2015 Year in Review

2015 Review

I accomplished quite a bit in 2015.  The above collage doesn't even have everything in it!  

Here's a quick breakdown of the crafting:

• Clearly you can see 2015 was the year for stuffies!
• I participated in 2 very cool swaps - had fun making up packages for recipients and received some great packages myself!
• I participated in the Danger group Traveling Monsters.
• I spun only a little, but I got pretty good at supported spinning and I learned ply on the fly on the Turkish Spindle and even made a video tutorial.
• I started Sophie's Universe and learned a ton of crochet.
• I passed Level 1 of the Knitting Guild Association Master Hand Knitting Program.
• I released 4 knitting patterns!  I came up with a logo and new pattern template for my designs.

In life, I was hired at another department (911 Police Dispatcher) and make more money and its an easier and more pleasant place to work all around.  I really do like my job and its the first one in my life (even at the other dept.) that I've never come home and complained about.  

I purchased a new (to me) truck. That's bigger, has leather interior and everything WORKS (like heat and 4-wheel drive - which no longer worked in my old one, which also had an anti-freeze and gas leak and the bed was rotting off and ... and ... the problem list went on and on).  

Although I loved it dearly and it never left me stranded - it was time for it to go to that big junk yard in the sky.  RIP little black beast.

I got to see my sister Jess who was up from Florida (my dad retired a few years ago and the girls are much younger than me and they moved down with my dad and step mom).

And later in the year I got to see my sister Ashley who was up from Florida!

I got to see one of my childhood favorite movies enhanced and on the big screen.

And I met the author of the book and got my book signed.

My best friend, Nikoh, had to have 5 teeth removed.  We adopted him when he was 7 months old - he's now 7 years old.  He's always had bad teeth and they were starting to become an issue with him not eating and obviously bothered and in pain.  He recovered wonderfully and he's (only a little) more of a pain in the butt than he always was.  He's a very smart cat and gets into EVERYTHING ... including opening the bathroom door while the bathroom is occupied .. by me.  I understand the oral issues - I myself had a seriously degraded  molar that required a root canal earlier in the year and my front tooth broke and needed to be fixed up a few weeks ago.

2015 Reading Challenge

Angela has completed her goal of reading 26 books in 2015!

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27 of 26 (100%)

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I finally got back to one of my passions on a regular basis - READING!  I read a ton this year.  It also helped that I got the new job - where I can actually read at work because its not such a crazy, busy place.  

There were of course trials and tribulations this year as well ... but let's not talk about those!  On to 2016!!!

FO: Little Owl

I managed to squeak out a Christmas Gift at the last minute.  A friend's parents were in (New England) from Wisconsin and his mom knits and loves the handcrafted stuff ... she's also a fan of owls.

Pattern: Little Owl by Susan B. Anderson

Yarn: Scraps of Cascade 220 Superwash, Cascade 220 and Knit Picks Swish

Needles: US 5 DPNs

Dates: 12/22-12/23/15

Here he is with the one I made previously.  Its a great little pattern and a super quick knit.  The wings and feet are picked up, so there's no sewing on.  The top and feet are kitchener stitch to close.

Sophie's Back!

Remember Sophie?  I was working on her some time ago ... then something bad happened and she went into time out.

 
Well the first step is admitting you have a problem, so I acknowledged it, finally and ripped out the offending round.  One thing I like about crochet vs knitting, is you can rip and nothing falls apart ... one thing I like about knitting vs crochet, is you can drop stitches and fix mistakes ... I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too.

First I had to figure out where I was in the pattern.  I checked Ravelry and I had said that Clue 3 was completed April 6th, 2015 ... oh I must not have been diligent about updating ... nope, I was ... this round was in the middle of Clue 4.

Of course the problem was at the beginning of the round ... this is the backside, if you look closely at what is left you'll see 3 treble crochet and 2 treble crochet (2 that are supposed to be 3 that resulted in the whole thing being off one stitch).

Next, I did not note what size crochet hook I used, but I know it was the lovely colored wood one ... apparently so lovely that I have since purchased more ... eekkk!  I'm pretty sure it was the 4.0mm.  Oi!

So, this round is fine, I know what color it was.  I had substituted yarn for this project, so also had to substitute colors.  I had this nice handy list I made when purchasing that listed the colors in the pattern vs the colors I bought.  HHmmm where is this list?!?!  I. Have. No. Idea.  Nada.  No clue ...

FO: Happy Frog

Pattern: Happy Frog  by Emily Stoneking

Yarn: Left overs of Ella Rae Cozy Prints

Needles: US 3 DPNs

Cast On: December 2, 2015

Finished: December 6, 2015

This is a super cute and quick pattern.  The only issues - which had nothing to do with the pattern was sewing on the eyes, the safety eyes are so heavy they caused the little eye pieces to flop all over while I was trying to sew them down.  I coined a new phrase to indicate something is annoying and difficult while doing it, "Its like trying to sew eyes on a frog."

I also had fun singing "Blockin' the Frog, Blockin' the Frog" to the tune of Judas Priest's Breakin' the Law while I was pinning down the arms and legs.

While I was half way through the knitting, my husband went shopping one day and said he saw something he had to get for me and had a little present ... it was this other frog, LOL!  And I had not shown him the knitted frog yet - he had no idea I was currently knitting a frog ... LOL!