Eighth Year of Projects - Week 23

Welcome to my Eighth Year of Projects post for Week 23!  It is hard to believe we are almost half way through the year already!  And I think I have posted every week so far!

Life is keeping busy.  We have one more week of classes to go and then one week for final exams and then I am off until early January (I think we need to be back for an all day faculty development day on Thursday January 3rd and classes resume the following Monday).  I have my students writing their final exam on the Wednesday of finals week and plan to get the grading done up quickly and turned in.  My online class will have to turn in their final projects by the end of the day on Monday during finals week.  That allows me all day Tuesday for grading that before my other class writes on Wednesday.  If all goes according to plan I will have all my grades turned in before I go home on Wednesday!

Enough rambling about work related stuff - you are here for my weekly update aren't you??  I have made some progress on three WIPs.  I have spent some time working on my Vanilla Christmas socks and I have about an inch or two left to knit on the feet before it is time to begin the toe decreasing.  Maybe you will see a finished object next week!

I have made little progress on my Julenatt Mittens and I am falling farther behind...

I have spent most of my spare knitting time this past week working on my Advent 2018 Scarf.  I have been keeping up with this one so far mostly) and that makes me happy!  Here is my progress up to the middle of yesterday - I will finish yesterday and today later today (each marker indicates the end of a day):

I am also participating in Vlogmas where I am posting a vlog each and every day throughout the Advent season.  I may continue after the 25th, but we shall see!  Check out my Vlogmas 2018 playlist on YouTube to see my daily postings.  Here is Day 0 (posted on December 1st):

And Day 1 was posted earlier this morning:

I also posted my regular podcast yesterday:

And finally, I am participating in Holidailies where I will challenge myself to blog every day in December!  See you again soon!

Holidailies Day 1

Hello and welcome to Holidailies 2018!!  I am challenging myself to post each and every day throughout the month of December.  I am also participating in Vlogmas and will likely link several of the vlogs into the blogs...

My "theme" for the Holidailies will revolve around my knitting, vlogging, and my general activities throughout the days.  I have three Advent calendars that I will open each day until Christmas: a tea Advent calendar, a chocolate Advent calendar, and a sock yarn mini Advent calendar.

Here we go!!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 30

And we have made it through NaBloPoMo 2018!!  30 consecutive days of posting!  YAY!

I continue to keep up with my Advent Scarf. Here is my progress up to the end of today:

The next challenge I am making for myself in the month of December is two fold.

First I will be participating in Vlogmas 2018 where I will post a vlog each and every day from December 1st through December 25th.  I might continue until the end of December, but we shall see.  I will post a vlog on December 1st that will explain what my plans are.  I will film that today and will post it the morning of December 1st as Day 0.  On December 1st I will film all sorts of my activities and will post the video for Day 1 on the morning of December 2nd.  Hope this makes sense!

Second I will be participating in Holidailies 2018 where I will challenge myself to post a blog post each and every day in December!  Hopefully I will manage this as well, although December is lining up to be a busy month! 

Keep posted to see how I do on these challenges!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 29

Second last day of NaBloPoMo!!  I'm going to make it!

Yesterday I managed to continue to keep up with my Advent Scarf and have finished up Day 5 now (and am ready to work on Day 6 over a cup of tea!)  Here is the newest progress picture:

And I spent a bit of time working on my Vanilla Christmas socks last night.  They are getting closer to completion, but still have a little way to go, especially since I have large feet...

I hit my NaKnitMo goal yesterday!!  I have knit 51,286 stitches so far this month!  And I have two days left to go so I will have a few more stitches to add to the total!

It seems that my posts are getting shorter and shorter as the month progresses!  I suppose there is less to chat about when I am here every day!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 28

Only two more days after today left in my NaBloMoPo challenge!! I think I will make it this year!

Yesterday I managed to keep up with my Advent Scarf and finished Clue #4.  I'll work on Clue #5 this morning over my cup of tea before I head to work.  This evening we are at church so I will work on my Vanilla Christmas socks there.

And I finished the first cuff on my Julenatt Mittens.  The next clue came out this morning but I still have the previous clue to finish.  I suspect I may give these away as the cuff is a drop snug on my hand.  I don't have the right size needles to go up a size either. Oh well.  Here is what my cuff looks like:

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 27

Hello everyone! Another day of working and trying to squeeze a bit of crafting in!

So far today I have managed to finish the daily clue for the Advent Scarf and I will be spending some time later today working on my Julenatt Mittens.  I am hoping to finish the first two clues on at least one mitten before Clue #3 comes out tomorrow morning...  I am not sure if I will make it or not.  We are hoping to go watch the movie Ralph Breaks the Internet this evening so that will use up some of my knitting time.

Here is what my scarf looks like now at the end of day 4:

I also thought I should give you an update on my NoKnitMo challenge - my goal is to knit 50000 stitches in the month of November.  So far I have knit 46148 stitches.  It looks promising that I will hit my goal!!

Until tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 26

Almost done with NaBloPoMo 2018!  4 more days to go! 

Today's entry is short and sweet and very late!  It was back to work today...  We were out the door fairly early and are finally back home almost 12 hours later.  Not much on the crafting front was accomplished today.  All my productivity from last week was not my "normal" - it was the benefit of having time off work where I could sit at home knitting to my heart's content!  But I am back to the real world again.  Yesterday I worked on my Vanilla Christmas socks and managed to add about 5 more rounds to both feet.  I also finished up the second clue on my Advent Scarf.  Here is what the scarf looks like before I started on Clue #3 this morning (and only completed three rows this morning - I will be knitting this evening for a while!)

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2018 - Day 7

Here we are back for another day on my self-imposed WIP-it Down Week! 

Yesterday I got a goodly amount done, plus we went out and did some shopping too.  I finished the ribbing section on the two front panels of my Rowe Cardigan.  Here is what it looks like now:

And I cast on the ribbing portion of my Advent 2018 Scarf.  I think my hand dyed yarn will work out just fine!  I am excited for the new clues to begin coming out every day later this week!  Here is what the ribbing looks like:

We also went out and did some shopping yesterday.  I found a few things - a couple knitting books, some little Christmas decoration things (lights - which will probably make an appearance in my next podcast), and a laminator (found this at my local Goodwill for $4 - I have no sheets for it so I will have to wait to test it out!)

I am not 100% sure what today holds!  I am thinking I may do some sewing and work on a project bag - I just need to decide on what pattern to try!  I suspect it will be a drawstring bag with a boxed bottom.  And the first clue for Skeindeer's Mystery Mittens (Julenatt) came out earlier this morning.  I imagine I will cast those on today as well.  The second clue comes out on the weekend.  I think I may be missing the point of my WIP-it Down Week!!  hehe  Here is my yarn selection for the mystery mittens:

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 21

Today is Week 21 of the Eigth Year of Projects, NaBloPoMo Day 18, and Day 4 of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week!  Whew!!

I have had a good week crafting even though I had quite a few work commitments interfering with my crafting time!  My WIP-it Down Week began on Thursday and I have been able to give some attention to a couple languishing projects!  

I finished the sleeves on my Rowe Cardigan!  I am happy with that and now am ready to begin the two front panels.  This sweater is getting closer to completion! YAY!!  My progress this week on the sleeves is from the green marker:

I shook the dust off my Sock Scrap-ghan too!  I tucked in some tails, I sorted all my sock yarn balls into two baskets - already used in the blankie and still need to be used in the blankie - and I added three little squares.  Hopefully I can add several more squares later in the upcoming week when I devote a second day to this project. The red, brown, and blue squares are the new ones:

And I have spent some time on my Vanilla Christmas Socks.  I am now ready to pick up and do the gussets.  I usually gauge myself as around half way through a pair of socks once I begin the gusset decreasing!  My progress from last week is from the blue marker:

I also did a couple rows on Texture Time, but will wait and show a picture next week as it looks very much the same as last week!


And finally I dyed three skeins of yarn to begin the Advent Scarf 2018 pattern!  I will cake up the yarn and cast on the ribbing this week sometime this week. The regular clues will begin to appear daily on November 24th.

I also posted Episode 10 of my podcast last night!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 14

Hello!!  I had another busy day at work and today looks about the same...  Tomorrow I begin my Thanksgiving break and will be home with plenty of crafting time until we go back to school on Monday November 26th!  I plan to do a lot of knitting this upcoming 11 or 12 days!!  Plus there is a winter storm that is expected here tomorrow - a perfect excuse to stay home and indoors!  YAY!

So I did no knitting yesterday, but I did get my editing done on my WIP-it Down week intro vlog (which I will post tomorrow morning) and I dyed some yarn for the Advent Scarf that I am going to be making.  The yarn is drying now and I hope to get it caked up tomorrow.  Then I can cast on and get the preliminary clue knit up (the ribbing).  The remaining clues will begin coming out every night beginning on November 24th and will continue until Christmas Eve.  I am excited to work on this project!!  Here is what my yarn looks like:

I am hoping it is not too tonal for the design.  Time will tell.  If it is too tonal, I will redye it and even that out.  We shall see if it is necessary or not!

Until tomorrow!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 32

Another week and I am back with some finished objects and some new cast ons.  I had a productive week!!

I finally blocked my Advent Scarf!!  It is huge!  I measured it when it was blocking and it is almost ten feet long...  Oye.  I did not pull lengthwise while blocking either...  Oh well!  Granted I did use a heavier weight than called for... lesson learned :)

I also finished and blocked my Advent Cowl!  I did not do any pinning of the cowl - it only needed the blocking to settled and even out the color work.  This may take some time to dry!!  It is four layers of color work...  I love it!!  The pictures show the two sides of the cowl - it was knit all the way and then folded in half around the circumference (bound off using a three needle bind off) thus hiding all the floats. 

I also finished up the last three squares for my BAMCAL afghan.  I still had the December squares to crochet and now they are all done.  I still need to stitch the last squares together so that the afghan is ready to use or give away.  I already stitched about half the squares together and made a small afghan already and now I am ready to make the second afghan with the rest of the squares.  Hopefully I get that done in February!  The first three pictures are the December squares and the fourth picture is one of all the squares that need to be stitched together to make a small afghan.

And I cast on two new projects!  First up is my Solid Socks Mystery KAL.  The first clue was released on Thursday and I got that knit up yesterday.  The remaining clues will come out on Thursdays for the rest of the month.  So far I am loving it - lace and beads!  I can't wait to see the next clue!

And secondly I cast on my Rowe Cardigan.  I swatched for it yesterday!  I know I swatched!!!  I am glad I did because my little swatch was too big.  I need to go down a needle size since I am a loose knitter!  I did that up and cast on the back.  So far I have done only a few rows of ribbing, but it is likely my focus knit until the next clue comes out for the mystery socks on Thursday.

Happy crafting everyone!!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 31

Week 31!  WOW I am still amazed I have been keeping up with this for so long!  I have not really followed my initial list, but I have been posting about my progress on other projects :)

I finished my SKA MOCKs a couple days ago and I love them!  I really didn't use the best yarn for socks, but it was a good yarn for color work.  The contrast is maybe a bit to subtle as well, but I am fine with that as well!  I really do enjoy a mystery knit!

Since I finished up my mystery socks a couple days ago I have had a bit of time to continue working on my Advent Cowl.  I am slowly getting closer to completion on this one too.  Last week I had finished the middle of the three darker pink bands.  In the past week I added the second gray, the third dark pink, and the pale pink.  I did about 18 rounds (each round is over 200 stitches) and I have 15 rounds left to do!!  I am really hoping to have it as a finish for next Sunday!

I have been seeing several people lately talking about their "Make Nine" projects.  Basically this is a personal challenge for people to make nine articles of clothing for themselves over 2018.  I think I am going to join this bandwagon and see what I can manage.  I suspect I will not make it to nine, but I will try.  My make nine will include both knitting and sewing.  I have not sewn a garment in a long time and it is about time to dust off my trusty old sewing machine and show it some love again. 

First up I plan to knit the Rowe Cardigan by Michele Wang.  It is a gorgeous worsted weight heavily cabled cardigan.  I am excited to cast it on!!  There is a KAL for knitting Wang garments over here that I am going to join.  I need to order some yarn for it and I plan to get that done later today.  I plan to order some undyed yarn and will decide if I want to dye the skeins before I knit it, or dye the cardigan once it is done - or leave it as an undyed yarn.  I am actually leaning towards leaving it undyed. 

Second up I plan to sew myself the Grandpa Cardi.  I have an old jersey sweater that I am wearing to death and I have not been able to find a replacement in the shops so I finally decided I may as well sew my own!  I need to go out and look at some fabric soon (maybe on Thursday?) and get started with that one!  I bought the pattern last night and need to figure out just how much fabric I need. I am excited to get back to sewing again!!

Tune in next week to see where I am!!  I hope you all have an amazing week! 

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 30

Back again!  I have had a fairly productive week!

I completed Clue #3 (added the heel flaps, heel turns, and gusset decreases) on my SKA MOCKs and am looking forward to seeing the final clue tomorrow!  Hopefully that last clue knits up quickly!

I spend some quality time with my Advent Cowl.  I am now working on the last round of Day 17 (of 24 days).  This cowl has long rounds (over 200 stitches!) and almost all color work so it is slow going...  I hope to have it done by the end of January, but we shall see!  I just checked and I have 35 rounds left to go and 12 of those rounds are solid colors with no color work!  Lots of color work to go!!

Have an amazing week everyone!!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 29

Hello again for another weekly update!  This week has been less productive for me as University has started up again after our winter break and I have been busy with that.

I did manage to get a goodly amount done on my SKA MOCK (Sock Knitters Anonymous Mystery Sock).  The second clue was released on Monday and I have managed to complete one leg and about half of the second leg.  I hope to get the second leg complete today so that I am ready for the third clue on Monday.  We are told to cut the contrast color at the end of Clue #2 so the heel should be quicker going with only one color!

I still have not blocked my Advent Scarf...  I really hope to get that done this week coming up!  And I want to start sewing together my BAMKAL squares and I want to finish my BAMCAL squares so I can assemble that blanket as well!  I especially want to get these three things done in January so I can clear off most of my WIP list I organized at the beginning of the month!  We shall see how I progress!

Until next time - happy crafting!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 28

Hello everyone!!  I hope you have all had a great week and have stayed warm (if you are in the areas that have been seeing extra cold temperatures recently!)

I have had a fairly productive week.

I finished my Temperature Scarf!  It is super long (over 8 feet long!) and is about 7 inches wide.  It wraps around my neck many times!  Here is what it looks like all done up:

I also knit the two December BAMKAL squares and now have everything ready to assemble.  I hope to get onto that soon!

I only found a tiny bit of time to add a few more rounds on my Advent Cowl and I plan to spend some more time on that this upcoming week.  There is not enough progress to show a picture...

And I broke down and cast on something new.  I had planned on resisting new cast ons for a bit but that didn't work!  I cast on for the SKA MOCK (Sock Knitters Anonymous Mystery Sock) and have almost finished the first clue (each clue comes out on a Monday).  I have one complete and have only the Latvian braid to do on the second and I will be ready for the next clue tomorrow.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 27

Happy New Year everyone!!  I hope everyone had a nice 2017 and I wish everyone all the best for a wonderful 2018!!

I have a list of things to tackle in the new year!  I plan to finish up some things that should have been completed in 2017, but did not quite make it off the needles.

My list:
1) Block my Advent Scarf - the knitting is complete but the blocking needs doing

2) Finish my Advent Cowl

3) Finish my 2017 Temperature Scarf - I am complete to the end of December 13th...
4) Finish my December BAMKAL squares and assemble the afghan
5) Finish my December BAMCAL squares and assemble the afghan

I am hoping to get all of this crossed off the list by the end of January!

While travelling over the holidays I also cast on a pair of vanilla socks using some of my own hand dyed yarn. I am loving how it is knitting up!  I plan on getting back to those soon as well!

Happy New Year everyone!!  May 2018 be your best year yet!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 25

Another week!  Can you believe we are almost half way through the year?  And even more amazing - can you believe I have posted every week do far this year?!  

I have spent some time this past week working on both of my Advent scarves and have made some progress.  

My Advent Cowl is complete up to the end of Day 13 - and I have reached the half way point!

My Advent Scarf is also seeing some love and I am up to half way through Day 6 - not quite half way but getting close!  This is not a very good picture - I'll be sure to get some better pictures once it is all finished and blocked!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 24

Another week!  I have spent some time this past week working on both of my Advent scarves and have made some progress.

My Advent Cowl has seen some work since last week, although I am falling behind...  I have one round of Day 6 complete and have the clues up to Day 10 waiting for me to knit...  I hope to get some time to work on that this upcoming week!

My Advent scarf has also seen some love this week and I am almost ready to start Clue 5 of the 6 that have been released. It is all scrunchy and bunchy right now and will certainly need a serious blocking once it is done!  The widest part is the center and each clue (released every second day) adds a bit more to each side. 

I had planned on doing a Mystery Sock but I have not had time to even cast that on so I suspect I wont be keeping up with that!!  Two clues are already out.  I think I will take it with me when I go home for Christmas and will work on it then (once my two Advent scarves are complete - which should hopefully be by Christmas day!)

Until next week!!