Year SEVEN: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #22

Hello, happy Sunday, happy June, happy happy :) Let's get started.



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
7. Garter Stitch Baby Blanket: started 6 July 2017; finished 3 April 2018
8. Pattern submission: started 19 March 2018; finished 3 April 2018
9. Tiny Narwhal: started 5 April 2018; finished 6 April 2018
10. Tiny Narwhal: started 5 April 2018; finished 6 April 2018
11. Hat for Little Man: started 19 April 2018; finished 27 May 2018

I have an actual finished this week! The discontinued yarn I needed to finish up the hat for Little Man arrived and I finished up the hat this week. It's had a good wash and it's dry but I've not photographed him wearing it. It's been far too warm these last few days. But it is finished.

This is, of course, pre-blocking glory. The colors aren't quite right either. But that's fine. You get the idea. I almost ran out of the grey color, as well, and I probably would have cried but at least I know I can get that one again (it's from Anzula).


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. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017
6. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
7. Paradiddle Prototype: started 19 October 2017
8. Returning: started 14 January 2018
9. Frankensocks: started 1 March 2018
10. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini Spinner): started 13 April 2018
11. Granny Square Blanket (1): started 28 April 2018
12. River's Edge Fiber Arts Falkland Merino (wheel): started 19 May 2018

I managed not to cast on something new this week, which is lovely. I even managed to work on current WIPs. I spent some time with the FrankenSocks. The yarn I ordered arrived earlier in the week but I haven't had to break into it yet. I've finished the gusset decreases. I found a mistake where I had miscounted the number of stitches before the decrease and I could have ripped it back but I was out of bothers. So, I have a teeny mistake on the bottom of the foot for the gusset decrease. Oh well. They're not for anyone fancy. I also worked on the Returning Shawl. I'm still in the endless increase stockinette section so it's fairly easy knitting, as long as I remember to do the increases where and when I'm supposed to. I don't think I'm ready for the next set of directions but I might have to count, just in case. I also need to figure out what my third yarn is going to be. I don't think the yarn I originally chose is the right color. The main color is kind of a mushroom green but it's so light in spots that it's difficult to really tell...but you put it in the natural light and you can definitely see it. The blue I chose to be one of the contrast colors is like a variegated sky blue and it's just the wrong color. I think I'm going to have to go with a red of some sort. I'll have to have a dig through my stash. I know I have a couple of options. I even managed a teensy bit on the granny square.

My bobbin, however, continued to sit and mock me and I was definitely not happy about it. I did wind it onto the Niddy-Noddy and give it a bath but it's still mocking me. I'll at least be able to claim a finished on it for next week. And add it to my Stash Dash totals.



OMGLSGWTFBBQ Lists:

Children's Items
1. Stuffed toy for my Devil Niece (so-called because her initials are TAZ)
2. Undetermined hat for Stormageddon
3. Mittens for Stormageddon
4. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - Stunning String Studio from Stitches West 2018)
5. Lancelot for Little Man (worsted weight - green Plymouth Encore)
6. 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)

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)



This last week has been busy around here. I mean, every week is busy but this week was busy, even with Monday being a holiday. However, considering that last weekend didn't really feel like a weekend, Monday was kind of my weekend. But it wasn't a weekend.

I did manage to get Stormageddon to sleep at a decent hour on Sunday, however.

Tuesday was all kinds of running around. Stormageddon had speech therapy, I ran a bunch of errands, I had a doctor appointment in the afternoon followed by a make up swimming lesson for Little Man. I thought Thursday was never going to end.

On Wednesday, Husband worked from home, which allowed me to change my hair color. Again. You can see a couple photos in a mo'.

Thursday.......that was an interesting day. I crossed off four things on a bucket list I didn't know I had. But before that, I had allergy testing done. After new symptoms and recurring symptoms, I went in for a full outdoor allergy test and asthma test. After having little pricks for numerous allergens, it turns out I'm not allergic to anything, including the things I was previously allergic to.....but my histamine reaction works just fine. So, basically, I have a non-allergic reaction to a bunch of different things. The symptoms are similar and an antihistamine will generally take care of the problem....but my skin didn't react to anything except the histamine, which it's supposed to react to. Also, my asthma symptoms are gone. I have no trace of being asthmatic. I'll bet that if I were in Wisconsin in February, that would be a different story. But, for living here, no allergies and no asthma.....just miserable symptoms. ::sigh:: In some lights, this could be construed as a "good thing" but, really, I'd rather have it be "something" than "nothing." It makes me sound less crazy.

But, aside from all that, I crossed off four things on a bucket list I didn't know I had.

Outside Oracle Arena

Free t-shirt

Warmups

Team introductions

Final score

Thursday was Game One of the NBA finals, between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Our friend, Thom, got tickets and he and I went to the game. Husband took the boys to Little Man's Cub Scout den meeting (which was at the fire station as one of the other dads is a fireman).

So, here's where the "Bucket List" things come in:
1. NBA Finals game
2. Half-court buzzer shot at the half, nothing but net, that tied the game
3. Overtime
4. The Warriors won

I didn't even know that I had a bucket list for something like this. Where I grew up, in southern Wisconsin, the nearest NBA teams were the Milwaukee Bucks (who sucked at the time), the Minnesota Timberwolves (who also weren't a great team), and the Chicago Bulls (who were one of the best teams in the NBA - this was during the Michael Jordan years, just so it makes sense). I never went to an NBA game until I moved here. And it was just this past April. In fact, I hadn't been to any professional sporting event of any kind until I moved to California (the first one was a San Francisco Giants game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, before Stormageddon was even a year old). So, the thought of having any sort of bucket list about professional sports just never occurred to me. But, I managed to tic off four things on that list in one go.

Also, we got "free" swag. On every chair in the arena, there was a t-shirt. I wore mine on Friday and was impressed that it fit properly. Our seats were way up in the "nosebleed" section but, really, there isn't a "bad" seat in Oracle Arena. We were at half-court and could see everything. And what we couldn't see was shown on the big screen. So, you know, when LeBron James started getting a little pushy with Steph Curry, we got to see a close-up of it...we could kind of see what was happening but we weren't sure which two were getting into it. But all was well in the end.

Friday was a very long day for us, as well. I did a bunch of neglected things at home (laundry and dishes, mostly) and then there was the Dad's Club BBQ at Little Man's school. Part of the reason we were there so long was because Little Man's music/art/drama after-school group did another performance during dinner. It was a little....well, chaotic isn't the right word but it may not have been the best idea to have them do the entire thing. But they did.

We didn't get home until almost 7:30pm and the boys were tired. We just kind of vegged, playing on electronics, until I put the boys to bed.

Yesterday was Husband's birthday so we let him sleep in as much as possible. I took the boys to the gym and when we got home, Husband had left for the gym himself. After that, we had the Cub Scouts BBQ to go to, where each den did their Bridging Ceremony. It's really only super important for the Weebelos as they transfer from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts but every den got their move to the new one.

So, he's now got his Wolf Scout gear, and I can "retire" the Tiger Scout stuff until Stormageddon is old enough.

The rest of the day was rather warm so we spent it inside with the room air conditioners running, not doing much of anything. I think we even waited until just before sunset to mow the lawn.


I keep hoping that this week isn't as busy but I think being busy is just now our version of normal.


I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend :) If you missed it, I posted about my purchases from Spinning at the Winery yesterday.