Post Ragnarok Update

Ragnarok is over and everyone made it home safely. There were a few injuries but nothing serious. Now begins the long clean up process.

Here is Jack wearing the new surcoat that I made him and showing off his first place Smithy award for the sword he entered into the Arts and Sciences competition.

 
Me, I didn't get as much crafting done as I had hoped while he was gone. I still had to work all week and I also tackled some cleaning and home improvement projects, the biggest of which was recaulking the tub and faucet. I'm rather proud of that one, I must confess. I think I did a fantastic job for an amateur.

But I did do a little on The Princess and the Dragon, starting the second page, and a little on Tiger Chilling Out.

The rest of this week will likely be spent cleaning up, doing Ragnarok laundry, unpacking the trailer, sorting and storing camping equipment, and restoring the house back to state that no longer looks post apocalyptic.

A Couple WIPs and A New Start

I've been quiet but not idle. In the past couple of weeks I've finished a stack of linen garb in a frantic pre-Ragnarok rush (two shirts, two pairs of pants, three hoods, and one surcoat). We've sorted the camping equipment, packed up the truck and the trailer.

Once we finished the Ragnarok prep I turned my attention to cleaning up the house and a little bit of cross stitch. The cross stitch has made more progress than the house cleaning. I completed page 1 of The Princess and the Dragon by Charting Creations.

I worked a bit on Tiger Chilling Out by Dimensions and made it all the way to the bottom of the first page of the this project!

I even started my Ragnarok Consolation Project, and of course discovered that I somehow missed one of the colors that I need for the first page. I think I'll be able to salvage it from another project but I haven't checked yet. I'm stitching this on 28 count black lugana, making my super-bright LED magnifying lamp a necessity. I also have this pattern in paper format rather than PDF, making it a little bit more tedious to stitch - ninja stitches are definitely making themselves known.

I've got more cleaning tomorrow and a lot of laundry to do, but I hope to get back in my sewing room and maybe work on my quilts for a bit. I've got a few quilts that just need borders and if I get borders on them there will be three quilts that need to be quilted. Finally, weekend plans include some quality time with my niece. What are your plans for the weekend?

A Weekend on Mackinac Island

 Jack had a work-related trip up to Mackinac Island this weekend, so I took a couple days off and joined him. We drove up to Frankenmuth on Wednesday night and enjoyed a chicken dinner at Zehnders. On Thursday we continued up to Mackinaw City where we picked up an otter shirt for me from a local t-shirt shop and some books for Baby from Enchanted Knights, the medieval store.

Then it was onto the ferry and across the lake to Mackinac Island. It was our first time staying on the island, as we have always stayed on the mainland and ferried across for the day before. Jack had to do work stuff on Friday and Saturday mornings but the rest of the time he was free and we went exploring. We saw Fort Mackinac, took a carriage tour, ate some decent food, picked up a couple souvenirs, and generally relaxed and had a good time.

The view from the Fort, about halfway up.

The weather was mostly mild with a hearty breeze so it was the perfect time to go. We stayed at Mission Point Resort, which is on Main Street but about a 15 minute walk outside of downtown proper.

The lighthouse in the middle is Round Island Lighthouse which was first built in 1895 and is now a historical landmark. Round Island is an uninhabited island just south of Mackinac and is part of the Hiawatha National Forest.

One windy evening from a bench just outside the hotel

Its a good 4.5 hour drive to Mackinac, so of course I took along a bag full of crafty projects. I started a new something (not sure whether it will be a very small blanket or a very large tote bag) out of the last of the yarn from my Grandmother. This yarn is so old it has stickers from a store that went out of business about 15 years ago and I think the yarn itself is much older than that.

This is my first Join-As-You-Go experiment and I'm happy with how its going so far.

I also spent some time cross stitching while Jack was at his conference.

Friday morning's relaxing stitching time.

Today we headed back, stopping of course at the Cheese Haus in Frankenmuth on the way home to get our favorite cheese spread.

On a slightly different topic, since I can't go to Ragnarok this year, Jack bought me the fabric and floss to go with a pattern he gifted me for Christmas last year, with the caveat that I can't start it until Ragnarok. You'll be seeing a new project soon.

Well, its getting late and I'm tired and I sadly have to go back to work tomorrow. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Wascally Wabbit

 Meet Rascal, the friendly neighborhood bunny rabbit that visits in the morning. We must be on the same schedule, because I see him as I'm leaving for work a few times a week. I personally think he likes eating all the dandelions in my yard and I'm more than happy to let him have them.

Well, I've been trying to get into the Ragnarok groove but I seem to be lacking motivation. I did eventually digitize the Baline Cross and and working on a new surcoat for Jack.

Also working on Waiting by Tilton Crafts here and there. I've ALMOST finished a page.

I suppose I should go clean something, since we have friends coming over tomorrow to stay overnight. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Where Did the Month Go?

Yes it really has been a month since I've posted o_O

So what's new?

Well, I spent the first week of May in Milwaukee for work training. I had big plans to stitch or crochet my heart out in the evenings. Sadly, the lighting in the hotel room was subpar and it was more trouble that it was worth. I did acquire a couple skeins of fluffy yarn while there, which turned out to be very difficult to crochet because of the twists in the yarn. The solution was a much larger hook and a very simple pattern. Double crochet all the way, with a color change every five rows to keep it interesting.

I've also finished a scarf I started in January, started a matching hat, worked a bit on the C2C rainbow blanket, and completely ignored my Sophie's Universe. I'll post more photos of those projects before too long.

The following couple of weeks after my training were filled with chores catch-up from being gone for a week, Mother's day festivities, gobs and gobs of laundry, a round of spring colds, attempts to get moving on prepping for Ragnarok, and planning and actually cooking a few meals. I even attempted to make a paleo homemade pasta a couple nights ago. It was an abject failure - the dough just didn't want to stick together properly.

I've discovered an Aldi's a couple miles from work and along with it, the joys of purchasing excellent produce at half the cost of my regular store. I even branched out and picked up some dairy, which I'm a bit skeptical about as we've had bad luck with off-brand cheese and sour cream.

In between all that I did manage to work on a couple cross stitch projects.

Waiting by Tilton Crafts has seen a fair amount of love recently.

Before

Current

As has my tiger, who now has the beginning of a nose.

Before

Current

 

So that's about it for now. In addition to Ragnarok, Jack has a work trip coming up to Mackinac Island and I took a couple days off to accompany him. Its entirely possible that I will be getting quite a lot of crafting done in the car trip there and back, an approximately five hour drive. I've never had the pleasure of staying on the island before, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Let me know what you've been up to in the last month - share a link to your blog/instagram page if you'd like!