2016 Roundup

All the posts and pictures I've let slip by get caught up on December 31.  KnitMeter will zero out all totals tomorrow so I'm motivated to catch up right now.

I knit 13.9 miles of yarn this year.  That's down from last year's 14.3 miles.  I more than made up for that with crocheting, though.

I crocheted 1.75 miles of yarn this year.  Last year was only 1122 yards.

I spun 750 yards this year.  That's down from 915 yards last year.  Maybe 2017 will be the year that I get my wheel going.

My favorite yarn for this year was GnarledPaw. 

Year end stash enhancement:

The front two are from Gnarled Paw.  The back two are from Invictus.  The single skein is from Knitterly Things.  This is the last shipment from a self-striping club.

Finished things that never made it to a Friday:

Faded Roses blanket

Demelza blanket (made from leftovers from Faded Roses)

Noro Entrelac pillow

Frankensanta socks

Frankensocks

 

 

I also did a Pussyhat but don't know where it is at the moment.

 

 

See you next year!

 

 

 

 

RIP Wednesday

I've freaking had it with the Grim Reaper and its mayhem throughout 2016.  GR's latest customer was Carrie Fisher, this morning.  Rest in peace, Carrie.  Thanks for your writing.  I enjoyed it very much.

Since I clearly cannot begin to guess what wretched things tomorrow might bring, I took the only reasonable action a yarn junkie could take.  I signed up for not one but two yarn clubs.  They are both part of the Mad Geek Tour.  One is Sherlock-themed (5 more days to a new episode.  Squeeeee!).  The other is Doctor Who-themed (new season starts in the spring.  Double squeeeee!)

I have been working on stuff, just randomly.  I got bored with one thing and picked up another and got bored and picked up another.  Etc.  One thing that's nearly done is an entrelac pillow made from Noro Silk Garden Lite.  I love Noro.

Here's sock one of two:

Here are a couple of squares from the Demelza blanket made from leftovers from another project:

I think this project has cured me of any interest I though I had in big complex crocheted squares.  I'm pretty good at crochet, but some of these drove me stark raving mad.

WIP Wednesday

Here's what's actively in progress:

Leftie.  I was looking around for some things to make a Doctor Who charm bracelet.  I ended up reordering the chain because I can't find it.  D'oh!  I did find a bunch of mini skeins left over from another project.  I'm using them to make this.

FrankenSanta Socks.  I've been keeping up with the clues.  The green on gray part is the back of the heel and is supposed to be the Grinch who stole Christmas.  I don't see him, despite having done a reasonable job with the colorwork.  One of the people doing this knitalong put the bottom of the nose and an embroidered evil grin on hers.  I may do that too.

The last sock in the Peace collection.  It has an unusual name and I keep forgetting what it is.  Sock 2.

Waiting in the wings are:

• three sock patterns (one General Hogbuffer and two Yarn Yentas)
• a set of fair isle catnip mice for a certain fur baby to get from Santacat
• another blankie to use up the massive amount of leftover yarn from the one I just finished.  The pattern will probably be Demelza mainly because I'm working my way through the Poldark books and she's my favorite character in them.

FrankenSanta clues 2 and 3

The green stripe has an eyelet pattern.  It is meant to have something threaded through the eyelets and maybe something dangling from whatever went through the eyelets.  I like the pattern without anything through the eyelets.  I knit a Mochimochi Land Santa that ties to one sock.  He can be easily removed.

Stash has been enhanced by one skein of self-striping yarn from a club.  It's called Bountiful.  I like these colors on trees, but not so much on yarn.

FrankenSanta Socks, clue one

WIP Wednesday

I'm still slogging away on the Faded Roses blanket.  I'm about 15 squares away from the borders being done.  Then the assembly begins.

Tomorrow is the start of the Frankensock advent socks.  There's a new clue every other day between December 1-24.  The people who did the advent socks I participated in last year are not doing it this year, alas.  This sounds like it should make a good substitute.  I went digging through my leftovers and decided to base the socks on Sassy Santa:

I was able to find enough solids that go with this yarn.  Oddly, almost all of them are also sparkly with a little stellina in them.

WIP Wednesday

I've been working on the Faded Roses Blanket.  I'm nearly done with the flowers.  That's 108 flowers.

Next will be the leaves.  Then the borders.  Then trying to figure out how to lay out all of them in some sort of order.  I've got 432 leaves and 108 borders to think about that.  No hurry.

I hope everyone has many things to be thankful for tomorrow, no matter where you are.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

Is it stash if you bought it for a project and have started said project?

That tote bag is stuffed full of 21 different colors of DK yarn.  I'm doing the Faded Roses Blanket.  It's a bunch of fancy granny squares that look like flowers.  It's pretty.

FO Friday

I've been a bit fuzzy-headed and haven't gotten back here to post stuff.  These were finished a week ago.

Christmas Stampede, a freebie from Drops Designs:

Little Pumpkins, a Halloween mystery knitalong:

I got through the first of the final sock in the Heidi Nicks Peace series.  Then second sock syndrome hit.  This sent me off on a tangent. 

I started a General Hogbuffer pattern and then realized that I needed more yarn than what I'd chosen.

I couldn't find the yarn that my Ravelry database said that I had.  I went through all of my fingering stash and reorganized it.  The yarn I was looking for never appeared.  I did find several formerly missing skeins plus two that I have no idea at all what they are.  I like them, so that's good.

FO Friday

Miscanthus, November's knit from stash socks are done:

I decided not to combine the two little batts I had and I just did one.

WIP Wednesday

In progress are Little Pumpkins, a mystery KAL:

 

It is a bit hard to see here, but the cables look a bit like stacks of little pumpkins.

This is the November Knit from Stash sock.  The first one is done.  It is basically pattern down the middle and k1 p1 rib everywhere else:

The color is more of a gold in real life.

The first batt is close to being done:

That's it for this week.

Enhancing the other Stash

Fabric.  It's the other thing that I've got a ridiculous amount of and occasionally have to have more.  I go off hunting for it every time I see a cute project bag.  I need project bags just about as much as I need more yarn and fabric.  Still, I want them and it is relatively inexpensive to buy fabric.

The fabric I just have to have is usually related to some other obsession.  This is the Gilmore Girls fabric (found on Etsy):

 

This is Paris-themed fabric and comic book style Doctor Who fabric.  Strax, Madame Vastra, Jenny, Weeping Angels and lots more.  I could not resist.

This fabric attack was set off by finding out that there is glow in the dark fabric.  I love glow in the dark anything.  I also like Day of the Dead and Frida Kahlo things.  The black and white is the glow in the dark kind.

Sheep that look like balls of wool are simply screaming to be a project bag.

All of these came from fabric.com.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

This is a self-striping sock yarn from Knitterly Things (October club shipment):

The colorway is Zoinks!  The pin in front has nothing to do with the club.  It's this year's Ravellenics pin and it came at the same time as the yarn did.  I liked the way they looked together.

I was on a specked yarn hunt when I found these at Knit Picks.

The green one is called City Lights and the gray one is Andromeda.

I was wandering around on Etsy this week.  I though I'd check out what the Cyborg's Craft Room was offering.  It wasn't there.  I did a little research and found out why.  Maegan Black, the proprietor of Cyborg's Craft Room, passed away unexpectedly last month.   My sympathies go out to her friends and family.  I have a skein and a half of her yarn left.  They'll both be saved for special projects.

Darn it, 2016, enough already.  Save some people for next year.

FO Friday

Coffee Cantata socks are done:

Cableship socks are done, too:

WIP Wednesday

I'm on the second sock of Look for the Helpers.  Here's the front cable pattern on the first one:

I thought that the yarn would be a little less speckled when it was knit up.  The yarn cake looks a lot more white than the sock does for some reason.

I didn't want to start another project right now.  There will be two or three patterns appearing in my library in the next week.  I am doing some spinning instead.  I've got a batt that's half purple and half pink.   I've got another batt that has purple and pink and other colors in it.  I'm planning on spinning them separately and then plying them together.  I'm pretty sure the result will not be suitable for anything with cables.

Stars Hollow Fabric

I'm a big Gilmore Girls fan.  When I saw a project bag with a GG theme, I knew I had to find the fabric.  Not only did I find it, I found several other kinds.  It was amazing.  It was only about a half-dozen clicks between me seeing the bag to having an order of fat quarters on the way.

If someone else who likes Stars Hollow and fabric wanders by, go here.  The fabrics have Stars Hollow signs, buildings, fashions worn by Lorelai and Rory, two different sets of quotes, and a daisy-themed print. 

I think I've finally got the motivation to get my sewing machine tuned up.

WIP Wednesday

Cableship socks have heels.  The color repeats are not exactly the same length, which is why one sock is already getting some of the red already.

Coffee Cantata socks are about 65% done.  One sock is complete and the second had the leg almost done.  This is why it takes some time:

No two rounds are exactly the same.  It's a lot of twisted stitches and cables.  It is fun until it is time to convince the camera to cooperate.

My next project might be weaving.  I've had this table loom that's designed for sock-weight yarns.  I got a new weaving book recently.  Loom, book, and ten zillion skeins of sock yarn.  It's a no-brainer.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

This is Wollmeise in the colorway So Long, Kitty:

I'm knitting away with it on the Coffee Cantata socks.  Fun.

This is Zephyr from Hedgehog Fibers:

I knit something recently with this kind of yarn and liked it.

These two Regia yarns are Arne & Carlos colorways.  They are not colors I would've picked based just by how the balls of yarn look.  I saw some swatches and liked them.
This one is fingering weight:

This one I got by mistake.  It's DK weight.  Now I get to go find a pattern that will be good for it.

I've got a skein on the way from a yarn club.  They didn't give a tracking number so who knows where it is actually at.

Hope everyone who is at Rhinebeck is having a great time.

Finished Object Friday

I've got about a month's worth of FO's.

Darlingtonia, September's Knit From Stash:

Sprinkle Socks:

Time Warp Socks:

Hello Sweetie:

Practice Compassion:

Love is Love shawl:

Obviously I haven't been doing a bit of blocking recently.

Scrappie socks:

Lianas (October Knit from Stash):

That last pair shows where my luck is starting to run out at yarn chicken.  It has been really strange that I've been left with such tiny amounts of yarn lately.