Year NINE: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Happy Blogiversary to me! (Update #33)

Happy Monday! Yes, I kind of waited a day on purpose because today is my Blogiversary! On this date in 2009, I started this blog (keeping in mind that I've had a blog in some way, shape, or form, since about 1994, way back when it was on another platform). So, happy day on the blog!

And now, let's get on with our regularly scheduled update!



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
4. Campfire Socks: started 17 October 2018; frogged 9 April 2020
5. Sockhead: started 8 January 2020; finished 25 May 2020
6. Baby Yoda: started 14 March 2020; finished 13 June 2020
7. Abracadabra Socks: started 7 August 2018; finished 18 June 2020
8. Multi-Colored Merino Top (Viktor): started 16 January 2019; finished 30 June 2020
9. Oread Hat (test knit): started 2 July 2020; finished 11 July 2020
10. Prototype Something Something Raindrops: started 11 April 2019; finished 18 July 2020
11. Rose City Rollers: started 18 June 2020; finished 4 August 2020

Nothing new to report. I washed my Rose City Rollers in the washer and threw them in the dryer. They don't appear to have shrunk, which is good. But, they're not ready for their closeup, Mr. DeVille. 



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. Purl & Loop Weaving Project: started 28 August 2018
8. Herbivore: started 15 November 2018
9. Linen Stitch Scarf: started 2 June 2020
10. Greenwood Fiberworks Dark BFL (Viktor): started 28 June 2020
11. Vanilla Socks: started 9 August 2020
12. Minecraft Socks: started 12 August 2020

Clearly I have no self-control sometimes. 

Last week I mentioned that I had pulled yarn for several projects. Well, I spent some time winding some of that yarn this past week....and then I started knitting with some of it. 

Oops. 

To be fair, I always need a pair of socks going because I tend to use them for mindless/travel knitting. After finishing the Rose City Rollers, I didn't have any socks to work on. So, I remedied that. I've had a ball of Zauberball banging around in my stash for quite awhile. It has loooooooonnnnnnng gradient/color repeats so my socks are very unlikely to match, which is fine. It's also a single-spun, which maybe isn't ideal with socks but people swear that it wears like iron. Kind of like Noro, I suppose, though I hate the scratchiness of Noro. 

The second pair of socks I started are intended for Little Man (and when he outgrows them, as he will, they will become mine...pending that he doesn't destroy them). For those, I'm using a skein of madelinetosh Sock that I picked up with Little Man in mind, actually. He's excited about his future socks. He actually asked me yesterday if they were finished, though he knows I just started them. :eyeroll: That boy!

Aside from those two projects, I also wound the skein of Malabrigo Rios and two skeins of sock yarn for cowls, not that I've started them...but the yarn is wound and they're ready to go. 

I don't think I did much actual knitting other than that. 

OMFGLSGWTFBBQ Lists

Design WIPs:
1. Messed Up Moss: started March 2009 - write pattern as PDF (iterations: first, second)
2. Susan's Hat: started 31 August 2010 - need new prototypes & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third, mini, fifth, sixth)
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: first, second, third)
6. Fall in San Francisco: started 18 September 2016 - need new prototype & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
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: first, second)
9. 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) - I may change this to a different sweater using the same yarn
2. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
3. Mittens for Stormageddon (worsted weight probably)
4. 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/chewcloths (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. Skeins of sock yarn

3. 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

This past week was our last week of summer. The boys started school today. We didn't do much, actually. The latter half of the week was so hot we didn't want to leave the house, much less attempt to actually do anything. 

One of the things that did happen, that is worth noting, is Husband printed me a bobbin for Viktor. I have to check to see if the shaft fits and, pending it does, I'll need to glue the pieces together. I'm a little excited. I haven't taken photos of it, yet. I'm going to see if it works first. 

Speaking of the 3D printer....we had to rewind one of the bobbins of filament. It was......less than pleasant. But, it worked. It was originally wound too tightly and it was pulling and snapping. I did most of the unwinding and rewinding. My arms were sore for a few days. This is what my rewinding setup looked like: 

We wound it onto a fiber cable drum we had and then I rewound it onto the bobbin it came on. A little uneven but it worked. 

With Husband working from home for a good long while, he went to his office and cleared out his desk and brought it all home. He's been saying he's been wanting to "start it over" again for awhile. These were the pictures that were on his desk. They're now in our bedroom. 

One of the stranger things to happen this past week was the random thunderstorm system that moved through the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday night. Lightning and thunder and pouring rain...the whole works. And just after we finished painting the side and front of our house. We had some dry rot issues so we had fixed them but we needed to paint. So we spent this week getting things ready to paint, we painted on Saturday, and then Sunday night...thunderstorm! It actually started some fires in the area from lightning strikes. 

Sunday morning, Stormageddon decided he wanted to go outside. He didn't actually go but he was dressed for the weather.....I guess. Also, we had some carnage in our backyard. A branch broke off and wound up in our yard. Whatever. 

The boys tried to celebrate this week by playing Zelda. Little Man has been making shields and swords and the whole thing all summer long. So, they've been doing that and loving it. I'm not sure how much time they'll have now that school has started but we'll see how things go.

The only major things left to do before today were getting Little Man's room clean and getting a suitable space for both Stormageddon and I to work. That involved buying some plants. 

I know. I'm turning into one of those weirdos. Whatever, it's fine. I picked up two aloe plants and a jade plant at Costco the other day. 

One made it's way to Little Man's desk. He chose which one. The nice thing about succulents in general is they don't require a lot of water. So, it was watered the day we bought it and now it won't need water for a few more weeks. 

Little Man's room was.....well, quite frankly, it was a pigsty. We threw out four 13-gal bags of garbage (so not the big 26-gal black bags, the white ones that are like half the size). And we didn't go through every single thing. But we did 95% of it. It is so much better. And I'm really hoping we can keep it this way. 

Thankfully, he was happy with the result. And if he wasn't, I don't really care because it was bad in there. The problem is that he's creative so he winds up with bits of tape and paper and cardboard and it takes up room and it's bulky....but we took care of it.

This, of course, brought us to today. The first day of school. This morning, the boys and I went to the school to pick up materials, then we came home to go through said materials and both boys had some work to do and some meetings to attend and all was well. 

Little Man is heading into the 4th grade and Stormageddon started Kindergarten. When did my babies get so big?!

Because we're not going back to in-person classes, everyone was required to wear masks and practice proper social distancing while gathering materials today. It also meant that things were rather bare at school. So, we took it upon ourselves to make signs for the school. I say the royal "we" as we didn't have time to make our sign yesterday. 

And would you look at this?! I got Stormageddon to do his work without much complaining. He did request a break about halfway through his work but he did so well. He was practicing his letters and doing some coloring and working on his pencil grip. 

And now, I think I've bored you all to tears so I'm going to call it and go to bed! I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend!