Profound Thoughts

Well...here I am...I've made it through working 5 days before traveling for 3 days to get divorced and then coming back home to work for 8 days...

I have tomorrow and Friday off.  I plan to sleep and knit and weave and crochet and play with the cats.  I have so many other things I NEED to do but they'll get done next week.  Tomorrow and Friday need to be about me.

I think I'll be good on the other side of it.

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I have all these amazing profound thoughts in my head but they can't get organized well enough to make sentences, so hopefully they'll stick around for later when they can be sentences and paragraphs and I can communicate them as profound thoughts.

They're about love and community and the healing powers of positive thinking.

They're about how when you relinquish the need to control how things work out they seem to work out in ways that bless you in so many different ways.

They're about how hearing from people at "just the right time" can make the difference between an ok day and an amazing day.

They're about how sometimes you just gotta play along and start another project even though you have 50 other projects in various states of completion.

They're about how learning to do new things at work makes the time fly.

They're about so many things.

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And today's picture is one of those things I started even though I have no "business" starting a new project...but I wanted to be part of the adventure of the new Stephen West Mystery Knit A Long and I decided that if I could find appropriate skeins in my stash that I would do it...and I did and here it is in its about 1/2 finished state of clue 1...I'm ALMOST ALMOST finished with clue 1 but I discovered a silly mistake I made early on (and it's going to stay because I'm not ripping out over half of the work I've done so far.)  It's a cool shawl, which shouldn't be surprising seeing that it's Stephen West...I'm having a great time working on it and can't wait for Clue 2 to come out on Friday!

Crafting ADHD: Crisis Point?

I think I may have hit a new crisis point in my crafting ADHD...I have zero stick-to-it-tive-ness and I just don't know what to do about it.  And really I don't think I should do anything about it but then there's a niggling little part of my brain that thinks I should.

Should I shut it up?  Or should I just proceed with the way things are going and deal?

Here's the issue:  I'm not finishing anything.  Anything at all.  I'm enjoying myself.  I'm having a crazy amount of fun with my granny squares (I think I made 5 yesterday)...I'm totally enjoying my needlepoint (I even started a new one this week, abandoning the old one because it's so large and bulky and uncomfortable to work on...and I have no idea why I bought it to begin with).  I'm actually starting to think about knitting again (I know it's only been about a month, but it's been a rough month and I was worried that the psychological stress of losing my dad might take knitting away from me like Katrina took quilting away from me).

However, I'm interested in working with my club yarn--one of which came in yesterday and is so pretty and I think it'll be perfect to use to knit one pair of the Cookie A socks from April (you know, the stuff I got before the world came crashing down and I had no focus).  So there's another project that wants to get started...and I'm not sure I have enough needles to start it!

I had the thought yesterday that I just need to knit socks all the time and crochet afghans and maybe that'll take some of the stash down to size...I'm not sure what I'd do with all these socks and afghans.  David said he imagines a cartoon with me sitting underneath a mountain of socks and a Pearl hiding in there.  I can see that too...

And on some level I know that's ok.  I know it's ok to just do what makes me happy and not worry about finishing things.  I'll go on a finishing spree eventually...I always do...but in the meantime I'm starting to feel a tad stressed about it and I need to let that go.

Because really:

• there are no deadlines
• I'm doing this for fun and a creative outlet
• no one is getting hurt
• I've had an awful lot going on my plate lately and I don't need to do ANYthing that adds to the stress
• THERE ARE NO DEADLINES.

There I feel better.

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This morning while I was drinking my coffee, Zora was sitting at my feet having a bath.  She's a very thorough bather.

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Daddy's story:  My daddy was a big player of solitaire.  He would lay in the floor each night watching tv and play game after game of solitaire.  I think shuffling the cards was almost as much fun for him as playing the game.  When I was little I watched him, learned the rules and started hanging out with him playing solitaire.  We would occasionally play double solitaire, but I'd always lose and that's not fun when you're a kid.  Anyway, one day I was playing solitaire with a friend (I was probably 9 or so) and pulled a card from one of the upside down stacks to help me along and she said, "what are you doing? that's cheating."  I said, "that's how my daddy plays and he never cheats."  Later I told my mom about it and she just laughed and laughed.

Yeah...Daddy cheated.  Big time.  He never ever lost a game of solitaire in his life, something that I was terrifically impressed with, even after I figure out why!

What I STARTED over spring break

Yesterday I showed you what I finished over spring break.  Today I want to show you what I started.

A pair of Hermione's Everday Socks in Gnome Acre's Hermione colorway.  The second sock is past the heel turn so will be finished this week.

A new sock yarn blanket that I do not have a picture of.  I'm using the mini skeins I've started collecting and have assigned stitch patterns to the cards in a deck (A-K).  Each new mini skein gets a new stitch.  It will be done in long rows that I attach.  When I get enough to show you what's happening with that one I'll show you.

2 bathmats for David's bathroom--still no pictures of this because it's an experiment.  I'm using 2 strands of dish cloth yarn held doubled and knitting until I get approximately the right size. I'm going to see how these stand up to use, but I'm predicting some knitting rugs around my house in the near future.  The daughters have also requested mats for their new apartment.

A sweater for the skinny me.  This one is in Louisa Harding Albero yarn which is a wonderful combination of viscose and cotton.  It's extremely drapey and soft.  Not my typical color but for $3 a skein I shouldn't complain.  The pattern is Lazio from Berroco.  It's about to hit being in "rotation" with my sock after I finish the bath mat for David (tomorrow maybe?)  I'm anxious to be able to wear a new sweater I'm made in size MEDIUM!  I'm planning to do lots of sweaters for the skinny me

And that's it!  Yea for starting projects, for hopeful times, for wonderful yarn, for a restful break...now I just need to rekindle that restful feeling of being at home and relaxed so that I can make it through the workday...

I did bring up some socks to work on during lunch so hopefully that'll help.  They're neon and will be mis-matchy but oh-so cute.  Can't wait to show you my ideas...hopefully they'll work!

What's a weekend for anyway?

The past two weekends have been glorious to me.  I've relaxed, slept (kind of) late, and knitted and knitted and knitted.  I still have so many things backlogged to show you (completed projects from last weekend) and then I started all these new and really fun projects this weekend...I'm going to have to break my "one photo a day" rule and just show off a little bit.

(p.s. I don't have photos of the two finished scarves from last weekend.  They still need to be soaked and "finished"...but I can show you the rest!).

SO, on Thursday night I sat down and finished the baby blanket.  I blocked it on Friday.  It's just gorgeous.

Then on Friday I started a new little monster.  I'm calling it the "calico" monster, though I'm thinking her name might be Gabrielle...not entirely sure yet.  I'm using the yarn from the first hat I ever made (that was too big). She's going to be an adorable monster.

Saturday found me wanting to start a new shawl.  I love Noro yarns, and I love the way the stripes form in the sample...it was fun getting it started, and I can't wait to wear it.

And if that weren't enough, yesterday I started some mitts...the pattern is called "Snow Queen" but the yarn is in a colorway called "Spring Garden"...which means that these mitts are definitely going to be called "Spring Garden Mitts."  It's part of my desire to use the striping sock yarn I get in my yarn of the month club as something different than socks ALL of the time.  These are going to be some fun and bright and cheery mitts!

And that's it...if it had been a longer weekend, I probably would have started another new project!  I made good progress on the cabin socks.  I have the first one completed and the second one is to the foot.    They will definitely be warm and cozy socks come winter!  I also pulled out my block-a-day blanket and started working on it again now that the baby blanket is finished.

THAT, in case you're wondering, is what a weekend is for...doing things you love and enjoying the company of those you love.  Heaven!