2012 in wooly goodness

Looking back, it's been quite the productive year...

The knitting/crocheting:

6 sweaters, 2 toys, 9 items of neckwear (shawl, scarf, cowl), two pairs of mitts, two blankets, one (!) pair of socks, 3 potholders, 10 hats and 2 pairs of felted clogs. This would explain why my handknit sock well is running dry...

The weaving:

7 scarves (the last of which I managed to giveaway before I took a finished picture - help JoAnna!), and 2 dishtowels. 4 of the scarves were given away.

The spinning:

I think it ends up being 30 skeins total. At least that's what I find going through my flickr photostream. I know there's at least one or two others that haven't been photographed, but we'll call it an even 30. I'm too lazy to go back and figure out yardages though, so you'll have to make up your own numbers.

So what does this tell me? A couple of very important things...number 1: it is perhaps conceivable that I spend far too much of my time knitting/spinning/weaving. Number 2: I need to add socks to the 2013 to-do list. Or learn how to darn. Anyone got any good darning egg recommendations?

Retrospective

There was quite a bit of crafting over the course of 2011, along many different lines and in many new directions. I've gone into many details already, so I thought I'd just offer up this as a visual record.

I didn't quite get through my goal of 11 sweaters and 11 pairs of socks in 2011, but that's ok. Clearly the world is not going to end if I don't live up to my knitting goals, right? I'm pleased that I knit sweaters for myself and my loved ones. I'm pleased that I spun up some lovely yarns, and I can't wait to knit them up. I'm thrilled that I learned some new skills (thank you Judith!), and that I managed to knit three pairs of handspun socks (now only Ironman is lacking in that department). I'm thrilled to bits with the designs that I've managed to put out this year - two sweaters, one pair of socks (for Sock Madness - I've still got to get the general release pattern out the door!), a scarf and some mittens (finally finishing up the Southwark Collection - got to get that ebook out the door as well!). I spun more during the 2011 Tour de Fleece then in 2010. I started dyeing fiber for the general public (ohmygodwhathaveIgottenmyselfinto?). It's been a really good year on the craft front.

So what's ahead for 2012? I'm not convinced I want to do the whole list of resolutions this time around. I think a sweater and a pair of socks a month is a bit beyond my capabilities, to be fair. But there are some things I would like to accomplish:

• Dye my little head off and get Porpoise Fur really up and running. I've got ideas for colorways and patterns for certain colorways and so on and so on. Now I've got to get going on the reality. 

• I've got at least four more design ideas ready to be knit up, and I want to get going on those ASAP. It's a bit tough, since three of them are for summer weather, and it's 45 degrees with 40 mph winds in London today. Makes it tough to think about tank tops, to be honest...

• Get rid of my stash yarn that I'm seriously never, ever going to use. There's a lot of it. My Ravelry stash (which sadly, does not include everything) is at 53,286 yds of yarn. Holy fuck...that's...that's...that is waaaay to much yarn for one person to have lying around. To be fair, I may have included in that total some stuff that's been used up, but still.  OK, Real Goal #1 for 2012: update Rav stash to be totally accurate and keep it that way. And list a bunch of stuff for sale - good God woman!

I think I'm going to stop there. The grim reality of that amount of yarn is more then a little bit disturbing. I need to go lie down for a bit...

And please, someone out there tell me that's not that bad? 

Looking back...hahahahahahahahaha!

So I went back and checked my overly optimistic list of goals for the year a few days ago, and that maniacal laughter you heard is what came out of my mouth when I contemplated a) the number of days left in 2011, and 2) the state of the list.

Ehem. Here's what I mean:

1. Eleven pairs of socks - well, I've managed nine pairs. Which is pretty good. Two of those pairs are Christmas presents, three pairs were handspun (which feels a bit like cheating since they're thicker yarn). That will have to do for 2011's sock output. Sadly, I'm not sure my supply of sock yarn has diminished in the slightest.

2. Eleven sweaters, including:
3. Pas de Valse - hahahahahahaha!
4. Handspun Vine Yoke Cardigan - hee hee hee hee hee!
5. Rollneck sweater for Devil - done
6. a handspun River Run Pullover - yarn spun, dyed and sweater started I steeked and knit the neck band this past week, although it took me four tries to get the neckband going the right way. I have also steeked and started the first arm, but yarn supplies are getting low. New goal date for finishing: 10 March 2012.

I did end up with eight finished sweater/vest objects. Including four of my own design (to be fair, three of them are the same sweater with a few variations)(beyond different sizes that is!), one handspun, and one for me. I've also got a pile of handspun yarn begging to be turned in to a sweater and at least one vest in the near future.

7. Spin more during the 2011 Tour de Fleece then I did in 2010 (39.4 oz) - 51.3 oz, 2425 yds, check!

8. Get my first full fleece (figuring out what to do with it is 2012's project) - Weeeeeeeeelll...I have discovered that getting a raw fleece in the UK is not quite so simple as pulling up to the local Sheep and Wool Festival* and throwing down some cash. I'm afraid this one might have to be tabled until we return Stateside.

9. Design a shawl - it's done, and the pattern is written, but I need to weave in the ends/block/photograph the darn thing. Thankfully, it's a freebie pattern, and I'm not getting it test knitted (it is dead easy), so I'm hoping to get that out by the end of the year. I've got delusions of a handspun shawl design too...it has been a bit of a design-filled autumn, though: I've released three patterns in the last couple of months, and have a looming sock pattern that needs to go out the door. And there's one more being tested, and a raft of summery patterns waiting to get out the door. Oy! I'm having fun though...

10. Submit a design to Knitty - submitted to Knitty, got rejected. Submitted to Knitcircus, got rejected, submitted to a book editor, got accepted. Heh heh heh heh... More details on that when it becomes possible - knitting the sample for the book is January's project.

11. Design a spinning/knitting project for Ennea Collective. Eh. Didn't happen. I got busy starting a fiber-dyeing business. But I have grand plans for 2012 (see number 9)...

* My spinning group is going "Whaaaaat local Sheep and Wool Festival?????" I know, I know...

Another wool-full year

For the last day of 2010, a round up of the last quarter:

One sweater for me, and one for a gift, one hat (and pattern), three cowls (one handspun), two pairs of mittens, one pair of socks (the first in four months!) and two scarves. Spinning-wise, there was some fiber club singles, merino/silk for one of the sweaters, and the lining yarn for one of the pairs of mittens. There was also a fiber club offering that hasn't yet been blogged (upcoming), and this: the final spinning of 2010:

Corriepaca from Amy at Spunky Eclectic in the Mahogany colorway, bought after my dye day at her shop in August, along with a new drop spindle, which I used for the singles.

I am possibly the world's slowest spindler, mostly because I forget how easy it is to pick up during a few free minutes and add on a few yards. The singles took me four months (off and on), the plying took one evening (last night).

The top was a beautiful combination of dark maroonish-pink, brown, black, grey and white. Singles were plied at 12:1 on my wheel, and the final yarn was soaked overnight in warm water and Soak. Spun out in the washer, thwacked and hung to dry. I'll update with final wpi/yardage measurements when it finishes drying, which hopefully will be soon.

Per usual, Amy's fiber is lovely to spin and beautifully dyed. I've got a pile more waiting, and I'm contemplating what to throw on the wheel (or spindle) next! I'm also trying to come up with a list of fibery goals for 2011 - there's a thread in the LSG group about 11 projects for 2011, which I like the idea of, but per usual, all the things I'm coming up with are Big Projects. We'll see if I can get it down to something reasonable. I also really like the Yarn Harlot's self-imposed sock club - picking out 12 sock yarns and 12 patterns, and pulling one off the shelf each month. My record with the Knit Love Sock Club didn't work out so well this year, so I've got a pile of sock yarns sitting around to be used up. As well as a bunch of new patterns to work up. So that's another possibility. I'll see if I can't get things worked up for a New Year's day post.

I know that 2010 was a tough one for many people, so I'll end 2010 by wishing all of you a happy, healthy, joy-full 2011!

Quarter Three Output

Right, a cheater blog post for an extremely busy Wednesday:

Knitting
Annis #5 and #6
Aran Necklace Tank (not blogged because it's not quite wearable yet...)
Two handspun hats
One pair of socks
Norberta (sadly gifted before I took a finished shot)
Mittens for Nana
Girl sweaters

Spinning
The Tour de Fleece
4! Oz! Challenge spinning
Pencil roving

Now back to the frantic guilty knitting (I cast on for something not on the list, because I just couldn't help myself).

Second quarter report

Knitting:
Three pairs of Madness socks
One handspun sweater
One stashbusting laptop bag (not blogged, and the buttons aren't sewn on yet, but screw it)
Four Annises (Anni?) (also not blogged because I am planning a massive six-fold FO post for these babies)

Spinning:
Four miles of purple singles
Mermaid yarn

Not bad for three months. But that's all I've got today - six days and two Anni left to do. See you later!

First quarter report

I realized belatedly last year, that having a monthly update on finished items didn't workout so well - I kept forgetting to post at the end of the month. So in 2010, I'm going to try quarterly rundowns and see if that works better. Here's the list for the first quarter.

Knitting:
One hat
Three pairs of socks
A wee vest

Spinning:
Some mystery top

What isn't listed here since it's not yet done, are the miles and miles of singles I've been spinning. I'm now on my thirteenth bobbin. And I still think it's going to be twenty before I'm done. So hopefully the next quarter's list will have the NSPoD on it.

Happy New Year!

Another year gone by, another year to come, with lots of fibery pursuits. Here's the rundown:

Finished in 2009 (knitting):
6 scarves/shawls
10 pairs of socks
4 hats
8 mittens/handcoverings of some sort
7 sweaters (mostly for the girls)
2 blankets
6 other (earrings, mini-socks)

And five new published designs, one of which is actually for sale. That's actually more then I thought I'd accomplished, so I'm pretty pleased. But I think for 2010 I'd like to get 12 pairs of socks, and a couple more sweaters for me and/or other people - now that we live in a climate where sweaters are actually useful, Ironman has deigned (read: I've managed to twist his arm until he's agreed to let me make him one) to request a cabled sweater. We'll see whether it's out of handspun or I break down and buy some nice yarn for it.

Finished in 2009 (spinning):
Yarn School merino, 4 oz
Sunshine of Your Love SW merino, 8 oz
Preppy Yarn School Masham, 4 oz
Hello Yarn Night Sky SW BFL, 8 oz
Yarn School BFL, 4 oz
Alpaca/merino/silk blend, 4 oz
Ply by Night BFL, 5 oz
Yarn School Corriedale, 1 lb
Hello Yarn Thrive Corriedale, 4 oz
Devil's merino, 8 oz
Hello Yarn Air merino/tencel blend, 4 oz
Spunky Eclectic BFL, 4 oz
Hello Yarn Norway BFL, 4 oz
Natural Brown BFL, 4 oz

That adds up to almost 5 lbs of fiber spun. Hmmm...I think I'll aim for more next year. I'm already planning on spinning two sweater lots worth of yarn in January/February - the purple stuff I dyed last year for Ysolda's Vine Yoke Cardigan, and my Hello Yarn Winter Storage pile (20 oz) for some other sweater thing, pattern as yet undecided.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful, wooly and fibery holiday with plenty of time to spend with friends and family. Here's to a fabulous 2010, and thank you for reading!

Fall roundup

Looking back at my posts, I realize that I never did a round up for September, so you get a twofer for the last two months.

Knitting:
Aestlight (S)
Nemo mittens (S)
Seablue playmate (O)
Jack-in-the-box mittens (O)
Bramblewood vest (O)
Eunice (not blogged, but O)
Handspun mittens to match this (also unblogged, but O)

Spinning:
BFL Jupiter (S)
Norway/brown BFL for another Christmas present (S)
October, alas, was spinning-free

Other:
Remade skirt for moi
Two princess costumes, finished before the very last minute. Wiktory!

Update on the Christmas list, which has undergone some revision:

4 pairs of mittens - 2 pairs down, 2 to go
2 pairs fingerless mitts - 1 pair started, to be gifted early
2 pairs felted clogs - these are a last minute deal
At least two hats - this has turned into three hats, but only one is in fingering weight and taking forever.
Added to the list: my Albatross, aka Veil of Isis, is destined as a gift. I'm on row 27 of 31 of the edging so the train is barreling down the tunnel. I also need something for Ironman. Who knows what that will be. But I don't think anyone is getting socks.

Oooof.

Home again, home again...

We arrived back in London at 7:00 am Saturday morning, and managed to keep ourselves more or less awake for much of the day. The girls did take three hour naps, as did IM, and Devil didn't then go to sleep til 11:00, but hey, who's keeping track? We're all sad to leave family behind, but glad to be back at home. We went out that night (in an attempt to keep everyone conscious) and came back with this:

7 lbs of wild blackberries. Most of these are in the freezer while I attempt to find canning jars, but some ended up in blackberry pancakes at 10:30 the next morning when we were finally all awake...

I also busted in to some of my new fiber stash after the girls were in bed (if not actually asleep). This braid of BFL

is well on it's way to being a poofy 2-ply for a hat or some mittens.

It's getting to be the time of year when the holiday season rears its ugly head. I've recently decided not to wait to give people handknits - hence gifting my MIL with her Mermaid socks immediately instead of holding out until Christmas. Isis also has a new home in mind, so now that I'm back I'll get some more yarn and finish that off (only 23 rows to go! And about 250 beads. And something more then 14,000 stitches. Yikes!). But that doesn't mean I don't have Christmas presents in mind too. So this will become a giftie for someone I think.

August was good on the sock front:

Knitting
Pomatomus
Glynis
Haiku

Spinning
Thrive (and much of Aestlight too!)

July's events

So the month of July was a very very busy one around here. We got back from one vacation, got ready for another, and in between I did a bit of spinning, knitting and pattern releasing. Here's the update.

Spinning:
Air, merino/tencel

Knitting:
Maillot Jaune socks
Flip (not actually knit, but finally photographed and blogged about)
2 hr handspun hat
Ethereal (this has to be my fastest ever turnaround from fiber to yarn to FO)

Other:
Four Tour de France sock patterns released as test versions. Those free versions have now been deactivated, and I'm hoping to have the for sale versions up in the next week or so.
Inaugural UK dyeing of some silk yarn in my new £10 crock pot (not blogged yet)

We're staring down the barrel of yet another trip - back to the States for a family wedding - so posting may be thin for the next little while. Rest assured, things are happening, even if this little corner of the internets is quiet for a bit.

What did I do in June?

Well, I'll tell you. I did some spinning (Merino, superwash Merino) and knit a few things (sweater, blanket, wee bag).

A fairly good month, I'd say!

Catching up

Not that I've been incredibly productive wool-wise in the past couple of months, but here's a list of progress:

April:
Packing of one 2100 sq foot house.
My First BSJ TM
KoM Socks
Ply by Night Cowl
Yarn School Corrie singles
Aleita Vest fail

May
A (semi)succesful relocation to London
Not strangling my small children
Reknit of cuff of KoM socks (unblogged)
1/2 of MJ socks (also not yet blogged)
YS Corrie plying

I think it's safe to say that it's clear that I've been doing other things over the last month. June looks to be a better month so far!

Progress? What progress?

Somehow I managed to forget my report for February, so I've combined it with the report for March, just to keep things up to date.

February:
Knitting - Boo's socks and the Booby Hat
Spinning - Preppy Longwool and Night Sky

March:
Knitting - Manon, La Nadadora (finished long ago, but only just published and blogged, so I'll count that project as finally finished), DNA socks and unblogged mitts (yarn flashed here), pattern to be submitted somewhere.
Spinning - twas a Blue Faced month! Yarn School Blue BFL (finished skein not blogged) and the swoony-worthy Briar Rose BFL for Ply by Night March/April.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Mondays kind of suck. The weekend never seems quite long enough, you have to get up early again, and the whole work thing is kind of a drag. However, when you have managed to somehow finagle your still-somewhat-jet-lagged husband to get up with not one, but both kids, allowing you to sleep for 11+ hours for the first time in (probably) five years, there's not much room for complaining. Even though I will try.

It's been a crazy few weeks - IM went on a week long business trip, Mermaid came to visit, the girls' daycare moved into a new building (where Boo's new teacher lasted all of three days before becoming persona non grata - oops!), and things swung into high gear on our moving plans. The grownups in the family are going to look for a place to live in a couple of weeks. Is is silly that I am inordinately excited about 1) a business class trip to London and 2) a week with no kids? Ok, the second part of that isn't silly, but the first part? Anyway...I'm hoping to keep my finishing-up-of-long-undone-WIPs streak alive by finishing Manon before we leave. Because I'm pretty sure it's not going to be 70-something degrees in the UK.

January was a big achievement month. Here's the recap:
Knitting
Boo's Tomten
Sunset Surf scarf (from handspun)
Devil's stripey pink socks

Spinning
Buckland, 8 oz of Finn top from Hello Yarn Fiber Club, November 2008
Spun 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farm superwash merino
Finished the second 4 oz of my first Yarn School spinning

Unblogged:
Two pairs of earrings (Rav link)
I finally finished the knitting on Duck Returns. However, I think it has a new intended target, so no pix until it's totally finished (lined) and in the mail and received on the other end.
I also had to lengthen Ironman's Christmas socks a bit, so I ripped out the cuffs, knit about 2 more inches on each, and finished them off. And I still have yarn left. Love that Trekking XXL!
Spun another 4 oz of my first Longwool (Masham) from Yarn School

And just in case anyone is concerned that Boo is getting left out in the sock department (and to save you from yet another picture-less post), behold the in progress sock. And if she pulls another screaming fit before 5:00 am tomorrow like she did this morning, I will make the foot longer and give them to her big sister. So there.

2008 Roundup

A new year, a new start, and time to assess what got acomplished in the previous 12 months. The tally from the past year, now that I've gone through and written it down, is quite impressive actually. Here's the bare stats:

Socks - 13 pairs (Ironman Christmas, Noro, Spiraling Coriolis, Flukes, Devil socks, Turkish Walrus, Spiral boot socks, Firestarters, Rainbow socks and leftover socks, Diamond Waffle, Riverbed/Hedgerow socks, secrect project not yet blogged)
Sweaters - 5, two long sleeved, two tanks, and 1 baby
Heads/hands - 2 Christmas Hats, 1 pair of mitts
Scarfs/shawls - two shawls, one scarf
Spinning - 11 different spinning projects finished (superwash Merino from Yarn School, Cotton Candy, Hello Sheep, Maldives, Verdant, Frosted Forest, Toxic, Red Velvet, H^4 Targhee, Blueberries, Sara's Targhee)

Sheesh. Who knew? So the next question is: what's on tap for 2009?

1. Continuing the Sock a Month KAL. I started some geeky science nerd socks for me yesterday.
2. Spinning/knitting the Peacoat of Gloriousness. I've dyed part of the fiber already, but have to order/dye the other batch soonish.
3. Decreasing the stash any which way I can, including forcing my posse to take large bags of yarn home with them on Thursday nights. Because I need to make room for the Rowan that will be incoming...

There are certainly other things that will crop up here and there, like moving across the Atlantic and finding Devil a "pink cake with pink icing and pink Princesses" for her birthday, but I find it's important to keep these lists to a minimum. At least in writing that is (my mental list is much, much longer, believe me).

So what are your goals, knitting or otherwise, for 2009?

Thursday mishmash

It's grey and "cold" and I'm up to my ears in secret knitting projects, so I don't have much of interest to show you. I am in love with this pattern and am considering making them for every single person I know. I have finished the sock in my last post, and am hoping that I can cast on for the second one on the bus tonight without screwing up too badly. I am two bobbins (of three) in to the November Fiber Club offering (picture here) which is lovely, but which I seem to be chronically underspinning - I think I may have to graduate to the fast flyer for "everyday" spinning (yikes!). I have two presents left on The List 2008, plus finishing off Boo's Tomten, which still has only half an arm (and no hood). One of the last two presents has been chosen (Rav link here) and I think the other will be a bias knit Eye of Partridge stitch scarf with garter edging that I've had percolating in my brain for a while now, using the yarn I spun at Yarn School. Assuming I have enough of it that is...methinks I might have to add some plying twist to that second skein.

What else is going on...Devil is still not convinced about the necessity for clothes in December. To be fair, she wears clothes, it's coats and pants that she's not so excited about. Occasionally I can convince her that the dress-over-pants look is a good one, and hopefully on those days, her classmates' parents don't wonder about my parenting skills (Why is that girl never dressed appropriately?). Boo has embraced the joys of verbal communication: (in the car on the way to daycare) "Mama. Mama! MAMA!!!!!" "What is it Boo?" (A beatific look through the roof of the car) "Eh-plane!" She has also finally stopped using "Daddy" to refer both to Ironman and her sister. However, she only occasionally makes any really distinction between "No" and "Nyah" (which means affirmative). Grandparents, consider yourselves warned.

Thankfully, tonight is Knit Night, so tomorrow I should have something reasonable and/or entertaining to discuss. Like Tartanic. Failing that, if I get my act in gear, I have a candidate for Fiber Friday that I really should blog about. It's been spun for a month now!

*****************************************************

Ah! I almost forgot. Progress for November:

Knitting:
Devil's Tomten
Christmas Present #5

Other:
Dyeing 2 lbs of wool for a coat for me. With the girls. Fun times. And a purple driveway.

Ehem. Now back to your regularly scheduled knitting content.

Sorry about that (both the long blog break and the excessive political wanking). I have been knitting, even if I haven't been posting about it at all.

I finally broke down and busted out the Noro sock yarn. Say what you will about the feel of it, the thick and thin nature, the VM, but the colors are absolutely To. Die. For.

I'm moving to a new office, which I was cleaning out today, so I took advantage of a window (!) to take some pictures

Pattern: Stripey Noro Socks, by yours truly (pattern now available for download here)
Yarn: Noro Kureyon sock yarn, colorway S40
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony dpns in US 1/2.25 mm
Start/finish: 10/3-10/17/08

While harsh in the skein, the yarn feels fine on my feet. I haven't tossed these babies in the dryer yet, but I've heard that makes a grand difference in the feel. I originally meant these for a Christmas present but they ended up being too big. If they do shrink or shift around in the dryer, I will gift them. Otherwise, I'm keeping these things for me me me.

I love the striping on the heel. I kept the heel flap in stockinette so it would work out, and I managed to get everything to line up just right. Hooray!

**************************************************************************
I guess it's now November so it's time to take stock of October's accomplishments:

Knitting
Ummm...Noro socks. That's it.

Spinning:
Cotton Candy
Superwash merino, as yet unblogged because I need to unload a cubic buttload of pictures from our camera.

Other:
Halloween costumes! (see above disclaimer on superwash merino)

What was I doing last month?

What I did in September

You know I'm busy when it takes me a week to get to the progress report for the previous month, and it's even worse when half the FO's I finished have not yet been blogged about.

Knitting:
Manly socks (blogged!) (in October - whups!)
Top-down Summertime tunic
Gathered Pullover

Spinning:
Fiber club leftovers
Hooray Sheep! at Yarn School (picture but no details here)

Dyeing:
3 lbs assorted fibers in one swoon-inducing swoop

So now my longest-standing WIPs are my doomed Ravelympics project (which has actually seen some action recently), the Sock Yarn Blanket, and the Duck Replacement, which has been hiding in the back of the stash closet because I.Hate.Intarsia. But I have new socks started!

Project Polygamy anyone?

Summertime knitting

Now that we've officially moved into "Fall" (otherwise known as the month after August), it's time to take stock of August's steamy list of FOs:

Spinning:

Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny yarn
Last 2 oz of Maldives (not yet blogged)

Knitting:
Swallowtail
Brambler
Secret socks for Himself

Not a bad month! And now that it's fall I can plunge full force into sweaters and mittens and all sorts of wintery goodness.