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

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Year SEVEN: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #28

Hello, happy Sunday, let's just get going, shall we? Okay then :)


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
12. River's Edge Fiber Arts Falkland Merino (wheel): started 19 May 2018; finished 2 June 2018
13. Smooth Operator Socks: started 13 October 2016; finished 12 June 2018
14. MaryAnn Wool (wheel): started 9 July 2018; finished 12 July 2018

I finished up some spinning this week. The wool from a sheep named MaryAnn. I wound up with ~ 226 yds on the first plying bobbin  (with two breaks in the yarn) and ~ 94 yds on the second one (with no breaks in the yarn) and, I had a bit left on one of the bobbins. The total weight of the two skeins was ~ 183 g (6.46 oz). I tried to Andean ply the remaining bit on the bobbin and it was horribly overspun and it got tangled pretty badly. So, I wound it into a single-ply ball and I'm going to make a dryer ball out of it. From the original 221 g of fiber I started out with, ~ 183 g became two-ply yarn, ~ 30 g is going to turn into a dryer ball, and I only lost about 2 g of fiber. That's pretty good, considering that this yarn is......well, we'll talk about that in a moment.


WIPs (Works-in-Progress) These are carried over from the last Year of Projects....or longer.
1. Wink: started 5 January 2015
2. Stomping Grounds Collection: started 26 February 2017
3. Hat Design: started 20 March 2017
4. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017
5. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
6. Paradiddle Prototype: started 19 October 2017
7. Returning: started 14 January 2018
8. Frankensocks: started 1 March 2018
9. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini Spinner): started 13 April 2018
10. Granny Square Blanket (1): started 28 April 2018
11. Clapotis: started 29 June 2018
12. Safari Duo - Ella the Elephant: started 11 July 2018
13. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat: started 11 July 2018
14. Malabrigo Nube (wheel): started 12 July 2018

Because I didn't have enough going on, I decided to start three new projects this week. I needed something kind of mindless for knitting group on Wednesday, hence the two knitting projects. Apparently I think colorwork knitting is going to be mindless. The beginning is kind of mindless, and that's all I needed for Wednesday. I've had this project on my list for awhile. It's time to do it. Not going to lie, though...the chart is something like 144 sts wide on US #3 needles. Can you imagine just how tiny this chart is? I'm going to need alllllllll the highlighter tape. Or something. I'd rather not mangle the actual chart. Maybe I'll go have a copy made.

Ella will be for my Devil Niece, probably for either her birthday or Christmas (her birthday is in November, a few days before Little Man's). I'm going to seam a toy for her. I'm following the directions as written. I thought about converting it to the round but I decided to give it a go as written this time around and if I want to make it again someday, I can convert it, if it makes sense.

The Malabrigo Nube is a spinning project for Tour de Fleece. I finished up the unknown wool from a sheep named MaryAnn and needed a new project. I had the Malabrigo Nube hanging in the bathroom because I dyed it. I bought it undyed last year at a shop called Fengari in Half Moon Bay (their Facebook page seems a bit more active than their password-protected website). When I was dyeing yarn, I also dyed this braid of fiber. I have no idea how to dye roving so I treated it kind of like yarn. I soaked it in the citric acid solution, squeezed out the excess water, dyed it, wrapped it in plastic wrap, steamed it, and hung it to dry. I didn't want to mess it around too much in the water because then I could have wound up with a felted mass of ick. I'm not sold on the color but it's a OOAK leftover bits of this and that. It's coming out a lovely shade of pink.


I split it by weight before I started spinning. I wound up with 60 g and 55 g. I could have made it closer but I know the second single is always longer than the first, even if they're evenly weighted. So, I spun the 60 g first, in hopes that the second bobbin will be a bit finer and, therefore, longer to make up for the difference in weight. It might not work. We'll see.

The Nube merino fiber spins like a dream, especially compared to the MaryAnn wool.....that one had a bit of veg matter left, even though it had been processed, and it left schlubs in my yarn. It was also overspun, overplied, itchy, and rustic. I have no idea what I'm going to do with that one. It's not something you can have close to your body so any sort of winter gear is out (unless it has a liner of some sort). I'm tempted to use it to make a pet blanket of some sort. We'll see. Regardless, the Nube is lovely to spin. It does have a few schlubs but I think that's kind of the nature of handspun.

In addition to the three new projects, I made some progress on the Paradiddle Prototype sock. The skein of yarn arrived the other day, already caked up and ready to go. I don't need it yet but it's nice to know that it's ready to go. I only did the heel turn but hey, it's done. I also did a few rounds on my FrankenSocks. Because I need to weigh things after every color change, I can't go too far with it. But I did finish up the first fat stripe on the second sock, which is lovely. And I may or may not have worked on Clapotis. I honestly don't remember.



OMGLSGWTFBBQ Lists:

Children's Items
1. Undetermined hat for Stormageddon
2. Mittens for Stormageddon
3. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - Stunning String Studio from Stitches West 2018)
4. Lancelot for Little Man (worsted weight - green Plymouth Encore)
5. Dandy Sir Cephalopod (worsted weight - Red Creek blue, maybe)

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 Christmas Stocking kit
3. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie kit
4. 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. Gaia (worsted)
2. Euro Sock 6-ply or BFL Sock (I can't remember which one I have)
3. Whatever else I find in the bag...I have a bag...or maybe a couple of bags....sock blanks, some more BFL sock....

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)





California has been pretty quiet this week. It's been warm and we've not done much. Little Man had three birthday parties to attend last weekend (one on Saturday, two on Sunday). After the first one on Saturday he said, "okay, mom, we have two parties left, right?" and I said that was true, and he said, "can we just....stay at home this week?" Absolutely we can do that. He was so over people by the second party on Sunday. I think he just wanted to curl up with me and call it good. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way but that's fine. 




One of the other moms took this photo of him at the first birthday party last Sunday. They had it at a local park, potluck/picnic style, and the kids ran around on the playground and splashpad. Yes, he's pretending to pee....as were most of the boys. The girls, on the other hand, were squatting over a few of them and doing the same thing. I guess they all kind of get how that part of their body works? I don't know. 

We went directly from this party to the next one, which was held at one of those indoor bounce house type places. He climbed the rock wall with out difficulty. 



When he was done, he kind of just collapsed on the floor. 



We did have an unexpected departure this week. The Pibble that we've been not-fostering went with his Daddy this week. He figured out how to jump into our pool (by hopping onto the ionizer and then into the pool). That's not necessarily problematic by itself. The dog can swim just fine.....but he couldn't figure out how to swim over to the steps and hop out. If he had done it while we were gone at the gym for a couple of hours, he could have died. I'm glad he did it when we were home. Stormageddon came in and said, "mama, Pibble's in the water" and I was confused because the hose wasn't on. So, I went outside and heard him splashing around like an idiot, having tons of fun. It wouldn't have been an issue if he did it once but 20 minutes later, he had done it again. He was a great destroyer of all the toys so keeping him in the house by himself for an extended period of time wouldn't be a good idea and keeping him in the kennel while we were gone wouldn't be fair to him. So, his Daddy picked him up that day. I felt really bad but I didn't want a dead dog, and his Daddy understood that perfectly. 

So, we're back down to our one "normal" dog. 

We also had some work done around the house this week. Well, we didn't do the work; PG&E did the work. They were doing maintenance on their towers, which meant they were being stripped and repainted....except the original coating had asbestos in it. So, our backyard was covered in plastic wrap for two days and we couldn't let Puppy outside in the backyard. He was fine in the house with us, and had plenty of outdoor playtime and bathroom time on Thursday but he was also refusing to poop in the front yard on Friday so we kept him in the kennel while we were out. And we were out for a lot of the day on Friday because CalWater shut off the water for the entire street to so dome work, which meant no showers or toilet flushing or hand washing or any of that. Luckily, that all got taken care of and we have our yard and life back. 

Yesterday was spent around the house, again. Husband was playing work host to one of his colleagues that's here from India. They went up to a winery in Napa so the boys and I were kind of lazy. We went to the gym but that was about it. I did some spinning, we did some reading (Little Man is finally letting me read Harry Potter to him!), and that was about it. Nothing terribly exciting. 

Oh, I almost forgot....Little Man got super lucky this week. 


One day this week (Wednesday, maybe) he found $3 on the ground outside the gym. That went into his piggy bank. 


They were very patient at the gym that morning. The Kids' Club worker was a little behind that day. 


Also, Stormageddon is still sleeping in our bed. 


I honestly don't mind it all that much because he's not going to do it forever and if I keep having to put him to bed, I don't get any sleep. At least this way, we all get some sleep. He's also potty training. He spends a good portion of his day naked. You know, unless we're out of the house. I've been putting a diaper on him and every place we go, I take him to go potty, which has worked well and it's what I did with Little Man. I expect he'll be good to go by the fall. If not, one of the first things I want him to work on in speech therapy is telling people when he has to go so that he can go. At home, he just goes to the potty by himself but he needs to learn to ask when we're at places like the gym or when he's in speech therapy. 


Anyway, I hope you've had a lovely week/weekend :) Maybe this week will be more productive than this past week. Or not. 

12 comments:

  1. I am with Little Man. Thred parties in 2 days would have me done with people too. Good luck on the potty training. That was so hard with my boys. They could have cared less about it. One was 4 and the other 3 when it finally clicked.

    I love the color of your yarn you dyed. I hope the spinning turns out the way you planned it.

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    1. Little Man was about 4 when he got it...just as Stormageddon came along. I've basically been changing diapers for most of the last 8 years. I'm so ready to be done. ::sigh::

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  2. Lovely spinning, and a lovely dye job.

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  3. Your spun yarn is a lovely color!

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  4. I love the colour of your spun yarn.

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  5. Beautiful handspun! Really love the colour. :)

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  6. Should we call Maryann’s wool “rustic”? It is probably very warm and possibly lanolin rich and somewhat waterproof. It might be very good for a felted project like a bag, a bowl or even slippers? I made Duffers from a very similar sounding yarn and they worked out great - very warm and sturdy!

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    1. I've thought about whether I could felt it or not. I'm sure it would felt perfectly but I'm not sure I want to do it in my washing machine. Maybe if I take it to the laundromat? The worst thing that could happen is that it winds up a bit felted mess and I toss it out. I don't know that it would make me cry too much.

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  7. I love that you know the name of your sheep you were spinning wool from!

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    1. I don't always know the name of the animal. In this case, I did because I bought the fiber directly from the woman the sheep belonged to. She had it processed and was lamenting that she didn't know how to knit or crochet or spin but that she had purchased a spinning wheel and intended to learn. I hope she did.

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  8. Your second yarn sounds as wonderful to work with as much as the first didn't, but I hope you find a use for the yarn none the less. I too would be with Little Man and so over peopling by the third party. Best of luck with the potty trainig.

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  9. I get a bit agro when a weekend is booked. I like my Sundays usually to be free. Love reading about the kids and what a funny dog.

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