ELVENTH Self-Imposed Year of Projects - The end (of winter) is nigh! (Update #9)

Woo, it's Sunday again! It seems as though this past week was a whirlwind, which may or may not be true. Regardless, let's get going!

FOs (Finished Objects)

Not yet. Someday...maybe soon. Probably not.

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
13. Dishcloth: started 25 February 2022

I did some (minimal) knitting this week! I worked on both Vanilla Socks, for starters. The first ones on the list (#10) are a bit more difficult to work on because I'm limited by when I can work on them. They're a dark gradient yarn and, let's be honest, my eyes are not getting any younger so working on them at night is difficult. It's dark, single-ply yarn...and it fuzzes quite a bit. I mean, I can knit on them at night but I can't count rows or stitches. It's all done by feel. But that's fine. I'm much further along than I remembered. I thought I was still working on the foot of the first sock but it turns out that I actually finished that sock and I'm working on the second one. ::giggle:: Who knew?! 

I also pulled out the other Vanilla Sock, which I can basically work on whenever and wherever. I finished up the heel gusset decreases so I'm just working down the foot for now. Nice, mindless knitting. 

Also, because I was looking for something else, I started a dishcloth. I didn't bother with a project page as it's just a basic corner-to-corner dishcloth out of some Bernat Softee Cotton I found. I'm not doing the YOs, though; I'm just doing kfb for the increase and I'll just do a k2tog on the way back. I went needle hunting and came up with some US6 24" circulars, which will work just fine. The yarn is classified as a DK weight so the smaller needles will help anyway. That's just some more mindless knitting. 

But, that's it for actual knitting. And no, I didn't spin on the new wheel or Viktor this week...so my new wheel still hasn't told me their name yet, either. It's fine. We'll get there. 

I did, however, start sorting out my yarn into bins. Initially, I picked up four longer and deeper bins for my spinning fiber stash and then I picked up eight bins that are 56 gallons each (basic big bins). I also picked up six smaller bins that I planned to sort sweater quantities into. That was all fine and well...until I ran out of bins and found that I was maybe halfway through sorting out the stash. 

Now, to be fair, I'm not logging anything and I'm not sorting into any fancy things. I literally have bins with sock yarn and bins with anything that isn't sock yarn. I have the sweater/multiple quantities and kits pulled out for the smaller bins (which I also ran out of). Turns out I have an obscene amount of sock yarn. Of the eight bins, one is for all my cone yarns (which are almost all predominantly from Artfibers) and handspun, two are worsted/Aran/bulky (and the very few skeins of laceweight), and the remaining five were sock yarn. The big bins are sorted similarly. One is for large amounts (like the three pounds of merino that I bought ages ago, as well as the two fleeces I bought). Two are for everything else. And the remaining bin has the overflow of all the sweater/multiple quantities that don't fit into the other six smaller bins. 

I went to Walmart yesterday and attempted to pick up some more bins.....but while they had some of what I was looking for, the bins were damaged. Damn near all of them. I'm not even kidding a little. So, I improvised. I picked up two of the longer bins like I have for my fiber and I think I'm going to do sock yarns in those and free up the other bins. Or something like that. I also managed to snag a couple of the 56 gallon bins (two of the eight on the shelf were not damaged) so I'll get the worsted/Aran/bulky into those. And I picked up some completely different smaller bins and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to work that yet but I'm sure I'll figure something out. ::sigh:: 

It's been a process and the craft room looks like a damn bomb went off. 

Again.

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

 

Outside of that, we've had a pretty....well, we had some things going on this week, mostly due to the weather. On Tuesday, we had a nasty storm roll through. The issue wasn't the snow, because honestly, we didn't really have any. No, our issue was the rain, sleet, ice, and hail we were dealing with. The boys' school district preemptively cancelled for Tuesday. I know. It doesn't look all that bad. But that's glare ice underneath. Puppy was slip sliding around and I couldn't blame him.

In addition to that, the boys had a scheduled day off on Friday, which was probably good because we got maybe around 3" of snow overnight. It made our drives to and from the dump very....entertaining. That's a good word for it. We took care of all the cardboard and random moving garbage we have accumulated and disposed of it. 

Yesterday, Little Man and I picked up the rest of our stuff for our beehives, so come April, we should be ready to go. 

But that's about it for the week, honestly.

Other than Stormageddon putting himself into a box. ::sigh:: 

I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend!