Year Six: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Update #3

Happy Sunday! Let's get mooooooving!


Finished Objects (FOs):
Nope. Nothing yet. Sorry. Keep moving!


Works-in-Progress (WIPs):
1. Wink: started January 5, 2015
2. Oh, She IS a Bad Nut: started August 11, 2016
3. Fall in San Francisco (prototype 3): started October 4, 2016
4. Frene Creek Farm Corriedale (spinning): started October 12, 2016
5. Smooth Operator Socks: started October 13, 2016
6. Stormageddon's Vest: started October 17, 2016
7. Hermione's Everyday Socks (v2): started November 14, 2016
8. Trusty (v2): started December 22, 2016
9. Morvarch Aardvark: started January 1, 2017
10. Messed Up Moss: started January 4, 2017
11. Pussy Hat: started January 10, 2017

Perhaps it's because it's a new year but I seem to have come down with a case of Startitis. Well, not exactly. But there are a few projects that are new since the beginning of the year, and one from this past week. So, we should probably talk about what I've been working on. That's important, right? Okay, maybe not but it's important to me.

So, from the bottom......The Pussy Hat. I try not to get too political on the blog but once in awhile, a few things come out. In case you've been living under a rock or you're not from the US, the voters in this country went and did something incredibly stupid: we elected an absolute idiot to become our next president (I'm still trying to work out how - he keeps calling it a landslide victory even though he lost the popular vote by over 3 million and the Electoral College didn't exactly landslide him either). As a result, there are going to be women's marches all over the country on Friday, January 20th (Inauguration Day) , the biggest being in Washington DC but they will be everywhere, big, small, doesn't matter. The themed item to wear has been dubbed The Pussy Hat (via the Pussy Hat Project), which looks like a hat with ears when you're finished. I had intended to make a bunch of these hats. I was going to go buy yarn (because the color of choice is pink and I have no pink yarn in my stash that is suitable), knit all the things.......yeah, things got away from me. However, a friend of mine from Little Man's school sent me a text and asked if I'd make her one, she'd buy yarn, she'd pay me.......yeah, you can see where this is going but I swear she's paying me fairly (in my mind). And, as it turns out, I had the perfect skein of yarn hiding in my destash. So, I pulled the yarn, found suitable needles, and decided that none of the patterns were quite right and I'm making it up as I go along.

It'll be done soon enough. Probably by Tuesday, when we head back to school.

In addition to that, I got a little work in on the Morvarch shawl......with the boys running about. I only got through a few rounds but it's still progress.

I've got wee little cable beginnings. I'm still working through the first chart and it's difficult to do with the boys running about but, you know, a bit here and there and it'll get done eventually.


17 UFOs in 2017
1-8: WIP list UFOs (ignoring the fact that there are more WIPs than what are listed here)
9. Design: Susan's Hat
10. Design: Little Man's Baby Blanket
11. Design: Paradiddle Socks (aka Little Drummer Girl)
12. Design: Pacific Waves Hat
13. Design: Fall in San Francisco Hat
14. Stash Inventory (photos, in Rav database)
15. Dystopian Novel
16. Doctor Who blanket (1)
17. Doctor Who blanket (2)

I did some work on my stash inventory this week. Okay, it was for the destash but it's still technically part of my stash until it vacates the premises. I have three bins and a few that didn't quite fit into the bins. Some of them were already listed in the destash, some needed to be moved from my regular stash, and some weren't even entered anywhere, and on top of that, a bunch also needed photos. I got through one bin, discovered a sweater quantity of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 that I couldn't remember putting in said destash, pulled that out, pulled out a few that were sold or otherwise traded, and it helped. On Friday, I took care of the other two bins, which included finding some fiber that I decided I wasn't ready to part with and it was, therefore, removed from the destash. The best part is that when I finished, everything I was destashing fit into those three bins. No extra bags here and there.

And obviously I'm working on the WIPs, which is also part of the 17 in 17 :)



And in my "OMGLSGWTFBBQ" lists...

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)

These are the only ones that are currently set up. I have plans to make a few more but we'll see how things go. With all the WIPs and such I have going, this may not be a good idea at this point. Or maybe I'll pull things from the lists below and put them into bags. I don't know.


Stranded Knitting
1. University of Wisconsin Ski Hat (kit)
2. University of Wisconsin Christmas Stocking (kit)
3. University of Wisconsin Button Beanie (kit)
4. Xanadu Snowflake Cowl
5. Unknown Christmas Stocking for Little Man (see also: Designs)
6. Unknown Christmas Stocking for Stormageddon (see also: Designs)
7. Unknown Christmas Stocking for Husband (see also: Designs)


Children's Items:
1. Stuffed toy for Miss C (SIL's foster child)
2. Stuffed toy for Mr. K (SIL's foster child)
3. Stuffed toy for Miss E (SIL's adopted daughter)
4. Stuffed toy for TAZ (brother's daughter)
5. Undetermined hat for Little Man
6. Undetermined hat for Stormageddon
7. Mittens for Little Man
8. Mittens for Stormageddon


Items for ME (selfish knitting FTW!):
1. Park Slope (fingering, specifically Mountain Colors Crazy Foot)
2. Worsted weight house socks (worsted, of course - maybe something like Lumberjack)
3. Classic Silk Mayfaire Camisole (Miss Babs something or other)
4. Evangeline (worsted; solid or semi-solid)
5. Lichen (Aran or Sport/DK; solid or semi-solid)
6. Moyen Age (fingering; one of my Vice Yarns?)
7. Ginny's Cardigan (DK; solid or semi-solid)
8. Drip Drip Drop (sock; solid or semi-solid)
9. Celtic Myths (worsted; solid)
10. Jag in Garter Stitch (DK; 2 colors)
11. Cobh (fingering; 2 colors)\
12. Offhand Lace (bulky; solid or semi-solid)
13. Whitman (DK; any color)
14. Flax (worsted; any color - Misti Alpaca Harry Potter-esque one?)


Christmas/Charity Bin:
1. 198 Yds of Heaven (worsted; solid)
2. Comfort Food (Aran; solid)
3. Tombreck (worsted; solid or semi-solid)
4. Premie Spiral Hat (DK; any color)
5. Pumpkins & a Pattern (any weight, any color - gauge doesn't matter)


Designs:
1. Susan's Hat *started* - need new prototype & write pattern
2. Little Man's Baby Blanket *started* - write pattern
3. Paradiddle Socks - need prototype & write pattern
4. Pacific Waves Hat *started* - need another prototype & write pattern
5. Fall in San Francisco *started* - need another prototype & write pattern
6. Stormageddon's Baby Blanket - need prototype & write pattern
7. Cabled pullover (grey look-alike sweater) - need sketch, grading, swatch, prototype, & write pattern
8. Christmas stocking for Little Man - need charts, prototype, & write pattern (maybe)
9. Christmas stocking for Stormageddon - need charts, prototype, & write pattern (maybe)
10. Christmas stocking for Husband - need charts, prototype, & write pattern (maybe)


Spinning:
1. Finish up the Frene Creek Farm Corriedale (see also: WIPs)
2. Miss Babs BFL
3. Sandy's Palette Merino/Silk (1)
4. Sandy's Palette Merino/Silk (2)
5. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt
6. Wash & start processing Alpaca fleece from Lambtown
7. Wash & start processing Merino fleece from Lambtown


Other:
1. Stash Inventory
2. Stitch markers
3. Make sure my vintage patterns are in Ravelry (Workbasket magazines, leaflets, etc.)



Around here, it's been a rainy week...and I don't mean a little rain. We had some major storms come through, dumping lots of rain on ground that wasn't ready to absorb it and, as a result, there were flash floods in the cities around here, there was some major flooding up in the North Bay, trees were falling over onto highways and houses, and there were mudslides. The good news? More than 40% of California is out of the 5-year drought, including where we live. And the part of the state that is still under severe drought, it's been reduced with this last storm.

We wound up pushing our deck chairs up against the wall, taking the umbrella out of the table and turning the table upside down. We had an incident with the pool ladder base (that sits in the pool). We had attached the cover to the pool and ladder with clamps...but not enough clamps because when the wind came in, the cover turned into a sail and yanked the ladder sideways. It's been fixed but that was not a fun moment.

Aside from the weather, Little Man went back to school this week. I don't know if I could have handled him being out of school for much longer. The boys were practically at each other's throats and I was out of ideas. The weather didn't help because we couldn't go to a bunch of the places we would have gone. But, he went back to school.

Stormageddon and I have been going to the gym, we've been having lazy afternoons after we get Little Man, and that's about all that can be said.

Oh, we had some excitement on Thursday afternoon. Little Man was having a hard time. He was angry because I wouldn't just bring one of his friends home with us so he was busy being angry, stomping around on our walk home, and having a little tantrum. I was going to take the boys to the indoor gym place but I couldn't if he was going to be angry about everything. So, we got home from school, I was going to get Stormageddon squared away, and what do I see come waltzing out from under a chair like he owned the damn place?

Yep. I caught the little mouse. In a cup! He was very cute, as far as mice go. Puppy didn't even notice him and Stormageddon was being a booger and I didn't want the mouse to bolt before I could attempt to catch it. I don't know how I managed to catch it but when I approached it with the cup, it skirted backwards a little but not too far. I managed to coax it into the cup using my foot. He twirled around in the cup a bit and then I yelled for Little Man to come see him. His attitude and anger were gone in a second. It was exactly what we needed. I could have killed it......but I didn't. I took him outside and put him on the curb and he didn't move. So, I nudged at him with my foot to get him moving. Eventually, he stopped in the middle of the road and stayed there. Three hours later, he was still there. I suspect he had either gotten into the poison we left out (likely) or he was otherwise sick. There's a slight possibility that he was tame (former pet mouse) but that's just a slight possibility. He didn't skitter off when I approached him and, really, the only time he moved was when I nudged him (and he could jump!), exception being when he was first discovered in the house. With that said, the little mouse was sadly run over by a car at some point (and no, it wasn't mine). Little Man was a little sad but, you know, I don't really want wild, unvaccinated mice running loose in my house.

The best part about the incident (aside from getting the damn thing out of my house) is that Little Man's attitude changed immensely and we were able to go to the indoor gym place without further incident.

Friday was an adventure in online food ordering. We decided that we didn't want to cook and Subway sounded good to us. Soooo, Husband went online and filled out the online ordering thing and paid for it. I went to pick it up.......but there were some issues with the order. For example, they no longer make the little pizza thingies. They also didn't have XYZ bread so we had to get W bread. Just little things. So, what should have been ready to go when I arrived took an additional 30 minutes because we had to putz around with a few things. Oh well. I love and hate technology sometimes. This was one of the times that I hated it. I would have been better off going and ordering on the spot. Oh well. We got food, and that's important.

By the time yesterday rolled around, i wasn't feeling all that great. I was cold and exhausted. That was about it, really. It didn't help that Stormageddon came to our door screaming at midnight and again at 5:30am yesterday. And at 5:30am, I couldn't get him back to sleep so I was up really early, for me. Luckily, the day got better. Little Man had a playdate here at the house with a classmate, I talked to my great-aunt, I also talked to my best friend....so that was all lovely.

So, it was one of those weeks. I hope yours was better and more entertaining than mine.

Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of the boys this week. Too many other things happening, I suppose. Or not.

It's hard to tell but this is a full rainbow. Stormageddon and I saw it on our way home from dropping Little Man off at school earlier this week.

During that same walk home, I found what I like to think of as a robust California rose...because roses aren't supposed to grow in the winter (obviously they can, with certain amenities like warmth and sunlight...).

And this boy is teething (molars) so he's having random car naps here and there. His finger had just come out of his mouth from chewing on it. Poor kiddo. I had to wake him up just after I took this and he was not happy for awhile.


Anyway, I hope you're having a lovely weekend!