2013's First WIPs to FOs

What you're looking at here are the 2 oldest WIPs in my knitting. According to Ravely, I started the Jaywalker socks in May 2011. According to my notebook, I finished the first sock in January 2012. And I just finished weaving in the ends tonight. The mitts are a similar story.

My question is: Really? How? How many projects have I started and finished in this time? What about these projects made them so difficult to finish? I know the issue with the mitts. They were boring. They were basically like socks. However, when i found them in the WIP wasteland behind the couch, do you know what the only thing I needed to do was? Knit the thumbs, and weave in the ends. It took literally 30 minutes. I could have been enjoying these half of last winter and all of this winter. So now that they're done, they stay in my bag so I have them in the car or office, since we all know offices are FREEZING.

The socks are another issue. They had a pattern, so it wasn't just a ton of stockinette. When I pulled these out, I was already past the heel of the second sock. I wear a women's size 6 so it really wasn't that much to knit. However, I have not tried on these socks though, and many people have mentioned fit issues. So there may be an update to this post where i'm either cheering or crying over the 18-month-iversary socks.

2013 Comeback

With a sort of hectic work schedule I started, this blog unfortunately went by the wayside. I've been doing fairly cool things craft-wise, but of course there is little proof of that. Except for the shopping.

This is my most recent purchase from a yarn shop in Griffith, IN called Spinning Yarns ( www.spinninyarns.com). It's been open for a few years but I never felt like driving out to Griffith from my parents' house. Boy was I missing out! I chatted with the owner for a bit and she said she's grown quite a bit in the past year, which is great to hear. There are only 2 LYS in that area that I know of, so it's great to hear her business is expanding. Oh and that bottom skein of maroon yarn, there are 8 more along with it. She gave me a great discount if I bought the whole lot. And she carries KnitPicks, so I love her!

I've also sold a few items over the holidays. One of my coworkers told me her church was doing a craft fair and asked if I wanted to give her anything to sell, and I said of course! I had made a bunch of flowered headbands and gave those to her and she said she sold quite a few. I've also made a couple jewelry sales at work, so hopefully that will keep up. This is also a little motivation to restock my Etsy store and actually try to maintain it.

Hopefully with this new schedule, I'll have the energy to do that.

Reilly's Daughter is now OPEN!

Reilly's Daughter

First, just click the link and take a look around.

...

Ok, now that you're back, let me talk about the store. It is all items handmade by me. Right now it is mostly jewelry, but stitch markers and knit/crochet/woven/generally yarn-y things will follow. This is also only about half of the jewelry I've made. There is a lot of work to be done, but hopefully this will pay off. I really just want to get the word out right now and get some feedback on the items, descriptions, photos, etc.

And don't be shy. Feel free to share the link with EVERYONE.

Big News!

My Etsy shop, Reilly's Daughter, is almost ready to open! I finally took some initiative and started editing the photos I took and posting. And I now have more respect for anyone that opens up a shop online. It's a lot of work typing up descriptions for everything you make. But with any luck, it will be open this weekend, even if it doesn't have every item posted that I want.

I also finished this:

I had some leftover baby yarn from a blanket I made for a friend of my dad, and wanted to use it up. I thought this would be a fast, easy pattern to knock out a baby blanket. Too bad I can't estimate my gauge, because this turned out a little bigger than I planned. But this way, the baby can grow into it, right? This will probably also end up in the Etsy store.

Q2 Goal Update

I'm also doing well on my goals this quarter. We're about halfway through, and I've already posted as many blogs as I did all last quarter. Part of what is helping is taking pictures of stuff I've made. The other part is being able to publish the post when I want. That way I can write a couple at once and have them update at regular intervals.

I've finished my "queued project", which are my monkey socks!

I've also finished one of 2 sock yarn projects, which is another pair of vanilla socks. I started my second a couple days ago, which are the Nutkin socks in Austermann Step. So I have 2 more pair of socks, 2 more blogs, oh and a Blanket-versary to finish.

Moment Of Silence

I suffered a fairly significant loss a couple months ago.

That is an Owls sweater. It used to be adult sized. That is a beanie for size comparison.

I thought I had dried this in the dryer before. I swear I had. So I threw it in.

Apparently I was thinking of another sweater because I most definitely did not dry this in the dryer before. It's felted. WAY felted. So I've decided this will turn into a bag. I just have to cut off and sew up the sleeves and attach purse handles.

That is if I can ever bring myself to hold this thing for longer than it takes to take a picture of it.

Hexi-Crack Update

Ok, so this is only about 18" square. But doesn't it look awesome? And I have these and more to add still.

The idea is that this piece will be the center and as I make more puffs I'll add them around the edges. That way each time I finish another batch of one color, it will be arranged around the outside of the square to keep everything randomly placed. And my idea of knitting the puffs, putting them on stitch holders, and stuffing a bunch at once I think is working. I knit the puff and put the live stitches on paperclips to hold them, cut a tail long enough to finish the puff, and put it in a bag. Once I have a bunch/feel like stuffing, i'll stuff a bunch, close them, border them, and add them to the pile. This is sort of feeding into my hatred of finishing things, but I think it's working out. It also lets me knit these elsewhere, because this way i dont have to carry stuffing around too.

Q1 Goal Update

I actually finished my knitting goals early, but, as usual, my blogging goal is behind.

This is the Moorish Mosaic Blanket that I started a few months before I moved to Indy, which was almost 2 years ago. I packed it up half assembled and never got around to unpacking it. It took most of one night to finish assembly and another night to finish the border. Most of the ends have been woven in, but I'm using it anyway!

And this is how I usually find it.

These are my 2 queued projects. The hat is the Sockhead pattern and it turned out much better with the wide ribbed band. It almost makes me want to frog my first one and fix it. Almost. The Rococo Shawl is made with Alpaca With A Twist Temptation and I LOVE this yarn and color. The only problem is that it turned out much longer than the pattern stated. If its just over my shoulders, it reaches my knees.

 

My sock yarn project for the quarter is the Persephone Shawl in Cherry Tree Hill, colorway Jade. The border is leftover Fleece Artist in Ireland. This is my first crocheted shawl and I have to say, this worked up miles faster than the knit ones I've made. This is a picture of it blocking.

My goals for this quarter are to finish my Grapevine Blanket (which i think I also moved here with in pieces), 2 more sock weight yarn projects (one if which is halfway done already), and one queued project. Oh and 2 more blog posts a month. Lets see if I can do it this time.