Whatcha Workin' On?

Well, first off, I'm still working on my Venetian Vampires scarf. It's been slow going, a lot of frogging, and even a day to dry out after my boxer stole it off the front porch while I was distracted and unwound the skein of yarn all over the front yard...through the mud...around the flower beds...yeah. You get the picture. I'm still pleased with it, though, and hope to make more progress on it this week.

I've got a friend getting married in April, so I've also had to start an afghan for her. Susan, if you're reading this AVERT YOUR EYES, GIRL!! I found this delicious little pattern on Ravelry, and immediately fell in love. It's called Popcorn Delight, by Aurora Suominen, and can also be found on her blog One Crochet Day at a Time. I'm using Red Heart Super Saver in Burgundy, and an I/9 hook, so my squares are coming out a little larger than 12"....about 13.5". I'm thinking 12-15 squares, joined in Priscilla Hewitt's Flat Braid Joining Technique. I have until the end of April to finish this project, but I'm still going to try to crank out a square a day to make it a little easier. If I accomplish that I may even try to add a fancy li'l border around it...we'll see.

Now I just have to convince myself not to start any new projects until I finish these two...as if!

Another project done!

My second NaKniMo project is finished! I finished up my NYOBE 2008 Lapghan last night.

With the work that I did on my Dierdre Afghan tonight my total stitches for the month are at 12,802. Not bad, but I was really hoping to be past the halfway point by now. I guess I'd better get cracking!

I'm hoping to finish Dierdre tomorrow, and cast on a cowl for my youngest son's Sunday School teacher this week. If the real life monster can be tamed, that is. The pictured lapghan is heading out the door Wednesday for donation to the local Ladies' Auxiliary, who give to local veterans' homes.

The Declutter Zone

That's where I found myself early on this morning. Really early...like 6:20AM early. I looked at the stack of old magazines and catalogs and just freaked out. Suddenly I was sorting, throwing away, separating by date. In other words it was ON!

Once I had purged the main living area of the house, though, the sinus pressure I had woken up with had reached a point where my head was throbbing along to the beat of my heart. Suckage, right? Still in purge mode, but needing to rest, I had an epiphany! Stuffed in my bedroom closet were a quartet of lap-size afghans, all in different WIP status.

The first (the bottom one pictured) is finished, just needs a home.

Number 2 is a stack of 10 squares I received in a swap. I got discouraged when I was flaked on by 2 members, and the moderators chose to tell we that didn't receive all of our squares to just make them ourselves, rather than them finding angels. So I have to knit 2 squares, then join all 12 together and border it. This one will be the most time consuming.

The third is my Scrappy. It's just a rectangular Granny square afghan to eat up all of those little balls of yarn we all have left when we finish project. It's almost large enough, so I'm going to stash bust a couple of bits and bobbles (enough for about another 10 rounds), then border it.

The last is complete save for crocheting & joining 2 squares, then bordering the entire thing.

So that's what I'll be doing in my downtime this weekend, trying to propel as many of these to finished status as I possibly can. After that they'll all be given to my local Ladies' Auxiliary, who will in turn hand them out at local veterans' homes this autumn.

Last week in crafts...

I accomplished quite a bit, for no more time than I had to actually work on things.

First I finished the first of my Anastasia socks. I'm using Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Weight in

Purple Spice. It's a lovely yarn to work with; it doesn't split and slides easily on my needles. I'll be making baby booties for a friend of mine who had a beautiful baby girl on November 30th with the leftovers, which I'm finding is great motivation to ward off SSS (Second Sock Syndrome).

I spent the majority of my crafting time over the past week quilting. I have 35 squares left to finish on Bradley's twin-size quilt for his bedroom redo. I managed to get 140 nine patch squares cut, stripped, sewn together, and pressed. I've still got to square them up, which I hope to get to later today.

My current on-going project is "Scrappy". This is an affectionately

named rectangular granny square afghan that I'm working all my bits of leftover worsted weight yarn into. It seems that the majority of my yarn basket is taken up by these little, tiny balls of yarn that just really aren't enough to do anything with, so as I run into them I'll be adding them to Scrappy until he is as big as I like. Then, if I have any let, I'll start on Scrappy II!

Last, but not least, was cast on yesterday. I cast on and got to about the 60% mark on a Presto Chango baby sweater. I'm using Caron Simply Soft Heather in Truffle Heather for it, and it is coming out gorgeous! I've got the right front and sleeve left to finish of the main body, and also have to do the front flap and sew the buttons on. The best part? I've only got about 4 hours in this sweater, and will have less than 8 in it when it's complete! I LOVE projects like that, how about you?

Okay, that sums up what I got done last week. This week? Well, my goals are to

1. cast on Anastasia sock #2 and get to the halfway point on it
2. finish Presto Chango
3. get all of the remaining 35 squares assembled, squared up, and pressed for Bradley's quilt.

Now I just have to keep the Real Life Monster from rearing it's ugly head and keeping me from my fiber!