TUSAL - January 4th and other updates

There is a saying.... "Out with the old; in with the new"; so I cleared my jelly jar of it's accumulated ORTs and decided to ring in 2011 with a fresh start. Really, it doesn't look too impressive I realize; only a few strands here and there but knowing that I am finally working on completing that Lizzie Kate piece does my heart good. The Wisper fiber seems to be working okay (maybe the demon died from neglect while sitting in my sewing bag) and hasn't been giving me as much trouble as remembered. The rest of the threads are from my Prairie Schooler piece which is quickly stitching up. Last night I spent my stitching hour working all the small detail areas which I hadn't stitched (pumpkin vines, windows, etc.), some more of the grass and finally put the branch under the poor squirrel so he doesn't have to fly anymore. Tonight I made more progress on the grass and started the large leaf which will be beside the word, "Autumn and finished a little more detail work.

Now onto my dilemma: I have been very pleased with my progress on cross stitching so far but the call of a new WIP is driving me nuts! The one little voice in my head keeps saying, "Come on - you know you want to start something" while another says, "You know The Musician by Joan Elliott is waiting for you and is all kitted up; fabric is ready...." while the third little voice (we'll call it reason) says, "Finish up these two pieces before you consider anything and what about your UFO plans?"

I would love to start The Musician by Joan Elliott (I just love the jewel colors in her designs) but I'm trying very hard to make a dent in the projects that have been sitting around for so long. Of course, I also have the ornament stitch-a-long to do and there is quite a few ornies from last year that I still need to stitch up. What would you do? I'm thinking about making a deal with myself; if I stitch Merry Friends, Autumn and my ornament for the month; then I can start another project. Of course, I need to start working on another UFO (choices, choices!) and then return to the Prairie Schooler season stitich-a-long with Sue by working on Winter. Ray said I have to work the seasons in order ~ everything has to be done in order!

Ornament finishing is a really hard thing for me. I think I'm going to break out my sewing machine one rainy/snow weekend and work on completing a few of these I have sitting around. I know there is at least 5-6 ornaments that I have stitched but need to finish just waiting to be completed and added to the tree. Of course, the 3 day weekend coming up the middle of this month might be the perfect time to contemplate doing this; we'll see.

Knitting is progressing slowly but surely and I'm finding the most time I have to do this is when I'm waiting for the kids after school. As you can see, I haven't quite caught up to where I had to rip everything out and start over; but I'm getting close. After some thought, I think I know what I did wrong, instead of bringing the yarn below the needle when I was changing from knitting to purling, I somehow wrapped the yarn above the needle. Duh!

Okay, I know I said I was going to start walking. Well I finally bought my pedometer (thought I had one but it wouldn't show itself) and have started tracking the distances. Last night, I went to the local Sears and bought one that tracks calories, steps and distance. So my grand total for the "trip to Niagara Falls" is 2 miles. I know I gotta start walking some more if I'm going to meet my goal! Right now my plans is to walk about 1/2 mile at my lunch time break and then walking about 1-2 miles each day. I don't know if I'll fit in a "walk" everyday but I'm hoping to do it most days. Since we live near several malls; I can go there on some days and there is lots of walking/bike trails and the kids absolutely love to go for bike rides with Mom and Dudley (the bulldog) loves to go for walks as well. I wore my pedometer at work today and was amazed that I had taken about 1700 steps by the halfway point but I'm not planning on counting this time in my walk since I have been doing that everyday and I'm wanting to get in better shape.

P.S. Anyone wanting to participate in the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long (TUSAL) is more than welcome to join us! Daffycat has all the details in her blog and if you sign up to join us in this endeavor, there is a possibility of winning a wonderful prize at the end of your adventure. Next TUSAL update is due on February 3rd; but if you want to have a chance in winning, you will need to sign up soon. Daffycat is still accepting participants but the contest entries will be closed out soon so hurry!