WIP Wednesday - February edition

Well, since the last time I did this I made just a little progress...although I haven't been entirely strict with the 2 to 1 rule. Two things did come off the list, (the sister yarn, and the chase the chill) as well as this little guy who was never on it, and two more jumped on, so technically that's a net decrease.  




On the needles
 (in order of cast on age, with approximate completion status, and links to the pattern I'm using, changes in bold)

Finished chasing the chill - still need buttons

1. Sock yarn blankie (10%) 
2. Dancing socks (75%)
3. Fern garden scarf (40%)
4. Hubby's annual sweater for 2010 (75%)
5. Diamond socks (60%)
6. Slump socks (60%)
7. Broken pumpkin socks (75%)
8. Interstices (55%) 
9. Exploration Station (99.99999% - seriously I just need to weave in the ends and fix a hole!)
10. Pinnate (20%)
11. Welcome back (80%)
12. Yummy Cowl (50%)
13. Rivercat socks (70%)
14. Prolly Folly (40% - what I named this says it all, I knew it was destined for abandonment)
15. Building Blocks (40% - took it out to frog and now I like it)
16. Pay it forward mittens (75%)
17. Peace 2016 (20%)
18. Ingwer (10% - for the ESK yarnathon Q1 knit a long) 
19. Snowmelt MKAL (20% - I blame my family for this)

On the wheel

The sister yarn

1. Trying for three - my first attempt at 3-ply, one bobbin full, second halfway there

On the loom

1. Clasped weave scarf  fabric current length 27 inches.

On the hooks

1. hexagon shawl
2. cuttlefish
   

On the machine

1. Jelly roll race - awaiting sandwiching
2. B's baby quilt - yea he's 6.5 - wanna make something of it!
3. Self designed overly ambitious quilt
4. Scrap shirt quilt

Introducing my other obsession...

Stationary!
I've always loved pens and paper, ever since I was a little girl.  In the last couple of years, I've re-entered the world of fine stationary and planners, and fountain pens, and it's become a little bit of a hobby around here.  I have a small number of "entry level" affordable fountain pens. There are many many bloggers out there that make a living (or at least a little income) by reviewing pens, so while I may share some thoughts here, I'm only going to write about interesting/unique/not common purchases.  This is one of those:

This was a random impulse purchase for myself on Zulily while I was Christmas shopping. It is not really a "brand name" fountain pen, but rather, I think, a generic fountain pen branded by a designer.  Like when you buy sunglasses from Coach and really they are made in the same place as the ones you can buy from Ralph Lauren.  The designers may design the aesthetic of them, but really not the functionality or quality.  In this case I was sucked in on the pretty factor, and the price was cheap, and I had already made a purchase that day, so I had free shipping....

The brand/designer is Ines de la Fressange and my googling found little about her or these pens. She's french, mostly known for clothes. She's doing a collaboration with Uniqlo.  There's a website to buy clothes, but I couldn't find the pens there, although they are available on Amazon (FYI as of today the prices is  more than 4 times what I paid).  This is the "Turquoise Balcony Fountain Pen". Not a very original name, but it does describe the pen.

It's a metal body and takes international cartridges. As far as I know, it has no converter. It came with one cartridge in black, which I ignored and put in a Pelikan Pink short cartridge to start. I gave it a "little" squeeze to get it going as you can see from the blot on the test page of my notebook.

The body is tapered and comfortable for my small hands un-posted.  If you are a poster, which I tend to be, this is a nightmare.  That pretty swoopy cap is heavy and falls off.  I actually had an incident where it flew off and landed in my tea.  So I would definitely avoid posting if you don't want accidental projectiles during your writing sessions. 

So, what do I think?  Is it a fine writing experience?  So far, not really.  As a fountain pen, it doesn't make my heart sing.  Although to be fair, I felt this way about the Kaweco Sport at first too, but now I love it, we just needed to get to know one another, so I haven't discounted it entirely..  My Pilot Prera on the other hand, was definitely a "fountain pens really are better" moment right out of the box. (also it has this completely useless tiny clip)

* it was bad pictures or no pictures, so in the interest of actually getting a blog post up I chose the former. 

Yarnathon plotting....

16 badges and 140 points earned in last year's yarnathon booster club at eat.sleep.knit.  Enough to get bronze, but not quite enough to get gold.  This year the system is a little different, but I'm aiming for the middle of the rainbow, some lemon-lime goodness! Some are lifetime achievements so I'm already 35% to cherry. If you don't know about the yarnathon check out the details here.  Be warned, it might make your stash grow.  This, I know is in direct opposition to my goals for 2017, but I'm going to be careful how I select projects, and yarn.  I think I'll mostly be participating in KALs and badges for the first 6 months at least. 

WIP Wednesday - Coming clean in the new year

Is WIP Wednesday still a thing? I'm going with yes.

Spoiler alert:  I have too many.  Way too many.   Thus I'm giving myself a challenge: I've decided for the next 6 months I have to finish or frog two knitting projects before I can start a new one.  It's a two for one.  We are also applying this principle to our house clutter, 1 in 2 out.  For instance, I got some awesome slippers for Christmas and that meant two very ratty pairs went into the trash bin.  Quality over quantity, less is more, blah blah blah.

Back to the crafts.  Here is the embarrassingly complete list:

On the needles
 (in order of cast on age, with approximate completion status, and links to the pattern I'm using)

1. Sock yarn blankie (10%) 
2. Dancing socks (75%)
3. Fern garden scarf (40%)
4. Hubby's annual sweater for 2010 (75%)
5. Diamond socks (60%)
6. Chasing the Chill (85%)
7. Slump socks (60%)
8. Broken pumpkin socks (75%)
9. Interstices (55%) 
10. Exploration Station (99.99999% - seriously I just need to weave in the ends and fix a hole!)
11. Pinnate (20%)
12. Welcome back (80%)
13. Yummy Cowl (50%)
14. Rivercat socks (70%)
15. Prolly Folly (40% - what I named this says it all I knew it was destined for abandonment)
16. Building Blocks (40% - destined for the frogging)
17. Pay it forward mittens (55%)
18. Peace 2016 (20%)

And for full disclosure there are 11 projects on my ravelry page marked as "hibernating", meaning I haven't frogged them, but I'm also not entirely sure where they are located in my home.  Maybe the endless decluttering will help with that.

On the wheel

1.  Sister yarn - two bobbins resting to be plied
2. Trying for three - my first attempt at 3-ply

On the loom

1. Clasped weave scarf  fabric current length 21 inches.

On the hooks

1. hexagon shawl
2. cuttlefish
   

On the machine

1. Jelly roll race - awaiting sandwiching
2. B's baby quilt - yea he's 6.5 - wanna make something of it!
3. Self designed overly ambitious quilt
4. Scrap shirt quilt

Bring on the finishing 2017!  Let's have this down to 10 UFOs by the end of the year!

The monster awakes!

Twas the night after Christmas, and we were all tired.

The kids were in bed and we thought Santa should be fired.

Amidst all the torn wrappings and strewn bits of tinsel

My sweet sister took out her fancy new drop spindle.

Teach me to spin, she said with a smile

The wheel was retrieved from where it had sat for awhile

 The band was adjusted, we poured some more wine.

It turned out after a kick or two the wheel was just fine.

What is this fiber? I'm sure I don't know. 

One bobbin full and another with just a little to go.

Finish it up sis, then I shall ply.

 

Ply away, ply away, on Lendrum, on wool, on alpaca, on silk, oh merino, and top, and roving, and tension, ply away, ply away all.

And ply on I did while she dug through the stash 

this alpaca is next she said with a flutter of eyelash.

Alpaca it was! One bobbin full, she was addicted, and my heart was full.  

Soon it was over and time for her to leave, but what to my wondering husband his eyes did deceive.

A spinning monster was awoken that cold winter's night.

4 ounces are spun and there's no end in sight!

* poetry is not my strong suit, so please be kind!