Sew Dance

Welcome to the end of 2019. It's been a bit of a crazy year, especially near the end. So here were my goals for 2019. Reduce the number of kits in my craft closet (of doom) I would like to be able to see part of the floor if possible. Knit another item. Finish all the ornament kits I bought in 2018. Lose 5 pounds. How did I do? Hahaha. I think I added to the kits, even with taking some to my parents I still can't see the floor. Done. Actually knitted 3 things. All afghans. Don't think I quite got here. I definitely made a dent though. I actually did this. 10 actually. Total finished items for 2019: 9 afghans 3 shawls 1 poncho 15 ornaments (2 ribbon balls) 1 amigurumi So I now present my goals for 2020 Stitch from stash using my dice method of picking projects Complete a cross stitch that's not an ornament Get in better shape Find a job Edit my 2019 Nano novel and attempt to publish it. My craft closet difference from 2018 to...

I finished page 2 of Waterfall Dragons. Next project is Once Upon a Fairytale, supersized max color. What have I gotten myself into? And this is a Christmas present I made, a hooded unicorn blanket. The recipient loved it and it was big enough for her to grow into it for a while.

So close to a page finish with Waterfall Dragons. I'm getting really tired of the dark colors but I will push through the last 15 rows. And a bit of an early Christmas present to myself. The HAED Christmas addicts packet arrived with all these goodies inside. So, spent some time baking this weekend for Christmas Eve. All this... Turned into these... I spent a fair amount of time at my parents so you get fun photos and videos of Clyde. I think I woke him up. I had to pick up the tree skirt because he kept attacking it. The beads were coming undone and going everywhere, partially my fault, mainly his. He still sits under the tree. I call this one "sniff, sniff, zoom" Excuse my zooming, I was trying to zoom out, but one finger was on the slider that I didn't realize was in the middle of the screen. This is the look I got after I sneezed. For the record, I average about 8 in a row and sound like a cat. Did I say something to ...

I'm about 1/3 of the way through page 2 of Waterfall Dragons now. But I took a small break to make a new ornament. Also spent time rearranging how things were stored in my craft closet (of doom) So I could use this as a way of picking my next project. Almost everything ends with a roll of a D20. And saw Clyde. Here he is in his tree. Looking into getting him a new (taller) one for Christmas. Maybe not in Beige.

I did finish another crocheted item, but that's a Christmas present so I shall post it later. In the meantime, back to Waterfall Dragons and the attempt to finish the 10,000 stitch HAED challenge. I need to do another 20 rows or so by Christmas Eve. And believe it or not, my parents have never put up a Christmas tree with Clyde. This is his third Christmas with us and his first tree. He likes sitting under it (as did Onyx), but seems confused otherwise. Did nibble on the 'needles' a bit when I first put it up. But as it's a 30 year old artificial tree, I don't think it tasted very good. He did however like the pile of Xmas stuff bins we had on the stairs.

Second shawl complete. And I decided to participate in Marly Bird's make-a-long. So I bought yarn and started both versions. I finished the crochet version. Knitting may take a bit of time as the yarn is really slippery, even on bamboo needles. Once I finish stitching all my presents, I'm going back to the last HAED challenge and picking up Waterfall Dragons for about half a page. After that I'm unsure how I want to choose my projects. I could come up with a rotation like before. One cross stitch, one yarn craft. Or to choose my next project, roll some of the dice I have to choose. And some cute photos of Clyde. I will be putting up a Christmas tree in my parents house. It'll be their first since they got Clyde. Who wants to take a guess at how many times they'll find him in it?

Nice opening hustle. Round 1: repeat a favorite dance Ally. She went for it more than the first time. Don't know if it was worth a perfect score, but tonight you really have to screw up not to get that score. Lauren. Very smooth. Nice lines. Huh. They didn't give a perfect score. I agree with the scores. It was good, but not a wow. Kel. Fun routine. More hip hop than jazz. Still don't know if it's 10 worthy. Hannah. Nice easy Viennese waltz. I agree with the scores. Round 2: freestyle round Ally. The lifts were a little awkward in the transitions. Didn't see hips in the salsa section and a bit too much side by side dancing. I'll give her the scores. (Haha. Took imitating Bruno with his jacket on was hilarious.)  Lauren. I enjoyed that. I was smiling. The boys in tight jeans certainly helped. I agree with the scores. (I miss pro dances)  Hannah. The lifts were interesting, but the rest of it fell flat for me. Too high f...

And the knit afghan is complete. Despite having to frog the border twice and losing 2 days of work in the process. Eventually I just started to sew it to the edge, then continued knitting it when I realized I needed more. Will be delivered to the recipient soon. And I made another 'Yes, Yes' shawl. Made with Unforgettable in Polo. Will make another one in Winery shortly. Have written over 40 thousand words so far for NaNoWriMo. Clearly, my daily word count became much more consistent after the end of my job. By the time many of you read this blog, the Lilla Rose black Friday sale will be on. Lovely hair accessories and the flexi clips can double as shawl pins. Please visit here:  lillarose.biz/khascat For dealing with my sales pitch, here's Clyde deciding to give me some entertainment during dinner.

Semi finals. Redemption round.  Lauren. Paso Doble retry. Better. Since places looked a little disjointed in the transitions. Also don't know why she was keeping her hands in fists at her hips. Looked odd. I'll give her the scores. Maybe a bit high. Kel. Tango retry. He walked through it rather than stalked. That song is also too happy to be a tango. A little too high. Ally. Viennese waltz retry. Good. One part near the end looked out of place with the amount of rotation. Don't know if I'd give it 10s. Hannah. Rumba retry. While there were more hips, it wasn't the right movement. Too high. James. Cha cha retry. Not his best. A few funky things that I noticed. But this song will always be the pro dance from Maks and Elena, Val and Val. I'll give him the scores. 2nd round. Aka get your tissues ready.  Lauren. It was simple and elegant. I agree with the scores. Kel. The lifts were good. His movement between the lifts was not as i...

So I'm officially unemployed. More time to craft though, but not much money to buy things. So, for the time being it's a Stitch From Stash challenge. Finally finished the main part of this afghan. Working on the border which will be sewn to the body and then crocheted around. Yay for being bi-craftual. Took a few kits out of this closet and moved them to my parents. Didn't make too much of a dent... I caught up with NaNoWriMo this week. Haven't written yet today, but I will get to that after posting. These were ordered before my stash diet. Yarn from HAED. A perk of my free time, in addition to craft time, more opportunity to see Clyde.

Girl groups & boy bands. I loved that opening. Girl group round James. So fun. A few technique areas could've been a little cleaner. I'm nitpicking at this point. I agree with the scores. Sean. That was clunky for the parts he did move to. Too high. Hannah. There were no hips on the basics and she didn't have her toes pointed during the lift. A little bit high but i'll give her the scores. Ally. That song was not a samba. There's no bounce which made it hard to actually dance the bounce. Not sure why the judges are praising her technique. I like the outfit. Way too high. Not a perfect score. Lauren. Not bad but she was rather upright in hold. I agree with the 8s. Kel. He was stomping and not stalking. He looked like he had no neck most of the dance. 8s. Maybe.  Boy band round James. He kept up with the pros. I agree with the scores. Not his best dance and it was pretty much the bye bye bye choreography. Hannah. Not b...

Finally back to working on this afghan. I'm almost done with the 3rd repeat. One more after that than making the border, which ends up being knit, then sewn on, and finally crocheted. Saw Clyde, he wasn't happy about the flash. And in NaNoWriMo news, I used up my extra words on Tuesday because election night coverage was insane. I was utterly exhausted and never quite recovered the rest of the week which made my word count miserable Thursday and Friday. Almost caught up this weekend. I like the graphs they're giving us but I don't see the little widget I used to post. Probably bought a few things I didn't need to giving the end of my current job on Friday (yay for unemployment?). Like the HAED Christmas Addicts packet. And took part in the Lilla Rose Stylists Black Friday. Want to check out my Facebook page ? I might try for a live video to show what I got.