Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

      I thought I'd do a quick review of my Year of Projects.  I started participating around week 5 so I'm summing up my year from that point to present.  I have 24 project entries on Ravelry.  (If I do several dishcloths back-to-back, I usually only make one project entry, so there are more than 24 individual finished items.  Direct Link to Goal Post:  YOP first post   I finished: -3 pairs of fingerless mitts -2 pairs of mittens -2 pairs of socks -5 hats -2 cowls -2 baby blankets -16 dishcloths -1 potholder -1 shawl I have one sock that's going to be frogged and half of another dishcloth that's sitting around because I ran out of that colorway of yarn.  I do have a few other WIPs still hanging about from prior to August of last year.  (We're going to keep pretending they don't exist.) I made a simple little picture "movie" of my projects, enjoy: As far as my quickly thrown together list: I completed 3/5 of my projected projects......

     I started this post last week, but didn't finish it so here's two weeks in one post.   I pulled Holden off the blocking board with the intention of getting some decent pictures.  It's been raining here off and on all week.  (Make that two weeks.)   It was ungodly hot and humid for a few days this past week.  Then it went back to raining constantly.  I just snuck in some "glamor" shots of Holden seconds before a cloud burst.     I received some disheartening news concerning the degree program I want to do.  I finally got the admissions decision last Saturday.  They are saying I need quite a few more pre-requisites than I had been told by two different faculty members of the program.  I was originally told I would only need three, possibly four, more classes.  Admissions is now telling me seven!  So, I'm not eligible  to enter the program this fall.  This was not the news I was expecti...

      This is probably going to be my last regular post for YOP.  My first class started this week and its proving to be very time consuming.  I did manage to get some things other than school work done this week, though.  First up, on Wednesday Hubby and I went up to Grandma's house and got some of her flowers.  I took some bleeding hearts, day lilys, tulips, narcissis and lupine.  It wasn't the correct time to take the bleeding hearts, but it looks like two of them will live.  The third got pretty mangled but one stalk looks alive.  I've planted a chunk of the tulips but they needed to be separed, so even though we dug up just a few plants, I have a ton of tulip bulbs I need to find a place for now. The bleeding hearts go quite windblown from being transported in the bed of the truck.  Day lilys are impossible to kill so those two plants will be fine.  The orange flags are denoting where I put the tulip bulbs.  They are ...

      Last weekend flew by and I completely forgot to post.  I had a long weekend, so we grilled on Saturday with my parents and brother.  Then we de-cluttered and cleaned the remaining days.  I went through a bunch of my crafting things in the basement and donated quite a few things I don't use anymore.  I got rid of nearly all my straight needles.  I only use circulars and DPNs so there's no need for to me to keep my long staights.  I did keep my short ones as I use those for dishcloths. (A pair of US 5s and 6s.)  I also donated a few skeins of acrylic yarn I wasn't ever going to use.  I had acquired some Lion Brand Homespun yarn and I absolutely hate working with it, so those got donated.  I had some other novelty yarns that also went in the donation bin.  I got rid of all my printed patterns as well.  I exclusively use digital patterns with my Row Counter app, so there's no need for me to have multiple binders fil...

      I found another skein of Mal Rios in the Cucumber colorway in a Ravelry destash.  It arrived Friday so I wound it and worked a little more on my  Killer Queen Cowl .  I had to tink back a row because reading is hard.  I finally finished section 2 and have started decreasing.  The rows were starting to feel very long when I was at the widest part.       My county fair board has finally put the 2024 handbook online.  I've been checking the last few weeks and now it's finally there!  It seems like quite a few classes have been removed, likely due to low participation in those classes.  I've done a preliminary submission plan.  I tried to fit things I've already completed into categories because there are only 8 weeks until the fair.  Two of the items I want to submit are in progress and three potential entries haven't been started yet.  I'm probably being overambitious, but that's half the fun for me...

     I made some progress on my Holden shawl this past week.  I completed another 1 and a half repeats of the lace pattern.  I've run myself out of another bead mix as well.  The rows are starting to get pretty long now.      I got my front flower bed mulched in between rain storms.  It's been raining here alot and is supposed to continue this coming week.  I got a few things washed up yesterday.  I ended up with three bags in my yarn allotment from Grandma's house.  I washed up two of them.      This one was either sewn by my grandmother or one of my aunts.  Its just a simple tote bag, but it will hold my current WIP project bags.  The other one I got washed up is a Thirty One bag.  I have a different style in this same print.  The handles are broken so my aunt had it in the trash but I rescued it.  Its in pristine condition other than the handles.  I'm going to either use it i...

    No post last week as we were all down with a nasty stomach bug.  I finally started feeling better on Friday.  I didn't get very much done because of it.  I didn't even get out of bed last Sunday.  I was able to finish the  Sunset Hat .   I think it turned out nicely.  I was worried the Glitter and the Sunset colorways would be too similar, which is why I put the English Rose in between them, but I think the combo works pretty well.  I finished up one more dish cloth; another Star Fish type so I won't post another identical picture.  I've made one more dishcloth since the Nerdopolis tournament ended on the 30th.  We're in a break month now.  I had hoped to get a few rows done on my Holden shawl, but that didn't happen.  I'm going to try to get it done this month.     There is a fiber festival in June, the CNY Fiber Fest, so I'm starting to plan for that.  I went last year and it was very fun....