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Archive for category Project Management

My Knitting Wish List for 2010

Feb 18

Posted by TessM in It's All About Me, Project Management | No Comments

magic ball and beginning of raglan sweaterHey, I finally put together a list for What I Want to Knit This Year!

Yeah, well, so what if it's mid-February?

This idea has been kind of nagging at me for a month or so — but what finally prompted me to get it down on paper was an incident last week, when Linda asked, "So what are you knitting for fun?" — after seeing what I was knitting on for work — and I had to say, "Nothing."  That, my friends, is a sad state of affairs, and one I thought I ought to rectify.  I've gotten started on it, as you can see to the right, although that item happens to be the very last one on the list.  You'll have to read ALL THE WAY THROUGH if you want to know what that noise is all about.

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An Easier Way to Recycle Used Yarn

Feb 5

Posted by TessM in Project Management, yarn | No Comments

Over at Knitting Daily, today's post talks about how to "get the kinks out" of yarn after frogging a TOAD.  (And if that didn't make any sense, you may want to read about online knitting jargon here.)

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Knitting Resolutions (2009 Redux Edition)

Jan 8

Posted by TessM in Classes, Project Management | 2 Comments

On about.com's knitting section, I found a poll for "What are Your Knitting Resolutions for 2009?"

OK, so it's a year out of date, but I figure things can't have changed all that much in a year.

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New Year’s Knitting Resolutions

Dec 29

Posted by TessM in Classes, Project Management | 3 Comments

Ho Ho Ho, a belated Merry Christmas to you both and especially, a Happy New Year!

new year

I took an inadvertent holiday break last week, because the post I had slaved over all day Tuesday turned out to have — issues.

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FO Update

Dec 17

Posted by TessM in FO Files, Project Management | 3 Comments

Hey, I thought maybe it's about time I gave an update on the 2009 FO Finishing Project — where I somehow sort of decided I would finish all my UFO's before the end of the year.  Progress has indeed been made, and I've got a couple more FO's to show for it!

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Luna Tee finished!

Dec 1

Posted by TessM in Design, Project Management | 5 Comments

OK, OK, I admit that in the last post on this subject, I didn't spell out every little detail about exactly how I was going to finish this bad boy off…  but then there would be no suspense left for the big surprise ending.luna tee finished

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Workin’ on the UFO’s: “Luna” Tee

Nov 24

Posted by TessM in Design, Project Management | 8 Comments

A few posts back, Luna teeI mentioned that I seem to have developed not so much a New Year's Resolution, as an End-Of-Year Resolution:  to finish up the last few remaining UFO's in my knitting pile.  And so, I've been battling with this one.

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Choosing the Right (Sweater) Project

Nov 17

Posted by TessM in Fashion, Style & Fit, Project Management | 2 Comments

The other week, I was teaching a class and, as usual, at the beginning we went around the table and did introductions.  Often I ask people to give their name, how long they've been knitting, and then some kind of tidbit about their knitting:  maybe their most recent FO, or what they are currently working on.I'm not sure this is actually a toad, but I like his expression. Close enough.

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The “18 years of Knitting Penance to Knitting Heaven” Project

Nov 10

Posted by TessM in FO Files, Project Management | 8 Comments

Editor's Note:  This is not my own FO — however, it is a pretty stunning knitting accomplishment, IMHO, and I don't think it should go unheralded.

Marlene is a very accomplished knitter.  I can't exactly say she is one of my students, because I haven't taught her very much — although I guess I did get her to try socks for the first time.  When a person has been knitting for 30 or more years, sometimes there just isn't all that much you can teach 'em.  And boy, does Marlene knit.  She gets more stuff done than I can even THINK of doing.  And I don't think she has any UFO's.

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What Has Gotten Into Me?

Mar 5

Posted by TessM in FO Files, Knit Philosophy, Project Management | 1 Comment

This week, I finished off four — count ‘em, four — UFO’s in the stack.  Not only that, I have a good shot at finishing off a fifth.

I’m as shocked as you are.  Probably more so.

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Home Is Where the DH Is!!

Jan 27

Posted by TessM in It's All About Me, Not Knitting, Project Management | No Comments

One of the cold hard truths I learned when I quit the engineering job and started setting my own schedule was this:

You can’t get anything done on the days when DH is home.

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UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Aug 26

Posted by TessM in Events, FO Files, Project Management | 2 Comments

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Wow!  Here we are at the end of the UFOlympics, and the decathlon results are in…

… and I made it!

  • 0.  Brioche st hat:  shop sample for class.
  • 1.  Bear mittens:  one left to finish; then it’s time to take ‘em to the zoo.

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In the Mood

Aug 20

Posted by TessM in Books, Sites, Mags, Fashion, Style & Fit, Knit Philosophy, Project Management | 2 Comments

Over at the Knitting Daily blog, they’ve been discussing the design process used by Michelle Rose Orne in her book, Inspired to Knit.  I haven’t gotten the book yet, but Michelle’s description of her design process intrigues me:

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UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events

Aug 16

Posted by TessM in Events, FO Files, Project Management, Sox Therapy | 2 Comments

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Yes, you may well have been questioning why there is a total of 12 UFO's on my UFOlympic "decathlon" list.  (Actually, there are 13, because I had to add one UFO #0 that I forgot about when making the original list.)  But it's a good thing.

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UFOlympics! the seventh event

Jul 31

Posted by TessM in Events, FO Files, Fashion, Style & Fit, Project Management | No Comments

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Hey, are you getting as sick of the UFOlympics as I am?

It was fun to begin with — it was great to get a couple of projects out of the way and all that — but I’m getting a definite feeling of stuck-in-a-rut now.  Maybe this is why the real Olympics only last a couple of weeks, instead of seven… ya think?

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UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events

Jul 29

Posted by TessM in Books, Sites, Mags, Events, Project Management | 1 Comment

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Well, it's nearly halfway through the timeframe I set for my personal UFOlympics.  (In fact, it's only about 40% of the way through, if you don't count that "vacation" time I spent with strep.)

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UFOlympics! the second event

Jul 10

Posted by TessM in Events, FO Files, Project Management | No Comments

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

5 bear mittensUFO #1, the fifth bear mitten:  FINISHED 07/09/08.

Final time:  2 days!

Yarn:  donated acrylic stuff.
Pattern:  from Twisted.

announcer’s voiceover:  She’s certainly maintaining a very competitive pace thus far, but can she possibly keep it up throughout the whole event?  We’ll have to wait and see.

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UFOlympics! the first event

Jul 8

Posted by TessM in Events, FO Files, Patterns, Project Management | 1 Comment

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Ummm… I have good news, and bad news.

First, the good news:  UFO #0, Brioche st hat:  FINISHED 07/07/08.

Final time (offical Swiss, of course):  2 days.

The crowd goes wild!

Yarn:  Manos del Uruguay silk & wool.
Pattern:  my own Polar Bear Pattern.
Shameless plug:  this is a sample for a class I’ll teach at the Knitting Bee in Sept. 

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UFOlympics! the Decathlon

Jul 6

Posted by TessM in Events, Project Management | 1 Comment

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

Well:  I’ve been seriously winnowing out the UFO pile in preparation for the Games of Summer.  I’ve had to revise my rule a bit, and I think I’ve got a goal now.

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UFOlympics! the Summer Games

Jun 26

Posted by TessM in Events, Project Management | 1 Comment

Table of contents for UFOlympics

  1. UFOlympics! the Summer Games
  2. UFOlympics! the Decathlon
  3. UFOlympics! the first event
  4. UFOlympics! the second event
  5. UFOlympics! the third event
  6. UFOlympics! the fourth event
  7. UFOlympics! the fifth and sixth events
  8. UFOlympics! the seventh event
  9. UFOlympics: the eighth and ninth events
  10. UFOlympics! the tenth and eleventh events

OK, I got game.  (Whatever that means.)

I also still got plenty of UFO’s.

So, here goes:  I’m officially entering the 2008 Summer UFOlympic Games.

Welllll, kind of officially.  There’s some wiggle room there, I think.

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I Think I’ll Keep Him

Mar 24

Posted by TessM in It's All About Me, Project Management, Sox Therapy | 6 Comments

Over the weekend, I had a touch of  "the depression" *.

Specifically, I had the knitting depression.

I didn’t have a single decent current project, the UFOs were one big pile o’ crap, I hated everything in my hotlist **.

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Sock What?

Dec 21

Posted by TessM in Events, Project Management, Sox Therapy | 5 Comments

Both my sister and a college friend recently sent me copies of this Wall Street Journal article about knitting.

More specifically, it’s about "Sock Wars", where the idea is that everyone playing the game is an "assassin" and has an assigned  "target".  You are supposed to "assassinate" that person by knitting them a pair of socks, and then you send them to your target before your assassin sends a pair of finished socks to you.

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Shop Aging

Oct 10

Posted by TessM in Project Management | No Comments

This past summer, I learned a term from my woodworking brother that I think deserves wider attention in the knitting world.

He was reading an article on “pine", I think — and just what kind of a nut would read an article about “pine", I ask you – give me an article about “MOHAIR” any day — anyway, it referred to the intriguing concept of  "shop aging."

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