Year SEVEN: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - THAT'S A WRAP (Update #52)

Happy Sunday! This is the last Sunday of 2018 and, not coincidently, it's also my last Self-Imposed Year of Projects update for the year :) 

So, let's take a look....at what I finished, what I didn't finish, what I frogged (wait, did I even frog anything...maybe one thing?), and what never came to be.......shall we?

Just a warning before we start.....this is probably going to be a pretty photo-heavy post. Sorry. 

Okay, let's start with what didn't get finished.....because there's a lot that I didn't even get around to (again). 


Children's Items
1. Mittens for Stormageddon
2. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - Stunning String Studio from Stitches West 2018)
3. Lancelot for Little Man (worsted weight - green Plymouth Encore)
4. 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 the Neighborhood Fiber Co. in "Charles Centre")
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. Moab (fingering - Wollmeise in "Lavender")
11. Pumpkin Pie (DK - Kangaroo Dyer orange)
12. Anne's Sweater (sport - Artfibers something)
13. 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. Sock Blanks (10) from Vice Yarns

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)


Yeah. I know. That's a ridiculous amount of items that I didn't even get to. But, you know how I roll: I tend to over-plan and under-perform and I've been okay with that because I've found that what I really need with my Year of Projects is some sort of guidance with lots of wiggle room. So, the plans are huge and the payout isn't that great but I'm better off for it. 

So, that's what I definitely did not get to. Next, let's talk about my WIPs (which will carry over to next year).


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 (based on that project): started 14 August 2017
5. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
6. Returning: started 14 January 2018
7. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini Spinner): started 13 April 2018
8. Granny Square Blanket (1): started 28 April 2018
9. Clapotis: started 29 June 2018
10. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat: started 11 July 2018
11. Abracadabra Socks: started 7 August 2018
12. Age of Brass & Steam Shawl: started 10 August 2018
13. Purl & Loop Weaving Project: started 28 August 2018
14. Campfire Socks: started 17 October 2018
15. Herbivore: started 15 November 2018
16. Ewetopia Stripey Socks: started 15 November 2018
17. Sockhead for Little Man: started 29 November 2018

Sooooo, I might have a WIP problem. Maybe. Seventeen projects are listed here. Three of them are design projects, which requires both writing and knitting, not to mention swatching, frogging, doodling, and a bunch of other stuff. To be fully transparent, I've not worked on the designs all that much. One of the two hats (the Unnamed Hat) has a couple different iterations and I have a feeling I'm going to write it for several different weights of yarn for maximum punch. So far, I've done one in a bulky and one in a DK/worsted weight. But I've not actually written much other than figuring out decreases and gauge and such. The other hat...well, that one doesn't even have a prototype yet. It's very much in a design stage. I have doodles and some numbers but I haven't actually started anything yet, not even a swatch. I'll come back around to it eventually. 

Beyond the designs, I have a couple other projects going. One of the projects is a spinning project on my little mini electric spinner. It's not terribly difficult to work on but I just.....haven't. I don't know what's turning me against it. Maybe it's because I haven't figured out a good place to work on it. The spinner is tiny, the bobbins are tiny, and I'm not sure it's for me (yet). When I have worked on it, I've had it sitting on my counter but it likes to bounce because I run it at full speed (yes, I'm one of those people). I need to mitigate that issue. And also, tiny bobbins. I have a feeling that I'm going to ply on my Pioneer. I have another spinning project, but that one is on my support spindle. I don't know what it is about spindles...I want to love them but I just.......don't. Though, I do like my support spindles better than my regular drop spindles (quite possibly because I don't spend so much time dropping them and cursing every time it happens). Yet another is a weaving project of sorts. I'm not sold on the little loom I have but I'm going to see how my coaster thingie turns out. That takes up six of the projects. The rest are knitting or crochet (okay, one is crochet...the rest are knitting). 

I decided around this time last year that it's time to kind of learn how to crochet. So, what better way than to make a buttload of granny squares and crochet them together, right? That's what I've been doing here and there, somewhat slowly. 

I snapped this photo a couple weeks ago. If you're eagle-eyed, you'll notice that the square on top isn't as big as the other four. It was the first one I did and I honestly thought it was a gauge issue....and then I counted my little double-crochet clusters along the side and noticed I had only done 9 across on that one (the rest have 10). I've since gone back and finished the last round on that square. But for the most part, it's a slow-going, long-term kind of project. I bought four of the Caron Big Cakes in the same colorway/dyelot (I think) and I managed to get almost 7 squares out of the first cake (I had to bust into the second cake for the last two rounds, I think). I was kind of hoping to get eight squares out of a cake but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I may have to pick up a 5th cake. I can do far more with 35 squares than 28 squares. We'll see what happens when I get that far. 

As for knitting projects.......well, Wink is still going, though slowly. I've had this project on the needles for almost four years now and it is my longest-going WIP. I suppose it might go faster if I took the time to actually work on it but having to wrangle so many pages at once isn't the most fun I've had in recent years. Now that the boys are both older, I might be able to handle working on it here and there. I did finally get to the armholes this year.....that only took three and a half years on a top-down raglan sweater. 🙄 Please, roll your eyes with me. It totally deserves an eye roll. 

This photo was definitely taken before I got to the armholes. It's not a lot further along than the above photo but I've been far too lazy to pull it out just to take photos. I did notice something the last time I had it out. I'm knitting the largest size, which I think is 52"...I'm only a 46" right now but when I started, I was at 44"...which means I knew this was going to take forever and planned accordingly (meaning I knew my weight would change). I'm kind of proud of myself for thinking ahead like that. It doesn't mean I'm getting it finished any quicker...

All my WIPs after Wink have been started in 2018.

My second-longest WIP is my Returning Shawl, which has been on the needles for almost a year. I'm at the point where I start adding my contrast colors. I think I had made a decision for the contrast colors, wound the yarn, and then promptly put it down in favor of new and shinier things. 

Sorry for the sideways photo. But this was right before I decided on which contrast color to use. 

The next two projects on the list have no photos, mostly because I'm far too lazy to take them. And I'm not really all that far into them so photos seem silly. 

I started Clapotis at the end of June under the guise of doing a KAL. Clapotis has been in and out of my queue for years. Probably since I started knitting. I think I added it originally because seemingly everyone had knit it and I wanted to be cool like everyone else. And then I decided I didn't like it all that much and removed it. And then I liked it again. And then I removed it again. When we moved to California in 2012, a knitting friend here had knit it (when it first came out) and hers was lovely and I decided it was lovely enough to add to my queue and it's been there ever since....but that was still six years ago and I hadn't started it. The KAL was the perfect excuse....and so far, of the 10 or so of us that started in July, only two have finished. And neither were me. It's not a particularly difficult pattern and the only change I've made so far is that I'm making it out of sock yarn and I might not make it as wide. I haven't decided that part yet. So, it's really more of a hibernating WIP at this point. I'm sure I'll get back around to it at some point. 

The next project on my list is my UW Ski Hat. This project was going along pretty well....and then I hit the colorwork chart and I stopped dead in my tracks. I understand the concept of colorwork and the floats and all that, but there were some things that were eluding me and that's where Vogue Knitting Live came in. I took a colorwork class with Julia Farwell-Clay specifically because there were nuances to colorwork that I just needed to see properly. The first problem: how to do the floats? I always thought you had to twist your yarn around each other, but things show through when you do that so I knew I was doing something wrong. The first solution: no, you don't twist the yarns; that's intarsia. The second problem: color dominance is a thing so which way does it go? The second solution: Your main color/background color goes across the bottom half; the contrast color/showy color goes across the bottom. The third problem: How do you catch long floats? The solution: I have a video that I took of her showing us. Soooo, I'm ready to start the chart. And my chart is sooo teeny. I think I'm going to have to blow it up and color it so I can actually work on it. Or translate it into a written version. So, that's where that one is sitting right now. 

These are my Abracadabra Socks. I called them that because the yarn colorway is Abracadabra (the Felici - the grey is something I picked up specifically for contrast heels/cuffs/toes). To be fair, I'm further along than this photo shows. I'm at the point where I've picked up the stitches and I need to start working with the color again. I haven't worked on these in awhile. I think the last time I worked on them was when Husband and I went to Washington for a wedding, which was in September...okay, I may have worked on them in October. But they're one of those WIPs that is great for grab-n-go because it's mostly mindless. I may need to get these back into the rotation...

I really have no excuse for the Age of Brass & Steam not being finished....other than I ran out of yarn. Don't worry, more came. I just need to sit and finish the last row and the bind off. I have a feeling this will be my first FO of 2019. I've made it larger than what the pattern calls for. In the pattern, you do three eyelet sections and call it good. I did five....and I screwed up the second one so I purposely screwed up the fourth one for consistency. So I have the first, third, and fifth that are done as written and the second and fourth were the ones I did incorrectly but consistently. 

My Campfire Socks are kind of at a pause point as well. They're not terribly difficult and they would probably go quicker than my normal socks if I actually worked on them...but I paused because I'm worried that I'm going to run out of yarn. So, I'm thinking of which color I want to use for the contrast heels & toes. I have some of the same yarn in a yellow and an orange. I'm thinking of using the orange because I have a full skein of that. I only have a partial of the yellow. I started these because my feet were cold one day and I wanted some squishy house socks. For some reason, I thought these would take less time than regular socks but we all know how that goes. ::eye roll::

The last three projects in my WIP list haven't had photographs taken and, as we all know, I'm far too lazy for that.

The Herbivore Shawl was started while I was in Wisconsin in November. I haven't worked on it since then. I may restart that one. I'm not sold on my garter tab cast on. I'm using a couple skeins of Sheepy Time Knits Sheepy Feet in Grey Pilgrim, which was a Lord of the Rings colorway for Gandalf. The shawl has been in my queue since March 2010....I suppose it's time to get around to it.

The Ewetopia Stripey Socks are moving along slowly. I also started this project while I was in Wisconsin in November. I'm testing out the Addi FlexiFlip needles. So far, they're not too bad but I think that may change once I get to the heel. I don't know that they're going to be long enough to handle picking up all the stitches but we'll see when I get there.

The last project in my Year of Projects WIP list is a Sockhead. This one is for Little Man using some Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer I dyed. I wasn't sure what this yarn was going to grow up to become. When I dyed it, Little Man laid claim to it as it was dyed in green & black, which Little Man said were Slytherin colors (he wasn't wrong). He had this idea that it was going to become a scarf, which would have been fine if he didn't want it to look like it looked in the movies......so, it's becoming a Sockhead for him instead. He seems to like it so far (I'm still on the ribbing).



And with that, we're done with my WIPs. Now we move on to the things I actually finished this year.

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
15. Malabrigo Nube (wheel): started 12 July 2018; finished 20 July 2018
16. Paradiddle Prototype: started 19 October 2017; finished 31 July 2018
17. Frankensocks: started 1 March 2018; finished 2 August 2018
18: Cup Cozy: started 22 September 2018; finished 22 September 2018
19. Sockhead: started 11 September 2018; finished 2 November 2018
20. Violet Waffles: started 15 November 2018; finished 16 November 2018
21. Violet Waffles: started 16 November 2018; finished 28 November 2018
22. Safari Duo - Ella the Elephant: started 11 July 2018; finished 12 December 2018
23. Random Hat: started 28 November 2018; finished 19 December 2018


Compared to last year and the year before, I'm woefully behind in FOs. Last year, I finished/frogged forty-seven (47) projects and the year before that, forty-eight (48) projects. This year, I'm running about half of that. I'm not sure what that says about me specifically but it does say that I've probably had a busy year, which isn't a lie. Between the school auction and life with boys, we have been stupid busy. 

To show just how busy I wound up being, I only had three spinning projects completed this year...and all of them were during Tour de Fleece. Last year, I had five spinning projects and the year before, I had seven.....so maybe three isn't that bad?  

This year, I frogged two projects: a little bag I was making and the Bad Nut shawl. I didn't want to frog the Bad Nut shawl but I dropped a stitch marker and it just was not going well.....so, I frogged it. I'll get back around to it at some point. I do want to knit it...someday, someday. The little bag was kind of a random project that I decided to knit and it was not working out how I envisioned. I'm not too fussed about it. I don't know that I'll start that one again.

I made one blanket this year - the Garter Stitch Baby Blanket. I sent it to a cousin of Husband's for their new baby boy. When I started it, I didn't necessarily intend it to go to anyone specific but then Husband's cousin announced her pregnancy and off it went. Of course, there had to be some muss and fuss about it. I ran out of yarn and had a rather difficult time finding a skein because it was a discontinued yarn. I did manage to procure one, even the same dyelot (!), so once it was in my hot little hands, I finished that blanket quickly. 

Three toys were made this year, but two were the same and teeny tiny. The third was the elephant I just finished for my niece. Unless something happens, I won't have to make any toys for awhile unless I want to. I have a kit to make some turtles, much like the tiny narwhals. I might make those, might not. We'll see how things go. I also have the kit to make Dolores (from Webs)...but she's mine. 

Speaking of toys, that's my niece and she's holding her new elephant. She loves it so I'm happy about that. 

Outside of those, I made socks and hats, apparently. Quick count shows seven finished hats (yes, I'm counting the yarmulke as a hat here, though it's not technically a hat in the way that the others are hats). Of those seven hats, three were fore me (or if the boys steal them). Little Man can lay claim to two of them, Stormageddon claims one, and the last one is the yarmulke, which wasn't for any of us. I also finished three pairs of socks. They were all supposed to be for me....but then my Smooth Operator Socks didn't fit me very well (but fit Little Man perfectly). Also, the Paradiddle Prototype socks are, well, a prototype...I'll need to make them again in a more readily available yarn that isn't discontinued at some point, but for now, I have them and they're fabulous. 

The last four projects were "onesies" in that I only made one type of each: a cowl, a scarf, a cup cozy, and a pattern submission. The cowl was finished early in the year. I've not worn it as I find it a bit scratchy and too confining. I really like the pattern, though. I might need to make it with some modifications in a yarn that isn't so scratchy. The scarf was made as a companion to a hat I made at the end of last year; the recipient passed away before I even started the project but I made it anyway. The intent at that point was that it was going to be left, with the hat, and his ashes on top of the Swiss Alps......and while the ashes made it to the Swiss Alps, the hat and scarf were kept and the recipient's son is going to wear them while skiing and doing all the things in cold weather. As it should be. The cup cozy, which still needs ends woven in (don't judge!), was made as a learning project for colorwork knitting, which I mentioned above in the WIP section (the part about my Wisconsin Ski Hat). The last "onesie" I have is a pattern submission for a blanket, which was not chosen. I really need to reknit it and get it published. It really was a lovely blanket (which is currently hanging out in Little Man's bed). 



Soooo, that's where I stand at the end of this year. Not as photo-heavy as I was expecting but still lots of photos. 



In California life.....well, Christmas happened. The boys wound up with lots of things that they spent five minutes enjoying and then played with the boxes (they're kind of like cats sometimes). Actually, they enjoyed Christmas very much, as they do. Both boys got some Lego sets and some books; other than that, it varied depending on who was doing the "sending." Little Man got a really cool Lego-knockoff of an Alaska Airlines plane. Stormageddon got a Melissa & Doug pilot's outfit, but it has the Alaska Airlines logo embroidered on the front, Husband got an Alaska Airlines ornament, and I got stitch markers (these last four items were from our friends that are, dun dun dun, pilots for Alaska Airlines). They were both very pleased. 

We made cookies last Sunday, before Husband got home from his trip to India. We also stayed in our jammies for most of that day....because why not?!

To be fair, I did most of the work. They helped me here and there but mostly got distracted, as they do. We wound up with almost 5 dozen cookies in the end. 

Of course Santa got a cookie and the reindeer got carrots. 

On Wednesday, we hit SFO and took a trip back to Wisconsin. I didn't talk about it last week because honestly, last week it wasn't even on the table. We planned the trip in about an hour on Christmas Eve. So, currently, we are in Wisconsin, staying with my bestie and her family (the same one I was just here to see in November when her father passed away). We head back to California on the 2nd (in theory).

While we've been in Wisconsin, we have seen some friends, made a few unexpected appearances, played some Bingo (we did not win a damn thing), and went tubing. 

Stormageddon was kind of a pill on the plane but he calmed down when he had his iPad. Or not. He was kind of a puke, honestly.

When we got to my bestie's place, he told her all about something he was watching in YouTube Kids. Probably an Angry Birds thing but who knows?

We visited my in-laws. The boys entertained themselves by playing hide-and-seek in their house.

I wasn't kidding about Bingo, either...

Bingo happens every Thursday at the VFW in town. My bestie is the....not the commander but the person right under the commander (the vice something or other). She's an Iraq War veteran. She enlisted as a senior in high school, went to Basic Training as I was leaving for college, then was promptly sent to Iraq. She was one of the drivers for the supply trucks....the ones that got hit a lot by IEDs. Every time one was hit, we all collectively held our breath until we were told that she was okay. That was a rough few years. She's been back in Wisconsin since.....2006ish, I think. Her son was about 5 when she came home, and I think he was born in 2001. So, she's been involved with the VFW for many years. In addition to that, her father was a Vietnam vet, so her parents have been involved there for many years as well. Sadly, her father passed away just a few weeks ago (which was why I was home in November). So, Bingo at the VFW....lost my butt. ::sigh:: 

One of our unexpected stops was at Capitol Newspapers in Madison. The woman that introduced Husband and I works there so we stopped in to see her. They have one of the Bucky statues in their cafeteria, which I took a photo of...the boys were less than cooperative but I got one eventually...even if they are being weirdos. 

Last night, we went tubing at Cascade Mountain. We weren't exactly prepared for winter so we had to get a few items (mittens/gloves for all of us, a hat for Husband, and a better coat for Stormageddon). They had lots of fun, even if we only went down twice (the line got really long at they were less than cooperative about being in line - most of the kids were, actually). 

We enjoyed some hot chocolate afterwards before driving back to my hometown. Stormageddon was not having it. He was an unhappy camper by that point. He wanted to play the games in the chalet but we wouldn't let him. He got over it.

Anyway, we're leaving here about mid-week, hopefully.....

I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend and holiday and all of that. Next week will be the beginning of my EIGHTH Year of Projects!