Y5: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #29

Happy Sunday! Happy Day Sixteen of Tour de Fleece! Let's get going, shall we?

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
22: Finn & Suffolk blend (spinning): started April 1, 2016; singles finished May 27, 2016; plied May 31, 2016
23. Gex for Little Man: started April 8, 2016; finished June 5, 2016
24. Bridal Shower Lace Cloth: started June 20, 2016; finished June 27, 2016
25. TdF 1: 25%/25%/50% purple merino/silk & white merino (~ 540 yds; ~ 8 oz; DK/lt. worsted): started during TdF last year and finished the purple singles January 29, 2016; started the white last weekend, plied them on July 4, 2016
26. TdF 2: 25%/25%/50% leftover purple merino/silk & leftover kelly green merino (~ 20 yds; unknown weight; DK/lt. worsted): leftover bits that were plied on July 4, 2016
27. TdF 3: 100% merino, 50% hot pink, 50% grey (~ 50 yds; ~ 1 oz; DK/lt. worsted): started & finished on July 5, 2016
28: TdF 4: 100% merino, 50% rose pink, 50% navy blue (~ 50 yds; ~ 1 oz; DK/lt. worsted): started & finished on July 5, 2016
29. TdF 5: 25%/25%/50% leftover purple merino/silk & leftover hot pink merino (~ 10 yds; unknown weight; DK/lt. worsted): the purple was started during TdF last year and finished January 29, 2016; the hot pink was spun on July 5, 2016; they were plied on July 5, 2016
30. TdF 6: 100% merino, 50% leftover hot pink, 50% leftover navy blue (~ 10 yds; unknown weight; DK/lt. worsted): started & finished on July 5, 2016
31. TdF 7: 100% merino, rainbow gradient (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and white) (~ 220 yds; ~ 4 oz; worsted): started July 5, 2016; finished July 6, 2016
32: TdF 8: 50/50 merino/tencel, Fat Cat Fibers in Razzmatazz (three different skeins: two skeins are three-ply, one is around 245 yds of worsted and the other is unknown yardage off the top of my head; one skein is chain plied, probably also a worsted weight, unknown yardage off the top of my head): started July 8, 2016; finished July 12, 2016

Oh look at that! I finished up another spinning project.

I mentioned it last week because I had two of the braids spun onto bobbins. I finished up the third braid and worked on plying. The biggest skein of three-ply wound up being around 245 yds, the smaller skein is probably closer to 125 yds, and then the last bit was chain-plied and was around 25 yds. I think next time I have bits left on the bobbin, I'm going to try Andean Plying. We shall see.

At any rate, here it is...not great photos, ganked from my Instagram. But, they are finished and still drying, actually. It's been warm and those were big skeins and they hang out in a bathroom that we keep (mostly) closed off.


WIPs (Works-In-Progress) - carried over year-to-year
1. Wink: started January 5, 2015
2. Caffe Macchiato Socks: started May 7, 2016
3. Gex for Niece: started June 28, 2016
4. Tour de Fleece: July 2nd-24th, 2016

First and foremostly, I have done some knitting. I've finished 6/11 wedges on the Gex Sweater. I've not been spending time knitting, however....

Tour de Fleece is still on and I'm still spinning.

In addition to finishing the Fat Cat Fibers, I spun about 5.9 oz of white merino (the rest of the ball from the purple merino/silk & white merino barber pole listed above). I pre-split it into two weighed piles and spun the singles onto separate bobbins. They are sitting, unplied. I'll get around to it. I spun the first bobbin on Wednesday and the second one on Friday.

I also spun up about 4 oz of a superwash merino/bamboo/nylon blend from Happy Hands, which is sadly gone forever as the purveyor passed away a couple years ago. I picked up the fiber not long after I had started spinning, probably at Sheep in the City in Milwaukee. I wanted to wait until I was a better spinner before I tackled it......and I said, "screw it," and decided now was the time. I spun both bobbins on Friday and they, too, are mocking me.

I have at least one empty bobbin (that isn't my plying bobbin) so I may start the next project.


In my "WTFCRAZYLADYOMGLSGBBQ" 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)

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)
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. Survive TdF and SPIN ALL THE THINGS!

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*



Moving along.....

This week didn't start out very well for me. I managed to give myself a (very mild) concussion last Sunday afternoon. We bought a new room air conditioner and we were getting the old one out to the curb and I bent down to take care of something. When I came up, I smacked my head on the bottom of our (metal) mailbox. I saw starts, I cried, and I had a rather large lump. Sunday night, I suddenly got a migraine and needed to sleep. ::sigh::

In addition to that, I also went to Sunnyvale with the intention of going to Purlescence Yarns, because they are also closing their doors. I think I have bad juju or something. This will be the fourth yarn shop to closein the Bay area in as many years. Sadly, when I got there, I found they were closed (and hadn't updated the hours on their website). Oh well. Sooooon.

Um......what else.....oh, I may or may not have gone a little crazy and picked up five skeins of yarn this week. I'll do a Stash Acquisition post soon enough but I got four skeins of MadTosh Pashmina and one skein of MadTosh MCN Worsted, all in the Molly Ringwald colorway...which is pink. Pretty in Pink Molly Ringwald, not Sixteen Candles Molly Ringwald. Or maybe it's the color of her bridesmaid dress from Sixteen Candles. I don't know.

On Thursday, I took Little Man (and Stormageddon) to the City for Little Man's ENT appointment. He needs ear tubes. We knew this awhile ago. We were going to schedule him for his surgery (in August) and the ENT that was going to do the surgery looked into his (super crazy rare) genetic metabolic disorder and decided she wasn't comfortable doing the surgery in case of an emergency as both hospitals she works out of do not have Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs). Soooo, she recommended we find a Pediatric ENT that works out of either UCSF Hospital(s) or Lucille Packard, both which have PICUs. Because his genetic metabolic specialist is at UCSF, I made the decision to go to UCSF. We're not scheduled yet but he's still getting tubes. I'm hoping we can squeeze it in before school starts but we'll see what happens.

Friday, Husband took Little Man to work with him, which meant it was just Stormageddon and I at home. We watched movies, I spun about 7 oz of fibery goodness, and that was about it. It was kin dof nice not having to listen to Little Man babble. Tell me again why I was worried he wouldn't talk...he doesn't know how to turn it off now.

Yesterday was a busy day for us. In the morning, I took the boys to a nearby park for a playdate with a bunch of the other incoming kindergarteners at Little Man's school. And last night a couple of my Mama friends (from Little Man's class) & spouses went out. We hired a sitter through UrbanSitter. So....there's that.

It was kind of a....not a boring week but I feel like we didn't do much. It was probably too warm anyway.

Seriously, this is probably the only non-spinning photo I took this week of the boys. We had a trunk picnic at Target because Stormageddon was being a crabass while we were at Target. We ate pizza from Pizza Hut (which we can get in Target around here), had milk, and that was that.

Oh, and I downloaded Pokemon Go on my iPhone. I did it mostly for Little Man but I've been playing at random times......like the time I found this guy in our living room.

Anyway, I hope you're having a lovely weekend :) Let's see if I wander back for Stash Acquisition or FO Friday or WIP Wednesday or something......

Oh, and as of Thursday, we have been all together in California for four years. WOO!