Cross stitch today

Here is where I'm at today, May 31st.

It's slow going as I haven't had a chance to work on it every day.

This is the bottom left corner block of the pattern. There will be 2 more blocks to the right of it and then picture 2 more blocks of sections on top of them. Sigh ----

Me and the 3 Bears......

I saw a picture of a papa bear knit with a spool knitter and figured how to make it with 2 dpn's. Then I made some math calculations and knit a mama bear and thought, hmmm, I wonder......and then, using US sz 0 and more math homework, made the baby bear.

The picture is BEFORE felting.

Counted Cross Stitch

I love knitting first but I also love to do counted cross stitch. This project is something very dear to Ed, my hubby.

Oops, I almost told you what I was making!! I want to keep you in suspense.........I hope.

I have a cross stitch program from STOIK called 'PM Stitch Creator v.3'. It's awesome.

I'm working this at 18 stitches to the inch and there are 149 colors in it. When finished, it should be 11" wide by 12.6" tall. In order to "see" the chart, I printed it out in 9 pages (3x3)..........and this is the result of 3 nights work ~

My goal is to be finished by the last day of July. Hmmm, I wonder...........

"The Wall"

Have you every seen "The Wall"? It's in Washington, D.C.

My deputy husband was killed May 1983; I joined C.O.P.S. (Concerns Of Police Survivors) in January 1986; went to D.C. to a C.O.P.S. get-together with a bunch of other law enforcement widows, for a week, in May 1986 {the get-together had classes on how to cope with our loss}; on one of those days, we ladies took a little walk to see "The Wall"; and.....I couldn't.

I froze when I saw the dark wall.

I could not read any of the names but I could see lighter areas on "The Wall" that represented letters of the alphabet. I'm sure there were numbers on it, too.

All I did was cry. Not only did I cry......I was sobbing. And deeply. I couldn't stop.

I went back to my motel room and stayed there until we left for home. I didn't even get to attend any of the seminars that they said would teach me how to cope. It didn't even seem so important after I saw "The Wall".

What made me think of this today?
Socks for Soldiers, is what. Kim, our fearless Sarge, was telling us about her teen daughter coming back from D.C. and mentioned seeing "The Wall".
I have been a member of that special yahoo group now for 1 year this month.
I've made 38 pairs of socks and 132 pairs of 12" 1x1 ribbed legs for other knitters to knit the feet on.

It's also "National Peace Officer's Memorial Week". I knit socks for soldiers and fly a blue ribbon for C.O.P.S. My heart is sad and full - - all at once.