color for no reason other than I liked them. I really hated those beads though. They were dreadful and tacky. I just couldn’t.

Once I got rid of the beads, I was left with a font that just screamed Little Prince to me. I didn’t have room for him but I did manage a lovely replica of his asteroid, B-612. That’s about as artsy fartsy as I get. Despite my intense dislike of Coldplay, I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

Then there’s stuff like this…

Found Calvin & Hobbes online, modified them some, added the text

I love these kinds of blackwork fill patterns, they’re a lot more work than I expected.

Continuing experiment in rainbows and no count motifs.

You can see where all my knitting time has gone :) I’ve been doing a lot of cross stitch this summer. And I’ve got pages and pages and pages of notes with more ideas! It’s just so fun…I can’t stop. I’ve got plenty more to add to the gallery but I’m off to a good start!

And, many of these hoops aren’t for my permanent collection. Check out my Etsy shop to see what’s currently available to purchase! FogKnits on Etsy

Back to Stitching…

On September 11, 2018 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch, WIP5 Comments

It took a few days but I have recovered from last week’s interview stress! A gorgeous weekend and lots of outdoor time helped!

The interview went well. I’m not sure I got the job but I’m not sure I want the job. The company is doing really neat science but they’re a very early start up, currently only 10 employees. So, they’re thinking things over, I’m thinking things over. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

In the meantime, I’ve got plenty of crafty ideas to keep me busy! Last night was our annual knitting group anniversary party. 9 Years of stitching and bitching! Wooo! As part of our annual tradition, we pick names from a hat and then knit for each other.

I really struggled with what to knit this year. My gift recipient is a total process knitter who loves to knit for other people. I spent a lot of time thinking about what she would love and find useful. After considering everything, I decided on a Wonder Woman wrap. Check it out here, if you aren’t familiar. It’s a free pattern!

Like most knitting, it got to a point where it went to the time out corner. I was happy enough with my progress but our party was months off. I had plenty of time. Of course, a quick trip to the time out corner turned into a complete shunning. My intention was to pick it up two weeks before the party and crank it out.

And then the interview came up. Keeping the deadline in mind, I was still confident I had time to get the knitting done so my project continued to languish. I didn’t give it a second thought.

Until…I got home from my interview, ready to knit. That was about the time I decided I didn’t like my progress and wanted to start over again. D’oh! 96 hours and I wanted to scrap the whole thing.

The sticky wicket here was sizing. I picked the smaller size in the pattern and I knit to gauge so I wouldn’t run out of yarn. As a lover of large shawls, this barely scarf sized piece just wasn’t cutting it. I was unhappy with it. I wasn’t motivated to move forward with something I didn’t like so back to the drawing board.

I decided to start an entirely new project…this time, cross stitch. I should have just started at cross stitch. We’re both happy with how things ended up…

A Star Wars collection of cross stitch! Once I got started it was impossible to stop. This is so fun!! The series will definitely continue…Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper? It’s a trap! and Han shot first are all on the list, with a few others being considered as well. There’s just so many options…

Yoda’s from the same Etsy pattern as the Droids.

Darth Vader is a from a crochet blanket chart I found online.

Found these Droids as part of a set on Etsy.

This is an amalgam of several death stars online

A search for Millenium Falcon should find this one pretty easily.

I love the Millenium Falcon on the black aida. Colored aida is such a simply idea but you really don’t see it much? Why is that? It can’t be because cross stitchers lack imagination and creativity. I refuse to believe that.

So, a couple weeks back, I suggested to my dye master Mother that aida is cotton, like yarn and t-shirts…no reason she can’t dye it. Yesterday, this came in the mail…

Hand dyed aida in a glorious array of colors!!! I’m so excited about this. There might be a Millenium Falcon in a deep purple outer space in my future! I can’t wait to play with it!

I haven’t decided what to do with my Wonder Woman wrap yet. We’ll talk about that more tomorrow! I’ve got knitting goals too! If I could just have two extra arms, I could be knitting and cross stitching at the same time…A girl can dream, right?