Summer Summation

For all you people complaining that school starts in three weeks, take note. My professional development starts this coming Monday. As I reflect on my lack of productivity this summer, I realize that I have had a decent amount of time to relax, which has been good. 

My companion has been Whatever is Lovely: a coloring book for reflection and worship, which has been a huge help for me in terms of relaxing. (Follow me on Instagram if you are interested in more) 

I have also been knitting some mitered squares for a sock blanket, and will intersperse with crocheted mitten ornaments to break the monotony. 

What has your summer been like? 

Joining Ginny's yarnalong today

Into the Woods

18 rows as of this morning

My current color palette is very woodsy--dark green, dark brown-- but I'm not feeling as inspired as I should. Some friends came over yesterday, and they all had good things to say about it, so I have to imagine it's just my love of using *ALL THE COLORS* that has me less enthused.

The pattern is Rainbow Ripple again, and the colors are due to a bit of a stash busting need. Purchased the yarn nearly 3 years ago for something else, never got around to it. Now hopefully, this little blanket will be loved by one of my nephews.

As the school year draws closer (am I really saying that!?!?!) I am trying to move away from big projects and to smaller, complete-in-a-day type things. So hopefully, I will have this blanket and several other larger piece done before mid-August. I'm thinking at least a couple of MadCap shawls, Mine Once More and Daisy's Summer Lace for sure, and maybe one more blanket.

What are your goals for the rest of the summer?
Linking up with Ginny.

Twofer

This past week, I kept busy by finishing two blanket projects. Neither were huge, but it still feels like a good accomplishment.

3x5 Sunny Spread 

My Monochrome Sunny Spread turned out quite lovely. I joined using a 2-dc cluster instead of my usual granny join. The border is 3 rounds of dc. While not a large blanket, I am hoping the recipients will appreciate the effort that went into its creation. 

22-row round ripple

Finishing (and declaring finished) the round ripple was a bit more difficult. I really wanted to add a few more rounds, but it was really getting to the point where I wasn't enjoying it. This one measures about two feet across, so for a baby, it's a good size. This one is for my sister-in-law who is due in November. I'm including with the gift a set of prayer cards.

Linking with Ginny.

Progress and babies.

A couple of projects going simultaneously right now, and deadlines approaching faster than originally remembered. 

Cloudy mornings mean colors are difficult to capture

This red & brown round ripple is a gift. After I finish with the brick red rounds, I'll add one more of beige and a border of the gold. Using Vanna's Choice yarn means the matching has already been done for me. I love the way these particular colors work together. 

Still working on my gray monochrome sunny spread, but as its due date is closer than nearly all my other projects, it's taken precedence over everything else. Just last night, I squared up a third of the circles, so I'm really optimistic about finishing-- maybe as soon as the end f the week. 

While this scarf didn't have a deadline, it's been a forever WIP. I decided to bite the bullet, frog the last section and weave in the remaining ends. The variegated sections are Alpaca Sox, which is lovely and fuzzy and warm. The solids are Knit Picks Palette, definitely a workhorse yarn, and one of my go-tos. 

Little Munchkin is ten months old, and just starting to toddle along. His 'signature move' is the three step plop-- just my funny way of saying he takes three to five steps, and then plops on the floor. He's still working on the balance thing. 

Linking with Ginny!

Summer Days

When you're a teacher, typically you dream of summer as your time off. Even though the reality is not always that way. Luckily, I'm still on my "mandatory" two weeks off from school-- before slowly starting to do prep-work for the fall. 

lots and lots of ends

For those of you who have made granny squares before, you know what I mean by ends, ends and more ends. I work in phases for my grannies-- crochet a whole bunch at once, then weave in a whole bunch of ends at once. It may not be the best method, but it is the one that works for me. As you can tell from above, I'm on the massive amounts of end-weaving stage. My Kindle is hiding in the background, but I'm not reading anything new. But you can check out my brief unofficial review of The Secret Daughter of the Tsar, my latest finished read. 

can you resist?

These sunny summer days are my temporary adjustment to being a SAHM. The munchkin and I are still figuring out our schedule, but I'm not crazy yet. We think he's teething, which is making everyone edgy, but hopefully something will break soon.

What are you up to on these sunny summer days?
Ginny's link-up here.

Keeping Busy, Staying Joyful

One of the last days

Books I was reading

Finished Grannies

Little guy helping me read my new book

Progress on the Monochrome Sunny Spread

Busy would accurately describe my last few weeks of school. Collecting the final papers, grading exams, cleaning up my classroom, not to mention everything happening at home. My husband is on the final leg of his schooling this year, which has him doing 36 hours of clinicals plus 2 shifts at work. So all three of us are adjusting to a new schedule. Luckily, my husband brilliantly suggested that I do no school work until I've been done for at least 2 weeks. So crafting and cooking and cleaning and reading new books are the only things for me to do. Plus baby wrangling. All fun stuff. Still very busy. But onto my crafting and reading.

Reading:
I jumped on the bandwagon and read Marie Kondo's book The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up. Other than her new-age/zen ideas about talking to your possessions, I felt like she had some solidly applicable advice. This blog gives a great review on keeping one's faith in perspective while still using some of Kondo's advice. Overall, the idea of joy that Kondo talks about really struck me, and that's what I'm apply the most to my life.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus was a book I had heard about while listening to Catholic radio on the drive home from work. This was the second time I had checked it out from the library, and I still didn't finish it. The perspective of the author is fascinating, and I'm hoping I can get it again-- third time's the charm, right?

My new novel is The Secret Daughter of the Tsar, and I haven't started it yet. Hope to get a start today.

Crafts:
Working on a granny square swap for the next few weeks, so pics of my grannies will be popping up here and there.
Making a monochrome gray "Sunny Spread" for a gift for a friend, and am just starting to square up the circles.
Also, I'm the crazy one who is thinking ahead to Christmas already, and I have 5 bigger projects tumbling around in my brain for gifts. A new nephew arrived in early April, and he never got a gift from me, and there's another new one coming mid-November, so baby blankets for sure. :)

Happy life, busy life.
What are you all up to?

Ginny's yarn along link up

Sophie

Sophie's universe crochet along in Vanna's Choice--colors-- duckie, radiant orange, terracotta, dusty purple, eggplant

Trying to get my mojo back.

Chugging Along

Busy as a bee would be an understatement. Running around like crazy may be more accurate. Luckily, we are on break from school this week, and I'm slowing down enough in hopes of getting my crazies under control for the final push to the end of the year.

Pretty Horses Swap-- VCFC on Rav hosted this swap, and I've been really enjoying myself. Chatting with other women making afghan squares in the same color palette and sending them to various corners of the country is a great diversion for me.

I'm joining mine in sets of four. A good friend of mine is a quilter and she always encourages "more borders!" so this double/triple bordering is for her.

First set of four

Besides this project of giant proportions (it'll end up as a 24 square blanket), I've been working on bits and pieces of other things. Nothing major. Hopefully different noteworthy things will be coming along soon.

Linking with Ginny again!

Something like Progress

This has been a busy week for me. My students get their semester exams next week, so this week has been a push to wrap up material and review. As I didn't get as much done over break as I had hoped, I've been quite swamped with work. The students are also holding their breath for a snow day, which makes them out of sorts. And JT's been fighting off something yucky, so my sleep schedule is completely off.

But progress still happens:

This blanket is snuggle size, though still not finished. Maybe this weekend....

Yarn-Along

It's been a while since I properly shared with Ginny's yarn-along, as work and baby have kept me busy. Oddly enough, I don't have any pictures of finished gifts. They were finished just under the wire, and gifted to my family out of town.

because I need more cosy blankets

My mom and sister have a tendency to pick up Lion Brand Homespun for me, for my craft show projects. So although I just started my 2015 Stashdown-- with the Knit Picks (and more!) Stashdown group - 6000 g net loss by Dec 2015-- I got a few **cough**8**cough** new skeins of yarn. To counter the yarn gain, I started another Rectangular Sampler Blanket. This pattern is great in any weight yarn- for the homespun, I just take out the bobble rows and do more granny rows. Also, since this is a bulky weight yarn, I may do fewer rows-- or just keep going for an adult sized blanket. 

My little one is getting so big!

My little bundle of love is four months old now, and loves chewing on things, wiggling, and standing. He's not crawling yet, but with the way he's moving, we expect it soon. I still have a few WIPs for him, but hopefully will get them finished before he gets too big.

Linking with Ginny!

Out of my Element

I've been sewing. Which is so not me. I never took up sewing when single because my mom had this older sewing machine that she was convinced my sister and I would break. So I took up yarn arts because that was different from what my mom did. But with a little one at home comes the need for sewing projects. I feel silly paying for someone to hem fabric for me-- ala nursing cover or car seat canopy. Several internet searches led me to some DIY designs for both of these items. I didn't even need to buy fabric, because my mom has a friend who used to work at a fabric store and was destashing her fabric a few years ago. There are several large bins of it in my parents' basement now. 

very geometric fabric- so my lines are straight!

Luckily when this idea to do some sewing hit me, my mother-in-law was able to provide. I'm currently borrowing her machine, which apparently she rarely used.

the instruction booklet stays close!

All the hemming done!!

sewing machine problems

I made it most of the way through both my projects before the tension on the machine decided to go wonky. What's left on my two big projects is mainly hand sewing anyway, but 'breaking' the machine really dampened my morning. 

I was able to switch to my crocheting projects though. Both are CAL patterns from the CSW Ravelry group.  The first one I've been working on since July, but was motivated by the September CAL to get moving on it. 

nearly finished

I'm using KnitPicks Stroll and Candy Skein Yummy fingering. The colors are not showing true due to the overcast weather we're having.

My second one is the October CAL, modified to be more of a scarf size. I'll try for better pics when my arms aren't occupied by baby J. I'm holding two strands of Lion Brand Sock-ease together for this one, the second ball being one I dyed a while back. Hopefully the Sock-ease will soften, as it feels a bit stiff right now. 

new project

Pink Shawl-- desperately seeking shallow crescent
Blue-green scarf-- Nena

Wednesday link-up with Ginny

Sitting gets Boring

Sunday Instagram:

Using the super bulky lion brand homespun thick n quick, I have progressed way further than this pic shows. Of course, it having been taken on Sunday has something to do with it. I also finished my book. My little pumpkin went through what felt like a growth spurt Sunday and Monday- he was nursing like crazy all day Monday- so I had plenty of book time. My crocheting progressed as well. I'm working a giant granny with modified corners as a way to work through some of my Homespun stash. The yarn was purchased on clearance for craft show purposes, but I'm at a point where I want it used up more than I want to make more craft show stuff. The FO will likely become a Christmas gift for one of the sets of parents. 

My shawl has made progress as well. I have about ten more rows before the border. 

Since finishing The Beekeeper's Apprentice on Monday, I have been reading bits of different things. Nothing's really sticking, but I'm hoping to find something else soon. 

I'm getting a bit of 'cabin fever', being inside with a baby all day. We've been running errands and taking walks to ward off feelings of depression. 

Stop by Ginny's for more Wednesday yarn goodness!

Sitting Down

I've been spending lots of time sitting. Not complaining, especially when my view looks like this:

I'm working on a single crochet crescent shaped shawl. Using knitpicks stroll in firecracker heather and bare that I dyed pink. I plan to add a third color- berry sangria on yummy fingering from candy skein yarns. 

Near all of my typical sitting spots are books, though mostly I've been reading ebooks on my iPad. Monuments Men is my current ebook, with The Beekeeper's Apprentice on the side in paperback. There are a few other books as back up, but I haven't started any of those yet. I'm enjoying reading both books, and Monuments Men is a good refresher for me for WWII. I'll be teaching that era come November, so I felt it was good to be up on it. 

Check out Tami's and Ginny's for more mid week progress. 

Getting Back in the Groove

It is taking me longer than expected to get back into a regular routine. This past week has been full of ups and downs, with my downs being particularly low. Part of it may be the sinus infection that E and I think we both have, which is leaving me more fatigued than just pregnancy fatigue. But we're coming closer on the end. That is my main encouragement. My only 'worry' is that once I find my new groove, the baby will come along and give me something new to adjust to. I just keep coming back to changes, and adjusting to those changes.

A finally finished blanket in use

There have been a few good days, even when E was working. I've been making precise plans, and  actually got done what was needed. My extra time then became dedicated to finishing my biggest WIP, the 'wedding' ripple. In my typical fashion, I simply crocheted until I was sick of it, then called it done. It's not quite as big as I originally wanted, but it is finished. There are a few ends to weave, but I'm calling it.

Baby Owl

Riding on the coat-tails of that finish, I was motivated enough to finish one of my baby hats. There are several in progress, but I told myself I would get at least one done before Baby is born. Now I'm hoping to have two or three. Only two of them are actually for him, but getting extras done can always be a plus. My craft show stock on hats is low this year, so I've been hoping to get it up in these last few weeks.

This green-- one of Vanna's Choice Baby-- was initially difficult to match, but after thinking it over and halting multiple times, I just decided to stick with another shade of green. Not living with my artistic sister can be such a drag sometimes, because she has always been my main color-matcher. I'm a lot less adventurous with my color choices, and mainly just stick to colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. My sister tells me that her method is exactly the same as mine, but I don't really buy it. She has some magical sense that just allows her to coordinate colors better than most people.

Getting one hat done means I'm just a bit closer to getting more done, which is extremely motivating. Which brings me to more projects that need to get done.

Half-finished Granny Squares

I've come back to my baby granny blanket, and added to that as well. It was started at Christmas time, when I brought a bag of Vanna scraps with me to my in-laws, because my oldest niece wanted some crocheting tutoring. My brother-in-law was extremely frustrated that I was working on something that really had no coordination or purpose-- randomly colored granny squares can do that to even the most relaxed person-- so it was more an effort to tease him than anything else. But it turned into a baby blanket, now intended for our new little one.

 In an attempt to not overwhelm myself, I keep switching between projects. By finishing small things, the big picture looks tidier in my head. My sinus headache is still awful, but the edges around my crafting mess are starting to get smoother. 

Depression is an odd thing. I don't know even if these blues I've had for most of my pregnancy qualify as depression. But it's been a struggle. These moments of accomplishment, though sometimes small, are sometimes all I have to cling to in dark times. E has been amazing through all of this, praying with me and for me and taking on more than his share of the burden. Without his constant reminders, I think I would lose sight of who's really in control. 

These little accomplishments help me get back on track, with everything. Being grateful for the small things helps so much. And these small things get added to the list. I am grateful that I finally finished a baby project. I am grateful that even though he feels as sick as I do, my husband still helped with the dishes. I am grateful that our family has been blessed with life. I am grateful for changes that stretch me, and for normal things that give me comfort.

Linking with Tami & Ginny & KCCO

Keeping Busy

Oh how the summer starts to seem shorter in July. I suppose our move at the end of June didn't help with that much. But there is still sunshine and peace to enjoy, if I take the time to find it. 

New book this week!

So far, I've been finding a decent amount of time for my crocheting, which has taken several different forms. In trying to minimize my stash, I have pulled out a ball of cotton yarn after finishing big projects. In as little time as possible, I try to finish as many dishcloths as possible. Above is my 4th with this bright yellow yarn. I'm participating in a Rav group's "Epic Summer Stashdown" and find that just getting one ball of yarn out of the closet is really helpful for me. 

However, I'm not entirely ignoring other projects. I've been working on a baby sweater as a test pattern, and finally sat down again to put more time into it. It is quite a quick pattern, when I am actually paying attention and working on it. It helps that I am working on it in worsted weight wool, but still a straightforward pattern. 

Baby Sweater in wool

For comparison purposes (and because I wanted to make two baby sweaters), I started a second sweater in DK yarn. This second sweater is in CotLin, which my last project (Hexy shawl) was made out of. I really enjoyed working with it, and wanted more. 

Dim kitchen does not like color

From my first photo, you can tell I've jumped on the bandwagon and started reading Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler. I absolutely love this book and cannot recommend it enough!! It's honest and insightful and so much fun to read! I really have not been able to put it down, which is a joy for me, especially after trying several books that I just didn't like.

Hopefully I will have more progress on my CotLin sweater next week-- lots of car-riding in my future :)

Check out Tami & Ginny

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

With the humidity we've been having, rain is a welcome change. I'm honestly hoping for more daytime rain, as our last two storms were at night.

a poorly lit doctor's office WIP photo

But even with the storms and intermittent humidity, crochet has taken place! My Hexy now has two skeins worth of Cotlin into it, and I have a third still in my stash, with several more on the way to finish up. Not the perfect stashdown project, but stash is still moving from yarn to WIP to FO.

To keep my 'theme' of project polygamy, I did start another project last night. I'm testing a baby sweater pattern for MAD Cap Designs, and so far so good. My husband made a comment about the last sweater I made-- it was a knitted vest for my brother and took 3 years to make- and I scoffed, saying that crochet plus baby equals a faster project. I really hope I'm right this time :) I was only able to get the bottom ribbing band done at craft night last night, but I am hopeful that spending some time with my DVDs will make the progress go faster.

Nothing really in exciting colors yet. Sometimes its uncanny how my colors match my mood and/or the weather. And my dear Michigan cannot decide if it wants rain or sunshine. Early early this morning when I took my husband to work, it looked like more rain. As the day goes on, it's starting to look like sunshine again. So much "wait and see" with the weather.

My reading this week is work related. If anyone ever tries to tell me that teachers don't work in the summer, I may get violent. Take a look at one-fourth of my work:

I will have 4 totally new to me classes next school year, while also being on maternity leave at the beginning of the year. Not sure if this situation is better or worse then last year's, where I had less than two weeks to plan for 2 classes-- plus a wedding. Oh well, the world of teaching is always exciting.

Linking up with Tami & Ginny. 

Longer Rows

I've reached a point in my current WIP where each row feels like an eternity, and the prospect of frogging is extremely daunting.

Long rows  and short rows

The first row of the final section. If I had worked this pattern all the way through the first time, my mishap might have been avoided. But at the time, I was content with the size of my shawl. This time around, part of my goal is using up yarn and with several hundred yards left of yarn, I really need to go on and complete the final section. I've learned that charts are a wonderful addition to a written pattern, but only helpful if you actually look at them. In my haste to keep moving, I misread the pattern (forgetting to look at the charts) and will be spending my afternoon frogging the last row. 

And of course, I only think to take picture in the evening, so the colors are out of whack. As I've mentioned before, I'm using three yarns for this pattern. 

The little bit of blue at the top of my photo is my start on the Hexy shawl in Knit Picks CotLin. To combat the tedium of the long rows, I started this shawl which has been on my list for a few weeks. This shawl stuck out to me because it had an interesting stitch pattern while also not being triangular. 

My reading has been intermittent, as this week E and I have been focusing on moving. The final day is Saturday, with a number of his work buddies coming over to help with the larger furniture. I'm really anxious about it, but I'm trusting that everything will get done in good time. 

Joining with Tami & Ginny!

Summer Progress

With the school year finally over (I finalized my high school grades yesterday), I'm finding that I need to occupy myself in brain stretching ways. In order to avoid a huge pile of WIPs (which I nearly have already), I have been making a point to have near exclusivity with projects, particularly ones that have been in progress for quite a while.

Pulled out of hibernation

My second True Love, which was started back in February for the Ravellenic Games, is my current out-of-hibernation WIP. Habing only started back in February, the hibernation isn't as long as some of my other projects. I'm using 2 different colors of Knit Picks Palette, Mulberry and Fairytale, plus a coordinating shade of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox. My sister will again make fun of my constant use of pinks and purples, but they really are my favorite colors. My husband's family vacation starts at the end of July, so I'm hoping to have a couple of new shawls for the chilly nights on the lake. This may be one of them :)

lots of blues


My other out-of-hibernation project has been the "Wedding Ripple". Originally started about 3 months before my wedding last year, my husband thinks I should finish it up for the baby. I'm stubbornly refusing, saying that this is "our" blanket, and I need to finish it for us. It is nearly queen sized, so will fit on our current bed-- a bit too big for baby. On a whim, I purchased 2 more skeins of yarn for it the other week, and am hoping that all the yarn I have will make it to the end. Of the colors you can see above, the dark blue and the medium green are the easiest to find in craft stores and what I have the most of. After the blue light-to-dark repeat, I'm adding a row or two of beige, followed by a green dark-to-light repeat. There will be reassessment at that point, to see what yarn I have left and if it's big enough.

For both of these projects, I've been watching TV on DVD for a few hours at a time. I'm re-watching Joss Whedon's Firefly, which, if you haven't seen it, you totally should. On a whim, I also picked up the first season of Call the Midwife at my library last week. It took me two days to watch all of it, and I'm hooked. I now have the second season, and will probably get quite a bit more crocheted while watching that.

Books and more books

The major brain stretching of the first few weeks after school's done can be found in this giant stack of books. It's quite a stack of subjects, from faith to history to birthing. The two that you can't see the spine are Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way and The Fellowship of the Ring on audiobook. I've been reading quite closely the Bradley book, as I have absolutely no clue what to expect when it comes to the birth of my child. It's interesting and educational, and has given me a bit more knowledge, even if it hasn't quite made me totally confident in myself. Of course, of all my books, the other ones I am really into right now are personal copies. So while there's no rush to finish those, I'm still reading them before the stack of library books. Oops.

FABRIC PAINT

My last crafting project for the week is fabric painting some t-shirts for the summer camp I'm working at later this summer. I think the fabric painting is my favorite part :)

Check out Tami's & Ginny's 

Back to the Hooks

Half finished Stole

I think I confused Blogger's brain this week. I've gotten into the habit of using three different devices to prepare my posts, and it looks like I finally hit a snag. I had a post all written and posted (so I thought) but upon looking, it's disappeared! 

So instead of attempting to recreate what I wrote originally, I'm just going to say it's been a busy week but I was able to fit crochet in. Every other Tuesday is craft night with some ladies from my church, so I've been making the time to go. Below is what I got done during this week's time. 

It's upside-down. Oops. 

Improvisation is my friend with all my current projects. When I failed my 2 (or 3 or 4) attempts to cast on for a Pebble Vest, I frogged everything and started with crochet. The whole process feels better to me, though I'd sad that I couldn't make the knitted vest work. Maybe a different pattern. Or different needles. Or a new cast on method....

Experiments

A tangled scarf

This week, I'm working on two different projects, but the progress is so minimal on my second, I'm only showing one here. I'm working out a more substantial diagonal scarf pattern. This is my sample, crocheted with a G hook in Three Irish Girls Glenhaven Cashmerino. The yarn is something I would've never purchased for myself, but I received in a swap and I LOVE it! I've been looking through stashes, trying to find another colorway that I might be able to purchase from someone. No luck yet, but I will keep at it. I had leftover from a previous project, and thought a sample is a good thing to use leftovers for. 

I was not going for the sawtoothed edging

This will definitely be something I share with my sister, as the current scarf I have in this color really gets worn- I'm not a brown girl. It's also definitely a sample scarf. As you can see pictured above, I was having trouble coming up with a way to make the decreasing edge even. Two days ago, I tried another method, which cleaned up my edge immensely. 

The edging has improved.

There are plans to try this again, narrower, with a more "me" yarn. My leftover ball has gotten me far, and I should be finished by Friday, if I work really hard.

Linking up:
Yarn-Along
WIP Wednesday