Project: Make My Queue Week 13 - Catching Up!

What up Pleeps and Peeps?! Yup, I'm finally blogging some progress! It's been a while but I've been busy.

So 2013 is all about making my Ravelry queue. I started on Jan 1 with 47 projects. I have completed 17 projects and I'm still at 39 projects... Reason? I keep adding things! HA! Seriously though, I see things and want to make them, then I go stash diving.

Oh well, with my current WIP's, and what's in the queue, I'll be done in no time.

Ok, so recent FO's:

Kerchief Cowl - 

Felted Yarn Bowl - 

Forest Canopy Shawlette -

And Gams - 

In progress I have a LOT so I'm not going to post all the pictures right now. Just know I've got a LOT of knitting to do!!

TA!
-Kobuu

#WIPWednesday : Blogged!

I have FAR too many projects going on right now so a single G+ post wouldn't have worked...

First up: #ChaosKAL Day 5!

This is the Chaos Scarf though mine will be a cowl. It's based off of +Ray Whiting 's "Dicey Knitting" which me and all the members of the Dicey Knitting Community are doing together over the month of March. 5 days in and I still haven't gotten the hang of the directions but it looks cool!

Next up: Falling Leaves
I love love love this pattern, and the yarn, I just need to get back to it!

Third: Skully Cap #3
Yes, this picture is blurry and yes this is the third one of these I'm making but I just LOVE this pattern and they're so fast and easy! Too bad I didn't get to be on the T longer on Saturday otherwise this would be done. But, c'est la vie. Maybe I'll crank this out on lunch today..hm...

Finally: Burning Branch

Ok. This pattern, omg. This yarn, heaven. The colour....::swoon::..
I'm in the 4th and final section of the pattern and it's moving along. The real problem for me is the purl return. I hate purling and I don't do it very quickly. I also can't do it without looking so it's hard to do while watching TV or something. What I really need to do is just listen to some music and power through to the end. That would at least get it done!

There is also #LuckyBag13 for the Project Bag swap I'm a part of but I can't show you that....yet..

That's my #WIPWednesday ! I have all these projects with me for the day (not sure why yet) so who knows what I'll actually work on. Project: #MakeMyQueue is ... continuing. Sort of. I just need to finish something to get back on track!

-Kobuu

#MakeMyQueue : Weeks 8 & 9

Two more weeks have passed and some projects have come and gone. I haven't actually completed any projects but I've started a couple and I've frogged a couple...

Chadwick is frogged, I'll restart it soon enough.

Metalouse is coming along but slowly.

#Hexie blanket is coming along, and All the Shades of Blue is moving..

Mostly just "in progress" versus "done". There's been a few additions and subtractions from the queue also.

Wow, so this post is completely meaningless but still...lol.

-Kobuu

Project: #MakeMyQueue Week 7

Another week has passed. I'm well into this project now so there's no going back. Luckily, one of my queue items was the #FebCAL for the +Crochet Along on Google+ group on Google+. I did this in only two days but on a size 'S' hook and three strands of acrylic, it's no wonder it moved so fast!

I present, the 5 1/2 hour throw:

Like I said, it worked up REALLY fast. It's super squishy and despite the extra large gauge, very warm. It's Vic's new blanket for TV watching.

I also started "All the Shades of Truth" but I'm calling it All the Shades of Blue. A while back I got a mess of KP Palette yarn in an assortment of colours. After playing with combinations and yardage requirements, I've come up with a recipe for this scarf. There are two sections where you need 420yds of yarn. Each ball of Palette is only 231. Clearly if I only use one colour for those sections, I'd be short. BUUUT... a little creative thinking revealed a solution. Using two colours, in two-row stripes each, I will in effect combine the yarn totals giving me more than enough to finish those colour sections. As you can see, I've already got this down and it's working up beautifully:

The dark blue is the first section, the grey will be all outlines and borders and the two blue stripes is the next section. Throughout this pattern, the sections don't go in order. You have to pick your colours and then follow the placement in the pattern. This gives the whole Frank Lloyd Wright effect. Now, with bi-chromatic stripes, those sections are going to have a lot more movement and character. Can't wait to get to the next section!!

So that's really it. Slow week? Not sure. No real #hexie work done but maybe next week (this week). Should probably get back to work now. LOL.

-Kobuu

#MakeMyQueue : Weeks 5 & 6

I really need to get back into doing this once a week because I can never remember the beginning of two weeks ago!

So week 5 & 6. Well.... I got a couple more things done but new random things got in the way. Not really in the way but they took precedent over my queue work.

The first thing was a hat for my uncle. He's technically my great-uncle, but still. He's in chemo right now and this is the second time he's gone through it. The doctors assured him that he's going to lose his hair this time so I made him a hat to keep his noggin warm!

According to my aunt, his favourite colour is green. I used KP WOTA Chunky in "Rolling Hills" for the green variegated and Navy for the blue bands. I thought that just a green hat would be boring and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. That's going in the mail tomorrow with a card.

The second thing was just yarn. Yes, yarn. A few weeks ago I pulled out my stash in an effort to reorganize it and completely reconstruct my Ravelry inventory. Great in theory....time-sucking in practice. After many entries to the online database, I still haven't made it all the way through and I have a LOT more to go. The good news is that I'm discovering some yarns that I had completely forgotten I even had. Things like: 

Yes. That is 463 yards of flaming fingering weight amazing!!! I bought this last March thinking I was going to crochet socks. Yeah...that never happened. Now I think it's going to be a shawl of some kind. Just need to find the *right* pattern.

I did manage to get TWO more things done for #MakeMyQueue though:

Scrap Happy

Bicycle Wheels

Top, Scrap Happy hat is exactly as it sounds. All I did was use nicer scraps from my basket. The top is Malabrigo, then KP WOTA worsted, Jojo Land Rhythm and finally MadelineTosh Vintage. I actually used them all up but the hat's a little smaller than I'd like. It's also not exceedingly warm so right now, with snow falling, it's kind of useless.

By way of an opposite, Bicycle Wheels is made with Lion Brand Thick n' Quick. I'd never used this yarn, ever, so I figured what the hell. Well....I'm just kind of ok with this. It's far to large, sits weird on my head and is kind of heavy. I may frog it but truth be told, I don't care that much. I used a coupon for the yarn so it was only $4 and it's part acrylic anyway. Meh. Also, I don't know why this pattern is called Bicycle Wheels. I guess because the purl loops look like tires? Not sure. But whatever, on to the next project!!

So that's it for now. I've started my 13th project from my queue which I'm calling "Hex-Tris" for obvious reasons:

This is such a fun pattern that I'm addicted to making these little #hexies , a hashtag that +Sabrina Benton and I are using and trying to trend...

Stay tuned for more!!

-Kobuu :)

#MakeMyQueue Weeks 3 & 4: Flu, New Years, Flu...

The beginning of Week 3 was a bit of a mess. Between New Year's and Vic getting sick, knitting happened while at the hospital waiting for his tests. I worked mostly on Bolting as I really wanted to get that done. Now that it is, I can move forward with Project: Make My Queue.

Bolting, blocking

Me rocking Bolting in its enormity!

Then, as Vic's illness began to subside, I got the flu. After a trip to the ER, I got the meds I needed and slowly recovered. Of course, being sick basically sucks the life out of you and I had NO drive to knit or crochet at all. I did cast on a project but after the first 100 stitch chain, I put it down and never picked it back up. LOL

So Week 3 was a bust...but we move on. Week 4 was a LOT more productive since I took a couple extra days from work and focused on some of my goals. Yes, MakeMyQueue was important but I also have an unruly stash that needed to be reorganized. This task started with the purge of the closet to the living room floor. I needed to visually take in how much yarn I have.

Whew, yarn stash (just the non-acrylics!!)

Next was deleting my entire stash from Ravelry and starting over. Skein by skein, new pictures, listings, details were added to the online database. Now, with just over 70 entries, I've gotten a bit in...but I have a LOOONG way to go. Until I'm done, the floor looks like a ball pit of yarn!

The rest of Week 4 shifted back to my queue. Now that I've seen some of the forgotten yarns, I was able to use up some that had previously no purpose. The results? Two more projects off the queue.

First was Ovate (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ovate)which called for Malabrigo Rasta which I did not have. I substituted 4 skeins of Cascade Nikki (held double) to make this:

I really like the pooling that happened even with two strands held together! Never thought it would come out so well.

Then, just finished, is the Nala Slouchy (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-nala-slouchy):

While this was an easy pattern, the band construction was terrible. Also, the pattern was written rather poorly and I had to add an extra 12 stitches at the beginning just to make it fit. I think I'm going to stick to top-down hats as they seem to fit better. I'll wear this tomorrow as it's going to be a bit warmer so I won't need something super heavy but it is not my favourite hat. The yarn is Bernat Mosaic and for an acrylic, it's super soft and look at the colours!!! Noro much?!

Well that's it for now! I've started Chadwick and Metalouse but I'm not gung-ho about them just yet. Eventually I'll get them done. For now I'm having too much fun eliminating things from the list!!

-Kobuu

#MakeMyQueue: Week 2... also Christmas

Week two, as most of the world knows, was also Christmas week. While Project #MakeMyQueue is still going strong, it was difficult finding time to knit while gorging on holiday foods, opening presents and getting drunk. My holiday was filled with family and laughter and my mom's amazing cooking which came out fantastic despite not having a stove in the house. Thank the heavens for wonderful neighbours!!!

Bolting

Metalouse

The two projects I'm working on right now are Bolting and Metalouse. Bolting is leftover from previous WIP's and Metalouse is the next project in queue. Going through my queue, I'm realizing that there are a LOT of shawls! While this isn't necessarily a problem, it will significantly slow down my wiping out the list.

But I think that will reflect positively in the finished pieces. I'm going to take my time and let them just happen. I don't have a need to crank out projects at lightning speed. I know that if I wanted to, I could. I've already done 100+ projects over the course of 2012!

2013 is going to be a "me" year. While I still plan on knitting and crocheting like a crazy person, there are certain areas of my life that need reinforcement i.e. job, personal, etc. Giftmas always seems to be a burden and I think next year everyone's going to get either the same thing or something small. That will allow me to focus on my projects and then also my life. We knitters need a break every now and again and I think that time for me is now. The things I make will probably be mostly for me and my store. The store is going to be a bigger priority and I think I'll be designing more as well!

This is exciting and scary at the same time.... so bear with me but it's going to be a great New Year!

-Kobuu