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.

It's Friday the 13Th Again!

  Usually a Friday the 13th is my lucky day.  Today was not as good.  We got some bad news about a friend who had been having health problems.  She did hang on until a Friday the 13th and now can have as much wine and wings as she wants.

  I'm still working on finding a good place to block everything.  It's a good thing that Bill was out of town for a few days because the comforter was still a bit damp when it was bed time.  Everything is now dry, but I'm waiting for a day with better lighting to take pictures.  It's raining out now and I was thinking of taking some pictures outside for the bigger items.

  One of the people at K&CC has been making these cute hats that have a neck/ear flap.  It would be good to help keep people warm who might not like wearing scarves.  The BUN Hat is really fast to knit and also a great way to go through leftovers.  I thought my skein looked like a baby carrot or a hot-dog cut into a octopus shape.

  I started on the Caron Asymmetrical Lace Shawl.  I thought it would be fitting to use a Caron Cake for it.  I only have two of them, so not as much as I had for the crochet granny blanket in oranges and reds.  I'm just getting past the part where it goes really fast and the rows start to get longer and longer.  At least I have the lace to look forward to.
  It must be nice or odd for everyone, that this post has two projects that I can link to a pattern for!  Don't worry, I'm still thinking of new patterns, but I need to get the hat one finalized before I work too much on the shawl.
  I'm also considering starting on a Caron Knit Shawl on the Bias before I start working on my own pattern.  This time of year means I'm super busy with work and some pretty mindless knitting is usually what I need.  Something that is fun to knit but won't distract me from getting any work done because I can hear it calling my name from my knitting bag.
  We are also going to go to the Zoo Lights later today, so I'm hoping to try and get some fun pictures from that.

Fiona Is A Very Pretty Lady

  I tried to do like I normally do after teaching a class with a stitch pattern that I really like.  I tried to make a hat out of it.  I think this yarn was way too slippery because you could see that there was texture in the stitches, it didn't show what was really happening.  I was feeling lazy and decided to try and do the spiral hat again.  I didn't bother to count my stitches for how it would turn out for the second stitch pattern, so I ended up with the same problem I had before where it needed four more or less stitches.

  Don't mind my messy floor, just look at the cute kitty.  Her name is Fiona and she is my house-mate's cat.  She doesn't really like other cats, but Tank has managed to become friends with her.  They chase each other around the house and will steal each other's food.  It doesn't matter that they get the same food, they both know that the other gets the better stuff.

  The universe has decided that one ramen restaurant near my house wasn't enough, so now I have two.  Marumen opened first, but is a bit farther out.  I saw that Umai Ramen and Rice Bowl was opening soon and went during their first week during their soft opening.

  The menu at Umai wasn't as big as Marumen, but I don't know if that is because it was during their soft opening or if they are just going to focus on a smaller menu.  I got the Curry Ramen that time, the one pictured, and have been back again to try the Tonkotsu Ramen.  It is really good and smaller portions than Marumen, so I don't feel as uncomfortably stuffed at the end and feel like I could get an appetizer to share.

  I thought I was in the mood to do more two color brioche, but I got about this far and got distracted by some granny square style crochet.  I almost finished a shawl and am working on an eight point star blanket.  I keep bringing this along with me, and will get back to it at some point.  The yarn is just so slippery that it is a bit tricky to work with at times.  I like it well enough, but I will be taking any leftovers back to K&CC.  It's the Lion Brand Microspun and is the same yarn as the baby hat at the top of this post.