Y5: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #8

Happy Sunday :)

Stitches West is still going on and I plan to have a write-up about that later....let's just say that my budget was gone before mid-day Saturday and I probably came home with far too many things.

But, let's get going on my Year of Projects...


FOs (Finished Objects)
1. Fire Socks: started April 15, 2015; finished January 6, 2016
2. Nottingham for Stormageddon: started January 12, 2016; finished January 14, 2016
3. Design proposal for Fire Socks: started January 13, 2016; finished January 18, 2016
4. Purple merino/silk spinning (singles): started toward the end of Tour de Fleece (July 4-26, 2015); finished January 29, 2016
5. Nottingham for Little Man: started January 17, 2016; finished February 1, 2016
6. Swirl Hat: started December 16. 2015; finished February 4, 2016
7. Swatch for Marly Bird class at Stitches West: started January 8, 2016; finished February 7, 2016 (no project page)
8. Fire Socks design (the actual pattern writing & photography part): started February 6, 2016; finished February 12, 2016 (I think it's going live in a few weeks; I'll let you know)
9. Mountains Beanie: started February 9, 2016; finished February 17, 2016

I finished up the hat I was testing for Holly this past week. I should have a FO Friday this week, I hope. I just need to get some modeled shots from a hopefully cooperative Little Man.

Other than that, nothing new was finished :) I did have a post on Friday for the Swirl Hat, if you're interested.


WIPs (Works-In-Progress) - carried over year-to-year
1. Dragon's Egg Socks: started September 2, 2013
2. Snape's Stockings: started August 20, 2014
3. Wink: started January 5, 2015
4. Vanilla Latte Socks: started November 19, 2015
5. Ice Socks: started January 7, 2016

I have a confession to make. I didn't knit much this week. I finished up the hat and then I had some......problems, let's call them, on Wednesday. I tried to cut off the tip of my left thumb with a butcher knife while I was chopping up cabbage to make coleslaw. Don't worry, no stitches or anything like that but it is bandaged pretty good. I took Wednesday and Thursday off from a lot of knitting, to make sure things didn't hurt and to give my poor thumb some time to reattach itself. It seems to have worked. It's still bandaged up but I can knit and that's lovely. So, the only project that got any real action this week, aside from the hat, were my Vanilla Latte Socks. If I keep going on those, I'll have to find some new purse knitting. ::sigh::


Children's Items
1. George's Vest (for Stormageddon - probably the largest size; YOTH Little Brother from Stitches)
2. House Hat (one each for Stormageddon and Little Man - worsted, two contrasting colors)
3. Mirkwood (for Stormageddon - bulky; solid or semi-solid)
4. Smaug (for Little Man - worsted; solid or semi-solid)
5. Arthur the Alien (for Little Man - worsted; any colors)
6. Holiday Countdown Stockings (for the family - Aran/worsted; four colors)
7. Creeper Gonna Creep (for Little Man - Trendsetter Merino VI from Stitches)

Items for ME (selfish knitting, FTW!!)
1. Vanillaish Socks (using one of my Harry Potter Yarns)
2. Paradiddle Socks (using a solid or semi-solid sock yarn)
3. Hermione Hearts Ron (sport weight; solid or semi-solid - Plucky Primo in Petunia?)
4. Hermione Hearts Ron Fingerless Mitts (sport weight; solid or semi-solid - Plucky Primo in Petunia?)
5. Classic Silk Mayfaire Camisole (Miss Babs from Stitches Midwest)
6. Stormont (worsted; solid or semi-solid)
7. Sockhead Hat (sock; any colors)
8. Moab Shawl (sock; any colors) *need pattern*
9. Prowl (DK; solid or semi-solid) *need pattern*

Secret Sock Club Bags - Pick a bag at random; do pattern with yarn
1. Scotch & Soda Scarf (using Briar Rose Fibers Wistful, leftover from my Icarus Shawl)
2. CashSilk Fern Scarf (using ONline Supersocke 100)
3. Jabberwonky (using KP Felici in Abracadabra)
4. If You Know Where To Go (using KP Felici in Green Veggies)
5. Gardener's Socks (using Malabrigo Sock in Indiacita)

Stranded Knitting
1. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat
2. University of Wisconsin Christmas Stocking
3. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie
4. Xanadu Snowflake Cowl

Christmas/Charity Bin
1. 198 yds. of Heaven (worsted; any colors)
2. Phillip and Mr. Grum (sock yarn; any colors)
3. Comfort Food (Aran; solid)
4. Fine Fella (worsted; solid or semi-solid)
5. November Leaves (Shelter from stash) *need pattern*
6. Skinner Hat (sock; solid or semi-solid) *need pattern*
7. The Shoemaker's Hat (bulky; solid or semi-solid) *need pattern*
8. Roll Out The Barrels (cotton; any colors)
9. Sweeny Todd Scarf (worsted; any colors)
10. Bridal Shower Lace Cloth (cotton; any colors)
11. The Snowmen Cometh (worsted; any colors)
12. Sunburst Dishcloth (cotton; any colors)
13. Starfish Cloth (cotton; any colors)
14. Seamless Circular Cloth (cotton; any colors)
15. Tombreck (Aran/worsted; solid or semi-solid)
16. Premie Spiral Hat (for hospital donations - sport or DK; any colors)

Designs
1. Ice Socks (knit prototype and pattern for submission)
2. Susan's Hat (make proper - photos, pattern, etc.; knit new prototype from Babs K2 from Stitches)
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket (make proper - photos, pattern, etc.)
4. Paradiddle Socks (knit prototype - see "Items for ME")

Spinning
1. Spin approximately 4 oz of either a grey wool or white merino to ply with the purple silk/merino listed in the FO section above.
2. Finish up the remaining Asshole Blue Corriedale that I found in Stormageddon's room awhile ago (don't even get me started on this one!)
3. Start something new...or something different....or, just something :)



With Stitches West happening, I had a few items I wanted to shop for, including some DK yarn to make Little Man's Creeper, some sock yarn for the vest I'm making for Stormageddon, and a few various other things. I seem to have accomplished most of what I set out to do, which is lovely. So, I've made some changes to my above list to reflect some items I've purchased. Woo.



This week, this week, this week.......what happened this week......we went to the Aquarium By The Bay on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco on Monday, with our friends that live across the Bay in Fremont. I wasn't feeling 100% so I missed a bit (the tunnels made me nauseated) but I did take a couple photos.

There's a "viewing hole" for kids by the octopus tank and by another tank (something akin to sea horses but they have long tails like eels). I'm pretty sure this is not the tank with the octopus (though he did go in the dome of that one, also).

Ah, the starfish. I was amused by these ones as they appeared to be flipping us off as we walked by.

They have those enclosed tunnels where there's water all around you and this was a shot of the stingray going over our heads. There were several in these tanks but there were also some in the touch tanks in the next room. They were a little skittish. I did manage to touch the tail of one of them but otherwise, they kind of all huddled together, away from the prying fingers of small children. I missed a lot of the tunnel because I was somewhat nauseated. We can always go back; it's not like it's that far away.

TURTLES! Okay, to be fair, these are tortoises, specifically cherry-head red-foot tortoises. They're about the size of bowling balls. They hang out in the same room as the touch tanks.

Speaking of the touch tanks, this is Little Man, touching one of the animals. The one he's touching was rather soft but there were also other ones that were not. Some of the starfish were surprisingly hard while others were not. I think we named them all Patrick.

In addition to our time at the aquarium, we went to a place called Red's Java House, which is over 40 piers south of the aquarium (we did not walk that far, it's just about two miles). It's a little hole-in-the-wall place that we "discovered" thanks to Anthony Bourdain. It's quite good, right on the Bay, very near the Bay Bridge....

As Anthony Bourdain says, "It tastes like it died screaming." It was a fantastic burger.

Not much else happened this week, to be honest. We did go to the park a couple of times...

Also, Stormageddon decided I needed to knit him a monster. He's hauled this book off my shelf several times this past week (until the shelf was covered up by boxes from his room).

And Little Man is, of course, just a little sass...

For the record, the hat belongs to Stormageddon....even though it's a little big on him.

And then, on Friday, I discovered this:

When I first caught a glimpse of it, I thought there was some dead animal in our yard. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the vent for our bathroom fan that is on the roof was hit by something (tree branch, perhaps) and the wind blew it down. ::sigh:: So, we're having that fixed next week (we have a temporary fix in place).

And then Stitches happened. But we'll talk about that later.

I hope you're all having a lovely week/weekend and so on and so forth :) I'll be back later this week for several reasons, including a Stitches update (which will probably include a stash enhancement update), probably an FO Friday, and a non-Stitches stash enhancement post (if I get everything together).