YOP #30 or Insert Clever Title Here

This past week has been ridiculous in it's temperatures. You would think with extra time off from work (it was so cold that the University I work for canceled all classes, so my late night rehearsal wasn't happening) that I would have time to update my blog in a timely manner. Instead, I was trying hard to keep warm. It did mean that I had extra time to work on things. There was progress this past week.

The dog is coming along nicely. All of the parts are made and the sides are sewn together. I need to finish sewing it up and then I can stuff it. I had to buy stuffing as my friend didn't manage to but on the scale of things, that's a little thing. Besides, I was able to buy 20 ounces of stuffing for the same price as a smaller bag. I should have the little guy done by next week. I had hoped to have it done by now but I needed to take a break from it. So many ends to sew in! On top of that, the method to sew things together is frustrating for me. It does make a seamless connection but it's fussy on something so small. Alas, at the moment, I can't seem to remember what it's called but it is on the list of things I don't really like.

My sister's hat is starting it decrease. She was going to leave Montana and move to Texas so I thought she'd get a little more use out of the hat as it's lighter weight than something to wear up north. Then some of her clients (she's a vet) made her an offer she couldn't refuse (not in a creepy way) to get her to stay. So while she may not be able to wear it in sub-zero weather, at least she'll look girly when she can wear it in the fall. My plan is to finish it up before the end of the week as it will mean I will have finished four projects this month! If I manage to finish the dog as well, then it will be a grand total of five projects! When I mentioned my finish rate to Husband last night and asked him to imagine what it would be like if I finished 4 projects every month, he quipped that it would mean I would stay on top of my yarn buying habit.

I did finish the scarfowl, which was another test pattern. The yarn is lovely. I purchased it at StevenBe's back in May. On Saturday, there was an open house, so I of course brought it with me to show off. (Note: I went into the shop and managed to not buy a single thing; the world may be ending.) Now I'll have to go back and show off the finished object. I made mine smaller than the original one so that it will sit up close to my face. I took it to a crafting night on Thursday and there was much ooohing and ahhing over it. Husband asked if I could wear it like a crown (this is how he wears his cowl at times) in hopes that it will replace my troll hat, though that is unlikely.

Monday I started an old Cookie A pattern. It's the second one from last February. I apparently couldn't wait until this coming Monday to start a Cookie A sock. I've been wanting to work on a Cookie A sock for a few weeks now. I'm using the yarn we got in the June shipment so the socks are Blood Orange Newtons. The cuff is almost finished and I'm loving the yarn. It's the second skein of club yarn I've used now. I keep finding other yarn that I want to use on the patterns.

I love how my Finished Objects list is growing. It feels really nice to see it there every week and I love moving an item from the lower list up to the other one. It feels like progress.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier
• Ladders to the Sky Socks (Test Pattern)
• Waves of Love 
• Colormatic  
• Here Fishy Fishy I
• Gingy
• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Japan Scarf II 
• Scarfowl

Works in Progress

• Fruity Tulip Socks (currently in a waiting to be frogged state)
• Police Box
• The Angels Have the Police Box 
• Here Fishy Fishy II
• Gillian
• Blood Orange Newtons

A year later: Looking back at my knitting

It's now been just over a year since I feel I could truly call myself a knitter instead of someone who would occasionally (and quite randomly) knit something. The mental marker for me is Chicago TARDIS. Last year, I was working on my first pair of socks, which won me a Ponds button for being able to talk about something that isn't cool as though it is cool. I believe Husband was trying to hide his face in embarrassment at that point. I've done a lot since then and feel it would be good to recount it as a way to remind myself that I have actually done a lot.

First Socks

This was the first pair. I had bought this yarn years ago with the purpose of  making arm warmers. That was a thing for me for a while. With how stupid cold it's gotten again, it may become a thing again. October 2012 found me wanting to knit something. Apparently I was bored. I didn't want to make arm warmers though. I pulled out this yarn and decided since it was sock yarn, maybe I should make socks with it. A year later, I see little things that I could have done differently but I'm still happy with how these turned out. They were the gateway into becoming a "serious" knitter. This was one of my last projects made on cheaper yarn. The yarn had been bought at a Jo-Ann Fabrics. When I was first starting, I couldn't tell the difference in how things knit up. I certainly can tell the difference now. And I know it won't be the last project. Some things call for cheaper yarn, like knitted toys.

Purple and Blue Socks

I started these socks at the end of the year with the high ambition of being able to finish them before the year was out. The ball of yarn, which came with a sock knitting kit, wasn't enough to make the pair of socks, so I purchased more yarn (from Jo-Ann Fabrics again; I didn't know any better at the time!) to finish them off. With a bum ankle from some wall running, I wasn't going to be doing much for New Year's Eve. The plan was to stay up all night to finish these socks. It didn't happen. I have learned after these socks, to be much pickier about my yarn choices. Thankfully, my oldest bonus kids bought me some yarn for Christmas and Husband gave me a gift card to a local yarn shop. He also gave me a book on Derby inspired knitting.

Hat Knitting

In January, I went to a local yarn shop to join in with some Minnesota Rollergirl skaters who were making hats for charity. I brought Husband along to get him out of the house. He sat over in a corner and worked on a drawing. I worked on making my first ever hat. I had received a bunch of smaller double pointed needles and interchangeable circular needles for Christmas, so I was very excited to try them out. The skaters had patterns and yarn, so I picked some out and started the hat. This was an amazingly frustrating process. I was trying to figure out gauge and it was a mess. The first hat was enormous! I made another hat with the same pattern, which ended up being toddler sized (no photo of it though I did gift it to friends with a young boy who was going through a phase of loving hats).




I used up more of this gray yarn from Husband (left over from another project) to make another hat that was actually decent sized. An adult could actually wear it. It was also my first time contacting a designer because I didn't understand the pattern. I still managed to drop a few stitches and screw it up a little but I was overall happy with how it turned out.


Derby Leg Socks

Once again casting on with Jo-Ann Fabrics yarn, I knit these leg socks using the magic loop method. It was a fun and quick project and I really enjoyed making them. I loved having all my derby friends ask me about them. This does remind me that I need to get back onto my skates soon....












Cookie A Socks

 Knowing that I had enjoyed my sock knitting experience, my mom signed me up for the Cookie A Sock Club, which she had already joined. I had no idea what I was getting myself into so I was excited. I remember an early post about it on facebook and having friends who have knit for much longer than I have responding in awe that I was going to tackle her patterns. It's probably good that I didn't know what I was getting into. I have learned a lot from these projects though.

Things I've specifically learned from the Sock Club

• How to pick up dropped stitches in a pattern after a needle breaks and you loose a bunch of stitches.
• How to read charts. How to follow a chart when there's also a decrease in the chart.
• How to let a project sit after messing it up instead of continuing to work on it and making it worse.
• How to dye yarn (I wanted to have my Tiberius socks in the "right" color for Kirk).
• How to do a short-row heel.
• How to knit two socks at a time using magic loop.
• How to become addicted to really, really nice yarn.
• How to make all kinds of cookies.

I gifted one pair of socks to my mom. She's made me tons of socks but she's never received socks before, so that was special for her. I entered one pair of socks into the state fair and scored a 94/100. Of the 12 sock patterns we've received this year (though let's be fair, I only just got the last 2 this past Monday), I've completed 3 pairs. I've been distracted with other projects lately. The patterns from August didn't really jump out at me and I wasn't up to the complexity of either of the October patterns. And I had a space suit to make.

Gifts

 I appear to have made quite a few gifts this year. I made, in less than a week, an alpaca scarf to send with my bonus son to Japan as a gift to his host family. It turns out that the father of the family was a ski instructor in Europe... Good thing I (really Husband did it) convinced my bonus son to take the scarf with him...

 My youngest bonus daughter likes things that she can put other things into. Boxes, bags, nut shells.... So back in April, I bought a kit to make a beaded bag for her. This was my first time incorporating beading into a project. The best part was that the kit included the needle to get the beads onto the yarn. They really did think of everything. I then placed an old heart-shaped silver box into it to give to her as well. She does like her containers. She was so happy and surprised by it that she was actually silent when she opened her eyes.

 Last January-ish, I posted a facebook pay-it-forward gift thing. The requirement was that the first 5 commenters would receive something handmade by me during the yarn. I'd tried to do something like this once before and pretty much failed. To be fair, so did the person I had commented on to receive something from. The thing is that if you comment on someone else's status, you then post this on your own wall. This year, I've managed to gift 2 of the 5, which is better than in the past. One was to my mom (her socks) and the other was to a friend who I don't see very often. It was the first time I did a test knit and that I made socks for someone that I didn't have there with me to have them try them on. She loved them when she got them and they fit perfectly! 

My husband asked me to make a pair of socks for a friend of his as he knew she would appreciate them. I pointed out that she was more of a shawl/scarf person and I should make her one of those. We don't get to see her very often these days but earlier in the yarn when she was visiting, I showed off my yarn collection to her. It wasn't very sneaky of me but I managed to find one that she really loved the color and the texture of without giving away what I was doing. She just received the shawl last week and she loves it. She really loves unique things. I told her that this scarf has several unique things to it.

• Every purl stitch and yarnover was done incorrectly but it was off the needles so I wasn't going to redo it, especially since Husband told me I was done. This means it's different than the others out there.
• The yarn is a limited edition color, club member only color from Indigodragonfly.
• The yarn is a merino, seacel blend which I haven't found very often.

Husband asked me to make him a pair of socks to walk on the wire. I made them out of yarn from a yarn exchange and it's an acrylic and wool blend but knowing how hard he's going to be on them, I though that this was the best option. As much grief as he's given me on my sock obsession, he was amazed with how well these socks fit and with how much it improved his wire jumping. He's had classmates notice the socks and ask him about them. I'm sure he beams when he tells them that his wife made them for him.

And his recently finished cowl. I was going to surprise him with it but he saw the supplies in the car one day when I went to bring him a lunch at work. I love that he tells me that I don't have to knit him anything. I know that I don't have to knit him anything. I enjoy making things for him. He takes care of them, appreciates them and tells everyone I made them for him.



The Tally
In the last 12-ish months, I've made:

• 2 pairs of vanilla socks
• 3 hats
• 3 pairs of Cookie A socks
• 1 pair of wire walking socks
• 1 pair of test knit socks
• 1 pair of leg socks
• 1 beaded bag
• 1 scarf
• 1 shawl
• 1 cowl

for a grand total of  15 finished objects. Not too shabby for only getting into this a little over a year ago!

YOP #21-23 or Goodness, is it already that time of year?

It seems I've gone several more weeks without blogging. This whole blogging once a week thing is still as hard as I remember it to be back in college. As it was back in college, this time of year always seems to be busy for me. In college, it was mostly filled with exams and year end concerts. Now, it's mostly filled with year end concerts. Even with all the insanity of the past few weeks, I have managed to finish a project. I didn't get two projects finished by the end of November as I had hoped to but apparently I needed sleep. And to make a spacesuit.

I made everything but the climbing harness, boots and gloves. He picked out the fabric and convinced me to let it be entered in the Masquerade. We won our class!

I will be writing more about the spacesuit in it's own post. I need to take some close-up photos to finish the documentation phase. In case, you know, I want to make another one. And, like any artist I know, I not only can point out all the things that are wrong with but I also have ideas on how to improve it. I am very happy with it though. But first, more knitting things in the post.

I'm still working on the Angels Have the Policebox Socks. I keep redesigning what they are going to look like in my head. While I was at Chicago TARDIS, I pulled them out a lot not only to work on (though not as often as I would have liked) but to show them off to people. There were those who were also knitters, so I was working on introducing them to the awesomeness of Indigodragonfly. The rest were simply Whovians who I knew would understand the humor of the name. These were originally going to be socks for me but with how stretchy they are feeling, I decided that Husband should have them even though he thinks sock knitting is a bit silly. He works from home often and it will be nice for him to have nice, warm socks.Now I just need to finish the second sock. The cuff is mostly done. The horizontal cabling looks really cool but that whole having to seam it together before making the rest of the sock makes me a little angsty.

No real progress on Fuzzy or the TARDIS shawl.

I did finish my first colorwork project ever.

 

It was meant as a Christmas present but Husband as already been given it. It's been stupid, gross cold out for over a week now (we seem to be lucky if we break 10 degrees F right now) and would have had it sooner if I'd not put off weaving in ends and connecting the tube. And there was the ever present spacesuit that needed to be worked on. Of course, Husband likes to wear it as a hat/crown accessory instead of around his neck but he loves it so I'm happy. And I seem to have impressed at least one friend with the fact that I've made it. She's not fond of colorwork but she makes amazing things.

It also looks good on the dog.

 

Finally, I've cast on a hat for my younger sister. She's a vet in the northeastern part of Montana, where it gets even stupider cold than here. She needs/wants a new hat that is girly, so I'm making her one. It's OMG Pony Pink color (in Husband's words) and I'm using a Cookie A sock pattern that someone else had already turned into a hat because I've not been knitting enough Cookie A this half of the year. I've called the hat Here Fishy Fishy because at some point, my sister posted that as a facebook status update and now it comes up every time she calls me. It's quite a stretchy pattern but I will admit that I'm worried that it's going to be too small and I won't know until it's nearly finished.

It looks like it will stretch to about 24", which is larger than my head (I think; I did measure my head but that was last week before a head cold decided my sinuses would be a fun place to vacation). I'm hoping for the best. There was the gauge of the original pattern, which I believe I'm getting, but none on the blog post with the modification. Gauge still makes my head feel funny if I think about it too hard.

I'm hoping that this project will kick me back into knitting Cookie  socks. Of the 12 designs we've received this year, I've made a total of 3 of them. I know it's not a race to complete them and that I shouldn't feel bad if I don't because even the ones I have finished had led me to doing new things which is exciting. Husband also thinks I should finish all my WIPs by the end of the year. We'll see if that happens. Between concerts and being stupid sick (I did a little knitting today on my day off but I've barely touched it because I don't feel like knitting; I may be dying), I'll be happy to finish any project at this point.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier
• Ladders to the Sky Socks (Test Pattern)
• Waves of Love 
• Colormatic  

Works in Progress

• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Fruity Tulip Socks
• Police Box
• The Angels Have the Police Box 
• Here Fishy Fishy

YOP #19-20 or I Really Just Can't Be Bothered

It's Saturday. I could almost be writing the post for next week's update. It's taken me long enough to get to the last two weeks to write anything. Not that I haven't tried at least a few times. I've definitely opened this blog and then stared at it. That counts as attempting, right? It's been a productive, and trying, couple of weeks.

I'm nearly done with Husband's cowl. It needs to have ends woven in and then the two ends joined together. While I'm sure it's easier than my brain is currently thinking it to be, it's a little more complicated than something I can just walk and knit at the same time. Of course, it's also become stupid cold, so it's harder to walk and knit anyway. I'm very happy with how the colorwork has turned out on this and work had enough shows that I was able to spend a lot of quality time working on this project. (There will eventually be pictures).

Progress has been made on the TARDIS shawl though it won't be done in time for Chicago TARDIS, which is this next week. Hopefully it'll be done next year, though there is still a chance it'll be off the needles (though not blocked) by the time the convention starts. We're driving there in our electric car which is going to require quite a bit of charge time, so I intend to do a lot of knitting. Of course, I'll also have some hand sewing left to do. I'm working on a costume for Husband and this will be done in time for the convention.

The latest pair of test socks are also progressing nicely, though not fast enough for my tastes. Nothing seems to these days. I've finished the section the designer wanted tested though I'm planning on finishing the socks. I found an error on the large heel, which I'm actually kind of proud of as it means I'm actually getting pretty good at this whole sock knitting thing.

Now if only I can figure out how to knit faster. I want/need a new hat and mittens. I've got two items to make for my sister. I also want to start and finish another pair of Cookie A socks before the end of the year. I need to somehow become independently wealthy so that Husband and I can both do all the projects we want without having to do that whole work thing. Not that I dislike my work but it would be easier to become wealthy and get rid of work than to stop sleeping.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier
• Ladders to the Sky Socks (Test Pattern)
• Waves of Love 

Works in Progress

• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Fruity Tulip Socks
• Police Box
• The Angels Have the Police Box 
• Colormatic

YOP #18 or Maybe I Should Make Lists

It's a new month and my current projects are moving (mostly) along nicely. I'm nearly done with the leg of the sock I'm testing. I like the design though there are things that I would modify with the colorwork. Maybe after I make this pair, I can redesign what is now shaping up in my head. Is that pattern plagiarism though? Enough would change that I wouldn't think so but I wouldn't have the idea if I hadn't worked on these socks.

Instead of only have the 2 blue striped down the back, I'd do either all or every other one of the twisted stitches as blue and then inversing it on the other sock. I'm not sure how it would work with the stranding though. I'd be concerned that it would make too dense of a sock fabric.


The cowl for Husband is on the second section. I wish it was as simple as the first section as I could walk with that and not have to check a pattern every other row. The design is a mosaic colorwork, so the first row sets up the stitches and the next row repeats the same pattern and then things change on the third row. It's remembering the odd numbered rows that I haven't quite mastered yet.

No progress on Fuzzy this past week. I need to fix that.

The TARDIS shawl was doing well...until I dropped a stitch. I can't seem to find stitches easily in lace work (can anyone??), so I frogged it and started over. I'm not at about the same point I was a week ago...

There are things that I really need to cast on. Okay, really only two things. The hat and cowl for my sister.

I need to have the TARDIS shawl and the test socks completed by the end of the month. I'd like Fuzzy to be finished soon as well. It seems as though I've been working on it for the longest time, though not lately. While my sister's birthday is in November, she'll be receiving her hat and cowl in December as we'll all be together for Christmas.

On top of that is my competitive nature saying I must make ALL THE SOCKS from this year's Cookie A sock club before early December. I know that this isn't going to happen. I like sleeping. A lot. But if they were all made, I would have a lot of entries in the year-end prize drawing which is for a membership for the 2014 club. Mom already plans on giving me that as my Christmas gift this year but it would be cool to win it. Just not realistic.

With that, it's off to do dishes so Husband can rest his poor beat-up hands. It will also mean I get away from the bowl of evil pistachios...

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier
• Ladders to the Sky Socks (Test Pattern)
• Waves of Love 

Works in Progress

• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Fruity Tulip Socks
• Police Box
• The Angels Have the Police Box 
• Colormatic

YOP #17 or The Wonders and Magic of Colorwork

This week I got to play with colors! It's been fun. But first....

I have officially finished Waves of Love. It's been off the needles for a while but it's now been blocked and the ends woven in. I'm very, very happy with how it's turned out especially since I did so many things wrong on it. What did I do wrong? Every single purl stitch on here is wrong as are the yarn overs. It still looks amazing. This is a gift, so I hope the recipient likes it.

In last week's post, I wrote about the Police Box. I kept dropping stitches. Saturday night, I've gotten it to the same place I was the previous Sunday. While I'm glad that I now am doing yarn overs correctly, so that this will look amazing, I'm kind of annoyed with how fussy lace work is turning out to be. I am loving the color and the yarn.

 

On the other Doctor Who-inspired project, I've made good progress. The cuff is done and I've started the leg. This is my first colorwork project. I'm learning (sort of) how to juggle different yarns without it becoming a huge mess. My yarn is only a small mess most of the time. I'm spending a lot of time untwisting the yarn because I don't know a better way. Hopefully I'll figure something out by the time I get to the next sock. I'm also using this as part of the Sock Knitter's Anonymous October Sockdown.  The sockdown is a personal challenge to learn new techniques or knit a pattern by a new designer. Earlier this year Cookie A was one of the featured designers so I knit a pair of socks for that one. I made it just under the wire and it felt good to do it. I'm excited for this month's. I have until the end of November to finish for the sockdown and to be finished for the designer who's pattern I'm test knitting.

The other colorwork project is for Husband. I had thought about keeping it a secret from him but I'm really bad at keeping secrets when I'm excited about something. Knit Purl Hunter has hosted a Mystery Knit Along this month. I started it last week, which is still plenty of time to finish it. I've already got the first section done and will be starting the second section either today or tomorrow. The best part is that when I pulled out the yarn to show Husband, he remarked on how those were the perfect colors for him. He said this before he knew that I was using it to make something for him. He wasn't too sure that he could get away with wearing a cowl but I think he'll really like it once it's done. It's also inspired me to make a cowl for myself and my sister.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier
• Ladders to the Sky Socks (Test Pattern)
• Waves of Love 

Works in Progress

• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Fruity Tulip Socks
• Police Box
• The Angels Have the Police Box 
• Colormatic