What happened to Spring?

Just when I thought Vancouver was in for an early spring we got another dump of snow.  Luckily it didn't last and now we're back to rain again.  I've seen some crocuses starting so Spring is on the way.  It's a good thing I haven't gone out to do more planting.  I repotted the rose bush last week and a couple weeks ago, I cleaned up the irises.  I should start my carrots soon but the rest will have to wait until we aren't getting any more frost.

Project updates

VS Spring Box: I had this out with the intention of working on it but then I got a bad flu and was coughing so bad I couldn't hold my needle to stitch so it went back into the rotation for the next go around.

Central Park Hoodie: This project, on the other hand, got some extra time in because I could knit while I was sick.  I decided to make the body a little longer so it's not quite up to the armhole shaping now.  It probably only needs another pattern repeat.  I'm also going to make it short-sleeved now.  I'd thought about it before but now that I'm adding the extra length I may have to so I don't run out of yarn.  I LOVE the colour.  I'll get pictures the next time it's out.

Psalm 23 by My Big Toe: I've been working on this the last week, this is the before picture.  I've got more of the left hand and top border done now.  I'm planning on working on it a little more today before I take it to work for the week.  I'll take another picture when I'm done the second week.  It feels wonderful to be working on such an intricate pattern that is only two colours and only cross stitch.  I'm hoping my mom will like it for Christmas.

L&L Celtic Summer: I've had this at work this week and managed to get some more of the beading done on the left border.  Here's a before picture.  This is another one I'm really loving though the beading and gold thread takes a bit of patience.

Tatting: This week I took my first beginner's tatting class.  We were given a fantastic pattern for a bird that I can't wait to try.

For the coming week, I'm going to work on the backstitching of Mrs. Tiggywinkle so I can get it sent in for the charity quilt and I'm going to make a start on some bookmarks for the literacy challenge.

New Stash:

I ordered the last of the L&L Celtic patterns so I have Spring done, I'm working on Summer and I have Autumn, Winter and Christmas patterns now.  I managed to find them on Ebay.

I also ordered a tatting shuttle and some yarn for my beginner's class.

Seminar 2012 registration, class fees and optional tour of the RBCMuseum needlework collection has been paid for and I've booked my dorm room at UVic.  I'm getting very excited about the trip.

Books:

I bought two physical books from Amazon this month.  The first was A Guide to Quaker Parakeets as a reference book for Bobby.  The second is One Year to Organised Life, you can probably guess what that one is for.

For my Kindle I bought the following books: Savor, The Incredible Slow Cooker Cookbook, A Tale of Two Cities, Stupid History 2012 calendar, Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis, Face the Winter Naked, The Grind Show, Unicorn Bait, State of Mind, Cold Lonely Courage, His Last Duchess, Cleopatra and Antony: Power Love and Politics in the Ancient World, The Lady Queen, Tyburn.  Most of the Kindle books were inexpensive suggestions from Goodreads.com

I finished reading Gwenhwyfar early in the month and returned it to the library.  It was an excellent King Arthur tale in the Welsh tradition from Gwenhwyfar's point of view.  You can read my Goodreads review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/253838716.

I also got through a couple more chapters of Pillars of the Earth before I had to return to the library.  I just got the notice that it was back on hold for me so I'll pick it up again this week.

Mostly I've been reading Becoming Marie Antoinette by Juliet Grey.  I'm about 1/2 way through and really enjoying it.  It's about her life from childhood to when she ascends the throne.  I've read quite a bit of non-fiction about her in the past but it just touched on her early life so this has been a really good change.  It's a novel so there's a lot more detail.

I had my Bird Talk and Knits magazines in this month and read those fairly quickly.

I've also been hired as a book reviewer.  I get paid by the book but it will be a little extra money.

Fids

Bobby is fitting in really well.  We're still working on getting him to eat good food.  He eats some veggies and fruit now but still not too keen on pellets.  The cockatiels are pretty much ignoring him.  Hawk seems to sometimes panic when Bobby comes to visit on my chair but Bobby hasn't paid any attention to going over to their cage and I'm feeling a little more trusting of him.  He's decided I'm his favourite now so I at least have one fid that prefers me and I'm not getting bitten as often.  He's started biting Bill now though so we're working on that.  I'm not sure what he's going to be like with the bird sitter yet.

Llew the hedgehog is his usual self and enjoying the tunnel we bought for him.  He's been enjoying his ball again too and spent quite a bit of time rolling around the floor in it the other night after the birds were locked in.  Bobby wasn't too sure about the whole thing but Llew had a good time.

New Addition to the Family

I've got lots of news to tell you since my last blog post and so I wouldn't forget anything, I've been making notes in a notebook as I go along.

Projects:

This month I've worked on several projects.  Now that Christmas is over, I've got things back in a regular rotation again to work on them and with fewer demands on my attention I'm actually making some progress.

Central Park Hoodie is coming along and it's been nice to work on a sweater that's for me this time.  It has some very simple cabling and has been very quick to knit.  Other than having to rip out 1/2 a pattern repeat because I'd crossed my cables the wrong way, I haven't had any problems with this pattern.  I started last July while I was on vacation and haven't worked on it until now.  I'm almost to the armhole shaping on the back.

I did some more work on Victoria Sampler's Spring Box early in the month.  I've 3/4 of the way through cutting the threads in the hearts for the top.  I haven't taken any pictures of this project yet but I'll be working on it again this week so I'll remember to take some pictures when I'm done.  It helped being on vacation for the first two weeks of January.  I liked it, next year I'll be taking a couple weeks in January again to go on a cruise to the Western Caribbean.

Here's a progress picture of Lavendar & Lace's Celtic Summer.  I've almost finished her face.  I've been beading as I go on this one which I like a lot better than putting the beads in after all the stitching is done.  I'm quite happy with the progress I've made.

I also started a new project that is a gift for my mom.  It's Psalm 23 by My Big Toe.  It's actually a pattern I've had in my stash for awhile and it was one of the projects I kitted up this summer.  I substituted two DMC floss colours for the specialty ones they had in the pattern and I really like the colours.  I started this one on the top left since it has a border around the words and I've got the corner of  the border done and I'm starting on the lettering in the middle.  It's still at the office where I've been working on it so I'll get pictures when I bring it home on Monday.

Stash Enhancement:

I received my Just Cross Stitch Magazine and the Piecework Knitting Issue as well as the EAC newsletter this month.  I've been getting JCS from my online stitching store but I realized how much I've been paying for it so I'm going to get my own subscription to it.  More money I can spend on stash :).  I also got the first part of Loose Feathers new seasons pattern (this one was Summer) and the fabric for all three parts.  The second part should be in soon and she's sending the floss with it.  I also got some new cards from Cranky Crows studios.  It's not really stitching related but it was a fundraiser for Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary and I'm going to use them for the birthday floss exchange I'm in for one of my online groups.  They're really nice cards, I'm sorry to be giving them away.  The rest of the stash was the flosses for the floss exchange, I think they're very interesting variegated threads, newer DMC colours.

Books:

I've gotten quite a bit of reading done.  It's so good not to have school books to read.  I read two books on Conures and a book about Quakers.  I started By Slanderous Tongues (Mercedes Lackey) but realised it was the third book of a series so I took it back and got the first book.  That's what I get for actually browsing the library shelves.  I have several books out of the library and in various stages of progress, that's why I've decided this week is going to be reading week.  I need to get some of them finished.  First up, is Byzantium by Judith Herrin.  It's an older non-fiction book that we were doing as a group read on Goodreads.  I've fallen behind as usual but it's a good book so I'm going to keep reading.  It has to go back to the library this week so I don't know if I'll get it finished.  I may have to put it on hold again.  I'm almost finished Dreaming Anastasia and Fauna.  Both of them are from my bookshelves and they've been on the go for awhile.

Bird News and the Latest Addition:

Mal seems to be gradually getting over his obsession with the mirror.  He's more willing to leave it for awhile and go back to his explorations.  Hawk is being his usual self but he often sits next to me on his "porch" now while Mal is out on his explorations.  I made a batch of Chop for them a few weeks ago with carrots, celery, cabbage and kale.  I've frozen it in weekly portion sizes and I've been giving them some every morning.  Hawk is actually eating it.  Mal does occasionally but still prefers his whole leaves.

And ... Bobby has arrived.  He's a four year old quaker from Greyhaven, formally called Bubba.  He's a bit of a handful right now.  I've had a few bites already but we had a good training session of step ups yesterday and he's been better behaved today.  He loves my husband to pieces and will do pretty much anything for him but needs to work on his manners a little with me.  Yesterday morning I was wondering if we'd picked the right bird but after our training session, I think there's hope for him.

New Beginnings

Jan 3rd was my first vacation day even though my office has been closed since before Christmas.  My plan was to catch up on my reading and stitching.  We went to my mom's for Christmas so I got a couple books read on the way to and from her house (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9182478-hourglass and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14003.The_River_s_Gift)  and a bit of back stitching done on Mrs. Tiggy-winkle while we were there.

My 3 yr old nephew lives next door and spends a lot of time at Grandma's, especially when his auntie is there, so there wasn't much time for stitching.  We made a trip to Christina Lake on Boxing Day.  It was beautiful but very snowy.  I got a bread machine for Christmas so I've made a few loaves of bread since we've been back and I've been getting the birds' area ready for another bird or two I'll be adopting this year from the bird sanctuary.

My cockatiels, Mal and Hawk are now sharing one cage so we took down the second cage to make room for the new one.  That involved moving and cleaning toys, perches, and playstands.  Mal has decided he likes kisses so he's a bit more sociable now.  We had our Christmas with them yesterday.  The birds got a new foraging toy, a preening/puzzle kind of toy and one with lots of bells on it.  I also bought them some Nutriberry popcorn.  Mal had a few nibbles from the ones I put in the foraging box but Hawk hasn't looked at them yet.  The other toys went in the drawer for later, since they have to look at them several times before they decide they're safe to go close too.  Llew, the hedgehog, got a new tunnel and some more mealworms.  He hasn't been in his tunnel yet but I gave him a few worms early since I had to clip all his nails.  I also bought some toys for Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary Empty Stocking fund for the parrots in their care.

I should be able to do more stitching this year anyway.  I'm not taking the last payroll course until September and I'm dropping one of my volunteer positions and cutting back on the other one in 2012.  I did a little stitching on L&L Celtic Summer last night and I've ordered Celtic Christmas.