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

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Year the TENTH: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Now with the cooling powers of central air! (Update #21)

Happy Sunday! Admittedly, I'm running a little behind. Normally I try to write posts the night before and that just didn't happen last night. Oh well. 

Onward!


FOs (Finished Objects)
1.
Greenwood Fiberworks Dark BFL (Viktor): started 28 June 2020; finished 17 January 2021
2. Boo-Yah: started 26 January 2021; finished 27 January 2021
3.
Minecraft Socks: started 12 August 2020; finished 6 March 2021
4.
Alpaca (Viktor): started 17 January 2021; finished 17 March 2021
5. Dyeing Project: started 9 April, 2021; finished 9 April 2021
6.
El Panal Cowl: started 5 April 2021; finished 29 April 2021

I feel like if maybe I keep mentioning that I've not woven in the ends yet on the cowl that they might magically get woven in by the fae overnight. Or not. ::sigh:: I just need to do it, don't I?

 


WIPs (Works-in-Progress) *these are carried over year after year, as 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.
Vanilla Socks: started 9 August 2020
11. Sand Drift Blanket: started 17 January 2021
12. Rose City Rollers: started 7 March 2021
13. Flax for Stormageddon: started 29 April 2021

Two projects saw action this week and only the two. I've done the first stripe on Stormageddon's Flax sweater, which means I'm just working down the body in stockinette for....I think it's 14" from the underarm split. I should check that, not that I'm anywhere near close to that length yet but just so I have it in my head. I'm also planning to add a brown stripe next. And maybe another grey one. We'll see how the length plays out. This photo was right after I had finished the grey stripe. I've only worked a few more rounds since then.


 

I also worked on the Rose City Rollers. As predicted, I ran out of the lime green yarn when I was about halfway through the heel decreases so I pulled out the leftover bits from the El Panal Cowl and used those. The greens are not a perfect match but they're going to be in shoes so I don't really care all that much. These socks are definitely not going to match, which is fine. I used up the leftover bright green from the aforementioned cowl and I started with the reddish brown. I'm maybe halfway down the foot, which is fine. 

But those were the only things that saw any action this week. 

 

 

OMGLSGWTFBBQ


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. Paradiddle Socks: started 19 October 2017 - write pattern (iteration: here)

 

Design Ideas:
1. Christmas Stocking for Husband

2. Christmas Stocking for Little Man

3. Christmas Stocking for Stormageddon

4. Baby Blanket
5. Stomping Grounds Collection

 

Items for ME (Selfish Knitting FTW!):
1.
Rose's Wrist Warmers (DK weight - using Aran instead; hand-dyed Malabrigo Twist?)
2.
Perianth (fingering weight - Knitcircus Trampoline in The Whole Enchilada)
3. Stranger Things Hat (worsted - Malabrigo Rios in Archangel)
4.
Autopilot (worsted weight - Sincere Sheep Cormo Worsted or htNEVELE Worsted in Reveire)
5. Fine Tune (fingering weight - uses minis so maybe a rainbow type one with the Canon Hand Dyes?)*

6. Flax (worsted weight - Misty Alpaca in the Harry Potter colors)

7. Park Slope (fingering weight - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot in Shamrock)
8. Undone (bulky - maybe the reclaimed yarn from the Freeport Vest?)
9. Socks (fingering weight - Bob knows I have enough so I should use it - maybe with the CSM)
10
Sockhead (fingering weight - I have tons...pick something!)
11. Age of Brass & Steam (Handspun purple/white barber pole)
12. Radiate Shawl (fingering weight - Artfibers Carezza maybe?)


Children's Items
1. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
2. Mittens for Stormageddon (worsted weight probably)
3. Maybe a Flax for Little Man...maybe...

 

Utilitarian/Household Items
1. Garter Chevron Blanket (KP Mighty Stitch - may need to get some more black or white)
2. Diagonal Knit Dishcloths (cotton of some sort)
3. Reusable Produce Bag (cotton or acrylic of some sort - worsted)
4. Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth (cotton or maybe bamboo, depending on the use)


Spinning:


Dyeing:
1. Sock Blanks (I think I have 5 left)
2. Random worsted/sport skeins (I have maybe 2-3 left)
3. Anything else I find along the way


Other Fibery Endeavors:
1. Create project bag inventory
2. Update library inventory (on Ravelry) *in progress*
3. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry) *needs to be redone*
4. Stitch markers: kits and individual
5. Destash as necessary (it's always necessary)

 

California this week.......we had a friend of Husband's visiting us this week. He lives in Los Angeles and works on the CBS/Paramount lot. Every year, they do this thing where they furlough everyone for like three months. For last year's furlough, he was going to take a drive around the country and visit family and friends. Buuuuutttttttt.....he wound up having brain surgery in December and then the pandemic happened....so his grand tour didn't happen. But this year, it's happening. However, he's also having to occasionally work. Weird. Regardless, he was here for most of this past week. He left yesterday morning and started heading for his brother's house (with a "layover" in between).  

We ate local cuisine while he was here...and by that, I mean we did takeout gyros and Chinese from places here in town, ate Mexican/Cuban from a grill in a liquor store in San Francisco (Take That!, which is on the corner of Mission and.....something.....Anthony Bourdain loved that place), and our roommate made Jerk Chicken the other night. So, you know, that all happened. We also went up to Golden Gate Park for the Sky Star Wheel

I don't do heights. That thing is like 150' up in the air at it's tallest point...which is about 15 stories. We ate dinner next to the fountains outside the Cal Academy of Science, which was nice (though finding a garbage can was damn near impossible). I took a photo of Husband and the boys by the fountains. Compared to Buckingham Fountain in Chicago, this is tiny. But the boys were happy. We did see someone climbing in one of them to find spare change. Brrrrrr!

 
 

Like I mentioned, this thing is huge and I had no desire to set foot on it. Stormageddon was excited and Little Man was a bit apprehensive but he wanted to go on it, as well. Husband bought the tickets online so we just had to show them when we got there. It wasn't busy, though.

 
 
 
 
Have I mentioned that I don't like heights? There was no way I was setting foot on that thing. Except I did. I went up with them.
 
 


And yes, I was scared. If we were moving, it wasn't so bad but when we stopped almost at the very top for what felt like an eternity (to let people out on the other end), I was not a happy camper. I was basically looking at the floor until we got moving again.




Overall, it scared the holy hell out of me but it could have been worse. It could have been the Guardians of the Galaxy ride at California Adventure....I don't know that I'm going to ever forgive Husband for that. 



 
 
We also played a game of Catan this week. Stormageddon wasn't happy to be "left out" but it's for four players and he didn't want to play with anyone - he wanted to be his own...except he has no clue how to play so Husband let him play the electronic version on the iPad, which helped. I think Husband won that game. 
 
 


I spent a good amount of time outside, trying to enjoy the sunshine. It wasn't terribly hot, which was helpful.....but what was also helpful was the central air we had installed on Friday. We have been relying on room air conditioners and window units for years and while it helps when it gets really hot here, it's not enough. The problem with getting central air was, of course, the price. Some places were wanting us to replace our 8 year old furnace, which works perfectly fine, and do both, to the tune of $25-$30k (yes, that's $25,000-$30,000). Other places were okay with us not replacing the furnace but they still wanted $15-$20k. As it is, we spent more than we wanted but we didn't replace the furnace and we got national pricing, as we went through Home Depot. Sooooo, we have air conditioning. And we've been using it, not that it's been really hot, but when you're outside working on things, you don't want to come in and be warm inside. 

Oh! And and ANNNNNNNNNNNNNND! Remember how I said that we have been fighting with the DMV and our lien holder for over a year? Remember how I said we got our local senator's office involved? Remember how I sent that paperwork in last week Friday? Guess what arrived in the mail on Wednesday? 

My license plates and registration. Not even kidding. I might still be in shock.

I think that's about all that's been going on around here this past week. I hope you've all had a lovely week and weekend!

 

 

 

4 comments:

  1. Have recently learned to play Catan with my son and his girlfriend. Even got him the Seafarer extension for Christmas. We have had fun playing through all the various board set-ups.

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  2. Glad your squeaky wheel got the grease and you got your plates!

    And AC: you're summer is going to be AMAZING. AND your cooling costs will likely go down because window units are not particularly known for energy efficiency.

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  3. What fun you've been having. I would be fine w/that ride; we rode something similar in Seattle a few summers ago. Now if each ppl section was open and exposed to the world, yeah, I would probably be a bit nervous.

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  4. Yay for the license!!! and yay for you being so brave. Well done.

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