Endings

Happy 1st day of December! This is the time that we celebrate the closing of another year and the starting of another one. A time when we reflect on our purpose. I love the feeling of being around family and friends at this time of year as well as the promise that right around the corner is another year to accomplish our calling. I like thinking back on the year and thinking ahead to the next. In some ways this is a tough time of the year. I miss my boys in Romania a lot during this time because I want them to experience the fun that families have together. It pains me to know that they will spend Christmas and New Years at the orphanage instead of being shuffled from relative's house to relative's house and back again. That they won't get to rip open presents on Christmas Day or eat until they bust. I do find comfort in the fact that I will be seeing them again in just 25 more days!

It is also a very exciting time of the year. In just a few short weeks I will be completing all my coursework for my graduate degree in clinical and counseling psychology! Then, just after the 1st part of January I will finish my internship and be officially finished with my degree! Graduation should come shortly thereafter though I don't think I'll get the chance to fly to California for the actual ceremony (because my school is online the actual graduation ceremonies take place in various locations around the country).

This is also the time of the year when I get really into knitting. I'd been so busy over the last few weeks with my internship that I hadn't gotten much knitting done. I was getting stressed and missing it though so I'm trying to make more time for my hobby. I was able to finish a blanket that I'd been working on over the last several months.

It's made from scraps of yarn held together and is a pattern from the Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans. It turned out really large and I love the way that the colors worked together. Basically I put all my scraps into big totes, closed my eyes, and grabbed out a ball when I needed a new one. I've already started a new afghan from this book (even though I need to finish weaving in the ends of the afghan that I just did). And I'm working on some socks for myself.

My final goal for the last month of 2012 is to think about my diet and exercise. Since moving about 6 months ago my exercise habits have been the best they ever have. I just want to tweak a few things as far as eating. I eat better now (fast food or restaurant food less than 4 times a month, hardly any prepackaged or pre-made foods) but I want to eat healthier (more fruits and veggies, less red meat, etc.). Oh, and add a few more supplements to my regimen. Just little things and nothing major.

Happy Labor Dabor Day!

Happy Labor Dabor Day! Today I plan on taking it easy, which for the single, self-employed gal means laundry, reskeining and listing yarn, doing the dishes, reading for school, and sending emails. Pretty much like a normal day. Except at some point I plan to watch a movie and knit. Which is not an everyday occurrence but does happen pretty frequently. So...pretty much status quo around here. I hope the rest of you are doing something cool too for Labor Day; the day when we celebrate work by not working!

I have been under the delusion that I might be nearing some sort of finishing point on a few of the blankets so I thought I would confirm or deny that this morning.

The Square-Not-A-Circle Blanket

The Square-Not-A-Circle Blanket feels like it should be close to being done. I'm running out of bulky scraps to use on this thing. Measuring from the corner to the center it's about 23.5".

Sorry for crappy, blurry picture.

If I double that I get a diagonal of 47. I think that means the sides are about 33". I need the sides to be at least 42" so that means I still have a ways to go. Close, but not to finishing yet.

Obsession Blanket

I've decided to call this the Obsession Blanket since I'm obsessed with making it! It's getting quite big and unwieldy. It measures about 32" down the side.

See, 32" down the side.

The directions say to knit until it's 61" from the cast on edge. Over half way there! But still, not ready for finishing.

Moderne Log Cabin Blanket of Doom

Finally we have the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket (of Doom) that will continue to plague me in my dreams even after I have cast off (for the final time, since each block has to be cast off). It's huge, it's got tiny stitches, and I'm never promising anyone an afghan again. Even if they get married underwater and have their first baby in space. Sorry Space Baby, no blanket for you! I really love my friends so I'm sticking with this one but I really want it finished before Christmas. Thankfully proper etiquette says you can send a wedding present up to 6 months after the wedding. Christmas would be just over that line but I think I can push it and they'd still be ok. Oh, and I only just started block 4 of 10. So, yeah. But I knew this one was nowhere close to being done and I wasn't even trying to convince myself otherwise.

So, none of my current projects are to a point where I can think about them being done. But today it's a holiday and it's raining so there will be knitting. I'm very excited about the rain because it's been over 35 days since it's rained. Yes, you read that right, over 35. I couldn't get data back further than August but I bet it's closer to 40 or 45 days without any rain. Which means it's been miserably hot. Since last night (when it started raining) the temperature has dropped over 20 degrees. That calls for a celebration in and of itself. I'm going to go sit on my cooler by the stick and say stuff to people (not really but I will knit and try to pretend like there isn't laundry sitting in the hallway).

"Dabbling" in Crochet

I got to thinking the other day about possibly teaching myself to crochet. Now that I'm self-employed I have a little bit of free time to learn (if I so desired). I've heard some people claim that crochet is faster than knitting and I thought this might be of some advantage in the blanket making department. I mean, there's an afghan hook the size of Texas that can apparently be used.

Giant afghan hook

My previous experience with crochet has been rather limited. I can make a chain but that's about it. Then I remembered the purple mitered squares blanket. I needed to start piecing it together and I didn't want to sew the thing up (I hate seaming with a passion). A quick Google search on crochet seaming and I had a rough idea of how things were supposed to go. Of course I pretty much adapted the whole thing to Whatever-Way-Worked-Best-For-Me which I'm sure made needle artists everywhere cringe. This is one of the drawbacks of teaching myself something new. I usually just interpret it as best as I can and jump right in. Case in point: for the first year or so after I learned to knit I purled backwards. Side note: I did eventually fix the back of that sweater. And no, I haven't finished it! Thanks for asking...

I assembled all the supplies for seaming.

Squares and yarn

Blurry crochet hook (not blurry in real life, only in crappy-taken-at-10-p.m. pictures)

Then I got to it. My first set of squares came out quite well I think.

First 4 squares seamed together.

It took me an entire movie (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, in which Daniel Radcliff sports some very voluminous hair) to finish seaming all 16 squares together. There was only one mishap. I had originally intended to seam the squares with the "fraternal twin" squares opposite one another (you can see that in the picture above). Well, one set got mis-seamed.

Fraternal twins on the same side as one another.

Not a huge deal and definitely not something I'm ripping out a whole half hour of seaming to redo.

After spending a whole night dabbling in crochet I don't think I could leave my first love, knitting. It would be like saying I was just going to go make out with that guy who's not my boyfriend because he looks like he might be a better kisser. In the end nothing is as good as it seems and everything takes a little work. Plus, I got a sore thumb from crocheting. Not sure how that equates to the kissing thing but I'd rather not work that one out.

Random Monday #2

Apparently I've done a Random Monday post before so this is #2.
1. I slept a lot today.
2. I also got a lot done today (groceries, Goodwill, vacuuming, sending emails, washing bedclothes, etc). I guess it all evens out in the wash then.
3. I tried making fried tuna patties last night for dinner and they were the most disgusting thing I've ever made. I made spaghetti tonight. Much better results.
4. I have an insatiable craving for ice cream. Even after eating spaghetti.
5. I'm obsessed with this blanket:

If I'm not knitting on it then I'm thinking about knitting on it.
6. I have the entire first session of Daria on DVD. I will be watching it and knitting on this blanket tonight.
7. I also have Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Scared Stupid, and Ernest Goes to Jail. I might watch these and knit.
8. The only problem with loving this blanket is that when I finish it I know I will want to make another from the same book.
9. This is a problem because I have lots of Christmas knitting that needs to get started and 3 other blankets that need to be finished.

Pathological Need to Snuggle

One of the gals on Twitter and I determined that the reason why I'm making so many blankets is that I have a pathological need to snuggle. I think we're on to something.

Exhibit A:
The Moderne Log Cabin Blanket. Production has been temporarily halted as I ran out of red yarn 10 rows before the color block was finished. I have plenty more I just need to dig it out.

This thing is huge and I'm not even finished with the third block! This makes it a little unwieldy to drag out and around but it's good mindless knitting when I do pull it out. Would love to be finished with this by October but seeing as how there are only 8 days left in August that may be a pipe dream.

Exhibit B:
Square, Not A Circle Blanket.

Really enjoying seeing how this blanket is taking shape. I'm just using up bits of bulky odds and ends I had laying around. It's seriously depleting my bulky yarns! The only problem is the needles. Using my Boye interchangables and have linked several cables together with the connectors. This is a great beginners set of interchangable needles but they're just not doing the trick any more. The joins between the needles and cables aren't always smooth, the cables are extremely unflexable, and when I join the cables together to make them longer they don't lie flat. This makes moving the stitches around extremely difficult as they usually snag or get log jammed at one of the "corners" where the cables are connected. I really want some 60" Addis but I'm not sure I'm ready to fork over $20+ for the pair. Especially on my self-employment salary.

Exhibit C:
"Assuring" Afghan.

This may actually be my favorite blanket that I'm currently working on. I love that it's going fast thanks to big needles and worsted weight yarn held double. It's interesting enough that I have to sort of pay attention to it but not so complicated that I can't watch a movie or read a few blogs while working on it. And I can attest to the fact that even though it's acrylic it's still warm as I've had it on my lap for several nights working on it. Will definitely be making more afghans from this book when I finish this one.

Exhibit D:
Purple Mitered Square Blanket. While I haven't done anything with this recently it's still marinating in my room ready to be called to action. With several of the above blankets getting too large to schlep around this might be the perfect "on the go" project.

Now I'm off to snuggle with my blankets and satisfy some deep seated urge in my being.

Why I'm Going to Knitting Time Out

Remember how I said I was going to make squares for the purple blanket?

 And I still had the square blanket to finish (It only looks like a circular blanket in this picture. I assure you it has corners)?

Well, instead of working on these projects I started another one. Another blanket. A large one. A VERY large one.

It lives beside my bed and is for late night knitting.

I might have a problem. I'll go sit in the Uncooperative Chair. Just as long as I can take a blanket to work on.