This is turning out to be my favorite “stitching” post to put together because this is the time of the month where I show off all the progress that I have made in the previous month. The first half of March was incredibly difficult for me and I was in an immense amount of pain so there were days where I barely did any crafting. It turns out that knitting is easier for me because the motion of knitting keeps the arms close to the body whereas cross stitching and diamond painting involve extending my arms. When my arms are feeling weak and it hurts to move/lift them it was almost impossible for me to do anything other then knitting. Which unfortunately means that I didn’t make much progress on anything other than knitting but the steroids finally kicked in toward the end of March so I’ve been able to do a lot more. I am excited that I have one finished project and I have my fingers crossed that I will have a few more in April. Also, I decided to scrap the hat that I was making for my niece and instead I’m going to make her another hat in the future with better yarn. I actually finished knitting her hat but I couldn’t get over how plastic feeling the yarn felt so I decided to just toss it. My husband doesn’t understand how I can restart and rip back things without it bothering me but I just really love the process of knitting so I don’t mind it!

Finished Object

• 

• 

• 

I think this came out so cute and I’m so excited to hang it up this Fall. It took me two days of work but it should have only taken one. I have been reading up on how people finish diamond painting and I saw that many people use decorative washi tape on the sides before they put it in the frame so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m just not sure what color I want to use. I’m leaning toward a sparkly brown but I think I need to wait until the craft stores put out their Fall stuff before I can fully finish it.

WIP’s (Works in Progress)

Oslo Hat

This is three days of work on my husband’s hat. I’m about an inch away from turning my work and I’ll be honest I don’t see how this is going to turn into the hat it does but I’m just going to keep knitting away and trust the pattern. Although I have tried it on him and it seems to fit him pretty well. Its a brimmed beanie and I plan on making a bunch of people in my life this hat for Christmas. This is also the second project that I have ever done using the magic loop method and I love how meditative it is.

Pajama Cardigan

I didn’t take a picture of this last month so I thought I would just show off all the different pieces that I have made for this cardigan. This is my morning knit so it is the only project that I work on every single day. I also made it my focus piece for three days in March so I was able to get a lot done on it. I am working on the second sleeve and after that all I need to do is the button band and then sew it all together. The sewing together stage is the most nerve wracking part for me and I hope that I do a good job with it. The first sleeve is the first time I ever tried the magic loop method and it took me a couple of starts and restarts before I got the hang of it. I also struggled with the pattern with the sleeve and I did make a sleeve that fits me but I got confused by the wording in the pattern and inadvertently made the whole thing in garter stitch instead of having a section of the yarn over pattern. Overall, I’m happy with how it is turning out and I should have this finished by next month.

Christmas Snow cross stitch

This is a stamped cross stitch kit that I got of Amazon when I started to get back into cross stitch. I prefer regular cross stitch but it is nice to have a stitch where I don’t have to count or keep track of my stitches. It can be hard to see but pretty much all my work has been done on the top, particularly the top left side. I worked on this two days in March.

Uptown Cardigan

• 

• 

I’m more convinced than ever that this cardigan is going to be like a wearable blanket but I’m ok with that. I worked on this for two days but I didn’t get near as much progress on it as I wanted. I think after I finish my pajama cardigan that this will become my new morning stitch because it is my oldest WIP. I hope that by next month I have finished the first front panel and I’m working on the second.

Midwinter Socks

• 

• 

You can see that I made a lot of progress on this sock in March. I have never worked on double pointed needles before and I think it’s pretty obvious. This sock has a lot of tension issues and dropped stitches but I decided that I’m going to see it through because this sock has an afterthought heel (which is what the small blue line above the stripes is for) and that requires cutting into this sock once its off the needles so I figured it would be good to practice that technique on a wonky sock. Although, I do have a lot of love for this poor sock and I haven’t decided if I’m going to keep it or remake this first sock. The yarn I’m using is a set from Hobby Lobby so it’s very inexpensive and easy for me to get my hands on. I worked on this a total of three days.

Nutcracker Christmas Ornament

This is one day of work on this cute this ornament. I got this pattern from the Just CrossStitch June 2017 magazine. I use the Readly app to access a lot of crafting magazines. This one should be done with one more day of stitching.

Slipstravaganza

• 

• 

This one grew by a few more color sections. I worked on this one for two days and I should move onto the next section if this comes up in April.

Purl Soho Blanket

• 

• 

My cat, Fern, made an appearance for this picture! I love how you can see how much this one grew in March. This is the project that I worked on the most besides my morning stitch because it came up 6 times on my wheel app. I hope that when I show this off next month I will have added the next color to this blanket.

Those are all the projects that I worked on in March. My other cross stitches did come up on the wheel but it was at the beginning of the month so I didn’t work on them. So far in April cross stitch has come up two of the three days and one of them is a new start so I’m excited for you all to see that next month!

~Cassie