Polar Bear

I have mixed feelings about the color choices I made, in some lighting, it really doesn't work. But in other lighting this Wildlife Graphghan square looks pretty nice. Square 15 out of 20. This project is really moving along now.

I wrote these last several posts on the same day and then published them one day at a time. Partly I was putting off spending time writing some things I need to write. Some of them may be blog-worthy and some of them maybe not. I was also hoping that by now I'd have the next project on my list ready to share. And I don't. This is equal parts my not having a realistic idea of how long it takes to do things, procrastinating, and getting hung up on perfectionism. Additionally, I had decided to actually finish this project rather than just do the next part.

Well. Today's a new day, we'll see how it goes.

Knitting the Temperature

On This Day, 2010: 

"Mommy, I don't like this orange juice. It tastes SERIOUS." ~ Taryn

"Serious!" ~ Caelie

Apparently I've neglected to blog about my 2020 Temperature project. I had finished the February highs and lows in Stockinette stitch on the first of March. I did some additional rows of purple at the end to help make it the same length as the July-December section of the project.

At the end of March, I picked up the neglected temperature project and only got 4 days knit before I ran out of yarn. I wasn't able to get more yarn for several weeks. So it was mid-May before I finished up March and then April a couple days later. I learned a new to me Garter Ribbing stitch for March and then did April in Stockinette.

From there I started doing better at keeping up with the temperature by knitting it up every few days. I did May in a 7 X 3 Flat Rib Stitch and finished this section on June 1 which is always my goal.

June was another month of underachieving and I knit most of the temperature in the first few days of July. I used Stockinette stitch again and bound off the first half of the project.

So that brings me up to July. I really knit more of the days in July than not. So it was easy to get the month finished up on August 1. I used the Garter Stitch.

You Are My Baby Penguin

Being on a bit of a crafting roll, I then spent two days at a conference watch party. In these types of situations, I typically pack one too many craft projects to keep my hands busy while I listen. But in this case, I finished both projects that I took and then had time to spare. It was a little surprising for me.

Part of the problem is that I started with the Baby Penguin from the Wildlife Graphghan CAL already past the halfway point. I had pushed myself the night before to get past the beak so I would have one less roll of yarn in my bag. Well, two less actually because I finished the lighter grey also.

The two greys don't have a lot of contrast, but there really are two shades there. I didn't use the darker grey as the designer had designed because when I look at pictures of baby penguins, that darker grey doesn't make sense to me. I should have known it wouldn't take as long to finish this square since it has so few color changes.

The next past project on my list is called You Are My Sunshine and was designed by Christine Bumgarner. I started it in May 2018 which was in the middle of when I had been working on the Solar System CAL. At the time I was seeing a lot of other people crocheting along with the releases of the pattern and had a lot of ideas about how I wanted the colors to be, but I didn't write any of those ideas down. I'm pretty sure, last fall, when I worked on part 2, I made a fresh plan and then also didn't write that down either. So for part 3, I picked out some colors and made a plan for the remainder and I'll see how it goes.

Keeping the colors simple helps the textures pop out more.

This time I wrote down my ideas for the colors. And by "wrote down" I mean, I made a document in my Google Drive in the folder with the YAMS pattern so next time I pick up this project I don't have to do all the overthinking. I'm pretty excited to see how it pans out.

Solar System Part 4

Yarn Geek Makes' Solar System CAL is one of the first CALs that I actually attempted to make at the time that it was being released. (the blog was known as Two Hearts Crochet at the time) But I didn't start off very strong. The weather kept me from getting to the Hobb Lobb for the yarn I needed so I didn't start part one until after part two had already been released. Then it just kept going downhill from there.

Part 1

Part 2

The pattern was released weekly but it took me a week and a half to do part 2 and even longer to do part 3. 

Part 3

Part 3 included embellishing the sun

By the time I made it to this point, 6 of the 12 parts had been released but I was embracing my slower pace and pressing forward. Unfortunately, someone else's Solar System project caught my eye. They were using a vastly superior purple color for their project. So I went ahead and started a second Solar System.

Part 1

I don't think it's obvious in this picture, but I did the sun differently by using two shades of yellow so it was a bit bigger than the original and had a different look.

By the time I got the 2nd part of the purple Solar System completed, the full CAL had already been released and I had other projects that split my attention away. I was still working on the third part of the purple project when my backpack was stolen with my purple Solar System inside.

That incident really rocked my world in a bad way for a while. So I didn't even try to pick up my blue Solar System either. I just let it sit. One day I picked it up and realized that one of my cats had peed in the project bag and it had dried. So I'm not proud of it, but I stuck the whole thing in a bin to prevent further incidents but also didn't really solve the problem.

The first time I decided to systematically do the next step on each of my past projects, the thing I did for the Solar System was wash it. A lot. So this time around, I picked up a blanket that is much more aged than it should be and it's scruffy in places.

I considered finishing it off and keeping it as a lap blanket.

I considered throwing the whole thing in the trash.

Then I started crocheting anyway. I used up most of the rolls of yarn that went through the wash. The colors and textures aren't the same as the yarn that was already part of the blanket. Next time I work on this I'm going to have to buy brand new yarn which will add another layer of colors and textures that don't match.

I decided that all this drama makes for a more interesting blanket. I kind of wish I'd taken a closer up picture of the part 4 rounds, but if you look closely, you can see the line about halfway between the outer two grey orbit lines. 

What a weird story this blanket will have to tell when it's all finished.

Horned Owl

Here's block 13 from the Wildlife Graphghan CAL, a horned owl. I finished it July 25th.

Can you see the mistake? I can't stop seeing it. I changed the colors that the designer recommended so that I had a very dark brown instead of black and then an off-white/cream/I don't remember what it's called instead of white. I don't like to use white if I can help it.

I enjoyed making this owl, it's so stern and the colors turned out well even if the photography doesn't show that to it's best advantage.

Pandemic Projects

Apparently in times of distress and trauma, some people are overachievers and some people are underachievers. Guess which kind of people I am. So even though crafting is typically a good coping mechanism for me, I really struggled to settle into any kind of decent crafting rhythm. I halfheartedly picked away at a few different things here and there.

I have about 16 ongoing yarn projects. Some knit and some crochet. One is a temperature project which I always intend to work on daily because it's a small commitment, but I often skip a few days and create a larger task for myself. This could be a bit revealing about other parts of my life. Another project is a Wildlife Graphghan and I consider it my most current ongoing project. So I take the 14 past projects in turns alternating with Wildlife squares. I pick up the next project on my list and complete the next step of it and then I'll do a Wildlife square, then move on to the next past project. 

In late March, I finished a Wildlife square and then gathered the supplies for the next two squares in my Moogly 18/14 CAL project. I made a post about that project in March in anticipation for completing those two squares. Then I got distracted with the April Art Challenge. I had hoped that that challenge would help motivate me to get back into my crafting rhythm, but it didn't. I also participated in a Mystery CAL that I could make a post about but I never took pictures of the final result, so that can wait. Once I finally sat down and forced my way through the squares, it only took a couple of days to churn them out.

This is the 9th block in the 2018 Moogly CAL. It's called Coral and Stone, designed by Elena Hunt of Beatrice Ryan Designs. I'm not super pleased with how it lays and the shape of it, but it's anyone's guess how much of that is a me problem and how much has to do with the pattern. 

The 9th block from the 2014 Moogly CAL is called Op-Art and was designed by Jennifer Christensen. This one was very quick to work up although it would have been better if I'd had more contrast between the colors of yarn. 

I finished these about 2.5 weeks ago and have been very productive in the crafting department since then, but I think that's enough for one blog post.

A Favorite April Moment

I ended strong with this challenge on the Facebook page, but didn't follow up here. I had several ideas about capturing a selfie with the fairies in it while at the creek. Unfortunately I didn't make it out there until too late in the day so the sun was in the wrong place. All my attempts were thwarted. Then I tried taking the picture while in the creek and I dropped the blue unicorn hat into the water twice and one fairy boot once. I almost lost that boot, but I was quick. Anyway.

My backup plan was to recreate the original Fairy Tail photo but with two fairies. So. That's what I got.

I really enjoyed doing this challenge, it gave me something to focus on other than the entire world being a dumpster fire. Now that it's over, I think I've been a little more productive in terms of like laundry and dishes. The boring life stuff.