Y5: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #20

Happy Sunday :)

We all know why we're here so I suppose we should get going. Or, perhaps you've wandered in unexpectedly from Instagram or Ravelry...that happens.

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 (link to the preview; pattern went live on Saturday, April 2nd)
9. Mountains Beanie: started February 9, 2016; finished February 17, 2016
10. Rathmore: started February 25, 2016; finished March 4, 2016
11. Dragon's Egg Socks: started September 2, 2013; finished March 9, 2016
12. Creeper for Little Man: started March 4, 2016; finished March 10, 2016
13. Mother Bear Project #1: started February 22, 2016; finished March 12, 2016
14. Asshole Corriedale (spinning project): started March 23, 2016; finished March 24, 2016
15. Pacific Waves: started March 9, 2016; finished March 25, 2016
16. Freeport Vest Frogging: started March 29, 2016; finished March 29, 2016
17. Pacific Waves: started March 31, 2106; finished April 2, 2016
18. Vanilla Latte Socks: started November 19, 2015; finished April 6, 2016
19. Snape's Stockings: started August 20, 2014; finished April 11, 2016
20. Pacific Waves: started April 3, 2016; finished April 15, 2016
21. Creeper Hat: started April 28, 2016; finished May 4, 2016

Given how the last couple of weeks have played out, it's unsurprising that I've not finished anything. I did, however, have an FO Friday for my last two hats, so you can go check them out...or not. Whatever. Your choice :)


WIPs (Works-In-Progress) - carried over year-to-year
1. Wink: started January 5, 2015
2. Finn & Suffolk singles: started April 1, 2016
3. CashSilk Fern Scarf: started April 7, 2016
4. Gex for Little Man: started April 8, 2016
5. Bridal Shower Lace Cloth: started April 27, 2016
6. Caffe Macchiato Socks: started May 7, 2016

I'll be honest: this week was another rough one. We'll talk about that in a mo', I think. Somehow, I still managed to start another project. To be fair, I did work on a couple of things this week. I'm almost finished with the second sleeve on the Gex sweater. I spent some time working on the endless stockinette while I watched Mockingjay (both parts). Once I got to the part where I was supposed to start switching colors, I stopped. I didn't want to screw up while I was watching the movie. That's when I switched to the new socks. I actually started them last weekend but we were out of town so they weren't properly added to last week's post. I only had a couple rounds in last weekend so I wound up finishing the cuff for the first one. I made some modifications to the pattern. In some respects, I like the idea of having left and right socks but for these, I didn't like the idea....so, I modified it so I won't have that problem. We'll see how it works. The worst thing that could happen is that I hate it and wind up ripping it out. Oh well. It's not like I've never ever done that before. /sarcasm. I picked Gex back up later in the week and finished up the first sleeve and while Husband and Little Man were off camping, I started the second sleeve.

In reality, though, not much happened in the way of knitting.


In my "OMGCRAZYLADYWTFLSGBBQ" lists...

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. Arthur the Alien (for Little Man - worsted; any colors)
4. Holiday Countdown Stockings (for the family - Aran/worsted; four colors)
5. Mirkwood (for Little Man - worsted or bulky; any colors)
6. Something for a baby (brother's baby!) - sweater probably, maybe a toy or socks or lots of things...KNIT ALL THE BABY THINGS!

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. Jabberwonky (using KP Felici in Abracadabra)
3. If You Know Where To Go (using KP Felici in Green Veggies)
4. 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. The Snowmen Cometh (worsted; any colors)
11. Sunburst Dishcloth (cotton; any colors)
12. Starfish Cloth (cotton; any colors)
13. Seamless Circular Cloth (cotton; any colors)
14. Tombreck (Aran/worsted; solid or semi-solid)
15. Premie Spiral Hat (for hospital donations - sport or DK; any colors)

Designs
1. Ice Somethingsomething (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")
5. Pacific Waves Hat (knit prototypes in various weights/sizes, pattern for submission? self-publish?) *I've started this*
6. Stormageddon's Baby Blanket (design process, knit prototype, etc.)

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.

Other (for things that are fibery/crafty in nature but not specific to knitting or spinning)
1. Organize my handmade stitch markers
2. Make more stitch markers (to sell? donate? hoard?)
3. Organize my books/magazines/loose patterns. *started*



In my little corner of the world, it's been another rough week, as I mentioned. It's gotten to the point that I had to do some major adulting because I have major Responsibilities and those require me to be a functional human being that doesn't have panic attacks and cry at the drop of a hat over things that are not real, probably will never be real, or that I cannot control, fix, alter, or erase. I went to see my (regular) doctor and I'm back on mood-altering medication. I've been off any sort of mood-altering medications since before I met Husband, which is more than 8 years ago. While I acknowledge that there are deep-seeded issues, many probably stemming from childhood, I've not really found anything that truly helps. The medication keeps my mood swings in check, but it doesn't fix whatever underlying issues there are. Finding a proper therapist is on my list of things to do but I know what a battle that can be. Between waiting lists and what our insurance will/won't cover, there's also the desire to find someone I can actually work with. So, for right now, I've just got medication and even though it will probably take a couple weeks for the full effect, I've already seen a slight improvement. So, there's that.

In other random events, Husband and Little Man went camping this weekend. They left Friday afternoon and are coming back sometime today. Or, at least, that's the plan. That means Stormageddon and I have been flying solo for a couple days. It's not a bad thing. We went out and did things and we didn't have to adhere to any sort of schedule, which worked out just fine for us...not that we really have a schedule on weekends. Whatever. We were fine.

A lot of this past week has been a blur, really. Husband stayed home from work all week, having been banned from his office because he was busy throwing up on Monday. A few of his coworkers have small children in the house or wives with serious illnesses like Lupus. So, let's not spread the germs. He actually got a lot of his work done being at home, because he didn't have to deal with idle chit-chat while at his desk. Of course, it means he was home all week. Yeah, let's add to my anxiety...

The one big thing that happened this week was Little Man's doctor appointment with the ENT, which was Friday afternoon. The verdict is in: Little Man is getting tubes. This isn't a general problem. It's around a 20-minute procedure, half of which is anesthesia entrance and coming out. The actual procedure takes all of five minutes. But.....with Little Man's goofy metabolic disorder, there are certain precautions we might need to take, which may or may not include going in the night before for D10 (we won't know until we talk to his metabolic team) and there's a certain type of anesthesia he can't have (Propofol, I think). So, there's all that. But most of that is minor stuff.

Other than that, it was a pretty benign week around here, other than me being a basket case. Oh wait, I forgot....I spent a couple hours in the salon having my hair fixed. Specifically, I had highlights put in and the rest of my hair was dyed to match what was actually growing in. It's significantly lighter than it has been. If I had a good photo, I'd post it....but I don't so I shan't.

I do have some photos of other things, though :)



This photo is from last Saturday, before we left for the weekend. I hadn't gotten Stormageddon out of his crib yet and when I went to get him out, this is how I found him. Little booger was trying to climb out of his crib. He hasn't tried it since then, probably because he got stuck when he did this.

This was also from last Saturday. We went up to Santa Rosa for some time away and another couple has this little puppy. Okay, Jax isn't a puppy but he loves the boys and acts like a puppy when they're around. He loves to give kisses and play fetch with the boys. He tries to make fetch happen.

And, of course, our trip was successful. This was taken about 20 minutes into our drive home, which took almost 2.5 hours because traffic in the Bay Area sucks. He pulled his blanket up over his head, leaned his head on the door, and fell asleep...as did Stormageddon.

Once we got back home, however, we needed some provisions from Costco. I took this photo while he and I were waiting for Husband and Stormageddon to come out. He just looks so bright eyed and happy. I suppose that's what a nap will do.

On Monday or Tuesday, I received an unexpected package. Okay, it wasn't totally unexpected but I heard about it in January...it's now May. But, I got a lovely yarny unexpected package. There were many things but this is what it looked like when I opened it (well, the lamb card was in the envelope). Of course, there was a skein of yarn in there as well so if you're interested, you're going to have to look at yesterday's stash acquisition post :)

Stormageddon was not happy that I went somewhere without him. He sat on Husband's lap and cried. Husband sent me the photo. Silly boy in his little plaid golf hat. My grandfather, for whom Stormageddon is named, had a great number of these kinds of hats, mostly wool or polyester and I wish now that I hadn't gotten rid of them.

Anyway, I hope you've all been having a lovely weekend and week and month and life and such. I hope things start not being so.....crappy around here. It's not like things are crappy though.

Sorry, I need to stop or I'm going to start babbling again....have a lovely week!