ELEVENTH Self-Imposed Year of Projects - So, it's cold here (Update #2)

 Woo Sunday! Let's get started!

FOs (Finished Objects)
 

Ha. No. Well, I mean....I guess you could kind of say I have some FOs but since they're granny squares, I don't really count them individually. 

 

 

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

I've worked on a few granny squares, meaning I've started and finished a few. These aren't all from the "post move" time. I think at least two or three were already completed in the bag. There is a bit left on the ball with the current square and then I have another ball before I'm out. Then I might actually have to figure out how to seam everything together and make an actual blanket. I should probably attempt to block first, though.

I also worked on Herbivore during the move (in the car). Not a lot but I've not updated the photo for awhile so I decided to do that when I was photographing the granny squares.

And, as promised, the sock I started. The only trouble is that I don't remember if I did 60 or 65 rounds before I decided to start the heel. I know, I can always go back and count but I just don't want to right now. But this is where I'm at: ready to start the heel flap.

 

I also picked up a couple skeins of yarn from Michaels the other day. Apparently Loops & Threads makes an acrylic/merino blend so I picked up a couple skeins last week. One is a royal blue and the other is a grey. I intend to make more mittens for the boys because, let's be honest, it's cold here and they need more than one pair of mittens, especially if their mittens get wet. 

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. Park Slope (fingering weight - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot in Shamrock)
2. Flax (worsted weight - Misty Alpaca in the Harry Potter colors)
3. Musselburgh (any weight - likely DK or worsted)*
4. 3 Color Cashmere Cowl (fingering weight, 3 colors)*
5. Gradient Band Cowl (fingering weight - Safronie Fairy Tales gradient and a solid)*
6. Fine Tune (fingering weight - uses minis so maybe a rainbow type one with the Canon Hand Dyes?)*
7. Stashbusting Helix Hats (worsted weight - bits and bobs of worsted)
8. Lakeline Tank (Aran weight - I have yarn for this somewhere...like I bought it specifically for this but I can't remember what it is)
9. Hüj Tüb (laceweight - maybe that 100% lace cashmere I've had forever?)
10. Undone (bulky - maybe the reclaimed Freeport Vest yarn?)

 

Children's Items/Knitting for others
1. Flax for Little Man (worsted weight - likely Baah Yarns Shasta in London Blue)
2. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
3. The Mandolorian (sport weight - need grey, white, and green...which I might have)*
4. Zelda Beanie (worsted weight - black or grey and yellow, which I'm sure I have)
5. Wasabi for Mr. K (worsted weight - Cascade 220 in Moss Agate if possible)
6. Bugle for Miss E (worsted weight - multicolor; htNEVELE in Reverie if possible)
7. Bonbon for Miss C (worsted weight - Cascade 220 in Vinci if possible)
8. Baby Bear for Mr. T (fingering weight - anything will work)
9. Pig for Earle & Duane (worsted weight - need pink, of course...maybe a good use for the one skein of Molly Ringwald I have?)

 

Utilitarian/Household Items
1. On-Trend Chair Socks (worsted weight bits and bobs) - I have a lot of chairs that could use these
2. Garter Chevron Blanket (KP Mighty Stitch - may need to get some more black or white)
3. Diagonal Knit Dishcloths (cotton of some sort, possibly a cotton/bamboo blend, depending on use)
4. Reusable Produce Bag (cotton or acrylic of some sort - worsted)
5. Harry Potter Blanket (worsted weight - based on several dishcloth patterns to make blocks)
6. Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth (cotton or a cotton/bamboo blend, again based on use)
7. Pop Blanket (worsted weight - a little of this and that?)
8. Holiday Countdown Stockings (worsted weight - various colors)

 

Spinning:
1. Wonderland Dyeworks BFL in Stream Bed
2. Wonderland Dyeworks BFL in Winter Night
3. Timber Ridge Farm Alpaca Roving
4. Ashland Bay Fiber 100% Merino Top in English Garden
5. Anne's Fiber Expressions Elynenium

 

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 (I don't think there's anything else, but maybe?)

 

Other Fibery Endeavors:
1. Stash Fit
2. Create a project bag inventory
3. Update library inventory (on Ravelry)
4. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry) and reorganize yarn
5. Stitch markers: make kits and individual for Etsy shop
6. Destash as necessary/needed

  

 

Let's be honest: nothing from these lists are getting done until our stuff arrives......and it's not here yet. 

Let's go back a bit because these posts have been a bit lacking in the photos due to the cross-country move. 

So, the moving truck(s) arrived on December 21st with three delightful dudes doing the moving. Now, normally things would be loaded onto a huge semi trailer, right, but because we lived in a very compacted area with narrow streets, large semis aren't really allowed on residential streets so they had to come in with smaller trucks, load those, and then go outside of the Bay Area to reload onto the semi. Then they started driving across the country.

That's all fine and well. Slowly but surely our house was emptied of the boxes and furniture that belonged to us, eventually leaving us with a mostly empty house except for the stager's stuff (don't get me started on that).

After we did some cleaning around the now mostly empty house, we hopped in the car and started on our way southward to Palm Springs. We stopped in to see friends and stayed at an Embassy Suites.

Husband found this three foot long package of Twix while at one of the gas stops along the way. He thought it was hilarious so he bought it. And then we ate most of it. i think we still have one or two packages left.

The second day of our journey, we drove to the Grand Canyon and stayed overnight in Flagstaff, Arizona (which had snow on the ground, by the way - I seriously didn't know that it could get that cold in Arizona). Stormageddon was a bit scared so he wouldn't come in for a picture but Little Man came with me.

The Grand Canyon is one of those things where you get there, you look at it, and your mind kind of has a fit about it because it's so amazing that your brain doesn't possibly think it's real. These photos do not do it justice. 

After a night in Flagstaff, we took a slight detour to Monument Valley. We didn't actually do any of the tours or anything but we did stop there.

From there, we made our way to Amarillo, Texas for an overnight. Then onward to Omaha, Nebraska. From Omaha, we drove across Iowa and arrived in Platteville, Wisconsin, where Husband went to college. We stopped in to see friends (specifically Husband's college advisor, whom Little Man is named after, and his wife). The boys played with their cats, we had a proper Wisconsin drink (Brandy Old Fashioned), and shot the shit for a bit.

Then we swung over to our "base of operation" until we got the keys for the house on January 3rd. We dropped off stuff from our car and then made our way to Husband's parents' house. We stayed overnight there and then came back, thus ending our travels. But that, of course, isn't the end of the story. 

We arrived at our friends' house for a week(ish) stay. The night of our arrival, it snowed. We put the boys to work.

I was less than pleased. I dislike snow. Actually, it's not really the snow that is the issue - it's the cold and moisture-zapping qualities of winter in the Midwest. My hands are dry, red, and cracking in places. ::sigh::

But, the boys had fun. Little Man made a snowman in their yard. They also used their new sleds from grandma & grandpa.

There's a cheese shop a couple miles from our house (Carr's) and there was a massive cheese curd in the bag. Yes, I ate it. All of it. It was awesome.

I also swung over to my hometown one day and had a doughnut. This was the sign out front. It's speaking to me. Loudly.

So, that basically brings us to last Monday, when we took possession of our house. Thankfully, the previous owner left us a few things...including two beds. So, although the moving truck with our stuff has not yet arrived, we at least have had beds to sleep in, showers to use, and clothes, in a heated house. We've been buying things we need around the house, ordering off Amazon, our new couches arrived yesterday, I went to Ikea in Oak Creek (Milwaukee) this week......oh, and the boys started school.

Their first day of school, the bus picked them up at the house....which we didn't have keys for. So we sat in the car until the bus came, then I went back to our friends' house.

Puppy spent some time hanging out on our friends' dog's bed. We wound up getting him a similar one.

But then we got into the house.....and it's huge. That's Puppy for scale. That's our living room.

You can see a wall of windows to the right of Puppy. This is what they looked like the other night: 

We had a pretty amazing sunset and the sky was a purpleypinkish and beautiful. But it was frickin' cold. Of course. From those windows, if I turn around and face the front of the house, this is what I see:

These are the stairs that go up and down. The upstairs loft area has the boys' rooms and a bathroom. In between the bedrooms, there's a spot where they will have desks, a couch, a TV, and a gaming area, basically. The main floor has the master bedroom/bathroom, dining room, kitchen, living room, and a spare bathroom. It also has access to the deck, the screened in porch, and the hot tub (which is currently empty). The downstairs is partially exposed. There are doors to go outside from that level, as well as a garage, a bar, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. One of the bedrooms is going to be Husband's office, the other is going to be a guest room....and my craft room is kind of on hold until we build the pool/theater/office addition this summer (most likely). Ultimately, the room where Husband's office is going will become my crafting space but not yet. ::sigh:: It's fine. I can still work on the storage and all that. And I can knit in other places.

We also bought a new TV and when I went to Ikea, I picked up a TV stand. The new TV is huge. The boys are for scale.

We have been busy. But there are a few things I've had to attend to. For example, I've been dreaming of my Cafe Karuba for months. There's a chain of gas stations in the Midwest called Kwik Trip and they have fabulous coffee and cappuccino and so on. I've been wanting it for months. So, on my birthday (which was Friday), I went at got one. It was the only thing to go right that day. ::sigh::

Husband had to make an emergency trip to see his parents, which meant he took my car. His car battery was dead. Ten minutes after he left, I got a phone call from Little Man's school. He presented with nausea, a headache, and a stomachache. He had also just pulled out a tooth. Regardless, he was in the office, feeling like crap. Could I come pick him up?

I had to make some phone calls, there was some car borrowing/switching, and we needed to get a PCR test for Covid. But it was done. 

Here's the thing, though...he pulled out his tooth at school. I think his blood pressure spiked, his blood sugar dropped, and he got nausea and a headache from that all at once....basically, a vasovagal response. He's not actually sick. But, I haven't gotten the PCR test result back yet. Soooo, I don't know if I can send him to school tomorrow or not. 

In other words, it's been quite eventful around here. 

I'm hoping this next week is a bit less crazy but we'll see how things turn out. I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend :)