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)

The light at the end of the tunnel...

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and for once I'm certain that it's not a train coming towards me!!! I've been working fast and furious on my Mystic Ocean shawl over the last few weeks. If you are on Ravelry, check out my project page for this shawl! This time I linked the progress photos directly to the larger images available on my Flickr photostream.


6 days work from the previous status shot, and I've got another clue done! This chart gets the length of the shawl to 226 rows total. It feels like it will never end!!! You can finally start to see what the finished pattern will look like, and I'm very impressed with how it is turning out.



The morning that Derek left for Edmonton, I finished the 4th clue. I finally got a really nice photo in natural light for the last clue, so I made sure that I did it again for this one. The shawl is measuring over 5 feet across at this point, and I'm working on my 5th ball of yarn.


Somehow I managed to get 32 rows knitted in just over 3 days! I am really picking up speed even though each row is nearly 300 stitches!!! I just want to get this shawl done and blocked! I am beginning to worry about having enough yarn to finish up with. The pattern called for 1200 metres, and I started the 6th ball half-way through this chart. I have 4 *spare* balls of it, so I have my fingers crossed that it will be enough. I have 3 more sections to do, so it will be close! Wish me luck!

Moving right along!

Yes... Mystic Ocean is moving right along. The current is strong and swift, and with a little bit of luck, this journey will be complete no later than the end of May! Larger images of these photos are available at my Flickr Photostream, as well as more details of this project in my Ravelry notebook. The pattern I am using is Mystic Waters, and was designed by Anna Dalvi at knitandknag, as a mystery KAL in late 2007. I have named my version Mystic Ocean since the blue-green colour makes me think of the ocean, and it fits in with the theme of the element of water!

The yarn is Estelle Watercolours in a blue/green colourway {#21} that I bought at Ram Wools during the trip to Winnipeg that Derek and I recently took. It's a 50/50 mohair/acrylic blend, and is really nice to work with for a fuzzy yarn. Each 50g ball has approximately 160m, so according to the pattern, I need about 6 balls. To make things easier, I bought the entire bag of 10... I have to admit that the 50% price tag of $2.99 a ball made that decision a lot easier!!!

It took me about 2 days {including frogging my first attempt!} to get the first chart done. Derek was thoroughly impressed with how nice it was turning out even then. Just 60 rows of knitting so far, and I was quite pleased myself!

A couple of days later, I had the second chart complete, which was also signalled the end of the first clue. I was now 130 rows in, with no looking back... well except at the chart for the previous row so that I could make sure my stitches were in the right place of course! The top edge stretched out would be about 36" at this point, as I had a few stitches fall off of my needle as this picture was taken! The design is now quite evident in the project, and I need to find a way to stretch it more for my progress photos since the variegation in the yarn doesn't hide the stitch pattern.

Another week, and another clue done! Working really cuts into the knitting time, and each charted row takes about 10 minutes to knit. Completing chart C makes the shawl 184 rows long, with a stitch count of 188 stitches. I tried to stretch this out more, but need a better background so that you can see the openwork more clearly. The larger photo at Flickr shows the detail a bit better. The top edge is now at least 60" when stretched. I used two of my 32" circs to display it for the picture, and I could have pulled it out further. With around 200ish more rows to go, it will be HUGE once complete!

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.

Lace Knitting... *sigh*

Lace and shawls are my main draw these days. In 2007 it was socks, and in 2008 it will be lace!


So far I've been very good {I think!}. I have only started one shawl so far, and that's my version of Stephanie's Snowdrop Shawl. I'm currently waiting for a lace needle to try out on it so that I can decide if I want to invest in a few more for future projects. The next project I want to do is Mystic Waters. I was a part of the Yahoo and Ravelry groups for this shawl, and now that the KAL is done, the FO is stunning and a definite must-do. Seraphina's shawl is done out of worsted weight yarn, so I am going to fit that one in there once my afghan is completed.


These are the lace-related groups that I belong to on Ravelry:

2KLace: This is a group that I hope will motivate me to complete the lace project(s) I am currently working on, as well as the ones I am planning to do.

Juno-Regina Along: An a-long created to knit Juno-Regina from Knitty as a group.

Lace Knitters: Another group to help motivate me... more in the way of help understanding and figuring out what I'm doing.

Laceapalooza: A group similar to Lace Knitters.

Muir-along: An a-long created to knit Muir from Knitty as a group.

Secret of Bad Nauheim: A mystery KAL by the designer of Chrysopolis.

Secret of the Stole ii: The 2nd SOTS KAL.

Seraphina's Shawl: A group devoted to those who want to knit, are knitting, or have knit this pattern.

Spring Shawl Surprise: Another mystery shawl KAL.

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!

It's done, done, done!!!

Yes!!! The three-day table topper is officially finished! I did the last few stitches on it when I got home from work this morning, wove in the ends, and washed it. As soon as I'm done this post, I'll be blocking it out and then going to bed. I'll get pictures of it up tomorrow probably. I won't be making a matching one after all... we don't carry the DMC Traditions at this store... that makes *that* decision a little easier!!!

Derek went digging in the store yesterday and found all kinds of goodies for me! I now have the power cord to one of my sewing machines, so I can finally get started on a bit of that! He also found a bag with a few balls of sock yarn in it... why wasn't that in my sock yarn bin? In any case, that's giving me the motivation to finally post some more of my stash on Ravelry.

I've started the heel turn on my Tofu socks, but I don't know what I want to work on here at home now that the table topper is finished. I joined a group that has you pledge to work on only three projects at a time. Well the Tofu is one, and I can't decide on the other two since I've got about seven different projects in front of me here at the computer, all in differing stages of completion.

Here are the choices:

• Lissa's cardigan - nearly done
• Lace shawl - barely started
• Blue shawl - about 25%
• Sheri's socks - just started sock #2
• New sock design - about 4" knit of sock #1
• Derek's socks - just started sock #1
• Ripple ghan - 25%-ish

What do you think my choices for #2, and #3 should be? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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.

The Year of the Shawl

2007 has certainly turned out to be the year of the sock for me! 18 pairs so far and still counting. I've joined a few shawl groups, and have decided that 2008 will be the year of the shawl for me. I'm kicking this off by casting on my Snowdrop Shawl today {picture below}. I've got it listed in my projects on Ravelry, and have a larger picture linked there from my Flickr. The thread is Clea 1000 that I bought at Ram Wools during their January sale, and I'm using 4.0 mm needles for it. Just from the cast on I can see the truism about knitted lace... it *does* look like shit!!! I know it will block out nice, and I have some hopes for this shawl that I'm knitting into it. I'm hoping to make this project one of my "storylines" for NaBloPoMo as well. Wish me luck!

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.