Hey Long Time No Post or "Where the Heck Did September Go?"

Hey hey hey, friends, remember me?

There I was trucking along and posting just about once a week ALL YEAR LONG and then BAM!  I blink and five weeks go past.  That whooshing noise you just heard was the end of the Summer of 2015.  Gone now.

Anyway.  So when last we spoke, I was showing you the sweater I made Rowan (at his request).  I'm pleased to announce that he has worn it to school of his own free will and volition three or four times.  Dude is totally knitworthy.  (I told him that he couldn't put it on the floor, so he very carefully wadded it up in a lump on his bed.  He tried.)

Rather than try to catch up with a billiondy FO posts (and honestly the thought of that alone may have held me off from updating even longer.  One of those problems that only gets worse as you ignore it), I've decided to drop a great whack of pictures on you all at once, and then resume my regularly scheduled weekly blogging.

So brace yourselves.

This summer I made some project bags:

Left to right these are a gift for Koren, a gift for Jess, what happened to my favorite old flannel shirt, a paisley sock bag for me, because PAISLEY, and a bag I made as a prize for our last Stashdown round on Ravelry.

I'm still mostly making "knock-off" Erin Lane style bags.  I want to experiment with some other construction techniques.  But for now these are making me happy.

In fact, here's a better picture of the paisley one:

I have a predictable color palette, what can I say?

I also finished up some cowls.  These are the BFF Cowl (made in conjunction with the aforementioned Jess -- she did the red and I did the blue) and the Infinitude Cowl, which is going in the gift basket.

The BFF Cowl above only shows one of the two links that I knit.  For Jess' cowl I did a "Milkweed" stitch pattern, because she's an entomologist that studies butterflies, and I think I'm funny.

Jess' Link,Unblocked

I knit a sweater for wee Miss Bu.  I actually did this one before my accidental blogging hiatus.  This is what the veiled references to "and I'm knitting something else that I can't show you" were about earlier this summer.

That ribbon tho!

I finished up some socks.

Here's one of Carl's Big Dude Socks:

I'm into the leg of the second sock now.  In fact I worked on them last night at Morgan's band concert.

I also knit up some Rose City Rollers out of ancient and venerable stash.  Stash so old that the internet tells me it was discontinued in 2008.

It took every bit of one 50g ball of Knit Picks Simply Stripes yarn.  Which was perfect, because one ball is all I had.

Oh!  I also finished up Trillian (I told you I'd been busy).  This was my "Colors of Fall" knitalong project, so here are a couple of styled "Fall looks."  (I am not a "styled look" kind of lady).

It just happens to go with my Harvest Sweater from last year, so that's a win!

And of course, I can't forget Calcifer.  I'm playing in the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup this term (long story, for another blog post), and I needed a wee representative of fire.  This is so going on my Christmas tree this year.

10 yards of Fire Demon Ferocity

I think that about catches us up.   And seeing it all in one place like this... DANG.  I have to say, that's a lot of knitting, yo.  I still have plenty of WIPs of course, but this has gone on more than long enough.  Besides, I need something to blog about next time, right?

Hoodwinked

It's still all sweater all the time here at chez woolly.  And while I recognize that weeks of updated shots of the same knit aren't any fun for you, dear readers, it's no picnic from where I'm sitting either.

Last Saturday saw the completion of Rowan's second sleeve.  When I did the first sleeve I popped a removable stitch-marker at every decrease (following the excellent example of Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls.)  The markers, in combination with a 22 row stripe, meant that the second sleeve went "Whoosh!" -- I didn't need to pull the tape measure (or the pattern) out at all, I just matched the second sleeve to the first, comparing markers and stripe row counts, et voila. Sleeve!

The dude approves.

Once I got him to try it on and we didn't have use our imaginations to add in the sleeves anymore, it was easy to see that a collar wasn't going work.   See how loose and low the front of the sweater is hanging? The collar would have just made the sweater look like it didn't fit.  (Also, I want you to know that it is taking every ounce of my maturity and will-power, not to mention that fact that we're talking about my kid, to keep me from making a "your mom" joke right here.  Loose and low.  I'm just.  I can't.)

So anyway, after some discussion we decided to add the hood after all. And by "discussion," please understand that I mean that I said, "Hey we should do the hood, I think a collar would look weird," and he just shrugged and blinked at me. 

Whatever.  I do what I want.

What the heck else was I going to do with leftover Wool-ease anyway?

Don't fret though, hood notwithstanding, I'm still on track to be done in time to count the yardage for Stash Dash on the 14th.   I'm about half done the hood, and then it's "Pick up approximately nine-billion stitches and K2P2 rib for three years or one inch...whichever comes first."

So no problem.  And man, it's a good thing I just read back through this before I published.  Do I look like the kind of knitter that would throw down a gauntlet like "no problem" in front of the Knitting Goddess when I'm on a deadline?  Nosirreebob.  I am cautiously optimistic.  At best.

In non-sweater related news, I've done some more work on Trillian and Carl's sock.  They both look exactly like they did before, only more so.  

I could not get the color and light right the day I took these pictures.

Okay, so I might have lied before.  I may have stepped out on the sweater just a little.

On Saturday I cast on my birthday Hitchhiker in some Wollmeise Twin that I had marinating in the stash.   

Gratuitous yarn pic. 

I'm not far into it yet, but I wanted to get it on the needles on August 1.   I turn 42 in a couple of weeks, and I can't think of a better way to mark the occasion.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Friends reassure me that knitting the same pattern four times is not actually excessive.  Though in a few of their cases I think it may have been an "if this is wrong baby, I don't want to be right" kind of situation.

One Bite at a Time

I'm still doing that scattershot thing I was doing a few weeks ago, where I am working on a bajillion things at once.  If by "a bajillion" you mean "like three or four."  And I do.  It seems to be working for me though, since all three projects that I was working on back then are finished now.

This time I'm bouncing back and forth between my pink Fork in the Road socks, pattern by Lara Neel,

Two heels, no waiting.

Carl's Big Dude Socks (which have done some unfortunate regression due to size and fit issues),

The opposite of progress.

My Colors of Fall KAL Trillian, pattern by Martina Behm.

I'm a little farther along than this, I'm recycling old pictures.
#lazy #imbloggingfromwork #fightme

and a fourth thing that I can't show just yet because it's giftish.  Yeah, I know.  "I'm knitting a thing that I can't show you, or describe, or even talk about" does not make for exciting blogging.  On the bright side, it's moving quickly enough that I'll either finish it fast and be able to post it, or lose focus entirely and it won't matter.  (That's me, redefining the silver lining since 1973).

Speaking of progress, our floor is still coming along nicely.  I'm back at work, but Carl is soldiering on and has all of the puttying and last I heard most of the sanding done.  There is even a chance that a coat of finish went down today.  

This was taken before the bulk of the sanding was done.

Meantime everything in my house is covered with a fine layer of sawdust.  When I got home on Tuesday it looked like Carl had aged 30 years.  His hair and beard were a much paler blonde. That night the dust was falling fast enough that I decided I'd better eat my bowl of ice cream quick if I didn't want it garnished with a fine mist of red oak.

Things continue to proceed apace.  The living room project seems to be so much less stressful that our bedroom was last winter, for which thing I am grateful.  I do miss my couch though.

In any case, this week's theme seems to be something along the lines of that old adage, "How do you eat a whale?"

"One bite at a time."

(Or possibly, "With Tabasco"... one of those.)

At Least There Are No Boots in My Bathtub

We're deep in the throes of another remodeling project, friends.  Remember back in January when Carl and I installed hardwood floor in our bedroom?   Well we're at it again, but this time in the living room, hall, and (let us not forget) the coat closet and the linen closet.

Just like last time, we had to clear the room first, pull out the carpet, clean, clean again, and then paint.  Unlike last time, we had seven floor-to-ceiling bookcases and their attendant books to clear out first.  Y'all we started that part back in May.  We have way too many books to be putting that off until the last minute.

I just realized I'm not sure where my television is.

Anyway, I've taken a week off from work, and Carl and I (and the kids too, they've been helping) are kicking so much ass.

We painted Friday and Saturday and then started laying the floor on Sunday.   We're nearly done the main room, and just have the back of the living room, down the hall and the closets to do.

Of course once it's all down there's the sanding, more sanding, finishing, sanding again and more finishing to do.

Morgan is getting a head start on the sanding job.

This seems to be going so much faster than the bedroom job did.  I'm not sure if it's because Carl and I both have the week off (which, okay that does make sense), or because we're better at it, or what.  But after spending three weeks this winter with boots in my bathtub (still not a euphemism), I'm sure glad this is going so much easier.

::knocks new floor::

On the knitting front, my Dark Rainbow Cowl is completely done save the final kitchener.  I just need to get the stuff out to do it.  I'll talk about it more when I do the FO post.

I've gotten Rowan's sweater out and found my place in the pattern.  I didn't really do more than add about four rows to one sleeve though.

Morgan's LUC Socks are at the "all down hill from here" place -- past the heel on the second sock.

And speaking of socks, I did some counting and I have six pairs of socks on the needles right now.

Six.   Now, I've sworn off project guilt, so I'm not gonna make too much of a fuss, but I am going to be a giant copy-cat and declare a #operationclearthesockneedles (with apologies to ndjen04 AKA the Commuter Knitter, whose idea I am shamelessly ripping off).

I'm not saying I'll knit nothin' but socks, but I am going to make a concentrated effort to knit my way through this pile.

That there is a handsome pile of socks.

Starting at the upper left hand corner, and moving clockwise around, this is:  Carl's Big Dude Socks, Morgan's LUC Socks, my Fork in the Road Socks, my L'il Pumpkin Socks, my Pink Monkeys, and #lovewins.

I'm having flashbacks to my first Ravelympics (back when we were still calling them the Ravelympics).   I've been down this road before, is what I'm saying.

And heck, it all counts towards my Stash Meander anyway.

And last but not least, I cast on Trillian out of my Madelinetosh Twist Light in the "Care" colorway.  Proceeds from the yarn went to support Doctors Without Borders.

This is my entry in the yarniacs' Colors of Fall KAL -- this yarn basically looks like someone threw the entire 2015 palette in the dye pot.

See what I mean?

Summer of the "along"

There are so many alongs going on this summer, I can't even.

Gradients.  Beautiful, luscious, gradients

Not sure what an "along" is?  It's when a stash of knitters (I just now decided that the plural descriptor for knitters is "stash") all decide to work on the same thing - more or less - at the same time - more or less.   How strict, structured, or scheduled participation is will vary from group to group.

Anyway, they are busting out all over the place and I got a fever.

Now I know, I know.  I swore off alongs.  I said I was tired of allowing social pressure to harmoosle me into knitting things that I don't like or that make me look like a psychedelic gila monster, exiled from the 60s.

No really.  Psychedelic Gila monster. Terrible.

I've learned my lesson though, and this time all of the alongs I'm considering are much more "choose your own adventure" and less "you must knit this specific pattern."   Which means that I can still get my social-lemming knitting groove on without another travesty like the one above.  (What was I thinking?)

Without further ado:  the alongs under consideration this summer.

Stash Dash 2015

Michelle from Actually Knitting observed that if you were the drinking sort, and you took a shot every time a podcaster mentioned Stash Dash you'd be in a world of hurt by now.  She ain't just whistlin' Dixie either.  It is EVERYWHERE.   Hosted by the Knit Girllls, Stash Dash is a summer long event where the primary goal and focus is to knit a bunch of stuff.  Specifically enough stuff to add up to a 3K, 5K, or a 10K worth of meterage.  (I confess, I have been converting everything to Imperial, because I am that way, and because I speak yards not meters).

Stash Dash runs from May 22 - Aug 14.  You can learn more about it here.

This is like February is for Finishing on steroids.  Absolutely perfect.

Gradient-along

My online knitting community is hosting a very low key, join when you want, knit what you want Gradient-along.  The only rule?  Knit something out of yarn that you can convince yourself qualifies as a gradient.

I'm using this for my first project (there might be two, we'll see how it goes).

This is the same yarn I showed above -- I used Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls' trick to wind all of the minis into one cake.

The Gradient-along runs from now until we all get bored and wander off.

Outfit-along or OAL

This one is jointly hosted by Andi Satterlund (link to her Ravelry designer profile)  of Untangling Knots and Lauren of Lladybird.  It's a sewing-and-knitting-to-create-an-outfit-along.  The rules are that you sew one garment, knit another, and they should go with one another.  There is an official sweater pattern (designed by Andi) and an official dress pattern (that Lauren will provide pattern support and tutorials for) but you can knit or sew anything you want.

I ran across this just as it was wrapping up last year, so I'm seriously considering giving it a go this year. I've been wanting to get back into sewing and this seems like a great excuse.

The OAL runs from June 1 - July 31, so if I'm doing this I'd better get a move on.  More details can be found here.

And last but not least is the:

Colors of Fall 2015 KAL

Every year Pantone announces to the world what colors will be trending in up-coming seasons.  (I know they do it for Fall and Spring,  Anyone know if they do Summer and Winter too?)   This is another along that I caught too late last year to join.  

The idea is to use the Pantone Fall 2015 color palette to knit something and then create a "look" (read: outfit).   If I play my cards right I could totally double dip this one with the OAL.   Although, I have a summery dress with a light sweater in mind for that, so we'll see if the colors work.

My favorite color is "fall" so I'm all over this palette.

The Colors of Fall KAL is hosted by Gayle and Sharlene of the Yarniacs podcast.  (This reminds me, I really need to do a blog post on knitting podcasts).  

It runs from June 21 - Sept 23.   That would make the timing tricky if I did try to combine it with the OAL, but if I did the sewing first (before June 21) and then cast on the knitting after June 21... I could make it work, as they say.

More on the Colors of Fall KAL here.

So what are you into this summer?