NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 1

So I am taking the plunge and will attempt to post each and every day in November as part of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) 2017!!  I participated in 2015 and posted times only a few times.  I participated again in 2017 and posted 28 times - I only missed two days and labeled it a success!  I am aiming to post all 30 days in November!

This year I plan to write about crafting - knitting, crochet, designing, quilting, cross stitch, some drawing and other artistic endeavors, bullet journaling, and maybe some card making.  I have a little over a week off work this month for Thanksgiving and plan to do some major sorting of all the excess stuff I have and also plan to have several days where I really settle down and focus on a specific project.  Once we get closer to the break I will post my list.

This morning I got ready to cast on the Sock Knitters Anonymous MOCK (Mystery Sock knit along).  The first clue is not out yet (it will be posted some time today) but I did pre-string my beads (the pattern requires the beads to be pre-strung - this is a new technique for me!).  I need to leave for work shortly so I will have ot be patient and cast on once I get home later this afternoon...  

I am also planning to participate in NaKnitMo - where I hope to knit 50,000 stitches during the month of November.  More details about this can be found here.  I will begin by adding in my stitches today once I can cast on my MOCKs.

Until tomorrow!  And I need to figure out a little banner for the top of each day's page!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 18

Hello everyone!!  Back for another week!  I had a fairly productive week although not as many pictures to show as last week!

I finished Clue Number 3 on my Mystery Shawl (from the orange marker forward):

I made some more progress on Coffee Cantata:

And I got some more done on my Vanilla Socks for John.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures - it has been dark and rainy here all day...

Hopefully next week I can show you my Mystery Shawl all completed!!  And maybe John's Vanilla socks too!  We shall see!

My page of current projects for this YOP can be found here.

To read other blogs taking part in YOP - Year 7 (or to join up yourself - it is never too late!) check out the Ravelry group over here.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 17

Hello everyone!  Back for another weekly update!  17 weeks in a row!!!  I am happy that I am keeping up with this!  I had a productive week - especially compared to last week (when we had company and had fun with them instead of crafting much).

I kept caught up with my Temperature Scarf.  This thing is going to be a monster once we get to the end of the year!  My progress since the last picture is from the orange marker forward.

I finished clue number 2 on the Mystery Shawl and got a start on Clue number 3!  This picture shows Clue Number 2.  I am really enjoying this knit although each clue is taking longer as the width of the shawl is growing!

I spent some time on John's Vanilla Socks and am happily cruising down the second foot now.

I also spent some time working on my BAMKAL and BAMCAL squares.  I finished both of the October BAMKAL squares and all my BAMCAL squares!!  I am impressed with myself at finishing all of the October squares in October!

October Main BAMKAL square:

October Alternate BAMKAL square:

October Main 12 Inch BAMCAL Square:

October 12 Inch Filler BAMCAL Square:

October 6 Inch BAMCAL Squares (made four of them):

For the next week I plan to continue working on my Mystery Shawl - the final clue comes out on Friday.  I also plan to keep up with my temperature scarf and hope to finish at least one of my two Socktober socks!

My page of current projects for this YOP can be found here.

To read other blogs taking part in YOP - Year 7 (or to join up yourself - it is never too late!) check out the Ravelry group over here.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 16

Back for another Year of Projects update!

This week we had company in from back home (Canada) and I spent more time visiting than knitting but that is fine since I did get a little bit done.

I mostly kept up with my Temperature scarf - this shows my progress (from the orange markers forward is what I did this past two weeks).  I am behind three days.

The second clue in the mystery shawl was released on Friday and I had a bit of time to work on that on Saturday but only a few rows - I'll post an update picture next week.

I also spent some time working on my Vanilla socks.  I didn't post a picture last week, but this shows my progress over the past two weeks (from the green marker forward).  I am about half way through the gusset decreasing.

I should get more done next week while after our company has gone back home (we had such a nice visit and saw all sorts of fun things!)

My page of current projects for this YOP can be found here.

To read other blogs taking part in YOP - Year 7 (or to join up yourself - it is never too late!) check out the Ravelry group over here.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 15

Week 15!  I am amazed I am keeping up with this so well!!  I have had another good week.

I kept pace with my Temperature Scarf and am now over 75% complete with that!  I am happy to see the yellows and greens showing up (instead of the reds for the hotter temperatures!)

I joined up with a group on Ravelry for Socktober with the goal of completing our single socks to make pairs.  I have three pair I plan to work on this month and will be happy if I finish two of them!  This week I did work on the two pair and made some progress on each.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me not to frog these pink cabled socks - I am finally making some progress on them!!  Heel flaps and turns are complete and one set of gusset decreasing is about one third done.

I didn't get a picture taken of the second one but I did get from have one sock complete and the second part way along the leg to the point where I am working on the gusset decreases.  I'll aim for some more pictures next week!

On Friday the first clue in a mystery shawl I joined was released so I had to cast that on!  I had dyed the yarn for this earlier in the week and have finished the first clue.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 14

And here we are for another week!!  I am amazed that I am keeping up with this every week so far this year!!  WOW!

So this week I finished my last September BAMCAL square.  I modified the 6 inch square and made it into a 12 inch square as I could not get gauge for the 6 inch.  I love the modified square I made!!  Here it is:

And since I got all caught up on my projects I was determined to catch up on I treated myself to a new cast on!  I signed up for a Selbu Mitten Club a little while back and am finally getting to casting on the first pair.  The first ones were released in the late summer, and the regular club mittens (three additional pair) are released September 1st, October 1st, and November 1st.  I cast on the first pair earlier this week and made some great progress!  I am enjoying this knit and look forward to casting on the second pair.  I was hoping to be caught up and ready to cast on the October 1st mittens on the 1st, but it didn't happen.  At least I should be able to make them in October!

The first pair of  Selbu Mittens is complete!!

My page of current projects for this YOP can be found here.

To read other blogs taking part in YOP - Year 7 (or to join up yourself - it is never too late!) check out the Ravelry group over here.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 13

Another week of progress to report although it was a busy week at school and I did not get time to craft as much as I would have liked (it looks like a lot but the crochet squares go fairy quickly!!)

I kept at it with my Temperature Scarf and am now all caught up!  This past week's progress is from the two orange markers forward.

And I kept working on my BAMCAL squares.  My original plan was to do all the squares in blues, white, and black combinations, but I am running low on most of the blues I had in stash.  So now the plan is to use the squares made in the first six months to make one afghan all in the original color scheme and for the remaining six months of the year I will use all sorts of random colors I have in my stash to make a second afghan.  July is already done in the original colors, but the rest will be mixed now with whatever I have in my stash.

Here is what I finished this past week:

My August Main 12 inch BAMCAL square:

My August Alternate 12 inch BAMCAL square:

My four August 6 inch BAMCAL squares:

My September Main 12 inch BAMCAL square (I think the brown is too dark here...):

My September Alternate 12 inch BAMCAL square:

My September 6 inch BAMCAL square was just not coming out right.  In order to keep it close to 6 inches I needed to go down to a 4mm hook - with worsted weight yarn it was killing my hands and was still coming out too large...  So I gave up on that idea and went up to my usual 5mm hook and I will turn this into another 12 inch square.  I am part way through it now and am much happier with the process and I think it will look great as a larger square!  Here is where I am at now (it will be complete later this morning).

Once I have this last September square complete I can cast on my Selbu mittens (the first design in a Selbu Mitten Club!!  We shall see how much I get done on that by next Sunday!  I'm not sure which color combination I will use for the first pair, but my choices are here:

My page of current projects for this YOP can be found here.

To read other blogs taking part in YOP - Year 7 (or to join up yourself - it is never too late!) check out the Ravelry group over here.