(U)FO Friday...

Well today's FO isn't my UFO. I was hoping to have the basket weave afghan finished by tonight, but it just wasn't in the cards. I can *partially* blame it on knit night last night... I didn't get to work on the afghan since I was out for the evening! I *am* on the last pair of rows before the three round border, however I have to weave in the ends before I can start that. Well over half the ends were already done, so it won't be *that* bad of an ordeal for me. I'm looking very forward to completing this project, and have already chosen the next UFO to turn into an FO.

All is not lost, as I do have an FO to report. The last of the boot sock samples was finished this afternoon!!! The ladies pair, and the first of the men's were washed and are now hanging on their blockers to dry in the bathtub. I only have one men's sized blocker, so the second sock will need to wait until the first one is dry. I have that particular pattern about 75% done, and the editing shouldn't take very long once the photography is finished.

I had one of the sproggins at home today, so I wasn't able to "work". I still made sure I was productive though! I finished the sock, and cast on another sample sock for a different design. I went into the craft room today to hunt for some sweatshirt fleece, which was located elsewhere as it turned out. I decided to do a bit of organizing in there since it's mostly been ignored lately. I can get in and out, and locate what I need relatively easily again, so I'm pleased with that progress. Once I located the sweatshirt fleece, and the pants pattern for it, I copied the size I needed, and cut out the pieces to make Alex a pair of sweat pants. I also cut the seams off of 2 out-grown, worn out pairs of jeans, so I can now add denim "inserts" inside the pant legs to help reinforce the knees. Add in some housework, and you have what I'd call a pretty decent day!


Till next time,
Nicole =o)


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What *am* I working on?

Anyone who knows me even slightly can attest to the fact that I am *far* from a monogamous crafter. Now that I've added sewing and quilting to my current hobbies, of course that means even *more* WIPs (and the resultant UFOs as well). This year I've been trying to focus better, and I think I've been pretty successful in resisting the urge to start every "Ooh shiny!!" project that tempts me. Of course I still have a multitude of projects, but I'm getting pretty darned good at producing quite a few FOs also.

Knitting:

Knitting is still my favourite pastime, as the callous on my right index finger will attest to. Strangely enough, I only have one project that I'm actively working on, and that's sample socks. I'm getting one done at a time, finishing one before casting on the next. I am halfway down the foot of my current project, and have three more socks to knit for photography purposes.

Crocheting:

I've been crocheting for over 20 years now, so it's inevitable that I would come across some pretty old UFOs. My current "living room" project is my oldest (that I know of) UFO. It's an afghan that I began in 1998 or 1999. I have about 6 more rows to work before doing the edging, so I'm anticipating finishing in the next day or three. My current "travelling" project is another crocheted afghan. It's a plaid design worked in strips and I purchased it as a kit from Herrschners this spring. I have completed over a third of it, and don't expect it will take very long to complete.

Quilting:

I have a large bin of projects ready to quilt, and more ready to "sandwich". I am not too worried about those right now, but I have 3 quilt tops cut and ready to sew. The first one I want to work on is a pink ribbon bargello. It's in honour of Auntie Wendy, whom we lost just over 5 years ago during her third battle with breast cancer. I've put away my sewing machine for a little while so that I can spend my energies on designing and writing. We shall see how long I can resist *that* temptation!!!
Most of all, I'm having fun working a combination of my own designs and OPPs (Other People's Patterns), and in a variety of mediums. Doing that helps in keeping me motivated. I added a bunch of new-to-me yarns to my stash while on vacation this summer so I'm looking very forward to seeing what they want to become. I also increased my fabric stash by 2 over-flowing suitcases, so that will be fun to play with as well!

Till next time,
Nicole =o)

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January Round-up

Well, just how well did I do with my goals? Not too well it appears, but I did get quite a bit done regardless! This is what I had on January 1st as my knitting/ crocheting goals for the month of January:

Sweater: Tweed Cardigan (Mary Maxim kit); Shawl: finishing the Denise design; Afghan: finishing Derek's Popcorn MAM; Socks: finishing my Felici socks (Caprica colourway).

• The tweed cardigan isn't finished, but I did spend 2 weeks mostly concentrating on the popcorn afghan. As I had posted earlier, I recovered from having to rip back so much of my early work due to missed increases, but that was a loss of at least 2 days worth of knitting. I started work on it again the day before Derek returned, and got it divided a few days later. I went through well over a ball of yarn while he was home for the 5 days. I still have the sleeves to do, the stitches are on holders right now; and the body is about half done. I'm on the 4th ball of the 8 included in the kit, and Derek expects me to be wearing it when I pick him up from the airport next Wednesday. It's a fast, and mindless knit, so it is an achievable goal... it all depends on what else I decide to work on.
• I didn't touch the shawl at all =o( (no links since it's a design in progress)
• The popcorn MAM didn't get finished, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. Firstly, it wasn't nearly as complete as I first thought. I had wanted to surprise Derek with it finished when he came home. I realized that I wouldn't be able to finish it in the 2 weeks that he was gone initially, as I needed approximately another week or so. I then discovered that I didn't have enough of the dark sage yarn to finish up the afghan. I checked my stash, and according to my Ravelry listings, I have NONE!!! It would be my guess that I had used a lot of it on his quiltghan back in 2002 or 2003... knowing then that I could easily buy more. Unfortunately 10+ years later, that is no longer the case. The colour is still being made, but nowhere I shop (or can get to) carries that colour. I will need to order more from Herrschnerrs, the only place online I could locate that colour. I had considered re-working it to become a "striped" afghan... using a different colour scheme for alternating strips... that way I could keep it a surprise still. The more I thought about it, the more I leaned towards letting Derek know, and letting him make the final decision on it. He decided that he wants it all to be in the sage colourways, so I'm ordering the additional yarn needed when I next get an email letting me know about a free shipping offer.
• The Felici socks were worked up to picking up the gusset stitches, and left at that point. As much as I love the socks, and love working with the yarn, my priorities dictated that I work on Raith's socks and other projects that were "needs" rather than "wants". They still went with me everywhere, but spent the majority of the month being shown off, rather than knitted on.

What got finished?

• Raith's socks. I finished the first sock on the 26th or 27th I think (checked my tweets for a guesstimate), and of course immediately cast on the second. That one was finished on Sunday (2-3 days), which seems to be quite typical of my second socks... what the first one takes in weeks, the second one is done in days!
• Derek's travelling slippers. Derek travelling means new slippers... this is a tradition born of necessity for over 10 years now. I wasn't up to making him slippers when he originally left in December, and as it turns out, it was a false start anyway. I had him pick out a ball of yarn from my "scraps" bin the day before he left and whipped them up in time for him to get them in his luggage before we went to bed that night. 

What's in progress?

• Derek's denim work socks. I cast these on right after finishing Raith's socks on Sunday. I've been meaning to get some more socks done for him, but haven't since I nearly killed my hands doing two pairs back-to-back for his b-day/ our anniversary in June last year. One of his pairs of socks is about to blow out, and I forced myself to buy 2 pairs worth of Tuffy when I was in Winnipeg dropping him off last week. When I got home and tried to put the yarn away in the bin Derek and I had bought for worsted wools, it wouldn't all fit! I did go out and buy another, larger bin, but at the same time I went hunting for the 2 hanks of Tuffy I had balled up back in the summer. As of this writing, I am FLYING through the first sock. I got the stripes done Sunday before bed, the leg done Monday, the heel flap/ turn done and gusset picked up before I went to knit night last night. For whatever reason, my fingers flew while I was there, and I'm now nearly at the toe. I fully expect to be grafting the toe tonight! It would be nice to have them waiting for Derek when he gets home next Wednesday.
• Raith's slippers. These were also started on Sunday. I have been facing my ever-growing queue, and am seeing the list loom over me like the Sword of Damocles. Derek wants to go into Winnipeg for the weekend later this month, so I need to have the entire order he placed from the fall complete by that time. This pair of slippers, and one more is all that is left. These slippers would have been sewn up last night, but yesterday morning I ran out of yarn a few rows away from the second tongue being finished. It was a "Maxwell Smart" moment... "I missed it by that much!" I knew the yarn was well over 6 years old, since it was wound into a regular ball of yarn and I've been doing centre-pull balls by hand for at least that long. I was guessing at what yarn it was when I created the Rav entry, but when I got to the end of the ball, I discovered that I had wrapped the ball around the yarn label. Thanks to having my stash so well documented on Ravelry, I was able to find out that not only did I have 2 full balls of this exact yarn in my stash (and in which bin), but one of them was the same date code of "No Dye Lot" yarn as what I had been using! (2002 by the way!) Rebecca waited over 6 hours, and didn't go get the ball for me until just before I left for knit night, so the tongue wasn't completed, and I couldn't sew them up there like I had originally planned.

What about my other goals?

• Releasing a pattern a month: I didn't get a pattern released... in fact I didn't really work on any designs this month at all. I did, however, submit an existing (but unreleased) pattern to the KP-IDP for consideration. I do have the Gumdrop Placemat Set dug out of the craft room, and here in the living room with me so that I will get the last of the samples finished, photographed, and can release the pattern.
• Continue listing everything on Ravelry: This is an on-going process. I have been very vigilant about making sure that each new purchase is listed in my Ravelry databases. I am also tracking yardage of how much I buy... in the hopes that I will use more than what I bring in this year. A small amount of stash from the "front room" was brought in for me to catalogue, but I haven't made a huge effort in that direction this month.
• Promoting myself more: I didn't do as much of this as I had intended to, but I still did more than what I have been doing. I have added a few more patterns to my Facebook page, I have registered at Craftsy (but haven't listed anything there yet), and have been tweeting a little more often. I have continued to be active on Ravelry, but not in a promotional sense. I am trying to make blogging and tweeting more of a habit... we shall see if I'm more regular with that in February than I was in January!
• Stash and craft room reorganization: This particular goal got little more than "a lick and a promise" this past month. I made small, baby steps in a few things, but most importantly, I didn't make any backwards steps. 

All in all, I have to say this was a pretty successful month as far as progress goes... just look at the yarn meters on the left column! No, I didn't achieve the goals I had set for myself, but I didn't give up either. I kept going, kept trying, kept making progress. Since last night was knit night, I will do my February goals post tomorrow. I will also need to do a progress/ FO photo post in the next couple of days. I have linked to my Ravelry project pages for those of you that are interested and taking a look at the details. I have them shared publicly, so you don't need a Ravelry account or to sign in to view them. 

The little swatch that could!

Yesterday I was talking about my swatch, and here it is:

This is the third one I did, and is the correct stitch count per inch at long last! I slogged through the rest of the collar and got started on the body. I only did a couple rows of the body, enough to establish the increases. Those couple of rows were enough to make it easier going now that I'm using the larger needle size. 3.5mm needles and worsted/ aran weight yarn don't mix all that well, no matter how good your needles are! I'm not sure how much I will get done on this daily... I'm sorta aiming for around 10 rows, but since it will be over 300 stitches at the underarm before dividing for the sleeves, that number is definitely negotiable! I'm taking this project and Raith's socks with me on the drive to the airport, so I will have 3 solid hours of knitting time, and possibly more if I wait with Derek for his flight!

I want this project to be one of my "mindless" ones, which means that I don't really have to think. Follow the directions on the pattern, and "just do it"! I like these kinds of projects for the break from the brain-busting that some of my designing does. It's a treat to be able to just sit and knit and not have to think about what I'm doing, how I'm doing it, and getting it written down in a way that resembles English. It's relaxing and soothing in a way that is hard to describe. I enjoy designing... I really do, but I also like to zone-out and feel the rythym of the stitches being formed by my fingers. All that being said, I am changing the type of increases that the pattern calls for. It calls for all eight increases to be standard m1 increases. While this type will serve the purpose, I really prefer to have mirrored increases, especially in a place as visible as a raglan sleeve. The increases I do are a type of lifted increase that I saw in a book once, and they give it a very nice look IMO. They don't take any more time, and I do them without really thinking about it anyway... kind of like how I do a ssk for any decrease paired with a k2tog, or a sl1 k2tog psso for any centred double decrease.

In unrelated news, I found the other missing pattern for my UFO afghan. I was searching around Ravelry a bit when I remembered a printed pattern I had found in the craft room by "SAG55". Searched a little bit more, and found the pattern I wanted on the Internet Archive. It's called Basketweave Afghan, and I remember it being a completely brainless project. It was my "bus project" for some time until it basically out-grew the shopping bag I carried it in. When I was looking at it, I guess-timated it to be around 50% done, and that's how I've entered it into my projects page. I also entered Derek's Popcorn MAM into my projects, but that pattern isn't linked in Ravelry either. I get started on that one Wednesday night!


Nicole =o)

Facing it... and avoiding it...

Anybody who knows me, knows that I find different ways of avoiding things when I can. When I'm very stressed out about something, especially something that's out of my control, I tend to "escape" and typically that's into my video games mostly. It's the easiest way for me to occupy my brain with something brainless. That's why I was playing my games like nuts on Facebook Friday night... keeping my mind off of our loss.

During the day I did a ton of searching and such for my queue, and project plans for next year. It was a great way to focus my attention away from what was going on around me, and getting something accomplished as well. If you go back through my blog archives, you will find that quite frequently, my "avoidance days" are often my most productive days... just in other things!

So just what did I manage to accomplish?

Firstly, I discovered that any search for a cardigan pattern on Ravelry can not include "free" patterns unless you have about 4 days to go through all of the possibilities! I narrowed my search parameters to just what I already have in my vast library. With the selection of a few criteria, my choices were now down to just over 250 (from the well over 3000 when I included "free"!). This was a much more manageable list to go through. All of the ones that interested me enough, I added to my Ravelry favourites listing, along with a few keywords to help me sort through them later. After a few hours were spent on that, the 250-ish was down to about 30 realistic options. I tend to keep very few things saved in my queue and favourites, mainly using them for a "true" listing of what I want to make. Next, I went through the remaining patterns, and refined it all... adding yarn, size info; suitable Knit Picks yarn choices and the like. I ended up adding 5 (I think) of these to my queue, leaving the remainder in my favourites for the time being.

I am extremely serious about becoming more focussed in my projects this coming year. I want a sweater a month, a shawl a month, a design a month, a pair of socks a month, and an afghan a month! Those are pretty lofty goals, but since I already have some of these in progress, and the design can go hand-in-hand with one of the other categories, it isn't completely out of my reach. Now that I had quite a few sweaters and shawls in my queue, the next order of business was to get it all sorted. I added the tag "2012plan" to the projects I wanted to concentrate on the most... the sweaters and shawls... many in kit form just waiting for me to start them. After a lot of fiddling around with project order, and tags, and what still needed yarn to be purchased, I now had a game plan for most the first six months of 2012.

Nicole's Project Plan - January-June 2012

• January - Sweater: Tweed Cardigan (Mary Maxim kit); Shawl: finishing the Denise design; Afghan: finishing Derek's Popcorn MAM; Socks: finishing my Felici socks (Caprica colourway).
• February - Sweater: Melissa's Cute Knit Cardigan (Mary Maxim pattern/ Bravo yarn); Shawl: Diatom Shawl (Knit Picks kit, purples colourway); Afghan: finishing the Melissa design; Socks: finishing the Texaco design.
• March - Sweater: February Lady (Swish in Lemongrass or Swish Tonal in Kindling, which needs to be purchased); Shawl: Wandering Lace Wrap (Mary Maxim kit, Wood Rose colourway).
• April - Sweater: Melissa's Girl's Lacy Cardigan (Red Heart Soft, fuchsia colourway); Shawl: Season's Shawl (Knit Picks kit, fall/winter colourway).
• May - Sweater: In the Green (Bernat Cool Crochet, Tie Dye Shades colourway); Shawl: Nightsongs (Alpaca Silk, lavender colourway).
• June - Sweater: Primrose Path Cardigan (unknown yarn bag of mill ends, or Knit Picks CotLin, or Knit Picks City Tweed DK which would need to be purchased); Shawl: Chinook (Knit Picks kit, neutrals colourway).

I realize that I haven't planned afghans or socks for March and beyond. I have the rose-coloured afghan, and Wayne's afghan to finish, as well as a new design that's intended for Alex that I need to work on a bit and see if it will be accepted into the KP-IDP. I also have several other UFO/ WIPs in various states of completion. When it comes to socks, I'm never at a loss for projects! Derek is in desperate need of work socks, and I have several designs that need finishing up. As the end of February draws near, or I complete my January/ February goals, I can then decide what projects to spend my time on next.

Since beginning quilting and starting to sew again are also goals of mine for this next year, I am strongly considering creating a weekly plan... this day is for sewing... that day is for afghans... this day is for sweaters... you get the idea. I won't be able to purchase any of the quilting and sewing supplies I want/ need until the end of the month at the earliest, so whatever day I choose for sewing will be a "craft room organization day" for the time being. Sundays used to be for end-weaving, and that's what I want to do again... weaving in ends, and other project finishing details including photography. Monday is traditionally my "heavy cleaning" day, so working on the craft room fits in well there. That leaves me five more days to "assign", and I can work on that once the kids go back to school on the 9th (or is it the 10th). By that time Derek will be gone too, so I should have a couple of weeks to work on this "system". Fingers crossed that I can have that all sorted by the end of the month.

Wish me luck... oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


Nicole =o)

Decisions need to be made.

I'm sitting here looking at my Ravelry entries -- projects (WIPs and hibernating) as well as my queue. To add to that, a new Mary Maxim catalogue came in the mail yesterday with a ton of new kits for once, and many of them are quite tempting. In my last post, I talked about my resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. Now comes the time where I need to face those goals and decide what I will be focusing my energy on next.

I have way too many things on the go right now to be very productive at any of them, so the first order of business is to address the number of WIPs I have, plus what I have lined up to work on next. My WIP listing on Rav shows (in current order): Raith's Wild Socks; Nearly Instant Gratification Socks; Denise Shawl; Texaco; Neecie's Monster Ghan; and Melissa's Afghan. My hibernating listing on Rav shows 14 projects, but the 2 afghans I found in the yarn bombing last month aren't even there, and Wayne's Afghan is still in my queue! The ones I want to complete the most, plus are relatively easy to locate are: My Prize Cardi; Alex's Scarf; the rose-coloured afghan; Derek's Popcorn MAM; and Wayne's afghan. My queue listing on Rav is now at 41, and that means it's on 2 pages (30 per page in thumbnail view). I prefer that view because I can easily adjust the order of my projects, however the two pages makes it more difficult, and a little overwhelming for me. There is a wide variety of projects listed, some are commissioned, some are kits, some are WIMs with all supplies available, some are WIMs where I still need to purchase or assign yarn, and yet others are patterns that I would really like to make.

Addressing my priorities:

• Neecie's Monsterghan - This project is actually finished, but still needs to be laundered and have final photography done. That is mostly incidental, and can be done a day or so before delivery with the other commissioned items.
• Raith's Wild Socks - I am on the foot of the first one, and since these are commissioned, they have to be done in a timely manner. I would have to say that this project is my first priority.
• 2 pairs of slippers - These are in my queue, and are commissioned projects; this makes them a high priority as well. Luckily I can crochet a pair in about an evening, and the only thing that will really take any time is the  stash diving for acrylic yarn.

My commissioned items have to come before anything else. I have had these orders since September and they need to be filled. They are all going to the same customer, and I have been communicating with them on the progress, so the time it's taking isn't an issue at all. It's simply that I want to be working on other items, so I want to have these out of the way.

Addressing my goals:

Even though my list seems overwhelming, I do have a lot I'd like to accomplish each month. If I take it step-by-step, especially with how many things I already have in progress, I think a great deal of it is doable, for 6 months at least.

• Pattern release - The Gumdrop Placemat and Coaster Set, and 2 sock patterns are nearly ready for release. I have been procrastinating heavily on the finishing touches, and really need to get these out of the way. This can clear my slate somewhat for other patterns that need more than a spit and polish.
• Sweater or shawl - As much as I'd love to finish one of each, I can't honestly see that happening until I get some of my "backlog" (particularly 50%+ finished afghans) out of the way. I'm leaning towards the Tweed Cardigan kit for January's potential FO. It's a fairly simple pattern, and I could really use a nice, casual cardigan. I have the Denise shawl to work on if I have a craving for lace during the month, and can finish it in February.

The rest of the goals I listed previously are all on-going things... mainly keeping up with what I'm already addressing, and not really a goal-of-the-month. I want/ need to clear out several of my UFOs, and the first one I want to finish is the Popcorn MAM for Derek. I also have several socks on the go, and more I need to make (especially work socks for Derek). Right now I'm thinking that finishing an afghan and a pair of socks per month is possible, as strange as it sounds. I have so many afghans on the go, that picking one to concentrate on won't be difficult at all.


Nicole =o)

What the hell?!?

No, this isn't a late April Fool's joke... it's really me!!! I know it's been a long hiatus, even for me, but it's good to be back. One of the main reasons I haven't been around is because I had lost my internet access for 2 months. It was quite difficult surviving without any contact with my friends at all since I'm so isolated out here! Oh well... what's past is past! Let's get on with some progress info! I want to get this posted, so pics will have to follow... there are a few pictures in my Flickr though, as well as all of the project info in my Ravelry notebook.

These are the projects I can remember finishing since I was last on Blogger:
Lissa's garter rib scarf is done! Even with the couple of errors in the pattern, it worked out well. I've heard through the grapvine that many of the patterns in Magknits have problems with errors that are never fixed. I find this disenheartening since one of the patterns in my Ravelry queue is a cool looking pair of socks from there.

Rebecca's snake scarf is done. I remember having a few difficulties with this pattern as well, and was quite disappointed since I had just gotten over the troubles with Lissa's scarf. Overall I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Derek's work socks are also finally complete! This is the same pair that I cast on right after finishing Henry's back in October. They were put on the backburner while I worked on winter items, and were finally picked back up and finished in late March. I won't be starting any new work socks for him for a little while. Only working on these socks during breaks at my jobs made this a *very* long project to complete.

My blue stole was finished over this last weekend. When I went to update my sidebars, I realized that I hadn't even added it!!! I started this shawl well over 2 years ago... before Camille's had even closed! Derek and I were at Michael's, and he helped me choose the pattern as well as the yarn. I had cast it on, and had gotten about one ball into the project when I put it aside. The last time I can recall working on it prior to the last little while was when I was in Thompson 2 years ago this June!

I've got two new projects on the needles currently:
My Step socks. I'm making myself a pair of generic stockinette socks out of a ball of Austermann Step that I bought last year in Calgary. When I first started them on 2.0 mm dpns, I found the yarn to be horribly splitty. I restarted them on 2.25s with much better results. I did have to increase my usual number of cast on stitches, but the sock is still working up fast. As of this writing, I am just coming up on the heel flap and turn.

My Mystic Ocean shawl. I have finally started the Mystic Waters KAL shawl. This KAL was actually held in the fall, but I had neither the time, nor the supplies to do it then. When we took a recent trip to Winnipeg, I picked up some Estelle Watercolours and an Addi Lace needle to complete this shawl. The colourway I chose screamed "Green Ocean" to me, so it was the perfect choice for my project. As of this writing I'm nearly complete the second of eight charts... Row 95-ish of about 350-ish.

With the weather warming up outside, I have been able to knit during my coffee breaks at both jobs, not just lunch breaks, so that really helped in getting Derek's socks done, as well as the amazing progress on my Step socks already. My shawl is my computer/ living room project, and is going quite well even though I'm left with a halo of mohair fuzz all over my clothes every time I work on it! Even though I have Alex's hoodie listed as a WIP on my sidebar, it's currently actually a UFO. I need to find the pattern yet again!!! I'm finding that concentrating on just one project at home, and one travelling project is currently the best use of my knitting time.

WTH?? Where's Nicole???

It's been a tumultuous time for me lately. I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty of the details, but suffice it to say that things have finally started to turn around for us. With all that turmoil over {or nearly so}, I've been able to get back to thinking about myself and what I'd like to accomplish. Part of this is also blogging again. I've joined a multitude of groups and "alongs" to try and get myself motivated, as well as follow a few of my interests. Now what I need to do is sit down and actually establish realistic goals for myself, that includes taking care of the house as well as my projects and stash. Of course, this will all need to fit into my typically harried lifestyle/ work schedule. I will post my goals for the month on the first day of the month, and I will start draft posts for the end of each month to upload on the last day to hold myself accountable for those goals.

My stash: This needs serious reduction in the worst way. Part of that will require actually inventorying it so that I know what's there, and can congratulate myself accordingly when milestones/ goals are met. I want to have an inventory listed in Ravelry of what's currently inside my craft room by the end of January. I think that's realistic considering just *how* much yarn there is in there. As an added bonus, it will help organize the room better. Once I know where I'm at, then I can start setting goals towards working through it.

My current projects: I have more projects on the go right now than I possibly know what to do with. I've been trying quite hard to focus on one project at a time more lately, but I have yet to make any *real* difference in my amount of WIPs/ UFOs. I am progressing faster on individual projects since I'm not switching back and forth constantly, but I am still finding the lack of FOs to be discouraging. I need to figure out what to do about this.

My wish list of projects: I have several shawls that I would like to make in the new year, as well as a few a-month groups that I've joined. I'll need to find a place to organize all that, as well as set goals so that I'm not overwhelmed with WIPs. In the case of shawls, I want to finish my Snowdrop shawl, and then start on my Mystic Waters shawl.

Photographic proof & accountability: I am seriously behind in taking FO and stash shots. I want to have all of my FOs photographed by the end of the year, and all stash photographed as it is logged into Ravelry. Part of this will also be making sure that my sidebars in here in Blogger are up-to-date.

My home: Between insane work schedules and a serious case of the I-don't-give-a-damn's, my home has been seriously neglected. I have decluttering, redecorating, and yard/ garden plans that I'd like to institute here. I intend to start this by decluttering the living room, dining room, and kitchen, as well as redecorating them. I have already made many of my redecorating decisions, it's just a matter of budgetting them to make them a reality.

---

In closing, I just want to {re}state my goals for the month of December.

1. Photographs of all FOs listed in Ravelry.
2. Blog sidebars completely up-to-date.
3. Decide on first three projects to focus on as of January 1st.
4. All a-long's and a-month's listed *somewhere*.
5. Computer desk and bookcase in living room completely decluttered.

What *did* I accomplish?

Other than teaching my kids a few new curse words that were directed at my craptastic ISP over the last few days, I did manage a few productive things as well!

I got the table topper blocked and photographed... the pictures will follow in a day or so.
I made a between-projects dishcloth... part of my 10 dishcloths challenge.
I got nearly 2 full 2-pattern repeats done on the snowdrop shawl... status pic to follow in a day or so.
I got the heel flap, heel turn, and gusset picked up on the Tofu socks.
I got the ribbing done on Sheri's sock so that it's now a mindless knitting project.
I got 3 repeats of my sock design pattern done.
I frogged a cardigan I'd started for Lissa, and got the yarn balled up.
I frogged a pullover for Alex and restarted it in the round.
I cleaned out the inside of my computer and partially set it up in my craft room.
I located more of the "Lissa stash", and 2 different camo yarns for projects to work on while I teach knitting to a co-worker.

I still haven't decided what I'll be working on as my 3 projects... I will probably have to make it either 4 or 5, since I'll have 2 different ones going at work. Stay tuned!

And we're off!!!

Today is the first day of NaBloPoMo, and as you can see in my sidebar, I've joined this year. I'm looking forward to the challenge of posting on a daily basis since my Internet connection seems to be dicey at times. I have a couple of projects that I'm looking forward to showcasing this month, and hope that all of you reading will enjoy the frequent updates.

The main portion of my crafting efforts right this moment are going on to a doily that I had originally started when I was back in Calgary. It's called "Crocus Doily", and the pattern is available free on the Coats site here. I bought two balls of DMC Traditions in an ecru, and a suitably sized hook. Unfortunately, it was a Bates hook, and I really prefer to use a Boye. Fast forward to two days ago, and I have pulled this UFO out of its personal dungeon. I was on the 8th round of 25, and just wasn't happy with it. Since I had decided to change hooks to one that I was more comfortable with, I let Alex have a blast and frog the whole thing for me! I restarted it on a 1.9 mm Boye, and the resulting fabric seems so much nicer than my first attempt. I got all the frogged thread recrocheted that day, and have barely stopped since! I'm now on round 17, and I think that I just may have it done before I go back to work Friday night! The pattern says the finished size is 23", and if that's correct, this doily/ table topper may end up on one of our endtables in the living room. The only problem with that is that I would then want to make a matching one for the other table. This causes problems for me on several fronts. 1) I generally never make a pattern more than once; 2) This pattern isn't worded the best, and I need to translate nearly every round's instruction into something that makes sense to me; 3) The pattern calls for a ball and a half of the thread that I'm using, and I don't think I'll be able to get the same dyelot here, so that means I'd need to buy 2 more balls of it, leaving half a ball of leftovers of each lot.

I'll probably make the final decision on this after I've finished and blocked this one. In the meantime does anyone have any suggestions? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller???

And now as promised... PICTURES!!!

Yes! I've actually got the photographic proof that I've been accomplishing something around here. The only thing that didn't make it into this shoot was my new sock design. I'm going to keep that under wraps for the moment. I've uploaded blog-sized photos here, but if you are interested in seeing the larger versions, you can view them on my Flickr account. I also have some recent family shots added there as well.

Here's the finished photo of the socks I made for Derek's boss as a thank you for all the help and such they've given us. I hope he likes them! I even included a little card titled: "The Care and Feeding of your Hand-Knit Socks"!


Here's where I currently am with my first laceweight project, Steph's "Snowdrop Lace Shawl" done in Clea on 4 mm needles.


This is the current state of my blue shawl. It's around 16" and I've used up 2 balls of Patons Glittallic on it so far. Derek chose the yarn and the pattern, so I'm looking forward to finishing this one.

2 balls down... ? to go???

I've been nursing my *illness* today mainly by knitting away on stuff. I've just finished the second ball of Patons Glittallic in my "Blue Stole". I have no idea how much of this stuff I still have lying around, but I'm guesstimating that there's at least 8 in total since the original pattern called for 6. It's going to be very nice once completed, and will actually be useful somewhat.

I've also done the first lace repeat of my new sock design, and did a repeat on my snowdrop shawl. I didn't get any pictures taken because I didn't feel up to going outside for a photo shoot, but I did get my template updated a bit to reflect my recent progress.

Lace, lace, and more lace!!!

My snowdrop shawl is slowly progressing, and I've rescued another shawl from the UFO pile.

The rescued shawl is wide stole done in a diamond stitch with Patons Glittalic. I started it before I found Rams, so I'd guesstimate the yarn was bought around 2 years ago. I've gotten about two repeats done on it this weekend, and I'll keep working on it until I stop finding balls of the Glittalic lying around!!!

I'm working on my intital snowdrop lace repeat. It seems to be going okay, but I still think that the lace made out of laceweight thread looks like a bunch of barf! I'm just going to have to trust that it will block out nicely! I'll have new pictures of it up soon.

I stopped in at the LYS in Brandon yesterday. I was thrilled to find out that she's usually open long before her posted 9:30 am, which is good news to me. I picked up a set of Addi bamboos to try out and ordered an Addi lace needle to try on this shawl. I hope it doesn't take too long to come in, and I am really looking forward to seeing how they compare to the Turbos. We discussed my wants/needs for laceweight and came to the decision that we'll order in Fleece Artist for me when I have a pattern in front of me. She doesn't normally stock laceweight, and the one line that she can get in easily is extremely pricey for me... around $25 for under 400 yards. I would have gone for it if it was about 800 yards, but ordering $75 worth of laceweight for one project simply isn't doable right now.

A shawl is born!!!

I'm waiting until there's good light to take a picture, but I had to announce that Princess Lissa has a completed shawl at long last! I finished it off this afternoon, and will be fighting to get a higher resolution photo of the completed shawl up in the next day or so. It ended up being about 32" from tip to tip across the neck, 22" from middle back to the point, and 42" from tip to point on either side. It *is* a bit big for her tiny body, but she should get a couple of years wear out of it before it's too small to be useful.

A little dab will do ya!

Well the last few days have been a little bit of this, and a little bit of that... the sum total of which is actual progress!!!

I've been knitting mostly on Lissa's shawl. I've finished off the first ball of yarn, and am now well into the second. It's now measuring around 34" across the top. I've decided to work on that rather than her sweater until it's done. At this rate, that should only be a few days. My goal is to have it done before my weekend ends.

My other accomplishment this "week" has been completing my Tofu sock #1, and starting the second sock. Since I have at-home projects that I'm focussing on, this will be mainly done as an at-work project. I'm looking forward to having another finished pair of socks soon!

You oughta be in pictures!!! Part Three

In this installment I bring you Lissa's shawl!


This is the overall view of her shawl in progress. From middle back to the outer edge is about 11" at this point. I haven't decided on final length yet as I'm about halfway through the first ball of yarn for this project.


A closer view of the Cat's Paw pattern that I'm using for her shawl. I think it adds just the right touch for a little girl's shawl.

Pause, regroup, continue.

I was sooo thrilled yesterday about Lissa's sweater that it was devastating when I had to stop cold after finishing up the sewing. Alas, I could only find 3 of my 6.5 mm dpns, and since I would need at least 4, I couldn't do the other sleeve cuff. Then I wanted to sew the buttons on so that I could decide if I wanted the fur trim on the button band, and only 2 kitten buttons were to be found! I *know* that I bought at *least* three different sets of at least 4 buttons for this sweater, but they are all obviously in a safe place. The sweater is now on the side of Derek's computer desk until I can buy another set of dpns and some buttons on Saturday morning at work.

After that disaster, I created another one by hunting for Lissa's shawl. I *knew* that I had been working on it in Calgary, so it wouldn't have been *too* badly buried, and should be in a box that I could at least identify as me having packed it. I tore through our bedroom, as the shawl was last in our bedroom in Winnipeg... no luck. Next stop of course is the craft room. After a bit of digging around, I had a brain wave... yes, that's scary I know, but I digress! I had a box that was still taped up that was labelled "shawls"... whoodathunkit??? Yup, the shawl, the pattern, *and* the other ball of yarn for it were all in a bag in the box. YAY!!! I'm knitting away on that now and have my fingers crossed that I'll have this done soon... that will mean *another* search and destroy mission when I go hunting for the yarn and pattern for the Snowdrop shawl I'm making next on these needles!!!

HOLY CRAP!!! IT FITS!!!

Yes... I realize I'm using all caps... I'm YELLING!!! I can't yell it loud enough!!! It's gonna fit!!! Well actually, it's more of a "Thank God I made it a size 4 instead of 2" kind of moment, but I'll take what I can get. What in the world is she talking about are you wondering??? I'm talking about Lissa's long-forgotten Dot Stitch Cardigan. The original posts about it are on the May 2006 archives. I haven't done more than look inside the bag since coming back from Thompson in June 2006, so it's wonderful that Lissa will still be able to get some use out of this cute sweater.

I hauled it out of my room this afternoon after I got the gusset stitches picked up on the Boss Socks. Inside the bag were the parts of the sweater, the pattern, and a partial skien of Fun Fur. After trying it on Lissa, I looked over the pattern and what I had to see whether or not this was doable... and it is!!! I'm currently sewing the second sleeve in, and will work on ends before hunting down what I need. I'm probably going to undo the cast off on the other sleeve cuff as it's kind of snug. I will do that at the same time as I knit the cuff on this sleeve. The fun fur fabric really stretches, so I want to cast them off with a larger needle. I also need to decide if I am going to do the trim along the side of the front edge or not as well. After that it's simply a matter of finding the buttons and sewing them on.

One weekend knitting goal met!!!

I set myself quite a few goals to get done on my weekend, and the first of the knitting goals has been met... the heel turn has been done on the Boss Work Socks, and gusset stitches picked up. Now I need to go find the two Lissa UFOs and assess what needs to be done there. GO ME!!!

What's a woman to do???

I'm having trouble trying to decide what to do, and what to work on. Don't we all seem to have that problem from time to time? I have a couple of projects that have been hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles and I still can't seem to get moving on them.

Two of my most troubling ones {at this moment in time} are for Lissa. The first is a really cute cardigan with a "fur" collar that I started well over a year ago. I knit up 95% of it really quick, and the finishing of it has been stagnating ever since. I don't think I've even touched it since I was in Thompson... if you look back to my May or June archives in 2006, I'm pretty sure I have pics of it there since I was indecisive about which buttons to use for it. I think it would take me about 2-3 days devoted to it to finish it, but I would have to evaluate it first.

The second is a shawl that I *had* wanted to finish for Lissa over a little more than a week. It was to be for her to wear to the kid's Christmas party for Derek's work. {If you are on my MSN list, you can see what she *did* wear as my avatar} At that time, the goal seemed quite attainable, but as life tends to do, it got in the way. The reason story I'm sticking to is that right after starting it, I was sent to do the Portage la Prairie store set-up, and the 3 hours of driving time every day cut into my home-knitting time too much. Since putting it down right after the party, I've only picked it up a few times to work maybe a repeat or three of the pattern. If I'm not in one of the cat's paw rows, it's a mindless knit, and I really should get working on it. What gets me, is that I've promised myself that I won't buy another 4.5 mm Addi to start a shawl for me... I *have* to finish this, since putting the shawl on waste yarn to rescue the needle will doom this shawl to UFO status permanently.

Do any of you get like this? Do any of you have any suggestions for me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?