YOTA: Post 1

It's only four days into the New Year and I've already been making the most of this new beginning. For one, I've started five of my Turtle Trot pieces (which you'll hear about on the 10th). I've also just felt fresher and more content with both myself and my life. I'm still reading a lot, and I'm even quite looking forward to getting back to academic work and starting work on my 6,000-word mini-dissertation. I'm not sure I'll be saying the same thing in October, mind you.

At least I have stitching to keep me sane, right?

YOTA
The YOTA UFO SAL is the stitch-along where I desperately try to stop some of my larger, more mentally challenging WIPs from becoming UFOs. (It's not cheating if I'm blurring an already fuzzy line, is it?) My chosen YOTA piece for this year is actually a fairly recent start, from last November, and I haven't posted any pictures of it before, so I'm looking forward to showing this...

This is Mourning, charted by Austitch Designs and drawn by my sister Fiona (more of her art can be seen at omnipah.deviantart.com). I'm privileged enough to be the model for much of my sister's artwork, and was thrilled to see it charted. Here's my progress so far...

It's a small amount but this is my first BAP so I don't expect it to speed past (and I also keep getting distracted, first by Tea, then by An Important Flower, then my January Turtle Trot starts). It's also quite a demoralising piece, at 300x300 stitches and a heck of a lot of black, so you can see why I'm worried about it becoming a UFO!

My goal with this is probably to finish one page by the end of the year. I have a lot of projects to work on this year, so I'm trying to be reasonable with my goals and not set myself too much. After all, stitching is supposed to be fun!

You can also see one of my new needle minders! The rest will be making appearances with my Turtle Trot starts. I'm a total convert to these, since they stop me from losing my needles quite so often. I totally recommend them.

I'll be back in a few days to show you my Christmas stuff and maybe even my knitting :D

Happy stitching!

Heather xx