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Mama, wife, knitter, blogger, spinner, wannabe something or other. That's enough, right?

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Y4: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #43

Happy Sunday! We all know why we're here so let's get going!

Finished Objects (FOs):  
1. Elefante: started December 19, 2014; finished December 28, 2014  
2. Hat #1 - FoH: started December 31, 2014; finished January 1, 2015
3. Hat #2 - FoH: started January 1, 2015; finished January 4, 2015
4. Hat #3 - FoH: started January 7, 2015; finished January 10, 2015
5. Hat #4 - Stitch's Rock Hat: started January 16, 2015; finished January 24, 2015
6. Vanilla Fingerless Mitts: started January 23, 2015; finished February 3, 2015
7. Paradiddle Hat: started January 24, 2015; finished February 7, 2015
8. Stitch's Rock Collection (of Hats) - Variegated: started February 22, 2015; finished February 24, 2015

9. Sorin Fingerless Mitts: started March 8, 2015; finished March 31, 2015
10.Stitch's Rock Collection (of Hats) - Variegated: started February 27, 2015; finished April 1, 2015
11. Stitch's Rock Collection (of Hats) Pattern Test: started sometime in February, 2015; finished April 18, 2015 (pattern is live and can be purchased via Ravelry)
12. Traveling Vines Socks (pattern for publication): started sometime in February; finished April 15, 2015 -- full disclosure Friday, October 18, 2015
13. Sacrificial Goat #5: started May 29, 2015; finished June 4, 2015
14. Baby Hat: started June 4, 2015; finished June 6, 2015
15. Elvish Leaves Dishcloth: started June 10, 2015; finished June 12, 2015
16. Baby Hat: started June 19, 2015; finished June 27, 2015
17. Homework for Alana Dakos Class: started July 1, 2015; finished July 5, 2015 and it's all finished
18. Traveling Socks: started December 23, 2014; finished July 28, 2015
19. Sacrificial Goat #6: started August 23, 2015; finished September 1, 2015
20. Petty Harbour Socks: started July 29, 2015; finished September 5, 2015
21. Curlew: started September 10, 2015; finished September 26, 2015

No new projects were finished. Unless, of course, you count these:







I made a bunch of stitch markers again this week. The top photo has, I believe, 55 stitch markers and the next one has 32, plus the 34 I did last week, making a total of 121 stitch markers. The third photo isn't exactly finished but I took the purple silk/merino blend fiber and I hand carded all of it and made it into rolags. So, now I just need to sit and spin :)


Works-In-Progress (WIPs): - carried over from 2014...and maybe earlier...*shifty eyes*

1. Dragon's Egg Socks: started September 2, 2013
2. Pacific Shawl: started June 8, 2014
3. Snape's Stockings: started August 20, 2014
4. Wink: started January 5, 2015
5. Fire & Ice (Fire) Socks: started April 15, 2015
6. Little Man's Hat: started July 8, 2015
7. Bunny: started September 8, 2015

As we were camping from Sunday-Tuesday and I only had one project with me....well, let's just say that my Pacific Shawl is "close" to being finished. I'm making the large size and I got almost to the border before I wound up driving on Tuesday (I had 2.5 rows left before starting the border). It was good, relatively mindless knitting for the car. All I needed to remember were where to place my YO increases and not drop anything. I occasionally counted stitches and during one of those random counting sessions, I discovered that my symmetrical sides were not symmetrical...I figured out how many stitches I was supposed to have on each side, tried to figure out where I messed up (it was most likely a missed YO), couldn't find said screw-up, and just did a M1 increase to account for the missing stitch. I'm going to be really pissed when I find a dropped stitch or something during blocking. I gave it all a good yank and couldn't see anything dropping down so I'm guessing it's a missed or dropped YO somewhere. Anyway, I'm now working on the border for that.

No other projects saw the light of day this week. Oh well.


In my "OMGLSGWTFBBQ" lists.....

Children's Items
1. George's Vest (for Stormageddon - sock/fingering; solid or semi-solid)
2. Nottingham (for Little Man - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
3. Nottingham (for Stormageddon - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
4. Harry Potter Blanket (for The Family - worsted; solid) - from various Harry Potter inspired square blocks
5. Albert the Absent-Minded (for Stormageddon - any weight; self-stripe, variegated, solid, or semi-solid)  *need pattern*
6. Mirkwood (for Stormageddon - bulky; solid or semi-solid)
7. Smaug (for Little Man - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
8. Dandy Sir Cephalopod (for Little Man - any weight; self-stripe, variegated, solid, or semi-solid)  *need pattern*
9. Moe the Mustache Monster (for Stormageddon - worsted; self-stripe, variegated, solid, or semi-solid)

Items for Me (Selfish Knitting, FTW!)
1. Vanilla Socks (using one of my Harry Potter yarns)
2. Drip Drip Drop Socks (using either a solid or semi-solid sock yarn that I haven't decided on yet)
3. Hermione Hearts Ron (sport; solid or semi-solid)
4. Ginny's Cardigan (DK; solid or semi-solid)

Secret Sock Club Bags (Pick a bag at "random")
1. Scotch and Soda Scarf (using Briar Rose Fibers Wistful - leftover from my Icarus Shawl)
2. CashSilk Fern Scarf (using a skein of Online Supersocke 100)
3. Jabberwonky (using KP Felici in Abracadabra)
4. If You Know Where To Go (in KP Felici in Green Veggies)
5. Gardener's Socks (using Malabrigo Sock)
6. Paradiddle Socks - my own design (using Malabrigo Sock)

New Techniques (one of the following stranded/multi-yarn kits)
1. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat
2. University of Wisconsin Christmas Stocking
3. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie

Because I love Husband and/or My Children
1. Sacrificial Goat #7 (for Little Man)
2. Sacrificial Goat #8 (for Stormageddon)

Christmas Presents
I have absolutely no idea what's going to end up here, if anything. I suspect something will end up here and I might pull it from other lists but we shall see. Maybe I won't do any Christmas knitting. Maybe all I'll wind up doing is Christmas knitting. I suppose this is a wait-and-see section :)

Designs
1. Susan's Hat
2. Traveling Vines Socks (done, see FO #12)
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket
4. Paradiddle Socks (see Secret Sock Club Bag section)
5. Paradiddle Collection of Hats

Let's not talk about these......



So, the last week or so.....




This was our view for a couple days. We went to a KOA campground near Lake Isabella, California, which is in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains. There is only one road to get there and it involved a 2-lane, windy mountain pass. It was beautiful.....but dear god, was it nerve-wracking. Husband downed two beers when we arrived, just so he'd stop shaking. I tried to keep my eyes on my knitting but if I did that, I was nauseated (thanks, motion sickness)....so, I did both. 

We stayed in a cabin that had two rooms: one with a full-size bed and the other with bunk beds (for a total of four twin-size beds). Little Man slept on a top bunk, I had the bottom, and Stormageddon was in his pack-n-play. Husband was in the other room. 

The reason we picked this particular KOA was that their pool was going to be open until November 1st.....and it was but it was a bit cold. We did go swimming, though.




Stormageddon had some fun on the slide and playing in the sand.






We were also treated to a live art exhibition, by Little Man. He was drawing in the sand.





We had a good couple of days outside of the city, away from all the insanity that is San Francisco. Unfortunately, we were in one of the most rural, poorest parts of the entire state. They could smell that we were from San Francisco, without us even opening our mouths. While it was extremely gorgeous in that area, I would not want to live there because there's nothing there. It's about 40 miles from Bakersfield, which is quite large...but it's up in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere. 

Here are a few shots of other random things this week:



I found this little guy, making a web in the bushes near Puppy's water dish. Not sure what kind or anything but he was HUGE!




Little Man and Puppy yesterday morning. He wanted me to take a photo so, how could I say, "no" to that face?!



And Little Man, in case you didn't know, *loves* Halloween. So, I turned on some classics for him. In this case, it was the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror III (from 1992). He wants to watch all the Halloween things, including the Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline. I'm teaching him well.


Anyway, I hope you're all having a lovely week. A friend from college is coming in on Friday so my post next week may be late....we'll see what the day brings us. We're doing a 5K on Saturday in Golden Gate Park, which we decided yesterday. And Little Man goes back to school this week, pictures happen this week, it's Halloween.......I smell a load of insanity!

Let's hope I wander in at some point! Have a lovely day!

5 comments:

  1. That is a neat place. I have never heard of KOA camping before. My husband is a city slicker so we don't camp, only did that once way when the youngest was in preschool. You were totally on a stitch marker kick. I need to start playing around with my ideas and equipment.

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  2. Cute stitch markers, I love making a bunch of them in one go! Haha your mountain roads sounds like they could be some of our main roads, you should have saw the lane I was up the other day, it had grass at least a foot high in the middle and it fit just one car only, those kinds of roads I can drive, the motorway driving though bores me to tears! Enjoy your friend coming and best of luck with the 5k Ruth.

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  3. Your trip to (or through?) the Sierra Nevada Mountains reminds me of a drive we took through the Colorado National Monument a few years back. Before committing we asked a guide if there were guard rails up there. He looked kind of thoughtful and said, yes, he believed there were. Any guardrails there were consisted of a few low bumper-type rails that wouldn't have stopped much. It was nerve wracking. To hubby. I kept looking out the window and oohing and aweing over the view and warning hubby not to look. It was both terrifying and beautiful. We were convinced the guide at the bottom of road was laughing as we flatlanders began our assent.

    Enjoy your weekend and the Run!

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  4. That drive sounds scary! I am definitely a Midwestern flat lander. I did live in Oakland for a few years and had of course lots of visitors who wanted to go to Muir Woods and Stinson Beach and even those drives scared the crap outta me. Have a fun Halloween!

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  5. whoa, you are a stitch marker making machine! I'm so inspired, I totally want to make some now. And your purple roving looks sooo pretty. And what a drive!

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