TWELFTH Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Here we are, the beginning... (Update #1)

Happy Sunday! If you're new here, welcome. If you're returning to check out my shenanigans for 2023, HIHIHI! I'm back, baby!

Today marks the beginning of my 12th Self-Imposed Year of Projects. Now, this is my 12th year starting today....most of the others that partake started their 12th years this past July. Obviously I do things my own way around here. I don't know that that will ever change. 

So. Here we are. Let's get going!

 

FOs (Finished Objects)
1. Josh's Winter Hat: started 20 December 2022; finished 2 January 2022

Generally I don't make it a habit to start off a new year with a FO but as the saying goes, "When in Rome......," so I did as the Romans and finished up a hat. Or something. I don't know honestly know how the Romans did it so I'm just going with it. It wasn't anything hugely spectacular, just a stockinette hat with a ribbed brim. I wove in all the ends but I'll probably hold off on washing it until after I make the matching mittens. For now, here's an unblocked, unwashed hat:

I used Valley Yarns Superwash in Colonial Blue and Careless Whisper, which is a worsted weight and I rather enjoyed knitting with it. I have a full ball of the white and maybe half of a ball of blue left, which isn't likely enough to make mittens so I'll probably order some more of the blue to help even things out. 

WIPs (Works-in-Progress) These are carried over year after year, if 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. Linen Stitch Scarf: started 2 June 2020
9. Sand Drift Blanket: started 17 January 2021
10. Dishcloth: started 25 February 2022
11. Mixed BFL (Annie): started 18 March 2022
12. Lakeline Tank: started 18 March 2022
13. Socks: started 28 September 2022
14. Bonbon 2: started 15 October 2022
15. Smile & Wave: started 15 November 2022
16. NEYCO Hat: started 31 December 2022

I feel like we should talk about this list a little bit. As you can see, I have some long-standing WIPs on this list, starting with the Wink cardigan I started way back in January 2015. My most recent cast on was, of course, my New Years' Eve Cast On, which was a little over a week ago. And everything in between. Obviously some are bigger projects and some are small, and some require this and that. A few I've even contemplated frogging and starting over (and I still might).

In short, everything here is here because I still love what I'm doing. I'll get around to it when I get around to it. 

For the majority of the past week, I spent most of my knitting time on the two hats: Josh's Winter Hat noted above, and the NYECO Hat. My original plan was that I was going to be able to make two hats from three skeins of yarn.....I'm not sure that's going to work now that I've knit most of the first hat. We'll see how things go I suppose. 

I also pulled out the dishcloth I started and I wound up frogging it and restarting it yesterday because I couldn't remember how I was doing the increases. But, that's a me problem and I think I'm just going to go with the classic Granny's Favorite instead of trying to get rid of the increase holes. It's fine. 

Oh, and because I was downstairs digging for a somewhat mindless project, I pulled out the Linen Stitch Scarf and worked on that for a bit. I still feel like I have this huge ball of yarn left...and I probably do. Depending on how long it is when I hit the end of the ball, I might just leave it a scarf. I may also whipstitch the ends together and make it an infinity cowl. I'll decide later. For now, I'm just working along in linen stitch.

Now, the real reason you're here: what shenanigans am I pondering getting into this year?

 

OMGLSFWTFBBQ

Items for ME (FTW!)
1. Nottingham (worsted weight, ~1200 yds; Cascade 220 Heathers)
2. Ishbel (fingering weight, ~610 yds; Happy Hands Yarn)
3. NIN Hat (worsted weight, 2 colors, ~220 yds + scraps; partials bin)
4. Boneyard Shawl (fingering weight, ~750 yds; KP Hawthorne Fingering)
5. Wilf's Hat (worsted weight, ~240 yds; Psych Ward Yarns)
6. Skoufaki (DK weight, ~175 yds; handspun)
7. Kaweah Hat (DK weight, ~240 yds; Houndstooth DK)
8. Chunkeanie (bulky weight, ~160 yds; madelinetosh Chunky)
9. Sockhead (fingering weight, ~400 yds; so many choices)
10. Stranger Things Hat (worsted weight, ~200 yds; Malabrigo Rios)
11. Huj Tub (laceweight, ~900 yds; Laceweight Cashmere)
12. Rose City Rollers (fingering weight, ~250 yds; so many choices)

Children's Items/Knitting for others
1. Flax for Little Man (worsted weight; Baah Yarns Shasta)
2. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
3. The Mandolorian (sport weight, ~165 yds; need grey/black, white, and green...which I might have)*
4. Zelda Beanie (worsted weight, unknown yardage; black/grey and yellow)
5. Wasabi for Mr. K (worsted weight, ~150 yds; Cascade 220 in Moss Agate if possible)
6. Bugle for Miss E (worsted weight, ~150 yds; htNEVELE worsted)
7. Baby Bear for Mr. T (fingering weight, ~220 yds; anything will work)
8. Pig for Earle & Duane (worsted weight, ~300 yds; need pink, of course)
9. Hippo for Sweet Girl (fingering weight, ~400 yds total; purple & pink)
10. Elefante for Sassy Girl (worsted weight, ~250 yds; maybe if I can find the original...otherwise, something new/different)

Utilitarian/Household Items
1. Garter Chevron Blanket (worsted weight; KP Mighty Stitch - may need to get some more black or white)
2. Diagonal Knit Dishcloths (any weight; cotton of some sort, possibly a cotton/bamboo blend, depending on use)
3. Reusable Produce Bag (worsted weight; cotton or acrylic)
4. Harry Potter Blanket (worsted weight; superwash or acrylic - based on several dishcloth patterns to make blocks)
5. Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth (any weight; cotton or a cotton/bamboo blend, again based on use)
6. Pop Blanket (worsted weight; superwash - a little of this and that?)
7. Holiday Countdown Stockings (worsted weight; various colors from partials bin)
8. Cat Butts (worsted weight; "cat" colors and pink for the butthole)
9. Yer Mom Licks Cat Butts (worsted weight; "cat" colors and pink for the butthole)

Other Fibery Endeavors:
1. Stash Fit
2. Create a project bag inventory
3. Update library inventory (on Ravelry)
4. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry) and reorganize yarn
5. Stitch markers: make kits and individual for Etsy shop
6. Destash as necessary/needed

 

Now, don't be misled by this. I have design plans and dyeing plans and spinning plans in addition to what's listed here....and in this case, "plan" is a very lose term. For spinning, I'll just pull it out as I see fit, when I see fit. For dyeing, same idea. Designs...well....I have those rolling around and I'll get around to it. Maybe. And while it was nice to keep it all in one place here on the blog, I also found that seeing it week after week and not making any measurable progress kind of....depressed me. It's not quite that dramatic but it kept weighing on me, when I don't need or want it to do that. And they may show up in WIPs or FOs but that's a different story. They're still there, in spirit, but just not making much of a consistent appearance here. And that's fine. My blog, my rules. I also have non-knitting/spinning/dyeing projects running around. I have a set of cross-stitch Halloween coasters I bought in September that I'd like to make. I haven't cross-stitched in quite a long while but it's not like it's something I've forgotten how to do. And I have tons of embroidery floss and I bought Subversive Cross-Stitch sometime in the fall so I have a feeling some of that may make an appearance as well. I'd also like to learn how to do proper embroidery but we'll see if I get around to that. And more reading. And by reading, I mean both physical books and audiobooks. I'm currently listening to 1922 by Stephen King, which is a novella in his Full Dark, No Stars collection. I have Tanqueray on my nightstand but I haven't gotten to it yet. That one came about as part of the Humans of New York project, by Brandon Stanton, where he talks to random people about random things, taking their photo. Stephanie Johnson, professionally known as Tanqueray, was a 15-part post and the people loved her and demanded more. So, they sat down and wrote an autobiography of sorts. I've got the audiobook on hold and I believe they are the narrators, as well. Anyway, moving along...

Also, it looks like it's going to be a year of hats and toys, based on what I've listed above. I have no issue with that. It's just where my brain decided to go this year. Well, to be fair, the toys are mostly because I have five to remake...and if I'm already going to remake five, why not add a few more?

And now, the non-fiber update portion!

Firstly, yesterday was mah birthday! We had a group of twelve and went out to dinner at my most favoritestest Mexican restaurant ever, which is also, coincidently, in my hometown. 

Aside from my birthday, the boys went back to school this week and, of course, I was back at work. We did try to dye Little Man's hair blue yesterday morning but it didn't work out. His hair got a bit darker and that was about it. I think I'm going to look into getting a different one and we'll try again next weekend.

Oh, I totally forgot that I still had Monday off, not that we did anything hugely important. But we all had the day off before everyone had to get back to the usual things. 

Honestly, it was a pretty quiet week around here, aside from yesterday's shenanigans. I saw some friends I hadn't seen since...well, actually, two of them I haven't seen since they all flew out to San Francisco when I turned 40 and that was 3 years ago, right before our world went all higgledy-piggledy. SO! That was delightful.

This week, I'm back on my training schedule for work, which means my hours change again. This is both good and bad. Good because I have time to make phone calls at the end of the day to places like the insurance company and the sleep clinic. Bad because I have to get up that much earlier to get out the door that much earlier. It's fine. It just means I need to go to bed at a reasonable hour. It'll work itself out but tomorrow morning is going to be a little rough. 

Anyway, that's enough rambling. I've been working on this post on and off all day, between taking down Christmas decorations and knitting and such. And it's almost itme for bed. 

I hope you continue to join me for my shenanigans!