Happy Almost Birthday to Me!

  It is almost time for the demolition to begin on the basement stuff.  I'm worried we won't be ready in time, but there isn't much to do about that other than to keep working.
  With the Corona virus causing so much worry, it has pretty much cancelled any kind of gathering.  A lot of restaurants have closed their doors and gatherings of 10 or more are discouraged.  This means that I won't get to have my birthday outting for a bit.  Bill says he is going to make me some yummy food, so we are still going to be doing something.
  I'm posting my Ravelry Wish List again this year in case anyone wants to get me something for my birthday.  This way no one has to feel bad about not getting to hang out with me for whatever reason and can also help the blog.

  Tank is very talented.  He has figured out how to sit, stand, and lay down all at the same time.  He has been very confused about all the stuff with the house we are doing.  I ordered some anti-stress diffusers and I'm hoping that is going to help him.
  I've also come to realize that I have way more yarn than I thought I did.  So far I've been pretty good at going through them before moving them to storage and I will go through them again before they get moved into my craft room.  I'm also using this time at home while work is being a bit more calm to knit more so I have another way to get rid of yarn.

Happy Friday the 13th!

  I've been trying to catch up on the SV Delos YouTube Channel and the Bumfuzzle blog and it has made me want to go somewhere fun again.  Something I think everyone should keep in mind that even if you don't go anywhere, you can still find fun things to do near you.

  Krissy mentioned this place a while ago and we finally managed to go.  You pour your own beer, which is really nice because it lets you try a lot of flavors/styles and you won't have to commit to a whole glass if you don't know if you will like something new.

  You get this little card and are allowed to be as thrifty or get in as much trouble as you would like with it.  They also have food trucks and take out menus for you to make use of, though the food trucks aren't there super late.

  The card gives you the instructions and some advice on the back.  I was able to pour as little as 75¢ and up to a few dollars, but I also wanted to be able to try a bunch of different options.  They have small and larger glasses to choose from.  There are also pool tables and board games to get you to spend more time trying their brews.

  I'm taking the day to be productive in my own way.  I took a bunch of plastic bags to Safeway to be recycled and a bunch of the shipping boxes we had laying around to the recycle center.  Since I've recently designed a bunch of buttons for my Etsy shop, I now need to turn them from paper rounds into useable buttons.

  I got some feedback about the first round of Ally buttons I made, so now people can get the words going either upward or downward.  I think both look good.

  Ignore the chip tube off to the side.  I try and take pictures of the finished buttons in a way that is related to the awareness that it is about.  This will also immortalize this succulent, so even if something happens to it, we can remember how it was right now.

  I was so annoyed that when I finished these that is was cloudy out.  Not just a few wispy clouds like in the picture, but where the whole sky is overcast.  The sky cooperated with me for a bit and I was able to get this picture.  I don't know if any of this will help my sales, but I have fun doing it.

  I had knit up a test hat for every size for this pattern and was making sure to put them to the side so I would have them for pictures once I started typing up the pattern.  I had a few versions on Google Docs, but I had an idea of how I wanted to format it before putting it up for sale.  About that time was when my computer stopped working, so I had to put it off.  My computer stayed down longer than I had thought it would, though I kept putting off working on the layout once it was back up.
  It really didn't take me long to get the layout the way I wanted and I was getting ready to make the test page.  I was going to weigh the hats to see about how much yarn I used, so I went looking for the test hats I made.  I don't remember donating them, but they are no where to be found.
  I looked and looked in all the places I remember seeing them last and I was left with two options: knit a whole new set of hats, or get them tested anyway.  Luckily I know a bunch of knitters and could get the pattern tested without yarn requirements.  Two of the tests are done now and two are in process.

  I hope everyone out there reading is feeling okay or are able to stay home if they don't.  I know a lot of people are worried about getting sick and while it is good to be cautious, it doesn't help anyone to panic.  Washing you hands never hurt anyone and while hand sanitizer is nice, I don't feel like everyone needs to carry around a few big bottles at all times.  Be safe out there.

Happy Leap Year

  Last time we had a Leap Year I had a really cool hat to commemorate the event.  I was on my way to having something really cool done to show off and something else that might have been done in time to show off.  The first thing is taking a lot longer to finished than I thought it would from the way it started.  Though anything that gets larger with every row is kind of like that.
  Instead, have a cute picture of Tank being sleepy.  I have also been busy washing more yarn.  I thought I had gotten all of it, but I keep finding more.  There were even some skeins that were too far gone and I had to just throw them out.
  The weather has also been really nice out and I have been trying to get out and enjoy it.  I have also been getting some more designs done for both my shops.  I have a hat pattern being tested right now for my Ravelry shop and some more Kitties Fur a Cause to list on my Etsy shop.  I put aside yarn to use for the shawl pattern I have in mind, but it may have gotten packed away during one of the times I was putting things into bins for the storage unit.  That's something I'll have to worry about later since I have a few projects going on now.

02022020 Palindrome Fun!

  I feel like I should have made my New Year's Resolution to be to update this more often.  It's not that interesting things haven't been happening, I've just not told you about it.
  We finally decided to go with a company to re-finish the basement, instead of doing it ourselves.  This means that I have had to focus on getting more things out of there since it will be the whole thing at once and not just one room at a time.  We had a few companies come out and picked one.  Between the first walk-through and another pass after we picked them, it was decided that we would get someone out to look at the foundation.  Bill asked me if some of the cracks had been there before and I was pretty sure that they had not been.
  The guy said that it wasn't the worst he's seen, and while that might not mean much, it helps me feel a bit better about it.  He's going to have to dig around the house on three sides, push the walls back out and fix them.  While this is annoying, it also means that since we have to take everything out to fix the walls, we might as well play around with the layout.
 The design guy had fun and when we all met we messed around with it and ended up with a design we all like.  It was fun seeing him draw it out and picture what it will look like when it is done.  It was really cool how he used different pen colors for different items.  Walls were one color, work benches another, and light fixtures yet another.

  I had starting having a lot of bad dreams, so I decided that I needed a dream catcher.  I have never been a fan of the thin string spider web style, and I have seen a few with doilies used as the center.  Since I have a lot of crochet thread around, I figured I could make my own center.  The color is a bit more deep in person than it wants to show up in pictures.  I'm hoping I will have enough to finish since I got it from K&CC without a tag and it feels a bit different than the ones I'm used to seeing in craft stores.
  I'm also enjoying the pattern enough that I might use it to make a table cover as a present for a friend.  That would be another project where I don't know if I will have enough yarn and don't think I can get any more.  I haven't looked up the yarn, but it has been around for a while and I might not be able to get it anymore.

  She's done!  I really had fun making the Caron Asymmetrical Lace Shawl(even with the chart problems), however, with the extension I put on it changed the feel of it a little.  I think I might make it again but with a few more lace segments.  It will be interesting to try and figure out how to work the pattern without a chart to follow.  I might have to make a warm-up project with it because I'm hoping to work on my shawl pattern before I make this again.  I could always work on making my own chart as well.

Kitty Treats and Lace

  I am the second and third owner of these.  The first owner got one for each of her cats and neither liked them.  So she brought one for me and one for someone else at K&CC.  Since I got two I assume they were not well received by the other person's cat either.  The ones in this house are weird about them.  When I first pulled them out and gave each one they both got really excited and licked them a bunch but neither would take a bite.  I left them out and at some point during the day they disappeared.  So while they aren't good enough to get excited about, they are good enough to eat at some point.  I'm glad I don't have to try and find another person to try them on.

  I've run into some more problems with the chart.  If you aren't comfortable at all following written instructions, I have figured out which rows have the same beginning pattern as the rows missing marks near the beginning of the row.  I wish I had noticed sooner because I had to take out 6 rows of knitting.
  For row 37, look at 25; row 39, look at 27; and row 41, look at 29.  The ends of the rows are not the same, so once you get a repeat or two done you will be able to look back at the row you are actually on.  You could also just follow the written instructions for the whole row and you won't have to jump around.

  I recently found my bag of yarn that I had set aside to make into hats.  I like taking random stitch patterns and turning them into interesting hats.  I was browsing the internet and stumbled upon this 52 Square KAL.  The link goes to the page describing the knit-a-long.  Each block is made out of just knits and purls.  The list of all the blocks can be found with the 52 Square Pickup tag.  It looks like each block comes with written and charted instructions.

2019

Here is a quick list of everything I got done in the year of 2019

Crochet: 6
~Blanket:

Star Blanket

~Hats:

Dusty Beret

Granny Kid's Hat

~Scarves:

V-Stitch Cowl turned Scarf

Star Stitch Scarf

~Shawls:

Granny Square Shawl

Knit: 28
~Blanket:

Not Entraloc Blanket

~Hats:

2x2 Rib Brioche

Big Rib Hat

Pink Virtual Cable Hat

Two Color Chunky Hat

Just Mango Brown Dad Hat

Barley

Party CC Copy Hat

Woven Lattice Hat: 1, 2-6,

Loom Knit Hat

Offset Ribbing Hat

Chunky Preemie Hat

K1, P2 Hat

Ribbed Stash Buster

Changing Lanes: 1-3,

Slipped Spiral Hat

BUN Hat

Bright Brioche Hat

~Scarves/Cowls:

Bias Scarf

~Shawls:

UFO Shawl

~Sweaters:

Blue Raglan Sweater

Party Baby Surprise Sweater

Others Work:

Crochet Bag: 1-2,

Tassel Square Hat: 1-2, 3,

Crochet Mittens: 1, 2-4,

Crochet Scarf: 1, 2-6,

Crochet Hat: 1-7, 8-18,

Crochet Other: 1-6,

Crochet Cowl: 1,

Crochet Slippers: 1,

Knitted Hat: 1-2

Who Checks the Charts?

  Here is the picture of the BUN Hat I promised.  It is smaller than the pattern says because I used smaller yarn and smaller needles.  I adjusted the height accordingly by just doing less for the body of the hat and followed the decreases as written.

 This was my between projects project.  Just a quick brioche hat.  I love how fancy brioche looks.

  I finally blocked the Star Stitch Scarf that I was testing the pattern for.  I still need to ask her if she is ever going to publish the pattern because it looks really nice.  You can see the pattern better if you click on the photo and see it closer to full sized.

 I didn't actively follow a pattern when making this because I had remembered it well enough from when I taught the class.  The Quick & Simple Granny Shawl has all the same steps as the ones that I did.  There are a ton out there that will get you very similar results with only very minor changes in what you do.  I just kept going back and forth until I didn't have enough yarn to do another whole row.

  I was kind of nervous about this one.  I haven't done a pointed blanket project like this with so many points.  At first it seemed fine, but as I went it kept looking more and more like it wouldn't block out flat and would be buckled.  I kept wondering if I should take it out and do it again with only 6 points, but I kept going.  Once I started pulling the points out while blocking it looked more and more like it would work and that mine would look like the pictures.

  On row 11, at the very end the chart doesn't actually match the stitches I had. It shows two increases next to each other, but only shows one more stitch in the chart.  It tells you to k4, yo, kfb, k2, but the written instructions tell you to k5, kfb, k2.  I'm guessing that when the chart was made they put together a big block of pattern and worked backwards from there.  The yo was probably just left over from that and no one noticed it.
  There are also a few rows that are missing the symbol to do garter stitch on the wrong side on the flat edge.  I also found some symbols on the chart that aren't on the key at all.  So my suggestion is that if you have a doubt about the chart, check the written instructions, they seem to be correct.
  Here's to a new year and hopefully correct charts.