Final Finished Items and 2018 Tally

Happy New Year!!  This is my end of year totals/tally.  My 2019 goals are simple.  Use stash, spin stash, make what makes me happy, and try to control what comes into the stashes.  (That last part always seem to be ignored.  lol)

I did finish a cute hat in December.   I just needed a break from the sweater and shawl knitting.  It was the perfect item, and only took  a couple hours.  It is knit in Malabrigo  Rasta in the "Fucsia" colorway which is a bright pink and has a huge pompom on top.  The pattern was "Perky Little Hat".

It seems most of my projects were larger items this year so the count is rather low.  3 shawls, 2 sweaters, 1 cowl, 1 hat, 1 queen size afghan for a total of 8 items.  

There's still the sweater and shawl in progress to start the year off with.  I also plan to start a "Find Your Fade" this month.  I have  it kitted up already.  Plans for more sweaters and shawls are also in the works.

I only managed to finish a little over a pound of the four I wanted to spin for the year.  I hope to get more spun in the upcoming year than in 2018.

Catching Up

It's been a while since I made a post here.  I seem to be in a pink mood last few months. 

My Sipila Sweater was finished and came out great.

I also started and finished the Fallen Cloud Shawl.  I used Malabrigo Rios in "English Rose" for this.  Since I had bought four skeins to make sure I had enough yarn, I just knit an extra repeat to use it up.  I had about three grams left after bind off.         

                        

My current projects are the unfinished "Spring Garden Shawl" and the "Triple Dutch Cardigan".

There hasn't been much spinning lately.  The last finished ones were during Tour de Fleece. 

There's a couple  of Corgi Hill Farm fibers in progress fibers on the Minstrel (Pink Peacock) and Hansen (Lavender Tea). 

    

The guild meeting is tomorrow and I plan to attend.  I also need to pay my dues for the upcoming year.

Pat took me to the New England Fiber Festival in November where I did some serious stash enhancement.  A few more shawl and sweater quantities were added the the stash.  There was also a visit to WEBS afterwards. 

A Little Knitting ..... A Little Spinning... Tour de Fleece Time

There's been nothing finished in June or July as far as knitting projects are concerned.  My Silipa  sweater is progressing slowly with most of the yoke color work done.  I only have about eight rows left to do.  Then it's plain knitting with the main color, split for the sleeves and stockinette all the time for the body.

I did start my Spring Garden Shawl.  Mine is much brighter in Mad Tosh "Neon Peach" and Hedgehog Fibre's "Kimono".  It reminds me of Tiger Lilies and those little dark blue flowers (Cosmos I think) found in summer gardens.  Definitely outside my usual colors.  

                    

My first Tour de Fleece spin project was finished but I still need to get the final pic of that.  It is a lovely BFL/Silk blend from Corgi Hill Farm in "Wood Orchid".  The colors go as a gradient from a purple to blue to teal to green.  The total was 428 yards of 2 ply from 5 ounces. 

My current spin is also CHF in a Polwarth/Silk/Firestar blend in the color "Oil Slick".  It's all the colors in an oil puddle.  

Crochet Sweater Frogged .... A new Project Starting

After fighting with my crocheted Lost in Paris Sweater, I've decided to frog it.  After doing a 24 stitches decrease, it's still too big.  I had most of the body done, but its not worth continuing if I'm not going to wear it.  The yarn will go back in stash and become another sweater in the future.  

Plans are to start Sipila by Caitlin Hunter now.  The main color will be this tonal pink.  I need to decide on the sparkly pale pink for speckled for the color work.  I'm leaning toward the speckled one.

 

                                    

Winning Prizes and Slow Craft Progress

The past month has seen me mostly staying home again.  There was a trip to Mermaid's Purl for a trunk show and book signing with Bristol Ivy.  A copy of her book and two skeins of yarn were purchased.  The drive home was a tough one since my back was acting up and it caused a lot of pain in my right side and leg.  The next day was knit group and I had to skip the tea room luncheon.  There was no way I could drive over an hour each way.

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend was our cemetery visitation day.  Pat drove me to Driftwood Yarns in Groton first.  I got to see Cindy who used to go to Happy Hands with me.  Four more skeins came home.  Two to go with previous projects and two for a new one.  

There was also a couple of online orders which I'm not going to list here.  About five sweaters worth have come into the stash as well as a few other projects.  

There was a skein of yarn and three patterns won between April and May.  This encouraged me to buy a couple of Powerball tickets but I didn't win anything - lol.

Photos are in the process of being taken to update my stash.  I'm trying to do as many missing ones as possible.

May was not a very productive month for me as far as crafting is concerned.  I did finish my Hemiphere half pi shawl at the beginning of the month.  I've been busy crocheting on my  "Lost in Paris" sweater.  It's had some sizing issues and been ripped back a few times.  

Only about an ounce of fiber has gotten spun.  It's a BFL/Silk blend that's spinning super fine and taking longer.  

My goal is to finish both these projects in June.  Tour de Fleece is in July and I have plans to spin for that.  My first fiber for that will be Corgi Hill Farm's Oil Slick.  (I still need a pic of my braid).  There's a couple other braids picked out to follow up with as well.

Knitting Finishes and Some Health Woes

Most of February and March found me settling in to staying at home most of the time since I had some health issues requiring me to stay calm and quiet.  I'm feeling better but still have stuff to deal with.  I only went to the yarn shop a couple of times because I needed something.  Otherwise, it's been mostly short, quick trips to the market or store and back home.

All this staying home means more time for crafting.  Here's a picture of my Corner2Corner Afghan I finished in the middle of February.   After finishing that, I started and finished a Basic Boomerang Shawl.  Then it was back to my Easy All Year Cardigan I knit with handspun.  It's big and comfy, with three quarter sleeves. The sweater and shawl pics are not blocked items.  After posting the pictures, I realized I must be in a "blue" mood.  My next project is pink, purple, and blue.  :)

I'm sort of in a monogamous knit mode right now.  My current project is the Hemisphere Shawl.  It's a half pi design and I'm loving how it's coming out.  I'm using the yarn called for from Craftsy in a sport weight superwash alpaca blend.  I just started Ring 6 so it doubled in size again. I have that, Ring 7 and the applied border left to do.  

My spinning has been almost non existent right now with just the singles finished from the second braid of Panda blend "Let Love In" from Spunky Eclectic.  I haven't felt like getting the Hansen out of it's bag to ply it yet.  I did buy a new tote bag in a Cheetah print for the mini spinner.  It's actually a sewing machine rolling cart, but works great for the spinner and all the paraphernalia I need to carry with it.  The Craftsman bag worked well too, but I am having problems carrying items long distance.  My back doesn't like it.  I found the new tote on Amazon, but I know Walmart has a black quilted version.  I still need to use a table since the top of the bag is not firm enough to support resting the spinner on it.

A Little Spinning,and Knitting ... .Lots of Crocheting

2018 has started off slow in the spinning and knitting portions.  Instead I have had a crochet hook in my hand most of the time.  I made a Corner2Corner afghan, using Premier Sweet Rolls self striping cakes.  I just continued with the same color as I finished each one.  It covers the top of a queen size bed, but my plan is to use it in my recliner on cool/cold evenings.  

I did knit a lacy cowl, using Madelinetosh Vintage held double.  I had enough to get through 2 full repeats, but not the half one before the garter row edge.  It's tall enough for me so I'm fine with that.

The Minstrel wheel still has the same Spunky Eclectic braid in progress.  I just haven't felt like spinning lately.  The Sonata and Hansen are both in their bags with empty bobbins. 

There was much retail therapy in both  the fiber and yarn departments.  One of my favorite fiber dyers used "Farscape" (one of my favorite series) for color inspiration and I had to buy two of her colors.  Of course fiber is squishy and must not travel alone.  Many other fiber "friends" had to be purchased as well.  lol  I look forward to spinning it all.  Plans are in the works to do a combo spin for a sweater some time in the future.

There was a visit to Driftwood Yarns with my knitting friends which resulted in yarn for three future projects.  On Super Bowl Sunday, Pat drove me to the same shop for a trunk show for Knits4Comfort yarn.  A sweater quantity came home with me from that.  If he had not been waiting for me in the car,  and I had gone alone, it might have been a different scenario.  The wool fumes would have sang their siren song and more skeins would have been put in my basket. lol

A Basic Boomerang Shawl by Laura Nelkin has been started.  I found it through a Craftsy email for a yarn sale.  The sample was knit in a brown color change sport weight yarn,  I bought the same yarn, but in the blue color change, and a skein of lighter blue for the ending.  I want it a little bigger than the original.  My Easy All Year Cardigan still needs finishing.  Now my hand is feeling a bit better, I can knit for short intervals.  My goal is to work on that a couple times each day.

My Knitting & Spinning 2017 Review and 2018 Plans

Happy New Year!!  May 2018 be a wonderful, blessed year for everyone.

The numbers for 2017 are not as much as previous years, but not shabby.  My goal was 40 skeins, but I knit larger projects. Totals were 23 projects resulting in 25.25 skeins with 8117.5 yards used. Here's the breakdown:
4 Cowls (3 knit and 1 crochet)
1 Mitts (crochet)
1 Socks
6 Shawls (all large sized)
1 Sweater
10 Vivid Squares for the afghan

Spinning came in under my goal of 6 pounds thanks to having to rest the foot between spinning episodes and working on knit projects.  Still, I' m happy with my results of 64 ounces (4 pounds) with a result of 3160.15 yards  finished.

My plans for 2018 are:
4 adult size sweaters, two shawls, finish one of my 2 current afghan projects, finish some "old" WIPs, use 30 skeins, spin 4 pounds, do some dyeing and fiber processing at home.  My husband will bring the dye and processing supplies upstairs so I can use the deck in the Spring for that.  With the impending snow storm this Thursday, I might try snow dyeing for the first time.

I also hope to get some other crafts done as well. - Stained glass, paint ceramics, and use my sewing machine.