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.

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 29

Today is NaBloPoMo Day 29!!  Only one more day to post and I will have posted every day in November!  I am so impressed with myself!  Last year I missed two days so I have done better this year!  

Yesterday I spent my spare time working on my Mystery Socks and I am getting closer to having them all done!!  I suspect I will be able to finish them tonight or tomorrow!  Here is what they look like now:

After work today I need to get onto dying some yarn for one of the mystery Advent scarves I will be casting on Friday.  This way the yarn should be nice and dry and ready to cast on Friday morning!  I am excited to start some new projects!  I have been quite disciplined this past month or so and have only worked on WIPs without caving in to the temptation to cast on something new!  Well on Friday I am going to blow that out of the water by casting on three new things!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 28

Today is NaBloPoMo Day 28!!  Only two more days to post and I will have posted every day in November!  I am impressed with myself!

Yesterday I finished my Coffee Cantata Socks and am so happy to be able to cross them off my WIP list!  They were on my needles for far too long.  I am not happy with the finished product though.  I did not really enjoy the knit.  I wish I had used a different yarn - this one was not well suited to the pattern...  The pattern itself is lovely!  Here they are:

Today I am working form home.  The university is closed today because of a water main break.  They need to shut off the water and heat to get it fixed up today.  So I plan to spend my day alternating between doing some school stuff (I have a conference call training thing from noon to 1:30) and knitting on my mystery socks.  I got a few rounds done on that last night and hope to make some good progress today.  I am planning on adding those to the Finished Object pile this week!  I will be casting on some new things on Friday so I need to get some things off the needles!

Until tomorrow!

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2017 - Day 8

Today is NaBloPoMo Day 23 and Day 8 of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!!  I hope you have an amazing day.

I spent the majority of the day yesterday working on my MOCKs.  The final clue was released overnight and I found it when I crawled out of bed in the morning.  I managed to get a lot done on it today and am very happy with my progress!  Both gusset decreases are complete and I am moving down the foot on the first sock.  Here is what they look like now:

Today I plan to work on BAMCAL stuff.  First up I need to finish a few more rounds on the border of the first afghan so that I can call it DONE.  My original plan was to work on assembling the second BAMCAL afghan and I think I may hold off on that for a bit until all the squares are complete - that way I can make sure there is a nice balance of squares and colors.  I will join up all of the 6 inch squares into their larger part (I made four of each 6 inch square so I can simply join them to make extra 12 inch squares to fit with the rest of the 12 inch squares).  Once I have those 6 inchers attached to each other I will move on to working on the last of the November squares.  All of this is assuming I have time to do all of this.

We are not travelling for Thanksgiving nor are we having anyone over.  Hubby will be working the midnight shift so he will be snoozing a good part of the day.  I am cooking a small Thanksgiving type meal for us - roasting a chicken and making potatoes, stuffing, and some sort of veggie (likely corn) and also an apple crisp for dessert. 

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2017 - Day 7

Today is NaBloPoMo Day 22 and Day 7 of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week. 

Yesterday I worked on my BAMCAL squares and managed to have some success in finishing up a bit.  I was really challenged by the main square and I surrendered.  I was not enjoying working on it and decided that I did not want to fight with it any longer.  I will find something else to make that I will include in the next afghan.  

The November Alternate square was a quicker, easier square.  I enjoyed working on it!  Here it is:

And I got the first round of the border done on the afghan I stitched together the other day.  I need to decide what else I want to do for the border - a couple more rounds of single crochet in white? Or maybe one round in blue and another in white?  The one round I have finished is white.  I'll decide later.  I think I will add this to my list for tomorrow.  I would love to finish it!

Today the final clue for the Mystery Sock pattern was released ( I found the update when I got out of bed in the morning) and I will be happily knitting away on that as much as possible!  I really don't think I will be able to finish both of the socks today, but I will give it the old college try and see how far I can get!  

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2017 - Day 1

Today is NaBloPoMo Day 16 and Day 1 of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week.

Yesterday I finished the November Alternate BAMKAL square.  Only two more squares to go and this year is complete.  At the end of the year I will have 24 squares (2 per month).  I think I will make one more random square so that the finished blanket is 5x5 squares in size.  I think that will make a nice small blanket that I can donate somewhere.   One of the days during WIP-it Down I plan to begin sewing the first 22 squares together!

The plan for today is to continue working on the November MOCK .  Clue #3 was released yesterday and I am ready to work on it today.  It is a relatively quick clue (only involves knitting the heel flaps and heel turns) so I suspect I will be done in plenty of time today to work on something else.  I think I will get moving on my Coffee Cantata socks - they are on my schedule for tomorrow so I might as well get a head start on them!

Here is where I am at the beginning of Thursday - WIP-it Down Day 1:

November MOCK end of Clue #2

Coffee Cantata - one gusset complete, one partial gusset

Tomorrow morning I will show you a progress picture to show you what I accomplished during the day.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 20

Back for another weekly update!  I seem to feel I have less to share since I am posting daily for NaBloPoMo, but here is my update nonetheless.

I have finished to the end of Clue number 2 on my Mystery Socks and now have to wait until Wednesday for the new clue.  I am enjoying this knit and am curious to see what the next clue brings!

I am getting closer to having my Mystery Shawl blocked.  It is soaking right now and will be pinned out later today!

And I finished another mixed media spread in my new art journal!  I am really enjoying this mixed media art journaling!  This last design is a bit dark, but I still like it!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 11

Back for Day 11 - let's make it through the second third of this NaBloPoMo!!

I had a fun shopping trip.  At Hobby Lobby I bought a bunch of goodies.

Yesterday I finished one repeat on the second leg on my Mystery Sock.  Today I hope to finish the second leg and will post an update picture tomorrow!

I took a picture of my Temperature scarf - all caught up.  My recent progress is from the two orange markers forward (since my last picture that I showed you).

I still did not block my Mystery Shawl!  Good grief - I really need to get that done!!  The plan for today is to finish the second leg on my Mystery Sock, block my Mystery Shawl (I'm going to get that soaking after I get this posted), and work on a mixed media page (or two).

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 10

Here we are one third of the way through the month!

I made some great progress on my Mystery Socks yesterday.  The first leg is complete and I have half of the first (of three) repeats done on the second leg.  I hope to finish the second leg today!

I also am keeping up with my temperature scarf!  I'll post a progress picture of that tomorrow.

I had some artsy fun yesterday too!

It was a good day ♥

Today I have a meeting at work then plan to go to Hobby Lobby and Michaels to snoop around.  Then off to Walmart and the Dollar Tree.  And I have a package with some fluid gel medium (basically glue for mixed media art) that I need to pick up at UPS.  They said they tried to deliver yesterday but I was home all day so I call BS!  Once I am back home I plan to work on my Mystery socks, block my Mystery Shawl (didn't get that done yesterday...), and watch some podcasts!  Sounds like another good day!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 9

Day 9!

I spent some time last night working on my Mystery Sock Along and made some good progress.  I got the bead placement issue resolved - I think I was insufficiently caffeinated when I first read the instructions for Clue #2...  All is good now and I am making progress :)  I plan to do three repeats per leg - then I get to wait until Wednesday for the third clue! Here is what it looks like with one full repeat on the leg complete.

Today I plan to spend some time doing some arts projects.  I got my new Moleskine book and will be using that as an art journal now.  I changed my mind about using my little home-made journal.  I will instead use that for regular journaling (writing out my thoughts when the mood moves me).  I do like to decorate the pages a bit for that so that I am not writing on pain white (boring) paper.  I find that I am more inclined to write more when I am eager to use up the paper so that I can decorate more pages.  Here are a couple pictures that show what I mean by decorating my pages:

Today I also plan to soak and block my Mystery Shawl.  I'll post pictures of that tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo 2017 Day 3

Back for Day number 3!  I managed to do a lot yesterday and am pleased with my progress. 

I finished clue number 1 on my SKA MOCKs - the cuffs are now done.  The second clue will be released next week (Wednesday) so I need to be patient and wait for that!

I did some more work on my mixed media piece and think it is about done now.  I'll let it sit and decide if I want to add anything more to it - maybe a butterfly might be something to add?

I did not get to working on my bullet journal...  I hope to spend some time on that today!

I made some more progress on my Mystery shawl.  The last clue came out about a week ago and I am ready for row 253 (of 292).  I have done 26 rows of clue 4 so far.  I plan to focus on knitting on this one today and hope to finish it later today or tomorrow!  My progress is slowing as each row gets longer...  But I am nearing the end!

Also I plan to go shopping for more crafty supplies today!  I'll post my haul tomorrow!