Bit of this and that and a check-in

I have been remiss in thanking everyone for their kind comments on my stitching and finishes.  As I'm a solitary stitcher it's nice to hear "nice job" from someone other than The Hubs who hardly looks up from whatever he's doing when he says it :-).

First, because it's time sensitive - RUN!! do not walk  to Long Dog Samplers website.  They have a freebie posted.  It's called Pandemic and is free until June 26th at 8:59 AM BST I had to look that up, it stands for British Summer Time which makes a whole lot more sense than my current Eastern Daylight Time.  It's a full size Long Dog, so REALLY BIG!  If you're interested click here and hopefully it will take you to the website.

I am still knitting away at my sock and am very pleased with my progress.  I have had to pull each section back at least once, but I did put in lifelines (in my case those are lines of dental floss that I put in after I finished each major section), so when I made an unfixable error, I only had to go back to that line and didn't have to worry about dropping any stitches so I didn't panic and just got better with each try which is good because I think that except for the leg, I did each section three times.  Today I'm here:

and because it doesn't show up too well:

that little cup the arrow is pointing to is the heel turn!!  I am waiting for a set of stitch markers (because there's a whole new world of practical and pretty things with a new hobby) they're supposed to be here tomorrow before I start the gusset decreases as they are different on each side and I don't want to mess them up - listen to me sounding like I know what I'm talking about :-).  I didn't mention in my last post but I am following the video series: Let's Teach Gerald How to Knit with Carolyn at Off the Grid Needlearts there's a bit of fangirl in the following...  You can find it on YouTube here.  I skipped right to the socks part as I already knew the basics.  Carolyn is the creative mind behind Evertote project bags and is hosting StitchNorth, a stitcher's retreat in Brampton, Ontario (it's been postponed to next spring and she has spaces available).  At Julie's suggestion, I am also following Christine at Winwick Mum's Sockalong directions and various of her other videos.  Between these two ladies, I will have a pair of socks soon.

Speaking of project bags, everyone on FlossTube shows their beautiful project bags and I kept thinking, "If that were me, I'd be showing my gallon project bag from Food Lion" (local grocery store, I think Ziploc makes their store brand bags). So, this afternoon after work, I went shopping in all the fabric I have from when I thought I was going to be a quilter and I made this:

for my sock and yarn to live in - this is a one skein sized bag and is from the tutorial by Hue Loco (a yarn dyer/store in Colorado).  I am planning to make some larger ones and maybe, if I feel adventurous one or two flat bags for a couple of my cross stitch projects .  Like the sock, it has some issues (the lining got a bit too close to the zipper in a couple places so it is a bit of a chore to unzip and I now wish I had put the handle on it), but I am overall very pleased with it.

For a stitching blog, there's been an awful lot of knitting talk hasn't there?  That's mostly because, I've only been working on one project, BUT it does fit with the one SAL check-in that I'm only a little late for,   Yes, it's time for Gifted Gorgeousness.  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  It's a stitch along that highlights and thanks everyone that's given us something crafty, or things you won in a give away or a project you're stitching for a gift or anything you can shoehorn into the theme.  Vintage Baubles fits perfectly into the SAL as it is a gift for my new great-niece (we're on baby watch as her due date is the 23rd).  Last time you saw it, it was here:

and tonight, it's here:

These colors are much closer to real life.  I did get the beads and may start adding them tomorrow but will see how I feel.

We're in a stretch of "unsettled" weather so it looks like I'll be staying in and stitching this weekend oh darn.  Remember to get that Long Day freebie and I hope you and yours are well.