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