Knitting, Sci-fi and other stuff...

      I wanted to do a quick update about the Fair.  We kept it really low key this year.  I entered 10 items into the fair and we only went one day to just look around.  We refrained from rides and excessive amounts of fair food.  So, onto my entries: I entered: a sewn tote bag, which I think I blogged about a few weeks ago.  It got first place then went on to win Best in Show. Sewn Tote with Best in Show ribbon I also entered the beaded shawl I finished in June, that also won a blue ribbon and went on to receive Best in Show. Beaded Holden mixed among other Best in Show items Six of my other items also won blue ribbons: Liara's socks Mandy Cowl Killer Queen Cowl Clean Windmill Dishcloth set Sacket's Harbor Mittens and Drops of Spring Fingerless Mitts The second place ribbon I received for my Hum Beanie is also in this picture.  Then I received third place for Sunset Hat. The first and second place entries for this class are in this picture ...

      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 haven't gotten very much done in the last two weeks.  I washed and blocked Drops of Spring Mitts. I worked on Sackets Harbor Mittens up until I ran out of the gray yarn.  In hindsight I should have inverted the colors.  But I prefer the color usage as is, so I ordered another skein of the gray.  I'm just waiting for it to arrive. I started a  White Whiskers Hat .  I'm not very far into it yet.  The memory of me getting the yarn for it, ehem 8 years ago, came up on my Facebook page so I thought it was high time to finally start it.  I'm makeing the cats gray and doing the background a lime green.   I made magic cookie bars last weekend for my husband's birthday.  I use  The Eagle Brand  recipe as a guide, but I usually add more coconut and more chocolate chips.   That's about it for crafting and cooking.  I got some news earlier this week about my current job and ultimately how it's ...

      I've been working steadily on my swap project.  I finished the knitting as of Friday morning.  I just finished washing and blocking out the item along with the second pair of Drops of Spring Mitts.  I still have one more step for the swap project.  The yarn I used, Briggs & Little Heritage, is a minimally processed rustic wool, so what I made is a bit rough to the touch.  It's not a next to skin item but none the less, I want to do a lining with fleece.  Back on Monday I didn't feel like working on the swap project and I had picked up that new dishcloth cotton, so I whipped up a quick round dishcloth.                       The new yarn I grabbed was Peaches & Creme Stripey.  The skein put up is a little bit different from the Original line, but its the same yardage.  I actually looked at the labels for the Stripey after I knit the round dishcloth.  The St...

     I didn't do a ton of crafting this past week, but I did some.  I finished up the knitting on the second pair of Drops of Spring Mitts.  I still want to wash and block them. I want to do one more pair with Indiecita, Whales Road and Solis.  I don't think I have enough Whales Road to do both mittens so I may have to buy a new skein.... oh what a terrible prospect.  Ha ha.  I finished these off because I needed the size 6 needles for the swap project.  I'm about halfway done with that project now.  That's all the knitting I've done this week.        Today I went through Liara's clothes and sorted out all the too small stuff.  Well, not all of it as some things needed to go through the laundry.  I took three totes of clothes and shoes over to my aunts house today.  She'll be going down to visit her oldest daughter who has two daughters younger than Liara.  They get all her hand me...

    I'm actually updating on a Sunday for once!  I don't have too much to update, so it'll be short and sweet.  I had mentioned that I washed and blocked the Drops of Spring Mitts.  I got them off the blockers and took a couple decent pictures outside in good light.  So here they are all finished. I used the smallest size of the three blockers.  The middle size stretched the fabric too much.  Blocking really evened these out and even though I didn't toss these in the dryer to spring the super-wash Mal Rios back into shape it sproinged back all on its own.                        I need to weigh these yet so I can figure out approximate yardage used, but my guess is its not really much of either of the three colors.  I hope to do at least one more pair of these.  I have so many little mini left-over skeins, its a great pattern to get those used up.     I made homemade pi...

      I had a fairly productive week.  On Saturday, once I was done with work, I drove straight back from Rochester.  I usually make a pit stop in Syracuse to get gas and do some grocery shopping at one of the BJs locations.  I didn't need to stop for gas and we didn't really need any groceries, so I drove straight through.  I really like to have that pit-stop.  It's about a 3 hour drive and after working a 12 hour overnight shift, I find I get achy and cramped up near the end of the drive, without a break in the middle of it.  I had a hair appointment on Saturday so I wound up being awake for nearly 24 hours.  I really try to limit how often I do that.  My hair dresser is going on vacation and is booked up most of the time, so I have to take whatever appointments I can get, usually.  It worked out pretty well, though.  My daughter came along and got a quick trim.  School starts back up for us in about two weeks, so n...