Tenth Year of Projects - Week 20

Another week!  A finished object and some progress to show on one project.

Finished Object:

1) Sorta Shorty Christmas Socks - They are all done!!  And I love them!!  I have enough yarn to make another pair of shorties if I do a contrasting heel and toe so I suspect I will be doing that one day.  Here they are:

Ongoing works in progress:
1) Slipstravaganza - this is a mystery shawl knit along by Stephen West.  The clues come out every Friday and I cast  this on on October 9th.  I am moving along on Clue #4 now!  The rows are LONG and it might take a few weeks to finish off the last clue (over 900 stitches per row and I have completed 8 out of 49 rows...)  I won't show any pictures of the shawl here because I don't want to spoil the surprise/mystery for anyone, but I do show it in my podcast if you are curious (and there are some pictures on my Ravelry project page).  

I just posted a new video on Saturday in case you want to check it out!  I would be so happy if you subscribed to my little channel ♥

Please head over to the forum on Ravelry to see what others are up to with their YOPs!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 26

We have reached the half way point on our Year of Projects!!  I suspect it is time to revisit my list and see if I am anywhere near what I originally planned or if I have ventured way off track!  Maybe I will redo my list!

This has been quite a productive week!!

1.  I have finished the design I was working on last week and it is set for publication in the near future.  I am allowed to show pictures of the design before publication, but am not allowed ot share the pattern.  Here is what the finished socks look like:

2. I have caught up on my Advent Scarf again!  This includes progress from December 13th through December 22nd!  Only a few more days to go and we are all done with this.  Next week I should be able to show you the finished and blocked item!!   

3. I have picked up my Rowe Cardigan again and managed to get some work done on the two front panels.  This will be my focus project once I am done with my Advent scarf and Christmas knitting is done.  I would love to have this complete before 2019 arrives!  My progress is from the blue marker.

4.  I have one last minute cast on to report...  I decided to make a last minute Christmas gift.  It is the Boyfriend Hat and it is knitting up very quickly!  I have about four inches done and need about six before the decreasing.  I hope to finish it up today, but still have tomorrow as well!

I posted a new podcast yesterday where I talk about each of these four projects.

Until next week everyone!!  Have a very Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you happen to celebrate) and I will see you again soon!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 25

Welcome back to another week of my Eighth Year of Projects!!

This week I have focused on two projects: my Advent Scarf and a new design.

My Advent Scarf has seen some progress but I am falling behind schedule a little bit!  I have completed the clues to the end of December 12th.  I plan to get onto that again later today or tomorrow and will soon be caught up again!  Here is what it looks like now (my progress this week is from the orange marker and each of the other markers shows the end of each day's clue)

I have spent the past few days working on a design that will soon be published!  The deadline is today!  I need to finish up the knitting (almost done!), fine tune the written pattern, and get some pictures of the finished object!  Here is a (poor quality) picture for you to see - I'll be able to post better pictures later!

I won two lots on an online auction earlier this week!  I won an antique J. Farnham spinning wheel!!  It needs a bit of TLC but is is wonderful condition considering it's age (likely from the early to mid 1800s!)  and it should be up and running fairly easily (I hope). 

I also won a few other random items which include several vintage (maybe antique?) items.  I have posted a couple videos about everything I won if you want to go check it out!

And I have been keeping up with Vlogmas!  Please feel free to check out my playlist with all my vlogs.

I also have posted a new podcast - episode 14!!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 24

We are almost half way through this round of our Year of Projects!! 

I have had a fairly productive week and have a finish to show off!!  I have finished my Vanilla Christmas socks!  I love them!!  I suspect I will be casting on another pair of Christmas socks soon, but have another project that needs to be finished up first!

I spent a fair bit of time this week knitting on my Advent Scarf and am keeping up with the clues nicely!  I have not done today's clue, but I will be knitting that now that I am home from church for the afternoon!  Here is what it looks like now (my progress from last week is from the first orange marker - the second is marking where I left off after I filmed my podcast a couple days ago):

I have also been working on a secret project.  It is for a publication that will be coming out in the near future and I need to have the sample done by next Sunday.  I am about half way done the knitting now and will be focusing on this and my Advent scarf during the upcoming week.  I'll post pictures of the knit once I am free to do so!

I have been keeping up with Vlogmas this past week and am loving it!!  Here is a link to the playlist with all the Vlogmas videos included.  I also updated my podcast and published Episode 13 yesterday!  I can't believe I have been doing this for 13 weeks already!!  Here is the latest episode:

I have not been keeping up with posting for the Holidailies...  Oh well, something had to give in this busy time of year! 

That is about all!  See you all next week!!

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!

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!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 22

Today is Week 22 of the Eighth Year of Projects, NaBloPoMo Day 25, and Day 11 of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week!  

I have had a very productive week!  I have worked on each and every WIP over the past eleven days of my WIP-it Down Week and I am sad that the week is nearly over (and that I need to go back to work on Monday).  Oh well, the Christmas break is not far off now!

My Sock Scrap-ghan looks the same as it did last week so I won't bother showing an update picture :)

I made progress on my Vanilla Christmas socks - I have finished the gusset decreasing and am moving down the foot now.  Here is where I am:

I made progress on my new sock design too.  I had the cuff done some time ago and now have added two repeats on the leg.  I am considering whether to add one more repeat or not.  I am leaning towards adding it...  Here is where I am now:

I worked on my Rowe Cardigan and have finished the ribbing on both the front pieces.  I am knitting these two at a time to make sure they are both nice and even.  Next up I need to get moving up the cable portion! 

And I worked on my Texture Time Shawl.  I am still a long way from being close to finished this.  I am not even half way done yet, but I am still enjoying the knit!

I also cast on two new projects this week.  I know - I was on a WIP-it Down mission, but...

New cast on number 1 - the Advent 2018 Scarf.  I knit the initial ribbing and the daily clues began to appear yesterday.  I am working on Day 2 right now.  here is a picture of what it looked like at the end of Day 1:  (the markers will show the end of each daily clue)

New cast on number 2 - the Julenatt Mittens (a Mystery Mitten KAL by Skeindeer Knits).  The first clue for these came out on November 21st and the second clue came out yesterday.  I am still working on Clue #1 on mitten #1.  Here is what they look like now:

And finally I posted my newest podcast early this morning.  

Over the next week I plan to try to keep up with my two new KALs.  I also have bought some fabric and I want to try to sew myself a couple of project bags!  Hopefully I will have those to show you next week!

Until then...  

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2018 - Day 8

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the United States who happen to be reading this today!  I plan to spend my day cooking (nothing too strenuous!), eating, and knitting!  Sounds like a good day to me!

Yesterday I worked on my Vanilla Christmas Socks and added ten more rounds to both feet.  Slowly making some progress! 

And I cast on the Julenatt Mittens by Skeindeer Knits (her current mystery mitten pattern).  Clue #1 came out yesterday and I got a little bit done on that (only eight rounds on the first mitten).  This clue has us doing the cuff and I like the way it is looking!  Here is the little bit I have done (it is so small that I need to hold on to it to photograph the poor thing!):

Today I plan to work on my Texture Time Shawl.  I am hoping to finish Clue #3 on the first half of the shawl today - we shall see if I manage that!

Hubby and I are spending a quiet Thanksgiving Day together.  We got ourselves a small turkey (8 pounds) and I'll get that into the oven a bit later.  We also plan on having corn, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. It won't be very colorful, but it will be delicious!! 

Until tomorrow my friends ♥

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2018 - Day 6

Welcome to another day of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week! 

Yesterday I managed to get a goodly amount done on my new sock design!  I am nearly finished the leg!  I am contemplating where the best round is to transition into the heel flap and I may have another 4 rounds to go before I am ready for that.  I'll mull it over until it is time to pick up the socks again for their second day during WIP-it Down Week!  Anyway, here is what it looks like now:

Today I plan to work on the two front pieces on my Rowe Cardigan.  I may also cast on and do the ribbing on my Advent 2018 scarf but I will see.  If I finish the ribbing early then I will get moving on the scarf and will come back to the Rowe Cardigan after I have finished the ribbing. Or at least that is my plan so far this morning!  The hubby and I may run out to do a bit of shopping today also.  If we do that it will eat into my knitting time...  What a tough life :)

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2018 - Day 5

Back for another WIP-it Down day!  Today I am going to spend all my knitting time working on my sock design.  When I last worked on this I left off after four rounds beyond the cuff - so basically not much was done...  Here is a picture of where I was at the beginning of the day - here is hoping for a decent amount of progress!

Yesterday I got a good amount of work done on my Vanilla Christmas socks.  I picked up all the gusset stitches on both socks and managed to get all the way to the end of all the gusset decreases before I turned in for the day.  Not to continue along the feet, although with a size ten foot that takes a little while...  Here is what the socks look like now:

Until tomorrow everyone!!  I think tomorrow has my Rowe Cardigan as my project of the day!  Looking forward to working on the two front panels!

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 13

Good morning!  Not much new around here.  I was at work most of the day yesterday, then we went out and found some groceries, and in the evening we went and saw the movie "The Grinch".  It was a fun day, but not much crafting was accomplished.  I did a few rows on the heel flaps of my Christmas socks in the morning and that was about it for knitting...  Oh well, this evening I hope to get some more done!

Only two days left at work and I am ready to begin my Thanksgiving break (a few days early).  There are no classes next week at school, but since my classes are on Monday and Wednesdays I plan to begin my break on Thursday!  I plan to do another WIP-it Down Week as I have done in previous years.  I plan to lay out all my WIPs (five of them) and will plan out a focus project each and every day.  On each day I plan to spend all my crafting time working on a specific project.  This way I "force" myself to spend some time on my languishing projects and (hopefully) make some progress on everything!  I shall be posting daily updates and I plan to vlog about it too.

Take care everyone and I'll see you tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 12

Here we are at over 25% of the way through NaBloPoMo!!  I think I might make it through the month this year! YAY!!

Yesterday was spent mostly relaxing and doing some knitting on my Vanilla Christmas socks.  I have finished up the leg and am now working down the heel flap.  Hopefully in a few weeks I will have a completed pair of socks!  My progress yesterday is from the blue marker down:

Time to go and get organized to head to work for the day!  Almost Thanksgiving Break here and I am excited for my WIP-it Down Week!!  And I am excited for some down time to relax and recharge my batteries - it has been a busy autumn...

I posted the first half of my haul video from Friday this morning.  I'll post the second half (the Goodwill portion) tomorrow morning.  Check it out if you are interested!!

Until tomorrow!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 20

Hello and welcome to my latest Year of Projects update!  Week 20!!  Today also marks posting for each of the first 11 days in November so I am doing well in reaching my NaBloPoMo goal of posting each and every day in November!  This week has been relatively productive for me although I have only focused on two projects.

My Texture Time Shawl has seen quite a bit of love this past week.  I am now working on Clue #3 of the first half of the shawl and am about one third to one half done with the clue.  I am looking forward to completing the shawl and being able to wear it, but that is still quite a way off.  My progress this past week is from the blue marker:

And I made some progress on my Vanilla Christmas Socks too.  I added a couple inches and hope to soon be ready to begin the heel flaps.  My progress is from the blue marker:

My progress on NaKnitMo is going well too.  In order to hit my target of 50,000 stitches in the month of November I need to average 1,666.67 stitches per day.  At the end of Day 10 I should have knit a total of 16,666.7 stitches and I have actually knit 17,894 stitches so I am a bit ahead of schedule!  YAY! 

I posted my latest podcast early this morning.  It is a bit rambling but I had fun talking to everyone about all sorts of upcoming plans I have!

I hope everyone has an amazing week!!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 8

Back for another day!  One week is done in NaBloPoMo already!!  I managed to get a bit of work done on both my Christmas socks and my Texture Time Shawl yesterday.

Texture Time sees another few rows done on Clue #3 (from the blue marker onwards):

And my Christmas socks saw some progress as well (from the pink marker onwards):

Texture Time has a total of five clues.  The first clue is the center back portion and clues 2 through 4 are done on each side of the center piece fanning out to either side.  Clue five is an optional edging which I suspect I will include.  I have completed clue one, have done clue two on one side, and am working on clue three on the same side.  I will complete clue four on the first side next and then I will go back and do clue two through four on the other side.  Then I will do the edging (clue five).  Hope this makes sense :)

Today I have several online educational sessions so I will be able to happily knit through those - four hours of knitting time!  YAY!!  Let's see how far I get through the remainder of clue three on the first side!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 19

Hello everyone and welcome to Week 19 of the Eighth Year of Projects and Day 4 of NaBloPoMo!

I have had a fairly productive week.  I spent some time working on my Texture Time Shawl and I am nearly half done with Clue #2.  I am clearly far behind everyone else...  Oh well, I am still enjoying the knit and will love the shawl once it is finally finished!  Since last week I have added four squiggles and three Latvian braids.  One more squiggle and two braids left to complete the first half of the clue.  Here is what it looks like now:

And I have a new cast on!!  I started a pair of Christmas socks!  I had dyed some Christmas yarn a little while back and now that my Sockhead Slouch Hat is finished I decided to add a new WIP to my pile!  I am knitting them two at a time and am using a basic vanilla sock recipe.  I am at about 5 1/4 inches now and plan to go to about 7 inches on the legs before I start my heel flaps.  I don't really like a long sock - my calves are too large for long socks (or I should say I don't want to work out how much I need to do for increases to fit!)  Anyway, here is my progress this week on my Christmas socks (there are two pictures - one from each side so you can see the spiraling and pooling - which I actually like (I know many people do not like this...)) :

I have a new episode up of my podcast:

And I am happily continuing with my NaBloPoMo challenge where I plan to blog each and every day through the month of November.  So far I am on track!  I am also participating in NaKnitMo this month too.  Here I am committing to knitting 50,000 stitches this month!  That works out to an average of 1666.67 stitches per day - so far I am a bit ahead of schedule.  I have tried this challenge before but did not succeed - maybe this year?

I hope everyone has an amazing week!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 3

Good morning and welcome to NaBloPoMo Day 3!  I had a productive knitting (and work) day all rolled into one!  I had a conference to go to yesterday and I took along my Christmas Socks to work on along the drive.  I went with my sidekick from work and she did the driving.  It was too dark on the way there to knit, but once we were settled into the conference I checked with someone running the conference if it was OK for me to knit - and she was fine with that.  So I knit for the six hours we were there!  I managed to add about two inches onto my Christmas socks (two at a time) so I was happy with that!  Here is where I am now (the blue marker is where I was before I started for the day):

I had someone ask in the comments yesterday about how I work out how many stitches I do per day to add to my NaKniMo count.  I actually keep track of how many rows I do and know how many stitches I have per row and then do the math to work it out at the end of the day.  So for example yesterday - I kept track of how many rounds I did on my Christmas socks - 23 1/2.  I know each sock has 64 stitches so I multiplied 23 rounds times 64 stitches per round times 2 socks + 64 for the half round to get to a total of 3008 stitches knit on my socks.  I also added a few rows on my Texture Time Shawl and worked it out the same way - I have worked out how many stitches there are in each of the 12 short rows and how many stitches there are in the Latvian braid rows - so when I knit I keep track of which rows I did in a day and then work out how many stitches that was.  So for my Texture Time Shawl yesterday I did from row 7 through 12 on the squiggle section which gave me 306 stitches.  So my total for yesterday was 3314 stitches! So far I am ahead of schedule!