A Dragon Dreams Finish

"Late Knight Snacking" is finished and he's going to be hard to part with! It's so darn cute!



The scan doesn't show the silver metallic on the knight's armor. It's too bad, because he really sparkles!

The breadcloth for the exchange is almost finished. I ended up having to rip out a deer, because I turned the cloth to stitch it and my top thread ran the wrong way. The deer is about half filled in, and then I just need to do tails and antlers plus the backstitching, and the cloth is done.

As most of you know, I have been on a pattern diet for a year. Last year, DH bet me that I couldn't go a year without a new pattern - and that was any kind of pattern - XS, crochet, knitting... He said I could keep my automatic for Paula Vaughan and the JCS Ornie issue, and he would continue getting me the "Heel & Toes Gazette" but that would be all I could have. Oh, and he said if I came across any of the OOP PV's that I was missing, I was allowed to get them. There was one more exception, and that was I could get a pattern if it was to be stitched for a gift, and that needed to be done as soon as it came in. That would prevent me from putting more things in my pattern stash. So, the rules weren't bad and kept me mostly working from my stash.

Well, out of the blue, DH asked me what I wanted for my reward for sticking to my pattern diet. He let me loose and I had a ball shopping online. I purchased my first Jeanette Douglas design, "A Home in the Woods" with all the sub threads. Sadly the original threads used in the design are no longer available. I bought a couple of DMC Perle and a couple of Caron threads that I needed to stitch some of the Just Nan's I have in stash, and a JN snowflake charm. I also joined in Pam Kellogg's new mystery SAL that starts on the 26th of this month. I've been wanting to do one of her mysteries, and this one sounds like fun. I pulled the threads, and the colors are so soft and pretty. I have aida in a size that will work, but I would much prefer evenweave. I will probably just make do with the aida.

I have to take the kids to class this morning, so I will sit outside in the car for 2 hours, instead of driving back home. I have a book to read, and my needles and wool to start a new pair of socks. I'm going to use worsted weight wool for this pair, because the guys like heavy socks for outdoor use. I like doing socks in it, because it goes so quickly. My favorite is the beautiful patterned sock wool that I get from Germany. There is nothing that compares to the gorgous colorways and patterns that are produced, but it's so very expensive. I love Opal yarn, but it runs between $15 - $17 for a ball of yarn that makes one pair of socks. Because of the price, I haven't purchased it in a couple of years. PT Yarns used to have a Sock of the Month Club that used Opal - oh they were gorgeous socks! I was a member for a bit, but the club was cancelled when they went to a being a supplier for stores and stopped selling retail. Is the price as expensive in Germany or is it all the importation tarrifs that has driven up the price?

Warning - a bit of a rant...... I'm a bit frustrated with an arranged trade. It will be 2 months ago on the 7th that I entered a trade. I made arrangements to send a piece of fabric out for a kit that had some floss used from it. I sent my fabric right out, and never heard if it was received or not. I emailed and finally after posting on the board that I emailed, I got a response. Yes she got the fabric, she likes it, but hasn't had time to send out the kit - will do it in a coule of days. Never a word about the extras I sent or anything. I still haven't received anything. So a couple of days ago, I emailed and asked if it was sent yet. No response as of yet. It seems like when I get involved in the larger trades, those people get what I send, but don't send back. I had done a trade where I sent a TW Millennium kit for a couple of small JN kits. I never got the JN's. Another that I did was I sent a sweater kit in trade for some Lorna's Laces yarn to make DD a pair of socks she really wanted. The yarn never came either. In all cases, I know the people received what I sent, as they replied to my emails. In all cases, what I sent was more valuable than the trade - but it was something I really wanted to make someone else, so the trades were worth it. In all cases, all said they would post, but they were busy, and then stopped responding to my emails. If I ever did something like that, I could never bring myself to using the item - I'd feel so guilty that I'd just have to send them the item back or my original trade, plus something else for them waiting so long.