Knitting schedule roundup

How went July? Well, my goals were to complete all of my current WIPs. I managed to complete two of the five. One of those, however, was a freaking sweater. See:

Details: Double Cream by Marie Wallin, published in Simply Knitting January 2009. Yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Emerald, which they have marked as "last chance" as of this writing.


I decided to forgo the buttons and the accompanying button loops, because they required crochet, and let's face it, crochet is evil. (*grin*) At least, I didn't have the patience to try to learn how to do triple crochet in the round, or whatever it's called in crochet.

I also finished the January sock club socks, called Cascadia. They're beautiful, pink, and MINE. No photos because I don't want to get up. (Details: Cascadia (not available until January 2011) by Sivia Harding in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight, colorway Happy Go Luck (also not available until January 2011))


Both of these projects are exquisite. Even though I didn't get through my schedule, I really couldn't be happier to have finished the sweater and the socks. The sweater is SO. COZY. Even living in Texas I can tell I'm going to use it constantly - people overair-condition the crap out of their houses.

As for the hat, gloves, and endless cardishawl... Well, I worked on the gloves some today - hopefully I can finish those by Sunday. The hat I want to finish before I go on vacation next week. (Before I go on vacation from what, I ask rhetorically.) I suppose I can take the cardishawl on vacation and have something to do then! (Which is good because I got the yarn for this year's Christmas sweater and I don't want to work on it around the recipient.)

I imagine I'll also be able to finish one pair of socks and one hat, maybe two. At least, this assumes I have time to knit, something that's been sorely lacking lately.

Knitting Goals

End of July:
All my WIPs:

• Cascadia socks (aka January sock club socks)
• Double cream sweater (aka Knitting Olympics sweater)
• A's hat
• M's gloves
• Endless cardishawl

Probability: 50/50

End of August:

• Two pairs of socks
• Two Christmas presents (hats)

End of September

• Two Christmas presents (sweater and a pair of socks)

End of October

• Two Christmas presents (socks and something I haven't decided on yet)
• One pair of socks for me

End of November

• Two Christmas presents (mittens)
• Classic striped cardigan from Knit Picks for me

End of December

• One Christmas present (socks)
• Whatever the hell I want to do

Progress, sweet progress.

My works-in-progress are progressing! I am SO FREAKING HAPPY. I can't wait to start some new stuff, which I'm hoping to do by the end of the month. (I've imposed a moratorium on new projects until the WIPs are all done.)

I would show you pictures, but I don't have any new ones still. (I found my camera, but it's too much effort to take photos right now, so you'll just have to take my word on it.)

The January sock club socks are over 3/4 of the way done, which is a LOT of progress. I just have a few more inches and to choose a new cuff because the one that came in the pattern doesn't do it for me.

I finally wound another ball of yarn for the Double Cream sweater... this thing is going to be SO COZY when it's cold outside. I'm imagining wearing it at Christmas while opening presents - of course, the weather will probably refuse to cooperate and be 70 degrees outside because, let's face it, it's Texas, and Texas weather don't play nice.

Okay, looking over the list, it doesn't look like I've made that much progress. BUT I refuse to be deterred. Back to knitting Double Cream!

Holy crap, time flies!

You know that unreasonable schedule of completion-ness that I had a couple posts/months back?

As you can probably guess, nothing on that list is done. (I blame turning 21, 40 pages of papers due in one week, graduation, and moving.)

Here's the list again, and all my excuses:

• Meaghann's gloves - Tiny. Have to reknit the fingers. Too fussy, basically.
• Wishful Thinking hat and pattern - Sized incorrectly so just a tad bit too big - too long, mostly. Ear flaps are done but not attached because I want to rip out part of the brim to account for the excess length.
• Knitting Olympics/Double Cream sweater - Um, still not done. Still only has just half the collar. I'm planning on snuggling up with it today, though, because it's raining cats and dogs and I'm sick and injured (krav maga injury)
• Unnamed, undesigned hat - Funny story. We're not roommates anymore (no falling out, just lease expirations), so I think this one is getting frogged in the hypothetical sense.
• January Sock Club Socks - I have actually been working on these. These have not been working for me though - I had to rework the gusset three times to get the length right, and now the heel is being wonky so I'm ignoring it by way of punishment. And yes, this is still the first of two socks.
• Dye hunting sweater yarn - That aforementioned lease expiration put quite a cramp in my plans to dye the yarn: I'm living in someone else's house and I would REALLY hate to screw up their kitchen. Oh, and the New Zealand hunting trip is done and over with. Oops.
• Hunting sweater - See above about NZ hunting trip
• Socks for my uncle - Heh. Promised him some for Father's Day. Then promised they'd be done by the time he got back from his three weeks of traveling to places I can't remember.
• March Sock Club Socks - Got the yarn, got the pattern, don't got the time yet.
• A Christmas present - I don't even remember what I was talking about at the time, and I'm not sure who the recipient was supposed to be

I did, however, finish a project that I had forgotten about since Christmas. And by finish, I mean I got through the knitting bits. There's a crochet border that I'm ignoring. (I'm getting really good at ignoring knitting, apparently.) It's a bath rug, the Garterlac Bath Rug from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders. It's in Peaches N' Creme Daisy Ombre, so it looks like popcorn a bit. (I'll add a photo later... my camera's gone missing in the move and my iPhone cable is downstairs.) (When I took it out of the bag to get a photo I accidentally pulled out a couple of (very short) rows on the last corner. So now it's not really done any more. Not that it was really done anyway; see above re: crochet border.)

I want something that will knit up really FAST. My current inventory of WIPs, excluding the bath rug mentioned above, looks like this:

• M's gloves
• January sock club socks
• Endless Cardishawl
• Wishful Thinking hat
• Double Cream (Knitting Olympics) sweater

Those were all I could think of when I was coming up with a "WIP: To Finish by the End of the Summer" list.

Did I mention I intend to knit Christmas presents too? And that two of the WIPs on that list are from LAST Christmas?

Crap. Time to knit.

(Almost) relaxed...

This Wishful Thinking hat that I'm working on is not my first attempt at colorwork ... hang on, wait, yes, it is. It took me a day or two to remember all the tricks I've read about how to handle the yarn when working with multiple strands of yarn, but once I did, knitting started to go SO much faster.

And then Saturday came around. Saturday was my 21st birthday. 21st birthdays are expected to be full of debauched fun. Mine ended with me passing out around 11-11:30 p.m. on my uncle's couch because I didn't eat lunch and drank two glasses of wine and two margaritas BEFORE dinner even started, plus another margarita with dinner. (Honestly, I barely remember dinner.)

I didn't get back to my apartment until 6 p.m. the next day, since I stuck around my uncle's for shopping and an early dinner, and then my roommates and I celebrated my birthday.

Needless to say, I did NOT get much any knitting done this weekend. However, I did re-learn the value of fun and entertaining yourself, for which I am so grateful. I had been spending weekends sitting on the couch, watching TV, and worrying constantly.

Things unfinished...

I have been ridiculously stressed out by, well, everything. I made it through my tests and paper just fine (two A's and a B, thus far - just haven't gotten the paper back yet), but then, during Spring Break, instead of spending my week relaxing on the beach, I had to get caught up with doctor and dentist appointments, visit people I hadn't seen in a while, and deal with familial medical problems. 

Not at all surprisingly, I didn't knit too terribly much before or during Spring Break, and I haven't really gotten back in the groove. I did make a schedule of projects that I want to finish in the next couple of months.

Sara's (Probably Unrealistic) Schedule of Knitting Completion-ness

3/31 - Meaghann's gloves (these have been on the needles since early January. I am not pleased.)

3/31 - Wishful Thinking hat and pattern

     This is just a swatch. I have now cast on for the hat... let's see, three times? I'm hoping this time will be the charm. Also, the swatch does not look that funky in real life. It just refused to lay flat for a good photo.

4/4 - Knitting Olympics sweater - except for the addition of what is maybe half the collar, it still looks the same as in the previous post.

4/11 - Unnamed, undesigned hat - For my roommate's boyfriend. (My roommate is getting the Wishful Thinking hat, so don't get any funny ideas.) This goal could prove interesting. 

4/18 - January Sock Club Socks

Why, yes, I have had this yarn and pattern since the end of January. Yes, this is the first of two socks. No, the color is not that muted in real life. It's what one gets when one takes photos at 10 p.m.

4/24 - Dye hunting sweater yarn. This is for my mom. She's going to New Zealand. She also paid for the yarn and dyes, so I figure I should get the freaking sweater done before the NZ trip in June.

5/9 - Hunting sweater. As in, completed. As in, I am insane. I think there are two weekends between the dyeing and the completion, so maybe I can do it.

5/14 - Socks for my uncle. Because I've only been promising them to him for about a year now. 

5/22 - March Sock Club Socks. Haven't got the yarn or the time (yet). At the bare minimum I'm looking forward to getting the yarn in a few days from now.

5/31 - A Christmas present. I think the recipient reads this blog, so I will probably only provide hints.

I only got this far in my planning - the bell rang. I have other schedules in my favorite drag-around notebook, but this one is the most recent (though perhaps least realistic?). I always like seeing if I can make reasonable deadlines (create and reach, I mean). 

Three tests and a paper in the next two days...

... and what am I doing? Updating my Ravelry notebook. I am an idiot.