Well, that was an unintentionally long blogging hiatus. I've had this tab open on my laptop for several months, but just couldn't figure out where to start - the longer it went on, the harder it became to write this post! Actually, I am still not sure where to begin, but I've decided to just. start. writing. So here goes.
The biggest thing that's happened since my last post is that we bought a house! Back in January of this year, Tyler and I stumbled across a house that was about to go on sale in our neighborhood, and we were able to make an out-of-market deal. At the beginning of April, we closed and by mid-month we were ready to move in. We have been getting settled and making improvements ever since; it was built in 1935 so there is no shortage of home improvement projects for us!
The second biggest piece of news is that Lulu moved with us and surprised us all by becoming an indoor cat. She loves her new life, which is filled with Cat TV, lots of snuggles, and comfortable nap spots. She's finally lost her stress coat and her fur has become lush and beautiful. She still hides when people come over, but she has conquered a lot of her fears that used to make her run and hide under the couch (i.e. lawnmowers, trash trucks, or really any loud & unexpected noise).
And for the first time ever, I have a dedicated craft room! It came together fairly quickly when some relatives offered up a gorgeous curio cabinet that has been in the family for decades (it belonged to my great grandparents). It has been nothing short of amazing to have the room to spread out and really dig into a project, especially when I'm sewing something.
I won't bore you with every single project I made during my blogging hiatus, but here are a few of the highlights:
Simple Something, a sweater knit 100% from stash yarn that I started in July 2021 and finished in January 2022.
Hat & Peak colorwork hat, which was also knit 100% with stash yarn - a common theme as I've been trying to whittle things down to a manageable size. This is one of the few colorwork hat projects that hasn't ended up being too tight or puckered, I think I went up a needle size or two for the colorwork bits and that did the trick.
Another destash project, Festive Wrap, which really used up that sock yarn - and it is almost as tall as the weird plant that has been growing in the front of our new place all summer which we affectionately have dubbed The Beanstalk.
Sing Along Sock for the newly reimagined Sock Pals with Gnome Depot Fiber (which I knit for my pal), and my own design, Windmill of the Autumn Sky, which I got to keep for myself!
I just signed up for the next round of Sock Pals which has a spooky Halloween theme, so there will definitely be more socks in my future. So far it's the only yarn I've been buying in 2022, if you can believe it.
I've also knit a ton of handspun hats and scrappy destash hats using leftover bits of yarn over the past 9 months which I'll be donating locally or sending off to Wool Aid.
But the most ambitious project I've finished this year was the graduation quilt for my nephew, Jake, who graduated from high school in June and is headed off to college any day now! This is the biggest quilt project I've ever made, even bigger than the Jelly Roll quilt that is currently on our bed, in fact. Also, it is only the second large quilt project I've ever sewn - so I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't finish in time (despite starting it in October 2021) or that it would turn out wonky. There is a little bit of puckering in places because I had some issues with the fabric stretching, but overall it turned out far better than I could have hoped for, and I think he likes it, which is the most important thing. I used the Boardwalk Pattern from Missouri Star and a mix of neutral fabrics from a variety of brands (too many to name here!). I had it finished at Missouri Star as well (yay employee discount!) using the "water" edge-to-edge pattern.
The other monumental finish was my Pretty Little Chicago cross stitch piece, which I'd started in September of 2020 shortly after we moved down to KC. I really didn't want to hit the two-year mark with this project still languishing in my WIP basket, so I made an effort to work on it a little bit each day and what do you know? It was finished & framed by the end of July.
My new obsession is creating projects to decorate our new house for the holidays, so there will definitely be some fun things to share here this fall. My goal is to post at least once a month going forward; surely that is doable?!?! If you don't want to miss out on anything, you can click the link at the top of this page to get new blog posts delivered via email. I have also been keeping my Ravelry notebook updated (even with sewing and cross-stitch stuff), and I often post WIPs on my Instagram account.
Leaving you with one more cute Lulu photo for the road:
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