Y5: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #9

Happy Sunday!

To be perfectly honest, even though I said I was done decompressing from my weekend at Stitches West....I lied. I'm still decompressing. I was decompressed enough to write the post (which you can find here), while everything was (mostly) fresh in my head. So, I'm actually not done decompressing and I'm still coming down off my Stitches High.......we'll see how long I can continue to ride this wave.

Anyway, we all know why we're here so let's get going!

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've not finished anything new this week but my FO Friday post about the Mountains Beanie went live on Friday :)

So, that's lovely. Moving along.....


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
6. Mother Bear Project #1: started February 22, 2016
7. Rathmore: started February 25, 2016

It appears that I've fallen into the "OMGSTARTALLTHETHINGS" hole this week. Okay, I only started two projects but I started two projects......when I have others I should be working on.

This is about the halfway point on the Mother Bear (not that you can tell from this photo). You start at the feet on one side and work upwards all in one piece and when you get to the head, you work a certain length, then start working the directions backwards to go down the backside of the toy. Then you sew it up, attach and knit the arms and hands, and Bob's your uncle. Woo.

Then there's this one. This is Rathmore. It's looking a bit.....Slytherin. I didn't realize it was so obviously Slytherin until I started working on it. So, there's that. Perhaps my next one (if I make another one and I very well may...) will be yellow and black, to show my Hufflepuff pride. This is an infinity scarf and the idea is that you can wrap it around your neck more than once...or you can leave it long and so on and so forth. It's currently crammed on a 24" circular (my interchangeables, not that it matters). So, even though there are 200+ sts crammed onto these needles, it's actually going pretty quickly. I've finished chart A, I'm 1/3 finished with chart B, and all that's left are the 2/3 of chart B, chart C (which is fewer rows than chart A), and the bind off. If I keep going at the rate I've been going, it'll be done before next week.....but, let's not give myself a deadline :)

Other than those two projects, I've worked a couple rounds here and there on my Vanilla Latte Socks and I'm almost finished with the cuff of my Ice Socks but that was about it. Nothing exciting, apparently.


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 :)

Since I'm still coming down from my Stitches High, it only seemed appropriate to visit my (soon-to-be-closing) LYS. Anzula did an impromptu Trunk Show with their "leftover" items from Stitches West. I plan to have a stash enhancement post about that later this week. Let's just say I fell into their stuff...again. I blame leftover yarn fumes from Stitches. 

Other than that, I've spent some time this week trying to get my It together (and by "It," I mean "shit"). You may have noticed an ad on my blog. Feel free to click on it. It gives me money. Money is good. I've also bought a couple of dot grid notebooks specifically for sketching and doodling. I'm not sure what will come of it but I'm trying. I have a couple doodles I need to get onto paper, probably with some description......not necessarily of something I want to knit but something I want to design....which will probably lead to knitting it. Or something. So, there's that. 

Little Man was registered for school this week. Stormageddon and I had a coffee date with some of the other moms from Little Man's class. Uh.......yeah, that's about it. Nothing hugely exciting; just living the life. 

That's about it (for now). I hope you're all having a lovely weekend. I should be back sometime this week with a stash enhancement update.....maybe an FO Friday (but do not count on that one!).