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

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Y5: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #4

Happy Sunday! I expect several of you are experiencing the nasty storm that hit the East Coast over the last few days, or you're experiencing the much-needed rain on the West Coast. Or, perhaps, you're just freezing in the normalcy that is the Midwest. Or maybe you're not even in the US and I'm just a babbling, bumbling band of baboons...

Whatever. Let's get started...

FOs (Finished Objects)
1. Fire Socks: started April 15, 2015; finished January 6, 2016
2. Nottingham for Stormageddon: started January 12, 2016; finished January 14, 2016
3. Design proposal for Fire Socks: started January 13, 2016; finished January 18, 2016

I finished up my design proposal for my Fire Socks. I probably won't hear anything for at least another week but it's done. In the meantime, I've started working on the actual pattern...which means I'll need to swatch soon. But that's another story.


WIPs (Works-In-Progress) - carried over year-to-year
1. Dragon's Egg Socks: started September 2, 2013
2. Snape's Stockings: started August 20, 2014
3. Wink: started January 5, 2015
4. Vanilla Latte Socks: started November 19, 2015
5. Swirl Hat: started December 16, 2015
6. Ice Socks: started January 7, 2016
7. Swatch for Marly Bird class at Stitches West: started January 8, 2016 (no project page)
8. Nottingham for Little Man: started January 17, 2016
9. Purple merino/silk spinning (singles): started toward the end of Tour de Fleece (July 4-26, 2015)

My WIPs.......well, yeah. Let's discuss my WIPs...I think.

Firstly, I started a new project...but it's not "new" because I just made the same thing last week. I started a Nottingham hat for Little Man. I'm in the midst of the cable section and if I sit down and work on it, it'll be finished before next week's update. The yarn is a titch bit thicker than the Rios I used for Stormageddon's hat but it should work out just fine.

Second, I've actually worked on my swatch for my class. It's about twice as wide as it needs to be and I think I'm at the halfway point, if I want to make it roughly square. I think I can have it finished by Stitches West in a couple weeks. Also, I was sad to discover a knot in the yarn whilst I was knitting. Luckily, I caught it before I had to tink back too far. I snipped it out, left a tail, and continued on my merry way where I had snipped. But I dislike weaving in ends because of things like this. ::sigh:: It'll be fine. It's just a swatch.

Thirdly, I worked a bit on my Ice Socks. I finished up the ribbing on the cuff and I was all ready to go......then I looked at my chart and did a "fake" round where I didn't actually knit but I followed the chart as I counted the stitches. I found that things weren't lining up as I had imagined so I wound up moving a column of increases and a column of decreases and started actually knitting....only to find that I disliked the new location of both the increases and decreases so I'm kind of back to the drawing board. I may have to change things up more than I wanted to, which is okay...but I don't like it. My vision is not working out and it's making me grumpy.

Fourthly, Viktor has seen some action. Wait, what's Viktor?! Seriously. Did you just ask yourself that question. The correct question should be: Who/What is Viktor? Viktor is my Majacraft Pioneer spinning wheel. I brought him down mid-last week and did some spinning on my purple merino/silk blend. I've probably got the bobbin 2/3 full and I need to weigh my remaining rolags to decide whether I should keep spinning or start a new bobbin. I'm guessing I may need to start a new bobbin, since I plan to make a 2-ply from this...but I need to weigh it :)

And lastly, I've spent some time on my Vanilla Latte Socks. I'm past the cuff ribbing and now I'm just working until I hit the 7" required before doing my heel flap and all that. It's not very exciting but that's why it travels in my purse.

The rest of my WIPs.......yeah, let's not talk about those.


In my "OMG CRAZY LADY WTFLSGBBQ" lists....

Children's Items
1. George's Vest (for Stormageddon - probably the largest size; fingering in solid or semi-solid)
2. House Hat (one each for Stormageddon and Little Man - worsted, two contrasting colors)
3. Nottingham (one each for Stormageddon and Little Man - worsted, solid or semi-solid) *Stormageddon's is finished, Little Man's has been started....soon this will be removed!*
4. Mirkwood (for Stormageddon - bulky; solid or semi-solid)
5. Smaug (for Little Man - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
6. Arthur the Alien (for Little Man - worsted; any colors)
7. Holiday Countdown Stockings (for the family - Aran/worsted; four colors)
8. Creeper Gonna Creep (for Little Man - DK; green because Creeper)

Items for ME (selfish knitting, FTW!!)
1. Vanillaish Socks (using one of my Harry Potter Yarns)
2. Paradiddle Socks (using a solid or semi-solid sock yarn)
3. Hermione Hearts Ron (sport weight; solid or semi-solid)
4. Hermione Hearts Ron Fingerless Mitts (sport weight; solid or semi-solid)
5. Classic Silk Mayfaire Camisole (Miss Babs from Stitches Midwest)
6. Stormont (worsted; solid or semi-solid)
7. Sockhead Hat (sock; any colors)
8. Moab Shawl (sock; any colors) *need pattern*
9. Prowl (DK; solid or semi-solid) *need pattern*

Secret Sock Club Bags - Pick a bag at random; do pattern with yarn
1. Scotch & Soda Scarf (using Briar Rose Fibers Wistful, leftover from my Icarus Shawl)
2. CashSilk Fern Scarf (using ONline Supersocke 100)
3. Jabberwonky (using KP Felici in Abracadabra)
4. If You Know Where To Go (using KP Felici in Green Veggies)
5. Gardener's Socks (using Malabrigo Sock in Indiacita)

Stranded Knitting
1. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat
2. University of Wisconsin Christmas Stocking
3. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie
4. Xanadu Snowflake Cowl

Christmas/Charity Bin
1. 198 yds. of Heaven (worsted; any colors)
2. Phillip and Mr. Grum (sock yarn; any colors)
3. Comfort Food (Aran; solid)
4. Fine Fella (worsted; solid or semi-solid)
5. November Leaves (Shelter from stash) *need pattern*
6. Skinner Hat (sock; solid or semi-solid) *need pattern*
7. The Shoemaker's Hat (bulky; solid or semi-solid) *need pattern*
8. Roll Out The Barrels (cotton; any colors)
9. Sweeny Todd Scarf (worsted; any colors)
10. Bridal Shower Lace Cloth (cotton; any colors)
11. The Snowmen Cometh (worsted; any colors)
12. Sunburst Dishcloth (cotton; any colors)
13. Starfish Cloth (cotton; any colors)
14. Seamless Circular Cloth (cotton; any colors)
15. Tombreck (Aran/worsted; solid or semi-solid)
16. Premie Spiral Hat (for hospital donations - sport or DK; any colors)

Designs
1. Fire Socks (finish prototype and pattern for submission) *half finished, started other half as proposal; will eventually write the pattern*
2. Ice Socks (knit prototype and pattern for submission)
3. Susan's Hat (make proper - photos, pattern, etc.)
4. Little Man's Baby Blanket (make proper - photos, pattern, etc.)
5. Paradiddle Socks (knit prototype - see "Items for ME")

Spinning
1. Ply purple silk/merino blend listed in the WIP section (probably two-ply)
2. Finish up the remaining Asshole Blue Corriedale that I found in Stormageddon's room a couple weeks ago (don't even get me started on this one!)
3. Start something new (I'm leaning toward some grey wool I bought a few years ago)



In other, non-knitting news......um, we're still sick. Sort of. The boys are fine. Little Man is over his ear infection, Stormageddon is over pneumonia. Husband and I, on the other hand, are the ones with the sickies. Husband has been working from home all week and about mid-week, I started getting the cough and the headache and the general "ick" feeling. I'm not running a fever and I'm not really coughing that much...but I have phlegm that won't go away so I'm coughing to loosen it and it's gross and you probably don't want to hear much more about it.

Other than that, not much has been happening around here. Stormageddon is still climbing on the furniture and he's gotten to be kind of a puke about eating properly. He wants Lucky Charms all the time. He's actually started to spit out food, which drives me nuts. I don't know what I'm going to do with him. But at the same time, he's also a better eater than Little Man. On Friday night, he ate a couple little teensy bites of rib roast, didn't choke, and didn't spit them out (okay, he spit one out of maybe eight bites out but it was because he couldn't chew it - Puppy snagged it). Little Man has taken a very big interest in drawing and coloring this week. I swear he's gone through at least half a ream of paper this week. It's not just the drawing, though. He's also done some paper-folding and come up with a Millennium Falcon and a kite. I wouldn't care but I. Cannot. Keep. Everything. Which is, of course, exactly what he wants me to do. ::sigh:: I'm hoping I can get him back into Play Dough or modeling clay so he doesn't want to keep everything. Here's to hoping :)

Block on Tanker (v 2.0) by Little Man

Little Man loves Mythbusters and we saw the episode where they try to make a tanker trailer implode. This was the picture he drew afterwards (the second one).



And, of course, a somewhat blurry Stormageddon wearing his too-small hat and Big Brother's sweatshirt. It was one of those days.



I hope you're having a lovely weekend :) 

8 comments:

  1. OMGosh, look at him standing! What a cutie. As a parent, I love what my girls made, but yeah, they're stuffed away somewhere in a ripped shopping bag. I guess I should take pics and make a Shutterfly book? The past few years are more about tests and report cards which must be kept. Sorry you and your husband are sick. Yikes. And how you troop on with two active boys? Damn woman, I give you props. I like this new blog background. Something jaunty. When is your class at STITCHES? I'm not taking a class but plan to shop at the marketplace on Friday and probably have lunch w/my SF knitting group. You around that day?

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    1. Forget standing. That boy can run! He's learning how to jump (by watching Big Brother)...still can't go down stairs by himself but he can climb up. And I have no idea how I keep going with the boys, especially when I'm sick....I think I just have the mantra, "I don't have time for this crap!" and keep on going.

      My two classes (yes, two) are on Sunday with Marly Bird. One is for Plus Size knitting, which somewhat applies to me (not as much as it did a year ago, though)...and definitely applies to Husband (he's tall and broad-shouldered). The other is Hobby to Profession: Becoming a Designer.

      Little Man has school in the morning on that Friday and I was planning on heading down after I picked him up from school (so I'd probably get there around 1pm, if traffic isn't horrible). I'll probably venture down there on Saturday with Stormageddon in tow, as well. And, of course, my classes on Sunday. I'll have to discuss Saturday with Husband, however, because Little Man has soccer in the middle of the day, which means he'd have to take him...which shouldn't be an issue if I have the baby with me :)

      We should discuss this more :)

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  2. Get Little Man an artist "portfolio" a 2 inch binder with page sleeves would work....that way, as he gets better, he can change some of the pictures out...

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    Replies
    1. This might be a good idea. I have a couple empty binders hanging about that I could buy some sleeves for :) He likes to display them, however....which means I have things taped to my walls and it's driving me nuts. The bad part is that now that Stormageddon can climb onto the couch, he goes after said drawings that are taped to my walls. ::sigh:: I'll run the idea by him and see what he thinks.

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  3. I feel your pain on the designing front. Although I can't seem to ever get my vision to knit up the way I want so I'm just a frustrated would-be designer. Sounds like a time out is in order!

    And who wouldn't want Lucky Charms all the time? We were only allowed AlphaBits on weekends. I think my Mom let us have it because we'd pour our own, eat them without milk or utensils and generally leave her alone on Saturday mornings. Hmmmmm.

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  4. If it make you feel better I'll tell you...my youngest used to gag on green beans. Actually, he gagged on just about anything he set his mind to disliking. But today (at 20) he's a very adventurous eater. And probably the healthiest eater of us all. He's actually been a great eater since hitting puberty. Hang on. Change is a commin'!

    And Little Man! What a cutie. He's getting big!

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  5. I har you on the little kid food battles- Lila has become super picky, and basically won't eat anything but chicken and ketchup, coleslaw, popcorn, and ice cream. There's only so much chicken and coleslaw we can work into a meal, though- and I'm hard lined about dinner- I don't cook separate meals for the adults and the kids, and if she doesn't want to eat it, that's fine, but I make it clear that she isn't getting anything else (except salad. Salad is always on offer). I want to make it clear to her I'm not a short order cook, and that there are no power struggles to be had over food- I don't actually care if she eats it or not (okay, it bugs me, but I pretend to be nonchalant). On the nights where she decides to stick to her guns and cry over the food that she won't even taste, I stick to mine and do my best to ignore the performance. Then at bed time I let her have a big glass of milk, which I think carries her over to the morning where she inevitably eats a big breakfast.

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  6. I hope you all start feeling better soon. The socks sound interesting and I feel your pain about displaying 'art'. I have a million pictures, stickers and post it's all over the walls - I will try the folder idea.

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