Progressed

The past few days I've been trying to keep up with homework while also having a full-time job which is a little bit more difficult than I imagined, but I'm making it work. It helps that most of the due dates are consistent, so I know which days I'll be swamped and which days I'll have time to do other things like go to the grocery store or the library or hang out with friends. Tomorrow should be a pretty easy day in terms of homework, but I have like a hundred things to do around the house. Cleaning, dishes and all that, plus grocery shopping which hasn't been done for like 2 weeks now. And NS from the daycare wants to go to the library after work tomorrow. She's looking for something specific and thinks I can help her. One of those funny things about nearly living at the library is that now my friends/family think I know all there is to know about the library. Maybe NS just wants to hang out though. I do keep having to give her a rain check cause of all the homework. Either way it gives me a chance to go to the library myself and return a few things. I'm trying not to pick up any more print books until I've worked through the last 3 on my desk, but I have no such qualms about audiobooks since they can be stored on my computer until I have time to read them, so that's what I'll be looking for.
Last post I discussed my monthly goals. So far, I have done at least 2 rows a day on the dreaded Ripple Afghan (apart from today; I think I've only done about a row and a half cause I spent naptime talking to NS). Here's a progress photo:

(Sorry about the colors, this is about as good as it gets when you're not a professional photographer). I seriously did not enjoy the blue and pink in the middle there (the pink is much brighter than pictured, a Caron Simply Soft in Plum Wine I think, and the blue is like a pastel baby blue, the same yarn I used for the first Ripple Afghan), but I showed it to NS and she said it looked seriously cool. So far this blanket has eaten up a partial skein of light purple and a whole skein of off white, so it's doing pretty well as a stashbuster, and is definitely helping with the goal of getting rid of all of my worsted weight yarn.

Another of my monthly goals was to finish one and a half socks by month's end, which at the time was only about 10 days away. It's about 5 days away now and I have one sock nearly finished. I just have to knit the afterthought heel. Here's a progress photo of that:

You can see the cuff here and the sock all way down to the toe. The needles mark the spot where I pick up like 70 stitches and work the heel. Once I'm done with that it'll be quick to weave in the ends and begin another sock. I think if I work to the round where I mark the spot for the heel, I will have hit my goal for the month.

There were a few other goals I discussed in the last post, including the goal of reading 2 books by month's end. I finished Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones the night before last, then I started reading Unearthly by Cynthia Hand. Deep Secret was really good, though weird. It's the second book I've read by that author and I think the only thing that she's consistent about in her writing is that she drops you right in the middle of a story with no explanation for anything and you just sort of have to muddle through and figure it out on your own while everything's happening. It makes for an interesting story, but a more difficult read because you have to pay more attention to detail since you don't know anything about what could be important later. I'm only about 50 pages or so into Unearthly but so far it has that whole supernatural vibe going on, with the teen angst thing thrown in. Don't get me wrong, I love that sort of thing, but I also recognize that it isn't the height of literary achievement. Then again, I read for enjoyment, not because some literary professor tells me what's good. Unearthly is a quick read though, which is good because it will help me reach my goal of 2 books by month's end that much quicker. I'm realizing 5 days is a very short amount of time, especially when most of them will be spent at the daycare.

There was one goal that I've already broken, and that's the resolution about getting my homework done the night before the day it's due. I finished two assignments on their due dates this week. I'm getting better though. Both assignments were done hours early. One was done almost 9 hours early, and the other, a research paper I began on the due date, was done about 2 hours early. Like I said, I'm making progress.

I think next month I'll make a few more personal goals such as having a self-imposed bedtime and a resolution to do the dishes more often. I think knitting goals are easier for me to think about because they don't reflect poorly on my personality when I don't meet them. I can't say that I didn't do my knitting cause I'm lazy, but I can say that about doing the dishes (especially when I choose to knit instead).

Anyway, I'm gonna try and read a few pages of this book before bed and get the rest of that row done on the Ripple Afghan. Happy knitting!

Called

So I know the Blog is itching to hear some daycare-work-related stories right? I have one that's worth it though, I promise. Yesterday, I had two children come up to me pointing at each other in that he-said-he-said way they do. The each told me that the other had called me a skank-ass. I swear to God, you should have seen my face. The only thing I could come up with to say was, "What did you just say?!" Then of course they repeated it. I did the teacher talk thing and said that we didn't use those words, we only use kind words blah blah blah. Then I went over to the other teacher and said, "You wouldn't believe what they just called me." I told her what they had said and she yelled, "What did my son just say?!" I'd forgotten but one of those boys was her kid, so I felt like I'd tattled on a staff kid to their mommy. Anyway, children aside, I wanted to show you the progress I've made with my projects. The kids have like a 3 hour nap, and right in the middle of that I get my break, so there's a lot of time for me to knit. Look how much I got done on DM's sock:

Of course, that's only the first sock but it's already 3/4 of the way through (they'll be anklets since DM won't appreciate the time spent making them longer anyway).

I also wanted to show you this photo, and tell you exactly how I fix my pictures so they don't look like crap. Well, at least I make them look better. Seriously all I do is open up Windows Live Photo Gallery and do the autofix. If it makes it look worse, I mess around with the contrast and shadows and all that to make it look better again, but I just wanted to show the Blog how easy it is to make a photo look 20 times better. I think this one came out a little too bright, but it shows off the yarn colors much better.

I also want to show a little progress photo of the Crochet Ripple Afghan that I'm making out of stashed yarn:

The bright white background shows off the off-white yarn really well. I've only really done maybe 6 rows more since the last time I posted, plus about 4 more that I ripped out because I decided to change the color pattern, but I like how it looks so far. I've resolved to work at least 2 rows a day every day so that NS can have the blanket in a timely fashion. Plus, since naptime is so long, I'll be able to do that and more. If I get bored with it, I can switch to a different project but still have reached my goal of 2 rows daily.
DS's sock hasn't grown more than about 2 rows so I don't have a picture, but I'm ready to start the heel, which is a flap and gusset. That, I can manage. I'm not so sure about the short row heels, but I think I'll give them a try again sometime soon. 
So last post I said I'd do a list of all of my recent reads, and maybe a monthly goals thing. Here's my book list:
Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones (still reading)
The Limit by Kristen Landon
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones (audiobook)
Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (audiobook re-read)
Percy Jackson The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (audiobook re-read)
Percy Jackson The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (audiobook re-read)
Percy Jackson The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (audiobook re-read)
On my desk now waiting to be read are:
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies
Out of the Shadows by Sarah Singleton
And on Overdrive on my computer is The Maze Runner by James Dashner (audiobook).
This list is quite short compared to the last one, but part of the reason for that is that it was about 4 months worth of books last time, whereas it's only been a little over a month this time. I really love the Overdrive thing where you download audiobooks from the library off the internet and they're automatically returned when you're done, but I think it killed my iPod. I tried to transfer one of the books to my iPod and it died. When I drove it to the Apple store near the house I was supposed to move into, the Genius guy fixed it but about 2 days after that I tried to transfer audiobooks again and it died again. I really didn't realize that was the problem until the second try. The most annoying thing about this process though is that the nearest Apple Store is an hour and a half away and the round trip eats up a half tank of gas that I can't afford. Ugh.

So I guess for my monthly goals I'll do a list also:
2 rows daily on NS's afghan
1 and 1/2 socks done by month's end
Reduce stash by at least 300 yards of worsted weight by month's end
2 books read by month's end
Homework done by the night before the day it's due every time from now on
Blog update at least once a week (notice I've been doing them almost every day lately though, so that shouldn't be a problem)

Anyway, since my homework didn't take long today I don't have anything to do now. I think I'll use my stolen time to read a book and maybe get a few rows of that afghan done (I haven't reached my 2 row daily goal yet, so I've gotta do that).

Observed

So I'd just like to say that today was my first day working at the daycare, and it was also the day randomly chosen for the yearly state inspection. Yay! Luckily my class wasn't the one being observed, but NS's was, and because the inspector was there, we none of us could go on break at the right times, the schedules were all whacked out and the children were seriously acting up. I swear even the one year olds knew there was nothing we could do if they caused problems. Technically, all we're allowed to do is calmly tell the children that we don't appreciate their behavior. We aren't even allowed to put them in time out according to the state.
Anyway, other than that, we're also being observed at home. I don't remember (and I'm too lazy right now to check) if I mentioned, but the house that my family currently lives in and rents is being sold. The owner (who also happens to be my grandfather) just switched real estate agents, so the new one is coming out tomorrow to take pictures and all that jazz. Which meant a house-wide cleaning dash for me, and a mild room cleaning for my DS and DM. Gotta love that whole "you don't work or go to school, you should be in charge of all the cleaning" mentality they have. Notice how both clauses of that statement are now completely untrue but nothing's changed. I think I'll schedule the revolt for the weekend.
From all of my recent babysitting, I knew that taking care of children is exhausting, but I actually think this was easier for the most part. The children were on a schedule, and they were all a little older/more mature than I'm used to. They mostly did what they were told, and we had like 2-3 people in each room where I worked so I didn't feel like I was all alone and swamped. It was tiring though. Plus I had to get my fingerprints scanned right afterward, and I don't even want to talk about exactly how annoying that process was (well, finding the people who do it, not the actual scanning itself).
In knitting news, I worked a little bit on DM's sock- it has a toe. I switched the short-row toe for a Judy's Magic Cast On toe because when I tried the short-rows I ended up getting all these little holes (I do know about the wrapping and turning that supposedly fixes that, but the pattern I was following was a no-wrap pattern that obviously didn't work out too well). Anyway, here's a progress photo:

The yarn is called Paprika and the skeins I bough are actually two very different dye lots, so I'm hoping each pair can be done with only one skein, otherwise the socks won't match at all. It isn't exactly the color DM asked for (I think "gay pride flag" were her exact words) but I showed her the progress and she likes it so far.

DS's socks aren't coming along nearly as far. They're cuff down for one, so they aren't as much fun to start and the yarn isn't the most fun to work with. Here's a progress photo of that though:

 I'm about 3 rows farther along now than when this was taken and I'm thinking of lengthening the cuff from 6 rows to maybe 10 or so. 6 looked pitifully small and a sock should have at least an inch of ribbing in my opinion, even an anklet sock.

Yesterday I bought a second set of Boye Size 2 dpns at Walmart (cause we all know that's the best place to find quality knitting supplies) and I'm seriously disappointed in them. They're super squeaky and rough. I ran them over with lotion to make them a little slipperier but it hasn't helped much. The funny thing is that I have no problem with my other set, just this one. No standardization in knitting I guess, which doesn't make sense to me because Ravelry reached 2 million knitters. That's two million people all over the world who carry sharp, dangerous objects as a matter of routine, and we should be able to get some standardization in our knitting needles.

So I'm right in the middle of Deep Secret by Dianna Wynne Jones and I just got into it so I'll blog more tomorrow. Maybe I'll include an updated list of recent reads and I'm thinking of doing a monthly goals write up so I have documented evidence of my progress as a knitter and human being in general. Anyway, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Dreamed

DM is always telling me that I unless I can sum up a dream in 10 words, people don't care, and even then, they start to get bored by the end of the sentence. So here it is, my 10 word summation: My dreams are seriously whacked out. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
So remember when I said I was trying to get rid of stash yarn so I could have less stuff when I move? Check this out:

Sock yarn doesn't count right? Yesterday DS and I went shopping and I wanted to stop at the yarn store to see about some rainbow colored sock yarn for DM because she finally said I could make her some socks. The yarn in the top right is what I chose for her. DS came along and decided she wanted me to make her 2 pairs of socks in addition to the pair I'm already making.
Remember these?

 I think in this post I mentioned that I might frog this sock because it was twisting like a macrame bracelet, so yesterday I did. DS and I looked at some patterns and decided on the Women's Lacy Footlet in The Big Book of Socks by Kathleen Taylor, which is one of exactly 3 knitting books that I own. Most everything I knit is either super simple self-designed stuff or patterns found on the internet (Ravelry is fast becoming my new best friend). So basically, I have 4 pairs of socks to knit, plus the ripple afghan, a lace shawl and my harry potter scarf (which seriously only needs like 3 more stripes, I really should buckle down and do that but it's too hot for a scarf here anyway). Since I bought 2 skeins of everything to make sure I wouldn't run out of yarn, I'll probably have 3 sets of socks all my own made from the leftovers (my feet are so tiny that I only needed 3/4 of a skein for a pair last time). I've been swatching away for DS's socks made out of the toe up eyelet yarn, which is Regia Stretch in a colorway appropriately named Clown. I discovered that either this yarn is super thin, or I knit tighter than I thought because I've had to go down a needle size already and I'm not sure that'll be enough. I've never worked with a size 0 needle (seriously, they're miniscule) but I might have to. *Edit: Everything I just said is completely backwards and wrong. I don't really know why I got it all confused but I did. I would have needed to go up a needle size, but I realized I'd measured wrong. Guess I'm having a day, huh?

In other news, the daycare where I applied last week (you can read about it in this post) called back today to ask if I could interview at 1:30. I'm so excited. Kids are something I can definitely talk about. I'm gonna nail this interview!

Also, that ripple afhgan will have a home outside of mine. I was talking to NS yesterday (she's the friend who got me the interview and the recipient of the owl cable hat that I've blogged about several times) and she said she really liked it, and I thought about how much I cared where it went and decided she should definitely have it for all her interview-finding awesomeness. Anyway, I'm gonna go get ready for that interview, and do some housework while I'm at it.

Sorry about the disappointing lack of pictures and glut of words in this post.

*Edit: I GOT THE JOB! Just wanted to to tell you. That is all.

Seconded

This will be another short post, but I wanted to put up some pictures of my recent projects.
First, my finished owl cable hat:

It'll be really nice to give this one away. I really disliked the yarn and I had to start the stupid hat over I think 3 times at final count. It's a couple of months overdue as well, so I hope the recipient will be happy with it.
I also wanted to post a progress picture of my crochet ripple afghan:

I'm using about 20 different colors of stash yarn for this blanket, which will be a bit small, but I think I'll just keep it on the couch as a lap blanket. It might end up having a new home anyway, because I make these afghans with the intention of keeping them, but they always seem to end up going to someone else. My mom really likes to steal them and I give them away as baby blankets sometimes. The main point of the project was to reduce my stash to about 4-5 balls of yarn to make moving super simple. I should tell you though that my stash is rather pitiful. I have one milk-crate of yarn plus the yarn needed for 2 or 3 projects in progress. I'm not one of those yarncrafters who keeps a room full of stash yarn, but considering that I'm using my crappy Saturn hatchback to move, rather than a moving truck, every little bit of space counts. Until the situation with the house is resolved, I don't know exactly when I'm moving. In the meantime, the daycare where I applied for a job last week hasn't called, but a friend has asked that I babysit her extremely boring 4 month old baby pretty regularly. Probably every Thursday and Friday in the mornings if I'm available, in her words. That should be something to occupy me for a while. The baby isn't fussy at all, he sleeps about 50% of the time that I'm there, and he sits quietly watching television the rest of the time. He doesn't even do that whole smiley baby thing they usually do when you talk to them. It's quite dull watching him, but the mother paid me $20 so that's cool. Plus, I had some time to work on the owl hat and the ripple afghan.
 I'm considering frogging the toe up eyelet sock I showed you at the bottom of this post because it leans to the left and is sort of starting to spin like those macrame bracelets we used to make as kids. DS took an interest in them and tried the one on. It fits, so I told her I could make them for her because I wasn't feeling them, but now I'm thinking they've been more trouble than they're worth. I've started over twice and tinked back more often than I can even begin to admit for a pattern so simple. I guess I'll have to ask her to pick a different pattern for her socks. DM and I talked and she also requested a pair, which means a trip to the LYS and more yarn to add to my stash, a direct contradiction to my earlier resolutions. Anyway, gotta pick up the DS at school.

Abreviated

This is just gonna be a short post, but I'd like to show you two things.
First, a few projects I've started since I last posted.

An in-progress and two finished photos of a hat I made for NB's birthday

Two photos of a beautiful hat out of  my own hand dyed yarn that I had to frog because I found out I didn't have enough yarn

Two in-progress photos of  a hat I've frogged 3 times now. It's for a friend and she has an immense noggin so I've had to resize multiple times. Right now, it's about 90 % done.

I'm also working on a blanket that will follow this pattern, with a different color scheme:

I haven't  had an opportunity to take pictures of it yet, but it's only 2 or 3 rows in now. I frogged it about 6 inches in because it was too wide, then I started over.

Remember at the beginning of this post I said it would be short? That's because pictures take about 10 seconds for me to upload. Anyway, I also said I wanted to show you two things. The first was a stack of projects. The second is this:

This adorable nonsense occurred a couple of weeks ago while I was babysitting for one of my good friends' baby. Isn't he just the sweetest little thing (while he's asleep at least)?

Moved...

Or so I thought.
So Tuesday was moving day. I had everything packed in the car from the previous day's moving fiasco, and I set up an appointment with the cable company for next Monday to set up the Internet, and I also set up an appointment at the Genius Bar to have them look at my iPod. Then I packed up my cat and off we went. (Side note: apparently my insanely huge station wagon cannot fit my bed in it. I had to pack an inflatable mattress instead).
His Highness complained the entire 3 1/2 hour journey. I learned that my car seriously does not enjoy highway driving. Then we took the exit and got off the interstate. The directions were seriously whacked out, but luckily I remembered how to get there on my own because I was moving back to a house that I'd lived in when I was twelve. I drove straight past it once I got on my street though. It just looked so different, so much smaller and sadder. I located the key and went to unlock the door, cat in tow. When I opened the door, a shower of German cockroaches fell onto my arm. Strike one, I thought. Then I walked in. Not only were there roaches on the door, but they were on the floor everywhere and scampering along the walls and windowsills. There must have been hundreds, not exaggerating. There was also a rotting stench like you wouldn't believe, and trash littered the yard. I left the cat there, put out a litter box for him and texted my mom. Not five minutes later, she called to ask how bad it was. I told her, and she sent me off to the nearest store for roach bates. She told me to return home after I'd set those out.
I went to the store for the roach bates and I had to stand in line with a whole basket of them, feeling like the most disgusting person in the world, even though I know I didn't cause the roaches, the tenants did. I have absolutely no idea how they were living like that.
 I returned, laid out the roach bates, grabbed the cat carrier and left. Jasper was so frightened after the drive and something in the house must have scared him as well because he didn't leave the box the entire time we were there. I set him in the seat next to me for the drive back and he slept most of it. I worried from time to time that maybe I'd forgotten him, he was so quiet.
So on the plus side, I didn't get lost. I managed to make it to the house with crappy directions and  I even managed to make it to the nearest dollar store and back without directions. On the downside, I spent 7 hours driving for almost no reason, and I detest driving. And my sister's pissed at me because she doesn't get a room to herself like she expected.
Monday the cable guy is coming, so I have to drive back then, plus I'm trying to find an exterminator who will come out the same day. In the mean time, my friend N recommended me for a job here. If they actually hire me, I might end up staying after all. N called yesterday to say there was a position open and that she'd been recommending me since her first day on the job, so I should apply. I talked to DM and she very crossly said I should apply, while grumbling about having gotten the utilities turned on for the house I should have been moving into. So that's today's adventure. I'm hoping I can get the job, because I definitely need it, but on the other hand, I do have to move sometime soon. This semester I can live anywhere because my classes are online, but next semester I have to take classes at university, which means living close to university.
So, for your viewing pleasure, I have a couple of pictures of a knitting project I started yesterday because my sweater was getting on my nerves:

This last picture was about 5 rows from the point where I discovered that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish and I had to frog the whole thing. Luckily, I hadn't really spent much time working on it. Besides, I promised N that I would knit her an owl cable hat, and I've frogged that project twice since I made the promise. It's been like 3 months and I had to start over at the halfway point because it was too small. Then I cast on and had the owl cable brim finished before I realized I'd cast on the exact same number of stitches as the first time, so I had to start over again. The cast on stitches are sitting on my needles waiting to be counted and recounted so I can start this project for the third time,  and I'm really hoping I get it right this time. It's another N's (let's call her NB) birthday in a couple of days and I have to come up with a gift for her as well, which means a trip to the yarn store and some furious knitting in the works. I've had to put my socks and my shawl in hibernation for the time being so I can get all of that done.
On my sweater, I discovered that I would have to pick up and knit a neckline edging, and I was trying to come up with a pattern that would work for that but still match the rest of the sweater and the only thing I could come up with was to do another set of owl cables. The downside to that is that it's an 11 stitch repeat so I'd have to pick up a very exact number of stitches, plus the beads for the owl eyes will probably get caught in my hair. But if I did a simple ribbing it wouldn't match the rest of the sweater. I guess that's probably a question for one of my knitterly friends.

Joined

 So remember the  sweater (scroll to the bottom) I was working on a couple of posts ago. I joined all of the pieces together last week and have been knitting away at the yoke and neckline. I had to bind off about 96 stitches for the top neckline and began knitting flat, which was really strange for me because I don't recall ever switching from knitting in the round to knitting flat in the middle of a project. It definitely took some adjusting. I think I joined all the pieces together last Thursday, because I had to go to the specialty store in order to find a set of circs long enough (40") for all of the sleeve and yoke stitches on Thursday. 

 

These pictures were taken just after I joined all of the stitches. A few inches of knitting has been done since. In preparation for my big move I have pretty much abandoned all other knitting at this point. Everything is packed into my car so I can leave tomorrow morning, and I kept only my sweater out. I'm really anticipating finishing this WIP and moving on to other projects, but I will miss working on this when it's finally finished. It's such a big undertaking and it's been so omnipresent (or at least the pieces have been) that it will be so weird to be without it. Plus, it's my very first sweater. It will be exciting to try it on though, and I'm almost certain it will fit perfectly because I measured and remeasured and gauged and everything.  The pattern is based on Nina's Sweater Class at knitpicks.com I'm a math-oriented person, but I can honestly say that some of the number crunching didn't make sense to me, especially the stuff about the yoke, but one of the amazing things about knitting is that you can read and reread a pattern and it just doesn't make sense, but once you start knitting, all of the stitches fall in line and you can see how everything works. Knitting, for me, is almost like magic. You can see what's being done in small motions, but all of a sudden one day everything comes together like all of the pieces just magically joined themselves.
Aside from knitting, I did mention that I'm moving. Due to a complicated set of circumstances, the house my mom rents out has become available, and it happens to be only 45 minutes away from the university's campus, as opposed to the 3 1/2 hours it is to get there from where I live now. Since all of my classes are online, this hasn't been a huge problem, but with the house vacant, someone needs to live there at the very least to prevent squatters. I meant to move today. I had all of my things, everything I would take with me, piled on my desk ready to be put into the car this morning. Then I woke up with a queasy stomach and a horrible throat ache. I tried to get up and start packing up the car, but I only managed to make it to the corner Walgreens and back before nearly collapsing on my bed, my head spinning dizzily. I slept most of the day and woke when my sister came home wondering why I hadn't left yet. I felt better, so I began to pack up the car so I would have only a few things to worry about in the morning, or maybe Wednesday if I wake up feeling worse than today. I managed to fit a few extra things in my car because I had more room than I thought I would, which means I'll have my entire collection of books with me! I was only planning on bringing about 5 of them because I'll still have to come back for my desk eventually, but since they fit, I got to pack them. Only one of the kitties is coming with me though. Jasper has always been mine, and while I technically own one other and there are four total, I really only wanted to bring him. I discussed it with DS and DM and they both agreed that they would want to keep Emmett, and that I wouldn't have to take their cats with me as well. The 3 hours in the car with Jasper will be fun, especially since he hates cars, and mine isn't exactly designed for highway travel.  The car doesn't like to go any faster than 60 mph, so the journey will probably take even longer than I expect. His Highness seems content now, and he even tried to sleep in the cat carrier when I brought it out, but he won't be happy in the morning.
It's technically Spring Break at university right now, so I'm not too concerned about getting my work done while moving, but my first order of business when I arrive is to call the cable company and have internet set up so I can resume work next week. I'll also be looking for work and trying to find the nearest Genius Bar so I can have my iPod checked out. It's completely broken and I'm hoping they'll just replace it, but it isn't under warranty anymore, so there's a huge chance I'll just have to buy a new one. I know they're not meant to last very long, but I keep coming back to them anyway because I know how they work. Though the fact that they're insanely expensive and liable to break is getting on my nerves. That's all for now, but I'll try to keep my loyal readers posted.