3

3 projects finished in September.
none of them useful/on my list
Ghost Leaf mitts;

Pumpkin Pickers out of my handspun;

Pine Forest baby blanket because babbysurprise for a friend!

3 projects started but not finished in September.
all of them useful/on my list (so I am not showing you, neener)

3 gifts in progress right now: for brother (almost done!), sister (nnngh well making slow progress), and twin (30%, not bad!)

3 things I am sitting on that should be gifts: mitts for Patrick, surprise for Louise, and slippers for my mum

3 work projects currently eating all my time:
my LIRG paper (Eee! so close! but 3 sections left to edit!)
my thesis (must. program.)
the random work with the two dudes from Germany (which I thought it was all abandoned or whatever but now it keeps popping back up)

3 meetings in the next 24 hours:
2 dr appts
and galaxy evolution group

3 errands to run:
get groceries
visit pharmacy
get a haircut

3 things to mail:
the baby blanket (after it gets washed)
a surprise for my twin
a letter to my aunt (eep!)

3 things to figure out:
whether or not to do grading
how to do this meeting on Thurs with possible professional network connection
what to get from the grocery store for $90 to last me 2 weeks

3 bills to figure out
internet bill (which needs to be reimbursed/paid?)
the garbage bill deal with the neighbors
my phone bill

3 hours left of work to do tonight. but I'm gonna do them at home because I want cats and dinner whilst I work.

Finishing and Beginning

Finished up that shop sample. Made it smaller than they recommended, because really a double loop was too intense. Also I hated the colors. And the construction was okay but annoying on that not-quite-right-sized needle.

I finished a scarf for my friend, and a pair of socks for me. And then, because I was in a socky mood, I made my own sock club!

Here's how you do it:

1) pour all your sock yarn out on the bed or floor.
2) bury your face in it or roll in it, depending.
3) squish and squeeze the best skeins of it, gently imagining in your head what you want to make out of it
4) grab the closest ball. Go on ravelry and find a project you want to make out of it, preferably socks since this is a sock club. Or if you already know that it's going to be ribbed socks for grandpa, then write that down on a slip of paper
5) put the ball(s) and the pattern in a paper bag or a big envelope or something. Don't mark it
6) Repeat until you run out of sock yarn.
7) Contemplate purchasing more sock yarn until you count the number of projects you have before you. Go kinda pale and mumble something about your hobby being totally worth it and not exorbitant at all
8) Next time you need a new project to cast on, or you clear off your sock needles, or it's the first of the month, or whatever deadline you set for yourself is met: grab a bag at random. Rip it open. take pictures of the ripping open process and post them for me, so I can live vicariously through you. Then knit what's inside!

Repeat step 8 until you run out of projects. Then feel fully justified in spending $200 ordering discount sock yarn online or at your LYS. Marvel in your collection of socks or your preparation for the holidays or the love you've shown random family members and friends.

What else have I been working on?

Well, I spun up some yarn. Finished spinning the purple stuff, just need to ply it; spun up and plied the orange and yellow stuff. Now I've started two new batches of rainbowy stuff--one the stuff that I'll chain ply and make into gorgeously skinny (I hope) sock yarn with sparkles.  The other stuff is going to be a bit thicker than my normal dk (maybe. I'm not good at hitting the thickness I want all the time :P), and it might take me a while because the sparkly stuff is so much more interesting.

Of course it doesn't help that July was Spinneretta's buy 4 get the 5th free shop sale. That woman holds my wallet in her dyer's pots. I can't resist her stuff. The purple stuff and the yellow and orange stuff above are both hers, and she still makes up half my fiber stash. Anyway, I picked up 2 braids of butterscotch, which isn't as yellow as I thought it would be, so I'm not sure what to do with it any more. (and a gorgeous skein of blue and another of red, subtly variegated. <3 it!). Maybe I'll ply it with some of my natural white or brown stuff? If I had combs or hand carders I'd try mixing fibers but it's pretty hard to do otherwise. Hmmm...

Anyway, I'm building up my current list of things I'm working on
1) fat rainbowy yarn
2) skinny rainbow sparkly yarn
3) stripey socks for me
4) huge shawl for me out of Mushishi  by Plymouth Yarns. I've been craving this stuff for YEARS and finally I caved at my LYS's annual sale and picked it up for $10 off per skein. 2 skeins is plenty for a giant worsted weight shawl, which is exactly what I've been craving to make lately. Lala's Simply Shawl it is, from ravelry
5) holiday gift #1, for my twin
6) holiday gift #2, for my brother
7) a scalene triangle shawl. I saw Leslie (of the Knit Girllls) working on one of these a while back and the concept is really simple. The other day when I was at work and needed a thinking break I found three random balls of yarn in my emergency yarn drawer, left over from my Hanna Cowl (which by the way I am totally going to have to rip out and re-knit. Gah!). Now, technically there's a fourth ball at home that matches, but I ignored that one and cast on this shawl. It doesn't get a lot of work done because my thinking time is usually pretty short (busy busy at work) before I get distracted and get back to action, but it's moving along slowly
8) I *finally* found a use for this Naturally Caron Spa yarn I've had in stash forever. I always wanted to make it a tunic or something but I don't have a large number of balls, and it's incredibly splitty, and no pattern is perfect... blah blah blah many excuses. ANYWAY! I found a lovely crochet pattern, and I'm going to make it into a huge wrap, or if there's plenty of it I might make it into a weird cardigan/tunic thing involving some seaming. *excited*

What I have to start in September:
1) holiday gift #3, for my older sister. These are going to take a lot of work, but if I get them started now I am sure I'll finish them
2) holiday gift #4, for my friend. The first one of these is almost done, I just need to make a few changes, and then I can (hopefully) cast on the second one and repeat it :D
3) holiday gift #5, for my older sister. Easy, repetitive, and hopefully a fantastic surprise. I should really be working on this every week from now until the holidays, but I'll see if I can condense it to one month, just for fun

What I want to be working on:
1) Knitting some mittens or something pretty in colorwork out of my remaining Peruvia fuzzy happy beautifully tonal yarn and then felting the crap out of it
2) Make more socks for me. socks socks socks forever.

Things I need to fix:
1) the Hanna Cowl. totally has to be ripped out and re-knit. I can't even just reknit part of it, because the main problem is this: I ran out of brown yarn. And the secondary problem is this: it's just too darn big. And the tertiary problem is this: the second half of it is at a different gauge because I was hurrying. So it has to be completely undone.
2) my Honey Cowl. Darn I really like this one, but I don't like how it curls and I just want it to be wider. Fortunately I've got a whole skein of yarn (+ a bit more) left so I'll just go ahead and take the bindoff out and pic up all the stitches and put the next skein into it. When I get time :P
3) my sweater. I started the sleeves, but I am beginning to realize I don't think I'll have enough yarn for the top half if I do full sleeves. So now I have to rip the arm out (because I was alternating two balls and I need both of them or at least another one to try doing the top half) and figure out what to do about the front and back. and change some shaping. and then knit it all before I come back to the sleeves.
4) weave in ends and sew down hems for my At the Telescope mitts
5) sew buttons onto my Spatterdashery
6) felt and assemble my first pair of felted press slippers. I finally tried some felting with this huge knitting bag I knitted about 4 years ago, and it felted WONDERFULLY. So I am no longer afraid to take a stab at the slippers, although getting them to fit and felt right might be challenging. I guess we'll see
7) gosh darn it work on that blasted Shipwreck Shawl. Someday I'll be done with it, and I'm sure it will be epic and awesome, but I can't finish it if I don't ever work on it! This is less of a fix and more of something just lurking... goodness, I wish I could just wave my hand and have it be done!

Revisiting my old knitting goals for the year:

January: Stockinette socks finished! yay!
February: Eggplant shawl finished! yay!
March: Baby Sweater x2 + fat stuffed turtle finished! yay!
April: Used up Grignasco Champagne in pink! yay!
May: Started Maluka, but did not finish.
June: Nada. Goals all went to hell. but I had surgery, so neener.
July: Giant Hideous Plarn Shopping Bag finished! bwahahaha and yay!
August: Found a pattern for the Spa and cast on, but did not finish.

so, my remaining goals are:
September: open (see above. Holiday gifts. will use up some of my generic wool/acrylic)
October: Cast on something with mohair laceweight and knit for at least 5 hours with it.
November: My goal was to use up this blue chunk alpaca. I made a hat out of it sometime in May or June, so my new goal is to use some generic wool deep stash to make thrummed mittens for my mum.
December: Start an Estonian Lace Shawl out of my red lace. but FIRST I need it to be untangled. without death. Still working on that.

Of all my goal-setting over the years (lol, five years) of knititng, this has been one of the most successful so far. It's focused me not on finishing things up, not on getting yarn out of stash, but just on using the old stuff that has been waiting for a purpose. I really enjoy it. Sure, I have plenty of new stuff that I'm playing with (*cough* sock yarns, the blanket, the giant shawl that's 1/4 done and I just got the yarn on Saturday, etc) but I also get some work done on the older stuff, and it's no longer just put off forever. I will have to try this again for next year.

can't post now

must knit socks.

if I can finish 3 pairs in the next week, I might actually have a chance at Stash Dash.

Other things ~50% finished:

The Sweater is back out of hibernation and I've started a sleeve! Just over halfway, now, depending on whether or not I do a button band

My May goal of Maluka is still at about halfway. Almost finished with the lace edging.

Leyburn socks are well over halfway--I just got to the gusset increases on the foot--but they've been put aside for my second self-striping sock in KFI. This one is at the same place, but lovely stockinette and so easy for the road trip.

I'm less than half done with my shop sample. Oops? Well I promised it by the end of July so it's going to get a lot of work done on it.

I am going to rip out the half-finished scarf for my friend. It needs to be wider because the alpaca grows too much. not a problem.

Need to get to work on these fancy tricky colorwork mittens. I think they'll be my august goal.

speaking of goals:  My June goal of my other tiny lace project (fine purple cotton) completely failed. Didn't even look at it. Too busy working on other stuff. July goal hasn't been started yet either but I may bust out the giant crochet hook and plarn at any moment and work on the shoulderbag that I want to make.

back to sock knitting.

things are fuzzy

I am feeling confused and discombobulated, mostly about the yarn and the knitting.

It's the move, of course--I just moved last week, but of course there are all these odds and ends and I am in sort of in transition still. I got most of my stuff unpacked but because my bedroom is smaller there aren't a lot of places for things, including my yarn, and my former organizational system is completely destroyed. I can't even fit the guinea pig in yet.

I should probably dump out all the yarn and try to reorganize it, but I keep finding it, and all the works in progress are scattered.

I really need to focus on a couple of things this summer: knitting socks (because I feel like I hardly have any pairs. I could knit 2 pairs per month if I was persistent! and I have enough needles and plenty of yarn!) and knitting things to prepare for the holidays (mittens. a lot of mittens. and my brother wants a hat! probably need to put the Packers on it for him to like it, but we'll see. Maybe 2x2 rib in black and I can applique a GB logo or something... I am not looking forward to having to do intarsia again).

Of course I still have plenty of things in progress--a hat for a friend, shawls galore, the sweater that never ends, fingerless mitts by the dozen... gah.

It's the summer stash dash and normally this gets me all riled up to start knitting all the things, but I can't FIND anything. I mean, I know where it is, but all the stuff that was in progress is hidden somewhere. Except for the blanket squares, but the last one turned out wonky! curse you mitered squares.

What the heck am I gonna do with myself all summer?

Vaudeville and travel and car shopping, oh my!

I went up this past week to see my Twin in NYC. We had the best time, and I miss her already and wish I could smuggle her home with me in my pocket or something like that. We tried some delicious pork-belly bao, waffles+dinges from a street cart (as well as a whole lot more), a really phenomenal goat cheese empanada, and some tasty bagels at a new joint (as well as breakfast at a couple of good brunch places. Oh, I love coffee). I spent some time wandering around and finding yarn shops, and I stopped at the Natural History Museum for an hour or so (I looked at the birds. They were really cool birds. Owls remain creepy), then spent the rest of the day in Central Park (there was a fire. One of the police-golf-carts exploded. It was not that exciting from halfway across the park--it only sounded like someone had dropped something--but must've been pretty neat close up).

Mostly we hung out, spent time talking or relaxing, and she introduced me to some addicting music, as always. Oh, and we made it to the Chocolate Restaurant, which was deliciously problematic. And we watched Despicable Me--which remains one of my favorite movies. But the highlight of the entertainment was a vaudeville show called Old Hats that we saw on Wednesday evening. The show was excellent, funny, a little poignant at times, dramatic, and with a good singer/piano player and a band. It was also super exciting to spot George Takei and his partner there! I had a fan girl moment and wanted to squee giddily but I kept it under wraps, and didn't even get a picture of him because I didn't want to mess with his show-going experience, but it was so so very exciting to see him there, in the audience.

Now that I am home, and it is May, I want to knit and spin nothing, but have all the finished projects... I wonder where my motivation has gone.

Almost May!

And I am getting really excited to start a project with my May-designated laceweight yarn. I've settled on Maluka, a crescent shaped short-row shawl with a lovely little lacy edging. I picked up some beads for sale at a local bead shop that might work with the coppery linen from Habu Textiles.

Meanwhile, I am working on the second Green Dragon sock, about to cast on the second Leyburn sock, and casually ignoring my scarf-and-hat in progress (it was for a birthday that passed. so it will now be for the coming winter. Plenty of time. Now if only I could get it to stop bleeding!)

If I were to start working on some hibernating objects, I would add thumbs to my freshly revived Extragalactic mitts (I just finished the second one last night! yay, it only took a year! stupid second-mitt-syndrome), and finish putting buttons on my Spatterdashery. Oh, and I suppose I should *try* to finish my long-desired Shipwreck Shawl (almost halfway done! the netting +beading takes forever!) and my Brown Sweater that is so comfortable and lovely.

My big goal for summer (aside from my various WIPs) is to work on things for my older sister, who has gotten the short end of the needle for several years now. The hat I made for her is pointy and needs to be ripped out, and the mittens I was making for her barely made it past the cuff by the time I left for the holidays. I've got the yarn for those two projects, + another lovely yarn for this holiday that I can't wait to try out. This is Level A Priority, people--knitting depravation! how dreadful. Oh, wait, she did receive that lovely cashmere cowl from me, buuuut I don't know if it counts as it wasn't knit specifically for her.

Other than that, I want to spiiiiiiin. It's a pity I can't get some serious spinning done while traveling, because lately it's the only thing I want to do. I have half of a rainbow yarn and half of a subtle earth-toned orange and purple yarn that I need to spin up (not together! ew! they are their own things), and I want to start spinning this dark purple and black yarn into some laceweight (if I can; I'm not normally fantastic with merino, and most of my stuff is dk-fingering nowadays) as soon as I can. And then I got a lovely heathered red blue and green fiber, and some fresh plump braids of bright yellow! Oh spinning, why do you make such beautiful results?

April showers bring ... knitting progress and goals

The weather has been so variable, I don't know what to hope for. First I was so pleased that it was warming up, and the grass was growing and the flowers were exploding everywhere (can you tell I don't have seasonal allergies? I am sure if you do you must hate me now. Especially because I like seeing the huge piles of pollen on the ground and drawing in pollen on peoples' cars. I mean, I like the flowers, of course--but I like the pollen too!). Then it got up to 90. "Whoa there!" I said to spring. "Slow down, buckaroo!" Except I don't actually talk like that. But we (the astronomers) all agreed that it was far too frickin' hot and we declared the weather "stupid".

Then it rained. For about a week. And was grey.

And then the sun came out.

And then it dropped to the 40s over night.

And then it rained again. It was less miserable than winter rain, despite the greyness, for two reasons. First of all, there was more daylight, even if it was an insipid and dull daylight. Secondly, every day of rain made the spring greenery all the more vibrant--like the grass was just saying, "bring it on!" as it lifted weights and ran cardio. Or whatever.

So, overall, it's been kind of crazy. In response, I have been---working. Okay, and knitting, I won't lie :).

My April goal was to knit a baby-thing out of that pink Grignasco Champagne that I first show-cased in this blog, and that I've had in my stash for years. I don't like pink, and I especially don't like insipid pale pink yarn. It's just not my thing! I mean, sure, it's also similar to a pale rose, and that sounds rather pleasant, doesn't it? But I don't wear it, and it's not that exciting to knit with.

Fortunately this stuff made up for its color in drape, slink, happy silkiness. Also, I have a friend who enjoys dressing their offspring in very girly pretty colors. So I made a little dress, and it might even fit. I'm not really good with child-like sizes, but it looks about right. I am debating sewing on some cute flower buttons that I've got in my button jar. On one hand, this is perfect for them. On the other hand, babies like to chew stuff and have been known to swallow buttons.

So, aside from buttons, that's finished. The downside? I STILL HAVE A BALL OF YARN LEFT. I can't move it from "stash" to "all used up" on ravelry. In desperation I've put it in "will trade or sell" but no one wants it and I don't blame them. Plus, not that many of my friends like pink! I should really use it up on another baby item of some sort. But I am sick sick sick of knitting it.

Promptly ignoring that dilemma, I've been churning away on my Hitchhiker out of my own handspun. I didn't finish it swiftly enough to enter it in the prize drawing for geeky knits that one of my podcasts did, but that's okay. I worked very hard on it for several days, and after a careful calculation and one late night, I have figured that I have three rows and a bindoff left, and that it should take less than an hour to finish.

However, I can't finish it yet because I'm on a trip and I Left It At Home. It wasn't worth the investment of bringing with for less than an hour's worth of knitting. *sigh*. It's also delicate and I don't want to risk the thin lace yarn on travel. But it is going to be the FIRST thing I finish when I return in a week.

I finished my twin sister's birthday socks. Well, I just tested them out and the bindoff on one of them is too tight, but that's quite easy to fix, so I'm counting them as finished. One 262 yard ball made two 10.2"-foot socks with 3-4 inches of a ribbed cuff; I am impressed! This is a complete reassessment of what type of yardage is necessary for socks. And that's an entire ball of yarn out of stash! Good work, me.

I immediately cast on for a pair of socks that I have long been desiring--the Leyburn pattern from Ravelry, in Green Dragon Yarn Sock based in the Somerset colorway. I've been working for less than a day, off and on, and I'm almost done with the foot of this toe-up sock. Sizing is a bit challenging but the result is amazing and I can't stop knitting it.

Slowly, when I am at home, I churn away at the Badger Gift Set (red scarf and hat with a band of white in each) for one of my oldest friends. The problem is that the red coloring comes off on my fingers as I knit, even though I soaked it four times and even tried adding vinegar to the bath. It bleeds. A lot. Fortunately it seems to only bleed when it rubs, but it makes me question whether or not I should bother finishing something that would go around a neck and be exposed to both rubbing and to damp. Still, it gets some work because it is easy and mindless at this point in time, and late at night that's what I turn to.

Finally, back home I started a pair of Nutkins in Little Red Bicycle Spark Sock in the Dagon colorway.  I'm on the second sock and I've gotten past the fiddly little hem on the cuff (it's... not that bad, really. I'm just impatient). So with the right amount of work I will soon have TWO pairs of new socks for me. Delightful.

In order of how I will work:

1) finish 1 Leyburn sock
2) re-bindoff twin sock
3) (on the train ride, probably) knit my second Extragalactic mitt (Strawberry Victorian pattern in black and sparkly blue). It's rather fiddly colorwork and I've been ignoring it for a solid year, but I bet in a six hour train ride I can make a lot of progress
4) Finish Hitchhiker when I get home
5) knit a child's shrug out of that pink stuff GAAAH MAKE IT GO AWAY

That'll take me up to the end of the month--I am participating in the cold sheep knit-and-spin-along to use up stash, so I'll re-total my stuff then.

My goal for May (besides moving, having surgery, teaching a graduate-level lecture, and presenting actual research findings at my committee meeting) is to knit my coppery laceweight linen yarn. This will undoubtedly be complicated by all the socks I have on my needles, but my goal is to not cast anything on in May except that linen. If I finish it quickly, I have at least five lingering hibernating UFOs that can be poked at, but I don't need any more distraction. This includes, alas, a limit on spinning (but I have three fiber halves that are UFOs/waiting, so it shouldn't be a problem). But the spinning progress and thoughts and plans and finished yarns--those are for another day.