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!

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!  

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 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.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 12

I have spent the past week playing catch-up and trying my darnedest not to cast on anything new (aside from the monthly squares that I was behind on!).  I think I accomplished a lot!!

This week I managed to finish my September Main BAMKAL square:

and my July Main 12 inch BAMCAL square:

and my July Alternate 12 inch square:

and my four July 6 inch squares:

I also spent some time pinning out and steam blocking (since I used an acrylic yarn I had in my stash for this afghan) ALL of my BAMKAL squares.  I also need to take decent pictures of them all and get that updated on my Ravelry project pages.  I plan to do that later today.  I bought some cream colored yarn that I plan to use as a border on each square - I will crochet these borders on and then I can start sewing them all together.  Now that they are blocked I can see that there are a few that are a bit small - the border will work nicely to even out the sizing!

First dozen pinned out - until I ran out of pins!

And the rest of them!

And last but not least I am getting closer to being caught up with my Temperature Scarf.  I made it to the end of September 3rd.  This past week's progress is from the two plastic orange stitch markers on each side!  The first single metal marker shows when July ended and the second single metal marker shows where August ended.  I should be completely caught up for next week's update!

Before next week I want to be caught up on all my BAMCAL squares and my Temperature scarf so that I can justify casting on a pair of Selbu mittens from the club I signed up for last month (I am behind there too - there is the original pattern plus the September pattern to knit before the October and November patterns are released!)  Hopefully I can cast on a pair of those next week!!  YAY!!

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 1

I have decided to join the Seventh Year of Projects blogging adventure!  I joined up in the very First Year and managed to get a few projects done.  I again joined the Third Year and suspect I accomplished even less.  And I joined up for the Fourth Year, Fifth Year, and Sixth Year too and was not so successful.  Now I am joining up for Year 7 and we shall see how I do!  I am convinced that I overestimated my ability to finish up all the projects I chose!  My projects are mostly knit and my plan is to use only stash to see how much I can use over the next year!  I am going to try for completing 12 projects - one a month!  

Ongoing works in progress:
1) Find Your Fade - using hand dyed by me yarn - cast on July 1st 2017 and I have section one complete.  I plan to work on this one a fair bit over the next couple days - I am eager to get onto my second color!!  The first picture shows the colors I will be using - beginning with the lighter pink on the bottom.  I cast on yesterday and have completed Section 1.  Lots to go yet!!  I hope to work on this one some over the next several days.  I am excited to fade into the second color!!  Maybe I'll get to that later tonight! 

Find My Fade colors!

Find My Fade progress

2) John's Vanilla Socks (no pattern) - cast on June 26th 2017.  I have to travel for a conference later this week - 6-8 hours of train time each way - hope to make some serious progress on this pair!

3) Temperature Scarf - began January 1st and will finish around December 31.  I have finished this up to the end of June 29th.   I should try to catch up again!  Plus I should get to tucking in the tails (about two weeks worth)

4) Cocoa Coffee - cast on May 29th 2016!  I had this on my YOP list last year and have made virtually no progress since then!  Might be time to frog this!!

5) Lambs and Chickens and Bunnies, Oh My! - cast on April 23rd 2017 One sock complete and the second needs making!

6) Sock Scrap-ghan - cast on July 24th 2014 It is time to keep moving with this one!!  I currently have 95 squares complete!  I have not worked on this much in many months now!!

7) BAMCAL squares - Monthly crochet squares that will turn into one or two afghans by the end of 2017. Complete to the end of June.
8) BAMKAL squares - Monthly knit squares that will turn into one or two afghans by the end of 2017. Complete to the end of June.

New plans for using stash include (and if time permits I hope to add more to this list):
1) Summer Shawlette - use Berroco Comfort Solids and Heathers
2) Elva Shawl - use Manos del Uruguay  (need to buy the pattern)
3) Casu Cowl - use Premier Yarns Deborah Norville Alpaca Dance
4) Abundance Table Runner - use Bernat Soy 
5) 198 Yards of Heaven - use Cascade yarn

September Finished Objects

September Finished Objects:

19) Bubbles - finished September 3rd 2016

Sixth Year of Projects - Week 12

So I am back!!  I have been back at work (University professor) and am settling into my new routine.  I have less time for crafting lately...  Oh well, work keeps me in the lifestyle I have become accustomed to!

And a side note - my eyes have healed up perfectly and the doctor was pleased when I had my one month follow-up appointment a few days ago!

So my crafting updates:

1) Coffee Cantata (Sock Madness 10 Round 6 socks) - Zero progress here.  I have not touched these in a month!!

2) Celtic Myths Shawl - this is coming along nicely,  I have added several repeats on the edging and it is coming along nicely.  I have spent a bit of my spare time on this one the past couple weeks.

3) Sock scrap-ghan - I have added a few more little squares to this project. I have 89 squares now and am still a long way fro being done!  And I have a few ends to tuck in - I need to keep up with those so that it is not a daunting task later!

4) Bubbles Blanket - All done!!!  This was finished back on September 3rd!  It is so soft and squishy!!

Here is a close-up so you can see how squishy this is!!

Sixth Year of Projects - Week 8

Well this was a slow week with no real progress to show off.  I spent time letting my eyes heal and didn't really do much crafting at all!  I added three little mitered squares to my sock yarn scrap-ghan and I also added another inch or two to Bubbles.  Next week I hope to have some more progress to show off!!  But on the flip-side I had a follow up appointment for my eyes and the doctor was very happy with my healing.  He said I was healing faster than average! I suspect some of that is because I took it easy for the past week and really rested my eyes!

Now that the school year is back in full swing I also have less time to spend on crafting, but I do plan on making sure I spend some time on crafting each day - that is my relaxing time and gives me a lot of stress relief.

In other news I have picked up my paintbrushes again and have begun mixed media art journaling and Bible art journaling.