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

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Year SEVEN: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #7

Hello, happy Sunday, let's get going :)


FOs (Finished Objects)
1. Adare: started 30 December 2017; finished 5 January 2018
2. Luck o' the Irish Cowl: started 31 December 2017; finished 14 January 2018
3. Rasta Scarf: started 19 January 2018; finished 10 February 2018
4. Rastarmulke (v2): started 10 February 2018; finished 10 February 2018
5. Gamer Bag: started 28 September 2017; frogged 16 February 2018
6. Oh, She Is a Bad Nut: started 11 August 2016; frogged 16 February 2018

I had two projects that were frogged this week, which I did talk about last week.

Firstly, my Gamer Bag, which was a prototype. It went from this:


....to this:


I've had this yarn in my stash for awhile. It's a lovely Aran-weight cotton from Universal Yarns. I've tried using it at least one other time, that I can think of off the top of my head. So far, no luck. I think I'm going to still make a bag from this but it's going to be just a generic bag of my own making. We'll see.

In addition to that, my Oh, She Is a Bad Nut shawl went from this:


.......to this:


I think I knew early on that the yarn and the pattern weren't going to play well together and I forced myself to keep going......and then I dropped that stitch marker. I spent some time trying to figure out the stitch counts between stitch markers throughout the pattern but soon, even that faded, and I didn't touch the project. I plan to knit the pattern with a different yarn and I plan to use this yarn for a different project. They just weren't meant to go together. I'm okay with that.



WIPs (Works-in-Progress) These are carried over from the last Year of Projects....or longer.
1. Wink: started 5 January 2015
2. Smooth Operator Socks: started 13 October 2016
3. Stomping Grounds Collection: started 26 February 2017
4. Hat Design: started 20 March 2017
5. Garter Stitch Baby Blanket: started 6 July 2017
6. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017
7. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
8. Paradiddle Prototype: started 19 October 2017
9. Returning: started 14 January 2018

With frogging the two above projects, my WIP list looks significantly more manageable. I'm not sure why that is. Perhaps it's the missing double-digit numbers? Regardless, it looks more manageable to me.

I worked on my Paradiddle Prototype socks this week. I'm at the heel turn portion, so it wasn't something I could take to swimming lessons this week. I got to the heel turn portion right before swimming lessons. I probably could have turned the heel while I was there but I didn't really want to fiddle with it. So, it's at an impasse right now, as are my Smooth Operator Socks (which is ready for the waste yarn for the afterthought heel). I didn't work on them but I have a similar issue.

Because I got to the heel turn on the Paradiddle Prototype socks, I brought out my Returning Shawl. I think I've figured out how I'm going to work it in two colors. I originally thought three but the more I'm looking at the blue and green yarn next to each other, the less I'm okay with it. I feel like the green is less grassy lily pad and more olive. The blue is a variegated bright sky blue. Together, they don't look all that lovely. Sooooo, I think I'm going to go for a two-color version. I should have enough yarn. I'll throw a lifeline in when I get to the color switching and if it isn't working out (or if I, Bob forbid, run out of yarn), I'll find some white or another neutral that isn't black (because the other color is a chocolate brown). I actually wound up having to frog and restart this project. I was only four rows in so I wasn't all that fussed about it (other than having to do a garter tab, which I find annoying). I did that at swimming lessons and it was lovely. I'm glad I restarted it anyway because it looked better the second time around.

Other than that, I don't think I did any knitting. I did, however, clean my corner in the bedroom. It sounds a little strange but I have all my project bags and upcoming projects and some leftover bits and bobs in a corner in the bedroom and it was out of hand with no end in sight. I had kind of just been piling everything there and I had finally had enough. So, it got cleaned. I even brought out the little vacuum and cleaned around the bookshelves.



OMGLSGWTFBBQ Lists

Children's Items
1. Stuffed toy for my Devil Niece (so-called because her initials are TAZ)
2. Undetermined hat for Little Man
3. Undetermined hat for Stormageddon
4. Mittens for Stormageddon
5. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - needs 3 colors, would need to buy...maybe do it with 2)
6. Lancelot for Little Man (worsted weight - green Plymouth Encore)
7. Dandy Sir Cephalopod (worsted weight - Red Creek blue, probably for #1 on this list)

Items for ME (selfish knitting FTW!)
1. Brickless (worsted - Miss Babs Yowza in "Celebration") *
2. Honey Badger (fingering - BMFA STR L - one of the ones from Carrie)
3. Park Slope (fingering - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot)
4. Maya's Shawl (bulky - Plucky Silk Merino Aran)
5. Companion Mitts (fingering - BMFA STR orange from Carrie) *
6. Forest Cardi (worsted - Baah Shasta in "London Blue" and....something....)
7. Flax (worsted - Cascade 220 in "Royal Blue" or Misti Alpaca Harry Potter color)
8. Jag in Garter Stitch (fingering - KP Palette grey and Artfibers Carezza)
9. Reichenbach (fingering - AVFKW Slick or BMFA STR-M in "Vintage")
10. Sockhead (fingering - Madelinetosh Merino Light)
11. Moab (fingering - Wollmeise in "Lavender")
12. Pumpkin Pie (DK - Kangaroo Dyer orange)
13. Age of Brass & Steam (DK - Berroco Comfort DK)
14. Anne's Sweater (sport - Artfibers something)
15. Moyen Age (fingering - Vice special order either grey or green)

Random Things
1. Pop Blanket (worsted - may need to order some yarn for this)
2. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat kit
3. University of Wisconsin Christmas Stocking kit
4. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie kit
5. Xandu Snowflake Cowl (fingering - two contrasting colors)
6. Granny Square Blanket (which means I need to learn to crochet)

Designs
1. Susan's Hat *started* - need new prototype & write pattern
2. Little Man's Baby Blanket *started* - write pattern
3. Paradiddle Socks  *started* - need prototype & write pattern
4. Pacific Waves Hat *started* - need another prototype & write pattern
5. Fall in San Francisco *started* - need another prototype & write pattern
6. Stormageddon's Baby Blanket - need prototype & write pattern
7. Cabled pullover (grey look-alike sweater - Old Navy hooded sweater with cable) - need sketch,
grading, swatch, prototype, & write pattern
8. Christmas stocking for Little Man - need charts, prototype, & write pattern (maybe)
9. Christmas stocking for Stormageddon - need charts, prototype, & write pattern (maybe)
10. Christmas stocking for Husband - need charts, prototype, & write pattern (maybe)
11. Stomping Grounds collection *started* - need everything: charts, prototypes, swatches, etc.

Spinning
1. AVFKW Merino Silk
2.  Abstract Fiber Merino Tencel
3. Allons-Y Fiber Arts 18.5 Micron Merino
4. Allons-Y Fiber Arts Merino, Trilobal Nylon, Silk
5. Alpaca (from Lambtown 2014)
6. Ambrosia & Bliss Rambouillet Top
7. Anne's Fiber Expressions
8. Ashland Bay Fiber Merino Top
9. BMFA Handpainted Roving
10. Bramble Wool Farm Shetland Wool

Dyeing
1. Malabrigo Nube fiber
2. Gaia (worsted)
3. Euro Sock 6-ply
4. Whatever else I find in the bag...I have a bag...or maybe a couple of bags....

Other Fibery Endeavors
1. Stitch markers
2. Vintage patterns into Rav database
3. Inventory of books & loose patterns (update)
4. Inventory of PDF patterns (update)
5. Update yarn inventory (make sure it's up-to-date)/destash
6. Inventory project bags (Erin Lane, I'm looking at you)



We're into crunch time for the auction, which is taking up most of my time this week. We're starting to think about how we want to bundle items, we're entering last minute items, and I'm trying to tie up loose ends (and failing left and right). I'd like to say that I've got the "work" and "life" thing balanced out but I'd be lying. I did impose one "rule" upon myself: don't go to bed late (like after 11pm). Sleep is important and I need to have it to function.

But, we did do a few things this past week.

Last Sunday, Little Man and I went to the Winchester Mystery House, which is in San Jose. I've always had a fascination with history and the paranormal (though I'm terrible with dates) and a visit to the Winchester House piqued my interest.

Sarah Winchester was the widow of William Wirt Winchester, the son of the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Co.; he died of tuberculosis in 1881. After her husband's death, her doctors told her that she needed to get away from the harsh winters of the northeast (she was from Connecticut). Why she chose to move to the Santa Clara Valley isn't clear though she had friends that were teaching at UC Berkley, which isn't terribly far away. Regardless, she bought a modest house and a ton of land in the Santa Clara Valley....and then she went to work. From the time she bought the house until she died in 1922, work was done every day to expand the house. She hired a foreman, who also lived on the property with his wife and children. Every night, she would spend two hours in her seance room; in the morning, she would have new plans for the house. And so it went on until her death. The morning of her death, once everyone was notified, the construction workers literally walked off the job, with nails that were half hammered into their places, walls half finished, the whole thing. By most accounts, Sarah Winchester was eccentric and a bit of a recluse. The house is a perfect example of her eccentricity. There are staircases that lead to ceilings, a door that open to a 12' drop out the second story, rooms that you have to go in and out of in a certain order, and even today, there are portions of the house that still haven't been fully explored.

Now, the story goes that the house is haunted. In fact, it is rumored that the reason the house was built and expanded was to appease the spirits of all those killed by Winchester rifles. Whether that's true is another matter. There are no records or letters or anything, really. But, a movie was recently made about it and there have been sightings and recordings and TV shows. I'm still a skeptic but there was a spot in the house where something was moving ever so slightly that should not have been moving. i'm hoping it was due to an air vent type opening nearby...but I'm not sure.

Anyway, you can't take photos inside the house but Little Man and I took a couple outside and we had our "green screen" photo done before we went inside.







When we came home that afternoon, it was fairly quiet in the house....it shouldn't have been, but we came home to this:



Yes, that is Stormageddon and yes, he is asleep with his hand in his bowl. He slept from about 3:30pm-7:45pm. He did wake up once, just long enough for a diaper change and I got him into his jammies.




I was worried he might be coming down with something (that boy has not napped in over two years).....but no. He's been fine since then. I suspect a growth spurt. Again.

Little Man's classroom had a little Valentine's program on Tuesday (yes, the 13th). They sang five songs, we had cookies, and that was about it. I did take a couple of photos but as other children are visible, I'm not going to post them. Mostly, I'm just too lazy to blur out the other faces. But, that happened.

One day this week, I came out of Stormageddon's room and discovered this:


Little Man and our friend, Thom, were building a bird feeder. Thom bought Little Man a tool kit for his birthday and a few things to build (the bird feeder was one of them). So, they put it together the other night.


He had so much fun building it. He learned how to use some of his tools and we even brought out the power drill for him to use. Thom came over later in the week and they put linseed oil on it. Little Man has been begging to paint it but not yet. Soon. Maybe.

In addition to all of that, Little Man and I had an important discussion on Thursday. He has been after me to see Black Panther and he wanted to go on opening night and I told him we couldn't (I didn't plan for it - we still haven't seen it). He asked why and we wound up having an interesting discussion about representation in movies & TV shows. He was trying so hard to understand the importance of Black Panther to the African American community. He doesn't quite get it but he has an understanding of gender differences so I equated it to Wonder Woman as a representation for girls. He seemed to understand it a bit better after that.


Anyway, I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend. Next weekend is the weekend I'll be at Little Man's school, putting baskets together and trying not to freak out. I don't know that I'll have a post next Sunday. It might be a day or so late. We'll see how the week progresses :)

5 comments:

  1. Aw, Stormaggedon sleeping! Glad it was just a growth spurt. And little man building the bird feeder is awesome, looks like it's going to be an incredible feeder. The Black Panther thing... so he's not going to see it at all, or not one opening night? You make sure you see it first? I'm curious because as Lila gets older, these are all similar situations I'll have to negotiate!

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    1. He just hasn't seen it this opening weekend. He's going to see it at some point, not sure when...we're going to see Peter Rabbit today (Monday) because there's no school for the holiday (President's Day). He might see the movie in a week or two.

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  2. I have seen some things on the Winchester house and yes, creepy in real life is fascinating....the fake stuff scares me! LOL! Great pics in front of the home. You had another busy week and like you I have been deep cleaning as I get to a point where I can't stand it! LOL! Especially the clutter, if I could keep the clutter at bay the cleaning wouldn't be nearly as difficult to stay on top of. Love the birdhouse building an dgood luck with the auction!

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  3. aren't pictures of sleeping children just the best! So cute - especially with his hand still in the bowl.

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  4. I liked how Georgie was KO'd. So funny. My youngest makes me laugh every time I have to wake her up. She's like a little bear cub hibernating.

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