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).

Holidays

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season and will continue the good times into the new year. I had a wonderful Christmas filled with family, food, fun, and a lot of laughter. All my secret Christmas knitting got finished in time. I'll share those projects with you tomorrow. There is one that is especially epic in nature that ended up being finished just in the nick of time.

I got a lot of wonderful gifts this year: a trashcan, some new slippers, a beautiful sweater, new shoes, several cozy blankets (including one that was made by my very talented sister-in-law), some home decorating items, a good book, and...

a photo box! This will really help in photographing finished objects and items for my store. I plan to begin taking pictures of the yarn that I have in stock tomorrow so that I can begin updates before the end of the week. I tested it on some socks that I (finally) finished.

The Ron Weasley Banana Holder socks (a.k.a. the Skew socks). I had to rip back to the heel on the right sock twice before I figured out where I was going wrong (the beginning of the round started on the back side instead of the front). Thankfully it no longer has the weird, sharp turn like they used to. I also took a picture of the mittens in progress.

The color is finally right in this picture! Almost ready to start the thumb gussets. These should be clipping along now even though I'm already wanting to start another pair of socks since I finished the Skew socks.

MLK Day

Yesterday I woke up to one of those "Calls You Really Don't Want to Get." Someone from credit card company X's fraud department was calling to make sure I really did want to get that credit card with the extremely high credit limit that I applied for. Problem is, I didn't apply for said card. I freaked, I got upset, I panicked, then I called my mom. Thankfully she had a sound mind about her (and a folder full of information about identity theft). After she had calmed me down, I spent the next 2 hours going through all the avenues to make sure this wouldn't happen again. The incident threw me off for the whole day. I needed something to help me feel better and get my mind back in the right place. I needed something for myself. Something quick-ish, easy, but would still hold my attention...
Perfect fit.

Bella's Mittens made with 2 strands of Dark Horse Fantasy. The yarn is absolutely amazing for a nylon and acrylic yarn. Very soft and not squeaky. The pattern is great too, the cable keeps me interested just enough to not be boring but it also doesn't really require me to pay attention 100% of the time. I'm going to spend tonight unwinding by trying to finish up the first mitt. Hopefully you had a better MLK Day than I did!

Belated Birthday and FO

Happy (Late) Birthday America!

Saturday morning (after driving back from New Orleans all day Friday) I woke up very early (after, unfortunately, not getting much sleep due to a hot room) and walked the Peachtree Road Race. I finished in about an hour and 40 minutes which I think was pretty good considering that the most I "trained" was about 2 miles. I got a t-shirt (in my size) so I was very happy.
Afterwards I went home and "grilled out" on my George Foreman so I observed the time honored traditions of July 4th.
Yesterday I was finally able to finish the test knit sweater.
I'm so glad that I finished this sweater. Unfortunately, I finished it the day after my brother left town so I couldn't get him to try it on and model it. It looks really good though. I need to get some pictures in better light and send them in to the lady I'm test knitting for. I may also try and wrangle one of my friends into trying this on for a few pictures...

Penelope was very interested in the picture taking.
She looks pretty evil in this picture. She's slightly nicer in person, I assure you.

Erin Go Bragh!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! I'm really wishing I was somewhere where the party has been going for hours already with really good Irish beer and authentic Celtic music. Alas, it's not to be this year. Maybe some day though.

I spent the weekend with part of my family in Boston. My brother was looking at graduate school at Harvard or MIT (guess we know who the smart one in the family is) and so my mom, my aunt, my brother's girlfriend and her mom, plus me all tagged along. Poor guy. All those women. He handled it well though.

Our hotel, the Liberty Hotel, was uber swanky. Probably the nicest I've ever stayed in.
The room before my brother and I destroyed it.

At the end of every bed were these super nice knitted blankets. If of course insured requests for 2 hand made ones.
Friday we toured Harvard and the surrounding area of Cambridge.
The entry gates at Harvard.

I saw this really cool "graffi". I think it was done by Shepherd Fairey who did the Obama political posters. Definitely his style anyways.
We got to see Frank Gehry's building for MIT.
Visited MIT.
Listened to the Boston Symphony (or at least part of it) and the Cantata singers.
Walked the Freedom Trail from start to finish.
I took lots of pictures of the cemetaries I saw. It's a little morbid by they looked so surreal to me.
My brother and his girlfriend rode the ducks. This is an installment based off the book Make Way for Ducklings.
Walked outside of Cheers.
Watched the T rolling across the water.

And then headed home. Thanks to a lot of rain in Atlanta we were delayed a bit at the airport but arrived home early Monday morning safe and sound. Yesterday, after work, I slept off the last little bit of tiredness I had from running around all weekend so that I could hit the ground running today.

Tonight I'll be at book study instead of the pub but hopefully I can celebrate a little this weekend. Maybe I'll even dye some Irish themed yarn (as an afterthought).

P.S. It should noted that today is also the birthday of my favorite lead singer Billy Corgan, thus making this one of the best days of the year.