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 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!!

Holidailies 2018 Day 3

I am running really late today!! I left for work fairly early this morning and then had the first of several Christmas parties to go to this evening.  I will leave a quick note here for today though - even though it is getting closer to bedtime!

I am falling a bit behind on my Advent scarf...  I will catch up again tomorrow though.  I am almost done with the clue from yesterday and still have today's clue to work on.  I am too tired now to try working on it so I'll get back onto it tomorrow when I am more rested!

Here is my Day 2 of Vlogmas:

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!

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2018 - Day 2

Good morning and welcome to Day 2 of my WIP-it Down week.  Yesterday we had a snow day and the university was closed, but I was already at home with no plans to go anywhere!  I have seen reports that we got between seven and nine inches of snow!  It is expected to reach 40F today so much of it will melt! 

So I had plenty of time to knit yesterday and I also spent some time in the kitchen.  I finished the sleeves on my Rowe Cardigan!  I had also hoped to start the two front panels, but I didn't get that far.  I'll tackle those pieces on my second day I work on Rowe.  Here is a picture of the completed sleeves (my progress is from the green marker to the top of both sleeves - working them two at a time):

And I show on my vlog what I was doing in the kitchen and also show a bit of the snowfall. 

Today I plan to work on my Sock Scrap-Ghan.  First I need to count how many squares I actually have done, second I need to tuck in a few ends (I try to keep up with this so it is not too daunting!), thirdly I want to go through all my little sock scraps and see which ones have not appeared in the blanket yet, and fourthly I need to get knitting on this again!!  Here is what the blanket looks like now:

Check back tomorrow to see how much progress I made!!

WIP-it Down Week Thanksgiving 2018 - Day 1

Today is NaBloPoMo Day 15 and Day 1 of my self imposed WIP-it Down Week.

I have a little over a week off work for the Thanksgiving break and I plan to get caught up on some crafting projects.  Each day I plan to spend a goodly amount of time working on a specific project with the goal of creating some finished objects - or at least the goal of showing all my projects some love!  
Each day I will post what my plans are and will post a "before" picture.  Then the next day I will also post the "after" picture to show what progress I made.  I will also be vlogging about the process.

In general, my schedule will be (but will be subject to change along the way):

1. Thursday - Rowe Cardigan 
2. Friday - Sock Scrap-ghan
3. Saturday - Texture Time
4. Sunday - Christmas Socks
5. Monday - Rowe Cardigan
6. Tuesday - Sock Design
7. Wednesday - Sock Scrap-ghan
8. Thursday - Sock Design
9. Friday - Sewing a project bag
10. Saturday - Texture Time
11. Sunday - Christmas Socks and Advent Scarf (the first clue comes out this day)
12. Monday - back to work...

Today is Day 1!!  I am ready to work on my Rowe Cardigan today!  I am getting close to completing the sleeves and hope to get them done today.  Being able to begin moving along to the two front pieces of the cardigan would be wonderful and I hope to get onto the ribbing of that today.  Here is what the sleeves look like at the beginning of the day and tomorrow I will post a picture of where I finished off by the end of the day:

I will also be vlogging about my WIP-it Down week.  Earlier this morning I posted my introduction video.  Today I will document my activities for Day 1 and will post that in the morning on Day 2.  So basically I will be one day behind in posting!  Here is a link to the Intro video on YouTube.

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!

NaBloPoMo 2018 Day 10

I'm running late today!!  Oh well...  I got my podcast recorded to go up later tonight or overnight - depending on when the file finishes exporting from my editing program.  This is a slow process!!  Oh well, hopefully I'll get it onto YouTube before I hit the hay tonight.

We had such a fun shopping day yesterday!  I am going to be recording all that I bought and will post the video in a few days.  But, I will add in a picture of my loot here:

I didn't buy too much and struck out in a few stores, but we did check out a new (to us) Goodwill that was really nice!!  I found a few goodies there! 

I have not had a chance to do any crafting yet today!  I will have to remedy that and get some knitting done this evening! 

Take care everyone and I'll see you tomorrow!