Project Progress and Snuggle Kitty

I've seen some progress on many of my projects.  The color work sweater is slow going and has one more color to be knit in the yoke, then it's basic sweater knitting from the top down until I get to the color band just above the bottom rib.  I will have to adjust the neckband a bit since I did it on size 4 needles instead of the called for 3s.  It looked a little high in the pictures and I hate anything too close to my throat.  I did pick up a Vivid blanket square and knit on that too.  It will eventually be finished.  

The cross stitch projects are coming along nicely with about 80% of the "Curious Cats" (cats and tea service) one done.  There's lots of backstitch left to do and a couple of small areas to fill in.  I love using my new floor stand with the "Lighthouse 3" and "Christmas Tree and Birds" ones.  It makes it much more comfortable to work on them.  There's tons left on both of them to do.

Only a little spinning has been done.  I'm just not in the mood for it at the moment.  

Still no yarn purchases have been made this year.  I was tempted to buy a couple braids of fiber, but closed the shop window and didn't do it.  I slipped up early in the Spring. I bought only did one purchase of colored fiber, and one of undyed .  I'm shopping the stash for everything.  I plan to continue doing that next year too.

My cat, Buddy, has suddenly become much more attentive, is talkative,  and wants snuggles.  I find him sleeping in my recliner most mornings.  He will come over, head butt my leg and look at me for a treat.  He's also taking them from my hand which he never did before.  He's 15 so it's probably just old age settling in.  I noticed  a couple of my other cats got mellow as they aged.

Knitting Finish and A Treat

 I finished my Fonse` Shawl  last month.  I made it in the same color and yarn as in the pattern. I decided to knit an extra repeat of Chart 2, as directed in the pattern, to increase the size a bit. Then, I cast on for my Frosted Sweater in similar colors of the pattern. It's colorwork so a bit slow going for me.  I'm enjoying the process though.  The wheels have been slumbering since Tour de France, but I need to finish a project on one of them, too.

Now for the treat:

I bought a new cross stitch floor stand in August.  It didn't hold some of my frames very well, and Pat told me to return it.  I told him I wanted a Lowry stand instead.  He was going to buy it for me until I said tipping was an issue with all floor stands and it would need a weight on the base of  it. He decided to make me a better one instead.  I love it!  It's sturdy, and holds my frames with no problem.  It works great with my wood or PCV type, including the long ones.  There's a grippy pad so the clamp does not damage my frames.  I can also use the clamp to hold my magnetic board with my knitting pattern on it if I want.  It fits well with my recliner's puffy arms.  I can adjust the height of the stand as well as the clamp arm length so my frames are in a comfortable position for stitching. I can flip it over for starting or ending threads, and it swings out of my way when I need to get in or out of my chair.    Here's some pictures he took outside after painting it. Top is the stand closed, middle is a closer look at the clamp part, and bottom is the stand extended.

I also have the two tabletop one he made me and the modified Edmunds floor stand.  (He made "arms" for that, but it gives me a backache after leaning forward when using it a while.)  I don't think I will need anymore.  :)