Self-Imposed Year of Projects: Update #17

It's been a whirlwind week around here! For those of you keeping track, I'm headed into my seventeenth week of my Self-Imposed Year of Projects! And for those of you that are just joining me after probably finding me on the Third Annual Knit & Crochet Blog Week, I'll give you a brief, of sorts. There's a lovely group on Ravelry all about blogging and one of the things they decided to do was a Year of Projects. They started in July 2011 and it goes through June 2012 (and yes, there are plans in the works for another Year of Projects). Those that participate have made up a list of knitting, crocheting, spinning, sewing, or whatever their crafts are and projects they want to do within a year's time. Sometimes people have UFOs that have been languishing in a pile or they have something new they want to learn or they just want to knit a metric ton of socks (or sweaters, shawls, baby toys, whatever)...other times, people just need some concrete direction to their craft(s). So, by this logic, they should be somewhere in the fortys (for what week they're on)....so why am I only on my seventeenth update? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy: I didn't start until my 32nd birthday in January. That's when my new "year" starts so I started my Self-Imposed Year of Projects two days after my birthday.

Anyway, onward to the information....


FINISHED OBJECTS
1. Claudia: started January 3, 2012; finished January 10, 2012
2. Mama's Simple Skyp Socks: started May 22, 2011; finished January 9, 2012
3. Little Man's Cobblestone Baby Blanket: started July 2010; finished February 2, 2012
4. Dalek Dishcloth: started February 6, 2012; finished February 8, 2012
5. Baby Traveling Vines Socks: started September 18, 2010; finished February 17, 2012
6. Snail Hat: started February 18, 2012; finished February 19, 2012
7. Lothlorien Hat: started January 25, 2012; finished March 5, 2012


WORKS-IN-PROGRESS
1. Little Man's Giraffe: started May 11, 2011
2. Icarus Shawl: Started March 15, 2010
3. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit Socks: started January 23, 2012
4. Pine Forest Baby Blanket: started February 21, 2012
5. Hermione's Everyday Socks: started March 6, 2012
6. Habitat: started April 10, 2012

Do you see something missing from the WIP list? You should. My Vanilla Socks...those lovely socks...they've been frogged! I've been worried about the fit for awhile and this past Monday, I grabbed some mint-flavored dental floss, threaded it through all the stitches (taking out my DPNs in the process), and tried to pull it over my foot........yes, tried to pull it over my foot. It went over the foot just fine, it was a tight squeeze to get it around my heel...and then it was tight on my leg.

Dammit.

So, to the frogging pile it went.

In the meantime, my Habitat Hat, though extremely fiddly with the cables and all, is coming out quite nicely. I'm onto the second chart (the one where the decreases will eventually happen)...I'm probably about halfway through it. I still have a good amount of yarn left so I'm hoping that if I have to lengthen it, I'll have enough to do so. I'm planning to put a lifeline in (probably that same piece of dental floss) before I do the decreases, in case I need to go back and add some length. I'm hoping I don't have to. The recipe calls for 120 yds. and the skein of Shelter I have is 140 yds. So, let's all hope...

I've also worked some on the Pine Forest Baby Blanket. Unfortunately, the last time I worked on it before this past Wednesday, I forgot to write down which row I was on and, consequently, started working on an incorrect row. I knit two rows on it, discovering my mistake during the first row. Originally, I was going to let it be a "design element" but the more I'm thinking about it, the more my perfectionistic nature is getting in the way and I'm probably going to tink back those two rows and work on it properly. *sigh*

Also, after the frogging episode, I'm starting to wonder about my Honey Badger socks....are those going to fit? I'm probably going to take a life line to it sometime this week (again, that piece of dental floss) and check the fit on those. I really hope I don't have to frog those, too. That's going to put me WAY behind...I'm a slow enough knitter as it is.

Luckily, Hermione's Everyday Socks do fit (they're being done on two circulars so I can try them on along the way).....so, onward to the plans...

PLANNED HATS
1. Hermione Hearts Ron
2. Ogre Babies!
3. NIN Hat
4. Brandon Ribbed Beanie
5. Godric's Hollow Hat
6. Raglan Hat
7. Bergen Street Tuque
8. Nolan
9. Simple Baby Cap #1
10. Candy Cane
11. Little Pumpkin

OTHER PLANNED PROJECTS
1. Freeport Vest
2. Hippo
3. My Little Slug
4. Shaun (as in Shaun the Sheep)
5. Curly Snake
6. Penelope the Empathetic Monster
7. A new version of my Vanilla Socks, perhaps in a worsted weight...

So....my totals stand thusly:
FOs: 7 projects
WIPs: 6 projects
Planned: 18 projects
TOTAL: 31 projects




In non-knitting news and events, Husband is still without a job. He's had so many interviews that we've lost count. Most of the interviews he's actually had have been with head hunters and recruiters instead of the place(s) actually needing someone. The few that he's had with actual places have ended in no job (re: Chicago and the one in San Francisco). That's one of the biggest problems with what he does: hiring someone takes forever. Especially someone as high up as he would be. He doesn't have the degree to work in management (but has the experience).....he's definitely senior level, though. It takes forever for senior level to get hired. Seriously, the process can take three months sometimes. So, with that said....he's going to San Francisco again. This time, he's interviewing with Semantic Corporation.....as in the parent company to Norton Anti-Virus. He's had two phone interviews with them (one of which was via Skype) and they're flying him out on Thursday for a face-to-face interview. Honestly, I'm not holding my breath.....but they've done some "not normal for them" things with regards to how and where they're interviewing. Usually, they have a series of five or six interviews, all of which are face-to-face interviews. He's had one phone and one Skype interview (and the Skype one counted as two because he talked to two different people - the Skype interviews alone were odd). They considered flying him out for two weeks and conducting said interviews all face-to-face over that timeframe but decided that because of Little Man and I, that they weren't going to separate him from us for that long (yay!). Instead, they're flying him out for one interview...and that has some oddities in itself. Normally if they fly someone out for one interview, they fly out the day before, stay in a hotel overnight, have the interview, and fly out that same day. They're flying him out on Thursday afternoon, his interview is Friday morning, and they're not flying him back until Saturday prevening (yes, I'm using the Big Bang Theory term).....and because that's a change in protocol, they had to get management approval, which means they had to talk him up to management to get them to approve it in the first place.

Now, that all might not mean anything......but we're going to take it as a good sign.

With that said, I'm going to be an interview widow from Thursday until Saturday. I'm still pondering what to do with myself.

Also, we've transitioned Little Man to his toddler bed (translation: we took the side off his transitional crib). It's not been going well. He'll sleep in it at night (but he has to pretty much be out when I put him down) but he won't nap there. I'm flummoxed as to how I'm going to get that kid to take a nap that doesn't involve me taking one with him in our bed. Husband was afraid that he was going to climb out of his crib and hurt himself. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have, even if he had the ability (which he probably does - he did, after all, climb up onto the dining room table last weekend...little monkey). So.......any ideas are welcome at this point.

Anyway, that's all I have for today. I hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday :)