Year the TENTH: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Shiny New Year (Update #1)

Happy Sunday from Northern California! Today marks the beginning of my TENTH Self-Imposed Year of Projects. I don't know where the original idea came from. I have a feeling the Yarn Harlot was involved somehow but I've forgotten. I'm not sure anyone over in our Year of Projects group remembers either. Regardless, it's been ten years and here I am. 

Let's see what's been happening. 

FOs (Finished Objects)

New year, nothing to see. However, if you've been following along and you caught my Wrap Up post from Friday, you may have seen a project that showed up as an FO for that post that hadn't been there for the last proper update of the year. I finished the little Milo vest that I had been working on between last week and this week so it showed up in my Wrap Up post. So, truly a new year with no FOs to speak of. Yet.

WIPs (Works-in-Progress) *these are carried over year after year, as needed*
1. Wink: started 5 January 2015
2. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
3. Returning: started 14 January 2018
4. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini): started 13 April 2018
5. Granny Square Blanket: started 28 April 2018
6. UW Ski Hat: started 11 July 2018
7. Purl & Loop Weaving Project: started 28 August 2018
8. Herbivore: started 15 November 2018
9. Linen Stitch Scarf: started 2 June 2020
10. Greenwood Fiberworks Dark BFL (Viktor): started 28 June 2020
11. Vanilla Socks: started 9 August 2020
12. Minecraft Socks: started 12 August 2020

My main focus over this past week was to finish the little Milo vest, which definitely happened. I contemplated trying to make a matching hat with the leftover balls from the vest and the matching blanket but I don't think I have enough. I'll save it for colorwork because it's delightful yarn. 

Aside from the little vest, I also worked on the Linen Stitch Scarf this past week, mostly while watching TV with the boys or when I was watching the new season of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. It was something easy and fairly mindless to work on. 

Other than that, not much happened with knitting. I don't think I touched any other fibery projects except the Circular Sock Machine (CSM) that Husband printed on the 3D printer. Now that we have the screws and the hooks, it was time to put it together and see if I could get it working. I still need to cut down the hooks a bit more, however. I've been watching a few different videos about how to get it set up and working properly. From everything I've read and watched, it looks like you spend just as much time swearing at it and getting things set up as you do actually using it properly. So, we'll see how that goes. I suspect Husband is going to re-engineer some things, like the gears. We were also talking about a modification to be able to add a table clamp of some sort because the original is really wobbly. The good news is that I know how it goes together and once I get the rest of the hooks placed, I might be able to start using it...the bad news is that it needs some work. Oh well. Here are some photos of the CSM before any modifications:

And now, for the real reason why you're here (or not): what kinds of crazy things am I planning for 2021? Well kids, let's take a look!

OMGLSGWTFBBQ

Design WIPs:
1. Messed Up Moss: started March 2009 - write pattern as PDF (iterations: first, second)
2. Susan's Hat: started 31 August 2010 - need new prototypes & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third, mini, fifth, sixth)
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket: started July 2010 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
4. Chunky Scarf: started 6 October 2012 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
5. Pacific Waves Hat: started 9 March 2016 - need new prototype & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third)
6. Fall in San Francisco: started 18 September 2016 - need new prototype & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
7. Stomping Grounds Collection: started 26 February 2017 - need prototypes & write patterns
8. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017 - need various weight yarn prototypes & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
9. Paradiddle Socks: started 19 October 2017 - write pattern (iteration: here)

 

Design Ideas:
1. Christmas Stocking for Husband
2. Christmas Stocking for Little Man
3. Christmas Stocking for Stormageddon
4. Baby Blanket
5. Stomping Grounds Collection

 

Items for ME (Selfish Knitting FTW!):
1. Rose's Wrist Warmers (DK weight - using Aran instead; hand-dyed Malabrigo Twist?)
2. Perianth (fingering weight - Knitcircus Trampoline in The Whole Enchilada)
3. Stranger Things Hat (worsted - Malabrigo Rios in Archangel)
4. Autopilot (worsted weight - Sincere Sheep Cormo Worsted or htNEVELE Worsted in Reveire)
5. Fine Tune (fingering weight - uses minis so maybe a rainbow type one with the Canon Hand Dyes?)*
6. Flax (worsted weight - Misty Alpaca in the Harry Potter colors)
7. Park Slope (fingering weight - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot in Shamrock)
8. Undone (bulky - maybe the reclaimed yarn from the Freeport Vest?)
9. Socks (fingering weight - Bob knows I have enough so I should use it - maybe with the CSM)
10. Sockhead (fingering weight - I have tons...pick something!)
11. Age of Brass & Steam (Handspun purple/white barber pole)
12. Radiate Shawl (fingering weight - Artfibers Carezza maybe?)
13. El Panal Cowl (Kit from Greenwood Fiberworks)

Children's Items
1. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - Stunning String Studio from Stitches West 2018) - I may change this to a different sweater using the same yarn
2. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
3. Mittens for Stormageddon (worsted weight probably)
4. Boo-yah! for Stormageddon (Creatively Dyed leftover sock yarn in Dark)
5. Maybe a Flax for Little Man...maybe...

 

Utilitarian/Household Items
1. Garter Chevron Blanket (KP Mighty Stitch - may need to get some more black or white)
2. Diagonal Knit Dishcloths (cotton of some sort)
3. Reusable Produce Bag (cotton or acrylic of some sort - worsted)
4. Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth (cotton or maybe bamboo, depending on the use)

Spinning:

1. Wonderland Dyeworks BFL

2. Mixed BFL

3. Allons-Y Fiber Arts Merino, Trilobal Nylon, Silk

4. Alpaca (from Lambtown 2014)

5. Fiberlady.com 100% Bamboo 

Dyeing:

1. Sock Blanks
2. Skeins of sock yarn
3. Random worsted/sport skeins

4. Anything else I find along the way

Other Fibery Endeavors:

1. Create project bag inventory

2. Update library inventory (on Ravelry) *in progress*

3. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry) *needs to be redone*

4. Stitch markers: kits and individual

5. Destash as necessary (it's always necessary)

6. Stash Fit

 

 

 

Now, for the updatey part. This past week saw the dawn of a new year...hence why this is the first post of the year (and because my birthday is on Thursday - it all makes sense).  This is how I've been rolling for a decade. I don't intend to change now. This is the way. I have spoken.

 

The boys wound up getting a lot of Lego sets for Christmas so we spent part of this past week working on those. Stormageddon is only six and needed some help with his Minion Lego set. He and I worked on it on Friday and yesterday. We finished one of the two minions, which is a good start. Little Man worked on his new Astronomy Tower from Harry Potter and his Yoda (which he got for his birthday). We're trying to limit their video games a bit but it's not working. Little Man also spent a few hours talking to one of his friends via FaceTime, which is good for both of them, honestly. 

 

Husband worked on his 3D printer. It's been a bit finicky so he pulled it out and essentially took it apart, then put it back together with new parts. He's looking to get the multi-filament system in place so he can print things in multiple colors during the same print. I'm not sure how it works but he seems to understand it. Unfortunately, when he tried to get it in place the last time, it disagreed and he wound up having to undo everything and he's been grumpy about it ever since. 

 

One of the days we were outside doing stuff (taking care of the hot tub, specifically), I found this delightful plant. It's probably not a clover but I'm taking the good luck where I can find it. Also, ignore my dry hands. It's winter and this is what happens in winter. 

 

 

 

 

Little Man has been begging us to get Among Us for the iPads. I knew nothing about it so I did what all moms do in a technological age: I crowd-sourced. It sounds like it's pretty benign so we might let him get it. With that said, for someone that's never played the game, he sure seems to know a lot about it. I blame YouTube Kids because he watches videos of other kids playing or talking about the game. He's just like Husband, who does the same thing with Zelda games. 

 

 

 

One of Stormageddon's Christmas presents was a rock painting kit, chosen by mom but paid for by grandma & grandpa. The boys really seemed to like the project. It comes with paint, brushes, ideas, and I think 10 or 12 rocks. They still have two left. Stormageddon let Little Man do the project with him, which was really sweet. 

 

 

 

I think on New Years Eve, Stormageddon decided that his friends needed to cuddle with me. So, he brought out his three favorite ones and piled them on me in the chair. I wasn't overly comfortable but it was funny, especially after the rough night we had before that. Stormageddon got himself all worked up about his bunny that I made him (you can see it in the photo below). He needed some repair, which was fine and I repaired him. But then he decided that he didn't want him anymore but he was crying and really upset and this went on for like two hours. It was not a fun night. We eventually came to a compromise where I could borrow him but that he still belonged to Stormageddon. It calmed him down and he's not brought it up since. But seriously, two hours of him crying and being upset. I won't say that he forgot about it because I doubt he's forgotten, but he hasn't brought it up, which is a good thing.

 

There hasn't been much else happening around here, honestly. The boys start back to school on Tuesday. I'm not sure we're ready to go back to the schedule but it is what it is and we're going to just do what we need to do. I was kind of enjoying the loosey-goosey schedule but I know we do better overall when we have a schedule of some sort. So...back to the grind, or so it will be. 

I hope you've had a lovely start to the new year!