The Cobblestone Progresses

I have made significant progress this week on my Cobblestone Pullover. I have finished the body up to the underarms, and have about 7 inches done on the first sleeve. By the end of the long Memorial day weekend, I imagine I'll have this sleeve done and have started on the second.

I frogged the baby vest. I am really starting to dislike Encore yarn, as it is very scratchy and thick. Although it was going to be cute, the vest was turning out very stiff and uncomfortable looking. Also, I ran out of the grey yarn and wasn't going to buy more.

I have found a use for all the partial/random skeins of yarn I have sitting around. It is the Traveler's Life Afghan by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It is meant to be a record of all the knitting projects you have worked on, made by knitting up all the partial skeins and leftovers from those projects. Each row is meant to be a different color, and the original pattern appears to be in garter stitch. I have seen another version with a feather/fan type pattern, which I may copy. I may also crochet it, to keep it a little simpler for me. It's going to be a fun project to work on every few months, or so.

Oh no, not again

I started another new project!

In my defense, this is for a friend who just had a little boy. It's my Baby Buckeye Vest, and will hopefully fit him this fall. This should be a quick knit, as it's only a size 12 month vest.

I am making significant progress on my Cobblestone Pullover, with about 400 yards worked up. The body is about halfway up to the arm pits. I have also finished felting my three felted bags. I took a razor to them to clean up all the fuzzies, and they are now ready for handles.

Frogged the Boring Socks

I frogged the boring socks last night, and it was liberating. I put away the needles and added the skein of yarn back into my stash. Free!

I also have finished all the knitting required on my three bags and they are ready to be felted. This probably won't happen this weekend, as we have company coming in, but maybe next weekend? It takes so long for my washer to felt something, somewhere in the 3-5 loads of laundry range (unless, of course, it's something I don't want to felt - then it's immediate).

May/June Goals

In the spirit of spring cleaning, I've decided that the next two months will be for cleaning out all my wips and hibernating projects. A couple of them are so old that they are not even on Ravelry. They include the following lucky 14 projects.

The first two are okay, and have not been languishing:
Cobblestone Pullover - just started
Jeanne's Shawl - started in April

1. Playful Penguin - FINISH IT! This cute little guy just needs wings and maybe a rattle. I can totally finish this and give it to a good home where the cats won't tear it apart.
2. Thrummed Mittens - FROG IT! I don't really like the pattern I'm using, but I love the yarn and the idea. I will have to hunt down a different pattern and get started again.
3. Entrelac Bag - FINISH IT! This bag went through one round of felting and a test run of handles. It needs to be felted some more and some final handles/straps selected. All the knitting is done.
4. Stained Glass Bag #1 - FINISH IT! It just needs to be felted some more and assembled. Possibly add a lining?
5. Stained Glass Bag #2 - FINISH IT! The I-cord strap is nearly complete, thanks to my knitting night on Monday. Then, felting, finishing, and lining.
6. Picovoli - FROG IT! I started this great little top several years ago and never finished it. Now, it doesn't fit because I'm a little bit different shape than I was back then. This needs to be frogged and the yarn needs to be added back to my stash.
7. Joan Baez Cardigan - FINISH OR FROG? This was the first sweater project I ever started, and I'm not sure anymore if the yarn works. I need to block the body of the sweater and decide if this project will work or not.
8. Boring Socks - FROG IT! My mother-in-law picked out the yarn and wanted a very simple pattern. I picked a plain-jane boring sock that I can't bring myself to finish. I will definitely frog and pick a new pattern for her.
9. Green Lace Shawl - FINISH IT! This is something that I will try to start working on again, as it has been hibernating for over two years. I can't work on it at home or at work, as there are too many distractions. I will try to pull it out when I go to the yarn shop to work.
10. Basketweave Baby Blanket - FINISH IT! This one's not even in Ravelry. It's a knitted baby blanket in DK weight yarn, and is taking forever. I will try to take this project on the next long car ride to try to make some progress!
11. Crocheted Wave Baby Blanket - FROG IT! This one's not in Ravelry, either, and it will stay that way. I remember hating this pattern, as it never got easy to memorize and that's just annoying.
12. My Market Bag - I don't know what to do with this one. It's a bag I designed for IC that was rejected. Still, I am proud of it and like it and am trying to decide if it's worth submitting it somewhere else or just writing up the pattern and posting it here. I need to decide.

So, this will clearly take me longer than just May, so I have made it a two-month goal. This will put me in good shape before the baby comes in July!

Progress in April

I have made significant progress on projects ans stash this month, finishing up a couple whoppers and throwing in a few instant gratification items, too. I started out the month with 46,526 yards of yarn on hand and ended the month with 44,114, for an actual reduction of 2,412 yards!

I added 2,167 yards through one purchase and several yarn adoptions from friends. The one purchase was for three skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca which is planned for a bag for my mother-in-law at some point. Most of the rest of miscellanous sock yarn for my little baby booties and celestine star toys. They are a lot fo fun to make and don't take too long with the crochet.

I destashed 1,167 yards by returning a hank leftover from my minimalist cardigan and forcing friends to make some adoptions.

I actually knit/crocheted 3,412 yards! This includes my:

1. Solas Caomh
2. Minimalist Cardigan
3. Roaring Meg
4. Baby Hat and Booties

The total of these puts me right where I was at the beginning of 2009, which is major progress for me since I haven't been making progress!