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

Saturday, July 23, 2022

ELEVENTH Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Traveling means a combined update! (Update #28-30)

Oh. My. Life. 

Things definitely got in the way around here and the update I was going to write last weekend just didn't happen and we've been so busy that I just decided it would be best to combine everything into one post. So, this is three weeks worth of life in one post. Or something. 


FOs (Finished Objects)
1.
Baby Blanket: started 22 April 2022; finished 4 June 2022
2.
Herbivore: started 15 November 2018; finished June 2022


No. Nothing was finished over the past three weeks. Live with it.


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. Linen Stitch Scarf: started 2 June 2020
9. Vanilla Socks: started 9 August 2020
10. Sand Drift Blanket: started 17 January 2021
11. Vanilla Socks: started 12 December 2021
12. Dishcloth: started 25 February 2022
13. Mixed BFL (Annie): started 18 March 2022
14. Lakeline Tank: started 18 March 2022
15. Baby Blanket: started 4 June 2022

I brought two projects along with me on our cruise to Alaska: the Lakeline Tank and the Vanilla Socks (#11). Admittedly, I did not knit all that much on our trip. I knit on the plane from Chicago to San Francisco, I knit a couple times on the ship, and a little bit on the plane back to Chicago.

But, let's take a look at my Lakeline Tank........

 

I'm a couple inches in, which is great.....except you can see why dyelots are important. ::sigh:: I'm not ripping it out. I just don't care enough, I guess. I'm further than this (this photo was taken while on the plane going to San Francisco). 

I also did a few rounds on the socks. Nothing terribly exciting. 

Since we've been home, my focus has been on the baby blanket, which I really need to work on and finish sooooooon. I'm kind of sucking at that, to be honest. It'll get done and it'll be fine. I think. 


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.
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. Hüj Tüb (laceweight - maybe that 100% lace cashmere I've had forever?)
9. 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 el
se 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

 

So. We are back from our trip to Alaska. We did a 10 day cruise, leaving from and returning to San Francisco with stops in Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Tracy Arm Fjord, and Victoria (Canada). We didn't actually get to see the glaciers in Tracy Arm Fjord because the weather was less than cooperative. It was really windy and the pilot boat was unable to navigate us through. But, it was fine. 

Our trip started with a bit of time in the Bay Area. We spent some time with friends in our old neighborhood. The hotel we stayed at was about 3 miles from their house so we walked over there. It wasn't terribly hot. The only problem was when we encountered some wild parsnip. That weed is no joke. I brushed up on it just a little and wound up getting a nasty burn on both legs. I'll save your eyes from seeing the picture. 

We also went out to dinner at the House of Prime Rib because of course we did. 

And then we got to the cruise terminal in San Francisco and got on our ship for the next 10 days. I mean, it was a day later but whatever. Everything is meshing together.






 

When we were in Juneau, Husband's parents took the boys on a shore excursion to go whale watching. Little Man took some video and they did see some humpback whales. While they were gone, Husband and I did a couples massage on the ship, which was delightful but I was still sore a few days later. 

But, we did leave the ship. I have a California mom friend that is originally from Juneau and her family has a Filipino food cart. So, we stopped for a visit.
 






After Juneau, we made our way to Skagway, which Husband and I have been to before (but the boys had not). We did a train ride up the White Pass & Yukon Route, which took up a couple of hours. It was a beautiful ride, about 20 miles up the mountain. The basic history is that during the Klondike Gold Rush (c. 1896-1899), a path was formed from Skagway, up the mountains, to the Canadian boarder and over into the Yukon territory for the gold rush. They used to walk/climb it until the railroad was built. Only a little bit of the original path still exists. But the railroad is just as it was then, with repairs made as needed.





We also stopped at a couple places in Skagway. Husband and I took a photo by this totem pole a few years ago and managed to get the boys' photo there as well.



Also, kids wear salmon, apparently.....



We didn't get off the ship again until we got back to San Francisco. Icy Strait Point is basically a cruise port and not much else. I mean, there were a couple shore excursions but there's not really a town or anything there. It was originally a salmon canning factory. 

And then there was Tracy Arm Fjord and the glaciers......which we didn't get to see because the weather was uncooperative. Our pilot boat said the winds were really bad and the water was too rough to navigate through there. So, no glaciers. And it was windy. Little Man and my mother-in-law both had motion sickness and were throwing up. That was a rough 24ish hours. Thankfully Dramamine is a thing that exists and they could both take it.

Here are some more photos of the boys. We had a couple "fancy" nights so the boys wore their little suits. So stinkin' cute.





Little Man also had a budding little ship romance. I shouldn't call it that. There was a girl of his age (11), traveling with her dad, and I knew they'd get along....and they did. But instead of one girl, Little Man wound up with a little harem that would pass by and say, "Hey Arthur!" and he'd get all embarrassed and hide. But if it was just the two of them, he was okay.



Also, ice cream was always near......Stormageddon would sometimes have two or three after lunch. And he'd sit by the pool and eat them.




We also had some group selfies (usually Husband was taking the photo because he was the tallest and had the longest arms):



We had some shenanigans on our way out of the cruise terminal. We ordered a couple Ubers to get from San Francisco back to the hotel my in-laws were staying at. The first one we ordered for me and Little Man decided he didn't want to deal with luggage. I mean, you're picking us up at a cruise terminal.....do you really think we're not going to have luggage? C'mon. That was ridiculous. The second guy was fantastic. 

We got back to the hotel, made sure my in-laws were covered, and we made our way to the airport for our trip home. Our flight left at 4:40pm (San Francisco time) and we landed in Chicago around 11:15pm (Chicago time). The flight was like 4.5 hours but the time change was also in there. And then we had to bust our backsides to get to the bus pickup location so we could get home as it was the last bus before the next morning. I really didn't want to stay in Chicago if we could avoid it. Luckily, we caught the bus and arrived back in Madison around 2:15am. ::sigh:: Then we had a 45 minute drive home but it was also foggy so our 45 minutes turned into an hour. And then we did some unpacking. And finally went to bed around 4am.

And because why not, I got sick when we got home. Luckily, it was not Covid (I tested after 3 days of symptoms, which were already abating). It was just my body freaking out about all the changes. I basically had a cold, which could have been worse. 

When we got home, we had so many things to do: Husband needed to pick up the tractor and mow the yard, I needed to go grocery shopping, unpacking and laundry needed to happen, the bees and garden needed attention, and we were exhausted and I was sick. So the past week has kind of been a blur of activity and dealing with minor illness. 

But we're back on schedule, hopefully. 

I hope you've had a lovely couple of weeks and I'm glad to be back :)

3 comments:

  1. That cruise sounds fantastic. Little man looks so tall next to the totem. He sure has a way with the young ladies. Look out Mom! I would be with Stormagedon and sit by the pool eating ice cream all day. After all, it is a vacation.

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  2. What a wonderful trip - it sounds and looks amazing!

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  3. Thanks for sharing your trip. We went on an Alaskan cruise twenty years ago and your stories brought back many memories for me.

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