October 28, 2009
Posted in Crochet at 1:46 pm by Kimberly Tyree
I’m still working on the cross-stitch angel, but I’ve decided to pause my work on the crochet table runner and work on a few Christmas projects instead. I’m trying to finish a crocheted angel tree topper in time to use on our tree. It is from “A Crochet Christmas” booklet, which I got from Annie’s Attic a while back. The crocheted angel dress is going fairly fast (I’ll put up a picture of my progress soon), but there will be more details later which are new to me – adding the doll head, wings, etc. I’ll have to make a run to the craft store to look for the accessory parts….
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October 26, 2009
Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch at 8:24 am by Kimberly Tyree
I finally finished the medium dark red floss. I just barely had enough thread, and I started with a brand new skein of floss. I ended up with a single strand left over, and I’m very efficient with my floss. The color I just finished is actually one of 4 red colors in this design. I’ve done the 2 middle shades now, and still have the lightest and the darkest reds to go, but the structure of the angel’s dress is very clear now. There is some purple to the dress too, but I’ll probably finish the red and green colors first. I still have some more gray to do, and the angel’s wings, of course. I’ve done a lot of the sheep, but there’s still an entire lion to do too! The outlining will probably take some time too, since there is metallic thread involved, and beads also.
In nearly every piece I cross-stitch, I end up making (at least) one mistake. I already made one in this piece, when I was doing the very first color, the darker red. I didn’t notice it until I had done quite a few more stitches, and I didn’t feel like going back to correct it, but you can barely notice. It’s just one stitch in the wrong place, and I ended up just swapping colors – dark red and medium dark red – so it didn’t really make much of a difference.
I finished the first motif of the table runner too. It needs to be stretched, but it is quite pretty. I’ve started the 2nd motif, which is identical to the first one until the last round, where the motifs are joined. Then there is a 3rd motif, also joined, and then a border all the way around. I may not finish this before Christmas, since I want to concentrate on the angel to give it as a Christmas present!
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October 22, 2009
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:51 pm by Kimberly Tyree
As you may have noticed, I’ve switched to new blog software. I’m using MovableType, through Yahoo, and it seems to be pretty flexible. I’m still tweaking the format and colors and stuff, so it will probably still change some over the next few weeks. I don’t have a link back to my main page yet either, but you can just press the backspace to go back for now. It has a nice way to archive entries, and allows comments on specific blogs. You can also have multiple blogs, so I may add a separate one at some point for my posts about writing.
I’m just about finished with the first motif of the crochet table runner. I’m actually on the last round, but had to stop to take care of a crying child…. I’m making progress on the cross stitch angel too, but there are a lot of medium red stitches! I didn’t take any pictures today, but I’ll get some more up soon. My youngest child is starting to protest his morning naps, so I may have less time to work on projects before long, but we’ll see!
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October 17, 2009
Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch at 2:46 pm by Kimberly Tyree
I finished the white on the angel, and the grey blend as well. I picked a medium bright green to do next, and it went by pretty fast. It looks like Christmas now, with the red and green! I’m now working on a medium red shade. I like doing the symbols with only one floss color involved (as opposed to blending two colors), particularly when the pattern calls for 2 strands of floss to be used. In this case, I cut the thread twice as long, and fold it in half so that I have a loop at the end instead of two unconnected strands. Then, instead of threading the tail through a few stitches on the back to anchor it before starting to stitch, I can start in the square I’m doing, bring the floss up and then back down, and then stick the needle through the loop at the end, pulling it tight. This saves on floss, makes a neater back, and is much easier!
I’m on round 20 on the table runner, so I’m almost done with the first motif. Doesn’t look too different than the last picture, so I didn’t take a new one. It’s turned much cooler here the past day or two, so I’m thinking I may have to crochet a pair of slippers really quick here, and come back to the table runner afterwards! We’ll see….
I really think I need to create some cross-stitch patterns to put on the website, since I want to at least have something in that craft “genre.” I should set a goal of having something by the end of the year. We’ll see about that, too…. I’m also thinking of switching to some blogging software, instead of just writing up these posts manually. It might be easier to maintain, and might look better too.
As for my novel, it’s coming along well. I’ve rearranged and rewritten the first and last chapters, as well as modified several in-between chapters. I added one completely new chapter, split the ending into two chapters, and added an epilog. I think it’s more suspenseful now, flows better, and makes more sense. I’m up to about 76,000 words too, which is close to my target of 80,000. I’ve heard that’s a good length for a first-time sci-fi author. I’m not sure why I’m having to work up to my target word count this time, since my previous fantasy novel was WAY too long.
One more note – I have a new office now. Rather, a new old office. Our house is mostly one floor, but has a loft and an office on the 2nd floor. The only problem is that it gets way too hot up there during the long summer. But now that it’s cooling down some, I moved everything out of the office and turned it into another bedroom for one of our girls, at least temporarily, and then moved the baby into the younger girl’s room. This freed up the music room, which is where the baby has been sleeping, so I moved all my office stuff into the music room (after getting a new desk!). Confusing? It’s musical rooms! I really like having all my music, writing, computer, and craft things in one room. And it’s better that way, since there’s only one room that’s off limits to the kids now. Plus, all 3 kids have their own rooms that are quieter now, and we don’t have to worry so much about waking up the baby. The only problem is, once next summer comes, the upstairs room will get hot again. We’re thinking about re-zoning the air conditioners, if we can afford it, which will hopefully fix that problem. Next problem is that there’s no closet or bathroom upstairs. Oh well, I like changing things around anyway.
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October 8, 2009
Posted in Crochet, Cross Stitch at 10:17 am by Kimberly Tyree
I’ve made some progress on both the crochet table runner and the cross stitch angel. On the table runner, I’ve finished round 16, out of 21, for the first motif. The second and third motifs are almost identical, except they’re joined together. Then a 6 round border is added around the entire thing. I’m not sure I like working with size 20 crochet thread as well as size 10. It can be very tricky to keep on the hook, and hard to hold onto with my fingers without straining. But it does look very delicate and lacey.
I’m still working on the white on the angel. There was a lot on the sheep, and now I’m doing the dress part. I have to admit I’ll be glad when I’m done with the white! I like working with more “colorful” colors. When the white’s done, I’ll probably finish up the grey blend that I started earlier, when I ran out of floss. Then I’ll start a brighter color.
I haven’t been doing as much crafting over the past week or so, since I have been working hard on potty-training my middle child. She is 23 months old now, and really wants to be done with diapers (as do I). She’s doing pretty good too, with very few messes now. She didn’t wear a diaper all morning today, and I just put one on her for naptime. One problem, though, is that she doesn’t want to wear underwear either. She seems to think that since she doesn’t have to wear a diaper, she shouldn’t have to wear anything, or maybe that wearing underwear is back-tracking, despite the fact that everyone else still wears clothes! Hopefully, if the weather will finally cool off, she might want to wear something more!
On another non-craft note, I’ve also been working a lot on my sci-fi novel lately, since it is coming together well. I’m editing it chapter by chapter, adding in some more details and fine-tuning the characterizations. I came across an article online about 5 red flags to avoid on your first page, based on what editors and agents don’t like to see. The first item was having a flashback on your first page. So I opened up my first chapter, checked over the first page, and sure enough, I started a flashback right at the bottom of page one! Great. So, I stayed up late that night, trying to rearrange everything in chapter 1. I made a lot of other improvements too, especially in a dialog sequence, so I guess it was worth the effort. I really didn’t want to get rid of the flashback, as I think it is one of the more well-written, exciting portions, but I did move it to later in the chapter, after an introductory scene. Editing is definitely not my favorite part of writing, but when I make some good changes and things start to fit together really nicely, then it can be exciting!
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October 1, 2009
Posted in Crochet at 9:16 pm by Kimberly Tyree
Already October! I had a good trip last week, with lots of progress made on my novel. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any crafting done. I took the table runner kit with me, planning to do some on the plane, but somehow managed to leave the 1-page directions in the seat-back pocket in front of me on the plane! I didn’t realize it until I got to the hotel and started looking for the directions. Oops. I was really upset, but I emailed Annie’s Attic to see if there was a way I could get a copy of just the directions, and not have to purchase the entire kit again. They wrote back and said they had already put in the mail an entire new kit for me! For free! Despite it not being their fault, or even the post office’s fault that I lost the pattern, they were willing to send me another. I got the replacement in the mail yesterday, so I’m busy working on it once more. Just to show my appreciation (like I needed an excuse!), I placed another order with Annie’s Attic too – a bunch of yarn for some new projects, and the large size plastic canvas sheets that I couldn’t find at the store.
My trip wasn’t a total loss as far as crafting goes. I did make it to a Michaels craft store while I was there, and picked up some more grey embroidery floss for my angel project, plus a crochet hook in a size that I needed for the fancy doll dress I’m planning on making for my daughter. I was good, and didn’t get anything more. Mostly because it wouldn’t have fit in my suitcase on the way home!
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