Apparently March is Also for Finishing

The last two weeks passed by in a fugue of coughing, going through mountains of tissues, and generally feeling as though all thoughts were being processed through a vat of cold oatmeal.  After five years of antisocial and hermit-like behavior, I finally got got and contracted baby's first Covid.

We had friends over for our semi-regular D&D session Friday before last, and then woke up Saturday morning coughing.  I think the final body count was seven friends and family taken out by this thing.  0/10 stars, do not recommend.

While I did still kind of work last week, I also had tons of enforced couch time, so I was shockingly productive - and not just because this is two weeks since my last update ... although I imagine that isn't hurting any either.

I missed finishing the Wasilla Poncho in February by just a few days, but done is done, and I'm playing by no one's rules but my own.  I ran out of yarn at a weird place in the pattern and briefly considered finding another skein of the Lion Brand Mandala so I could end at a better spot.  I really didn't want to do that though because using every bit of the yarn was entirely the point of choosing a top down project like this in the first place.  I set it aside and noodled on it a bit until I was hit by a brain wave.  I had a sudden vision of a yarn that I bought long enough ago that the store it came from has been closed more than 15 years.  In my mind's eye the color and texture would be perfect, AND (get this) I knew exactly where it was.

I'm pretty pleased with myself, truth being told.  My mind's eye knows what's up.

Heady with that success (and the over-abundance of phlegm I'd recently taken on board), I turned my attention to the Beach Walk blanket.  I finished up the remaining granny squares, got them joined, and have 2 out of 8 border rounds completed.   We're still on track to have it finished by the end of the month if I can stay consistent with it. I'll try to share an updated picture next week.

And if that wasn't enough, genties and ladlemen, let me please introduce you to Delores de Colores.  She is perfect and I love her.  For all that it took me ten months start to finish, this was a remarkably fast knit.  I probably only worked on it a handful of days all in and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Plus I used some old-growth stash up, so wins all around.

Did I need a stuffed rainbow chicken?  Don't be ridiculous, of course I did.

In addition to all of the above, I moved my Riptide vest along and got both the left and right front shoulders done and the neck shaping to the point where I've joined the two together into one front piece.   It's in an unwieldy and un-photographical state at the moment, but progress is assuredly happening.

And finally, you had to know that there would be a new sock. 

Next week's plans include more progress on all the things. I'm feeling highly motivated to keep knocking down the old WIP list.  I even pulled out my 2024 Hiberknitalong Shawl to see if I could figure out where I was with it.

The border is not nearly as annoying to knit as I remember.

More specifically, I plan to:

• add two more border rounds to the blanket
• add four more repeats to the shawl border
• turn the heel on the sock (bonus points if I can finish it)
• get Riptide to the point where I can join in the round

On the one hand, that feels ambitious.  On the other hand, that feels ambitious and I like it.

The Annual Airing of the WIP Basket: February is for Finishing 2020

It's that time of year again, folks.   Friends of the show will remember that February is for Finishing, and that every year we begin the month with the "annual airing of the WIP pile."

I've talked a bit here and there about why February is for Finishing as a tradition has evolved for me over the years (TL;DR - I just don't have as many WIPs as I used to), but I definitely think that the practice of giving everything currently in progress a good, strong eye-balling at least annually is a good idea.

So without further ado, here is my 2020 list of Works in Progress, in order from oldest to newest.  (Links go to the relevant Ravelry project page).

1.  Hogwarts Studies Notebook, cast on May 16, 2016.  This is Schrodinger's blanket.  It is and is not a WIP, depending on whether or not I am currently in the process of adding a square.   I started this blanket not long after I started playing in the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup, and every square has been turned in for points in the game. I have this running gag where I refer to each square as a page in my notebook, and that's where I keep all my homework.  This is one of those things where I think I'm clever and the rest of you just sort of tune out and nod at me and hope I'll stop talking.  It's okay, I get it.

I made a ton of progress on this in 2019.  I'm going to push hard to finish it this year.  I've added three more squares since this photo was taken, but this is close enough to where I am.  It's sitting pretty at 12x14 squares, and I'm targeting 12x18.  The end is in sight!

2. Weekender Blanket, started May 20, 2018.   This is a modular, JAYG hexagon blanket, crocheted with Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn.  I'm using the "Cottage Pack" from Lucy of Attic 24 (purchased through Wool Warehouse).  I've made significant progress on this one too, adding 4.5 rows since last year.

3. Scrappy Granny, started April 1, 2019.  Because one fingering weight blanket wasn't enough?  But you see, what had happened was... I had little bits leftover from adding squares to the Hogwarts Studies blanket, and I am only using a yarn one time in that one, and then Amy Florence from the Stranded podcast, and Caroline from the Dunderknit podcast were both crocheting one and then... It was peer pressure, okay?!  It was FOMO, pure and simple.  Also at work was a desire not to drown in small bits of fingering weight wool.

4. the art of creating comfort, started November 3, 2019.   Okay, I have no explanation for this.  No, I don't know why I have four different blankets in progress right now.  The heart wants what the heart wants, alright?   This one's also Stylecraft Special DK (this time in the "Woodland Pack" from Lucy at Attic24, via Wool Warehouse).   I'm doing 6, 8-round granny squares from each of 15 colors, and then I'm going to join the whole thing up with a gray border.  It's going to be big enough to put on my queen sized bed, and I'm stoked about it.   So far I have 17.5/90 squares done.

As an aside, you'll be pleased to note that there aren't any more blankets after this.  (I mean, I have more blankets planned, don't get it twisted, but let's finish a couple of these first, eh?)   As a second aside, the res of the projects I'll mention were cast on in 2020, so they're all brand, shiny-new.

5. Divination OWL: a secret county (Exploration Station), cast on January 2, 2020.  Would you believe I've never knit a Stephen West pattern before this one?  Where the heck have I been all this time?  I'm knitting this for my OWL in the House Cup.  This is my 12th OWL, and if I complete it on or before March 31, I will have earned the title of OWL Mistress.  Not gonna lie, I'm pretty stoked.  I'm knitting this out of Merino singles from Dream in Color and Suburban Stitcher.  This is a bit outside of my normal palette, but I love it fiercely.  Also, brioche is pretty fun. 

6. mighty in battle (Hitchhiker), cast on January 22, 2020.  So this is my sixth Hitchhiker shawl -- I knit my first one in 2013, and my most recent one in 2016.  But this is the first time I've done one with eyelets in, so there's that.  The yarn is Leading Men Fiber Arts in their Monologue base. The colorway is "And Then There's Maude."  Maude is my middle name, and those are my colors, so I was on that yarn like a duck on a june bug.  I'm farther along that this picture implies (around 22 teeth), but the picture I took today doesn't do the color any kind of justice.

7. catching or ensnaring by the foot, cast on January 25, 2020.   Did you know that the word "impeachment" is related etymologically to the word "impediment" and connotes catching someone or something "by the foot"?   Well now that's a thing you know.   Yarn is Whitebirch Fiber Arts "Study In Peach Mint."  Pattern is my standard CO 68, 1x1 rib, FLK heel.  This is the first sock of the pair.

8. bold branches bid farewell to rainbow leaves (Litmus Cowl), cast on January 26, 2020.  This will be a simple tubular cowl, knit in the round and grafted together to form a loop.  I think I'm going to run out of my contrast yarn, but that's a problem for future Bekah.  I'm using the "Autumn Rainbow" mini set from Canon Hand Dyes along with a neutral solid from Whitebirch Fiber Arts.

So that's it. 8 projects, 4 of which are blankets (?!) and 4 of which were cast on within the last month.  Unlike last February, I'm not planning to go rogue and cast on a bunch of stuff.  I plan to stay focused and to work solidly on my 4 new projects, while also getting some progress on one or more of those blankets. 

We'll see how we go!

Pat Pat Toot Toot: A Maker's Year in Review

2016 was a rough year for a lot of people in a lot of ways, both personal and political.  I had my fair share of personal upsets, disappointing and concerning things took place in my professional life (none that directly impacted my own role or earning ability, but concerning none-the-less), and of course there is a lot to be said about our current political landscape.

2016 was hard, yo.

This past year I was deeply reminded of why I am a maker.  I have a lot to say about that, and will do -- but this is not that blog post.   This is the blog post where I share what I accomplished last year in my fibery pursuits, and where I check back in on the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

In 2016, I would like to complete greater than 10,000 yards of knitting and crochet.  

Y'all.  I finished 2016 with 16,487 yards completed.  Let me say that one more time for those in the back. 16,487 yards in 37 projects.   Can we say "Exceeds Expectations"?  (Or as Prairie Girl Susie would say, "PAT PAT, TOOT TOOT" as I pat myself on the back and toot my own horn.)  Of course, not every bit of that yardage was worked in 2016, it was all finished in 2016.  That's a reason (if you care about such things) to look at averages over time, as well as projects completed within a year.   In any case, if you have a Ravelry account, and you'd like to take a gander at my 2016 projects, you can see them here.  

In 2016, I intend to complete 16 socks.

In 2016 I completed 18 socks.  As a funny side note, when I originally wrote out my goals I said "16 pairs of socks" ... hahahaha nope.  I meant 8 pair.  I was using #sockwatch16 on Instagram to document my sock progress throughout the year.  It was fun -- and just about the right amount of sock for me to aim for. 

In 2016, I will limit my yarn purchases to festivals, shows, and the two yarn clubs I'm currently enrolled in. 

Yeah, nope.   Okay, what I did accomplish in 2016 was becoming much more intentional about my shopping habits.  I ordered maybe once from Knit Picks all year -- and that was in November.  I bought a few things from Etsy shops, and visited the odd LYS now and again.  So, I totally did NOT accomplish the goal I set for myself... but I did up my Intentional Acquisition game, so I will award myself partial credit on that front.

In 2016, I will finish my three oldest, biggest, or oldest AND biggest works in progress:

My Circles to Squares Afghan.

My Cosy Stripe Afghan.

And my Knitting in Red Shawl.

All three are done.   Completing these three older projects felt wonderful.  I felt like a computer processor that had been chugging along trying desperately to keep too many too large files open and run three programs at the same time.   Closing a few windows and a hard re-boot later and I feel amazing.

I have more to say about the Knitting in Red shawl -- but again it deserves it's own post, so I'll save it for another time.  

I have a lot more to show you that was completed in 2016, but this is about long enough, I think.

All in all, I'm incredibly pleased with my 2016 crafting.  In addition to the knitting and crochet, I did some sewing, dabbled in art a smidge, and generally enjoyed being a creative.   I still haven't 100% decided what my 2017 crafting goals are going to be.  Stay tuned, and I'll report back as soon as I've figured it out.  One thing I know -- I'm gonna keep making.

Projects in Progress or What Madness am I Up to This Week?

It's been a while since I've done a general round-up of what I'm working on.

With Stash Dash upon us, the short answer is "everything" -- but barring that not particularly helpful or fulsome response, I thought I'd take you through a bit of a pictorial tour.

First -- remember those socks I cast on June 1?  I knit the better part of the foot of one Whiz Bang sock (pattern by Sarah Shoo) before I decided I didn't like it.   So I'm back to having two toes.

The yellowy ones to the left are going be Marigold by Pamela Wynne, because of reasons.   The yarn is Highland Handmades Sugar Maple Sock in the "Fru's Hairy Balls" colorway.   It was created as a fundraiser in 2014 for Sillyfru -- a podcaster and knitter who has been diagnosed with Hairy Cell Leukemia.   The proceeds went to help pay for her medical costs, and I was happy to be a part of that.

The multi-colored yarn on the right is Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Painted in the "Spectrum" colorway. Those are the ones that tried (and failed) to be Whiz Bang socks.  I think I'm going to try a toe-up version of Hermione's Everyday Socks instead.  I'd hate to waste a perfectly good toe.

In other knitting news, I have a cowl on the go out of some yarn I picked up last winter from a dyer who was going out of business.  This is Rambling Rose Yarns Divine: Merino Sock in the "Midnight Blue" colorway.

This is the Trifle Cowl by the Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup. This term the Headmistress' Challenge is to participate in a Cowl Mystery Knit or Crochet-along. I'm doing the knit version, and so far I really like it!   (I did cheat and look at other people's clues before committing ... mystery knitalongs being somewhat of a gamble.)  I like it though!

Next up is my Lionberry Shawl.  The pattern is by Narniel of Endor (er, that's what it says in Ravelry anyway.  I suspect her mother didn't give her that name, but I dig her choice of fandoms, so.)

It's a crescent shaped shawl, with distinct sections of texture.  I am calling the project "For Aslan," and am knitting it with Him in mind.  The yarn is Lost City Knits Pathways sock yarn in "Rumpelstiltskin."  I picked it up specifically with this shawl in mind at Stitches South this April.  So far I'm loving working with the yarn.

I'm also working on Bifrost by Cate Carter-Evans.   The yarn is her Infinite Twist Helix base, and the colors just make me salivate.

The scarf will run through a full rainbow before it's done.  It's happiness in squashy garter stitch.  I might decide to mattress stitch the whole business closed when I'm done and turn it into an infinity scarf.  I'll decide when I get there.

In crochet news, I'm still plugging away at my Cosy Stripes blanket by Lucy of Attic24.  It's amazing how quickly three stripes a week will grow a blanket.  Especially when compared to "no stripes per week" which is how much I was working on it before.

That's folded in thirds, and there's another three feet or so hanging on the other side of the chair.  I really want to get this done though -- both because I am nearly as tired of it as I love it (which is a lot) but also because this bad boy is going to net me around 4000 meters for Stash Dash.  Big blanket is big.

My Circles to Squares Afghan is so close I can taste it.  All the squares are done and I've started crocheting it together.

It looks a little wobbly now, but an outer border should help tidy it up.   Here's a close up of what the back looks like:

I rather like the ridges it makes.

So that's the majority of what I've been working on lately.  It's rather a lot, but in this case "lately" really means, "I've touched it in the past two weeks."

That doesn't actually make it any saner, does it?

Focus, Finally. After a Fashion.

I've been as close as I get to project monogamous this past week.  Long-time friends of the show will recall my opinion on the moral implications of the number of projects a person currently has on the go: to whit... there are none.

That said, you can sure get more visible progress when your focus and energies aren't widely dispersed.

This past week has seen a fair bit of progress on my 3 (4) Color Cashmere Cowl.  

If three colors are good, four are better, amirite?  I'm planning to add the Turmeric as the main color block after the skinny teal and grey stripes (er, that's the yellowy-brown for those of you that were raised on the 16 color Crayola box, instead of the mega 120 color set).

Most of my crafting energy (such as it's been) has been spent on the cowl, but I've also finished the heel flap of Carl's second Big Dude sock.  No picture, but y'all know what a grey-brown sock with a heel flap looks like.

I've also done two more squares for the Circles to Squares afghan.  At this rate I could conceivably finish it ever.

I was laying it out according to the little map in the pattern, trying to get a gauge of what size blanket I am going to end up with.  (Pun unintended... but I will admit to leaving it because I thought it was funny.  So there.)  I have around half the squares completed.

That's really it -- I haven't picked up Nurmilintu, my Hitchhiker, my Halloween socks (Christmas socks at this rate).  And we won't speak of the two sweaters I have on the needles at the moment.... Or the shawl.  Or the other blanket...

Look, I'm only flirting with the idea of project focus.  I don't want to get all crazy.  

FO: Maurice the Hippopampatus of Love

May I present to you, finished after two years of lingering in a plastic box, Maurice, the Hippopampatus of Love.

I started this little buddy because... well because all the cool kids were doing it, frankly.  This was one hundred percent, unabashedly, product crafting.  Putting him together was essentially constructing a 3-D puzzle where I was building the pieces as I added them in.  Once I got a groove on, it was ridiculously fun.

The main reason I didn't finish this back in 2013 (other than my innate propensity for getting bored and wandering off) was that I was worried I would run out of the Knit Picks Shine Sport I was using to crochet him up.  (Remember the Granny Halter I did?  The one inspired by my buddy Erin?  This was an attempt to use up the scraps from that stash-busting project.)  

Anyway, I was right, I wouldn't have had enough.  So I stopped right there at two back legs and an octo-butt (you've seen that picture like three times, so I won't re-post it here) and I ordered some more colors.  I tried to find things from the current color line that would look good with the colors I already had.  If you know anything about how colors change from season to season, you'll know that was more challenging than it should have been.

Anyway, I packed the Hippo Hind-quarters up and waited impatiently for Knit Picks to send my new colors.   Mind you that was back in 2013.  

Hippopampatus of Love

It will shock no one who knows me to hear that by the time the new yarn came in, I'd moved on to greener pastures and turned my attention to other projects.

Fickle, thy name is crafter!

Long story... still pretty long, I read back through the instructions about a week into February, and started really busting it out.

Dat Booty, Though!

On a purely stash-busting front, this project wasn't that successful, as I think I have as much or more Shine Sport in my stash now as I did when I started -- despite using up over 700 yards.  How does that even work?

Project Notes

Pattern:  Happypotamus by Heidi Bears

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport, in a variety of colors

Hook: 3.75 mm (F)

Yardage: 743 yards

Started: August 3, 2013

Finished: February 28, 2015

See my Ravelry project page here for more pictures.

The minute I finished the kids started arguing
over who got to cuddle him first.

I'll do a February is for Finishing wrap-up post later this week, but I really thought that Maurice needed his own post.

Beige and Blue...Knitting Ennui Ensues

It's mid-February and we all know what that means here at chez woolly.   That's right, I'm tired of everything I'm already knitting and I'm longing to cast on something new.

Right on schedule.  This happens every year like clockwork.  I start the month strong, knock something off the needles that's been hanging around 95% done, then turn my attention and focus to the next things on the list...only to rediscover why they weren't done to begin with.

Jess' Cowl is coming along -- I'm about 9 of (probably) 15 repeats in. (I say 'probably' because Jess, who is considerably ahead of me on this endeavor, made it to 15 before running out of yarn.  Gauge being what it is, my mileage may vary.)

Carl's socks aren't much further along than they were -- which is only to be expected as they were only meant to be purse knitting anyway.

Rowan's sweater, you'll be relieved to hear, is not only back to where I started before the Great Frogging last weekend, but actually a bit beyond.

If it doesn't fit him this time, I may make him eat it.

I spent most of last week plugging along on these three projects feeling terribly ho-hum about all of it.  There was so much sighing you'd swear I was a teenager suddenly cut off from cell-phone privileges.   Then it hit me.

Take a close look at those three projects.  Notice anything?

Like how they are all blue.  Or beige.  Or blue and beige?  Like how they are all three gift knits? 

Yep.

Now, mind you, I'm happy to be making all three, and willingly undertook to do so.  I love the people I'm knitting for and will be pleased as punch to hand over the completed goods.

But I'm an inherently selfish knitter at heart.  I don't mean to be, but I am.  Once I realized the cause of all my knitting malaise I realized there was only one thing to do.

You can't see, but there's a hippo in there.

Much better.