ELEVENTH Self-Imposed Year of Projects - What was that about winter? (Update #10)

 Yes, yes, I know, I know...it's Tuesday. Let's get going 😎 Life got in the way....

FOs (Finished Objects)

Not yet. Someday.....probably not anytime soon. Oh well.

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 think I've found every one of my WIPs over the past few days. To be fair, I knew where most of them were but there were a few that were still packed up. I've found my Purl & Loop weaving project, not that I worked on it...but I found it. I also unwrapped my EEW Mini wheel so I found the Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt. Apparently I've filled two bobbins. Who knew?! And my support spindle was bubble wrapped so I took that out.

I think those were the only "missing" WIPs. I also pulled out the bag that has all my granny squares in it. I probably should have counted but I didn't bother. I have no idea how many I have finished 🤷

In actual progress content, I worked on a granny square and the dishcloth this past week. Nothing terribly exciting. I was doing other things, apparently. Oh well.

I picked up one of those little around-the-neck lights the other day from Amazon. My friend was over with her husband and she brought hers and we tried it out. For $16, it's a pretty good little light. I wouldn't knit in bed in the middle of the night with it on (it's pretty bright) but it will likely help with being able to knit in a certain pair of vanilla socks that are a dark gradient....

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

 

 

We had a few things that we accomplished this week:

 

The downstairs garage was painted black. Husband is going to use that space for the brewery and probably his 3D printers. His thought was that with the red epoxy floor that we'll be doing, plus the stainless steel brewing equipment, black walls would look awesome. So, we did that. I was not thrilled to be down low in a cold garage painting but that's what needed to be done. My butt didn't warm up for hours, even after a shower.

We also cleaned, primed, and re-epoxied the upstairs garage space. Unfortunately, it's coming up in a couple spots so we may have to redo it when the weather is significantly warmer so that everything cures properly. But it looks pretty good for now.

 

We also got the Mandolorian costumes properly displayed....well, sort of. Husband's looks decent. Mine looks weird because everything is made to fit me but the mannequin is 5'10" and rail thin. We're using lots of clothespins to hold things in place. 

In addition to that, I spent time on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday working on the craft room. I think all my yarn is in bins. I might have an errant skein here or there but everything was sorted out by weight, unless I had a large quantity, in which case there were smaller bins for those. So currently, I have three bins that have spinning fiber. I have three more bins of the same size that have sock yarn. Then I have a bin with handspun, one with all my Artfibers yarn (which is almost all on cones) and the yarn I have left to dye, a couple bins with anything DK and heavier (some of the DK is in the sock bins - depends on yardage), one with all the partials and leftover balls, one with project bags and stuffing, then I have smaller bins that have the multiple skeins/sweater quantities, and one that has all mini skeins. It's still a bit of a hot mess but at least things are out of the space saver bags. The next step is to get the room in order....because that's totally a hot mess, as well. Hopefully I'll get some time to work on that this week.

The weather has been kind of wonky around here lately. This past week it was getting warmer, a sure sign of spring......except not. That's actually why we wound up doing the upstairs garage floor. Most of the snow was melting off, which was perfectly fine. The boys were spending time outside in the yard, doing silly things like this:

They were both outside, no coats...and it was maybe 50ºF outside. Yes, that's Little Man's butt in the snow and I think he's eating some of the snow (ew). Stormageddon was just running around outside like a crazy person. And then on Saturday, it was in the mid-50s and then we had some nasty thunderstorms go through. That would have been all fine and well but a tornado went through just outside my hometown (which is about 45 minutes away from us) and they got dealt straight-line winds, which knocked down power lines, ripped roofs off houses, transported trampolines and grill covers and such, and knocked down trees. It wasn't pretty. 

That's bad enough, right? Then we got hit with dropping temperatures and 6" of snow between Sunday night and yesterday morning. 

The boys wound up having a snow day. We are on the edge of the Driftless Area so we have lots of hills, ridges, deep valleys, and winding roads....not good for buses in bad weather. So while most of the neighboring districts had school, we did not. 

The boys played outside in the snow (as the snow was perfect for snowmen), Husband got his drone out and made a video (he had to have Little Man help retrieve it when it crashed into a tree in the woods), and we shoveled and plowed. It was heavy wet snow. I wouldn't have been able to do it with just the shovel. It was awful. But it's great for snowmen. 

Stormageddon set up the chess board by himself. I know it's off by a quarter turn but that's the least of our worries. After that, he and I played. We wound up in a stalemate, which is fine. He was so proud of himself.

He also loved on Puppy this week. Our dog is so tolerant of small children, including babies. He just kind of lays there and takes it. I think in his almost 11 years, he's only ever bitten once and it wasn't really a bite as much as a warning nip when Little Man, who was probably about 3 at the time, tried to put him in a garbage bag. He didn't like it too much and gave Little Man a nip about it. 

But Stormageddon will just do this to him, wherever he is, and Puppy just lets him do it.

Anyway, I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend and beginning of the week :)