Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Granny Square

I finished up a project.  It is so hard for me to believe.  I haven't finished anything in a while.  One of the reasons I love knitting and crocheting so much is that there is an ending to every project.  You can be finished.  There are so many, many things in life that will never be finished, like laundry.  I don't know about you but as soon as I "finish" the laundry more appears.

This is for a sweet little girl born to wonderful parents down in Tennessee.  There isn't much need for warmth of a blanket since the weather is getting so much warmer down South.  Still, it will be nice for chilly spring days and as a blanket to play on outside.  Plus it is made with love, babies need things made with love.


This pattern is Granny Square Baby Throw by Lion Brand Yarn.  I used Hometown USA yarn in Honolulu Pink, New Orleans French Berry and Portland Wine. I love this pattern because it is easily memorized and works up quickly.  Great for TV watching.

The blanket is much bigger and thicker than I expected.  I've made this blanket pattern four times now.  For some reason, I choose Super Bulky Yarn (Lion Brand's Hometown USA) instead of regular Bulky as the pattern calls for.


It is so big barely fit in the box.  I had to use a lot of tape to keep the box closed.  Hopefully I can get to the post office early this week.  I am so bad at getting to the post office.

I was lucky to have a few days off this past week.  My daughter's daycare closed for staff development so I took off work.  This gave me a 4 day weekend.  I got caught up on several projects including this blanket and filing our taxes. I even started reading the next book for my book club.  I helped D wrote "Mom" for the first time.  I am still trying to do a bit each day and that is really helping my sanity.  I am still having bad days with pregnancy malaise.  Some days are just nothing days were I can do nothing.  Then there are days when I can do everything.  I am trying not to do everything on days when I feel good because I tend to exhaust myself into a bad day the next. I don't need to do everything, just some things.   

Have you finished any projects?

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Future Projects

I have the yarn.

Lots of yarn.

2 skeins of Knit Pick's CotLin in Celery

This will become a tiny, newborn baby sweater. (Yes for July, I know it is not sweater weather.  I'll make it with short sleeves.  Plus the yarn is cotton and linen, perfect for summer.  It will be good for air conditioning and photos.)

10 skeins of Knit Pick's Comfy Worsted in Creme Brulee

This will become a baby blanket.

4 skeins if Cascade's Ultra Pima in Aqua

This will become a maternity top for me.

I have a lot to do in the coming weeks.

As you can see the colors are pretty neutral.  I bought the yarn last week before I knew the sex of the fetus (stay tuned if you want to know too).  I wanted to use gender neutral colors anyway.  Baby stuff is way too pink or blue.  Girl or boy it doesn't matter.  It is loved. 

I should probably start on the top for me first.  What do you think?

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Game

My daughter asked me why I hadn't put her vitamins into the days of the week container for her.  I replied "Because, I can't get ahead of the game."  She asked, "What game?"

This simple question of a 4 year-old has me thinking.  Most of her questions are simple.  "Why?" is a simple question, it just doesn't have simple answers. D tends to ask "why" until I am explaining things at a junior high science level.  Only then does she seem to understand and stop asking or maybe she finally looses interest.

But this question "What game?" is causing me to ponder on life.  Why is it a game and why do I feel I need to be ahead of the game?  I've always enjoyed playing the games that mimic life: Barbies, dolls, Sims, The Game of Life board game.  I enjoy reading made-up lives in books and sometimes I even enjoy reading about real lives. I've given life to one child and am growing another right now.  I seem fully emerged in life, so why do I feel I need to be ahead?  I need to learn to be in and with life as it happens.  This is a very tall order for me.

I am trying to have a new outlook on life, a life in moderation.  I tend to be the person that does everything all at once.  I don't clean all week and then I have to spend all weekend cleaning.  I don't cook the meals I plan, so food spoils, then we have nothing to eat and I have to do a ton of shopping.  I read a book as quickly as possible, in a few days usually.  The same goes for my knitting; I usually don't start projects that will take too long.  I need to be done.  I crave a finish.  Now instead, I am trying to do a little each day.  The past two weekends the whole family has cleaned and cleaned.  This was not my regular cleaning, but a deeper clean than what I normally do.  I might even do a deeper "spring cleaning" if I feel so inspired, but unlikely.

I am now cleaning the kitchen (almost) every night,even though I just cleaned it. I am emptying the dishwasher, even though I don't like it, but I hate the back up of dishes more.  I ask D to pick up her toys and she does.  I think she might get overwhelmed with too much to put away, just like I do.  I am finding that doing the thinks that makes my house tidy doesn't take that much time.  It takes way more time to think about not doing it. After cleaning a little, I have time to do fun things like: help D learn her letters, look at family photo albums and tell D about when she was little, pet the dogs, have family movie nights, read, knit, spin yarn and get D to shower and in bed on time.  (I probably need to add to this list blogging so that I can have a few more updates, maybe 2-3 a week.)

So far so good.  There are still some nights I want to do nothing, being a pregnant working mother does wear a person down, and so I do very little, but doing just a few things makes me feel slightly accomplished and satisfied that I am succeeding at life.

How do you feel accomplished at home?  I have such a hard time feeling this way.  The list of "to-dos" seems to be never ending.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Lost and Found

Have you ever lost anything and just gave up trying to find it, even though you knew it had to be somewhere?  It happens all the time to me.  I don't think it is a memory issue, it is a having too much stuff issue.  Somethings just gets misplaced and are never found again.  In a strange twist of fate, I found not one, but THREE long lost things in the past few days.

I reported earlier that I had lost my dear crochet hooks.  I had looked everywhere and checked everywhere I could have left them.  I was about to go buy a new set when lo and behold,  I found the crochet hooks.  They were under the coffee table in the living room.  So I guess I didn't check everywhere.  Good thing I decided to vacuum under the table or they would still be lost. Note to self: vacuum more or keep track of my stuff better. Neither seems likely.

In July, I lost my good sports bra (by good I mean expensive, supportive, and very pretty).  This is pretty traumatic for a runner.  I had to train for and run a half marathon without it. It was very sad.  I have not been in the market for buying a new one because I had to stop running.  It is sad, but true.  I have not run in weeks.  I just don't feel right when I run.  I do stationary biking instead so I hope I can keep some of my stamina and start running again this fall.  But, anyway, I had lost my Moving Comfort sports bra.  Then, I looked in a bag under my vanity.  I though I just had race stuff in it, you know brochures and biofreeze, standard race bag stuff, but no, my entire unwashed outfit from running the Bix 7 in July was in the bag. I washed it and it came out like new.  Note to self: do laundry and quite stuffing things in bags. But, I love stuffing things in bags.   

About 18 months ago, we lost our dogs' collars and leashes.  They were just gone.  again we looked everywhere at our house and both our parents' houses.  Last night my daughter decides to get her sewing machine out.  Now, I have moved her sewing machine bag countless times in the past 18 months, but apparently I never thoroughly searched in the bag because in there was the collars and leashes. Note to self: see previous commend about stuffing things in bags.

Maybe my luck is changing.  Maybe my pregnancy brain is just switching the way I think.  Instead of thinking about words to form proper sentences, my mind is thinking about where all my lost goodies are located.  At this point, I will take my brain doing anything.

Have you found anything lately?