Well kids, it's that time.....the end of the line. I'd like to thank you for joining me on my adventure through my 10th year of my Self-Imposed Year of Projects. I kind of really don't feel like it's been that long but the age of my oldest child definitely says otherwise.
So, let's see what's happening! And then what actually did happen!
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. Vanilla Socks: started 12 December 2021
Yes, I'm starting with my WIPs. And due to the move, I do not have updated photos. That's just how it's going to be right now.
My Wink sweater has been hanging around for almost seven years. That's kind of ridiculous, even for me. I'm almost thinking about frogging it but I really love the finished object and I want it. Maybe now that the kids are going to be at school/away from the house from 7am-4pm, I might actually work on it. Then again, monkeys might fly out of my butt. I honestly don't remember working on it at all during the past year, though I'm sure I did a little bit here and there. Then again, I might be imagining that. I think I'll hold off on making any decisions about it until after we're a bit more settled into our new surroundings. Also, it's packed so it's going to have to wait until I get it unpacked anyway.
This is the most recent photo I have...I'm past the armholes and if I remember correctly, it fit, so I carried on. I don't think I'm much beyond this. I think I stopped because I hit the "new directions" section and I wanted to make sure I had everything figured out before I carried on again.
Next up is a spinning project from a little over four years ago. I bought a couple support spindles at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool festival in 2017 and started spinning some Shetland neck wool I bought at the same event. I'm still not sold on support spindles but I like them better than just a regular drop spindle. The one I'm working with is really nice so I'll probably tough it out and spin up the singles (and ply on my regular spinning wheel). I'm pretty sure I didn't touch this project except to move it and pack it. I'll get there.
This is what the fiber looked like before I started spinning it. I didn't have a ton of it...I think I had 2 oz at most. so the plan was to spin them separately, put them onto some sort of saver bobbin, and then ply them. We'll see.
The Returning shawl is.....well, I don't know. I'm at the point where I'm supposed to start the border and I'm back and forth on contrast colors and part of me just wants to do it all in one color, which I think is going to win, honestly, but I keep putting off the decision. It's also packed at this point. Part of me just wants to frog it, honestly....it's not a bad knit but the indecision was just a whole something else.
The last time I photographed it, it looked like this:
The Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt is just something I need to sit and do. I think once we're a bit more settled into the house, I'll probably pull it out and finish it. I'll likely ply on my regular wheel instead of the EEW but I suppose I could ply on the EEW. I also need to figure out a way to keep the wheel itself from "walking" as I spin. I think I'm going to anchor it to a book of some sort. This was the fiber before I started spinning. It has a bit of this and that, hence the "crazy batt" moniker.
The Granny Square Blanket is one of the few WIPs I have "out" from moving. It came with us in the car and I worked on it while we were driving...and by "we" I mean "Husband." I have no idea how many squares I have actually made at this point but it looks like I have two huge skeins of yarn left. I think I can get about 7-8 squares out of a skein of this yarn so figure I have at least 14 squares that will come from what I have left, in addition to what I had already made...I might have enough for a decent sized blanket at the end of everything. The last time I pulled out all the squares and photographed them, I had 14 squares...I think I have closer to 21 now.
They currently live in the Irish male bag in the lower right hand corner of the picture. I remember packing the bag with the squares in a space saver bag but I honestly can't remember if that was all of them or not. Oh well. They'll turn up as I'm unpacking.
My UW Ski Hat is a slow WIP. The chart is super small so I have to decipher it before I can work on it. It's not something I can do in the car or without concentrating. I actually take time and write out the chart in abbreviated knitting so I can just read that instead. It takes up time but it makes my life so much easier. Buuuuuut, I haven't worked on it much. I do have a slight worry that it's going to come out too small...but if that's the case, I can always remake it using bigger needles and all that. It'll be fine. Of course I'm worried my floats will be too tight, too. ::sigh::
My little Purl & Loop loom is......um.......yeah. I want to like it and, honestly, I do, but I just haven't worked on it. I'm using some Knit Picks leftover sock yarn and it's perfect but I just don't work on it that often. I don't even think I have a photo of it. Oops....
Herbivore is growing and growing. It's one of the few projects that wasn't packed up for the move. So, it came along in the car and I worked on it while we were driving across the country. Unfortunately I do not have an updated photo of the project. Just know that i's growing and it's lovely and squishy and so on and so forth.
The last time I had photographed it, I had juuuuuust started the second set of directions. It's many inches wider now.
My Linen Stitch Scarf is not exciting. It's just going to be a long, looped cowl, knit entirely in linen stitch. Most people will knit across the long part when they make something in linen stitch. I did it the short way so I was able to keep moving forward more easily. It's not difficult, just a bit fiddly, but really the movement of the stitches and needles....it's all kind of just zen and I just go with it. It's quite a bit longer than this photo shows but I'm maybe only halfway through. It's currently packed. I thought I had it it out but it turns out I did, in fact, pack it.
After my scarf, I have a pair of Vanilla Socks. They're nothing fancy. I did finish up the first sock and they do fit but I have a feeling they're going to be going to Little Man when I finish the second one. They fit me okay....but they'll likely fit him better. We'll see. I didn't intend for him to get them but it looks like it's going to be that way. These, too, came along in the car for our move.
My friend threw the Sand Drift Blanket at me and said she never wanted to see it again....and I said I'd make it for her and now we're moving across the damn country. It's packed because it's a bit unwieldy with four balls of yarn going at once, even if they are only held double and you only work one color at a time...but it's still difficult in a confined space. So, it was packed up. My plan is to finish it and have it sent to my friend before next Hanukkah....but we'll see how that goes.
My last WIP is a pair of socks for me. I think. We'll see how things turn out. They might wind up being fingerless mitts instead. But, really, they're going to be socks. I started them a couple weeks ago, basically right after I finished the Sockhead (listed below). I don't even have a photo yet. Oops. Sorry. I started these specifically to work on in the car while we were traveling across the country, on our move back to Wisconsin.
And now for those FOs for the last year! I even got most of them photographed! But only most of them....not all of them.
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
7. Rose City Rollers: started 7 March 2021; finished 1 June 2021
8. Unknown Wool (Viktor): started 26 June 2021; finished 27 June 2021
9. Abstract Fibers Merino Tencel (Viktor): started 27 June 2021; finished 29 June 2021
10. Frabjous Fibers Merino Top (Viktor): started 30 June 2021; finished 2 July 2021
11. Allons-y Fiber Arts Merino (Viktor): started 4 July 2021; finished 7 July 2021
12. Rose City Rollers: started 1 June 2021; finished 12 August 2021
13. Flax for Stormageddon: started 29 April 2021; finished 31 August 2021
14. Waiting for Winter Mittens: started 11 September 2021; finished 21 September 2021
15. Waiting for Winter Mittens for Stormageddon: started 25 September 2021; finished 28 September 2021
16. Rose City Zombies: started 13 August 2021; finished 21 October 2021
17. Sockhead: started 27 September 2021; finished 10 December 2021
I wound up with seventeen FOs for the year. That's not a bad deal considering that it was kind of another strange year, what with the pandemic and moving and all that.
The first FO of 2021 didn't get photographed....well, the mini-skein did, eventually, but not the big one. My first FO was a spinning FO that I had started in 2020, probably during Tour de Fleece and I finished it in January. It was a braid of BFL from Greenwood Fiberworks that I had picked up at Lambtown in 2015. I don't know why it languished so long. It's a lovely fiber to spin. And I do like how the FO turned out...even if I didn't photograph it.
Stormageddon requested the second FO of 2021: Boo-Yah. It took me about a day to knit him from start to finish, including the button eyes and the embroidery floss mouth. He was one of the few toys Stormageddon sleeps with on a regular basis. He calls him Ghostie. It works. I used up some leftover Creatively Dyed Yarn (sock yarn) in a bright lime green. It was a delightfully quick project.
The Minecraft Socks for Little Man were started in 2020 and I finished them. I made them so they fit him so when he outgrows them (because he will), I get them back. Currently, they're just a titch too big for him so he still has a little time with them. I actually really like how these turned out. They were the right colors for something Minecraft-related but they were also highly variegated and it just worked for this project.
I finished up another spinning project next. I had some alpaca roving I had purchased at Lambtown in 2014 and I spun that up. Alpaca is hard to spin and while I wound up with usable yarn, it's not as "nice" as I was hoping for. I think that's more of a function of the spinner (me) than the fiber. Don't get me wrong, the resulting yarn is decent...but it wasn't quite what I was going for, which is perfectly fine. Usable yarn is usable yarn. I think I wound up with somewhere around 140 yds total. Enough for a contrast color.
I dyed a bunch of yarn in April. From the viewpoint of someone that does not dye yarn for a living, I dyed a bunch of yarn...I think I did like five or six sock blanks, a couple random skeins of DK or Worsted and then a sweater quantity of sock yarn. So these aren't all the pictures but it gives you an idea what I dyed. The sweater quantity is a Cabernet color, the sock blanks were all the turquoise color and the randoms were one or the other.
I think that was the only dyeing I did the entire year. Oh well. After my dyeing adventures, I finished the knitting on the El Panal Cowl. Admittedly I've not finished weaving in the ends yet (there are a lot of ends). I did bring it along in the car but weaving in ends is boring work, honestly, and I kind of avoided doing it. Soon, though...the only picture I have of it is an in-progress photo but you get the idea. The yarn was delightful and I might have to make another one.
After the cowl, I finished up a pair of Rose City Rollers. I made a few pairs this year, actually. So here are all three of them. The first pair used up the rest of the yarn I had used to make Boo-Yah and then some of the leftover bits from the El Panal Cowl. The second pair used up leftover Collinette Jitterbug. The last pair used up leftover Canon Hand Dyes for the main color and Shalimar Yarns for the toes. These socks are great for using up leftover bits of sock yarn.
Once June hit, it was Tour de Fleece and I did some actual spinning this year! I spun up some unknown brown wool, a braid from Abstract Fibers, a braid from Frabjous Fibers, and a braid from Allons-y Fibers. The last one is plied (four different skeins) but I don't have a photo. Such is my life.
After Tour de Fleece finished (and a pair of Rose City Rollers mentioned above), I finished Stormageddon's Flax Sweater. I really should start doing proper gauge swatches...or, rather, I should maybe start measuring my child before I make him a sweater. It fits him and it stretches but I wish it was bit looser on him. Oh well. He likes it and that's all that matters.
Then I made two pairs of mittens: one for my grandma and another pair for Stormageddon (using leftovers from his sweater). My grandma still ives in Wisconsin so I shipped hers to her and she was more than appreciative. I'm the only one of her grandchildren or great grandchildren that took up knitting.
After that, it was another pair of Rose City Rollers before the Sockhead that I just finished a couple weeks ago. Given that it's the end of the year, and we're in the middle of moving, it's highly unlikely that I'm going to have another FO between now and next week. So, this was my last FO of 2021.
My stats for the year: 17 finished projects, and 12 still on the needles. Not terrible...
And then there's this: things I wanted to do and didn't...oops. Maybe next year? Will I be here? Time will tell :)
OMGLSGWTFBBQ
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)
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. Age of Brass & Steam (Handspun purple/white barber pole)
11. Radiate Shawl (fingering weight - Artfibers Carezza maybe?)
Children's Items/Knitting for others
1. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
2. 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:
Other Fibery Endeavors:
Merry Christmas!! I enjoy reading your knitting and life adventures, and can't wiat to see what happens next year with your move!! See you next week, same time same place!!
ReplyDeleteWell done on what you achieved during the year despite everything else going on. I personally would frog Wink, I wouldn’t want the reminder that I hadn’t finished something over that many years. Which makes me think I really need to make a decision on a hibernating brioche project on my own list...otherwise I’ll blink and be in the same boat where years have passed.
ReplyDeleteEven in the middle of a move, you are still making progress! Thanks for sharing your year wrap up, with all your great makes!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on surviving the drive to Wisconsin. Hope you love it there. What a successful year of knitting, etc. Lots of beautiful and fun projects already on needles. Wishing you and your boys a wonderful 2022.
ReplyDeleteI think you did quite well this year. You are a busy woman and with moving and taking two youngins everywhere, you got a lot finished. I hope you are getting settled well in WI.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness what with your family and moving I don't know how you find the time for so many wonderful projects and your spinning is amazing. You are a force to be reckoned with for sure. Hope the unpacking is coming along and here's to seeing Wink finished in 2022. You deserve to wear it with pride.
ReplyDelete