Started

This week has been a little tiring. Lots of late nights (there was a Rise Against/A Day to Remember concert on Monday and the Avengers movie at midnight on Thursday), so I was super cranky at work. I don't think the kids suffer much from that, but I'm starting to get super pissed off at how my boss and my coworkers talk to me, but that's another story. As far as knitting goes, I completed the Hello Kitty Afghan on May 2nd. I just had the sewing left to go, and it really only happened because I was watching Farscape and needed something to keep my hands busy and it was the closest UFO. Here's a photo of that:

 That second photo is of the backing. Excuse the wrinkles, as this was straight out of the washer, hanging to dry. I think it really is quite adorable, even though I hate Hello Kitty. It's in my car, in a brown bag along with a notecard with care instructions written out onto it. I struggled to find a delicate way to say that when acrylic catches on fire it will melt to skin, so it isn't a good idea to leave the baby alone with it, but then just went with "This item is not flame retardant." Since it's 100% acrylic though, care should be super easy for the mommy, which was the goal because new mommies have enough to worry about.

Anyway, I also started two new projects, and plan to finish one and start another new one in the next week. As you probably know, Mother's Day is coming up, so I started a pair of socks for DM. They're the same pattern as DS's socks (I've made 2 1/2 socks using this pattern and I still love it, no second sock syndrome here), but in a beautiful blue colorway. It's Premier Yarns Serenity Sock Weight in Indigo. Here's a progress photo (or two):

I also started the TARDIS socks, probably for me since I have til Christmas to make the 2 other pairs, and because it would be nice to test the pattern out before gifting the product. I have cleverly named them the It's Bigger on the Inside socks on my Ravelry page, (*Edit: Since Knitty has that It's Bigger on the Inside shawl, I renamed my socks Sexy, cause, you know, they will be, and also cause the Tardis's name is Sexy). I've only gotten about 4 rounds in to the ribbing, but I switched it from twisted to plain ribbing because in my head I was worried that twisted ribbing wouldn't stretch as much and also because I didn't really see a difference in the fabric when I googled it (google for the win, by the way, most useful knitting tool around). Here's a progress photo of that:

I'm also planning on starting DS's hat as soon as I finish mom's socks, but it'll be tricky knitting both of those projects because much of my knitting happens at home, no matter how much I talk about naptime knitting. At naptime, I have to keep at least one eye on the kids at all times, and abotu halfway through, they start waking up and giving me hell. Anyway, I had to switch patterns for DS's hat, because the one I had called for size 10 dpns, which I couldn't find, and I really didn't want to buy circs since I've never needed size 10 circs for anything, and I probably never will. I chose this pattern instead. It's similar to the one I made her already, and it's cute and requires only 100 yards of yarn, though that is still more than I have in that colorway, I might have to switch yarns for the crown, or maybe make a smaller hat. I don't know, I'll figure it out later. Here's a photo of the yarn I chose for that, balled up with my crank yarn winder:

I forgot to say that when I went to ball up the Tardis yarn, I tangled it so badly that I spent the whole day untangling it. Probably 5 hours total went into the mess I created, but I managed to wind it up without losing any yarn.

After I finish with DS's hat, my mom's birthday will be coming up, so I really won't have much of an opportunity to work on those Tardis socks til the end of June. We're going on vacation for a week in the middle of June though. We're going to a cabin in Georgia, and since I won't be working for a whole week, I'm hoping to get a lot of knitting done.

Let's review my April Monthly Goals:

I said I wanted to spend 45 minutes daily on the HKAD, which I did faithfully. I finished the entire afghan in a little over a month, a feat of which I am seriously proud.

I wanted to read 2 books by the end of the month, and I only managed one: The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa.

I also wanted to finish mom's socks, and one other (single) sock, which I definitely managed. I even cast on for a pair of socks in DS's pattern for me and had to abandon them to work of DM's socks of the same pattern, plus I cast on the Tardis socks. Lots of socks to go around here.

My last goal was to keep the blog updated by posting once a week. I only posted one blog post late, and only by a day, so I think I succeeded on that front.


My goals for this month will be:

Finish DM's Mother's Day socks

Start and finish DS's birthday hat

Start DM's birthday project (probably socks but I'm not sure).

Make some progress on NS's crochet afghan (my crochet projects have been seriously lagging behind recently)

NB has jokingly asked that I teach her how to knit, so I want to at least teach casting on this month, if she can put up with learning such a girly skill.

I'd like to finish at least one book this month. It will probably be a reread of Stoneheart by Charlie Fletcher, which I have on audiobook.


Quote of the day (DM, talking about her encounter with Emmett the cat):

"I said, 'Emmett, you have dandruff,' and Emmett said, 'Purr.' I said, 'No seriously Emmett, you have dandruff. Maybe you should try some Head and Shoulders,' and Emmett said, 'Purr.' So then I said, 'You know, sometimes I feel like we don't communicate very well,' and Emmett said, 'Purr.' So I said, 'Purr,' and Emmett said, 'Stop mocking me.'"