Makers' Monday

Welcome to Makers' Monday! 

I wanted to show you a picture of the finished blanket.

Full size diagonal striped blanket

So, pardon the photo.  Actually, just go ahead and pardon every photo for the next week, month, maybe even year.  We're revamping the interior of our house and it's a disaster.   The entire house is one, giant, half finished work zone.  There are drop clothes, ladders, power saws, drywall tools, buckets of paint, lumber.... everywhere.  The few rooms that either are not being remodeled or that are finished contain the furniture from the ones that are.  There isn't a single room untouched.  It's complete chaos and extremely unphotographic.

Anyway...

The photo and background are lousy, but I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for completing the blanket.  It's laying on a full size bed, unstretched and unblocked.  I'm feeling quite cocky over the fact that I knit it on US4 needles, with fingering weight scrap yarn and knit it, start to finish, without putting it down to work on something else.  That in itself is a major miracle!

I can't get too cocky about it though.  The photo lies.  I still have a long way to go with the weaving in of the ends.  All I've done is pull all the ends to one side of the blanket.  I'd hoped to weave in those pesky ends during the hockey game the other night but....

So Faded

So Faded took all my attention.  I just couldn't put it down.  It's been years since I've knit myself a sweater, I LOVE the yarn I'm using, the pattern is an easy, top down raglan knit in the round.  You can see from the photo there is a slight bit of texture involved and the color changes will keep it interesting and will keep me motivated to keep knitting.  I'm definitely excited about knitting this sweater.

One last thing about that diagonal striped blanket.  I know - you are sick of hearing about it.  I'm kinda sick of talking about it but....  Many of you have asked if there's a pattern.  There is not.  But I do have my design notes and will put them into some kind of readable/understandable format and post them here on the blog.  I'll have a couple of days off this coming week and hope to get that done then.  Keep an eye out if you're interested.

Well, that's it for today.  Please join me in celebrating #MakersMonday by joining the link up below.

Ta Da!

It's Three on Thursday and I'm celebrating a giant...

Ta Da!

1.  Ta Da!  As promised, the diagonal striped blanket is finished!  Well, it's off the needles.  The knitting is finished.

One down, one million gazillion more to go.

2.  One yarn end has been woven in.  One million gazillion more to go.

3.  It may be a while before the one million gazillion ends get woven in because about three minutes after I knit the last stitch, I cast on a So Faded sweater using my Dark Mood set of Hawthorne yarns.  No photos yet.  I'm too busy knitting and loving the colors in this set.

Join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.

Makers' Monday

I'd planned to celebrate #MakersMonday by showing you a photo of my diagonal striped blanket with the caption, "Ta Da! Finished!" 

74 stitches

But if I had, I'd have been lying.  I thought for sure I'd finish knitting the blanket last week.  I also thought I had less than 100 stitches on the needle at the start of last week. 

Once again, I was wrong.  At bedtime last Sunday (not yesterday, the previous Sunday) I finally got the courage to count the remaining stitches.  177.  One hundred, seventy seven!  How could I have looked at that and thought it was less than 100?  Wishful thinking I guess.

At bedtime last night, I was down to 74 stitches on the needle.  Barring breaking both arms (knock on wood!!) I will definitely finish knitting the blanket this week.  Definitely.  That is my promise to you and to myself.  The next photo/mention of this daggone blanket will be the Ta Da! photo.  I promise.

Three on Thursday

First, before we get into the Three on Thursday list, I'd like to thank everyone for chiming in about the font size here on the blog.  I really appreciate everyone's comments and input.  I'm also super happy that everyone chose the larger font size.  When I asked the question, I was a little worried that I'd have to be the tie breaker... and I do not like that kind of pressure.  :)

photo courtesy of apparentwind.blogspot.com

So...  Three on Thursday.  Can I even think of three things to talk about?  It's going to be a stretch, but here goes.

1.  Grrr! I'm growling just a little bit.  Instead of spending the day doing nothing but knitting (and hopefully finishing) the diagonal stripes blanket, I spent the day with my mother-in-law.  I'm frustrated about the lack of knitting, but it was nice to visit and it was a beautiful day for a road trip.  I hesitate to say it but, spring may have finally arrived!

photo courtesy of nbcnews.com

2.  The taxes are done and my new glasses are fixed.  Both have been on the agenda for a while.  The taxes for obvious reasons.  The glasses... since getting them back in March, I've had to go in for multiple adjustments each week.  The ear pieces would be so tight they rubbed raw spots behind my ears.  The doctor would loosen them... and they'd slide down my nose.  I'd go get them tightened a smidge... and they'd rub raw spots again.  Loosen them... and they'd be falling off my nose....  It was super annoying and I felt like I was being overly picky but...  And finally they realized - the ear pieces were way too long.  As in WAY too long.  As in almost an inch too long.  They ordered me new ear pieces and I went in a couple of days ago to make the switch.  They are now perfect.  What a relief!

3.  Even more exciting than having well fitting, functioning glasses  is my recent weight loss.  I'm super hesitant to mention it because of karma and all but...  I've lost 22 pounds since the first of February.  I'm pretty dang excited!  

photo courtesy of everydayhealth.com

Other than the slight amount of exercise I get at work, the only lifestyle adjustment I've made is cutting out potatoes.  For the past year, I'd been noticing that I didn't feel so great whenever I ate potatoes.  Then I started feeling terrible when I ate them, and eventually it got to 'never again' status.  And I took that 'never again' to heart.

The strangest thing happened when I stopped eating potatoes.  I stopped craving all carbs!  Granted, I still crave individual, specific carbs occasionally, but the cravings are Nothing like they used to be.  It used to be I couldn't sleep at night until I'd satisfied the need for chocolate, ice cream or a loaf of bread.  Now, I'll just get that weird little tickle in the back of my mind saying, "Wouldn't a Hershey Bar taste fantastic?"  But it's such a tiny, quiet tickle, it's easy to ignore. 

Now, if I could just make my husband understand.  He usually stops at the grocery store on his way home from work to pick up the dinner ingredients.  Four or five nights a week, he brings home a sack of potatoes then is completely flabbergasted when I don't eat them. 

Okay.  So, that was a strange list but it's what's running through my head at the moment.  Care to read others' lists?  Join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.  I'm sure there will be much more interesting lists to read.  Oops. Turns out, Carole is on vacation. If anyone else forgot about that & wrote a ToT post, feel free to leave a link in the comments.

May I ask your opinion...

I'm still knitting diagonal stripes...

Diagonal Stripes OTN 

And I'm still reading Digging In by Loretta Nyhan.  The blanket is progressing much faster than the reading.

But the real point of this post is to ask your opinion about a couple of things.

Would you rather the blog's text and photos look like the above,

Digging In

or like this?  Which looks better on your screen?  Does the smaller text cause eye strain?  Is the larger text so large it sort of jumps off the screen and scares you?  Does the size make a difference on your phone?  And the photos - are they too large and in your face, or are they too small to see?  (Which actually, with my photography skills, may be a good thing!)

So please, let me know what you think.  Small or large text?  Small or large photos?  Which do you vote for?

And while you're voting, join me for today's #Unraveled link up.

Makers' Monday

I hope you'll join me for #MakersMonday and join the link up down below.

Meanwhile...

It's here!  It's here!

Hawthorne Dark Mood

My Dark Mood set of Hawthorne yarns arrived!

Dark Mood

I can not express how excited I am.  I mean, just look at those colors!

Arleta

And specifically, look at Arleta!  Oh! My! Goodness!  Look at that blend of color!  Every time I look at it, (which has been every few minutes since it arrived on my doorstep,) I suddenly crave slightly under ripe tomatoes and over ripe peaches.  I've always thought all the purpley, bluish, greenish Hawthornes were my favorites but no longer!  Arleta is now my official favorite colorway.  If payday wasn't a week away, I'd be placing an order for a gazillion more skeins because I need six sweaters, a shawl, a scarf, a cowl (maybe 2) some mittens, a hat and maybe a blanket all knit with Arleta.

But as much as I LOVE Arleta, I don't want the other yarns to feel bad.  They are beautiful too and I can't wait to knit with them. 

I'm determined to finish the diagonal striped blanket before I start knitting with the Dark Mood set though.  And for backstory, I'm writing this Saturday morning because I'll be working all weekend and wouldn't otherwise have time to publish the post.  And since I'm writing on Saturday and for several days now, my phone has been warning me about possible dangerous/damaging thunderstorms Sunday night.... I'm hoping my phone is right.  Let it storm!  Let Mother Nature rage!  Let the park close early so I can get home and knit diagonal stripes!

Three on Thursday

Welcome to another Three on Thursday list.  This week...

1. I think I owe the world an apology.  I have the feeling the recent crazy, non-spring-like weather may be my fault.  I'm pretty sure my actions, or lack of, have thrown the universe out of balance.  I did not buy a single skein of yarn in March and I haven't set foot in my local Michael's in over three weeks. 

2.  As a result of #1, I thought I better get to yarn shopping and fast!  Luckily Knit Picks has their Hawhorne yarns on sale and I quickly snagged a Dark Mood value pack.  I absolutely love knitting with Hawthorne.  The colors are so beautiful, the yarn always seems to knit up quickly, even when using fingering weight, and being able to toss it into the washing machine is just icing on the cake.  Now, if I only had a clue what I should knit with my Dark Mood set.  Got any suggestions?

fingering weight diagonal stripe blanket

3.  As much as I'd love to finish my diagonal striped blanket before the yarn arrives, I don't see that happening.  I have, however, managed to knit enough decrease rows so that the stitches are no longer in danger of flying off the needle tips when I set the project down.  That's a definite plus.

Linking up with Carole for today's Three on Thursday.

Makers' Monday

Too bad today is Monday and not a Thursday.  I spent my recent day off doing three things.  Well, four if you include all the crying.

knitting, a movie and a bottle of wine

I turned the final corner on my diagonal striped blanket and am now decreasing on both sides.  After only an inch or so, the rows already feel shorter!

My supervisor gave me 'homework' in the form of a movie to watch.  She and I enjoy many of the same movies so when she found out I'd never seen An Affair to Remember....  I knit and enjoyed the movie while drinking a bottle of wine and cried my eyes out.  (I know! I should have been drinking pink champagne, except, yuck!)  I have to admit, I was a basket case by the time the credits rolled.  Besides the movie being a tear jerker (and I'm sure that bottle of wine didn't help,) the ending reminded me of my own back injury + boyfriend situation many years ago.  Luckily, I did not end up paralyzed, I was fine after the surgery, and the boyfriend didn't listen when I told him to go away.  I can only hope Miss McKay was as lucky.

So let's hope you've been creating more than tears and a slight hangover.  Tell me all about it by joining today's #MakersMonday link up.

Three on Thursday

Today's Thursday so you know what that means....

1. It's day seven of a lot of 13+ hour shifts and I'm sort of at that point where I no longer know my own name.  Working seven days in a row isn't all that terrible and 13 hour shifts aren't horrible or unusual either (after all, if I put the uniform on, I want to make sure it's good and dirty when I take it off.)  But having spent the winter doing nothing but Knitflixing and eating junk food, I'm dying.  I think I'll survive though.  If I make it through tonight, it will all be okay.  I have tomorrow off.  Yay!

For a more positive outlook on work...

roller coaster washi tape

Each season I choose a washi tape to be my "work washi" and I slap a piece on my calendar each day I'm scheduled as a reminder not to schedule anything else.  Could this year's washi be any more perfect for someone working at a theme park?

2.  My March knitting was pathetic.  According to my knitting journal, I knit three hats and worked on the diagonal stripe blanket.  Now, I knit a Lot on the blanket but seriously?  I only finished three hats and nothing else?  I'm hanging my head in knitter's shame.

3.  I failed to post on Wednesday so there hasn't been a book report this week.  It's probably a good thing I didn't have time to write the post because I also didn't have time to read anything this past week.

Join me over at Carole's for her Three on Thursday link-up.

Makers' Monday

Why am I further behind on hat knitting than I'd like to be?

Diagonal Stripe Blanket

Because I've been consumed with knitting this diagonal stripe blanket.  I can't believe how fast it has grown.  And I seriously hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that.

I started the blanket on February 19th and I'm using scrap bits of fingering weight yarn and a US 4 needle (I started out with a 3 then upgraded after a few rows.)  It should be taking me years to knit this thing.  It measures 50 inches across and currently is at the 60 inches in height mark but I plan to add another 10 inches before I turn that top corner.

I'm already thinking about knitting another (or three) in different, planned yarns and colors instead of a mish-mash of scrap yarn.  Those diagonal stripes are more addictive than simple, stockinette pi shawls and I didn't think that was possible.  Good grief!

Hope you'll join me for today's #MakersMonday linkup.

Happy Easter!

photo courtesy of eastlinks.co.uk

Happy Easter!