Y4: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #2

A very happy Sunday to you :) It's quite amazing how many things can change in just a week...

Finished Objects (FOs):
1. Elefante: started December 19, 2014; finished December 28, 2014
2. Hat #1 - FoH: started December 31, 2014; finished January 1, 2015
3. Hat #2 - FoH: started January 1, 2015; finished January 4, 2015
4. Hat #3 - FoH: started January 7, 2015; finished January 10, 2015


Hey, look at that. I finished up another TWO projects. Granted, they're both just hats...but they're fabulous hats. The second hat was intended for the NICU and I started it before I realized that the sizing was too large for NICU hats...so, it's also going to Stormageddon. 

The third hat, on the other hand, was because of a tinge of jealousy...see, Little Man noticed I was making hats that fit Stormageddon and he wanted one. So, I figured...I have a buttload of this yarn, why not? So, I made him a hat using the same yarn as I did for the first hat...and wound up playing a bit of yarn chicken. See, I made the adult small size (the stitch count)...and I was running out of the blue so I did more stripes of the white and I was so close but the very top has a couple rows of white where I ran out of the blue. Oh well, he won't care. 

I should have an FO Friday next week, if I can get decent photos...we'll see :)

Works-In-Progress (WIPs): - carried over from 2014...and maybe earlier...
1. Dragon's Egg Socks: started September 2, 2013
2. Pacific Shawl: started June 8, 2014
3. Snape's Stockings: started August 20, 2014
4. Traveling Socks: started December 23, 2014
5. Wink: started January 5, 2015

This week, I started Wink...and frogged Wink...and restarted...and frogged...and restarted...and frogged...and so on. I finally got it right by Thursday and was about 20 or so rows into the back collar (which is where you start).....and Little Man got a hold of the project and pulled my needle out. He's never gone after my knitting before (except to touch yarn or hand me a project bag). Last night, he pulled out my Snape's Stockings and Wink. He tossed the socks about willy-nilly but didn't do any actual damage to the project. Wink, however, he pulled the needle right out...and then some stitches. I'm not sure how many stitches or rows he pulled out but I wound up frogging what I had. I'll probably restart it sometime this coming week. I'm not very happy with him but at least it wasn't a lot of work that I had to rip out. 

I also worked on Snape's Stockings. I finished up the heel flap, turned the heel, and I'm working on picking up the gusset stitches and moving on from there. 

I think I would have cried if Little Man had pulled a needle out of that. 

While we were in the car yesterday, on our way to the RV Show, I pulled out my Traveling Socks. I knit two and a half stripes...these are going much more quickly than I anticipated. Hmmm...


 Children's Items
1. George's Vest (for Stormageddon - sock/fingering)
2. Nottingham (for Little Man - worsted)
3. Nottingham (for Stormageddon - worsted)
4. Alvin (for Little Man - worsted)
5. Alvin (for Stormageddon - worsted)
6. Harry Potter Blanket (for The Family - worsted) - from various Harry Potter inspired square blocks
7. Albert the Absent-Minded (for Stormageddon - any weight)  *need pattern*
8. Mirkwood (for Stormageddon - bulky)
9. Smaug (for Little Man - worsted)
10. Dandy Sir Cephalopod (for Little Man - any)  *need pattern*
11. Moe the Mustache Monster (for...someone - worsted)

Items for Me (Selfish Knitting, FTW!)
1. Vanilla Socks (using one of my Harry Potter yarns)
2. Drip Drip Drop Socks (using either a solid or semi-solid sock yarn that I haven't decided on yet)
3. Hermione Hearts Ron (sport)
4. Ginny's Cardigan (DK)

Secret Sock Club Bags (Pick a bag at random)
1. Scotch and Soda Scarf (using Briar Rose Fibers Wistful - leftover from my Icarus Shawl)
2. CashSilk Fern Scarf (using a skein of Online Supersocke 100)
3. Jabberwonky (using KP Felici in Abracadabra)
4. If You Know Where To Go (in KP Felici in Green Veggies)
5. Gardener's Socks (using Malabrigo Sock)
6. Paradiddle Socks - my own design (using Malabrigo Sock)

Because I love Husband
1. The Dude

New Techniques (one of the following stranded/multi-yarn kits)
1. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat
2. University of Wisconsin Christmas Stocking
3. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie

Christmas Presents
I have absolutely no idea what's going to end up here, if anything. I suspect something will end up here and I might pull it from other lists but we shall see. Maybe I won't do any Christmas knitting. Maybe all I'll wind up doing is Christmas knitting.

Designs
1. Susan's Hat
2. Traveling Vines Socks
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket
4. Paradiddle Socks (see Secret Sock Club Bag section)


In other random things...I tossed a little bit of my stash the other night. Husband was out with a friend and the boys were in bed. So, I pulled out one of my yarn bins and started going through it, in accordance with my Ravelry Queue (which is getting out of hand again). Everything in that bin has a purpose (I think)...nothing is set in stone but I've matched everything up with a pattern. I hope to do more stash tossing. I think I need to have a "Come to Jebus" talk with my stash because, honestly, I have a lot of sock yarn and, quite honestly, as much as I love my handknit socks, I don't need 245 pairs of them. And at least 75% of the sock yarn stash is variegated or self-striping so it's not like I can do most shawls with them. ::sigh::

I love my stash. I don't want to have a "Come to Jebus" talk with it. 

Anyway, moving along...

I have moved forward on one of my designs. One of the groups I belong to on Ravelry (which is from a blog I follow) is having a "Designalong." She (the group founder/blog owner) has teamed up with Jeni from Fyberspates and Kate Atherly from Knitty. Between the three of them, they're going to pick five entries and let the public choose which one wins (all in Ravelry so you can't go voting more than once - I think voting starts on February 1, 2015). The winner gets a two hour tech consult with Kate, yarn support from Fyberspates, and an hour consult with the host for help on releasing the pattern (or what to do next). 

I fell right into it. My design for my Traveling Vines Socks has been put in there. I've basically got it written but there are the little things...

So, there's that.


In non-fiber events, Stormageddon is close to rolling over. He gets to his side and just kind of....hangs out. He doesn't appear to be truly stuck but he just doesn't want to roll any further. He's also only rolling to the right (his right)...which is the opposite of Little Man, who rolled left first (until he was about 7 months old and then decided that the day I laid him on a hotel bed with Husband was the perfect time to roll to the right......and right off the damn bed!). Aside from rolling, he's also started giggling. Not a lot but he has started giggling. He's also figuring out his little voice, which is really funny to hear when he's just awake in his crib and he'll sit there and talk so Husband can hear him. Silly boy.

Little Man has been in love with Legos lately. My mother-in-law got rid of Husband's pirate sets from when he was a kid so he's replaced them and picked up a few more of the pirate sets. We currently have: #6270 Forbidden Island (1989), #6285 Black Seas Barracuda (1989), #6276 Eldorado Fortress, #6273 Rock Island Refuge (1991), and #10210 the Imperial Flag Ship (2010). The rule is that Little Man is allowed to play with them (gently) but they belong to Daddy. Little Man has plenty of his own, however...a few different Star Wars ones, and a couple of Spiderman ones. Oh, and he also has a big bucket of loose Legos. He's pretty good about picking them up, too, which is quite lovely. I hate stepping on them. He's also helping me redecorate his room a bit. We flipped his bed over a couple weeks ago and today, I decided to make a little fort under his "new" bunk-bed...all the stuffed animals are down there and we moved his little table and chairs by the window so he can color or play Legos. He seems to like it. Unfortunately, he's been watching a few too many "scary" videos on YouTube and the last couple nights, he's convinced himself that something scary is going to get him (zombies, vampires, monsters, whatever). So, I refilled his zombie-monster-vampire spray. That helps. But still, poor kiddo :( 

I've got no new photos to post...perhaps next week :) 

I hope you've all had a lovely week and weekend and so on and so forth :)