[YOP] Week of January 13th, 2018

It's been a pretty good week for me. I made it to work every day this week, I went to the gym once, I got in some healthy grocery shopping, and so much more. More details on non-crafty related items can be found on my personal blog if you are interested.

Now for the crafty goals!

1. Buying yarn. - This is a big fail. But, the majority or yarn I purchased is for specific gifts for specific people, so I am actually OK with this.

2. Using stash yarn. This is actually working for me. I was accepted to do a brioche shawl test knit and I will be using approximately 9 skeins, 3 of each colour, of the luscious Cadena Alpaquita I have in stash. This is going to be a gorgeous and super squishy brioche shawl! I can't wait! Sneak peek below!

3. Finish WIPs. No finishes yet, but I have been working on a few. My Mara is coming along, as well as the New Year's MKAL (I completed clue #1 on time!) and my Shimmering Stole.

4. Frog unloved projects. I frogged another project this week. It feels good. It was another victim of not swatching and ending up super HUGE! 30 inches just for the front...yeah... I am going to see if my mom wants this yarn since it's cotton and she loves cotton.

5., 6., and 7. Nothing to report.

8. Be more social. I went to my LYS knit night on Thursday and it was great to sit around and knit and chat (and buy more yarn of course). 

Also did some work on one of my technique goals by accepting the brioche shawl test knit. I am really looking forward to this!

Overall, a very productive week! How did everyone else do?

[YOP] Week of January 24th, 2016

I participate in "A Year of Projects" which is run by a group over on Ravelry.

I am hoping it will (a) help me be more productive (b) help me finish more projects and (c) help me blog more often... Fingers crossed!

Here is an update on current goals, and progress towards those goals.

General Overall Goals

• finish more projects - Nothing completed this week except two full clues of two separate MKALs.
• start fewer projects - I only started one new project this week, and with stash yarn! So that's good...right? I have two others that will start in the near future though...maybe this week...
• use more stash yarn - I only started one new project and used stash yarn for that! I will have to buy a few more balls to finish it though as I do not have enough.
• buy less new yarn - I only bought one skein of yarn this week and that is for a charity project I was asked to help out with, so I have no second thoughts about that purchase whatsoever. More details on this project later!
• sell or donate stash yarn I no longer have any interest in - Nothing new on this front this week.
• add stash I plan on keeping to Ravelry for easier tracking - Nothing new on this front this week..
• organize stash room - Not going to happen any time soon. just discovered several leaks in the roof so just bundling everything up safely until we can get it repaired/replaced.
• sell some of my finished items - I now how finished items as well as hand-dyed yarn listed on Etsy. I have sold some yarn, but none of the finished items yet. Hopefully soon! It will help pay for the new roof! - I sold a skein of my hand-dyed yarn this morning! Yay!

Technique Goals

• double knitting - Really enjoying the double knitting square. It's a little slow still, but not scary at all.
• toe up socks - I received some good tips from an avid sock knitter at my LYS, so going to work up a swatch and then attack some socks with my awesome new self-striping yarn I scored. Planning on starting this in February for a Spring Sock KAL.
• more complicated lacework - The MKAL lace shawl I am working on right now is actually pretty complicated. It has lacework on both the RS and WS and beads as well.
• clothing items - I was going to leave this for a bit due to my surgery, but then I figured I could make a sweater for my son! I am going to make him a Flax sweater in some of that lovely red Shelridge Yarns worsted I have fallen in love with.

Specific Project Goals

I have created a project page on Ravelry called Knit The Bin where I am collecting WIPs that I want to finish that were started before the beginning of 2015.

I actually finally got around to picking up a bin and started storing the projects complete with their yarn, needles and pattern in Ziploc freezer bags. I feel all organized now! Unfortunately I have mostly been focused on new 2016 projects. /sigh

• 2015 Advent KALendar Shawl (completed 01/09/16)
• The Doodler Shawl
• Meander Cardigan
• Wintersweet Shawl
• Spellbound Shawl
• Mara Shawl
• Hello Sweetie Spoilers Socks
• 50 Shades of Awesome

Projects Started in 2016 I Want To Complete This Year

• A Wrinkle In Time Shawl - Completed clue one January 16th.
• Nemesis Shawl - This has become my new TV/car knitting project. Still not done clue #1 yet.
• Opal Shawl - Stalled. 
• GAL 2016 Video Game Themed Blanket - Square one in progress.
• Scoreboard Scarf A - Completed a few rounds this week.
• Bow Ties Are Cool Doctor Who Themed Shawl - Completed clue #1 January 22nd.
• Depth Charge Shawl MKAL - Completed clue #1 last night (January 24th). LOVING THIS MKAL!!!
• Askews Me Brioche Dress - Completed a few rounds this week.
• Bounce Baby Afghan - Cast on this week.

Here is a peek at my Depth Charge MKAL. This is easily my favourite MKAL to date. The fabric produced by holding the strands double makes for a super squishy fabric I enjoy holding on to. The video tutorials provided by the designer, Josh, are super helpful, and very hilarious. I am actually up to date on this one so far! Finished clue #1 last night and started the pickup for clue #2. I am in love! (Even after having to weave in all those evil little ends!)

And here is an updated sneak peek at my Bow Ties Are Cool MKAL. I finished clue #1 and started clue #2 this week.

No shopping pics this week because I was a good girl. But I expect some next week...

[YOP] Week of January 17th, 2016

I participate in "A Year of Projects" which is run by a group over on Ravelry.

I am hoping it will (a) help me be more productive (b) help me finish more projects and (c) help me blog more often... Fingers crossed!

Here is an update on current goals, and progress towards those goals.

General Overall Goals

• finish more projects - Nothing completed this week except a full clue of one of my MKALs.
• start fewer projects - Ummm...I started four new projects since my last update...
• use more stash yarn - Out of the four projects I started last week, 2 of them were started with yarn I had in my stash. 50% is not a bad ratio for me!
• buy less new yarn - I picked up some more of the worsted yarn for the GAL afghan, so I couldn't help myself there, and I also got sweet talked into some really awesome self-striping sock yarn.
• sell or donate stash yarn I no longer have any interest in - I found some crochet cotton in my closet I won't use and that will be going to my sister. I also found a bag full of knitted and crocheted squares that I will be donating to Blankets For Canada. Just have to find a way to meet up with someone for the drop off.
• add stash I plan on keeping to Ravelry for easier tracking - So far just entering what I buy as it comes in. Still need to find time to do back stash.
• organize stash room - Not going to happen any time soon. just discovered several leaks in the roof so just bundling everything up safely until we can get it repaired/replaced.
• sell some of my finished items - I now how finished items as well as hand-dyed yarn listed on Etsy. I have sold some yarn, but none of the finished items yet. Hopefully soon! It will help pay for the new roof!

Technique Goals

• double knitting - As promised, I cast on my first GAL DK square and it is going even better than I hoped! Not so scary at all!
• toe up socks - I received some good tips from an avid sock knitter at my LYS, so going to work up a swatch and then attack some socks with my awesome new self-striping yarn I scored.
• more complicated lacework - The MKAL lace shawl I am working on right now is actually pretty complicated. It has lacework on both the RS and WS and beads as well.
• clothing items - I think I am going to leave this goal until after surgery in June because my body should change quite a bit afterwards.

Specific Project Goals

I have created a project page on Ravelry called Knit The Bin where I am collecting WIPs that I want to finish that were started before the beginning of 2015.

• 2015 Advent KALendar Shawl (completed 01/09/16)
• The Doodler Shawl
• Meander Cardigan
• Wintersweet Shawl
• Spellbound Shawl
• Mara Shawl
• Hello Sweetie Spoilers Socks
• 50 Shades of Awesome

Projects Started in 2016 I Want To Complete This Year

• A Wrinkle In Time Shawl - Completed clue one January 16th!
• Nemesis Shawl - This has become my new TV/car knitting project.
• Opal Shawl
• GAL 2016 Video Game Themed Blanket - Cast on Square one this week!
• Scoreboard Scarf A - Completed a few rounds this week.
• Bow Ties Are Cool Doctor Who Themed Shawl - Cast on this week.
• Depth Charge Shawl MKAL - Cast on this week.
• Askews Me Brioche Dress - Cast on this week.

Here is a kind of bunched up picture of clue one of the Wrinkle In Time MKAL. It's actually very pretty, I'm just not very good with the camera.

And here is a sneak peek at my Bow Ties Are Cool MKAL. I am quite enjoying this one!

The results of this week's visit to the LYS. The Shelridge Yarns Soft Touch Worsted Yarn is some of the softest and squishiest I have worked with, and it`s Canadian! Such a great choice for my GAL afghan. I am so glad the owner of my LYS encouraged me to try it.

A close up of the super awesome self-striping sock yarn!

And the best part, the complete set of ChiaoGoo twist needles I have been drooling over for close to two years...

I think I'm in love!

[YOP] Week of January 10th, 2016

I participate in "A Year of Projects" which is run by a group over on Ravelry.

I am hoping it will (a) help me be more productive (b) help me finish more projects and (c) help me blog more often... Fingers crossed!

Here is an update on current goals, and progress towards those goals.

General Overall Goals

• finish more projects - Finished a project this weekend!
• start fewer projects - Not working our well since a group I am part of is actually having a cast-on-apalooza!I have already started 4-5 projects since January 1st...
• use more stash yarn - I have been using stash and/or inventory yarn as much as possible, so that's good!
• buy less new yarn - Not so good since two projects I really wanted to work on both required worsted weight yarn which I did not have so I did have to buy some this week.
• sell or donate stash yarn I no longer have any interest in - Before Christmas I actually gave my sister a few big bags of yarn I no longer will use. I am sure both her and my mom will receive more from me in the future. I also did manage to sell off some of the higher end stash I knew I was never going to get around to using, so yay!
• add stash I plan on keeping to Ravelry for easier tracking - So far just entering what I buy as it comes in. Still need to find time to do back stash.
• organize stash room - Not going to happen any time soon. just discovered several leaks in the roof so just bundling everything up safely until we can get it repaired/replaced.
• sell some of my finished items - I now how finished items as well as hand-dyed yarn listed on Etsy. I have sold some yarn, but none of the finished items yet. Hopefully soon! It will help pay for the new roof!

Technique Goals

• double knitting - Going to hopefully cast on a DK GAL square tonight!
• toe up socks
• more complicated lacework
• clothing items

Specific Project Goals

I have created a project page on Ravelry called Knit The Bin where I am collecting WIPs that I want to finish that were started before the beginning of 2015.

• 2015 Advent KALendar Shawl (completed 01/09/16)
• The Doodler Shawl
• Meander Cardigan
• Wintersweet Shawl
• Spellbound Shawl
• Mara Shawl
• Hello Sweetie Spoilers Socks
• 50 Shades of Awesome

Projects Started in 2016 I Want To Complete This Year

• A Wrinkle In Time Shawl
• Nemesis Shawl
• Opal Shawl
• GAL 2016 Video Game Themed Blanket
• Scoreboard Scarf A

I have many other WIPs and I cannot list them all. I will add more as I dig them out and actually touch them again to make sure they are real... As you can see I have a real starting problem...actually it's not starting that's the problem...it's finishing!

Picture of the finished Advent KALendar shawl. I still need to soak it and block it, but it's lovely!

And here is the yarn I bought this week. To be fair...I had not visited my LYS in almost a year, so of course I had to stock up a wee bit!

Just some of the yarn "donated" to my loving sister...

Happy New Year!

It has been almost a full year since I last posted to this blog.

2015 was a busy year for me. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness (details if you are interested can be found on my more personal blog Everything Gwenny) and spent pretty much the entire year sick and in pain. I missed a lot of work and realized that at some point I might lose my job and so therefore needed to look at other options.

Being the yarnie that I am I decided to open both a retail online yarn store, Serenity Yarns, and an Etsy shop (also named Serenity Yarns) for my hand-dyed yarns. So far it has been a lot of fun. It's still not enough to support me full time, and maybe it never will, but it's very enjoyable, and it makes me happy...which is the most important part.

As such, I am going to be using this blog to support both those outlets as well as continue using it for my own personal crafting as well. I will feature product reviews, both yarn and accessories, as well as contests, special deals, and more!

I didn't get a whole lot of projects completed last year, partially due to the illness and being in an almost constant fog of pain and painkillers, and also partially due to my love of constantly starting new projects.

The first project I completed wasn't until June, almost half way through the year. It was a test knit for an indie yarn dyer and designer I adore, Pandia's Jewels. I think it was the fastest I ever finished a project like this as well, taking me only 6 weeks to knit the entire shawl. I used one of her themed colorways, Gamora, based on the character of the same name from Guardians of The Galaxy.

Other than that I mostly did knitting to sell on Etsy including various cozy cowls and hats. Active listings for my hand knit items can be found on Esty, here.

My goal for this year is to finish more WIPs. I am running a Knit The Bin KAL (an awesome idea from our fabulous group member REJ) over on my Ravelry Group Page. Come on over and join us and we can encourage one another to finish our WIPs. I mean just look at this picture of my desk right now...I obviously need the help...

My other main knitting goal for this year is to learn double knitting. It is something I have really wanted to learn for quite some time, and some new patterns that have come to my attention require this skill. So it is definitely a must!

What are some of your crafting related goals for this year? Fell free to comment on the blog and/or join us over on the Raverly page.