Monthly Archives: December 2010

2010 Stashdown: Final Post


2010 Q1 Stashdown

Yardage in: 6,681
Yardage out: 9,766
Net stash change: -3,085
Ratio (yds out/in): 1.462

2010 Q2 Stashdown

Yardage in: 7,014
Yardage out: 7,498
Net stash change: -484
Ratio (yds out/in): 1.069


2010 Q3 Stashdown

Yardage in: 7,591
Yardage out: 10,588
Net stash change: -2,997
Ratio (yds out/in): 1.395

2010 Q4 Stashdown
Yardage in: 19,553
Yardage out: 11,095
Net Stash change: +8,457
Ratio (yds out/in): .567

2010 Totals so far:

Yardage in: 40,838
Yardage out: 38,947
Net Stash Change: +1,891
Ratio (yds out/in): .954

And there you have it, Kittens. After 3 quarters in the green and slowly chipping away at my stash, I had to make some large purchases –and reclaim a large chunk of that yardage via frogging (think the year’s net stash change minus about 200yds)–this quarter. As a result, I’m in the red for the year. Boo. Totals have been edited 18 May 2011 after deciding to go ahead and use an item that was in the frog pile to be reclaimed.

While I’m sad about this, I’m also trying to be positive: my rate of acquirance in 2010 was much slower then 2009. I didn’t technically have a StashWIN! sort of year, but I did take the first steps in slowing down the thoughtless buying and became more deliberate in my purchases.
You better believe you’ll be seeing more stash tracking in 2011. I’m actually pretty pumped about it. In 2011, that net stash change will be green.

Quickie

Kittens, I’m going to do my best to do some 2010 wrap-up posts before it ends tomorrow tonight. However, my in-laws are in town and I’ve been attempting to avoid being rude and hide from them. I might try to make an exception for a short time tomorrow, though, just for you. ♥

You should be seeing at least one post from me but in case I can not get to more, Happy New Year!

WIP it Wednesday

OK, kittens. It’s technically still Tuesday here for another 2 hours, but my in-laws are in town and that means little-to-no computer time during the day. (And by tomorrow, these may both be off needles, and I’d have nothing to share.)

Crochet project. Something small. Still on the fence about it; it’s ruffling when it shouldn’t be.

Mmmm. Dense cables in bulky weight. Will have quite the yarn write-up for this later on.

Vikings, Day 13

Kittens, today I will ask that you use your imaginations. I will not be providing a picture. Visualize yesterday’s doll, but with two legs. Now you know what I did last night.

In my last post, I forgot to mention the time involved to stuff the body and knit that one leg down to the boot: 2.5 hours. Last night, it took 2 hours to knit the other leg and stuff it. These are a time intensive knit, to be sure. (If anyone is wondering why I’m keeping track, well…I like numbers, and I’m genuinely curious how many hours go into a project like this. People will ask and I want to have a number on hand to quote.)
Based on how long these are taking, working only 2-3 hours a night for the next 4 is not going to cut it. I still have to knit:
* 2 legs for the girl doll and stuff her: ~4.5 hours labor
* 4 horns for the helmets: ~1 hour to knit/ 1 hour to stuff and seam on
* 2 belt ends: ~ 1 hour to knit/ 15 minutes to seam on
* 2 swords: ~2 hours to knit/ 2 hours to stuff/seam/embroider/attach
This list does not include embroidering on the details like the face and shirt laces, nor does it include embroidering on the hair. Off the top of my head, I’m going to guess those tasks will take me another 3-4 hours.
So, let’s do the math. I have an estimated 15 hours and 45 minutes worth of labor to do in 4 days. 2 hours a night will not cut it, and I came to this realization last night as I was packing up and stowing the dolls away.
My children are too old to work in front of anymore…so what will I do? The husband should be home every day from now until the end of the year, so I’m going to lock myself in my bedroom for 20-30 minutes at a time and try to steal an extra 2 hours a day to finish the dolls up.

Vikings, Day 11

Viking underpants! Err…leggings, I suppose would be more correct. Last night, I could have done more knitting. However, someone went to the store specifically for Polyfil and then managed to forget to purchase said Polyfil. Before I can knit any further, these two need to be stuffed. Some of those openings are pretty small….

I have 6 more evenings to work on these, kittens. I’m starting to get nervous and wonder if I was perhaps too optimistic thinking these could be done in the time.

Vikings, Day 10

If you take Day 9’s picture, and imagine that the color stripe in the belt is blue rather then purple, you will know exactly what I worked on last night. 😉 It seemed a bit silly to take a photo of the same thing I photographed before. But fear not, kittens! I’ll be back with a photo tomorrow.

A Couple Realizations…

Kittens, two things have come to my attention today.

1) This blog will be 4 in July. It and I share the same birth month and birth week. I will try to do something special for that time. It’s not every year your blog turns 4 and you get to celebrate the last year of your 20s.
2) The scarf I was blogging about yesterday? I just noticed that I twisted the stitches. I think I’m going to let it be and it will become a mobius cowl instead. Whoops? (This is the first time I’ve managed to do that. I can not believe it took me three days to notice it!)
So what about you, kittens? Have you had any realizations today, either pleasant or unpleasant?

Vikings, Day 9

Another hour, another arm. The second one is a bit funny looking, especially the thumb. Oh well, they’re Vikings and I’m sure they break bones and improperly set them all the time.
One Viking down, another to go while I try to figure out the instructions for the legs…I’m having a really rough time visualizing how those are going to knit up.
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