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Mama, wife, knitter, blogger, spinner, wannabe something or other. That's enough, right?

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Year NINE: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Stitches West 2020 is in the books! (Update #8)

Happy Sunday! Stitches West 2020 is officially in the books....well, it's still going on right now (in the form of load-out) but I'm not there so I'm done for this year. 

Let's get going!



FOs (Finished Objects):
1. Ewetopia Stripey Socks: started 15 November 2018; finished 29 January 2020
2. Tiny Turtle: started 7 November 2019; finished 30 January 2020
3. Mirkwood: started 9 February 2020; finished 17 February 2020

I finished up the Mirkwood hat this week. It fits Stormageddon perfectly so while I'm not happy that it doesn't fit an adult (as it was intended for a gift), I'm okay because I have someone it will fit. It says it should fit an adult right in the description in Ravelry....but there's no way that will happen. ::sigh:: I know how to adjust it to fit an adult but I don't want to brain if I don't have to. I think I'm going to have to do an FO Friday on these three projects, specifically this last one, because I have opinions about that one. 

Moving on...



WIPs (Works-in-Progress) (These are carried over year to year if needed):
1. Wink: started 5 January 2015
2. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
3. Returning: started 14 January 2018
4. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini): started 13 April 2018
5. Granny Square Blanket: started 28 April 2018
6. UW Ski Hat: started 11 July 2018
7. Abracadabra Socks: started 7 August 2018
8. Purl & Loop Weaving Project: started 28 August 2018
9. Campfire Socks: started 17 October 2018
10. Herbivore: started 15 November 2018
11. Multi-Colored Merino Top (Viktor): started 16 January 2019
12. Prototype Something Something Raindrops: started 11 April 2019
13. Sockhead: started 8 January 2020

My Returning Shawl is still on time out. I've not been assed enough to tink back that row yet and I'm still mad at it. So, it's sitting in a corner to think about what it's done. 

I pulled out the UW Ski Hat a few times this week. Because the chart is so so so tiny, I've been writing it out in code and working from that. The knitting is fairly quick but writing out the chart is slow-going. So, I'm bogged down by the chart. I think what I should probably do is write out all the chart and then just knit. I might finish it this century. 

My Abracadabra Socks are....well, they're going. I spent a good chunk of time yesterday working on the cuff and I'm still not finished. I almost feel like I'm in that state of backwards progress even though I know I'm working on it. I probably have seven rounds of the ribbing left. Maybe. 

I attempted to work on my Campfire Socks on Friday night...but I didn't have the pattern on me and the Wayback only works on my laptop so I can't get it from my phone. I was actually wanting to work on them. Maybe later today I'll pull them out. 

And then we come to this:





I've knit a few Sockheads. I've used anywhere from 100-140 sts, depending on who I'm making it for. I'm pretty sure these are right in the middle with 120 sts....but, much like my finished Mirkwood above, there's no way this is going to fit an adult. I have more of this yarn and I can always try again but these too-small hats are mucking up my holiday knitting for this year. ::sigh:: 




OMFGLSGWTFBBQ Lists


Design WIPs:

1. Messed Up Moss: started March 2009 - write pattern as PDF (iterations: firstsecond)
2. Susan's Hat: started 31 August 2010 - need new prototypes & write the pattern (iterations: firstsecondthirdminififthsixth)
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket: started July 2010 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
4. Chunky Scarf: started 6 October 2012 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
5. Pacific Waves Hat: started 9 March 2016 - need new prototype & write the pattern (iterations: firstsecondthird)
6. Fall in San Francisco: started 18 September 2016 - need new prototype & write pattern (iterations: firstsecond)
7. Stomping Grounds Collection: started 26 February 2017 - need prototypes & write patterns 
8. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017 - need various weight yarn prototypes & write pattern (iterations: firstsecond)
9. Rastarmulke: started 20 November 2017 - write pattern (iterations: firstsecond)
10. Paradiddle Socks: started 19 October 2017 - write pattern (iteration: here)


Children's Items:

1. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - Stunning String Studio from Stitches West 2018)
2. Minecraft Socks for Little Man (fingering weight - Tosh Sock in Plaid Blanket?)
3. Baby Yoda for Babies (Loops & Threads)
4. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
5. Mittens for Stormageddon (worsted weight probably)
6. I Love Stockinette Baby Bibs (worsted - cotton, acrylic, something)



Items for ME (Selfish Knitting FTW!):

1. Autopilot (worsted weight - Sincere Sheep Cormo Worsted or htNEVELE Worsted in Reveire)
2. Rose's Wrist Warmers (DK weight - using Aran instead; hand-dyed Malabrigo Twist?)
3. Perianth (fingering weight - Knitcircus Trampoline in The Whole Enchilada)
4. Pembroke Scarf (fingering weight - Fresh From the Cauldron Schoodic Sock in Sookie)
5. Flax (worsted weight - Misty Alpaca in the Harry Potter colors)
6. Park Slope (fingering weight - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot in Shamrock)
7. Socks (fingering weight - I have tons...pick something!)
8. Washcloths (worsted weight - cotton)
9. Sockhead (fingering - I have tons...pick something!)
10. Age of Brass & Steam (Handspun purple/white barber pole)


Designs:

1. Christmas Stocking for Husband
2. Christmas Stocking for Little Man
3. Christmas Stocking for Stormageddon
4. Baby Blanket


Spinning:

1. Wonderland Dyeworks BFL
2. Mixed BFL
3. Allons-Y Fiber Arts Merino, Trilobal Nylon, Silk
4. Alpaca (from Lambtown 2014)
5. Fiberlady.com 100% Bamboo 


Dyeing:

1. Sock Blanks
2. Anything else I find along the way


Other Fibery Endeavors:

1. Create project bag inventory
2. Update library inventory (on Ravelry)
3. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry)
4. Stitch markers
5. Destash as necessary
6. Stash Fit



As noted above, Stitches West 2020 was this weekend. The PJ Party was on Friday and I was saddened to hear that it was Marly Bird's last one for awhile. She's been doing it for a decade and now that her kids are getting into high school, she's going to do some of the "mom" thing. She's helping coach track and she promised her son that she wouldn't be missing his football games. She's still going to be designing and podcasting and all that (Mama needs to make some money!) but she's taking a break from the teaching circuit for a bit. I suppose that means Lindsey needs a new co-host......wonder how I can get in on that?





This is my prize during the PJ Party. I won because I had Signature Knitting Needles on me (a lot - I had my DPNs)...and I was loud about it. I think I'm going to make a fat, squishy infinity scarf out of it. I'm being photobombed by a friend of mine, Stephanie, AKA The Beetlelady. If you're in the San Francisco Area, check her out. She's delightful. 

I went to the Marketplace yesterday, for most of the day actually, and I went again today for a couple hours. We won't talk about that just now. I think I'm going to have to have a separate post for that, maybe even with photos! I made a few stops: Plucky Knitter, Erin Lane Bags, Miss Babs, Oink Pigments, and Lady Dye Yarns. I visited plenty of other booths, as well. Originally, I wasn't going to go today but we didn't really have anything going on so I decided to go back down for a few hours. But, like I said, that's a post for another time. Maybe next week sometime. We'll see how things shake out this week.

Stormageddon got himself caught in our little soccer net earlier this week. I'm not entirely sure how it happened and Little Man claims he doesn't know. 





I basically had to untie him and unclip the strap from itself as it was wrapped around him. I'm 100% clueless how it happened. 





Last Sunday, Husband and I went up to his (former) senior vice president's house for a birthday party. They live up in the Los Altos Hills because SVPs in Silicon Valley make mucho dinero. I didn't know deer actually existed up there! Okay, I did, but it was still a sight to see. There were five or six total, just across the street, ambling around like they owned the place. 





The goat I made for said SVP lives on his desk at home (for now). I expect it will move to his new office eventually. I was tickled to see him sitting there, lording it over the desk. 










I have goofy children, that much is known. We had a pretty normal week, for once. Swimming lessons, I had to work, Husband had to work....and then Friday came along and Little Man had been waiting for this particular Friday for the last two weeks or so. 





You cannot tell from this photo but we are in the parking lot at Roblox. For one of the school's Count Me In Parties, there was a tour at Roblox. One of my mom friends works there and she set up the tour, we paid a certain amount of money to the school to go, and Bob's your uncle. 







There aren't a lot of places to take photos inside but it was still interesting to see. The kids were able to ask a couple of people some questions (one of the guys works with developers in research & development - basically, he gets paid to play Roblox all day, break it, and then discuss with the developers what went wrong...and the developers are people all over the world and are "normal" people). Little Man seemed to really like that idea. The tour ended with some free time to play so the kids had fun doing that, of course. 

And that brings us back around to Stitches West 2020. Next year is the last year that it's going to be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. After next year, it's moving to Sacramento, which I'm not crazy about. It's just a little half-hour drive for me right now. Driving out to Sacramento is like a 3 hour drive and I'm not looking forward to that. So, we'll see what happens. For now, it is what it is. 

I hope you've all had a lovely week and weekend. Hopefully I'll be back with some FO Friday action and a Stitches West update. Until then.....

3 comments:

  1. I am still so amazed at how much knitting you get done what with your active family. I am trying not to buy any yarn this year, but your description of all the booths did make me salivate a little! Weird about the hat not fitting an adult head, but I admit I have had that happen a few times too and I don't think my head is over-size!

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  2. So many of my hats end up being too small or too big, I feel like Goldilocks in search of the perfect fit pattern. Sounds like you had a fun and busy week. I’ll tune in later this week to read about your FO thoughts. Have a good week,

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  3. What fun you had at Stitches West!

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