Self-Imposed Year of Projects: Update #39

Happy Sunday! I'm heading into my thirty-ninth week of my Self-Imposed Year of Projects. Since I skipped WIP Wednesday this week, I thought I'd show you some in-progress photos of some of the things I've been working on and thinking of working on...which we'll get to in a moment.

As always, let's start with my lists:

FINISHED OBJECTS
1. Claudia: started January 3, 2012; finished January 10, 2012
2. Mama's Simple Skyp Socks: started May 22, 2011; finished January 9, 2012
3. Little Man's Cobblestone Baby Blanket: started July 2010; finished February 2, 2012
4. Dalek Dishcloth: started February 6, 2012; finished February 8, 2012
5. Baby Traveling Vines Socks: started September 18, 2010; finished February 17, 2012
6. Snail Hat: started February 18, 2012; finished February 19, 2012
7. Lothlorien Hat: started January 25, 2012; finished March 5, 2012
8. Habitat Hat: started April 10, 2012; finished May 8, 2012
9. Mini Sweet Girl's Pumpkin Hat: started May 31, 2012; finished June 4, 2012
10. Pine Forest Baby Blanket: started February 21, 2012; finished August 4, 2012
11. Sassy Girl's Simple Baby Cap #1: started August 4, 2012; finished August 5, 2012
12. Double Bump Dishcloth: started August 9, 2012; finished August 11, 2012
13. Go Pack, Go!: started August 18, 2012; finished August 22, 2012
14. Woven Rib Dishcloth: started August 25, 2012; finished August 26, 2012
15. Little Granite Dishcloth: started August 27, 2012; finished August 28, 2012
16. Alternate Andalusian Dishcloth: started August 29, 2012; finished August 29, 2012
17. Not-Too-Scruby Dishcloth: started September 7, 2012; finished September 14, 2012

WORKS-IN-PROGRESS
1. Little Man's Giraffe: started May 11, 2011
2. Icarus Shawl: started March 15, 2010
3. Hermione's Everyday Socks: started March 6, 2012
4. Sweet Girl's Hippo: started May 10, 2012
5. Mama's Vanilla Socks (round 2): started June 29, 2012
6. Ruffled Feathers Pinwheel Blanket: (test knit) started September 12, 2012 
7. Plain old boring, "normal" dishcloth (I didn't even bother making a project page for it)

In Progress: Ruffled Feathers Pinwheel Blanket

I'm working this blanket on two circulars as opposed to a smattering of DPNs and single circular needles in various lengths. I thought this made more sense at the time. I think I would have been better off to start it on DPNs and move to a 16" circular before moving onto two circulars. It's a fairly easy and straight forward knit until you get to the border (which, obviously, I'm not). Even the border doesn't appear to be too difficult. We'll find out when I get that far. Right now, it's about the size of a dinner plate and I'm thinking of making it a bit bigger. Not too much but maybe a few more rows before I start the border. 

EXTREME CLOSE-UP!

Neither photo is doing the color justice. It's purple but it's a bit darker than what's showing up. That may be a function of the black background, the flash on the camera, the natural sunlight, or any combination thereof (I'm thinking it's all three, actually). 

I'll have to ask Husband how to photograph colors properly. 

Hermione's Everyday Sock: the first one is finished :)

I'm actually past the cuff on the second sock and am working on the leg. I pick it up and do a few rows here and there. It's kind of mindless knitting for the time being.

Plain old boring, "normal" dishcloth...

I have an absolutely insane amount of kitchen cotton. I don't even know when I bought this particular color or what it even is but I suspect that it was years ago (before I was really a knitter or crocheter or anything, really) and that it's either some huge cone of Sugar 'n Cream Ombres or Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton. With that said, I've made four dishcloths and am, obviously, working on a fifth one. I suspect that I'll be able to make several more. 

In Progress: Mama's Vanilla Socks (version 2)

See that? That's a project that I've been dreaming about working on...but haven't. Mostly because I've been working on the blanket and my shawl (which I haven't photographed) and dishcloths. Oh, and I've been pondering my Second Self-Imposed Year of Projects. 

Anyway, back to the list....

PLANNED HATS (at least five more - 12 total)
1. Hermione Hearts Ron
2. Ogre Babies!
3. NIN Hat
4. Godric's Hollow Hat
5. Raglan Hat
6. Bergen Street Tuque
7. Nolan
8. Candy Cane

I haven't even thought about what hat I want to work on next. I suspect that it'll be Nolan because I have the yarn in my stash that I want to use...and I know where it is right now. 



And here's some Yarn P0rn for you to view (I'll explain it all in a moment)....

Trekking XXL in "Circus" - yes, it looks like clown barf but it's self-striping

Dreams in Fiber in "11" (as in Doctor Who)

Dreams in Fiber in "10" (as in Doctor Who)

Plucky 100% Merino of some sort...finger weight...in "Peep Toes"

Plucky Rustic in "Abbey"

Knit Picks Felici in "Time Traveler"

Nerd Girl Yarns Oh Snap! in "Blue Box Exploding"

Cascade Heritage Sock in "Pumpkin"

Cascade Heritage Sock in whatever color #5655 is

 



So, what's with all the abundance of Yarn P0rn lately? I suppose it's a safe question and I can answer it. I have a lot of yarn. Those of you that know me in real life (and there only a few) may have met my stash. When we found out we were moving to California, I went through my yarn and pulled out a bunch to sell (and I did sell a bunch). In the meantime, I was trying to condense my yarn into a selected number of bins (which didn't happen). Between selling a bunch of stuff and moving things around into other bins, my yarn got a bit mixed up. Previously, I had been working to photograph all my yarn and get it imported into the Stash feature on Ravelry. With everything being mixed up, I decided that I should attempt to start over. 

So, I started with an unnumbered green bin earlier this week. I took everything out (except for a bag of wool to spin and some acrylic that's older than...well, it's not older than God but it's from the 60s or 70s), photographed it, and uploaded it to my Stash Page on Ravelry. Most of the yarn in that bin were recent acquisitions (including my recent acquisitions after we moved) so none of it was listed in my stash. That bin was easy, really. Some of the other bins are going to be more difficult because I'm going to have to find out if they were stashed previously and take new photographs and, perhaps, note their new locations. We'll see. My thought is to do a couple bins each week (during Little Man's nap) until I'm done. Right now, I know I have at least eight bins to go through, maybe more. I also want to somehow catalog my fiber, too...perhaps I should have photographed that fiber in that bin. Oh well. I can always pull it out and photograph it.

So, that's what's with the excessive Yarn P0rn :) I've been spending time photographing my stash again.



In other "life" things, my car is getting fixed sometime this next week. I'm bringing it in tomorrow morning. The estimate came out to around $4100 (including labor and tax and all that). I'll probably be in a rental that entire time...which is fine but it's going to be a PITA. ::sigh::

With all the excitement going on with that, I almost forgot that I'm trying to sell two properties in Wisconsin. They're both finally on the market and I'm hoping they sell quickly......mostly because I want out of this apartment. I'm not happy with the listing price on either one (they're both listed way under what they should be) but there isn't much I can do about it. 

Aside from the car and the properties, there's Puppy problems. Puppy has always kind of itched and chewed at one particular spot on his hindquarters, nothing serious...just a little nip or scratch here and there. Last Sunday, we noticed that he had been chewing at this particular spot more often and Husband got a hold of him and found out he had a spot on him. It looked like he had been bitten by another animal. We suspected a squirrel because we've seen a squirrel on our fenced in patio...but it was too big to be from a squirrel. A cat, perhaps? Nope, still too big for that. Then we thought maybe another dog bit him through our fence. Nope. We kept an eye on it and by Monday it had doubled in size and he was chewing it raw. I took him to the vet and it was either a bug bite that went nuts (spider, perhaps) or what the vet called a "hot spot" where it's almost like having hives and is, essentially, an allergic reaction. 

Unfortunately, the wound needed to be cut open and cleaned out, involving external stitches and a drain, as well as shaving all the fur off that area and medications and an overnight stay at the vet's office. It was almost as expensive as getting him fixed. Oh, and he has to wear the Cone of Shame for a couple of weeks. He's still as hyper and nuts as ever but we can't let Little Man play with him because he tends to grab him around his hindquarters and I'd rather not have him get bit for causing Puppy pain. So, we're keeping them separate for now. And Puppy's getting tranquilizers two times a day for a few days until he heals up a bit more....which has been helpful.

We've also been house hunting a little bit. It's very odd to house hunt in the Bay Area because the turnaround on properties from the time it's listed to the time there's been an accepted offer is about 7-15 days...and there are usually several offers to choose from. So, without us having a pre-approved loan and at least one of my properties in Wisconsin sold, it's almost pointless to go house hunting. However, our realtor is getting a feel for what we're looking for and where we want to look. For example, he now knows that we're not opposed to doing some remodeling (i.e., gutting a kitchen or bathroom) but we don't want to have to gut every square inch of the house. He knows we need at least three bedrooms and preferably two full bathrooms. He knows we need at least a small yard for Puppy and Little Man, fencing optional (we can always have a fence put in). A two-car garage would be nice but it's not the end of the world. We've looked at a few that we really liked but had no way of getting (see the part about the pre-approved loan and selling of at least one property in Wisconsin).

It's strange. In Wisconsin, properties can sit on the market for months and not have anything going on. Out here, properties get sold left and right. Part of it is the urban area that we're in. There are more people in the Bay Area than there are in the entire state of Wisconsin. And people always want to move here. People don't always want to move to Wisconsin...not that I can blame them. It gets cold and icky in the winter, the summers can be ungodly hot...thunderstorms, tornadoes, blizzards, wind storms. It's lovely when it's lovely...but sometimes, living in Wisconsin just sucked. 

So, it's kind of silly for us to be looking at houses when we don't have the money right now...but we don't know where we want to be so this will help.

Let's see...what else, what else....oh, Little Man had his second evaluation for speech. He had one in Wisconsin about two weeks before we left and they said he was behind on productive speech. That didn't surprise me because he wasn't talking too much He was also behind in some other areas according to the test they used. Anyway, they retested him here using a different, more comprehensive test. Turns out that he's made leaps and bounds in his expressive language though he's still a little behind for his age (not a significant amount). He's also exceeded his age by over 14 months in another area (I can't remember if it was fine motor skills or something about social constructs). Anyway, hooray! It's one less thing we have to deal with! I'll have the final (written) results in a few weeks.


So, now I'll leave you with some photos........

Yeah, I steal dog food. What of it?

......and one of Little Man and Puppy (before his minor surgery)

Mama, I love my dog.