imjustlori

Nowhere near as organized as one might hope, but here's what I've got going NOW. Because I need to see it all, and prioritize. All things that have been finished will not be discussed.

The Boy's quilt needs sandwiching and quilting.
The latest "blocks of the month" in the quilting shop's class need to be finished (one week! there's a deadline!)
The punis needs to be spun and the singles plied (5 to go!)
The hand dyed needs to be spun and plied (the other half is finished, and I see long draw in my future!)
I have a sampling of a new yarn for a company to complete (also in a week! another deadline!)
And there's a cowl I started as an "easy project" when I need the fingers moving so the mind stays focused at work.

As I finish the above, I'd like to...
Make some spring/summer stitchmarkers. The Etsy shop needs an infusion.
Knit on my lime green top. It's of a weight to be worn NOW, but I'd like to get some more inches on it before I tuck it away again for cooler weather knitting.
I'm four knit squares from having all the pieces I need for my OLDEST knitting project, a rather large blanket. I'd love to get that completed this year too.
There's a quilt I'd like to finish for ME.
There's a partially complete quilt sampler from last year I'd like to call DONE.
There's a bajillion other things I want to do.

So it looks like today is for a sampling and some blocks of the month. If I get the sampling started (I'm making colorwork mitts) and the blocks done except for the applique, I'll pin that other quilt so I can get some quilting done. I'm just going to stitch along the seams on that one, so once I start, it shouldn't take long to finish.

The weeks finally feel like we're getting back to something like what passes for normal here. So here we go!

Quilting (still nothing! Will work on one of these things over the weekend though. At least one.)

• Mystery Quilt: (ignored) pieced the center of the top. Starting to think about the fiddly piecing that has to happen, though, and might wrap this one up soon. Still thinking about this, and want to get it moving again before the end of the month.


• The Boy's Quilt: (ignored)  I need to clean my floor, move furniture, and get this sandwiched.


• My Quilt: (ignored) With the need to think of my son's quilt's finishing, I think this one will sit a little longer.


• The jelly roll quilt: (ignored until the Mystery Quilt is done) Still waiting for something to be completed.

Knitting

• The (new) socks: Finished the toe! And cast on the second sock. Past the cuff, and on to the body. This is where I expect it to stay for quite a while.


• Boy socks: DONE. He decided that the difference in width wasn't a big deal, so I went ahead and just...finished them.


• A UFO! I've picked up the spats I was making for LAST year's MSFB, and have finished the second one over the week. Well, all but two edging spots. I've also realized that I messed up the first spats' finishing, so I'm pulling it out and making it right. This project has re-captivated me, and there's a good chance I'll finish it in the next week.


• Birthday tank top: Still waiting for the armholes.


• LIME GREEN TANK: Nope.


• Orange top: I thought about it, but nothing happened with it.

• ​Yellowstone Lodge: (ignored)

Spinning

• Blue-green gradient: Still so close to a finished single...will be working on it at Market this week.


• PIIINK!: Spun. Plied. Waiting to be washed and whacked.


• 3#Fiber: (ignored) I'm going to start the test-spinning to reach a DK or Worsted eventually...I want a true 3-ply, I think. Must plan on how to arrange the singles while I spin it all up.


• "Fluff and Stuff" bag: ignored. But we're getting closer. I'm in a real "get the WIPs done" frame of mind.

I went to knit camp. Did more spinning than knitting. More below.

Quilting (nothing happened in this section. just skip it. Again.)

• Mystery Quilt: (ignored) pieced the center of the top. Starting to think about the fiddly piecing that has to happen, though, and might wrap this one up soon. Still thinking about this, and want to get it moving again before the end of the month.


• The Boy's Quilt: (ignored)  I need to clean my floor, move furniture, and get this sandwiched.


• My Quilt: (ignored) With the no need to think of my son's quilt's piecing, I think this one will sit a little longer.


• The jelly roll quilt: (ignored until the Mystery Quilt is done) I've showed the fabric to everyone who would hold still long enough to look. I'm pondering background colors now.

Knitting

• Birthday tank top: (ignored) I still hate picking up stitches. And there's still a lot of them on this neckline. And so far, I'm not doing it, either. *sigh*


• LIME GREEN TANK: (ignored) did not meet the deadline of SSK in July. Didn't take it with me, either.


• Orange top: Got some love when I got back, because I wanted something with a little more "oomph" than plain stockinette. Almost through the first half of the fun "make holes in perfectly good knitting" portion of this knit.


• New socks! I know. I needed plain stockinette for knit camp (for the plane, then hanging out with people, and so on), so I started a sock, top down. Planned an afterthought heel. Before I got home, I had the first sock past the afterthought heel scrap yarn and am now about halfway down the foot of sock 1. Woo hoo!


• The Hat With No Rav: Done. I messed up the top a bit, but it's a fun funky thing. Still want to poke the creator to put the pattern up there in Ravelry.


• Dishcloths: Finished mine, weighed it, wound out yarn for eight in a holiday yarn where the yarn balls are the same weight, and have already knit half of one of those. I'll start a pile, and weave in ends all at the same time.  1.5/9


• Colorwork Hat: Surprise! And Done. This was a class project from knit camp. I learned how to make a latvian braid, and the colorwork is almost good tension-like. With a little blocking, this will be a Christmas gift for someone.

Cross Stitch (move along, move along...)

• Yellowstone Lodge: (ignored)

Spinning

• Selfish sock yarn: I was away. I did take the wheel with me, but not this fiber. I had classes to take.


• 3#Fiber: (ignored) I'm going to start the test-spinning to reach a DK or Worsted eventually...


• New Market Spinning: I chose a blue-green gradient, from Stitches n' Rows. It excites me to spin--it's going to be awesome when done.


• Class spinning: loads of crap, because I was learning cool new things, like spinning thick, and then thick and thin, then in the other class I learned how to do supported long-draw. And practice is always messy. I'm all kinds of stoked to do more if this, because it's faster than short forward draw (what I do now), and will still give me an awesome yarn.


• Mini-skein from a purple puni: I made a puni! And then we were twelve and giggled over it. THEN it started going limp and falling apart, which reinforced our twelve-ness. So I went ahead and spun it up, then Andean plied, and I love the result. But it's a wee skein, so I'll have to figure out something small and lovely to do with it.

So I went to the Sheep and Wool festival. With my son. He wanted to watch the sheepdog demo. I wanted to attend the podcaster meetup. They were at the same time, but were within visible distance of each other. I asked if he would be okay hanging out right at this tree until I came to get him, and he said yes. So I stayed where I could see the tree, and he stayed there.

Meanwhile, the various podcasters started wandering in. These are brave souls. It's one thing to talk to a camera (I do it for work as a telecommuter daily), it's an entirely different thing to tell these people you may or may not have ever met *where to find you* on a given day. Without the safety of a table between you and them, like at a book signing.

I guess in a lot of ways, this was my version of a con.

Anyway, the story. I was waiting for Diane of the Knitabulls video podcast. You see, she has a segment on her show where she talks about what she's watching on television. And she watches Dancing with the Stars. Last year I found the *perfect* mirror ball beads, and have made up a bunch of stitchmarker sets from them. I'd set aside a set for her, as a gift, and this was my first chance to get them to her. I had a mission: to get over shyness, introduce myself, and hand her these markers.

I found her by her voice. She recognized my Ravelry name, and gave me a hug. I was thrown off my game. But then this happened:

Me: *hands her the markers* "I have these for you."
She: *looks at markers* *realization dawns* Oh! Mirror balls! I watch Dancing with the Stars!"
Me: (excitedly) "I know!" *...internal facepalm...* "I do too!"

We then discuss the dancing stylings of Mark, her least favorite (and one I think is okay, although I agreed with her about the spats), until someone else whisked her away. I figured I'd had my moment and couldn't monopolize her time.

So since then I've gotten off my duff, and updated my Etsy shop. I've made these things, I should be getting them out there for You People to see, giggle over, and possibly buy. If the sun comes back out this week I'll try to get other markers up there too--I lost my light on Sunday night and couldn't get them all photographed. But there's a nice collection, if I do say so myself.

I know. *giggle*