Saturday, August 24, 2013

Too cute not to share right away


He's Azumarill ... and I don't think he turned out too bad. I would rather he was a little more 'eggy-shaped', and I wasn't happy at all with my bubbles. I wish I had used firmer wire for the tail. And the ears are quite heavy and want to flop the majority of the time. But the wire inside the ears was a brilliant design as they are definitely posable. And the mouth design is pretty brilliant as well. It really makes the face just-right. He was finished around 9:30 pm last night and little a was already in bed. But not asleep yet. So, he got to see it last night and it ended up sleeping the night with him. Which is something because it's hard for a 10 year old boy to go all gushy and give a girly 'it's sooooo cuuuuuute' claim and snuggle stuffies.

Of course, within five minutes he was thanking me for it, then thanking me for the NEXT one already promised to be made for him, but not started yet, AND requesting food for the Pokemon. lol.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

August mid-month Progress post

Quite a few blanket squares finished.

A few hats....

And good progress made on a Pokémon.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

August Planning

August is a month off of HPKCHC... but I've broken down and proposed a silly old NEWT. We'll see if it gets approved... if not, I'll have to update some of my plans.

NEWT proposal is to do a 3 x 5 afghan with the Know Your Mushrooms pattern - I did a 3x3 afghan as an Order Mission last term... Plus a 2 x 3 'table cover' in the same pattern. I'm hoping that seamed together they'll make a nice blanket for Alex at the end of the year.

AS WELL as to make 3 large stuffies - an Azumarill, a Pikachu, and a Sudowoodo (which is really a Mandrake plant root). The first one should come out to 18" tall per pattern design. Pikachu's pattern is only 9" - but I plan on modifying the pattern dramatically to make it 18" tall... and the Sudowoodo should come out to around 14" when he's 'free' and about 12" in his pot.

My August plans are to get 9 blocks of the afghan finished, and Azumarill finished. Then in September I'd like to get 9 more blocks done along with Pikachu to the half-way point. October leaves 3 remaining blocks for the afghan along with finishing Pikachu. And November gives us time to seam the two sets of squares into their respective shapes and finish the Sudowoodo. In December I can seam the three 'objects' into a single afghan and adding a border to the blanket.

For NerdWars - I'm hoping to turn Azumarill in for the challenge Nerdology - Villians and Heroes - I can give the pokemon to the hero Ash.

The rest of the Nerdwars prompts will hopefully be fulfilled with making charity hats, I figure a couple of hats should be able to get knocked out along with the beginning of my NEWT.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

July EOM Post (ha! Not so late, this time)

Hats - I ended up making one hat for my son, and SEVEN charity hats!

Here are the five that I turned into Charms and CoMC that haven't been posted here yet.







After finding that I had miscounted some of the earlier hats... my new total is 28 charity hats out of 50... 56% of my annual goal.

Finished the Mario baby blanket.

Aran Square - number 1. Number 2 was just too much to tackle... mostly because it took me three times to get guage on this square.


Instead, I did another yarn-eating baby blanket. I held four strands together of various yarns... to get about 4000 yards used up and represent # 7 of the finished blankets completed out of the 13 in my goal.






And last, but not least... the finished top that I 'just had to make'.


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Annual Goals Progress

So, my annual goals & where I am on them... I figure that since I spent a good seven weeks unable to knit; I'm doing pretty well still on some of my goals even though I'm not quite at the 50% mark and it's a little over half the year over. Some goals are going to end up being too much of a stretch possibly, but that's ok with me.

ORIGINAL GOAL - 3 clothing items for me - CURRENT PROGRESS - 50%

1. Green & cream zig zag tank completed in June
2. Green tank at 50% mark in July
-- I should be able to finish the tank by this weekend... that leaves one more. I'd like to do a simple, quick fall sweater and have a few ideas... something that only takes a couple of weeks, is my ideal - And I'm thinking $5 in Paris right now with 3/4 length sleeves might fit the bill.

ORIGINAL GOAL - 3 pairs of socks for me - CURRENT PROGRESS - 33%

1. Purple socks in June
-- Two more pairs of socks in the last five months of the year? This should be something I can work in!

ORIGINAL GOAL - 13 blankets - CURRENT PROGRESS - 45%

1. Blue/Navy/White modified log cabin baby blanket - Jan
2. Bunny Buddy Baby blanket/toy - Feb
3. Not-so-baby-sized blue/gray/white striped blanket - Mar
4. Stained Glass Windows Baby Blanket - Mar
5. Striped pastel Baby Blanket - June
6. Striped pastel Baby Blanket - July
7. Mario Blanket - about 33% mark as of July
8. Aran Sampler Blanket - about 25% mark as of July
-- This one is iffy. I'll be able (I think) finish the Mario blanket this year. I can keep working on the Aran Sampler Blanket - but I don't know if I can do enough to make a blanket. And I do have one more baby blanket pattern burning a hole in my pocket; but it'll take a little longer to make over the super simple, fast ones. And I'm getting tired of working on the super-fast ones... so I might be able to whip out a couple more blankets. Just not sure I'll hit 50.

ORIGINAL GOAL - 50 charity hats - CURRENT PROGRESS 45%

Rather than list them all out - I've got 23 hats completed, and several already shipped off... and #24 is already on the needles and I'm sure I can finish it before the end of the month, if not maybe even a 25th one as well.

-- I'm pretty sure I can meet, if not exceed this goal. Hats are my go-to carry around projects. I don't have to think. I can just grab the needles and some scrap yarn and whip one out without a lot of preparation - so it travels well when other projects don't.  And I'm debating challenging myself with NerdWars to create about 30 or 40 charity hats in three months (most of which can go into classes in the cup; leaving me more time to focus on the Mario Blanket).

So, all told, not too bad of shape.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

July planning - and mid-month progress report - all-in-one

First thing finished in July was a hat that I started the evening of June 30th (was bored and didn't feel like working on the Mario blanket... odds are it will look a LOT like OTHER hats completed recently (kind of in a rut, I know).



Second Charity hat -  Turned into DADA simple ribbed edge and stockinette body - fits a prompt to cover your eyes from the vision of the basilisk.... see? -- I did have fun digging for scraps... will do more like this.



Quidditch called for another hat (or... ball carrier...) you decide. More scraps.


That brings my annual total of charity hats to #21.... which is a little shy of goal. I'll probably make one more hat this month - for Charms.  And then take a little break next month and focus on getting at least 20 or more completed during the next HPKCHC term (Sept - Nov).

Additionally, I finished the Mario blanket (picture in last post).

And Quidditch #2 - is another hat. For the first time in a long time though... it's for family instead of charity. My son lost his ski mask and in February had asked me to make him one. Of course, starting it at the end of February ensures that the weather would turn nice (it did)... so I procrastinated making it until this summer... it's already in the winter hat collection basket ready and waiting for it to get cold again.



I'm about half-done with my Aran Square of the month (which is actually Aprils - I am a bit behind since I haven't made any since March. Divination has a pretty easy fit where you can tie it to something seen in ashes after a Phoenix's burning day.

I'm also planning on a second Aran Square this month. It'll take a little storytelling -  but this one will go into Potions, I figure the complex potion can be inspired by Prof. Snape, the Half-Blood Prince.

And then I'm nuts enough to think I can do another summer top for myself in the last 12 days of the month. Sleeveless, tank top... something pretty simple. I LOVE my tank I finished last month and got inspired to try to use up some yarn that I had stashed for making a top.  I'll turn it in for History of Magic and take a photo of wearing it while walking the dog.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

June EOM post -REALLY late

I've been having issues with Blogger and my home pc. I give up... it's not worth the battle. Just don't tell my co-workers or bosses that I'm doing this with my work pc!


Detention project - AIRL rescue blanket. - DONE

Socks! - DONE

Couple of Charity hats - DONE
Quidditch tote bag - DONE
Tank top - DONE and super-uper cute. I love this tank. When cash flow permits, I will be custom-ordering more in dark colors and making more summer tops!  This was made with cotton/linen blend and I love the slightly marled yarn and the stitch texture. Just LOVE it.


Mario Mushrooms blanket (well the first part - did 9 squares for this part)....  not finished before June EOM.. but finished last week. Planning to tackle another 15-square section this fall, a 6 square section at some point and seaming the whole thing together .... maybe done by next spring?



2 hour baby blanket - DONE

Adipose - skipped for this month, just not enough time.

2 blanket squares - well, one was done - but this was done for a gift blanket as opposed to one of mine (so I'm still behind in my 13 in 2013 blanket goal)...



Busy month, June was. Coming soon, my July planning post... only over half-way through the month ...

:-)