Discipline

That's today's buzz word.

I must be disciplined.  Because, you see, the yarn for Toby's mitts came today.  And as you can imagine, all I want to do right now is get it on the needles and make his prezzie.  But I can't.  Because I have other things that need to get done first.  So, I won't.  But only because I'm disciplined.

About the yarn:  it's a little darker than I thought, which is fine, but might mean that I don't put a cable on it like I thought I was going to. Cables are awesome and show off such pretty stitches, but when the yarn is dark, it doesn't show up quite as well.  Now, this yarn has a pretty severe twist to it which makes it awesomely springy and also highlights stitch definition.  So it may work out just fine.  If I can find the right kind of cable.  We'll see.  I haven't ruled it out completely but I won't be heartbroken if I don't put one one.  At any rate, I'll put it in the box for right now because out of sight helps with out of mind.  And soon, as a reward for getting my other things done, I'll get his mitts done, too.  And they'll be better this time, I promise.

And as an aside, I received some exciting news today.  But I'm going to keep it under my hat for a bit.  I'll share when the event gets closer.  But I'm thrilled and a bit flattered and that good feeling will keep me in a happy state for several days to come. 

Effort and Reward

Petulance is a trait that I'm not proud to have and try, mostly, to curb.  When I have to do something, I don't want to do it.  So, right now, with the projects looming with deadlines I don't actually want to do it.  In fact, my brain is swirling with all these other ideas and things I do want to do.  

It's come to the point that I have to bribe myself.  If I am a good girl and yarn for the next three hours, then I can reward myself by playing on the internet, visiting the blogs I follow, and reading a book.  But only if I'm a good girl and do my work first.

With a time limit, I give myself a goal to work towards, and when I'm feeling whiny and want to put it down, I know I just have a certain amount of time left.  Once I've done what I'm supposed to then I can do what I want.  

Sad that at my age I need to do this in order to get things done.  And it's sad that something I love so much turns into a chore the instant I feel like I have to do something.  I will gladly waste hours with yarn in my hands when I should be doing something else, but the moment the yarn is what I need to be doing, it's suddenly the only thing I don't want to be doing.  I revert to a  five year old and whine and stamp my foot.

Anyway, this petulant child is taking herself off to work with the yarn.  I'm going to put in the effort so that I can get my reward.

Aw Damn!

Somehow, because of all the stuff that's been going on, I forgot one very important thing: Mom's birthday!

It occured to me, rather out of the blue this afternoon, that I have 13 days till her birthday.  It's the day after the christening.  So, in the next two weeks, I need to make something for Mom and finish the baby's blanket.  Yes, yes, I know.  I always do this to myself.  Leave things till the last minute (even though this time it was unintentional) and then scramble like a mad woman to get things done.  Fortunately, I have all that left over yarn from the lapghan I made for my coworker last month and red is Mom's signature color.  I'm making a wrap.  The pattern is easy and goes fast because it's fat yarn.  Essentially, it's just a rectangle that's 60" by about 40" with a split up the middle on the front half so it sits nicely around the neck and shoulders.

I started working on it tonight and even though I've put it aside for now, I think I'll be able to get it done by the weekend.  Or, more likely, on the weekend.  And then I have to finish that baby blanket because I want to take it in to work for show and tell.  My lunch girls would love to see it in person.  I was telling them a little bit about it today.  We like to share projects with each other to share tips and tricks we've learned while working on them.  And, of course, we love to ooh and ahh over each others talent.  

But because of the looming deadlines, I'm going to have to discipline myself a bit.  Get home and get to work.  No playing around on the internet and books are going to have to take a backseat for a bit.  My wallet will be happy about that last fact.  I've always worked well under pressure.  It's sort of my superpower.  Please, superpower, don't fail me now!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Twenty nine years ago today, I became a big sister.  When the new baby arrived, she brought me a blue purse with a cabbage patch doll face on it and I decided my parents had her just for me.  I was an obnoxious three year old, trying my mother's patience with every word that came out of my mouth, telling her how to take care of the baby.  I was precocious.

Sis and I haven't always gotten along.  But mostly we have and I love her to bits and pieces even when she's annoying the piss out of me.  She'd tell you that's her job as the little sister.  But I'm glad she's in my life.  Happy Birthday, Sis!

Since her "party" was yesterday, I showed her her present.  I was right, she did know something was up because of the whole yarn debacle, but she had no clue, no clue, what it was.  When she saw it, she nearly had a heart attach she was so excited about it.  "Kris!  OH MY GOD! Kris!  You're knitting it?!  OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD!  This is awesome!"  Or something to that effect.  I was pleased.  And she said she didn't even care if it took me a year to finish it and could it please be huge so she can snuggle up in it?  I'm contemplating honoring that request and making it as long as it is wide.  We'll see. 

In other news, I ordered the yarn for Toby's fingerless mitts Saturday.  I think I only over bought a little.  But it's nice yarn so any extra can go into the stash.  It'll get used.  It's the same stuff that I used to make the Tom Baker-esque scarf so it can go in that pile and I can make another scarf someday.

Mathily Challenged

Math and I have never, ever, ever gotten along.  I don't know where the disconnect is in my brain, but even the simplest of equations baffles me and requires the use of a calculator, my fingers, and often a little outside help.  I get ridiculously happy when I managed to correctly subtract 9 from a total and nines are easy!!  But I understand my limitations and I try to work within them.

So when I started Sis's afghan, I worked up a fake gauge swatch so that I could figure out, roughly, how many stitches per inch the particular yarn and needle size gave me.  It didn't have to be exact because it's an afghan, not a garment.  I just needed an idea.  It was roughly two stitches to the inch so I cast on 150 stitches because I knew that would give me about 75 inches, which I knew is a little more than six feet.  Today, while I was working on the afghan, I decided to measure it for shits and giggles.  It's fucking eight feet wide!  Eight!  I don't know how I got an additional twenty inches of fabric, I don't.  Did I measure my gauge swatch wrong?  Was it actually three stitches to the inch and my math was all wrong?  I have no clue whatsoever.  None.  And when I realized just how wide it was, I stared at it for a good ninety seconds debating on whether or not I should frog the whole thing and start over with less stitches.  In the end, I decided to keep going making the width the length instead.  Essentially, I am now working it from side to side instead of bottom to top.

And speaking of Sis...she and Toby went out last night for some birthday celebrating. I dropped them off at the bar and then stayed up so when they called three hours later, I could go  pick their drunk asses up.  It was an incredibly entertaining ride home.  Apparently, I'm "awesome and amazing and not superfluous and wonderful and very, very loved."  It's true, I am all those things :)

Fold 'Em

Remember when I said making a plan was a bad thing?  You know how they say that thing about self fulfilling prophecies?  Yeah.  That was me last night.

OK.  I really do blame the yarn.  You see, it's really loosely spun.  And yes, I'm aware that I mentioned it several times.  But what happened was this: it kept breaking!  The third time, I was at my wits end and ready to cry.  So, I came to a very important decision.  That yarn?  It wants to be crocheted into a scarf.  It does not, I repeat does not, want to be made into fingerless mitts with the mitten flap.  In fact, I'm certain it's very highly against it.  Sometimes, you gotta know when to fold 'em.

And since you were wondering, yes, I'm absolutely aware I am anthropomorphizing the yarn.

So even though I had one mitt about three quarters done, I scrapped it.  Yeah.  Just decided it was done.  I stared at it a long while before I made that decision but in the end, it was the best thing for my peace of mind.  If I didn't want to end up a sobbing mess of girl, it had to be done.  It's all right; he really wanted green anyway.  And I can do it better than that.  I can make the cuff better, and not start the ribbing at the top quiet so soon.  And remember to put in the lifeline where I want the mitten flap to start.  Really, it was a blessing in disguise.  I wasn't entirely happy with it and now I can do it over and better.  And, aw shucks, I've got to go yarn shopping.  Shame, that.  

Maybe this time I'll put the fancy man cable up the back like I was thinking of in the first place?

At any rate, that means that tonight and the rest of the weekend, I'll be focusing back on Sis's afghan and the baby's blanket.  And doing a little celebrating of Sis's birthday. And have some family time which always makes me happy.     

Sherlock and Yarn

In the midst of all this hoopla about Sis's new blanket and the baby's blanket...and getting both of them done in time for their deadlines...I've neglected Toby's fingerless mitts.  It occurred to me today, in the bitter, bitter cold, that poor Toby doesn't have the promised fingerless mitts with the mitten flap because I totally abandoned the project. Now, it was completely unintentional.  I put them away when I was cleaning up because I didn't want them to get lost or messed up in the process...but there they sat, out of sight.  I feel really bad about it because honestly it doesn't take me that long to make them.  And I could have had them completed a while ago.  At the moment, my muse is waged in a battle with herself to try and figure out if we should abandon Sis's blanket (considering we won't get it done by Monday anyway) and try our damnedest to get Toby's mitts done.  I think he'll be stopping by this weekend, and if I push tonight and tomorrow night, I just may be able to do it.  And he really deserves to have them.  

And if I work hard on Saturday, I can still make incredibly progress on Sis's afghan and impress her with something nice to open.

I'm leery of making plans such as this though, because lately when I've made plans, they've gone to shit rather quickly.  Something or someone interrupts and then I get irrationally mad about it.  

I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't hurt to work on them tonight and then move on to something else tomorrow if he is, in fact, not stopping in this weekend.  I've got more Sherlock I can watch (I'm a little bit in love with Benedict Cumberbatch and Andrew Scott) and, if I knit at the same time, I feel much more productive with my evening. As long as I remember that it's 100% Highland Wool and that it's loosely spun, so I need to keep my tension loose as well or the yarn pulls apart.  Surprisingly, once it's knitted, it's very strong and doesn't pull apart.

Yes, yes.  I do believe this is how I will spend my evening