It’s that time of year again and add to that hell deadlines at work…. that means I still haven’t uploaded the sci-fi party photos, costumes and cake etc.

I’m all head down bum up working to a killer deadline at the moment and trying to put in minimum 12 hour days I’ll be back soon though I promise… ok maybe after I get osme Christmas baking done.

Oh and Cirques is behaving nicely on the train trip to and from work .. maybe just maybe I will have a finish in a few weeks.

See you all again soon.

Ok so lets not think too hard on that for now.. I mean who wants to be thinking about how unprepared they are for Christmas and start a panic (not me that’s for sure). So… how about some goals then. I had grand plans for November and not much time so lets get reviewing and see how well I did.

November Goals were:

Stitching

• Finish stitching in all the 939 on Sea Beacon – Ummm that would be no (didn’t even pick this one up this month.
• Stitch my section of Jan’s RR and get it sent out before the end of the first week of November. Sure did
• 5 Hours on cirque – In all honesty I think I may of managed a half hour on this during November
• Finish page 3 of St Nick – please!!! *Sob* no, It will be done before 2010 rolls in though no matter what it takes
• At least three lengths into the PINN stitch kit Yep, in fact i may of done as many as six (though the lengths in th ekit are pre cut and rather short… especially when you loop start.
  
• Post bramble updates each week and try to be completely caught up by the end of November Maybe not every week but I am caught up and posted more than once during the month, so I am considering this a success.
• Do the finishing on the Lesley and Colin trees Umm nope

Knitting

• Signed up for the Nov KAL on the beginning lace knitters group on Ravelry. So start and make progress on the woodland lace shawl. I managed to get this cast on and do a couple of rows but no major progress unfortunately.
• Frog back my diamond lace shawl wip and restart as the short sleeved version I managed this an then some, finishing the short sleeved shrug in under two weeks

Other

• Costumes for the sci-fi party Yep (Post to come)
  
• Sci-fi cake Yep (another post to be written up )
  
• Fairy dinosaur, butterfly garden cake Yep and actually already posted pictures of this one

7 items done and 5 not done.. I am running at more than 50%  which is all good by me. I am surprised I managed that much with how hectic the month was, not to mention the logistics of flying up to Brisbane and throwing a 40th birthday party in there as well. That I wouldn’t of managed without the help of some wonderful people.

So what crazy grand plans do I have for December??? Lets bring on that mad dash to achieve something before the new year rolls in.

December Goals:

Stitching

• Finishing on the Lesley and Colin trees before Dec 18th so they can be given to the recipients when next I am in Brisbane
• Finish page 3 of St Nick
• Finish Cirques
• 3 lengths into the PINN stitch kit

Knitting

• Make some progress on the shawl (hopefully at least three pattern repeats)

I am going to try and keep it simple this month. Christmas, visitors, graduation trip to Brisbane and a hell deadline for work this month mean even this much will be rough. Somehow I don’t think I will be achieving any of the goals I set for 2009 before the 31st.. but I guess you never know.

WIP project tallies
WIPs: 28
Finishes This Month: 1 ( knitting project not listed on tally)
Finishes since project start: 2 (+2 knitting)
Items for finishing : 7
New Starts: 1
Planned Starts: 2

Just another quick post of some wip pictures before I round up my goals for November and set some new ones for the last month of the year.
I concentrated most of my minimal stitching time this month on catching up with my neglected Bramble and the Rose SAL. I am now very happy to say that is up-to-date and this picture is as of November 30. I haven’t worked out exact percentages but I think this will put me very close to 30% or so. Since most of the stitching of this was done on the train I just did the green areas and didn’t battle with taking the additional spool to do the flowers. Hopefully December month will see this page finished off completely. Bramble will be on my 2010 goals for completion I think.

The only other picture I have is my small progress on the PINN stitch kit. For some reason my stitching over two always seems so much slower and this project is no exception. The threads for this one are rougher than DMC and don’t feel the best but I am not going to substitute the threads from the kit so I will just have to keep plodding along as fast as I can. It is also a colour chart which for some reason seems harder for me to keep track on and follow while stitching. I have never worked from a colour chart before and at this point there is nothing to indicate I will be rushing out to do so again. This is another design I would like to see finished in 2010. Overall it is pretty simple so here’s hoping I can find my groove with this design and make some significant progress each month.
While I have worked on Cirques this month there is not enough for a picture, in fact I am not sure I will update it again now until it is finished (hoping I can still finish it before the end of the year).

After a big journey around the globe I have my Ravenscroft Round Robin back home and she looks stunning. It is hard to fathom that she was sent off in January almost two years ago now but the work put in to her by everyone in the round robin is beautiful.

I have a long way to go before she is finished and no idea where in my stitchy plans she will fit but I will pull out the floss box I had for her and get everything set up so she can get a few stitches here and there.
The current plan is to stitch on her every time the girls and I get together for a stitchy day.. 20 stitches once a month and she’ll be done in no time LOL.

Any opinions on which sections I should stitch up first?? (After I finish the top one I started before she went on her journey of course).