Week 12

Good day everyone.  This is another YoP post coming to you from Sunny Soggy Arizona.  We got another 2 inches of rain in the past 24 hours.  My back yard looks like a swamp.  My swimming pool was as close to overflowing than I have ever seen it.  BUT........it did cool it off from the 100's real quick.  It now feels more like fall here.  I know we will be getting back into the mid to high 90's, but hopefully, we have seen the last of the triple digits.

Any way..............................I did complete one project this week.

Ta-Da!  The second sock is finally finished and now I can put them away until Christmas.  I have just resolved to only do two at a time socks from now on.  I feel second sock syndrome is going to be a thing for me in the coming months.  The second sock on this one took me from December of last year until yesterday to complete.  Of course, the new square needles had a lot to do with me being able to knit on it for more than 10-20 minutes.

I am still working on the baby blanket and will not bore  you with another picture of it's slow growth.  I think it is going to take as long to complete that blanket as it would to 'complete' a pregnancy!

I want to thank all of you for your comments last week about the gift cards for yarn.  I am going to take your advice and go have a look see at my LYS while hubby is out of town next weekend.  He really thinks I have too much now.  But can one ever have too much yarn?  I will be perusing patterns over the next week and actually have a project in mind when I go to the LYS.  That way I will not be totally distracted by some pretty little fiber that I will never use and probably just sit in my stash laughing at me.

Ok, so lets see how I am doing:

YoP 4 List

New items to do

Slippers

(These make the best Christmas gifts and my entire family said they need new ones)

7 PAIR COMPLETED, 3 MORE TO DO BEFORE CHRISTMAS

WIP's to complete

Log Cabin Blanket

(This has been in my WIP pile for about 3 years now.  It needs to leave it)

DIDN'T TOUCH IT THIS WEEK

Yearly projects I do anyway

12 dishcloths 

( These also make such nice Christmas gifts and are quick and fun to do)

SIX COMPLETED 9/28/14

Socks

( I love doing them and can not say how many pairs I will complete but need to do some)

Things to increase my skills

2-3 test knits/crochet

(I have done a few of these over the past year and loved doing them.  They totally test my skills as a crafter and help me branch out into areas I would never ever think of going)

   

Personal Goal

Use only the yarn from my stash for all the above projects.

( I am truly going to try NOT to purchase any more yarn this year.  I have already gone 4 months without buying any yarn and I figure I can continue that trend for at least another 12 months.)

NO YARN BOUGHT AS OF 9/28/14

Take photos of ALL items when done.

(I have a habit of gifting items and never photographing them for my blog)

YUP, SO FAR AS OF 9/28/14

COMPLETED ITEMS

Lapghan for my mom

(I started on this on July 1st since this is when the official YoP 4 started)

FINISHED 7/6/14

2-3 Doll Clothes

(I really want to get this done this year......I really do)

ALL FINISHED BY 7/22/14

1 fingerless mitt

( This is for a Christmas gift this year so it WILL be done soon)

FINISHED 8/12/14

One sock

(This also needs to be done for Christmas.  It's been lingering around for 6 months)

COMPLETED 9/27/14

Week 12 and having fun

I have progress to show and something new.  I am so glad to say, I actually worked on one of my YoP items this week.  I also continued on the baby blanket and am on skein two.

It doesn't appear to be growing to me, but according to the yarn usage, it has to be.  I am still loving the pattern of this and think my DIL's mom should put it on ravelry so others could enjoy it too.  But she isn't on ravelry and so I am going to ask her if I can put it on there for her.

I worked on 'the sock' this week.

I am only about 1 inch away from doing the start of the heel.  This is my favorite everyday pattern.  It is Car Socks.  I have done several pairs with this pattern and I will make them longer, shorter, wider and narrower depending on the recipient.  But I love her heel on these.  Although, I will say that I want to try the Fish Lips Kiss heel on the next pair I do.

Now for my most exciting news for this week!!!!!!!!!!  I suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis in my hand (and other joint of my body).  So, sock knitting has been a problem for me.  The tiny needles play havoc with my joints of my fingers and wrists.  I have tried circulars and DPN's and nothing really helped me.  I would be able to work on the sock for about 10 minutes and that was it for the day and then it would be so hard for me to even pick up a needle or hook for the rest of the day after that.  I love knitting socks.  I love the satisfaction I get from giving others something that is so 'personally' made for them.  I love watching how the construction of a sock goes together. 

So I took a leap of faith.  Well, maybe not a huge leap.  I went onto all my knitting facebook pages and asked around about square needles for people with RA and other joint and tendon issues.  I got so many responses!  I was totally in shock.  Only one person said she hated her square needles.  THEN!!!!!!!!!!!!  I took the leap of faith and order two circular needles for sock knitting.  Magic loop was the first way I learned to do socks and will be willing to go back to that if the needles work.

Lousy picture, I know.  But this is my brand new Kollage Square needle size US 2.  I was knitting the socks on size one and the website for the needles said, most people needed to go up one size to maintain gauge.  So I order the US 2 and US 3.  I put the US 2 on those sock and BINGO!!!!!!!!!!  Perfect match to the size US 1.  I knit on those needles for 3 hours the first night without any pain that night or the next morning.  I have been using them since Thursday and have not had a cramp, shooting pain, red and swollen knuckles etc since I switched to them.  

So how do I celebrate?  By ordering 4 more pairs of them in the sizes I use the most (taking into account the fact I need to go up one needle size for gauge).  I am so excited.  I know there are other brands of square needles, but I wanted metal ones as I am a bit rough on needles.  Now the plus side on the Kollage needles................you can order soft or 'firm' cables on the needles.  I ordered the soft for the magic loop and they just might be a bit too soft.  So on the next ones I ordered the firm as I will be doing blankets, sweaters, and larger items on them and don't need the limp cable when I go to slide it.  They should be in this week and I will let you know next week how much firmer the cables are.  But as far as the soft cables go..................they don't kink, twist, knot or go out of shape.  I love the cables.  

Yup, I am back in the sock knitting business.  WOOHOO!

I am looking at my list and see I need to get back on track with the slippers and dishcloths.  Hopefully I can bring myself to pick up slippers again this week.  I am still kind of burnt out from doing so many in such a short time.

The Dishcloths will probably be picked up when I get my new needles in.  I don't have too many more to do and they go so nice and quick.

I am having a VERY hard time not buying any yarn.  There are some great sales going on and I have been very tempted.  Even my Hubby told me I have too much yarn for me to be purchasing anymore.  He is totally right.  (darn it)  So I will continue to knit/crochet down my stash this year.  I should be good for well over a year in the yarn department.  It's just so hard when I see a good bamboo, cotton, linen or other non wool fiber going on sale for a ridiculously low price and I know I don't 'need' it but I 'want' it.

Question for you...................I have gift cards for my LYS...................if I got yarn with them, would that break my YoP of not purchasing any yarn this year?  It's not money from my pocket!  HEEHEE...........................I will rationalize anything at this point.

Here is how I am doing so far.

YoP 4 List

New items to do

Slippers

(These make the best Christmas gifts and my entire family said they need new ones)

7 PAIR COMPLETED, 3 MORE TO DO BEFORE CHRISTMAS

WIP's to complete

Log Cabin Blanket

(This has been in my WIP pile for about 3 years now.  It needs to leave it)

DIDN'T TOUCH IT THIS WEEK

One sock

(This also needs to be done for Christmas.  It's been lingering around for 6 months)

WORKED ON IT THIS WEEK

Yearly projects I do anyway

12 dishcloths 

( These also make such nice Christmas gifts and are quick and fun to do)

SIX COMPLETED 9/21/14

Socks

( I love doing them and can not say how many pairs I will complete but need to do some)

Things to increase my skills

2-3 test knits/crochet

(I have done a few of these over the past year and loved doing them.  They totally test my skills as a crafter and help me branch out into areas I would never ever think of going)

   

Personal Goal

Use only the yarn from my stash for all the above projects.

( I am truly going to try NOT to purchase any more yarn this year.  I have already gone 4 months without buying any yarn and I figure I can continue that trend for at least another 12 months.)

NO YARN BOUGHT AS OF 9/21/14

Take photos of ALL items when done.

(I have a habit of gifting items and never photographing them for my blog)

YUP, SO FAR AS OF 9/21/14

COMPLETED ITEMS

Lapghan for my mom

(I started on this on July 1st since this is when the official YoP 4 started)

FINISHED 7/6/14

2-3 Doll Clothes

(I really want to get this done this year......I really do)

ALL FINISHED BY 7/22/14

1 fingerless mitt

( This is for a Christmas gift this year so it WILL be done soon)

FINISHED 8/12/14

ELEVEN!!!!!

Goodness Gracious...................This year is just flying by!  Each week I try to figure out how it came to Sunday again so quickly.  Old age must finally be catching up with me.

Had a productive week, sort of.  Didn't really work on anything on my list though.  That darn baby blanket pattern I got was making me nuts.  I just had to do it.  So I cast on again with a different yarn this time, but with the proper size needles.

It is such a simple pattern to remember and it is one that I can sit and watch TV and not have to look at all the time.

The pattern is made up from my DIL's mom.  She was so kind to write it out for me.  I called her the other day and asked her if they take long to make as I really didn't want a never ending project.  She said,"well not really.  I am on #5 since I saw you last".  I saw her the first of August so that means she has cranked out 4 of these babies in 6 weeks.  I was a little upset as I have worked on this one for a whole week and am not even half way done with it.  Then I asked her how often she knits...........................Well, she is retired and they do a lot of traveling and she gets bored with the drive so she knits "about 5-6 hours a day". NO WONDER!  I am lucky if I get 2 hours a day to knit.  So I am right on track with the timing of this.

Remember the slipper mess up I told you about last week?  Well, I do have pictures that I can post now.  My little blog snooper is no where around me today so I can put them on here.

The top one is the one that I knitted and when I started, it was right on gauge.  Seems it grew as I went along.  The bottom ones are the crocheted and completed one the will fit nicely on a sweet little girl come Christmas time.  Same yarn but it sure looks different when crocheted then when knitted.  Oh well.

I still need to get 'adornments' for all the slippers I have completed.  I am hoping that I can get to the scrapbook store this week to find buttons that will work on all of them.

I will probably pick up the half finished slipper this week and try and complete that pair so I can cross it off my list.  I miscalculated the number of slippers I needed for Christmas!  It was only one less, but that is one less that I need to stress over.  I also want to get back to my dishcloths and crank a few more of those out.  And that SOCK!!!!  I really need to pick it up at least a couple times a week and put some rows on it so it will be done by Christmas too.  I love doing socks but the needles are so small that my hands can only do a short amount of time before they protest.  And I have sooooooo many sock patterns that I want to do.  I may have to go back to magic loop as that didn't seem to bother my hands as much.  But I so love my DPN's.  (insert frowny face) 

Got lots of household things I need to do today before I can kick back and pick up my crafting, so I had better get off of here and get busy.

Happy Crafting!

So lets see where we are at:

YoP 4 List

New items to do

Slippers

(These make the best Christmas gifts and my entire family said they need new ones)

7 PAIR COMPLETED, 3 MORE TO DO BEFORE CHRISTMAS

WIP's to complete

Log Cabin Blanket

(This has been in my WIP pile for about 3 years now.  It needs to leave it)

DIDN'T TOUCH IT THIS WEEK

One sock

(This also needs to be done for Christmas.  It's been lingering around for 6 months)

DIDN'T TOUCH IT THIS WEEK

Yearly projects I do anyway

12 dishcloths 

( These also make such nice Christmas gifts and are quick and fun to do)

SIX COMPLETED 8/31/14

Socks

( I love doing them and can not say how many pairs I will complete but need to do some)

Things to increase my skills

2-3 test knits/crochet

(I have done a few of these over the past year and loved doing them.  They totally test my skills as a crafter and help me branch out into areas I would never ever think of going)

   

Personal Goal

Use only the yarn from my stash for all the above projects.

( I am truly going to try NOT to purchase any more yarn this year.  I have already gone 4 months without buying any yarn and I figure I can continue that trend for at least another 12 months.)

NO YARN BOUGHT AS OF 9/14/14

Take photos of ALL items when done.

(I have a habit of gifting items and never photographing them for my blog)

YUP, SO FAR AS OF 9/14/14

COMPLETED ITEMS

Lapghan for my mom

(I started on this on July 1st since this is when the official YoP 4 started)

FINISHED 7/6/14

2-3 Doll Clothes

(I really want to get this done this year......I really do)

ALL FINISHED BY 7/22/14

1 fingerless mitt

( This is for a Christmas gift this year so it WILL be done soon)

FINISHED 8/12/14

YoP week 10

A day late but with good reason.............................I didn't have time yesterday or any time this weekend to even think about blogging.  Wanna know why? WARNING:  The first two pictures are taken with my phone so the color is horrible and the clarity is pretty bad too.

This is the reason why.  We had our grand daughter all weekend so her parents could have a nice out of town trip with some friends.  Along with the GD came her school pet, Snowman the Guinea Pig.  What an adventure for us.  We have never owned a GP.  We have had hamsters. gerbils, cats, dogs and fish but never a GP!  He was kind of fun to watch and play with.  I was concerned that my dogs would go crazy when he got here, but I don't think they ever knew he was here.  We kept him in her room and kept the door closed most of the time.

So why do I have time today to do my blog?  Shouldn't I be at the office slaving away over a computer and medical charges?

This is a picture of my back yard this morning.  That is about 6 inches of water standing back there.  Doesn't seem too bad, huh?  I left my house at 7 this morning and made it one mile in 30 minutes.  There was over 2 feet of water in all directions from my house and I decided that flooding out my car was not the way I wanted to start off my week.  So I turned around and BARELY made it back home.  We have had over 5 inches of rain in about 5 hours.  Doesn't sound too bad?  Well Peeps, we live in a desert and there is no drainage. Our ground is rock hard and the water has no where to go. The boss closed the office today as none of us live anywhere the office.

But I did get something this weekend that made me smile......................................

This is the baby blanket I made for my boss' great grand daughter.  They wanted to pay me for it and I told them all I wanted was a picture of her wrapped in it.  They are so happy with the blanket as they didn't get any blankets for her and they live in COLORADO!  That is cold cold climate in the winter.

As for crafting this week................I finished another pair of slippers.  Remember I was going to knit the 'little' pair of slippers.  I finished the first one..............it was suppose to fit a size 3 youth foot.......................it was too big for my hubby's size 9 men's foot.  Scratch that one.  So I crocheted them.  They are now perfect in size.  I would post a picture of them by the person they are meant for is a visitor of my blog/house too often and will see them.  Want them to be a surprise for her for Christmas.

I started on another pair of slippers and have not done much on them as I am kind of getting slipper burn out.  So I cast on a project to work on and found out I was using the wrong needle size and the wrong yarn.  I will rip that out and then go back to the slippers and finish them up.  I think the boo boo on the new cast on project was a sign.

That is about all from this end of the world today.

Happy Crafting.