I didn’t write a Year of Projects post last Sunday, so this post covers the last week and a half of progress. Saturday, July 4 was Independence Day in the United States. My husband had Friday and Monday off, and we planned to go to the beach at least one day. We didn’t go because I wasn’t feeling well on Sunday and Monday. On Friday, my family got together for lunch:
Chris and I hung out around the house for the rest of the long weekend. The rest of this week was our usual routine. Today we did some yard work. The aloe plants in our backyard are blooming. I love their flowers!
I’m also happy to report that while Tiger seemed suspicious of his cat bed when I first made it, he’s decided he quite likes it. It is now his favorite place to sleep — if no human lap is available, that is!
Let’s review the goals I set when last I wrote a Year of Projects post:
Goals for July 1 to 5, 2015
- Knit at least 1/2 of the Sweet Summer Shawl
- Cast on Miranda Shawl
- Swatch and Cast on Bubbles Baby Blanket
- Swatch and Cast on Liquid Silver Shawl
- Finish spinning and plying the Cormo I’ve been working on since February
- Start spinning the 3 Feet of Sheep (8 ounces BFL) on July 4 for Tour de Fleece
I finished the Sweet Summer Shawl on July 8.
I cast on the Miranda Shawl, knit 8 rows, discovered that my mistake on the cast on row was going to be a problem, ripped it all the way out, and cast on again. I only cast on again yesterday and I’m now making excellent progress.
Since I’m working on the Cormo as part of Tour de Fleece, I’ve been writing regular updates about it (Stage 1, Stage 3, Stage 6, Stage 7). Today I finally finished plying it! The bobbin on top is the one I finished plying for Stage 7. I finished the other two bobbins today.
I have not started the baby blanket, Liquid Silver Shawl, or spun any of the BFL. I didn’t include anything about the Master Hand Knitting swatches on my goal list, but it is an ever-present goal. I knit one more swatch in the last week:
Goals for July 13 to 19, 2015
The next two weeks I will be very busy. My cousin is in town next weekend. I’m also taking a three-day weaving workshop from the 17th through the 19th. On the 21st, I head to San Diego for The Knitting Guild Association Annual Conference, and I won’t be home until the 26th. I have a long list of things to do and little hope that everything will get done! I’m trying to write a modest list of goals, and it’s taking every bit of restraint I have to keep it short.
- Finish the Miranda Shawl
- Knit all the homework swatches for TKGA classes
- Finish knitting the MHK1 swatches
- Spin 1 color of the BFL / day (there’s 10 colors / 8 ounces total in Three Feet of Sheep)
On Deck:
- Mittens for MHK1
- Liquid Silver Shawl
- Bubble Baby Blanket
- Weaving with VCR tape
- Color and Weave Study scarves
- Begonia Swirl Shawl
Updated List of Goals for 2015
Knitting
- Knit myself a sweater
- Improve my finishing techniques
- Finish MHK Level 1
- First 3 swatches finished by June 24, 2015
- Swatch #14 finished July 11, 2015
- Dishcloth Advent Calendar
- Tribbles, finished January 18, 2015
- Leaves, finished March 30, 2015 but never blogged
- Heart Illusion Dishcloths (in progress)
- Charity Knits
- Mock Rib Scarf, finished January 18, 2015
- Emergency Scarf, finished June 1, 2015
- Do some test knits
- Sand Tracks Scarf, finished June 16, 2015
- Grisou Scarf, finished June 24, 2015
- Raindrops on Roses Shawlette, finished June 27, 2015
- Miranda Shawl (in progress)
- Finish or frog all UFOs
- Traveling Scarf
- Bigger on the Inside Hat
- Evenstar
- Quinn Bag
- Baby Blue Monster
- Socks
- Wearing o’ the Green(e) Socks, finished February 14, 2015
- Other Projects
- Clapotis, finished June 1, 2015
- Liquid Silver (remaking from scratch, since I frogged it!)
- Fountain Pen Shawl
- Begonia Swirl Shawl (remaking from scratch, since a friend accidentally felted the first one)
- Felted Cat Bed, finished May 16, 2015
- Tiger’s New Bed, finished June 30, 2015
- Design at least one project from scratch
- Super Secret Shawl, finished June 1, 2015
Crochet
- Learn to read crochet patterns
- Learn all the basic crochet stitches.
- Make at least one non-granny square crochet project
- Dishcloth Advent Calendar
- Diagonal Crochet Dishcloths (in progress)
Spinning
- Breed Specific Spinning
- Cormo (in progress)
- Learn to spin on a drop spindle
Weaving
- Continue playing with color and weave drafts
- Ravenclaw Houndstooth Scarf, finished January 19, 2015
- Solid Warp, alternating picks, one of which matches warp, in progress
- Learn pick up stick drafts
- Learn Inkle Weaving
- Learn Kumihimo braiding
- Explore Twill weaves on the floor loom
- Make items for the Guild Sale
- Slytherin Houndstooth Scarf, finished May 1, 2015
- Other
- Woven Doctor Who Scarf, finished May 7, 2015
Dyeing
- Finish dyeing the MAPLE LEAF Shawls
- pH / water source experiment
- Return to dye triangles project
Your shawls look fabulous – I love that pink. Lunch looks great and I hope you are feeling better.
Your Sweet Summer shawl looks great, even if I was at first distracted by all those books and I really love the colour choices for Miranda, I really want to see more of that!
Your ambition is daunting, but apparently well-deserved. I am ever impressed and may even start setting timed goals occasionally…I think in terms of “however long it takes.”
Mmmmm, that looks like a delicious spread. I’ve never seen that before – using the watermelon rind as a bowl – but I love it! I think I’m gonna steal that idea for our next family get-together!
Your Sweet Summer Shawl is really lovely. It scares me a little that you have as a goal to finish the shawl you just started. I think a shawl like that would take me months!!
Wow! That is some list with lots of goodies included. I’m curious about the dishcloth advent calender – what is it exactly? Your spinning looks fabulous. I’ve never used cormo – what did you think of it? Looking forward to seeing more of your progress!
Ann
The Dishcloth Advent Calendar is exactly what it sounds like 🙂 For each recipient (and there’s 18 of them), I will knit or crochet 25 dishcloths. The first one will be opened when the calendar is presented, with an explanation of the calendar. The remaining 24 will be rolled up or wrapped and labeled 1 to 24. The recipient opens the dishcloth of the day. Some days, the dishcloth might be wrapped around a small gift, like a piece of chocolate. When I first started this project last year, I wasn’t going to co-ordinate the calendars between recipients. That started getting confusing, so I changed my mind. I’m crafting 18 each of 25 different patterns. I hoped to give the Calendars this year, but I’m just not crafting dishcloths fast enough to do that. I either have to rearrange my crafting priorities or plan for next year!
I have a major crush on cormo. It’s super soft and a dream to spin. I’ll have a long blog post about it coming soon. My friend Stacy and I are doing a Breed Specific Spinning project and cormo is the first fiber in that project. She’ll be guest blogging her experiences with each breed, so you’ll get two different perspectives!
So glad you explained your Dishcloth Advent Calendar. That sounds like an amazing and fun gift! I also want to say that I’m intrigued by how you break down your goals. I can take something very good away from that when working on complicated (or muti-stepped projects). I also love that it gets me into your world more – seeing the process, in a way.
What an impressive list of projects! A great variety of so many different things. Beautiful pics!
The Advent Dishcloth calendar sounds like fun! The Sweet Summer Shawl looks great.