Y4: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #34

Happy Sunday :)

I'm going to be up front with y'all right now. I had every intention of sharing some somewhat better photos with you this week (re: photos taken not on my iPhone). I've been having some trouble with the card reader (through my old laptop - the one that died a couple months ago, and my new laptop)...so we ordered a new card reader and.........won't connect to my laptop. It works fine for Husband but not for mine. ::sigh::

So, no new photos this week (but there will still be photos from my iPhone).

Let's get moving :)

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
5. Hat #4 - Stitch's Rock Hat: started January 16, 2015; finished January 24, 2015
6. Vanilla Fingerless Mitts: started January 23, 2015; finished February 3, 2015
7. Paradiddle Hat: started January 24, 2015; finished February 7, 2015
8. Stitch's Rock Collection (of Hats) - Variegated: started February 22, 2015; finished February 24, 2015
9. Sorin Fingerless Mitts: started March 8, 2015; finished March 31, 2015
10.Stitch's Rock Collection (of Hats) - Variegated: started February 27, 2015; finished April 1, 2015
11. Stitch's Rock Collection (of Hats) Pattern Test: started sometime in February, 2015; finished April 18, 2015
12. Sooooooooper Secret Pattern Writing (project #2): started sometime in February; finished April 15, 2015 -- full disclosure in October 2015
13. Sacrificial Goat #5: started May 29, 2015; finished June 4, 2015
14. Baby Hat: started June 4, 2015; finished June 6, 2015
15. Elvish Leaves Dishcloth: started June 10, 2015; finished June 12, 2015
16. Baby Hat: started June 19, 2015; finished June 27, 2015
17. Homework for Alana Dakos Class: started July 1, 2015; finished July 5, 2015
18. Traveling Socks: started December 23, 2014; finished July 28, 2015

Now, this list is a bit of a lie. I've actually finished three things this week but considering that those three items took me an hour and a half total, including weaving in ends, washing, and laying flat to dry....it means they're small and probably rather unassuming.

I've had this little idea. See, Stormageddon is teething (again - probably a molar this time, though)...and I know Mr. K, my sister-in-law's 7 month old foster baby boy, is also teething...and eventually Miss Emily, my sister-in-law's Safe Haven Baby (which, really, is going to be their baby), is going to start teething at some point.......and I have an asinine amount of kitchen cotton in my stash. So, my little idea was to make some teething cloths for all the babies. They're small enough that the babies can hold onto them but big enough that they can't shove the entire thing in their mouth and choke. Throw them in some water and freeze them or put them in some cold water and put them in the fridge for a bit.....then babies can chew on them and numb the gums but they're also textured (all garter stitch for the first three but I could do other things, too). Basically, little cotton teething cloths for babies.

So, I've made three so far. I have the cotton to make more and they only take about a half hour each (basically, I can make one during Little Man's swimming lesson). No photos because they're on the SD card that I can't seem to get read on my laptop. ::grumble::

Anyway, moving on...


Works-In-Progress (WIPs): - carried over from 2014...and maybe earlier...*shifty eyes*
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. Wink: started January 5, 2015
5. Fire & Ice (Fire) Socks: started April 15, 2015
6. Little Man's Hat: started July 8, 2015
7. Petty Harbour Socks: started July 29, 2015

I've worked on a couple things this past week, aside from the teething cloths mentioned above. I'm at the point where I can start the second pattern repeat on Snape's Stockings, which isn't much but it's still some progress. I worked a couple rounds on my Fire Socks but nothing interesting. Just working my way through decreases and such on the foot. I've picked up all the collar stitches for Wink, placed the stitch markers for the raglan increases, and I'm almost ready to start that. And then there are my Petty Harbour Socks. These were supposed to be quick and easy......but I did something stupid on the second sock which required me painfully tinking back about 10 rounds and placing stitch markers in the correct place in order to continue. I was one stitch off when I placed my stitch markers for the gusset decreases, which left my sides uneven and the middle section with an odd number. ::sigh:: But, it's all tinked back, fixed, and now I'm working forward again.


In my "OMGLSGWTFBBQ, crazy lady?!" lists...

Children's Items
1. George's Vest (for Stormageddon - sock/fingering; solid or semi-solid)
2. Nottingham (for Little Man - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
3. Nottingham (for Stormageddon - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
4. Harry Potter Blanket (for The Family - worsted; solid) - from various Harry Potter inspired square blocks
5. Albert the Absent-Minded (for Stormageddon - any weight; self-stripe, variegated, solid, or semi-solid)  *need pattern*
6. Mirkwood (for Stormageddon - bulky; solid or semi-solid)
7. Smaug (for Little Man - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
8. Dandy Sir Cephalopod (for Little Man - any weight; self-stripe, variegated, solid, or semi-solid)  *need pattern*
9. Moe the Mustache Monster (for Stormageddon - worsted; self-stripe, variegated, solid, or semi-solid)
10. Another Goat (for Little Man - worsted in white/cream, and brown)

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; solid or semi-solid)
4. Ginny's Cardigan (DK; solid or semi-solid)

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)

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

Because I love Husband and/or My Children
1. Sacrifical Goat #6 (for a coworker of Husband's that is retiring)
2. Sacrificial Goat #7 (for Little Man)
3. Sacrificial Goat #8 (for Stormageddon)

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. I suppose this is a wait-and-see section :)

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


In our California Life, we're just trying to get into a routine. With Little Man starting school, everyone's routines are changing. I'm getting up really early (for me), around 6:15am, and getting my shower in before everyone else is up. I wake Little Man up around 7am and get him in the shower, Husband gets up whenever between all that and showers, and Stormageddon is usually up around 7am. While Little Man is doing his thing, I'm feeding the baby and packing bags and maybe doing random things about the house. Then, around 8am, I pack Stormageddon in the stroller and Little Man, Stormageddon, and I walk to the school. It's 1.15 miles, round trip, and it takes about 12 minutes each way (which isn't bad, really). When we get home, Stormageddon and I do all sorts of things. We go shopping at Costco/Target/Safeway, we bum about the house doing house things (laundry, dishes, eating all the food), we've gone to the gym, we've gone "fun" shopping (bookstore, art store, yarn store).......but we're still getting used to things. Some days, the 3.5 hours Little Man is in school is just perfect and other days, we could use some more time. We're working on it.

In other random events, I've decided it's time to journal my way through recipes. I have all these printouts and index cards and bits of paper with recipes on them as well as the ones I've pinned on Pinterest and then there are the emails that I've saved with recipes we've tried or ones that we've had sent to us.....and I hate having everything all over all the time. So, I'm going to try to do them in a bullet journal manner. We'll see how it goes but that's the plan......

Anyway, have some photos from my iPhone from this past week or so :)

We make all the funny faces! Okay, Mama does :)

Stormageddon thought we were funny.

Cool dude (eating breakfast before school)!

Hanging out at school, waiting for Big Brother!

Okay, let's talk a little bit about this one. Little Man loves ketchup. He 100% gets that from me because Husband doesn't really care for ketchup (he'll eat it on maybe one thing: burgers).....usually, the smell makes him feel ill. So, the other night, Little Man was having his dinner (corndog and chicken strips - his request, I didn't argue because it was something beyond his usual want of just a plain, bunless hot dog). I let him put his own ketchup on the plate. He was fine with that, dipped his food, that was that. I went away to do something (probably drag Stormageddon out of chaos somewhere). I came back to find his plate like this. He said, "I wanted to eat it but there's too much, Mama, there's too much!" Apparently he squeezed the bottle a little bit too much and decided he didn't want to eat it all. That was the end result. ::sigh::

We can also talk about this photo for a bit. We have this tree in our front yard (no idea what it is but it appears to be some sort of lilac tree). The bees love it. As I was getting out of the car, I pulled out my phone and took this photo of the bee gathering pollen. I was kind of surprised I took this photo with my iPhone but, apparently, the iPhone 6 camera is pretty decent.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a lovely weekend and, hopefully, I'll get the card reader issue sorted out and get some non-iPhone photos of things :)