YOP #2.24-26 or Surviving the Holidays

This picture isn't what it seems. I have often posted a picture that looked exactly like this through out this half of the year. This one is quite different. It's the second glove! To be technical, it's the third glove as the second glove is the 1st glove of the Husband's pair and the first glove was suppose to be the 1st glove of his pair but has turned into the 1st glove of my pair which will eventually get finished. Eventually. The reason that this is so exciting isn't because it means I only have five (or 11 if you count my gloves) fingers left, but because it means that the first glove is finished!


Here is the right glove in all it's glory. I may have actually woken up yesterday morning at 7 am so I could finish weaving in the ends so he could wear it to work. (This also explains the quality of the pictures...better ones coming at some point.)

The thumb and first two fingers have a conductive thread knit in them so that the car's touchscreen can be used without removing one's gloves.

This grey yarn was found at a store in Sparta, WI where we stopped to charge after a camping trip. Husband picked out this yarn. It's been lovely to work with as it has aloe in it. 

This is proof that I love my Husband. I knit intarsia gloves, in the round. I'm sure I could gift a ton of these (there's no way I could sell them; no one would pay that much) but I don't know who else I love enough to knit that many fingers.

One of us is amused by this picture.

This were finished up after Christmas. While I had all of last week off, this is really my first week of vacation. Between taking the little dog to the vet (she has been scratching her eye too much which irritates it and causes her to scratch it more) and doing shopping for everyone (including myself) and serving at church (6 Christmas services in 2 days; I think I've recovered; this was actually one of my favorite parts last week), I didn't get much knitting done. I got some done at church while the worship band rehearsed (after I set all the lighting) and then during the Pastor's riveting sermons (they are really good but it's a lot to hear one that many times; the 6th service was different at least) but not nearly as much as I had envisioned doing. Of course, I have an odd sense of time and space some days which means I'm often surprised when I can't get everything done.

I did manage to finish one of the Girl on Fire Socks. For some reason, I still have to look up the start of the kitchener stitch. You would think I'd done it enough times by now to know it by heart! The first one was finished during a sermon and I started the next one between services. I'm not at all surprised how smoothly the second sock is going now that I know the pattern. Cookie A's patterns seem to be like that more often than not. They look intimidating (I had a few people look at them and comment about how hard they look) but once you know what is going on, they are really simple. I love that they look hard than they really are. Not that some of her patterns aren't hard. This just happens to be one that isn't.



The most exciting news from the last couple of weeks is that I finally have a finished object! Of course, I meant for it to be finished several months ago... Maybe I'll learn to not ground projects for nearly as long.

Finished Projects 

• Mint Twist Socks

Works in Progress

• Lilia Socks
• Browncoat Top  
• Husband Driving Gloves  
• Girl on Fire
• Pretty Pillars Test 
• My Driving Gloves 

YOP #50 or Nearing the End

I'm only 3 days late for this update, but to be fair, I've been in a car since Sunday morning. There have been breaks to charge the car but not enough to pull out my netbook and update this blog. I had thought about writing before Sunday and letting the blog update itself, but I've had a huge show this past weekend.

Overall, it's been a good 10 days of knitting for me (I might as well write about the last 3 days as I'm hoping to write about the entire year next week). During the course of the show on Saturday night, I finished the Vanilla Eyelets. I've decided that they are keeping that name as they are a simple "vanilla" sock which works for some of the crazier yarns I have. The yarn I used was a Christmas gift that I've tried at least 2 other patterns with before designing my own. I even managed to weave in the ends (and not miss any of my cues) and wore them the next day as the family and I headed out west in our Tesla. It was a tad warm to wear the socks but they were very comfortable and I enjoyed the warmth of them when we hit the motel we stayed at in South Dakota.

Husband and I have been taking turns driving. This has allowed me to finish the first Mint Twist sock. Well, mostly finish it. I haven't woven in the ends yet. When we stopped in Colorado to have dinner with Mom, I managed to show off my progress. She was very impressed. She hasn't started socks from that shipment yet. I also gave her the rest of her birthday present, yarn from the Yarn Shop Hop that was being dyed as the shop had run out, which I was going to ship to her. I'm kind of glad I didn't as I was able to give it to her in person and she got to pick which two of the four she wanted. Husband pointed out that they were "exactly the same" but any knitter will know that yarn can vary not only between dye lots but also within a dye lot, especially when hand-dyed.

While we were in Las Vegas waiting for the car to charge, I started to cast on the second sock. I didn't get very far. Antsy children and dry heat making everyone cranky meant I needed to do some intervening. The heat also slows down the charge of the battery, so we were reaching a point that our next stop was going to be later as we waited for the last 5 miles. We ended up skipping that last bit of charge and headed out. It also meant I didn't get to finish casting on the sock as I was driving.

I've brought along two other projects to cast on. One is a knitted top and the other is one of the June 2014 Cookie A sock patterns. I've yet to start either of them. I think this is mostly due to the fact that it's not fun casting on in the car and there have been other things to take care of during our charging breaks. I probably would have cast something on before writing this if my knitting was in the hotel room. Alas, it is the car with Husband who is charging it, so you get a blog entry with pictures instead.

Sock progress as we were leaving South Dakota.

Knitting as we entered Utah. My sock was a source of comfort in the drab landscape. The landscape did improve so much that I stopped knitting for a while.

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
• Here Fishy Fishy II 
• Gilligan
• The Angels Have the Police Box  
• Mini-Socks 
• Grandma's Tam
• Neck Hugger 
• Blood Orange Newtons
• Alpaca Tam 
• Trip 
• Police Box 
• Vanilla Eyelet Socks 

Works in Progress

• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks

YOP #49 or Sangerfest tilsvarer en nesten ferdig sokk

This week's title translates (according to Google translate) to Song Fest corresponds to a nearly finished sock which is extremely accurate. The Norwegian Singers Association of America holds a biannual event called Sangerfest. We had the honor of being the host site for the event this year.

This is what 200+ members of Norwegian Glee Clubs look like on stage. Well, at least what the staging looks like. Some of them were putting off taking their seats until the last minute.

This was an event that we went into feeling very prepared and waiting for the other shoe to fall. It ended up being very delightful, especially working with the 200+ singers at the event. There was a memorial service, a parade of choruses and the amazing Grand Concert. Guess what I did during all of those? That's right, I knit. Saturday night, the evening of the Grand Concert, I was sitting in my little hidey-hole and working on one of my socks. Several of the guys stopped by and joked with me that I would have knit while Rome burned (or something similar). They were a wonderful group to work with and the music was really good. They had a guest group from Oslo who were hilarious and amazing. During their rehearsal, they sang "Loch Lomond" and a medley of Elvis Presley songs (both sets very Norwegian, ja?) and it was fantastic. Saturday night I managed to knit a whole inch and a half on the foot of the Vanilla Eyelet socks. Between the work I did on it Thursday night during the memorial service/parade of choruses, Friday night while walking with Husband and a friend and at the Saturday concert, I'm nearly finished with the sock. Extremely close. There's about 8 more rounds before I do the toe. If I hadn't had to do things (like open doors and make sure people were where they were suppose to be), then I might have actually finished the sock.

Nearly finished sock next to second sock still on the needles. I suppose it's not really finished until I weave in the ends.

Since last week, I made it through the heel of the first Mint Twist sock. It's been a while since I've made a heel flap which I think has made it entertaining for me. It still makes me giggle on the inside about how terrified I was when I made my first sock. Now it seems like second nature. I'm loving the Tanis Fiber Arts yarn. It's the purple label cashmere sock yarn and the color is the Cookie A December 2013 called "Julep". Husband keeps calling it "Seafoam". When he first saw it, he wanted to know why I had a bridesmaid dress in the form of yarn. I've struggled with liking the color since then but thankfully a friend of mine loved it so I'm making the socks for her. I'm loving the pattern and may need to make a pair for myself as well.

Lovely Mint Twist Sock. I kind of want the pattern as a hat instead of a pair of socks. Apparently I need more hats...

There are two weeks left of this year's Year of Projects blog-along. I've apparently misnumbered a week somewhere along the line. I'm hoping to at least finish off the Vanilla Eyelet socks (and if anyone seriously has a better name for it, let me know!) before the end of the month. I've got another concert series this weekend, though it is definitely more involved for me.We're also taking a road trip during the last week of June. I'll get to do a lot of knitting. Husband has asked that I start a project that isn't a sock, hat or scarf. He then hinted that I should work on a tank top for myself. If I can get a swatch done before I leave, I might bring that along. Otherwise, it'll be a pattern from the 2014 MN Yarn Shop Hop (I do believe I still need to write about that....) and probably a sock (or two). I have to make sure I don't run out of knitting projects! Otherwise I may end up buying new yarn on the trip, which would break my self-imposed yarn fast.

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
• Here Fishy Fishy II 
• Gilligan
• The Angels Have the Police Box  
• Mini-Socks 
• Grandma's Tam
• Neck Hugger 
• Blood Orange Newtons
• Alpaca Tam 
• Trip 
• Police Box 

Works in Progress

• Vanilla Eyelet Socks
• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks

YOP #46-#48 or Happy Birthday to me!

I have been attempting to write this post for the last 2 weeks. It's been busy. I've had a 2nd wedding anniversary and today (Sunday) is my birthday. It's a good thing my attention span with knitting is superior to that towards blogging. (Note: I couldn't even get to finishing this post on my birthday; I've just been that unfocused on writing.)

It's nearly the end of my first year doing a Year of Projects. I've learned a lot and I've even made some progress since the last time I posted. One thing I'm going to work on for this next year is to not only stay better at posting these updates, but to do an additional update once a week. If I have enough time to play stupid facebook games (which I do), then I have enough time to blog. That would probably also be a better use of my time....

Onto the projects!

My socks (currently Vanilla Eyelets but I really want something better) have progressed greatly. I'm on the foot of the second sock and I've apparently hit a wall of some sort. Is this a partial case of Second Sock Syndrome? I just want them to be done so I can wear them but I don't seem to want to do them. I think they have been neglected lately due to starting a friend's birthday present and wanting/needing to finish the shawl.

My TARDIS shawl is complete!

It doubled in size while blocking. I may need to work on that.

Horrible picture but I was too excited about it being done to care.

 It was finished in time to go to the Commemorative Air Force Minnesota Wing Spring Hangar dance. We got all dolled up and I wore this shawl (good thing too; it was a bit chilly that evening) because the TARDIS was totally a thing in the 1940s.....

I love how soft the finished fabric is and it was a lot of fun to make. Not in a hurry to make another one just like this but I wouldn't mind doing it again.

Here's one of the photos we had taken while we were there. They haven't uploaded the ones from in front of the aircraft yet. 

Mint Twist socks, one of the December 2013 Cookie A sock patterns, have been started. They are for my friend for her birthday. I did have them started before her birthday and the first one is nearly done, which I'm quite happy with. This is probably one of the fastest Cookie A socks I've knit. As of Sunday, I'm just about to pick up gusset stitches on the first sock. Hopefully I'll have pictures next week.

I still have a baby sock pattern to get out of my head. I need to partially frog it and change one section. I also have another dog to make. I really need to get on that. It shouldn't take too long, especially now that I've got backwards knitting as a skill.

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
• Here Fishy Fishy II 
• Gilligan
• The Angels Have the Police Box  
• Mini-Socks 
• Grandma's Tam
• Neck Hugger 
• Blood Orange Newtons
• Alpaca Tam 
• Trip 
• Police Box 

Works in Progress

• Vanilla Eyelet Socks
• Lilia Socks
• Mint Twist Socks 

YOP #38 or Progress Equals Happiness

I may have delayed this post by a couple of days just so I could say I had finished something. No pictures of anything yet that has been finished during the last month or so but that will happen soon (I hope).

Much thanks to everyone who cheered my up with last week's entry. It's very easy to be hard on myself, which I believe is true for everyone. It's much harder to look at the things I've accomplished or to give myself a break because it's been busy at work and home. There is such as a thing as too exhausted to knit.

Last night I finished my Blood Orange Newtons. They are very lovely. I can't wait to take some nice pictures of them to show off. I'm very proud of them. It's also the 4th Cookie A 2013 Sock Club pattern that I've finished. I can't decide if I should wait and see what the second set of 2014 patterns look like (it's only a week or so away I believe) before casting on a new pair of socks or just cast something on and knit them. I want to use this yarn the bonus kids got me as a Christmas gift but I think it's going to be best suited for plain vanilla socks due to the way it's been dyed. In theory, that shouldn't take me too long to make. I don't know if it's yarn that I could do intentional pooling on or not. I can no longer remember what it looked like in skein form though I believe the color repeats would be rather short. It's also 100% wool, which I read a lot of people will avoid making socks out of as they are prone to wearing out faster.

I cast on another of Grandma's Tams. This one is double stranded fingering weight alpaca. Should I get it done in time, I'm going to donate it as a silent auction item for a fundraiser at church. If it doesn't get done in time, I guess it'll become the start of my stock for selling. I'm about halfway done with it and I'm very happy with how it's turning out and with how quickly I'm making progress on it.

The shawl is still...stuck. I did realize that I can probably figure out where I am by counting the rows past the decrease. It just doesn't sound very pleasant. Nor do I think it's something I can do with bonus kids around who are on their spring break (and therefore, apparently, must be entertained. It's cute how they think Husband and I shouldn't work so that we can spend time with them).

There is progress on the second dog, Trip. Pointers apparently have very long necks and bodies. Sewing on the belly is easier now that I've done one but still taking forever since it's so long. I think the order I've done the dogs in has been the correct one. At least I hope so. There is still a Beagle to make and I hope that it will easier. If nothing else, there should be less stranded knitting on that one.

The goal for next week is to have pictures of everything that I've yet to take pictures of and post them here. And maybe to have one or two more finished objects.

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
• Here Fishy Fishy II 
• Gillian
• The Angels Have the Police Box  
• Mini-Socks 
• Grandma's Tam
• Neck Hugger 
• Blood Orange Newtons   

Works in Progress

• Police Box
• Trip

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!

And the results are in!

Monday was the last day of the 2013 Minnesota State Fair. This also meant that today was the first day that I could pick up my socks and see what the judges had to say about them.

I was pleasantly surprised.


When I picked up the socks, the woman who brought them out to me said anyone who knits socks deserves an award. I thanked her and she told me to come back and enter something next year. I said I definitely was going to be back next year. As I walked away from the building to my car, I opened the judging sheet and saw this:

I turned around and walked back to the building. I asked what was a perfect score, which turns out to be 100. That seemed to be the instinctual answer but you can never know unless you ask. They seemed curious why I had asked and I told them that this was only my 4th or so pair of socks (it may actually be more than that, but details) and I was thrilled to have received a 94. I was closer to getting a ribbon than I thought I was! Turns out that there were a lot of really awesome textured socks this year. Next year I apparently need to do a harder pattern (Ha! I guess that it's okay since this was the "easy" Cookie A pattern from June) and to work on my kitchner stitch. There may also have been giggling when I got out of the building....

As I walked to the car I called my mom. I made her guess what score I got. She guessed 87. She was thrilled that I had done so well! She was definitely proud of my work.

Tomorrow I'll be wearing these socks to show them off at my knitting group. Of course, I've also got some building (as in lumber) to do tomorrow at work, so maybe I'll bring my socks and wear them to knitting group.

Better picture.

Artistic shot.

YOP #8 or This is What Happens When I Must Start ALL the Projects NOW

After successfully being project monogamous for 3 weeks(!?!), my fingers were itching to play with new things.

First the oldest WIP:

Fuzzy

I've decided that the blankets name is Fuzzy. I have no logical reason other than the yarn is fuzzy. Part of me feels it's silly to name projects but on the other hand...I like it better than just a generic description.

Fuzzy is now 19 inches long! It's taken a lot of patience to get this much done. I have no idea what it will look like once blocked. I'm thrilled that the cables are reversible. I suppose I should take a picture of that as well....

I was a little worried that I wouldn't be happy with the new pattern but I'm thrilled with it! It's about 24" wide. So far, there are 2 skeins (3rd one is in progress) in the blanket. In the first version, most of 2 skeins only had me at about 5 inches high. I can either plan on using a total of 4 or 5 skeins. I'll probably just knit and make my decision as I go. Surely there becomes a point where a blanket is just too big, right?

Now onto the two newest wips....

Tulip Socks

My bonus kids bought me a lovely skein of yarn for Christmas. I started making one pair of socks out of it and decided the pattern just didn't work. I showed it to mom who agreed and suggested I make the Tulip socks from the April 2013 Cookie A Sock Club. I've not gotten very far on them, but they are started! I think I felt compelled to make these socks for two reason:

1. I like that Husband got his kids to buy me yarn. I LOVE the yarn and I want them to see me using it and knowing that I love their gift and that it's just not sitting in a drawer gathering dust bunnies.
2. Neither of the August sock patterns screamed MAKE ME.

Waves of Love

This is my first shawl and it's a gift. I'm absolutely loving the yarn. It's Filament o' Squid from Indigodragonfly and it is a dream to work with. I've never worked with sea cell yarn before but I could easily get addicted to this yarn! It's the June club shipment my mom got for us.

 

I'm going to need to switch to circular needles soon but it's been nice to bring out my straight needles. Mom gave them to me as a Christmas gift in 2011. I've only made a handful of things on them since I've been so sock crazy lately. Husband is still to blame/thank for my sincerely getting into knitting. Knitting gloves for his youngest inspired Mom to buy me these needles and I sort of got hooked. Then came sock knitting and it seems I've been swallowed up whole!

I think this coming week is going to be more of the same. Fuzzy is soon to be an "at home" project as it's getting to big to deal with knitting while walking outside in the ridiculous heat index right now (I believe it was suppose to feel like 105 degrees F today). The Tulip socks take pattern reading and marking right now, so that's another mostly at home project. At least the shawl has a fairly simple pattern right now, making it travel worthy.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag 
• Socks, the Final Frontier

Works in Progress

• Fuzzy, the baby blanket
• Tulip Socks
• Waves of Love

YOP Update #3

Since last week, I've actually managed to make decent progress. I have a really awesome chiropractor who adjusted my neck and arms last Monday so I was able to work on my projects. One even got finished.

Birthday Bag

 Back in April when I went on the yarn shop hop, I purchased a kit to make the above bag. It included everything I needed to finish it. It was mostly completed back in June. I waited until I got home to block it as it would be silly to block it and then to pack it in my luggage. Then I needed to run the string through it. The blocking went smoothly but I kept putting off adding the string. Mostly because I knew it didn't have to be finished until this week. I had purchased it to make and give to my youngest step-daughter who loves not only the color purple but also purses, bags and containers that she can hide things into. It was fairly easy to do once I looked back at the pattern to remember which row was the eyelet row. In the photo above, it's standing so nicely because it has a napkin stuffed inside of it. Without that, it sort of lays limply on its side. It should be fine once it is filled with gifts for a 9 year old.

Baby blanket

Now that I've got the 3rd repeat done of the pattern on the blanket, I'm liking it. I'm glad I didn't get discouraged and rip it out. It's about a fifth of the way done and is just over 2 feet wide. It's currently around 7 inches tall. The nice thing about it is that I can mindlessly work on it while doing other things, such as playing D&D, which is exactly what I did last night. Using much larger needles is speeding the process up so I think I'll actually get through this before the end of the year. I should check with Husband and see when is his cousin's daughter's birthday as it would make a nice birthday gift.

Tiberius Sock

These socks are from the June 2013 Cookie A Sock Club. I made myself finish the socks from the April shipment before starting these. I decided I wanted to make them in yarn the color of Captain Kirk's uniform. My mom happened to have dye that was the "correct" color so we dyed some white yarn that I founded at a local shop while I was at home. I had purchased a skein of "Snow" Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn.

While this yarn felt amazing and took the color beautifully, it's been nothing but a headache. When we went to dye it, neither of us noticed that the skein was only tied off in one place. This meant that as we soaked it before the dying that the yarn became a tangled mess. While we noticed right away, there wasn't much that we could do. After it was dyed, we tried to wind it into a ball. The skein was such a mess that it wouldn't even fit on the swift. Mom ended up winding it into a ball without a winder. When I got home, I rewound the ball. Twice because it kept knotting up. When I finally got to the color change (my choice), the yarn, which I pulled from the center, eventually became horribly tangled. I spent a large amount of time on Friday trying to untangle the mess that it had become. The yarn ended up having to be cut a couple of times as the mess was impossible to untangle. And since I was knitting both socks at the same time, there wasn't a free end that I could use to help. Additionally, I didn't want to rip out what I'd already knit in hopes that the knots could be taken out.

I spent part of Saturday going through my yarn stash. I've pulled out yarn that I know I'll not use. It either has too much acrylic content (yarn I'd bought before I paid attention to fiber content) or is an unknown material or is too small for me to feel I can make anything useful. These will soon be re-homed elsewhere. While I know my step-daughters would love them, they don't actually do anything with the yarn they already have. The younger one wants to learn how to knit but I don't know how to teach her. The eldest makes crocheted chains. That's it. When she makes a "dress" for their dolls, she just makes a chain and then wraps it around the doll. And until they actually make things, I think it's safer that they don't add more to their stash.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf
• Birthday Bag

Works in Progress

• Tiberius Socks
• Baby Blanket

A Year of Projects-Post #1

Thanks to the join that is the internet, I have learned about the Year of Projects blog-a-thon. I've never actually joined in on a blog-a-thon before. I've thought about it but have never quite managed to make the commitment. Heck, I struggle with the concept of writing in my blog once a week among other things that I want to do. I only have so many spoons.

This is what the group page says about the Year of Projects: The Year of Projects starts on 1st July 2013 and runs to 30th June 2014. No reason for starting mid-year, other than that’s when the idea arose and we decided to do it! This isn’t a fanciful list of New Year’s Resolutions, after all.

To join in, all you have to do is come up with your list. It can be as long or as short as you like, as easy or challenging as you prefer. Some start out with the patterns they know they wanted, items languishing on their Ravelry queues. Others start with their stash, and turn the challenge into a year-long stashbusting exercise. Some have even stayed true to The Purple Purl and chosen a book to work through. It’s totally up to you.
Our regular updates are posted on our blogs on Sundays. 

I've obviously missed the first post, but to be fair, I only got around to figuring out what this thing was today after reading someone else's post. It's amazing how easily you can find things once you figure out where to look!

I've introduced myself on the forums and have looked at a couple of other blogs. It seems that there are several different ways to go about making your list. I've never really been good at making lists for projects I want to finish. I've slowly been getting rid of the parts and pieces of long forgotten projects that I know I'll never finish or touch. Purging seems to be a lot of fun sometimes, at least when it leads to more space in my craft room for yarn. Yes husband, I may have a problem. I've also realized that this means I'm going to need a bit more about blogger so I can make a page or something to refer back to my list.

My 2013-14 Year of Projects List

•  Socks
• I want to do at least one pair every month of the Cookie A Sock Club. They all seem to take me longer than I think they will, which is why I'm committing in writing to only finishing one pair. I hope to finish all 12 before the year is out and to start the ones for the club next year.
• Shawls/scarfs/cowls
• I don't really need either but there are some lovely patterns. I'd like to make myself a nice cowl for the fall/winter so I can go out and be dressed up and not have to keep track of an awkward scarf.
• I'm definitely doing the Bigger On the Inside shawl, which will be finished in time for Chicago TARDIS.
• Gifts
• I really like giving gifts that I've made. I've liked the reaction that I've gotten from the gifts I've made in the past.
• Among those gifts will be 2 baby blankets for the children of cousins. 
• Destashing/using the hoard of yarn I own
•  I need to work on getting through some of the yarn I have so that I can get more yarn....
• Hat
• As much as I love my troll hat, I have some really lovely yarns that I want to make into hats. My husband likes this idea for some reason....
• Mittens
• Last winter (in February-ish), I lost one of my mittens that I had made. So now I need to make a new pair for this coming winter.
• Designing my own 
• I've had the chance to dye some of my own yarn and it was a lot of fun. I hope to do more of that this year.
• My husband has challenged me to design my own socks. I've got an idea in my head. Still need to figure out the logistics of it but it will be very geeky.  

Not a very exciting or detailed list but it's a big deal. If I keep things vague, I don't have to commit to a particular pattern yet! After all, it's only the first week. I can change my mind on what yarn to use on a pattern multiple times in the same hour. I hate to commit to something and feel like I can't change my mind. Though it seems that since this group is for fun, it should be okay if I don't stick to a strict list.

Finished Objects

• Japan Scarf

Works in Progress

• Birthday Bag
• Tiberius Socks 

And finished!

Tonight I the hardest socks to date that I've ever knitted. The left one took just over a month and plagued me with some many problems that I wasn't sure I was going to finish. Thankfully I was inspired by this month's club patterns that I made myself promise myself I wouldn't start any of them until I finished this pair.

 

Now to finish a birthday gift (putting the cord into the bag) and then to start more projects. I appear to have run out.

Short and quick project update

I meant to write a few weeks ago, while I was in Colorado but I was having too much fun and excitement. Then I was going to write this past week but I set a knitting goal for myself. I had finally reached it just in time for us to lose power. I've been without power at home since Friday evening. I'm currently at the local library working on some lighting design work which I need a mental break from so I've decided to update this blog. It would be even more awesome if I could do the updates that are floating around in my head but the photos for those posts are at home. So here are the highlights until I get better organized.

• I visited the Estes Park Wool Market with my mom for the first time in over a decade. It was much more interesting now than when I was 18.
• I got to spend a lot of time knitting and finished the knitting part of a beaded bag for my youngest step-daughter's birthday present. It's the first time I've ever done bead work while knitting.
• Dying happened at the end of the week. Tie-dying and yarn dying that is. I use to make tie-dyed shirts All of the Time. I probably had about 21 at one point. It was my first time dying yarn. I made some for my mother-in-law for her birthday and then some sock yarn for the Cookie A Sock Club because the Kirk inspired socks needed Captain colors.
• I'm about to turn the heel on the right Pirouette sock. It took me about 3 weeks to reach this point on the left one. I did it in about 1 week this time. I don't know if I've simply spent more time knitting on it or if my brain stopped freaking out but it was certainly easier.
• I learned about World Wide Knitting in Public and did spend some time knitting in public.
• Last night, I cast on plain socks as 2-at-a-time using the Magic Loop method. I think I have actual socks instead of a mess even. I'm very proud of that.
• The baby blanket has been frogged so that I can knit it on larger needles. Mom did it for me because she is awesome.

And now back to cuing work. I'm dreading writing out the cues for one song because there are going to be a lot of them. I hope it looks as magical in real life as it does in my head.

The sock that will never end

Shortly after my last blog post, it was pointed out to me that I apparently can no longer read and process English properly. No one was harsh enough to say it in that manner, but I certainly felt that way. When it came to the heel flap of the pirouette sock, I was reading the instructions for the right sock. I was knitting the left sock. Beyond that, I had read the instructions as knit between 3 and 19 stitches, which confused me to no end. What the instructions really say is knit the 16 stitches in the panel, knit 3 more stitches and you'll have worked 19 stitches.

So once I comprehended English again, I was fine.

Until my brain decided to go on auto-pilot.

As I was working the gusset decrease, I realized 12 rounds in (it takes a while to notice these things) that I had added a decrease where there wasn't suppose to be one. This decrease happened earlier on the leg. My brain or my hands simply decided that since that was the pattern, I should just keep doing it. At least I noticed it before I had finished the gusset. I only had to frog it to where I picked up stitches.

I've successfully finished the gusset and started working on the foot. I somehow lost a stitch on the top of the foot, though I see no dropped stitches anywhere. I have no idea what happened and have decided that it doesn't matter. I simply added an extra yarn over to "fix" it. When I glanced down at the yarn leading to the skein tonight, I noticed this:

 

Yes, that's part of the yarn that hasn't actually been spun and is more fleece than yarn. I could either cut it out or just knit it through. Mom recommends cutting it out and weaving in ends later. Two friends recommend just knitting it. I'm leaning towards the just knitting it camp as I really want to finish this sock because then I have to do the other sock.

I've got a mantra that's helping me get through this silly sock. I keep telling myself that I can skate 25 laps in 5 minutes, so how hard can a sock be. I never dreamed my roller derby would get into my knitting head! At least it makes me a little less whiny to myself. I apparently needed to finish getting the whine out though. I should start offering cheese...

But this sock will get finished! Both of them!

Update on knitting

Husband Socks: Finished!

Earlier this month, I finished my first pair of socks for someone else. They were made for my husband so that he would have something with extra padding when he jumps through hoops on a tight rope. To the right is a photo of him trying them out on the wire the day I finished them. Of course, he's gotten so use to wearing shoes while on the wire, that the wire hurts when he's just in socks. We have talked about adding some suede to the bottom of the socks and turning them into pseudo-shoes.

He commented on how quickly this socks went compared to the last pair, the Ernies, that I made.  Even though his feet are HUGE, these took less time because it was mostly straight knitting and look at how short they are! It looks like he's wearing slippers instead of socks. Of course, that could be because of their construction.

I used a sock calculator to figure out the pattern or at least the base of the pattern. It's probably the only time that I've made a swatch sample for a pair of socks as I needed to figure out what my gauge was going to be. I ended up using a double strand of  worsted weight yarn that I had taken at a yarn swap. I got it because it was pretty. This was back in January, before I had gotten spoiled with really, really nice, hand-dyed yarn from the Cookie A sock club. This yarn is a 70/30 acrylic/wool blend and it will work out for my husband who will most likely end up destroying them, but not out of malice. If the do end up with suede on the bottom, they'll take even more abuse than on the wire and end up being his ren fest shoes as well.

While working on the first sock, I decided it would be a good idea for him to try them on. I was about an inch away from doing the decrease for the toe and I'm glad I had him try them on. The top of the foot was perfect but the bottom...sagged. A lot. I did some searching on Ravelry and decided that I could either decrease the gusset to have fewer sole stitches than top of foot stitches or I could rib the sole. I decided to rib the sole because it would make it thicker and he wanted it to be thick for the jumping on the wire.

They did end up being perfect and fitting his feet. Even though they are "just socks", he does like that they are made to fit his feet. And once I finished them, I was able to move onto my next pair of socks.

Pirouette Socks: In progress and stuck

A couple of months ago, I found some lovely yarn that was being sold as 2 for 1. It had this lovely strip pattern to it where one strand stayed a consistent pattern while the second strand changed colors.  Shortly after that, the second club shipment and patterns came and I realized that I must make the Pirouette socks with this yarn.

After a rough start, where I got confused (it's a complicated pattern and I was overthinking it) and had to recast on due to fix gauge issues, I eventually made progress. Well, now I'm stuck again. Once I got into a rhythm with the pattern, I was fine. Now I'm confused by the set-up for the heel flap. I don't understand the instructions, so I'm stuck. I really want to finish these socks before the next shipment arrives but I'm stuck on the first sock. I'm tempted to set them down and start a new pair just so I can have a project that doesn't annoy me.

Baby blanket

I'm also working on a baby blanket. The original thought was for my cousin but my husband has a cousin who had a little girl about 6 months ago, so I feel like it should go to her first, if it ever gets finished. The fuzzy yarn is frustrating at times to knit and the needles are the size for the gauge shown on the yarn which are size 5 needles...which means that this blanket, with 160 stitches per row, is going to take forever!  I've got 8 repeats of the pattern finished and need to do another 32 or so. At least it's looking nice. I just wish it would go faster. Last night I decided to try knitting continental style (I normally knit English style) to see if it was any faster. I honestly am not sure but at least I was a little bit less annoyed with the pattern and more annoyed with the new technique.