Bring it down to three?

Last night, I somehow discovered a knitting blog called Eskimimakes. I adore this blog!

What really struck me was something so simple; on her side bar, there's a project widget just like on mine that's linked to Ravelry. She only has 3 projects. 

I have become so accustomed to having many projects on the go; and by many, I mean like 10. I believe it's starting to get ridiculous. So I started to think "Why would it be bad to have a smaller amount of workable projects?"

In my mind, I'm thinking, "Right now, if consider 3 current projects to be the test pattern socks, my Shapely Boyfriend cardigan and my Blankie." If I took that to heart, that means I have a lot of work to finish before I dare cast on anything new. The only exception would be for the birthday gifts that I need to finish; the Irish Hiking Hat for RJ and the little purse for Jas. More than enough to keep me occupied for the next little while.

When you miss it, you just miss it.

All this news about the Sims 4, really make me miss my sims.  I don't think it really matters what format they'd be in; either 2 or 4 would be great.

What I really want to get back to are my sims from Winchester.  I'm wanting to recreate the sims and create a new neighbourhood just for them.  Funny thing is that I miss them so much they start creeping into other things that I do.  Take Dingo Winchester for example:

Originally, he was a non-attractive born in game sim, and the future legacy of the Winchester Family on Winchester Isle.  I don't remember why, but I felt the need to add him into my Glen Acres Academy set of characters.  Dingo Winchester the child sim, soon became Dingo Winchester the pre-teen who has been corralled into the status of best-friend by a fellow GAA student named Njree Walters.

What interests me a lot about his character is the amount that he has changed while living in this new world.  Dingo has always been destined to be gay and a music lover, perhaps music theatre.  Now he is so much more than that.  While he does start out in music theatre, he soon learns that he has a real passion for dancing.  He's actually quite good once he starts getting the proper instruction.  He's very out going and high energy but he is very shy when it comes to the potential of a romantic relationship.  Due to sim-Dingo's father never really interacting with him, GAA-Dingo's father comes off as cold as well.  Dingo never really talks about him but will talk your ear off about his Grandpa Benjamin.  Despite Dingo being very outgoing, he is also very self-concious about his appearance.  He knows he's nowhere close to be traditionally handsome but he's willing to work with what he's got.

This is an aged up Dingo with a bit of tinkering; mostly just stopping his eyes from bulging out.  I even refrained from making him "classically" handsome. 

I just adore the character of Dingo Winchester.  I even dragged over his best match out of the sim-pool I had on Winchester Isle.  Now, meet Chase Mace.  (I did not name him.  This was the name the game generated for him all on it's own, just like Moon Unit Zappa - Dingo's father).  I never even got a chance to see this sim in game so I had to create him from my imagination.

And I still haven't nailed him yet.  I'd prefer for his face not to be as long and cheeks to be fuller and some kind of curly/wavy hair.  And don't forget some kind of stubble I can work with that will show up on his skin tone.  The shirt and blazer though?  That is all Chase.  Chase is much more reserved and doesn't talk too much but he is quite content to listen to Dingo babble all the live-long day.  Music is his life and he does go on to play the trumpet professionally.  He has an amazing knack for getting just the right sound needed for any project.  He'd rather not go out of his way to get someone in trouble however he will let them fall flat on their face, in hopes that they've learned the lesson.  He adores blue Jolly Ranchers and still to this day doesn't know who keeps leaving them in little piles for him in places he frequents (it's Dingo).  He is 3 years older than Dingo and it does take quite a bit of time from meeting to actually getting together, like just before Chase goes off to University, much to Dingo's dismay at wanting it from day 1.

While I do like the whole "let's take Dingo out to a private school", it would mean missing a lot of what's going on with the rest of the sims in Winchester.  So my thought was to take those GAA sims that I already have sitting around, turn them into Young Adults and have 6-ish years of friendship occur in 4 at Université de Gingé and have everyone join Winchester Isle!  Great idea right?  Lots of planning right?  Definitely.

I'm in the midst of recreating some of the information I had tracked for my sims in an easy format in Flashnote so that hopefully, by the time I get either a new DVD-rom drive or a new computer, I'll be able to recreate everything I need.

I'm thinking of advancing everyone up 2-3 years, and starting to update Winchester Isle, the blog.

Note to self

KnitPicks solid stroll yarn feels so good after it's washed! I swear it didn't feel like this when I washed and wore the tonal yarn. Sigh! These feel so nice on my feet.

So the whole (very short) history:  I knit the Tiberius socks in KnitPicks Stroll Solid in the colourway Dandelion because it was the closest to Command Gold I could find in my stash.  I was hesitant about it since for the past 2 years, I have been spoiled with Indie Dyer yarns and loving the heck out of them.  I used it anyways and liked the knitting process.  The yarn felt good in my hands as I knit.  I knew the true test would be after I washed it.  I finally managed to get together enough light coloured clothing to go in the wash with the Tiberius socks.  I hung them out to dry and tried them on once they were dry.  They were great.

Note to self: add solid stroll sock yarn to the acceptable KnitPicks order, along with Brava yarn.

I knit more of the test pattern socks and it's coming along nicely.  Only 4 rows to memorize and 2 of them are exactly the same.  I'm sure I still have a pretty long way to go before the leg is finished and I have to start the heel flap.

The Long Promised Scarf (aka: the Irish Hiking Scarf) is coming along nicely.  I did 3 more repeats of the pattern, expecting the scarf to now be 10" long and was surprised that it was only 8".  So either I only knit 3" yesterday, or I can't measure properly and really measured 4" the first night.  All that really matters is that it's growing and I'm not bored of yet.  As a matter of fact, I want to get started on the hat.  I'm trying not to be too crazy since I do have too many projects to work on right now.

The long promised scarf and the test

Looking around on over on another Year of Projects" participant's blog today and saw that they were a scarf called "Irish Hiking Scarf". First thing I think? "This would be perfect for RJ!"  RJ is one of my younger brothers (there are 3), who has been very supportive of my knitting since he found out I can knit. He's also been asking me to knit him a scarf for "bajillion years!" (his words exactly). I looked up the pattern on Ravelry and saw there was a matching hat.

Somehow or another, the proper sized needles and 2 balls of worsted weight yarn ended up in my backpack that I take with me for Knitting Circle. Within 10 minutes into it, I had the scarf casted on and was knitting away. Only thing I had to do with sock knitting was showing off the Tiberius socks.

The yarn I chose for this project is the KnitPicks Brava worsted weight acrylic yarn in the colourway Tidepool. The scarf is going well. Before I went to bed last night, I managed to knit 5". I changed it a little by slipping the first stitch as if to purl and knitting through the back loop for the last stitch, like I do for the squares of the Blankie.  The edges are looking much neater now. 

If I can keep up knitting 5" a day, I'll be done by September 10th which is great since his birthday is almost exactly 1 month later and I still have to do the matching hat.  I was thinking the same kind of yarn, but in the colourway Cobblestone Heather with some rows in Tidepool to tie it all together.

On top of the Irish Hiking Scarf, I'm also doing a test pattern for another participant in the Year of Projects. Casting on today and hoping to finish by September 15th which is the dead line.

I'm going to have to put aside my (auntie's) sock for a bit to finish these deadline projects.

First of all, I am loving this yarn!  I was having an internal debate as to which yarn to use for this test patter and finally decided on Springtree Road Muscadine in Framboise.  I have been dying to use this colourway for awhile now and here's my opportunity.  I'm also hoping that Maya (of Springtree Road) still makes this colour because I would like to restock it in my collection....never mind, I went to check on the site and there is no more Framboise right now but I did see a lot of other tempting colours.

The pattern itself is going well however I am still at the cuff.  I believe I knit at a tighter gauge than the designer.  The pattern states 1.5" for the cuff should be at about 15 rows.  I'm about to start row 16 and I'm not even at 1.25"  The cuff otherwise is a 4x4 cuff, which I have never actually knit.  I would have thought that it would stretch out too much but it seems to be snug enough.  All that tells me, trust the designer and so far, everything has been going well.

OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! THERE'S FINALLY INFO ON THE SIMS 4! SQUEEEEE!

Check out the info on the official site

First of all, I am getting this!  I have to get a new computer/laptop first but I am getting this!

{Deep breath and calms down a bit}

The sims in Sims4 look proper.  They don't look like the sims from the Sims 3 which were nicknamed puddings before the game even came out look how many years ago, and I am happy for that.  I like the customization of the sims.  There are no sliders.  You grab a feature, whether it be on the body or on the face and drag it to where and how you want it to go.  So I can create a narrow shouldered, muscular dude with a big butt; no hacks or tweaks required.  I will give that Create-a-Sim a run for its money with much glee.

I love the idea of emotions; making them furious for more than just 2 sim hours before they completely forget what happened in the first place.

The only things I am not too sure about right now is the build mode but I think that's mostly due to the fact that I am very accustomed to the build mode from Sims 2.  This whole drag and drop a room will take some getting used to but I am willing to try it out.

I don't fully know how the game play is but it doesn't seem as if it's a quested version of the Sims like the Sims 3.  I couldn't stand that.

I am hoping for an open-like neighbourhood, but not to the degree of S3 but more than S2.  I don't want my sims living without me or else really, what is the point of the game?  I hope the genetics work out better than S3, especially in regards to the toddlers and children who looked weird because they looked like miniaturized adults.  I was having none of that.

I have never played a sims game without wanting to buy all the expansion packs that go along with it.  Sims 3 changed that.  I got the base game, months after it came out and I got World Adventures, the first expansion pack, and just borrowed the rest from a friend.  I was still not feeling the game and hardly ever touched it.

I'm sure I'll expound on this further when it gets closer to release time.

Wow! Just wow!

I had applied for a retail job back in April and I got a call back about it last week with an interview today.  I had also applied for another retail job at a craft store(?) and had an interview today as well.  There was a huge amount of time between the two interviews while I roamed the mall repeatedly, I dropped of resumes at 3 other retail stores.  Before I even managed to make it into my house, after being gone from it all day today), I have an interview tomorrow for one of the places I dropped off a resume today.

Suffice it to say, I'm still working out how I'm going to get there but it will work out.  I hope all of this means that I'll be employed soon.

Year of Projects: Week 9

Another week as come around and guess what?  The pair of socks I had hoped to be finished by last Sunday, got finished by early Wednesday morning (a la "just after midnight" morning) .  So that means I can use the 26 Pair Plunge banner yet again and then show off my lovely Tiberius socks.

Aren't they pur-tee?  They are very bright and I love them.  So that's 2/26 for the 26 pair plunge, and 6/13 for the 13 socks of 2013 (which apparently I forgot I was apart of too).

Speaking of the 13 of 2013, I actually pulled out all the socks I had knitted since January.  They had to be a completed pair and I have 6 pairs with one with my aunt since I did make them for her.  I piled them all together and took a picture (not including the pair for my aunt because she forgot I had asked for them).

It's things like this that really make you see that you are making progress (and that I need to make a pair of socks in the orange/red family), especially when you feel like you're not going anywhere.  I've already knit more socks that I knit last year and we're still only in August.  I've got quite a few one foot socks that I need to finish soon, especially since some them...mainly the Stitch Surfer, I consider pretty mindless knitting.  I could probably do that one while catching up on a tv show or while watching my soaps (I cannot believe I have gotten back into soap operas but they're getting so interesting again!).

I casted on for the August/September a pair socks for the Cookie A.'s 2013 Sock Club called Istanbul.  I'm making these ones for my aunt and I'm using a yarn that I dyed for it.  I'm also happy that I wrote down the directions for this colour because I want to knit a pair of socks or anklets for myself in this yarn colour.

I am a bit further along but not by much.  I'm still decreasing on the gusset but it is coming along nicely.  I'm not making any time guarantees for this one though because last night, I caved.  I went to the tupperware bin that house the Blankie and I started to knit.  I have even joined the two pieces and I have 2 complete rows finished and I'm a square and a half away from finishing the 3 row.  I even started cleaning up the back of the Blankie while watching Days of our Lives and The Young and the Restless.  Somehow, I'm up to 123 squares.  I was at 117 Thursday afternoon. before I picked it up.  I will keep up the work for this weekend and them I will have to pick a different WIP to work on in conjunction with my socks.

One of the projects I want to finish off is the Stitch Surfer (as previously mentioned) and it's not like it will take a lot to finish it.  I just have to unpick the bindoff, and do it properly, and then get started on the second foot.  Perhaps once I finish the Istanbul's, I'll some effort towards it.

Year of Projects / 26 Pair Plunge

I missed my extended family

Today was further proof that no one's got your back like family, no matter how far they are.  I hadn't seen them since the funeral a few weeks ago but I did get to see them today at church.  I got my hugs, my squeezes, my walks, my defense and a call out for not calling.  I would not change them for the world and I'm so happy to have them in my life...even if you can't talk a certain someone into make dasheen dumplings :(

Writing vent?

I realize now one of the reasons I don't write as much as I used to...more like two reasons.

I used to write all the time, mostly on my dad's old laptop, saved to floppy disc and then continued at school on one of the school computers, until we got a decent home computer.  The computer was always my domain.  Anything went wrong with it, everyone in the house is looking to me to get it fixed.  I kinda liked that.  Everything was still going well many years later, even when the house computer got used to play the Sims 2 more than writing but that was okay.  Either way, my imagination was engaged and I was happy.

And then NanoWriMo 2010 happened.  I knew I was going to be on the computer a lot because I had committed myself to write those 50k words so I informed my mom that I was going to be on the computer a lot and not playing "dolly baby" (as she would call the Sims 2 game).  My grandfather was (and still is) living with us.  I had taken a Sunday to work on my story, and had decided I would be spending the entire day in front of the computer.  Previously, I had taken to writing things out by hand and typing them up before work or during my breaks on the work computer.  On that "lovely" Sunday afternoon, when I felt like I was on a roll, my grandfather calls me from the top of the basement stairs to have a talk.  Really didn't want to because I knew I would forget where I was going in the story but it would be considered disrespectful if I didn't go up those stairs and find out what he wanted.

That's when he informed me I have a computer addiction.  I'm like "what are you talking about?"  Nowhere in the conversation, or any previous conversation, did he even ask what I was doing to actually make an informed diagnosis.  That started souring the idea of being downstairs on the computer, unless he was not around.

The next year, I bought myself a little netbook which worked well, I guess.  I did a bit more writing but due to the cramped nature of the keyboard, it was not comfortable and I soon stopped.  On top of that, the thing is currently as slow as molasses.  I even tried doing yesterday's blog update and was ready to tear my hair out.

Now that I've been out of work for well over a year, I still don't venture too near the computer in the basement very often.  I'm home and I have the time, but so is he.  I spend most of my time in my bedroom, he thinks I am on the verge of clinical depression.  Really?  I just want a job of some sort, a laptop, and somewhere else to hang out and I think that can increase the will to write explanation.

My head right is bursting with ideas for stories and I feel the need to let them out but I never feel comfortable writing when I feel like someone is watching over my shoulder.  It's reasons like this, that I would prefer to live on my own sometimes.  Only thing is that I think I'd miss not seeing the rest of my family on a regular basis.

2/26 done!

This actually happened early Wednesday morning, after I saw the news program about Elmore Leonard; I finished the Tiberius socks!

They just to be washed and they are ready to join the other socks I have knit for this year since January. 

I quickly, after getting a good 8 hours of sleep, cast on for the Istanbul socks for my aunt. The plan was to knit them as a set of anklets. I soon realized I would not figure out how to proceed with this within 30 minutes so I started to knit them as per the instructions and decided that they will be a little longer than anklets. By last night, I was at the beginning section of the heel flap and as of today during "Days of Our Livrs", I was working on the gusset. I think this will be another quick pair. 

Also, I'm using a skein that I had dyed back in March, I think, for the Tosh-a-long. I'm happy that I wrote down what I did to make this skein because I am loving it but since these socks are not for me, I will not be able to reap the full benefits :(

And as a bonus, and a good show of how much progress in knitting I have done since the new year (not the knitting new year), I pulled out all the socks I have knit with the exception of the one pair that I have to my aunt.

That is 5 whole pairs of socks for myself, 1 for my aunt and like a bunch of one foot pairs. This is encouraging :) and I also realized that I need more from the red family in my sock stash.  I do have my red BFFs socks but that was for last year. I think before the year is out, I need knit something with either the blood-orange yarn from SweetGeorgia or the fuschia yarn from Springtree Road. I guess I have a pre selected skein for October and/or December.

I am looking forward to putting all of my socks for this year in one picture and see how high the pile will go.

10 Tips on Writing, as per Elmore Leonard

I was watching the news last night and heard about the passing of an author by the name of Elmore Leonard.  Unfortunately for me, I had never heard of him before this news announcement and after hearing about him, I wish I had.  He was an American author who wrote novels and screen plays for TV and movies.

What interested me most was his 10 Tips on Writing.  And for a matter of record, I am going to post them here (originally copied from an article on The Globe and Mail):

1. Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not create a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long.

Notice how he immediately gets the focus where it belongs: on character. We read not to learn that it’s a glorious day but to understand how a character feels when the day of her lover’s funeral is the kind of sultry day they loved best.

2. Avoid prologues.

Here, Mr. Leonard immediately breaks his own rule, citing a prologue that serves a purpose:

“There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’sSweet Thursday, but it’s okay because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about.”

3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in.

Amen!

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin.

Amen again!

5. Keep your exclamation marks under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.

Whoops!

6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

Mr. Leonard suggests writers notice the way Annie Proulx “captures the flavour of Wyoming voices in her book of short stories Close Range.” Again, a very sensible recommendation. However, this particular rule is worth questioning. While it is difficult for writers to use regional dialect without appearing to condescend to their characters, there are exceptions. James Lee Burke’s use of Cajun dialect in his Dave Robicheaux novels both brings his characters to life and honours them. I expect Elmore Leonard would give him a pass on this rule.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. In Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, what do the “American and the girl with him” look like? “She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” That’s the only reference to a physical description in the story, and yet we see the couple and know them by their tones of voice, with not one adverb in sight.

Again, note that Mr. Leonard always chose exactly the right piece to illustrate his point.

9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

Mr. Leonard concluded his rules by citing his most important rule – the one that sums up all of the rules:

If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.

I think I am going to look up some of his books and read them for myself to see what his writing style was like.  All in all, I'm happy to learn from him.

Out in the Garden

I am not a nature girl.  I may like the look of nature but I don't venture anywhere near it if I want to be able to breath the next day.  Somehow or another, my aunt had me standing out in the back yard, in the middle of the garden, holding a plastic tupperware dish as she hunted for tomatoes and raspberries in the mess we call a garden.

Don't get me wrong, we seem to grow a good crop, despite the fact we (as in majority of the household) do diddly-squat to the garden and what comes out of there looks lovely and I adore tomatoes too!  But I'm still wanting to grass over the entire backyard and relegate the garden to the outer portions around the garden.

And here's an actual shot of part of the garden:

My aunt and I barely make it past 5'1" and there are plants out there that are taller than us. I'm afraid I'd get lost out there if I ventured any deeper than I was.

Computer Envy

I am sure I have mentioned many times that one of my favorite games to play is the Sims, especially the Sims 2.  I have not been able to play it in ages since my computer refuses to acknowledge that there is a DVD rom attached to it.

Today, cousin B1 asked if she could borrow my disc for the Sims 3 so she could install it on her new laptop.  I so wanted to tell her "Sure!  As long as I can get complete access to your laptop to play the Sims 2 whenever I choose and fill up your hard drive with as much custom content as your laptop can hold!"  Unfortunately for her, the game could not be found and she didn't want to install the Sims 2 game instead so it continues to sit underneath the computer desk, just waiting for an opportunity to be installed and played with.

Year of Projects: Week 8

I tried so hard! I was hoping to have another pair of socks finished, namely the Tiberius socks, but alas, I just finished the turn heel of the second sock. It should be finished soon though and hopefully it'll be all ready to show next week.

I'm working on getting ahead of the sock knitting game.  Inspiration hit early on this week and I think it works perfectly well with what I had wanted to do from earlier on this year in regards to the anklets situation.  Litloh from Ravelry re-imagined the Spock socks and turned them into a set of anklets.  I've been thinking about either retrying some of the socks I've already done or knitting the newer patterns I received for this month.

I have not been working on the Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan for the past few weeks but something tells me I will be picking it up very soon.  I'm feeling kind of anxious to get it done, along with the Hermione Flip Top Mittens which by default requires the matching hat.  I think I can safely say the mittens and the hat can be my September focus...and perhaps a little purse for my girly-girl baby sister who's birthday is at the end of next month.

Despite the fact I thought I had narrowed down the pattern for the boat neck sweater I wanted to knit to the Summer Scabboard (also keep in mind this sweater is not even for this knitting year), someone from my Tuesday knitting circle got a pattern out of a magazine that looked just like what I was looking for but it was free.  Problem?  I can't even find the name of the pattern in Ravelry or even on the photocopy of the pattern from the magazine...or even the date of the magazine which could help narrow it down severely.  I got frustrated and chose a book from the library at the Thursday knitting circle (yes, I belong to 2 of them) entitled Knit to Fit (I think).  I think I found a somewhat decent replacement.  Here's hoping that it can be knit in the round which is what I'm looking for.

Year of Projects 2013-2014/26 Pair Plunge

The Nanny and the knitting

Why did I never realize that these two things can go hand in hand? I'm watching the last few hours I have on Netflix watching season 4 of The Nanny. I forgot how funny this show is! I'm still making progress on my Tiberius sock and hopefully, by the time my Netflix is up, I'll have at the very least finished the leg.

Not really feeling it

I feel like I'm in pain and it's really cramping my knitting style. I'm trying to work further on the leg but the nagging pain makes me not want to continue. I so wanted the sock to be practically finished by update time on Sunday. I'm half tempted to stay home tomorrow and work on the sock but I think that's taking it kind of far.

The Leaves are changing on me

The weather in Toronto feels like it's already fall.  I have already seen the evidence of the very soon approaching change of season when I saw that some leaves have already changed.

I am already trembling in fear and pulling out every single sweatshirt I own.

I came home and finished up the toe of the Tiberius socks.  It went by so quickly!  I casted on for the second foot within an hour (I had to take the time to put the sock on and admire how pretty it looked on foot).

I will of course be continuing this after I post this update while listening to old episodes of the Sticks and Strings podcast.

While perusing through Ravelry at some point today, I went looking through the June Fall Offs thread on the Cookie Sock Club board and saw a fall off of Ankle Spocks by litfoh on Ravelry.  It is wickedly cool!  I've already discussed it with my aunt and this changes her sock request for August.  She now wants an anklet version of the Istanbul in the same Tosh-along dyed yarn I promised called Grapefruit Sunrise.  I guess I can make do with the Artemis socks, as a two at a time.  I am not looking forward to doing a good chunk of the foot.  Based on picture, it looks like a lot of stockinette in the round and thin ribbing.  Not necessarily my idea of a good knitting time.  I still don't know what yarn to use however now that I'm thinking about it, I do have a lovely varigated skein from Three Ewes that I purchased off a destash in the colourway Cleopatra.  This may make me rethink my idea of of knitting these two at a time.  I think I'd like to see how the colours will pool.

Can we say "Much progress has been made"?

I am still amazed at how much progress I have made in these Tiberius socks. It's only been 4 days and I'm already a few rounds into the toe. By tomorrow the first sock should be done for sure and then it's off to the second sock. I am really not worried about Second Sock Syndrome for this pair.

I went to the Tuesday knitting circle at Albion Library. There was this girl (I really wish I had asked her name but...) who just joined the knitting circle. I saw her for the first time last week but since I hadn't been there for over a month, I can't actually say how long she's been coming. Anywho, she just learned how to knit very recently and today, out of her knitting bag (she learned quickly to have one), she pulled out what she had been working on this week:

Excuse me as my jaw drops open. She had 2 finished bags, a finished scarf and another scarf on the needles; all in one week. She put me to shame and she's excited about learning more. I think we have a new avid knitter on our hands :D

On top of that, one of the crocheters brought her daughter and grand-daughters with her today. Despite the fact that her daughter doesn't know how to knit or crochet, she wants to learn to knit socks, especially since she saw my Spock socks I brought to show off.  I think it would be nice to do what T did for me, to another knitter. So...Plain Vanilla or Monkey socks?

On a roll

I am surprised with how much progress I've made on the Tiberius socks. I went from this:

To this:

In the span of (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today) 4 days. I'm still excited about it and I can't wait to finish the gusset (which is where I am now).

I had a bigger plan as to what today's update was going to be about. I was going to wax poetically about the trip I went on yesterday to Chatham-Kent. The most I managed to do was filter the pictures through Instagram.  I will put up this picture though.

I seriously found a set of sock blockers at one of the museums.

Year of Projects: Week 7

I finally have a finished project! A sock project!  So that means I can finally use this:

And show off my socks!

The Spock Socks are done. They just need to be laundered but that'll have to wait until later. I'm still basking in the "I have a new pair of socks" feeling.

And with a newly finished pair of socks, I have more yarn to add to the Blankie. As much as I'd like to immediately add the Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label to the Blankie, I know myself; once I put on one, I won't stop. Then I'll bemoan the fact that I'm not finishing my other projects. I just need to learn some self control and patience.

I could have also picked up on the Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan but decided against it. I'm still at the ribbing and I have about 5 more rounds to go however it is such a good project to work on when people want I have a conversation with you at a knitting circle. This is what generally occurs at the knitting circle so in saving my more mindless knitting for then.

I went looking for the Tiberius Socks that I had started not long after Spock socks. For the life of me, I could not find it. I saw the bag I had housed it in a few days before but it was like it sprouted legs and in the middle of the night, it decided to take a leisurely stroll off of my bed and never came back.

Not much worried other than the fact I had the perfect colour for "Command Gold" inside of there. I went to a box I had with 50g balls of sock yarn from Knit Picks and pulled out Dandelion in Stroll. At the very least, it was not as bright as my Sunshine Tanis yarn that by name alone sounds too bright to be used for socks named after Capt. James T. Kirk.

See how bright this colourway is? The Sunshine skein is even brighter.  The Tiberius socks are coming out nicely. In actually really liking the pattern and I was shocked with the progress I had made in less than a day. By the time I had gone to bed on the first night, I had almost finished the 24 rows of the setup and now, I'm half way through the leg chart already.  I think these may end up being a quick knit pair.  I am enjoying the process way too much.

Last Monday I received the patterns for August and September. I don't know how much I am really feeling them. I may just spend some of the time finishing up WIPs and maybe attempt anklet versions instead. Who knows? Maybe my opinion will change once I start knitting them.

I actually started looking through my stash, trying to decide what yarn I was going to use for the Tree of Life socks by Janel Laidman only to realize the next day that I have the Firebrand socks on my list, which requires a lot more yarn...I may be making my first change on the list.  The Tree of Life socks were the socks that attracted me to the book in the first place so I don't think I'll be feeling guilty about changing the pattern.  Perhaps I can get some suggestions as to what to use (for socks that probably won't be attempted until next year).

The 2 right squares have the same skeins of yarn but it's different ends of it.  The dark colour is Kohl in Muscadine by Springtree Road.  The contrast skein in the top left is Foliage in Stroll by Knit Picks; bottom right is Goldstone in Muscadine by Springtree Road and the right side is a skein that I dyed myself from Acme Fibres.

Year of Projects Update

Up late

Went to church today, as per every Saturday, came home and slept.  I didn't wake up until almost 10 tonight and that was only because I had an update to take care of for tomorrow and because I (meaning mostly my mother) had to get food together for tomorrow.

The Seniors of my church (the 60+ age group) arranged a trip to go to Chatham-Keswick, Ontario to visit a museum about the Underground Railway.  Somehow, they managed to advertise it to the entire church and I'm pretty sure that majority of the people going are not seniors.

I am excited to go.  Not just because of the historical learning potential but also because of the 4 hour bus drive to get there, and 4 hours to get back.  That is prime knitting time!  I hope to have a lot of progress on my Tiberius Socks because of this...if I don't fall asleep first.  And hopefully, the battery power on my iPhone won't die too quickly.  As a backup, I'm charging my mom's iPod, which she never uses and hoping to have some podcasts on there to listen to as well.

1 down and 25 more to go

My Spock socks are done!

I had already started at the toes last night but I think that at 2:30 in the morning, it was safe to put the socks aside and go to bed.

I went to pick up the Tiberius socks a couple of hours later, only to find that I could not find it. I have no idea where it is. So I went to my stash, pulled out 2 balls of Knit Picks Stroll in Dandelion and started again. It's not like I had knit the other sock that far anyways.

It's not the "Commander" yellow (circa TOS) I was looking forward to using but the other yellow I have is called Sunshine; the name alone tells you that it's too bright for socks referring to Capt. James T. Kirk.

Almost there!

I was going to bake today; not cookies from Cookie but cupcakes from the box. No muffin tin or muffin paper to be found. I put the box back and ate fries instead. Thanks bro for stashing the freezer with such essentials!

I got to finally go back to the Thursday knitting circle. It is nice to know that you've been missed. I worked relentlessly on the Spock socks and a little bit on the Shapely Boyfriend when I noticed a dropped a purl stitch and didn't know how to pick it back up. Once T was able to help, I went right back to the Spock socks. I hope to have them done by tomorrow at the latest and I'm sure it can be done. No more pics until it's done.

I came home after Knitting Circle, planning to wash my hair and have my aunt do my hair. She wasn't home and I had no clue when she was going to be home. So I didn't wash my hair since it is easier to deal with my hair when it's not sipping wet at this time of night.

I decided to try something new. I'm trying out a twist out on my hair and if it's successful by the time I pull it out tomorrow, I'm going to wash my hair and try it again for church in Sabbath. I'm kinda excited. 

So here's a shot of my hair twisted and hopefully, I'll have a good shot of the twist out tomorrow.

It was a good day, I think

I did a lot today. I knit, I cooked and I went on a long walk.

I made a good amount of progress on the Spock socks. I've made it past the gusset and I'm working my way down the foot. I'm going to continue working on it after I finish this update. I feel like I'm on a roll and I want to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

I started contemplating what colours to use for the Tree of Life socks, which won't be started for months; but hey looking through the stash is fun. So here are the options so far:

The two on the right are the same skein, just different ends. Keep in mind that this is all subject to change. Besides, after I took the pictures, I remembered some Knit Picks Stroll sock yarn that I have in 50g balls that aren't out on display. I'll do comparison shots with those later.

I cooked chicken. Before I even started to season it, I decided I wanted a stew. I looked up the recipe online, drooled over it and wished I had the ingredients. So it was just a regular oven baked chicken with rice and callaloo.

After dinner, my aunt, cousin B1 and I went walking. It wasn't until I got home, had a shower and relaxed a bit that I looked up how far we walked.

6.6 km! That's over 4 miles to the Americans.

I am envious!

I finally manage to make it to Tuesday's Knitting Circle and apparently I was well missed!

I caught up with everyone and their knitting/crochet projects. What really surprised me was Claudine's project.

Claudine has been there since the first time I attended over 3 years ago. She always been the go-to person for just about any knitting help and other than T, she was the one to help me learn how to knit socks.

Apparently my Blankie convinced her to knit her own.

Yea, hers puts mine to shame. She's been working on hers since April of this year and I have been working on mine since June 2012. Mine is twice as wide, I think though. I can't wait to see her finished Blankie.

Well that was quickly established

The email stating that the new patterns for the sock club are available. For the first time ever, I am not intrigued, nor am I interested. I had a brief epiphany when walking past my aunt (who is privileged enough to have the same shoe size as me). I showed her the 2 patterns and she said that the Artemis sock was okay, but not in the club yarn.  Perfect, in my mind since I wanted to keep the yarn for myself.

On a soon to be related note, I finally managed to untangle a skein of yarn that I had dyed back in March I think. Auntie liked that one so if I do get around to making the Artemis socks, it will be in Grapefruit Sunrise, my Tosh-along skein.

I think I'm more excited about knitting with the yarn than knitting the pattern. I may have to pull out the long circular needles and go for the 2aat method again.

Year of Projects: Week 6

I am so behind schedule; not based on my Blankie or my Shapely Boyfriend cardigan, because those are pretty much all I have worked on since the New Knitting Year. It is now the beginning of August and the 6th week of projects and I have not finished a single pair of socks! I have 26 to do and I have not finished a single one. The only redeeming factor in this sock knitting endevour is that I haven't cast on a new pair, not that I haven't been tempted.

As mentioned earlier on in the week, I have received my August/September skein of yarn for the 2013 Cookie A. Sock Club (it's from MissBabs and it's gorgeous) and it brought to my attention that it means the patterns are coming. I am not done with either pair of my June/July shipment [bang head against pillow because a wall would be just too painful]. I really need to catch up!

Therefore, I shall decree to make sock knitting my exclusive knitting project once the cardigan is done! So let it be typed! So let it be done!

Now onto this week's pride and joy; my Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan.

I tried it on this week and realized a few problems. Nothing wrong with the design but as I have previously mentioned for the past few YOP entries, I am short. And as a part of this shortness, many things that are not supposed to be long, are long on me so...I had to make a little adjustment.

If I had stayed according to the original instructions, the cardigan would almost reach my knees. Waaaaay to long. After I finished the hip shaping and tried it on, it was a quarter of the way past my bum. I still had almost 20 rows of stockinette knitting PLUS 10 rows of ribbing. I shortened the stockinette to 3, and so far, I have only one row of ribbing done with further 9 to go before I bind off. 

After that, it's sleeves, neckline and button paneling. The end seems so much closer.

I have the cardigan hanging on my closet door to take pictures for this entry. I took a shot of the front, and then a shot of the back and realized I want to knit a boat neck, cap-sleeved summer sweater. Off to hunt for a pattern to put in the queue!

Note: I already found it! It's called the Summer Scabbard by Jennifer Hansen.

Year of Projects/26 Pair Plunge Update List