Tuesday, June 2, 2015

May Check-In

Wow, May was busy! I spent almost a week in London vending at a fibre festival and spending time with my good friend Sam. I did get tons of knitting done this month. It didn't feel like it, but looking back today at everything, I am shocked how much I got done.

Things are really picking up now as we are deep in the planning and organizing for the Geeky Puffin Knit Palooza which is a knitting retreat I'm co-hosting with Damrais and my friend Sam here in Edinburgh at the end of October. We're are so excited and grateful for the support of so many in the fibre community as we work to make this retreat very special! If you are interested in participating, go sign up now. Spaces are limited.

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a blog post, The Post In Which I Look Ahead At 2015. I want to just check in on a couple aspects of this each month (and then I'll check in on everything at the end of the year). So here we go:

~Read at least one non-fiction book each month of 2015.
1 ~ The Accidental Anglican: The Surprising Appeal of the Liturgical Church by Todd Hunter ~ completed 21-1-15
2 ~ The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning ~ completed 7-2-15
3 ~ Soulful Spirituality: Becoming Fully Alive and Deeply Human by David G. Benner ~ completed 31-3-15
4 ~ Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words by Stanley Hauerwas ~ completed 4-4-15
5 ~ Found: A Story of Questions, Grace & Everyday Prayer by Micha Boyett ~ completed 4-5-15
6 ~ Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown ~ currently reading

~I plan to continue sharing about the creative part of my life which includes knitting, spinning, and designing patterns on a month to month basis here on my blog. Hopefully that will include releasing 12 new patterns, knitting 3 sweaters/tops for myself, knitting 1 preemie hat per week, knit 7 stockings for family, finish at least 100 projects, and who knows what else!



Projects Finished this Month:
~2015 Top Down Preemie Hat #18, #19, #20, #21, + #22 - continuing on with the 1 preemie hat each week goal
~Mamma Vertebrae - I worked on this sweater for myself for 5 months, but I finally finished it. Wasn't totally thrilled with the sleeves when I finished, so I ended up having my friend Sam help me do surgery on it. It was a gruelling undertaking, but I'm so happy with how this fits now.
~Christmas Stocking 2 of 6 for Sister - my sister Carrie asked me knit Christmas stockings for her family, this makes 2 of the needed 6
~Russ' 41st Birthday Socks and 2015 Birthday Socks for Jeremy - birthday socks for the Hubs and birthday socks for a dear friend
~My new design, Super super super super super super secret project IBYC15 Socks Pair 2 - a new pattern designed for the Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl which happens here in Edinburgh on 13-June and 14-June
~Oh, Oh, We're Halfway There, Oh, Oh, Livin' On A Prayer Shawl - a shawl for me with better pics coming soon, I was gifted this luxurious alpaca, silk, and cashmere blend yarn and I wanted something super squishy to go around my neck, I'm in love!

So the total thus far:
Christmas Stockings - 2
Cowl - 1
Preemie Hats - 22
Shawl - 1
Socks - 3 single socks and 10 pairs of socks
Sweater - 2
Misc - 2
Total - 43 projects complete

Design-wise -

~Nice to Meet You Rose (Doctor Who Inspired Socks) ~ this pattern came out of exclusivity and is available for purchase via Ravelry

~Oi! Watch It Spaceman! (Doctor Who Inspired Socks) - this pattern released on Monday, 25-May-2015, to the members of the Doctor Who Companions Sock Club ~ 3rd Edition (Summer 2015). The pattern is exclusive to the sock club members at this time, but it will be available on Wednesday, 18-November-2015 to everyone.
~So that puts me at 10 patterns released thus far this year.

On the Needles -
~A new design project - Super super super super super super secret project IBYC15 Socks - The official display pair is done, but this pair will be for me. 1 sock is done and 1 sock is left to knit.
~Christmas Stocking 3 of 6 for my Sister Carrie - I'm about 54% done with this one.
~Mamma Mia - I've revamped my goals a smidge, instead of 3 sweaters for me, I've changed it to 3 sweater/tops for me. Mia is a gorgeous flowy tank that'll be fab for summer on it's on but also will be fab for the rest of the year with a short sleeve or long sleeve tee under it. I'm at about 13% done with this one.
+ in my insanity, I'm working on a sock yarn blanket which I'll most likely be working on for the next several YEARS!, When you think I'll zig, I'll zag. Then when you think I'm gonna zag, I do zag, just to mess you up for the next time, when I might zig Blanket (bonus points if you know that the name of this blanket is a Gilmore Girls reference)

As always, find all my completed projects plus what's currently on my needles on Ravelry:


And you can also find all my knitting pattern designs (those available for purchase and some freebies as well) on Ravelry:


Thanks for journeying with me this year. Talk to you next month.