Finished objects this year:
10 scarves
7 hats
3 shawls (Kiri, Seraphim, Clapotis)
2 baby blankets (1 crocheted, 1 knitted)
2 tank tops (1 crocheted, 1 knitted)
1 pair of socks
2 pairs fingerless gloves
1 baby sweater
Total: 28 finished objects
WIPs still on the needles that I want to finish:
3 sweaters
2 pairs of socks
1 vest
2 scarves
Things I'd like to start on right now, but am mightily striving not to do yet because of the above list of WIPs:
2 more sweaters
2 lace shawls
1 pair of socks (at least one set needs to be done by June)
1 baby blanket (baby is due in March)
Projects that I started and then abandoned because something didn't go right:
too many to list or count!
Related fiber stuff:
Got a spinning wheel (Lendrum folding wheel)
Spun 2 oz. berry & purple BFL (dyed by Lisa Souza)
Spun 1 bobbin full of unknown silvery grey fiber (maybe merino)
Spun 1/2 bobbin of Crown Mountain superwash merino
Updated yarn inventory spreadsheet
Got on Ravelry.
Started this blog (almost forgot that one!)
Hmmm, I was feeling like I hadn't done much this year, but I guess I did okay. In addition to using up some stash yarn for many of the finished object, especially the baby blankets/sweater, and the hats and scarves, I also got rid of 4 bags of yarn that I no longer loved.
There aren't any New Year resolutions. I tend to forget them so now I don't bother. I'd just like to spend lots of time working on my projects - and get more of them actually completed.
I'd like to wish all of you a happy, healthy New Year in 2008!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Only a few more days...
...of vacation. As we were driving home a couple days ago, I had this sudden panic attack:
Small Voice of Panic:
"Oh no, I have school on Wednesday! What am I going to do with the kids?! I don't have a lesson plan yet! They're coming in 1st period; that doesn't give me enough time to come up with anything when I get in that morning! Quick, what can I do?! Help!!!
Voice of Reason:
"Yes, you do have a lesson plan, remember? You were going to introduce the research project that Mr. S is having them do."
Small Voice of Not-So-Much Panic:
"Right... Okay, I'm better now. Maybe I should concentrate on driving... Now, how much knitting time does that give me?"
**********
Christmas was a (mostly) fun time at the House of Mom & Dad.
The good news: everyone got something that they requested.
I got to "take-over" my 6 month-old nephew all Christmas evening.
The nieces and nephews were tons of fun,
including a screaming tickle-fest between my Hubby, A (10-years), and 2-1/2 year-old N (Baby is N's little brother).
The girls (A's 7- and 3-1/2 year old sisters) and The Dork had their own tickle time going.
The bad news: Hubby would really like a new set of lungs that don't react to dust mites. His current set of lungs have gone hypersensitive to dust, and that would include every piece of upholstered furniture in both my parents' and my sister-in-law's houses. We're going to have to install hardwood floors a little earlier than originally planned, I think. That means going through and dealing with all the stuff on the floor in all the rooms.
In actual knitting news (yes, there was knitting involved, but not too much because I had an armful of Baby I), with the exception of weaving in the ends, the Natalya wristers and the Mistake Rib scarf is done (both from Cascade 220 Superwash)
and the Dashing fingerless gloves are 3/4 finished (need to do the thumb on one and I'm only a couple inches from the end of the other.)
Small Voice of Panic:
"Oh no, I have school on Wednesday! What am I going to do with the kids?! I don't have a lesson plan yet! They're coming in 1st period; that doesn't give me enough time to come up with anything when I get in that morning! Quick, what can I do?! Help!!!
Voice of Reason:
"Yes, you do have a lesson plan, remember? You were going to introduce the research project that Mr. S is having them do."
Small Voice of Not-So-Much Panic:
"Right... Okay, I'm better now. Maybe I should concentrate on driving... Now, how much knitting time does that give me?"
**********
Christmas was a (mostly) fun time at the House of Mom & Dad.
The good news: everyone got something that they requested.
I got to "take-over" my 6 month-old nephew all Christmas evening.
The nieces and nephews were tons of fun,
including a screaming tickle-fest between my Hubby, A (10-years), and 2-1/2 year-old N (Baby is N's little brother).
The girls (A's 7- and 3-1/2 year old sisters) and The Dork had their own tickle time going.The bad news: Hubby would really like a new set of lungs that don't react to dust mites. His current set of lungs have gone hypersensitive to dust, and that would include every piece of upholstered furniture in both my parents' and my sister-in-law's houses. We're going to have to install hardwood floors a little earlier than originally planned, I think. That means going through and dealing with all the stuff on the floor in all the rooms.
In actual knitting news (yes, there was knitting involved, but not too much because I had an armful of Baby I), with the exception of weaving in the ends, the Natalya wristers and the Mistake Rib scarf is done (both from Cascade 220 Superwash)
and the Dashing fingerless gloves are 3/4 finished (need to do the thumb on one and I'm only a couple inches from the end of the other.)
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Drive-by post
Merry Yule, Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas (and a belated Happy Chanukah) to all my friends!
Even though there has been a lot of knitting during this holiday season, very little is meant to be gifted during the holidays, which took some pressure off me. I finished the Natalya wristers, except for weaving in the ends (made from Cascade 220 superwash on size 7 needles, but knit only 3 inches before the thumb gusset) and started on Dashing. Did all 3 cable rows and realized it was going to be too tight, so that was ripped and restarted in the larger size. Going to try for a scarf out of Charcoal Cascade 220 superwash soon. Oh, and I really want to get back to my Twist! Pictures soon, I promise!
This is a drive-by post because we need to leave for Orange County soon, but I think we're going to hit traffic in the LA area at this point. Typical trip down to visit the parents: straight down Hwy. 101, stopping in Santa Barbara for either Mexican or Cajun food. Quick stop at my in-laws' place in Buena Park, then another 1/2 hour to my parents in Lake Forest.
Back Wednesday!
*******
Whoops! I actually forgot to post this before we left! Have safely arrived in Orange County after a fantastic cajun meal at The Palace Grill in Santa Barbara. Jambalaya, yum!
Even though there has been a lot of knitting during this holiday season, very little is meant to be gifted during the holidays, which took some pressure off me. I finished the Natalya wristers, except for weaving in the ends (made from Cascade 220 superwash on size 7 needles, but knit only 3 inches before the thumb gusset) and started on Dashing. Did all 3 cable rows and realized it was going to be too tight, so that was ripped and restarted in the larger size. Going to try for a scarf out of Charcoal Cascade 220 superwash soon. Oh, and I really want to get back to my Twist! Pictures soon, I promise!
This is a drive-by post because we need to leave for Orange County soon, but I think we're going to hit traffic in the LA area at this point. Typical trip down to visit the parents: straight down Hwy. 101, stopping in Santa Barbara for either Mexican or Cajun food. Quick stop at my in-laws' place in Buena Park, then another 1/2 hour to my parents in Lake Forest.
Back Wednesday!
*******
Whoops! I actually forgot to post this before we left! Have safely arrived in Orange County after a fantastic cajun meal at The Palace Grill in Santa Barbara. Jambalaya, yum!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Busy December
It's been a pretty crazy couple of weeks around the Purple Castle. Teaching children anything between Thanksgiving and Christmas is impossible. The Hubby is sick (sinus infection), which sets off his asthma and coughing. Dork Boy is ignoring huge hints to get off the computer and go to bed...what else is new!?
We made a last minute decision to take The Dork to a Junior Olympics qualifying event up in San Francisco last weekend. I guess it helps if you check your spam email folder once in a while, because I missed an email from his coach notifying anyone who was interested. Anyway, he didn't expect to qualify, but thought it would be nice if he did (and a trip to North Carolina for JOs in Feb.). He placed 8th out of 10 epee fencers, and had some very good bouts. He almost won his 2nd direct elimination bout, except that time ran out. That one was against the young man who was seeded 2nd after the pool rounds and who ended up with the silver medal (and IS going to NC). The kid with the orange shoes on the right is mine. Some parents I talked to were very complimentary about The Dork's fencing style. We were going to go back for the foil competition, but when he woke up, he said that he was very tired and that he wouldn't do very well. No problem - there's always next year.
On the knitting front, Nathania had a baby shower on last Thursday, and I really wanted to make Baby Boo something special. Let's just say that baby stuff and I weren't getting along. I cast on 3 different projects, and none of them cooperated with me. 2 baby hats, one with extremely unattractive pooling, and one was cute until I started the patterning on it. One baby sweater - wrong size, not even close! So, Baby Boo received lots of books from me instead!
Of course I took my projects to the fencing competition, and was >thiiiis close< to binding off the back of Twist when I realized that my pattern was missing because I had left it at Purlescence. Oops. Got it back, but still haven't worked on it since then because I decided that the fencing club is so cold that the coaches and office manager need fingerless gloves (by Friday) and that my hair stylist needed a scarf. So much for "not knitting anything for Christmas!
I'm partway through turning the heel on the 1st Midsummer Night sock for The Hubby. Purlescence received the Raven collection from Blue Moon, and The Dork is getting socks from the Korppi colorway.
I decided that I needed to clean off the couch of accumulated yarn, which led to stash reorganization and major purging. There are 4 large bags of yarn that are heading out to Goodwill in the morning. I'm not offering it up to any of you, because most of it is cheap acrylic that was my preferred yarn for baby blankets several years ago. However, I've found different sources for wonderful baby blanket yarn - trust me, you don't want this old stuff. 4 miles worth of old yarn -- gone! Feels good to reclaim some space in my yarn bins for stuff that I still want to use, instead of having it all over the couch.
What's next this vacation? Cleaning the bathroom so the plumber that's coming tomorrow to fix a shower leak won't think I'm a horrible housekeeper. Okay, never mind the rest of the house he has to go through to get there...
We made a last minute decision to take The Dork to a Junior Olympics qualifying event up in San Francisco last weekend. I guess it helps if you check your spam email folder once in a while, because I missed an email from his coach notifying anyone who was interested. Anyway, he didn't expect to qualify, but thought it would be nice if he did (and a trip to North Carolina for JOs in Feb.). He placed 8th out of 10 epee fencers, and had some very good bouts. He almost won his 2nd direct elimination bout, except that time ran out. That one was against the young man who was seeded 2nd after the pool rounds and who ended up with the silver medal (and IS going to NC). The kid with the orange shoes on the right is mine. Some parents I talked to were very complimentary about The Dork's fencing style. We were going to go back for the foil competition, but when he woke up, he said that he was very tired and that he wouldn't do very well. No problem - there's always next year. On the knitting front, Nathania had a baby shower on last Thursday, and I really wanted to make Baby Boo something special. Let's just say that baby stuff and I weren't getting along. I cast on 3 different projects, and none of them cooperated with me. 2 baby hats, one with extremely unattractive pooling, and one was cute until I started the patterning on it. One baby sweater - wrong size, not even close! So, Baby Boo received lots of books from me instead!
Of course I took my projects to the fencing competition, and was >thiiiis close< to binding off the back of Twist when I realized that my pattern was missing because I had left it at Purlescence. Oops. Got it back, but still haven't worked on it since then because I decided that the fencing club is so cold that the coaches and office manager need fingerless gloves (by Friday) and that my hair stylist needed a scarf. So much for "not knitting anything for Christmas!
I'm partway through turning the heel on the 1st Midsummer Night sock for The Hubby. Purlescence received the Raven collection from Blue Moon, and The Dork is getting socks from the Korppi colorway.
I decided that I needed to clean off the couch of accumulated yarn, which led to stash reorganization and major purging. There are 4 large bags of yarn that are heading out to Goodwill in the morning. I'm not offering it up to any of you, because most of it is cheap acrylic that was my preferred yarn for baby blankets several years ago. However, I've found different sources for wonderful baby blanket yarn - trust me, you don't want this old stuff. 4 miles worth of old yarn -- gone! Feels good to reclaim some space in my yarn bins for stuff that I still want to use, instead of having it all over the couch.
What's next this vacation? Cleaning the bathroom so the plumber that's coming tomorrow to fix a shower leak won't think I'm a horrible housekeeper. Okay, never mind the rest of the house he has to go through to get there...
Saturday, December 1, 2007
December already?!
Here's why I was confused over the the fiber content of my Tobacco Road colorway from Crown Mountain. Label = Corriedale, Jasmin said "Superwash Merino". Kathy thinks to double-check her order. Aha! It is indeed the superwash merino. "But I read the label!" I also found the Black Sun colored fiber, which definitely is the Corriedale.
In knitting news - a few days ago, I got going on the top-down cable cardigan. I'm having fun with it, getting pretty close to putting the sleeve stitches on stitch holders.
BUT, Twist has continued to call my name.
After I decided that my gauge using the Classy was not sufficient, I got an email announcing Purlescence's Twist KAL, starting today. Must.Cast.On.Now! So I did. I found the Four Play that I bought at Stitches a couple years ago and I got perfect gauge on size 8s.Can't wait for the next couple weeks to be over, then I'll be on vacation for 2-1/2 weeks from school! Knitting time!!! Maybe I'll have a new sweater by Christmas...
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