Preparation for 2010

Like I said before I have started the preparations for next year. Only when it concerns my knitting, the rest will follow eventually. I didn’t quite finish 100 balls of yarn, but I admit that 87 really isn’t that bad. In the area for progress I reserved a spot for this challenge. I’m also going to keep track of how much actually gets into this house, the whole idea is to end up with less yarn at the end of the year. I filled a bin with projects, my project bin. I got 16 projects that I want to finish. At the end of the year I might change that to having them all out of the bin, instead of actually finishing them all.

My list for 2010:

• Finishing 100 balls of yarn


• Emptying out the project bin


• Finishing my Wolhemel blanket

Sounds real simple, doesn’t it?

Farewell

I felt like I had nothing to tell the past couple of weeks. I posted a progress bar on the right side so everyone can see what I’m working on and how that is going.

Yet enough has happened. I frogged a project I had started. I’m busy with the preparations for Christmas. I actually got the attic mostly organized.

The reason why I felt like there was nothing to tell has to do with the title of the entry. I have to say goodbye. No, not to you guys. My grandmother died last Thursday. She was very ill, for her this is the best. The rest of us is still getting used to it.

Starting next week I’ll focus on the future. I’ll put my plans for 2010 on paper. I get to do the thing I like so much, making lists.

Quiet week

This past Monday I went to a First Aid competition as a casualty victim. I had a pretty simple injury, I was unconscious from paint fumes. Easy to do, there is no make-up involved. As a thank you I and the other victims received fruit.



The next day I realized that I had earned that fruit. Because it was a competition the first-aiders were a bit nervous. Nervous enough for me to end up with two awesome bruises on my behind and a really neat one on my hip. I got myself molested for 8 apples, 8 pears and some strawberries. I really should stick to knitting.

Ever since I broke my foot in March I’ve been working home one day in the week. Every Wednesday morning (I work half days then) I get comfortable with the radio on at my dining room table. Usually in the company of Isis.



No real progress to report on my current projects. It does look like I’ll be able to finish the Christmas presents at the end of next week. Maybe I should start earlier next year if I plan to knit something for everyone again.

Winter blues

Even though I take my rest it doesn’t seem to go any better with me. I’m still tired, scavenge the cupboards in search of anything chocolate and don’t want to do anything.
Till this past Thursday. It was a nice and sunny day and I had more energy than the previous days. I didn’t go to bed early at all the night before. That got me thinking. On the Tuesday before that, I had an energy level of zero. I sat on the couch all night doing nothing. That day was grey and cloudy.

I guess I can’t handle the winter really well. I searched the internet and found that I don’t have SAD, but just the winter blues. The symptoms are like SAD but a whole lot less intense. As long as it stays sunny, I’m okay.

I did start new projects in the hope that it would make me feel better. Well, gee, not really. But it is fun.

The February Lady Sweater (Ravelry link):



Milkweed (Ravelry link):



This is a really fast one till you get to about row 78. Then it takes longer to do a row. Love the simplicity of the pattern, excellent TV knitting.

Does it work?

I did notice a difference after a week of going to bed early and not doing anything crazy (I sound boring don’t I?). I feel more relaxed and have a good mood most of the time. Last week I was gone for 2 night. The first night I managed to get home on a reasonable time and managed to go to bed on time. Unfortunately without my 20 minutes of knitting in bed. The second time I was home way too late. I didn’t get to bed until 23:30 and really felt that the next day. I didn’t feel like doing anything once I got home and at work I reacted a bit feisty sometimes. Enough so people noticed it.

A nice side effect of this schedule is that I start to put stuff away. My dining room table hasn’t been empty like this for months.

I also made an aunt some mittens. She complained about the fact that all her sisters have these fingerless mittens (which I made) and she didn’t. Well, now she does.



Update Project Christmas: 81% done, planning to be finished on November 30th.

Just very tired

It’s been very busy at work and I try to do all kinds of things at home, making it very active and busy days. At work I simply go on adrenaline, once I get home I collapse. I don’t sleep enough and my energy level is barely registering.

I decided to change this. This past week I went home on time (nearly) everyday. Once at home I keep moving so I won’t fall asleep on the couch. After dinner I turn off the TV to do dishes and other chores. After that I let myself watch TV until 9 ‘o clock. I take my shower, get everything ready for the next day and crawl into bed with some knitting and an episode of Wormwood (I’m still on the first season) on my Ipod.

I’ve done this for a whole week now and things are getting better. Usually you can sweep me together on a Friday night, this past Friday I was still very tired (barely knitting anything) but I did not fall asleep right after dinner.

I’m keeping this up for a while. It’s not easy to get myself to go to bed early, but I’m very pleased with the results.

Update Project Christmas: 69% done, planning to be finished on December 7th.

Project Christmas

This year I want to give everyone a self made present. That would be 6 items. Nothing fancy, otherwise I should have started sooner. I simply love lists, I have lists for everything or else I’ll make up a list.
So I made a Christmas-present-giving-list. I made a complete overview of the things I want to make and for every project I note how far I am. From this I have one sheet in which I can see how far the project is and how much longer I have to go. The whole system is based on me doing a little less than 1% of the total project. Right now I have 34% done and I expect to be finished by the 13th of December. That’s well before Christmas.

Of course everything has to work in order to be able to accomplish that. Mom’s gift gave me some trouble.

Last week, Sunday afternoon I had my pattern, needles and yarn ready by two thirty. I have to cast on 128 stitches. Long tail cast-on is what I normally do so there I go. I got to a 100 stitches. Ripped it out, a bit more yarn and I managed a 120 stitches. Grmbl. Okay, I’ll do the cable cast-on. Finally managed a 128 stitches and I proceed to knit in the round. Five rows of garter stitch for the border. After 1 repeat of the stitch pattern I realize that my yarn is going way too fast. Time to measure my work (waddaya mean gauge swatch?). I have 29 inches and I should have 21.5 inches. GRmbl. Ripping it out. I calculated the stitches I need and started to cast on again. Problem is that the cable is too long for the number of stitches. By row 2 I decide to get another needle, a longer one so I can do the Magic Loop. Second row is a purl row. Halfway through the row I realize that I’m knitting every stitch. GRMbl. I ripped it out again and went in search of a shorter circular needle. I found one, only it’s one size larger. Again cast on 96 stitches, 5 rows of garter stitch and start the stitch pattern. It’s really simple, knit 6, knit 2 together and a yarn over. Somehow I have stitches left over at the end of row 1. I know I cast on 96 stitches, I counted it several times. Great, at the beginning of the row I knitted 5 stitches instead of 6. GRMBl. Tinked back to the beginning of the row and started again. At the start of repeat 2 I seemed to have lost a stitch somewhere. At one spot I have 5 knit stitches instead of 6. Can’t for the life of me figure out what went wrong. GRMBL*. Ripped back to the border and started again. At eleven o’clock at night I had a total of 7 rows done. I kept going at it, counting and recounting my stitches and I think I won.



Maybe it’s too simple for me. At least it’s wonderful yarn (Drops Alpaca Silke) and it sure can stand being ripped out 6 times.

*use of language was a bit stronger in reality.

Cherry blossom in September

Finally finished another project, my CherryBlossom Shawl.



I had already started on the Christmas presents, but put them aside for a while to finish it. Now I can fully concentrate on Christmas (yeah, right).

This past Wednesday I had a team day with my colleagues from work. The goal was to get to know yourself and the other better using MBTI. For those who are curious I’m a ISFJ.
During lunch I pulled out my sock. I had no projects that were portable so I started a sock. It’s the September Mystery Sock from the SKA (Raverly group). As usual I received comments on the needles.



After the workshops we had diner. In between the different courses I pulled out the sock again. We were with 12 at the table. First comment came from my boss. He grinned and said that it was nice I was doing that. After a different course someone across the table noticed me. Again my boss responded positively. Actually, he sounded like I was 4 years old and showed him a picture I drew. It felt positive.

I really should have a sock with me at all times. Up till now people have responded positively or simply looked without saying anything. I do explain that I can listen better with something to knit in my hands. It actually keeps my thoughts from wandering.

Fiber rich week

Last Tuesday José gave me this. She found out that I have a spinning wheel at home.



Thursday these goodies came in the mail. I got it from snorrepot (Ravely link) so I can play with my new spindle.



She also pointed out that the was a day of wool on Saterday, not far from where I live. Of course I went to check it out. I forgot to bring my camera, or I’d have more to show.
When I got home this was in my car.



And this is what I’ve made so far with all this pretty stuff. From a distance it actually looks really good.

New toy

Bought it from Dragoncraft. It’s prettier in real life and it spins wonderful (eventhough I’m not really good at it yet), so I ordered another one.
I wanted to try some roving I still had lying around before spinning the roving that came eith the spindle. That’s really soft and pretty and there are sparkles in it.



I guess I have to make a bag for it now.

It’s looking good

I’m in a phase in which I finally finish things again. See here my new bag. Not quite finished but that should be a problem to do this week. It does need a spin in the washer before it’s completely done.



I think this bag will be perfect to take my knitting to the SnB nights. In that case I should line the bag. That way I can add pockets. What would be better? Big ones or smaller ones? What does everyone have in their knitting bag that they can’t do without? Most of my stuff is in a separate bag. Hey, that’s an idea. I have yarn left over to make a little pouch for that stuff. Still need to figure out how big to make the inner pockets of the bag.

O, I did finish something this week. My neighbors hat is done. Not quite what I had in mind, but it sure is different.



And I got myself another neat book. There are at least 3 patterns that I want to make. I’m almost afraid to admit it, but I actually have the yarn for it lying around the house (somewhere). Right now my list with things I want and can make has gotten up to 25.

1 down, 17 to go

I searched for a couple of days last week before I finally found my missing ball of yarn in a drawer. I also found more yarn to put together some knitting projects, bringing to total to 21. 21 projects for which I need to buy nothing.
At least I managed to finish 1 item



The hunt last week made it painfully clear that I have yarn everywhere in this house. As soon as it cools down it should be an interesting project to undertake. Well . . . maybe I need to clear up some other things (like the attic) so that I have more space.

I also realized that I have no socks on the needles. A simple sock that can go with me wherever. This yarn I got from my parent after a long weekend in Berlin. Should make a pretty sock.



As soon as I finish another project I’ll get started on the socks. I’ll try to finish 2 projects before I start a new one. I wonder how long I can keep that up.

Possible problem

You see that little pile of red yarn? That the latest project that I started. With that one the total count of projects that I “have” to finish comes to 18. I have for at least 15 projects yarn and patterns ready. Sigh. Maybe that’s why this magnet spoke to me. Excuse me while I go make some more coffee.

Actually I went searching for a ball of yarn for something else. I kept finding all these projects and decided to make a list. That was pretty scary. I realized that when something disappears into the back of a closet I forget about it.

Luckily I go to a support group to talk about this problem. This is the first time I realize how much it is all together. This month I’m going to try really hard to only work on the stuff I have going. Otherwise I’ll never get to the 100 balls of yarn that I want to use up this year. Right now I’ve used 46 balls with a total weight of 6.1 lbs and a length of 6 miles. I choose to ignore the yarn that I brought into this house this year.

Oh, that one ball of yarn still hasn’t been found. I’m afraid to keep searching in case more projects jump at me.

Knitting in Nature 2009

Despite the not so fun ending I had a great time in Swalmen. Unfortunately with my foot I couldn’t join in the nature walk the First day. I also skipped the bike rides. I did join the others to go look at the shi-take’s.



The next day everybody was hard at work. Not only the owner with his horses and cart, out group was pretty busy as wel.





Of course it’s really hard having to knit in these surroundings.





After a stop at the place with blueberry’s we went to the SnB Roermond.





It’s been a vacation worth repeating.

R.I.P.

April 2000 – July 2009

With intense sadness I had to say farewell to my cat Eban today.

Relaxed Sunday

It’s 88 degrees in the shade and overcast. Not really a day that invites you to be very active. I decided to sit outside with my knitting (a new shawl) and a podcast (Stash and Burn). I should be able to make some progress on a day like this.

Lady Eleanor went to live somewhere else. It’s a very pretty shawl but something is missing for me. It could be the colors, I don’t really know. It’s living with my mother who thinks it’s awesome. Of course I been busy with other stuff.

This is finally done and I think it’s awesome. It’s big and pretty and soft and warm and . . .

Mom took something home for me from her vacation. I have no idea what the brand of sheep is, but I think I might have another hobby. The bottom blob of wool is being washed right now.

Street art

My brother came for dinner yesterday with his 21 month old son. My sister-in-law was out with friends and my parents weren’t home. You gotta do something for dinner, right? In all fairness, my brother is a great cook, this just was easier.
Teun created a true piece of art in my backyard with sidewalk chalk, everyone had to join him.

Finally managed to finish some stuff. The black monster is done and it’s HUGE. It took me almost a whole night to cast off. Lady Eleanor is also (almost) done. I still need to knot the fringes on one side. I’ll be doing that tonight.

Since I seem to be in a finish-fase I wanted to work on my almost done shawl. The idea that I had to sit down with a huge piece of fabric made from Kid Silk Haze with a temperature of about 83 degrees (according to my car that afternoon) wasn’t really inviting. So I started a hat.

Why a hat in the middle of summer? Because my neighbor asked if I could knit him a funky hat. I sure can, just wait and see. Why does my neighbor want a knitted hat with these temperatures? Because he works in a place where it’s about -8 degrees (yes Fahrenheit) and a knitted hat is actually useful. And for € 2,00 I have plenty of fun making him one.

Let the cast off begin

687 stitches. No kidding.

But I’m done and will be casting off quietly in front of the TV on the couch. There is a mistake in row 199 and 205 and I know I had a stitch too many in a earlier row. But it’s done and I made it into a unique item.

The next mystery has already started.

It’s going to be a bag. If the first clue is any indication how the next clues are going to be then I’ll be able to keep up and work on other projects as well.

Look what my parents brought back from their vacation. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Shortage of brainenergy

As you can see my foot is still attached. And it looks like my other foot, only on that one the toes are in a reversed order. It still isn’t better. It’s slowly getting better and it seems to be using energy that I really need in other places. Like yesterday for example.

On Tuesdays I work from home so I can minimize the walking. On my calendar are two appointments: my SnB night and getting my parent’s mail while they’re on vacation. I did the mail part.

I’ve been thinking about which knitting project to take with me that night and which finished items I can show off (I’m a sucker for compliments). And I keep going with my day.

Until I realize that NCIS is on the TV on a Tuesday night and I shouldn’t be able to watch it. Hold on a minute.

I feed the cats, fix dinner, focus on this blob of black yarn and I seem to have forgotten what day it is.

Or am I too focused on this mystery project? There are 519 stitches on the needle and I can’t quite make out how it’s going to look.

Nah, that can’t be it. I’ve been knitting on my Lady Eleanor last night. That foot! It took all the energy out off my brains. And it has the guts not to be better.

Entrelac? Don’t start

eleanor1
Originally uploaded by isis1207

Last year during my knitting vacation I followed a workshop on Entrelac. That was really fun and ever since I’ve been thinking about making Lady Eleanor (Ravelry link). Last month the madness won from my sanity and after careful research on Ravelry I ordered yarn. The yarn arrived Saturday. Of course I had to cast on and I haven’t stopped since. This is really addictive.
I’ve been cast free for about a week and a half eventhough the fracture hasn’t healed. Yesterday I made a wrong move and I’m back home. At least I can work from home, but after a while this gets old. I really need to hide my knitting now. Well . . . it’s been next to my laptop the whole day. Knit a rectangle, solve a problem. Working at home may not be so bad after all.

Done

J-dog02
Originally uploaded by isis1207

Basket of bodyparts

J-dog01
Originally uploaded by isis1207

Nephew T. is mad about dogs. At his grandparents house he keeps picking up the picture of their dog who has passed away and shows it to everyone. The day I thought my stairs were shorter than they are, I bought a few animals at a department store, orders of grandma. There were two dogs and one has been his favorite. So when I saw this pattern (Ravelry link) I went to work. Now I have a basket with bodyparts. I only have to put him together. I think my brother will be visiting Mom this Sunday, I’ll give it to T. then.

One more week of this cast. Sigh.

21 more days to go

woodland_1
Originally uploaded by isis1207

And then this cast will come off. I’m allowed to put some weight on my foot starting this weekend. About 10 kilos they told me. Which part of me is about 10 kilos?
A few days after I got this cast I started on a new shawl. It’s the Ancient Woodland Shawl (Ravelry link). I’ve done a little more than half so it’s going pretty good. A plus about working at home is that every time I have to wait for my computer to respond I can sneak a few stitches. And I have an excellent travel time. If I shove my chair really hard it takes me about 15 seconds to get from the table to my couch. Normally it takes me about 30 minutes to get home.

Now it’s purple

broken_foot2
Originally uploaded by isis1207

I went to the hospital this morning and was told that I have a Jones fracture and will need a cast on this foot for the next 5 weeks. For the next 2 weeks I’m not allowed to put any weight on the foot because of the location of the fracture. I could simply pull everything apart again.
At least I have a pretty cast now. I have some really neat green sockyarn that I’ll use to knit myself a big toe so my toes won’t get cold.
I also asked the people at work to bring some of the work over here so I can so something else besides knitting. I think I overdid it with the knitting since my left wrist hurts (not fun when you need crutches to move around).

That’s broken

broken_foot
Originally uploaded by isis1207

This past Monday I went down the stairs a bit too fast and forgot the last two steps. With a bang I came down on my left ankle. Sprained, no doubt about it. Yesterday it still hurt on the left side of the foot which isn’t consistent with a sprain. So off to the doctor I went, who squeezed my foot and sent me to the hospital to take x-rays. Picture taken and I was send on to first aid. Result: no walking for a week. Not really too bad, I have plenty to do while sitting down and not working for a week isn’t really that bad either. I’m actually getting pretty quick with my crutches. Only . . . how do I get my coffee to the couch? And my food?
Mom had a brilliant idea: use your desk chair it has wheels. So, since last night I move around the house on a chair.
Today I’m going to figure out how I can take a shower and try vacuuming sitting on the chair.

Update on the 100 balls challenge: so far I’ve used 19.3 balls of yarn with a total weight of 36.2 oz and a length of 3466.8 yards

Found something fun

new_project
Originally uploaded by isis1207

The whole idea to keep working on the current projects worked. I almost finished 4 blocks on my blanket the past two weeks. I haven’t been home every night to sit on the couch and knit. I’m still working on block 4.
I’ve been printing patterns and putting them on a stack. For some I actually got the yarn out of my stash. The pattern in the picture is my most recent find.
Who thinks I couldn’t resist temptation?

Failed

crochet_sock
Originally uploaded by isis1207

As you can see I did start something new. This time I’m crocheting socks. Something I’ve never done before. I also know what my challenge is. After doing some courses and reading books about it I know that the subconscious doesn’t recognize negatives. So if I passionately proclaim the I’n NOT starting any new projects I should know that I’m in trouble.
So, this week it’s going to be: “I’m only working on existing projects”. Let’s see how far that’s going to get me.

Stop. Stop. STOP!

prikbord
Originally uploaded by isis1207

I’m not really fond of the winter (to put it nicely). Especially the winters here in the Netherlands. Cold, wet and grey. Around this time I get fed up with it and try to compensate it with starting new projects. To give myself some inside to what I’m doing I started using a memo board I found when cleaning out the attic. Everything above the white line is what I’m working on, below it the things I want to make. That list is not complete since I ran out of tacks and I’m too lazy to go hunt for more.
Actually a couple of projects above the line are almost done. Just a few hours of work and I can add them to my list on the right.
I won’t start anything new this month, only work on what I’ve got now. This really has to stop, nicer weather would also be great.

Update on the 100 balls challenge: so far I’ve used 9.3 balls of yarn with a total weight of 15.9 oz and a length of 1629.5 yards

Sometimes you have a day

hole_in_work
Originally uploaded by isis1207

Where nothing works for you. First you’re a stitch short, seems you’ve knitted to together. Go back and reknit the row. After two rows the same thing happens, a stitch short. Ah, made a mistake at the beginning. Go back, find there is indeed a stitch missing and add one. Knit the entire row. Notice that you have dropped a stitch were the mistake was. Go back, drop the extra stitch and find the previously dropped stitch. Reknit the row. Purl back. Get some coffee and . . . there is not supposed to be a hole there. Dammit!