The Blog is Moving

Kittens.  I have been with Blogger for many years, but due to wanting to get on iTunes and not wanting to update more than 1 blog any longer, it is finally time for me to move.  I will no longer be updating this site, but you can find me and future blog entries/podcast episodes over at sewknitpicky.net on WordPress.

It's been great and I hope to see you all there!

Knot A Podcast: Episode 52

Knot A Podcast: Episode 52 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

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♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there. Please remember to give my videos a thumbs up!


Show Notes: "Holiday Rush"


WiPs:
♥ Frances the Sock Wearing Fox
♥ Moderne Log Cabin Blanket

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Spun Right Round BFL in "Love Bug"

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Halloween Spooky Sampler by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Knot A Podcast: Episode 51

Knot A Podcast: Episode 51 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

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♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there. Please remember to give my videos a thumbs up!


Show Notes: "Short One"

FOs:
♥ Rainbow Twist 1
♥ Rainbow Twist 2

WiPs:
♥ Frances the Sock Wearing Fox

Spinning a Yarn:
♥ Spun Right Round BFL

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Halloween Spooky Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Knot A Podcast: Episode 50

Knot A Podcast: Episode 50 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there. Please remember to give my videos a thumbs up!


Show Notes:  "Big Things"

FOs:
♥ Blanket O' Doooom
♥ Hitchhiker #4...out of handspun!!
♥ Sockhead-like hat out of Yarntini Sport in "Vintage Stripe"

WiPs:
♥ Frances the Sock Wearing Fox x 2

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Orla Kiely Train Case to hold my spinning
♥ Cat's Pajamas Crafts stitch markers
♥ Moonrover SW Merino
♥ Gourmet Stash -punis sampler and Lo-Lo Bar
♥ Malabrigo Nube and Rasta from Eat.Sleep.Knit

November 2013: wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2013:

January: 869yds

February: 1,038yds

March:  1,100yds

April:  1,251yds
May: 1,112yds

June: 452yds
July: 453yds
August: 169yds
September: 781yds
October: 815yds
November: 780yds

Year To Date: 8,820yds or 5.01 miles

Kittens, I did actually knit a bit more than that in November, but I was sloppy this month and forgot to check the partial tallies on several of my projects.  Instead, they'll go in with my December numbers and make it look like I was even more productive and amazing!  I slagged off on cross-stitching this month which definitely increased my knitting productivity.  Onward to December. ♥

Knot A Podcast: Episode 49

Knot A Podcast: Episode 49 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.


♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there. Please remember to give my videos a thumbs up!


Show Notes: "Public Shaming"

♥ There are a few days left to enter the DDD raffle if you are so inclined!  You could win 3,6, or 12 months' worth of free yarn on her sock or worsted base.
♥ Subversive Socks is a fun new pattern book release.  I was mistaken about the pattern numbers in this book.  There are 14 of them for $16.95.  These are some of my favorite patterns from it.

FOs:
♥ Scooby-Doo Sockhead-like hat

WiPs:
♥ Vintage Sockhead-like hat
♥ Blanket O' Dooooom is back in rotation!  Mentioned the Bear Claw Blanket and Modern Log Cabin.

Queued Up:
♥ Fruit Stripe Gum Socks --  mentioned Lollipalooza!
♥ Frances the Sock Wearing Fox

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood batt: the end is near!

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Halloween Spooky Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Chinese circular needles
♥ Pretty Purly stitch markers

2013 Crafting goals: revisited

I'm not going to lie, kittens.  I went off-track from my crafting goals pretty early on in the year and then neglected to recheck them to remind myself what all it was I wanted to do.  Earlier in the week I started to wonder how I had done on my goals...had I even made some this year?  It turns out I had, and  I was not alone in this line of thought.  I felt the time is right to revisit my goals and see how well I have done with them.

All of this is prep-work for my 2014 craft goals...of course.  You all know how I love that kind of thing.  I have a few more weeks to refine them and smooth out the rough edges.  Hard to believe the end of 2013 is nigh, isn't it?

So.  Let's review, shall we?

Crafting Goals for 2013:

♥ Work on Giftmas crafts throughout the year, preferably one every other month.
   - 2 pairs of adult socks
   - 1 pair of socks for each of my children
   - a custom designed "wolfie" doll for The Girl
   - a Batman doll for The Boy
   - small ornaments for family and teacher gifts
   * I have most of the yarn on-hand already for these projects.

> NONE OF THIS ONE HAPPENED.  NOT EVEN A LITTLE.  I'M JUST NOT A GIFTMAS KNITTER.  0%  accomplished


♥ Knit 4 pairs of socks for myself out of existing stash.  At least 2 should be self-striping.

>  I MANAGED 2 PAIR: 1 WAS SELF-STRIPING.  50% accomplished


♥ Knit my winter coat. (This will be a 30 point project due to the amount of work and complexity. Point system to be detailed later in this post.)

> I DREW DIAGRAMS AND THOUGHT ABOUT IT...DOES THAT COUNT? NO? 0% accomplished


♥ Knit The Husband's socks before he leaves on his business trip. He has US size 13 feet: hold me, kittens.

>BUSINESS TRIP WAS CANCELLED.  SOCKS WERE STARTED TOP-DOWN.  NEED TO RIP AND RESTART TOE-UP.  0% accomplished


♥ Design a Shiba Inu toy and write up pattern.

> NOPE. 0% accomplished


♥ Finish Goodale sweater plus at least 2 others from stash.

> GOODALE. CHECK. POMME DE PIN. CHECK.  3RD SWEATER...LIKELY NOT FINISHED BY END OF DECEMBER.  67% accomplished


♥ Finish The Boy's wide stripes blanket.

> NOT FINISHED, BUT COULD BE.  ~90% accomplished


♥ Finish the queen sized bed quilt.

> NOPE.  DID DO A LITTLE MORE QUILTING HERE AND THERE.   55% accomplished


♥ Start new king sized bed quilt.

> NOPE. 0% accomplished


♥ Cross stitch 2012's Dessert of the Month sampler and start on 2013's Woodland Sampler.

> 2012 DESSERT SAMPLER.  CHECK.  2013 WOODLAND SAMPLER.  NOT STARTED...YET.  THIS ONE IS VAGUE AND COULD BE EASILY DONE BEFORE THE END OF NEXT MONTH. 50% accomplished


♥ Only purchase yarn that has been earned with the "points system" to help keep stash in numbers low this year.  The system is a little rough, but I think it could work.

> AHAHAHAHAHA.  POINTS SYSTEM WAS A DEFINITE FAIL.  I STASHED SUPER HARD EARLY ON.  I DID GET BETTER THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR.  0% accomplished



There are a lot of zero percents on that list and no one hundreds, but it does look like, overall, I managed to knock out some large goals I had wanted to accomplish in the year.  If you add what I wanted to get done with what I had actually gotten done...I've been pretty productive.  It's looking good so far.  Maybe I can turn one or two of those into 100%ers. ^_^

If you made goals, have you revisited them, kittens?  How have you done?  Did your focus change over the course of the year?

Knot A Podcast: Episode 48

Knot A Podcast: Episode 48 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there. Please remember to give my videos a thumbs up!


Show Notes: "Finding A Balance"

♥ Wool People 6 just came out!
♥ Check out Jenna's "Frances the Sock Wearing Fox"!

FOs:
♥ Dirty Socks

WiPs:
♥ Sockhead style hat
♥ Make A Wish

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood "Neon Tetra"

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Halloween Spooky Sampler

Sew-cial Events:
♥ Noodlehead's Open Wide Bag tutorial

Knot A Podcast: Episode 47

Knot A Podcast: Episode 47 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there. Please remember to give my videos a thumbs up and help with my search engine ranking.


Show Notes: "Focus, Kitten."

♥ Michelle is looking to raise funds to set up her dye studio in a commercial space.  Have a look if you'd like to enter a raffle for a chance at a skein of worsted or fingering weight yarn a month for 3,6, or even 12 months!

WiPs:
♥ Spooky Socks - improvised design.  US size 0 needles (2.0mm) and Knit Picks Felici sock yarn.
♥ Make A Wish- Joji Locatelli.  US size 4 needles.  Skein Merino Cashmere Fingering in "Hush."
- Using the Knit app to track my rows on this one.

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood center pull batt in "Neon Tetra"

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Heavier beads for my Trindle
♥ Nest Fiber BFL

October 2013: Wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2013:

January: 869yds

February: 1,038yds

March:  1,100yds

April:  1,251yds
May: 1,112yds

June: 452yds
July: 453yds
August: 169yds
September: 781yds
October: 815yds

Year To Date: 8,040yds or 4.57 miles

I am slowly but surely knitting away yardage this year!  October's was very hard earned: it was all fingering weight projects or toys.  Two things that go slow and it seems like they use so little yarn for the effort put in.  As the weather cools and I continue to work on my time management, I hope to up my monthly yardage just a little.  I can totally end the year with at least 10,000yds knit, right?

How about you, kittens? Have you all been productive with knitting...or are you maybe focusing on other things like reading or other crafts?

Knot A Podcast Episode 46

Knot A Podcast: Episode 46 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

I forgot to wish everyone a happy Halloween!

♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there.  Please remember to give it a thumbs up to help with the search results!


Show Notes:

 FOs:
♥ Princess in Disguise by Emily Bittel. 3.5mm (E) hook.  Lion Brand Martha Stewart Extra Soft Wool blend.
♥ Lucy's Owl by Rachel Gallagher-Miller. Mystery worsted yarn from an Etsy show with Knit Picks Swish in a purple and yellow colorway.

WiPs:
♥ Knit Picks Felici "Spooky" socks.  US size 0 needles.  Using an idea similar to the Vanilla Bean Sock recipe.  (Might even be the same, but I haven't looked at the pattern for that one.)

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood center-pull batt in the "Neon Tetra" colorway.

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Halloween Spooky Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I plan to copy some other people's ideas for modifications to change this one up a little.

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Threads Thru Time Turkish spindle

Knot A Podcast: Episode 45

Knot A Podcast: Episode 45 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there.

♥  Oh my stars, kittens!  Kate just started a podcast.  Go check out her first episode over on YouTube!  ♥


Show Notes: "A Tale of 2 Owls"

The show is really content light today due to a shorter time between recordings and really focusing to get things done.  I have two finished objects to share with you plus a little spinning and some cross-stitch.


FOs:
♥ Two Lucy's Owls!

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood center-pull batt in the "Neon Tetra" colorway.

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Halloween Spooky Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

Knot A Podcast: Episode 44

Knot A Podcast: Episode 44 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

Today I talk about the new USB mic I purchased to help with sound issues, show off some WiPs, a little spinning, a little stitching, and talk a little about the Little York Fiber Festival in Preble, NY.



♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there.


Show Notes: "Testing...."

WiPs:
♥ Lucy's Owl
♥ KP Felici "Spooky" socks.  Still debating cable and lace patterns for these.  I may be over-complicating things.

Spinning a Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood center-pull batt

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Finished Dessert Sampler
♥ Started Halloween Spooky Sampler!

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Went to Little York Fiber Festival where I bought some lovely rambouillet, some merino/suri alpaca, and a few things from Spun Right Round who is local-to-me.

Knot A Podcast: Episode 43

Knot A Podcast: Episode 43 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

It's that time of week again, kittens!  Thank you for joining me!


♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there.



Show Notes:

♥  First I would like to express my sympathies to those who received zero warning from Blip that their shows would no longer be continued and were left with no way to let their viewers know.  At least the first people affected were allowed two weeks to finish things up!


FOs:
♥ Little Coffee Bean Cardigan once again...now with buttons from Charming Zakka on Etsy!
♥ Finished my second Color Affection

WiPs:
♥ Started a second, larger Lucy's Owl as a big brother gift for my neighbor's son.
♥ Vanilla socks out of KP Felici in the "Spooky" colorway.  I may use Emily's Vanilla Bean recipe for these.  Still not sure.  This is my first time using such small needles and Addi Sock Rockets to boot!

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Finished Pigeonroof Studios merino in "Magnolia."
♥ Working on Hanks In The Hood "Neon Tetra."  This colorway she did for KnitPicks looks nearly identical.

And Now for Something Completely Different!:
♥ I played around with a dyeing tutorial I found thanks to Amanda.   I simmered my yarn on the stove in an inexpensive roasting pan and used McCormick Food coloring with some Kool-Aid colors on top.

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ I'm *THIS* close to finishing up my Dessert Sampler.

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Turkish Spindle from Subterranean Woodwork.  Go check out his sold listings!  So swoon worthy.

Knot A Podcast Episode 42

Knot A Podcast: Episode 42 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

I've started playing with the editing process for the show a little bit.  I hope it's not distracting or tacky.  If you have any strong feedback, please let me know. ♥


♥ Please come join us in the Ravelry group!
♥ You can also find the podcast on YouTube if you'd prefer to watch there.


Show Notes:

♥ Thank you, Heather, for the mention on your podcast the other day!  It was pretty thrilling to hear my little corner of the internet mentioned.

 FOs:
♥ Little Coffee Bean Cardigan
♥ Pomme de Pin took a second dip in the dye bath and is finally complete.

WiPs:
♥ Color Affection

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Been working on chain-plying the final .5 ounces of my Pigeonroof merino in "Magnolia."  I can't wait to see what it does once it hits the water.

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Finished 10 of 12 months on my Dessert Sampler; the end is in sight!

Stash Enhancement:
♥ Quaere Fiber

Fall 2013 Crafting Plans:
♥ Finish Blanket O' Doom!, knit Joji's "Make a Wish," and knit several pairs of socks both for me and for the children.
♥ Play with yarn dyeing.
♥ Finish up my two current spinning projects and work on another 2 4oz projects.
♥ Work on a project bag commission and finish quilting a languishing top.
♥ All the cross-stitch! Dessert, Spooky, Autumn, Kawaii, and Woodland Samplers.

2013 Stashdown: Q3

Kittens!  This latest edition of my Stashdown efforts is much more upbeat than the last one.  Check this out!

Please click to see the full size, easier to read version.

While still bringing in a few skeins of sock yarn (plus a little to finish off my Pomme de Pin), Q3 was widely successful this go 'round with 4 times the amount of yardage out as in!  It's been more than 2 years since I've had that good of a yards out/yards in ratio.  I'm pretty pumped about it.  I did do a fair amount of destashing to get such a high ratio-- especially some ahem bad feelings yarn from a certain emo dyer-- but the yardage came from quite a few finished projects as well.

I'm hoping to finish strong in Q4.  I will not be able to undo my monstrous stash in numbers from the first two quarters of the year, but I can make a good sized dent in them by the end of the year.

September 2013: Wrap-up

Yardage Totals 2013:

January: 869yds

February: 1,038yds

March:  1,100yds

April:  1,251yds
May: 1,112yds

June: 452yds
July: 453yds
August: 169yds
September: 781yds

Year To Date: 7,225yds or 4.11 miles

September was a much more productive months after August's heat!  We have been so lucky to have relatively cool weather this fall.  It's still been warm but beautiful enough to want to work with wool.  Thanks to some small, heavier weight projects my yardage knit was way up this month.  It's amazing how much non-sock projects can bank up and in less time.

I have big plans for the fall including at least one sweater, a few pairs of socks, and finally trying to finish up the Blanket O' Doooom.  In cross-stitch I plan to finish my Dessert Sampler, complete my Spooky Sampler, and get the Autum Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery out of the way.  I have a few sewing and quilting projects I need to work on and finish as well.  I'm going to be busy; Wish me luck!

What do you kittens all have planned for the fall?  Is it full of yarny goodness or something else?

Knot A Podcast Episode 41

Knot A Podcast: Episode 41 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

Kittens, it's that day again!

♥  Please join us in the Ravelry group!
♥  You can also find the podcast on YouTube.

FO:
♥  Pomme de Pin--though it will get another layer of dye before all the ends get woven in.  It could stand to be a tad bit darker.

WiPs:
♥  Niles & Cleo were frogged.
♥  Another handpun toy was attempted and frogged
♥  Little Coffee Bean Cardigan by Elizabeth Smith
♥  Color Affection by Veera Valimaki

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ 2012 Dessert Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery :  8 of 12 months are complete!

Stash Enhancement:
♥  Ply: Issue 2
♥ Trailing Clouds
♥  Two if by Hand
♥  Another Crafty Girl

Knot A Podcast: Episode 40

Knot A Podcast: Episode 40 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

Happy Wednesday, kittens!

♥ Please join us in the Ravelry group.
♥ You can also watch Knot A Podcast on YouTube.


FOs:
♥ Hermione's Everyday Socks

WiPs:
♥ Color Affection
♥ Lucy's Owl
♥ Grandmother's Favorite Dish Cloth
♥ Niles & Cleo

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ Dessert Sampler

Stash Flash:
♥ Moonrover yarn

Knot A Podcast Episode 39

Knot A Podcast: Episode 39 from SewKnitpicky on Vimeo.

WiPs:
♥ Hermione's Everyday Socks

Future Cast-ons:
♥ All the stripey Halloween socks!
♥ Make a Wish by Joji Locatelli
♥ Niles and Chloe by Jennie Lamond

Spinning A Yarn:
♥ Hanks in the Hood center pull batt

Stitcher's Corner:
♥ 2012 Dessert Sampler
♥ Soon to start: Halloween Spooky Sampler