Year NINE: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - School has begun! (Update #34)

Hello and happiest of Sundays! I'm hanging out at home this Sunday afternoon, not really wanting to leave the house. It's hot and the nearby wildfires have created a lot of smoke. Now, I don't normally mind campfire smell but this has been going on all week and I'm kind of tired of it. Plus, it's making me cough a lot, which sucks. 

Anyway, let's get moving!



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

Nope. Nothing new to see here, which is perfectly fine. 



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


I didn't start anything new this week, which is probably a good thing. Unfortunately, I also didn't spend a lot of time doing much crafting this week either. I think I put a few rounds of ribbing onto the Minecraft Socks and that was about it. 

I wish I could just say it was because school started this week and we were so busy, which wouldn't be a lie, but it's not the entire picture either. I've also been dealing with an elbow injury. Husband came out to a flat tire on Monday night. Okay, fine. We have an air compressor and the attachments to do tires. So, I checked all the tires and found them all to be low anyway. I pulled out the air compressor, filled the three tires that were low and checked on the flat. I found the culprit: a screw was lodged into the tire. ::sigh:: We tried a to see if it could fill and hold long enough to drive anywhere (nope), we tried the green tire sludge to see if that would help (nope), and then our neighbors across the street gave us a tire patching kit. That seemed to (mostly) hold, though it took a lot of fighting to get it in place. It's a week later and it's lost about 10 psi so yes, he does need to probably get it looked at but it's not a total lost cause. 

Anyway, the point is that I exerted a lot of pressure holding the air compressor in place to fill the tires, after having spent time painting the house over last weekend. I didn't think it was that big of a deal but apparently my body disagreed. Tuesday morning, my elbow was sore. I didn't think much about it but it got worse throughout the day and by the time I went to bed, I couldn't move my arm around without a lot of unexpected pain. I couldn't have it laying on the bed, either stretched out or relaxed, I couldn't use my arm to help move into a better position, etc. It was feeling marginally better on Wednesday morning but as the day progressed, it got worse. It's actually still a little sore in one spot but it's significantly better. Ice, ibuprofen, and several days rest....but I'm grumpy because I couldn't knit. 

So, that's my story. Hopefully this week will turn out better for knitting. 

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

Now, most of you that are avid readers of this blog know that we live in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, transplanted from southern Wisconsin. If you're in the US, and maybe other parts of the world, you know that California is on fire. Again. It's a yearly thing but currently there are over 500 separate fires raging in the state of California alone. 

The nearest wildfires to us are 40-60 miles away, which isn't terribly far but there are also mountains to contend with. And, in the case of the fires in the North Bay Area, a large body of water. 

The bottom line is that we are currently quite safe where we are, other than terrible air quality. We have friends on the other side of the bay that are about 2 miles outside of a mandatory evacuation zone. We're due to get more heat lightning and wind shifts over the next day or two, so that could change things. 

Let's just say that while we've got some amazing sunsets, we've also got massive wildfires in the area. 

A bit closer to home, however, school started, all virtually. We picked up materials from the school on Monday, got logged into everything, and classes started on Tuesday. So far, Little Man is keeping up with his scheduled meetings and Stormageddon is doing his work willingly (and going to his meetings). I have him next to me because he's in kindergarten and needs a bit more guidance. 

The district gave all the kindergarteners a workbook that is for about six weeks or so (basically until the October break). There are all sorts of things in there including writing, scissor work, science activities, drawing, etc. Stormageddon let me take a photo of him cutting paper (which was also sent to his OT). 

Little Man, however, won't let me take any photos of him. He's finally getting to that age where he doesn't want me to take photos of him. ::sigh:: Growing boy!

Stormageddon, however, still lets me take photos (and he'll pose!). He's been very into picking me flowers lately. So, of course I put my dandelions in water in the kitchen (they were thrown out today, as they were starting to dry out and make a mess on the counter). I actually like dandelions so I'm not just humoring him and he knows it.

This wasn't the only type of flower to make it into our house this week. Husband and I have been doing work to the house (out of necessity). Over the last two years, we've painted the entire house, fixed areas of dry rot, tried replacing cracks, caulking, and so on. We finally finished the last of it today (except now we're going to repaint the area we started with because it's begging for another few layers of paint). Anyway, one of the last things we needed to do was clean out the gutters, which meant we needed to somehow trim some branches on our HUGE magnolia tree. Husband bought one of those 10' branch cutter things with the saw and the saw was a piece of crap but the branch cutting portion worked pretty well. We managed to get most of the branches out of the way that needed removal. Out of the pile, there was just one magnolia flower, which I promptly rescued and brought inside because it smells amazing!

It's currently hanging out on the counter, along with an aloe plant and a jade plant (a second aloe plant is on Little Man's desk). 

The only other thing happening around here is Stormageddon's getup to go outside this morning, which both Husband and I found hilarious. We did convince him to take his sweatshirt off. He seems to think that if it's cloudy, it's also cold, and that's definitely not the case. It's been really warm here lately. The "clouds" are just ash and smoke, unfortunately. 

He was so cute. He got all dressed in his long pants and sweatshirt and then said, "Oh, I need my mask!" because he knew there was a smoke smell outside. He's hardly been out of the house since March so while he's worn a mask, it's been maybe a handful of times. But it was just so funny to hear him say that he needed to get his mask. I had to remind him to bring it back inside. I found his other one left outside and it was filthy (it's since been washed/dried). 



So, that's what's been going on around here. I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend! Maybe I'll have photos of actual knitting next week. Or not. Whatever works!