Tis The Season...

...for frantic finishing of knitting and spinning WIPs.

OFF MY NEEDLES:

The blue socks I started on Aug 9th out of Schachenmayr Regia Racing Color were finished on Dec 2nd.  They are a men's size 9 with nine inch legs, and are my eighth pair of socks this year.

ON MY NEEDLES:

On my needles are the usual assortment of socks in progress and holiday gifts.   Also, have a few gauge swatches going for the three or four sweaters I have planned to knit for Project Sweater Chest.   I'll be casting on for the BFL Delight and Pagoda sweaters when I get back home in a few weeks.   

ON MY WHEELS/SPINDLES:

Back in August I revisited my Promise spinning which I first started in summer of 2012.  I'm spinning this from the fold and will chain ply.  Promise is a 50/50 blend of SoySilk and Wool from Tempted.  My August/September spinning on this was done on my Barebones spindle.  However, the bulk of spinning was done the end of November on my wheel, but it hasn't been plied yet. 

OFF MY WHEELS/SPINDLES:

I spun approximately half of a four ounce braid of superwash BFL in the Maple colorway for the Howarts at Ravelry Deputy Headmistress Interhouse Unity challenge back in August.   The fiber is from Sweet Georgia and I used my Barebones spindle.   

 I spun and plied the second half on my Sidekick wheel Oct 28-Nov 4th.  I finished with about 306 yards of 2ply yarn that looks like this:

The BFL Delight yarn I started spinning during Spinzilla in October I finished in November.  Total yardage of 2ply yarn is 2,537, which I'm hoping will be enough for a sweater.  All the fiber for this yarn is  Bluefaced Leister from either Crown Mountain Farms (white plus the Novalis and Bacchus colorways) or Miss Babs (Dark Secrets colorway). 

 

Finish Line Crossers

Which is another way of saying I've got some Finished Objects here.


OFF MY NEEDLES:


Genell's socks were started on July 31 and finished on Oct 8th. I used the pattern from Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder (which I've used before) for the legs/instep on my own basic cuff down pattern. The yarn is Zitron Trekking, and I used about 312 yds.  This is pair six for this year.

I started a pair of Monster Socks on Oct 3rd for the Sock Knitters Group Monster Sock KAL, and finished them on Oct 31st (appropriate I thought). They are toeup with a reverse Strong heel using an assortment of leftover sock yarns, handspun Itty Bitty Bits samples and Phat Fiber yarn samples. No plan or pattern followed except I used the same color for the heels, toes and cuffs.  I really had a lot of fun making these and can't wait to start another pair. These are pair #7 for this year.

OFF MY SPINDLES/WHEEL:


 I fractal spun four ounces of Wensleydale fiber in the Spunky Eclectic Jello Shots colorway on Sadie, my Sidekick wheel, and plied it on Jack, my Hansen for approximately 340 yds of 2ply (112 grams).   This Wensleydale fiber was a little more coarse than others I've spun, and because I tend to spin all my singles with a high twist, my singles were a little wirey.  So I loosely plied in hopes it would soften them up. I think it helped.

Spinzilla Spinning:
I went into Spinzilla this year as a Rogue Spinner.  I had a wonderful time last year on The Knit Girllls team, but had no idea how much I'd get done this year and didn't want to let a team down, so I went Rogue.

I went through my stash and pulled out 36 ounces of BFL top in both white and handdyed.  I wanted to see if I could spin a sweater's worth of 2ply yarn.  I didn't. I only got three skeins done, but I had fun trying.   I pulled:
 1lb white BFL top from Crown Mountain Farms spun semi-woolen on wheels from the fold from fauxlags
Crown Mtn Farms dyed BFL in Bacchus and Novalis colorways, 8oz each. Spun on wheels semi-woolen from the fold from drum carded batts
Miss Babs dyed BFL in Dark Secrets colorway 4oz spun semi-woolen from the fold on spindle and wheel

 One strand of white plied with one of Novalis or Dark Secrets gave me 3 skeins totaling 231 grams, 1,827 yds plus 296 yds white BFL. Total Spinzilla yardage: 2,123.

This yarn, plus the rest of this spinning I've dubbed BFL Delight, will be finished shortly, and I'll be using it to make a pullover for myself for #ProjectSweaterChest.  I hope to cast on by the beginning of December.


...to be continued....


BROUGHT TO ME BY: 
Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:
Audiobooks: To The Grave and In The Blood both by Steve Robinson;
DVDs:   Murder She Wrote; The Big Bang Theory; Rizzoli & Isles; Bones; Moonlight; Harry Potter: Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets; Hawaii 5-0; Blue Bloods;
Pod/VideoCasts: The Knit Girllls; Two Tangled Skeins;








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Summer Oddments Part I

OFF MY NEEDLES:


The Charlotte Bronte Shawl by Stephanie Swarek that I started on Sept 1, 2011 was finished on June 16th. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in November Muse colorway. I used a little more than four skeins or about 1,822 yds. It wasn't part of the pattern, but I added beads to the first lace border (silver lined dark topaz Miyuki-6).  I think if I knit this again and added beads, I would put the beads in both borders. Most likely I would leave out the beads altogether.  This took me what seemed like forever to block since I had to do it in sections (it was way too big for my blocking boards).   This is a bad picture, I know, but I wanted to get a quick picture before I left on vacation.  The blocked shawl measures approximately 60'x34".  It's nice and big and squishy and comfy.  If this coming winter is anything like last year's winter, it will be well used and much appreciated.

I made a Snug Sack and a Baby Hat for baby shower gifts over a three day period (Aug 4-6).  The hat is the Bunny Hugs Hat by Shana Schasteen (without pompoms), and the snug sack is well just a snug sack I made.  The yarn is Bernat Softee in soft fern (green) and Bernat Baby Solids in antique white.  The snug sack is a strand of each and the hat is in just green.  Altogether I used about 505 yds, 177 grams. 

Stash Dash, sponsored by The Knit Girllls, began on May 23rd and ran through August 7th.  This year's goal was 5k or 5,468 yards of yarn.   I managed to finish a number of projects, both knitting and spinning, however, I still fell 681 yds short of my goal.  Regardless, I'm pleased with what I did accomplish.  Hopefully, I'll get to cross the finish line next year.

Tour de Fleece 2014

The first week of the Tour de Fleece I finished spinning the remainder of my Phat Batts, this:

And spun it into four skeins of worsted weight, thick and thin, chain ply yarn totaling about   426 yards.

My second project, spinning sock yarn from some lovely gray Finn/Lincoln cross fleece I hand combed is a traditional worsted spun 3ply with two singles strands spun clockwise and one counterclockwise, and plied counterclockwise. I've never spun this kind of yarn before so I was eager to see what happens.  I ended up with about 299 yds of 3ply which isn't enough for a full pair of socks but would work if I use a different yarn for the legs.

It probably should have more plying twist to be a good sock yarn. I may add that later on.

My third project was to finish plying the 2x2 cabled yarn I was making from the Rambouillet/Montedale cross fleece. I thought I'd finished it several months ago but found some extra bobbins tucked in a corner.  The end result is about 61 yds worth of worsted weight yarn.

Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:  
  Audiobooks:. Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas; The Vampire King by Heather Killough-Walden; Curtains For Three by Rex Stout;           
  DVDs etc:   Murder She Wrote; The Big Bang Theory; Witches of East End; Moonlight;              
  Pod/VideoCasts:  The Knit Girllls; Two Tangled Skeins; Twinset Designs; Yarnspinners Tales; Knitmore Girls;                                    

Batting Practice

I have two boxes of Phat Fiber fiber samples that have been sitting around for some time now. I'd originally planned to spin each of them up and chain ply then use for an afghan or something similar and modular. I spun one up the other day and it came out fine, but frankly, I was bored.

So there I was staring at two boxes of all different kinds of fiber and assorted colorways and wondering what I should do with them. Should I even bother spinning them or just give them away like I had the other box? Then Wallace (Wally for short), my little drum carder, spoke up. "Use me! Use me!" He said, so I did.

Paying absolutely no attention to what the fiber content of the sample was and only choosing by the colors, I gleefully fed them to Wally. Some I pulled apart, others I ran through as is. This was FUN! When I made a half dozen or so batts, I started spinning.

I never thought to take a picture of those first batts before I spun them, but this is what they looked like spun up (or at least the last two batts which are all you can see):

I did think to take a picture of some of the rest of the batts I made before I spun them:

I spun however the fiber flowed easiest, but mostly either from the end or from the fold. I'd say most of the singles are pretty close to semi-woolen rather than semi-worsted (woolen or semi-woolen is my default style). Slubs, etc. were left in to give the singles some additional texture and color pops. It was interesting watching how changing my style of spinning (from the end to from the fold for example) changed how the colors blended or didn't blend.

My finished skein (pre-twist set):

I have enough batts carded up to make another skein. I'm saving them for Tour de Fleece spinning this weekend. Once the second skein is done, I will set the twist for both and see what total yardage I have. I'm guessing the set yarn will come out around a DK weight, or maybe worsted. There are so many different fibers (like Merino, BFL, Romney, Icelandic, Llama, Alpaca, camel, silk, tencel, bamboo, glittery stuff, etc) that I'm not sure if or how much the yarn will poof up after I wash it.

My only regret, if you could even call it that, with how I carded the batts is that I had no idea whose fiber was whose. And there were some fiber samples that spun really well and I wish I knew who made them so I could get more. But oh well, its not as if I have nothing good to spin here.

On Your Mark...Get Set

This year's Tour de Fleece starts this Saturday, July 5th and runs through July 27th.  If you are not familiar with it, the Tour de Fleece (TdF) is a global Spin-Along (SAL) held in tandem with the Tour de France cycling competition.  While the cyclists race through France, we spin along with them in an effort to meet our individual goals. Our goals can range from just learning to spin, or spinning a new fiber, spinning down a certain amount of stash or learning a new technique, to spinning a whole fleece - whatever is challenging to us.

I considered joining several teams this year, Wildcard and Official, as I usually do, but eventually decided to keep it to just one team: the Diagon Alley Marauders from the Hogwarts at Ravelry group (and not just because I'm the team captain this year).

My TdF goal is simply to spin down as much stash as I can.  That includes finishing up old SWIPs and starting new ones. For the new, I'm still in the process of prepping fleece, and also deciding which commercially prepped fiber bumps to spin. I love spinning my natural color fleeces, but I need some color to break up the monotony. They're all so pretty though, it's hard to choose.  So I'm thinking maybe I'll go deep stash diving and pull out some of my really early purchases.  Age before beauty I guess. LOL

What I have decided on so far:

(1) five ounces of hand combed Finn/Lincoln cross (adult) to be spun into 3ply sock yarn, one singles spun 's' & two singles spun 'z', plied 's'.

(2) finish plying up (2x2 cable yarn) the remaining Rambouillet/Montedale cross singles (yes, just when I thought I was done with this I found more hiding in a corner).

(3) if I haven't already, finish flicking & combing the Shetland Moorit fleece, then finish spinning.

(4) if I can find it, finish spinning that soysilk/wool blend in Promise colorway that I started in 2012.

Add in three or four more and I'll make a decent little dent in my stash. I would like to spin a minimum of 24 ounces (680 grams) but I don't intend to race through my spinning and sacrifice quality of spinning for quantity spun. That's why my goal is just to spin as much as I can. If I make or surpass 24 doesn't really matter. I'll be happy with whatever yardage I can get to add to my StashDash2014 total.

Dashing Through the FOs

  The finished May Day project - socks knit in Miss Bab's Cosmic yarn in Vlad colorway - was started March 20th and finished May 5th.  The stitch pattern is from Simple SKYP Socks by Adrienne Ku and the heel is from Basic Strong Heel Socks by Gerdine Crawford-Strong.  

  STASH DASH - PART 1:

Stash Dash, sponsored by The Knit Girllls, began on May 23rd and runs through August 7th.  This year our goal is 5k of yarn (5,468 yards).  

Over these first few weeks I finished: 

1) The second bump of Annunaki at Tiaman colorway from Crown Mountain Farms. I started spinning this fiber January 1st-ish and finished May 24th.  All singles were spindle spun and chain plied on either spindle or wheel (depending on whether I was home or on vacation). Some of this fiber was used to teach spindle spinning, which is why my 394 yards weighs only 3.7 ounces. Total singles yardage is 1,182, and the average wpi is 16.  

2) The white Oxford/Border Leicester cross fleece (10.1 oz raw, 8.5 washed) was hand combed then run through my drum carder, and spindle spun semi-woolen for a traditional 3ply yarn that was plied on either spindle or wheel from plying balls.  I got 306 yards (164 grams) of 3ply DK weight from 918 yards of singles.

3) Another leisure hat for the Socks For Soldiers group (168  yds) from leftover sock yarn. Started May 8th, finished June .

4) Spun Cloudlover's merino/cashmere/silk blend in the Mother of Dragons colorway.  This four ounce bump gave me approximately 350 yards (underestimated - twist hasn't been set yet - probably higher) of yarn with an average wpi of 15. It was wheel spun semi-worsted and chain plied. Start/Finish June 6-19. 

5) a small, 17 yd woven rectangle made on a mini loom I got to make washcloths with some old yarn that I don't like knitting or crocheting with.  Not too bad for a first try but I definitely need practice.





Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks: Skinwalker by Faith Hunter; The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert; These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer; The Black Echo by Michael Connelly;          
  DVDs etc:   Murder She Wrote; Veronica Mars Movie; The Big Bang Theory;                  
  Pod/VideoCasts:  The Knit Girllls; Two Tangled Skeins; The Knit Wits; Twinset Designs;                                  
 

On and Off Knitting

  ON MY NEEDLES:

I cast on a new pair of socks using gift yarn - Bali Hai colorway sock yarn from Hanalei Strings in Hawaii. The socks are for me, of course. I'd originally planned to use the SKYP stitch pattern but after about an inch I decided it got lost in the colorway and switched to plain stockinette. I will still use the Strong heel as planned, though.

I am actively working on finishing the Charlotte Bronte shawl. I attached what I'd knit of the second lace border to see how far I'd actually gotten, and it wasn't as far as I thought. I still have to knit enough border for a full short side and slightly more than half of a long side.

There's also the Piccolo Mondo Antico sock by Karen Aida that I started earlier this year. I'm using Zen Yarn Garden's Superwash Sock Yarn in the Esmeraldus colorway and their Aufust 2009 Harmony Sock Yarn Club yarn in the Tangerine colorway on 2.50mm (US1) needles.

For my Socks For Soldiers knitting, I have a pair of olive drab socks and a leisure hat on the needles. Unfortunately, I've had a number of migraine headaches over the last few weeks which cuts down drastically on my knitting. This too shall pass, and I will get them done.


OFF MY NEEDLES:
B's socks were started back in September 2013 and finished on May 6th. They have a ten inch leg and slightly less than a twelve inch long foot and were made with about 118 grams of Schachenmayr Regia Racing Color yarn. Have I mentioned how much I like Regia yarns? I have about 80 grams left of this yarn which would do for a pair of toe-up socks for a smaller foot. The color is way off in this picture - I couldn't get the color right no matter how I changed the lighting. They are actually a darker charcoal gray-ish blue.

  The May Day project was finished on May 5th, but it's a gift that its recipient hasn't gotten yet, so no picture until next time.

Fly-By Month

Wow! I can't believe how quickly April went. Seems like it just started last week and already it's May.

OFF MY NEEDLES:

I finished adding the feet to a pair of OD (Olive Drab) socks for Socks For Soldiers. The fourteen inch legs were knit on a Circular Sock Machine by Marolyn. Team knitting the socks this way saves hand knitters like me a good deal of time and effort (and seriously - fourteen inches of ribbing is mind numbingly tedious so I really appreciate the CSM knit legs).

I also finished my second tan regulation beanie for Socks For Soldiers. Both hats, two pair of regulation socks and two pair of leisure socks were sent out to Kim early in the month.

For my next box of hats and socks for Kim I've completed a leisure hat and started a regulation hat and a pair of leisure men's socks. Here's the finished leisure hat:





I expect I'll have Bob's Socks and the May Day project finished within the first week of May, and then I'm hoping to have the Charlotte Bronte Shawl, the Owlie Socks and some more SFS hats and socks done by the end of May. I'm participating in this year's 5k Stash Dash this Summer so I'll be waiting until Stash Dash started to finish a bunch of knitting and spinning WIPs. Yay for stash busting!

Ponderings

The Tour de Fleece this year starts on July 5th, and I've been contemplating what to spin. The Knitmore Girls are doing another sweater SPAKAL (spin-along knit-along) so spinning a sweater's worth of yarn is one possibility. Another is to see just how much I can spin in three weeks, and if I go that route, will it include plying what I've spun or just spinning the singles? I also have to consider the weather. July in NYC is hot and sticky and I don't have A/C. On the really bad days I just can't spin.



ON MY NEEDLES:

A hat in leisure colors for the Socks For Soldiers group. I'm using Claudia Handpainted Yarn in the Desert Dusk color way.





I also have a couple pair of socks on the needles in various stages from just started to almost finished.



ON MY SPINDLES:

I'm about halfway through the four ounce bump of Annunaki at Tieman. The first ounce and a half has been plied (chain ply) and is sitting on Sadie, my wheel, at home. If I finish spinning my singles before I get back, I'll start plying them on my spindle, otherwise I'll just add them to what's on the wheel.

March Finishers

I've done a fair bit of fiber prep and spinning during March and also some knitting. Enough knitting that I did manage to finish a couple of projects.

OFF MY NEEDLES:

The Fleegleized Panda socks I started on Jan 3rd are finished.

They are toe-up using the stitch pattern from Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder and Fleegle's No Flap heel. The yarn is Panda Cotton, a bamboo/cotton/nylon blend which I found to be very splitty. It was annoying enough that I don't think I'd use this yarn again. Also, I'm not into ankle socks so I had to use every scrap of yarn to get a decent size sock leg. I did like the heel pattern and would use it again.

I finished my first regulation cap of the year for the Socks For Soldiers group. It was started on February 28th and finished on March 22nd, using tan Regia 4ply yarn (color is off in the picture).

FUBAR fix

ON MY SPINDLES:

Unspinning the horrendously overplied 2x2 cabled Rambouillet Montedale cross yarn using my Navajo spindle is working. It's a little tedious because I have to go slow and watch for the yarn to pop back into the cable, but it works. This is the first skein I got from that tangled mess. It's about 72 yards worth and the wpi is 8. The yarn is quite soft, and I'm quite pleased how it's turning out despite the mess-up.

Balancing Act

Until this past week, I hadn't touched my spinning in ages - at least since early January. Mostly, I'm just knitting. A lot. But last weekend my hands finally said enough, no more knitting straight for hours at a time. So I'm back to alternating - knit for a bit, spin for a while, knit for a while, comb/card fleece for a bit, etc.

ON MY NEEDLES:
The first of the Fleeglized Panda socks is done and the second sock started.


The Charlotte Bronte Shawl has seen some more progress, finally. I finished the first lace border with the beads. The second lace border is about three quarters done. I'm knitting it separately (so I don't have to lug the whole shawl around) and will sew it on the shawl. I chose not to put beads on the second lace border.

I'm up to the heel gusset on the second of Bob's socks. The toe shaping's a bit tricky, but otherwise they're coming along nicely.

The OD (Olive Drab) socks are also progressing nicely, as is the tan regulation cap. Both are for the a socks For Soldiers group.

And if that's not enough WIPs to work on, I cast on stranded colorwork socks and a sweater.


ON MY SPINDLES/WHEEL:

There are a number of open spinning projects on my Spindles and Wheel, but the three main projects are:

(1) During the Fall and into early December I worked on the Rambouillet/Montedale cross pre-washed fleece I purchased several years ago.  I hand combed the fleece then wheel spun it in a smoothed, attenuated long draw. This will be a 4ply cabled yarn (spun z, 2ply s, cabled z).

The spinning is finished. And I am more than halfway through plying the 2ply yarn.  In fact in early December I took the first bobbin of 2ply yarn and plied it back on itself for my first skein of cabled yarn. 

Unfortunately, I was distracted and in a hurry and made a total hash of it. To say it is overplied is a major understatement.  I gave it a nice hot bath and thwacked the ever-loving shit out of it but it's still a mess.  See:



This is a really nice yarn, very soft, so there's no way I'm chucking it.  I will have to untangle it (I messed up the skein ties too) and run it through again to take out some of the excess twist. I haven't done this before, so I think I will use my Navajo Spindle instead of my wheel - better control.

(2) I recently started spindle spinning (longdraw) some Oxford/Border Leicester crossbreed fleece that I prepped in November.  This fleece was hand combed then run through my drum carder. It turned into rather nice batts and spins easily.

(3) Also started spinning the second Annunaki at Tieman colorway bump I bought last year from Crown Mountain Farms in their going out of business sales. It is four ounces of BFL top which I am spindle spinning (worsted) and will chain ply.  

Fleece prep-wise, I'm sampling (combing, carding 2&3plying) a multicolored Perendale fleece, some black & white Jacob fleece, and some llama fleece.


Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:
  Audiobooks: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon;                      
  DVDs etc:   Rizzoli & Isles; Murder She Wrote; Veronica Mars;              
  Pod/VideoCasts:  The Knit Girllls; Round the Twist;  The Knitmore Girls; Two Tangled Skeins;                        
 

Casting Off

OFF MY NEEDLES:

I finished my first pair of socks this year, and had my first Ooops! moment at the same time. These socks were Cast On on January first for The Great Hufflepuff Sock Fest. I finished knitting them on January eighteenth, wove in my ends, tried them on, and this is what I got:



That was a first for me - never had a heel come out with that much excess fabric before. So I ripped back both heels about an inch and did decreases as if it was a hat crown. For one sock I kitchenered the remaining stitches closed. For the other sock I drew the yarn through the remaining stitches and cinched it closed. I prefer the look of the latter closure (top sock in the picture).

Here are the finished and fixed socks, knit on 2.25mm needles in the Monsieur X colorway of Biscotti & Cie's Felix base sock yarn.








Brought To Me By: Crafting accomplished with the following audio/video accompaniment:    
  Audiobooks: Soulless by Gail Carriger;                      
  DVDs etc:   Rizzoli & Isles; Inspector Alleyn Mysteries; Endeavor; Moonlight;            
Pod/VideoCasts:  The Knit Girllls; Round the Twist;  The Knitmore Girls (almost caught up);                    
 

And We're Off....

To a good start for the new year. New projects were started, old ones finished, and decisions made for direction a new year of crafting will go.

ON MY NEEDLES:

January first was the start of a month long sock knit-along in Hufflepuff House in the Hogwarts at Ravelry group (yes, I'm a Hufflepuff and proud of it!). There are no prizes for participating in The Great Hufflepuff Sock Fest, just Badges and a feeling of accomplishment, both of which I love.

I cast on two pair of socks. The first pair is a cuff down afterthought/forethought heel sock in Biscotti & Cie's self striping Felix base yarn in the Monsieur X colorway. I've the first sock (minus the heel) done and am almost halfway through the leg of the second sock since this picture was taken.



The second pair was cast on, frogged and re-cast on. It will be toe-up socks with Fleegle's no flap heel (a first time for me) pattern, and will incorporate the Hermione sock stitch pattern on leg and instep. The yarn is Panda Cotton, a holiday gift from a friend.




2014 GOALS:

This year I will be concentrating on charity knitting and finishing UFOs/WIPs, and also pattern writing. I will also try not to buy anymore yarn until the fourth quarter (and then only as gifts for others). Ideally, I'd like to go an entire year without any stash enhancement, yarn or fiber. For spinning, I will try to spin through as much of my fleece and fiber stash as possible, with an eye towards selling some of it (either handspun yarn or hand processed fiber). An adventure for sure.

I have lots of UFOs/WIPs on my needles that don't seem to be getting anywhere. So the plan is to concentrate on one a month (more than one if they're small like hats or socks). So far, January is a hat and a pair of socks; February will be the Hexipuff Baby Blanket; March, the Charlotte Bronte shawl. The schedule will be reevaluated every quarter as projects get added to or removed from the UFO/WIP list.

The two charities I will concentrate on are first Socks For Soldiers and then Bundles of Joy. Both have been sorely neglected over the last couple of years.


OFF MY NEEDLES:

My first Finished Object of the year is the other Holiday Stocking. I guess technically it's a Re-Finished Object since I frogged the original finished stocking back to the heel beginning and redid the heel and toe. I'm still not entirely satisfied with the toe but it looks a lot better than it did, and frankly, I'm sick of it.

How Did I Do

2013 is over so let's see how we did goal-wise:

I finished:
7 out of 13 pr socks 53%
2 out of 13 pr of mittens 15%
3 out of 13 hats 23%
1 shawl out of no set amount of shawls
0 sweaters out of no set amount of sweaters
104 Hexipuffs out of 156 (13/month) goal. 66%


Knit and crocheted approximately 7,500 yards out of 13,000 goal. Spun about 15,000 yards out of 17,000 goal. So overall, I reduced my stash (including destashing yarn and fiber) by a total of 4,221 grams out of 18,144 grams goal, or about 9 out of 40 pounds.

In other words, not so good. In fact, pretty sad performance. Guess I should go easy on the lofty goals for 2014.

December 2013 FOs

OFF MY NEEDLES:

December was a productive month as far as Finished Objects goes.

The Surprise Mittens were knit using the Deathflake Mittens pattern by Sissel KB in red and blue Vuorelma Satakiele, a deep stash yarn.




The Wild Blueberry Socks are plain stockinette toe-up socks with Cat Bordhi's padded Sweet Tomato heels knit in Louet Gems Cherry Tree Hill's Wild Blueberry colorway.




The Newport or Newtown Socks (not sure which - label lost) were knit in Lisa Souza Sock! and are vanilla cuff-down socks with a Sweet Tomato heel.




Two Holiday Stockings were made using a combination of recently purchased and vintage stash yarn and modified versions of the "A NEW Family Portrait - A Collection of Three Christmas Stockings" pattern by Dorene Delaney Giordano. Well, kinda made. The second stocking was just a big purple and white tube sock because I didn't have enough time to put the heel in. But it was usable. I took both stockings back after Christmas to finish/fix. This is the second stocking with the heel added in.



I wasn't happy with how the first stocking's heel and foot were done, so I've ripped that back to the beginning of the heel and am reknitting. I'm down to the toe decreases and should be finished soon.

Also finished some more squares for WarmUp America, bringing my completed square count to fourteen to date.