Happy Monday

I hope everyone had a not-too-stressful weekend. We had a quiet thanksgiving. It’s hard now since the kids are so far apart and none of them are in a position to travel much. DH had to work on Friday which took us out of the position of traveling anywhere as well. We would have liked to go see either of our parents, but that didn’t work out. So we had a quite day, just us and the football games. We also took time to go see a movie. This is a treat for both of us, but a rare occurrence since neither of us likes the environment at movie theaters. (There are just too many people who don’t have a clue how to behave in public). Anyway, we saw the movie August Rush. I don’t usually go around publicly endorsing movies, because there is already plenty of advertising, but if you like a movie that has you leaving the theater saying “wow” … this is the one to see. We will definitely be adding the soundtrack to our CD collection. The story was really good and the actors did a great job of conveying the emotional content. Like I said, if you like a feel good movie, go see it, you won’t regret it.
I got some knitting done, but not so much that I didn’t treat it like a holiday. I finished 2 out of 3 hats that I’d hoped to get done and started the third, not so bad. These two purple ones are basic hats using a 91 / 90 stitch pattern and improvising on the details. One is a two-color snowflake pattern the other is a basket-weave stitch.

The 3rd hat which is in progress is Jared’s Koolhaas hat from IK holiday knits. The twisted cables took a little effort to get the hang of, but once I did it started to get faster. So far I like the look of it. I took a good look at my wool-ease stash, and the goal is to make hats using up these 7 skeins of yarn. That will put me at 21 out of my goal of 20. If I get all these knit and still have time left before we give them to the shelter, I’ll do some more with the partial skeins.

I decided the other two gifts on my Christmas knitting list could take a back seat to hats because I still have a full week after the target date for hats and that should be enough time to knit those two. It’s a plan. I’ll let you know if it works out that way (tee, hee).

Trying To Prioritize

So, I think I discovered that I don’t have a lack of ambition so much as a failure to prioritize. I know I have a lot of stuff I need to do. I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping up with and doing the stuff I write on my lists. But I realized today, that I don’t have a complete list of what I am actually planning to get knitted before Christmas. I have a sort of half-way-formed one in my head that I refer to and I choose projects from it to add to the written list as I think of them. This is okay, but the problem with doing it this way… is well, it’s not prioritized; which could lead to failure to finish. For example one project could take up to three weeks and it’s not even on the list which means it’s not started! So I think today I will really dig down and write down all the before-Christmas knitting I have planned just so I can make sure I’m being realistic and develop a prioritized list or a gift-giving plan B if knitting can’t or won’t happen. (It happens, but sometimes not FAST enough!)

I finished the plain stockinette stitch hat last night (#11 of the 20 hat goal) and started that blasted counted cross stitch. I don’t know if there is a counted cross stitch term similar to frogging, but I now know why this project has languished. I forgot that I can’t count. At least not if there is another human in a 3 state vicinity or, the TV, or the radio…. You get the picture. I was stitching away last night, and then figured out that I somehow had extra stitches – you know about an inch of work back- yeesh. It’s worse than discovering you crossed a cable the wrong way, or mixed up your y/o and m1 in a lace pattern. So today I had to fix it – about 2.5 hours of work to undo and redo it back to the point I was at before problem was discovered. I think that there is nothing worse than picking out those teeny-tiny stitches. (Oh, and BTW, the teeny-tiny stitches REQUIRE use of reading glasses, sigh!) So, it’s progressing, but I think it will only get worked on in early morning when the house is quiet and I can keep the distractions to a minimum. Not during TV time.
So this afternoon after writing up my realistic Christmas project list; I will probably cast on yet another hat and work on a project off of the new list. (let's all sing together now "She has, high-i-yi hopes!")

2 boxes of Kleenex later…Ambition!

Well, I am feeling slightly better than yesterday. I was able to sit up and drink coffee this morning. (ha, ha). Truly much more energy today though. And happily, the runny nose has stopped and the fever has left. I’m still hoarse and I think the cough will hang around a day or two more. I guess I’m in good company, my Mom and DD #2 were also sick last week/weekend. One of the joys of the changing of the season, I guess. Between allergies and fluctuating temps I can never seem to get thru fall or spring without some kind of cold or bout of sinusitis. Sigh. I did regain enough energy in the evening yesterday to finish the purse. It is just waiting to be felted, now. As the pattern promised it really is a quick knit. I’ll post a picture once it is felted. Next up, I’ll probably cast on for another 76-stitch hat with some more scrap yarn this afternoon and I think I better work on my Christmas stocking, just so I can get the silly thing done. Also, I’m thinking I want to work on either my vest kit or my mitered-T project. Beyond that, I’ll be evaluating my queue and project list to decide what gets added to my ‘to do’ list. November socks will probably be something mindless just so I can get them done. (I have 4 balls of SWS planned for socks and they knit up really quick, so that would be two pair for November if I can get both of them done, especially since they are going to be gifts). I made a pair for myself last year and wore them the other day when we went to see the alpaca’s and they were comfy and warm. Perfect for a fall outing. I guess with that said, I better get knitting!

Quickie Update

There’s something to be said for project monogamy – well at least if you’re working on something with a deadline… The second surf sock is starting to take shape. I have been cruising along pretty much. Except for the 5 or so rows that I had to tink, reknit, tink again and finally decide to go with the pattern even though I still didn’t think it looked right. I compared the same section to 1st sock and it looked the same. Don’t know what it is with that section of the pattern, but when I’m in the cable row … it just doesn’t look right. So, I’m getting there. Progress on the office is: 1 container down, 1 file reorganized, 1 pile of shredding done. Just for a treat and a break, I went and visited a major retailer down the road and found this today. Don’t you think it makes a cute holder for a sock in progress? Yup, I checked… it’s the exact same size as my small yarntainer and guess what?! Yup, the lids are interchangeable… oh the possibilities. I didn’t get any reading done on the book club book, but I did also buy the CD that is part of the story…more on that later. I'm going on a care team visit with DH and I don't have much time to post this afternoon. crud... blogger won't let me post photos right now. I promise to add them as soon as we get home.

Lack of motivation trying to find a purpose

Today is a coffee-swilling, newspaper reading; lay around like a cat kind of day. Cool and cloudy outside. No sort of day for going out. I decided it might be a good day to spend planning. My goals for this week:

1) sort and purge two containers of files from office (make that one as of post time!)
2) finish surf sock #2
3) sew purse that I cut out pieces for 3 weeks ago
4) help hubby finish bathroom redo (paint, mirror, towel racks)
5) Finish reading book club book before book club meeting

This cartoon clipping that I found in the files I went thru about sums up the day (my scanner isn't that great - you might have to click- it-to-make-it-bigger to read it).

The cats just did this:

9am:

1pm

3pm:

Watch out Saucey, Zelda's gaining on you!

Time Management ha, ha

After finishing up a few household chores and other things today; I have been totally immersed in ravelry. Bad, I know. Okay not really bad, but time consuming for sure. I played around looking at patterns, added a few things to my notebook and updated more stash. I now have 75% or so of my stash entered. Really, just 3 bins of wool and one of um, acrylic fun yarn left to input.

I also got my to do list re-written as the majority of entries have been crossed off. I generally have a week or two of projects on my list at any given time.

WIP Updates: I finished the first mushroom cap and have cast on for another. This one is in the reverse colors and will be smaller. I finished the HSS sock and mailed the box to my pal yesterday. The first Surf sock is ready for the heel shaping (flap is underway).

I had to fight Saucey for the chair again today, but as you can tell by the longer post, I won… he, he.

So in addition to spending way too much time in ravelry I also had to photograph stash yarn; while I was at it, I took some pictures of what I am fondly referring to as Pre-Ravelry Knitting or pRK.

Here’s a quick peek:

Red Boot Socks (I think this is the first pair I ever knit around 1997 or so, either that or these) Purple striped socks … and some warm gear … My mushroom hat (purple and black circa 1998) and my grey and blue mittens (circa 1996)…

Some more pRK pictures are all out on my flickr site, but I haven’t decided whether I want to waste, ahem, spend time putting them all in Ravelry.

Yikes! I just realized I totally forgot to eat lunch today... now that is bad. I guess the hunger should have been a clue...

Not just another to do list

So didya ever have a day where you wrote what you did on your “to do” list just so you could cross something off? Well today sorta qualified for that. I did get two of the original things done, but so much else just needed doing and I did that instead of what I thought I should be doing. Yeah, like that…

Oh, but I did win a contest! Many thanks to Jodi. I stumbled onto her blog awhile back and check it now and then, I checked it one day last week and she just happened to be doing a contest… so, what the heck I entered on the theory that you can’t win if you don’t enter - and won a skein of sock yarn. Yeah!

Right now the cat is totally hogging the desk chair, so I’m trying to type while sitting on the very edge of the seat. I don’t think this arrangement is going to work very much longer.

Saucey Says:

I’m not giving up the chair... if you don’t write about me you can’t blog today.