I have an FO!!

I haven’t added my initials, but I think I will… under the tail of the dancing squirrel on the right. Or maybe on the left & the year on the right. It’s been so long since I stitched my initials into a cross-stitch project!

I still haven’t decided quite what to do with it yet, either. I’m dithering between framing it or making a hanging… leaning toward the latter. I’ll give it a soak and see how it turns out.

One reason I stopped doing cross-stitch (other than being swept away by knitting) is eyesight. I like working on fabric with a small-ish thread count and it was just too hard to see/count! There are a few ways to magnify, and I found a lighted magnifying lamp worked best for me. I’d returned a similar unit that had a spring clamp — the lamp itself was great, but the clamp didn’t work on my furniture. The one I have has both a weighted base and a screw clamp, and I found the clamp worked best for my stitching spot.

The most helpful thing was that I scanned the pattern and put it into knitCompanion so I could access it on my iPad — enlarge it, move it around, use some of the tracking features — though I’m sure a simple PDF on my iPad would have worked, too. Toward the end, I wasn’t even using the magnifier anymore, though I brought it out for the last little bit — the corn tassel.

Other than replacing the words “Fancey Blackett” with the star motif, my only other modification was to add a bat in place of a leaf & a small acorn.

Super fun project!

We had a pretty low-key weekend and didn’t go up north, as planned. That’s still something we want to do, but because the restaurant we want to go to is open seasonally, it will have to wait until next year. Instead, we’re contemplating other things… Rusty & I have a big anniversary coming up in January, and we’re thinking Charleston, SC, as a destination. That might seem a little weird, but we just finished watching Black Sails and were intrigued by Charles Town… and other locations, but I’m not sure the Bahamas is our vibe.

Instead, we did a lot of yard work and short little outings. The kiddos were over yesterday and that was super fun. None of them had anything much to say about their first few days at school, and I supposed that’s OK — that means there were no complaints, either!

I don’t think I knit a stitch all week! I have made progress on the Fancey Blackett piece, though.

I’ve finished the top section, and the dividing border is done except for a stitch in the center of each of those motifs. One crow atop a pumpkin is stitched in the bottom section, and I’m currently working on cornstalks. I had to undo/redo some stitching last night… “counted” is the operative word for this type of work. heh. There will be five of those altogether, along with another crow atop a pumpkin, and a swirl of stitches to tie it all together. Stitching ought to be done in plenty of time to make it into something for Halloween!

We had a doozy of a thunderstorm roll through last night — power was out for a few hours (I still have an electric alarm clock, so blink*blink*blink when it came back on) — and it was overcast this morning when I took photos, but even without the clouds, the hours of daylight are getting noticeably shorter.

After a long hiatus, Tiny Needle Tuesday returns! Halloween is coming! I want Fancey Blackett’s band of dancing witches & squirrels to be ready!!

I’m nearly finished with the top portion. Only a leaf or two, an acorn top & a star motif to go. A little bit of the border to go, and then, beneath the border, there will be some corn, pumpkins & crows.

Along with August vaporizing, we have had some definitely cooler mornings around here… autumnal, even. I haven’t seen any leaves starting to turn yet. Kate & I (& Kai) are making a quick foodie trip up north next weekend and I won’t be surprised if I see some color changes then.