It's August?

 It happened again - I've lost an entire month.  Poof, just like that, it was here and gone.  Although I have to say that July was not that different from June, so go back and look at one of my posts from June, did I do one?, and you'll have my July and probably August too.  

I'm still working from home and enjoying it.  The extra sleep has done wonders and the time in the evening for crafting has been wonderful.  I did have to go into the office one day to pack things up as  someone decided that the planned mass moves must continue.  Despite the size of my building - it's two city blocks long and one wide - there was a time when it was hard to find office space for new people so they were put as close to their division as possible or they were just left in their old space.  In an effort to get everyone in a division together and reduce our per person square footage so an office that had one person in it might have two or three now - perfect for keeping social distance, we are doing a massive office shuffle hence the packing up of my stuff.  Fortunately, I had done a fairly extensive paper file purge a few months ago so I didn't have a lot to pack so it didn't take too long.  It was strange being in the building though.  While the number of people that actually work in the building has dropped over the years most of our recent hires are remote workers there was always that background hum that any office has.  When I went in there was nothing.  No working sounds, no smells when walking past the cafeteria, no people, nothing.  The only person I saw the entire time I was in the building was the security guard when I badged in and out.  Very spooky.

That trip to DC is the total of my excitement for July.

Oh wait!  I did go to Joann's for fabric for Grady's stocking and Cassie's birth announcement pillow.  I was shocked at how low their stock of fabric was.  I don't know if it is all Joann's or just that one but there were entire racks that were empty can you tell that I don't get out much?  Other than one trip into the grocery store this was the first shopping trip I had made since March.  I did find fabric for both and just need to get myself finishing them.

I also stitched and knit and planned and watched a lot of  television.  I watched every episode of Time Team (I may have missed one or two), through season 6 of Digging for Britain and tons of YouTube.  I have my usual stitching and knitting channels but I am absolutely hooked on Bernadette Banner.  I have absolutely no idea why I find someone making period clothing so fascinating.

For stitching I worked on and FINISHED Cassie's stocking.  It went from here:

to here:

This is Vintage Baubles by Shannon Christine Designs.  It's done on a 28-count white Lugana with the called for DMC, Kreinik and beads.  I also used Petite Treasure Braid for some of the backstitching.  The stocking as charted does not have a space for the name so I stitched the bottom of the row of baubles with the name to be level with the tops on the previous row, stitched Cassie's name and wasn't that fun?  I found the 50's style font on Etsy and thought it fit the style of the stocking perfectly. Charted out "Cassimera" and then started counting to center.  In total the name had 117 stitches, well there were only 98 in the stocking - and no I don't know why I didn't think of that while I was charting - so I ended up doing her name over-1 and then did the top third of the baubles.  Doing that added a row or two to the stocking but not enough to impact the overall shape.  The other change I made was the backstitching.  The pattern called for all the ornaments to be backstitched in 3371.  That didn't appeal to me so instead I used the darkest of each color group and PTB for the tops.  Once the stitching was done  I beaded, for almost a week I beaded - sooo many beads.  I just need to find fabric for the backing and cording I'm thinking a pink to continue with the mid-century modern color scheme and settle down to sew.  I have a doctor's appointment on Monday and there's a Joann's around the corner from their office so will stop in on my way home.

With the commitment stitching done, I'm taking a bit of time and just doing what I want as far as crafting for a little while.  I have started a couple of ornaments but forgot to take a picture and The Hubs has my phone right now because it's Pokemon Community Day or something and he can explain a whole lot better than I what he's doing - I just walk around collecting he worries about stardust, etc.  I'm also crocheting a bunch of balls for Calder and Vance for their birthday.  I have one done and another about half done. I'm using Red Heart Super Saver yarn and a small hook so while it makes a very strong ball, it's very tough on my hands so can't do a lot at once.

I've also did some knitting.  I was working on the foot of my first sock when I posted last.  I finished the first one and am now ready to do the heel flap on the second.  

There are some issues of fit with the first sock, but I think some of that may be down to my tension. I was tense while knitting so my gauge is very tight I think I was close to 10.5 stitches on 2.25mm needles.  I was going to make the changes to the second sock but then decided I needed to make them as close to the same as possible as they are a pair.  I also need to practice my toe grafting - my Kitchnering was rubbish.  I understand the hows but my carry through left a lot to be desired.

And that's it for July and part of August.  I plan to get my rotation going again and I really want to start everything a couple of new projects  Hope you are all staying safe and well.