Switching Gears Part 2

And now for the exciting conclusion.

The fifth project on my list is the You Are My Sunshine CAL which I began in May 2018. In a way it's the opposite of the Solar System, since it's sunny and bright. I haven't really picked colors that are in my usual comfort zone, so I don't know how this is going to go. My task was to finish part two.

The sixth past project is one I'm going to abbreviate as GCG. I began it in September 2018. It's possibly the first project that I've felt like I could really put a title on it and label it like a work of fiber art. But I'm going to hold on to that title until I've finished and given it to the intended recipient. It is equal parts HILARIOUS and thoughtful. I finished up a part that I had been stuck on and un-crocheted a part that wasn't working.


Seventh on my list is the Hooked and Locked CAL that I began in October 2018. It's a really different technique that I wanted to try, but I couldn't work on it because I need to buy some yarn. So I made a rude gesture at Perfectionism and skipped right on.


The 8th project is called Reyna which I also started in October 2018. This is a knit shawl which uses sock yarn. I'm getting closer to the end but there isn't really a set section I could break it down into like many of the other projects. So I just knit 3 rows and moved on.

Oh the ninth project on my list. It's pretty silly. I had come across a pattern for a knit Sampler Scarf. It uses 6 different beginner stitch patterns. This project and Reyna were both things that I came across and thought "this would be a good way to level up my knitting skillz" But I thought while I was at it, I might as well go ahead and double down. There is a sort of fad in scarves lately called "super scarves" where everything is just obnoxiously sized. So I decided to make it twice as wide and each section 10 inches instead of the 6 inches recommended. This is a good way to go insane. I'm calling it my Super Sampler Scarf, I began it in December 2018. My task was to finish the first stitch pattern which is the most boring one, garter stitch, I had to knit a little under 4" to meet the 10 inch plan.

The last past project that I've finished work on this week is called the Hygge, it's a shawl, but rectangular. I fell in love with this pattern in October of 2017. At first I was going to get my standard cheap-ish readily available yarn, but I just couldn't find colors that would do justice to the pattern. So I asked Tim to buy me the yarn kit for Christmas. The more expensive European yarn is just necessary for this project. But then I was overcome with anxiety about getting the gauge right because if I'm off, I might not have enough yarn and that would be a mess. Finally in December 2018, I figured I better start working on it before a full year had passed with it in my possession. I didn't get very far because holidays and I wasn't in love with the colors. It turns out I don't like the red, orange, yellow, side of the rainbow but once I get the green on I start liking it again. I finished the first part of the CAL in January.

The last time I packed it away, I was really pretty close to finishing part 2 as well, so that was my recent task.

I'm pretty excited about this project, if you can't tell by the word count alone. After that day, I focused on a sewing project as a bit of relief from yarn projects and also just because I've been too stressed out. I needed a more mindless project. I don't know if it's working in terms of increasing the good chemicals in my brain, but it beats doing nothing.

Switching Gears Part 1

After finishing the past project the other day (or a week ago, whatever), I decided to take a different approach to finishing things. Instead of trying to do one project until it's done, I thought I would maximize the potential hits of happy chemicals I could get by completing a billion tiny tasks. In other words, working on all the projects at once. Well, one at time, I still only have two hands. All of these projects are easily broken into smaller parts.

The first project on my list was born in my mind in the summer of 2015, or possibly before that, I can't remember, actually. But I know I didn't buy yarn and start working on it until July 2016. It took a long time to find a pattern that suited me and then it was a huge disappointment. Last time I picked it up to work on it, I had decided to switch gears rather than unmake what I had. So this time, I just finished putting a border on the piece I have. This picture doesn't really show the weird size/shape of it because it's folded in thirds, but you get the general idea:

The second project on my list is a crochet along called Around the Bases. I started it in November 2017. It starts with a choose-your-own square in the middle. I picked one called Blizzard Warning. And then each "inning" is a different border around the square. So my task was to complete the 5th inning, of 16....if I choose to do all of them




The third project was a crochet along from the Moogly blog. I started it in January 2018, but I was also making my life harder (as I do) by simultaneously working on the Moogly blog 2014 crochet along. So this is theoretically going to result in a stack of squares to sew together into a very large blanket. I had left off on a 2014 square that was bowl shaped instead of flat. My task was to un-crochet that and re-crochet it in hopes it would be flat. I don't know if I had miscounted or left out something, but it worked up perfectly.

The fourth project on my list was a Solar System crochet along that I began in January 2018. At some point I had started a second one in a different color scheme. That second one was in my backpack when it got stolen. And then one of the cats peed in my project bag on the first one. So my task was to bag up the yarn so I could launder it. Which I did right away that day and soaked it and the washing has taken several days but it's finally done. While I waited I had moved on to the next project on my list, but I feel like this post is long enough so I'm going to break it into two parts. Stay tuned.

Grateful

In times like these, I am just kind of in awe of how generous and kind my friends are. So many people have been involved in helping me put one foot in front of the other the last couple of weeks. Giving me a ride and/or taking my kids places, bringing me tools and parts, helping me run errands, spending time fixing parts of the van, and many others just simply reaching out. I truly feel like I'm part of a community and don't have to try to do everything on my own.

And I'm deeply, deeply grateful for all of it.

Are You Ready Boots?

So I fell asleep too early this evening which always results in waking up at weird times. In this case I just crashed because I took two long walks during the day. My van is broken. It's been down for about a week and now we don't know if it's even fixable. We have no means for replacing it, if it really is dead.

Being a one car family has it's ups and downs. But a no car family? I don't know if I can do it. I can't physically handle walking everywhere I want or need to go. There is a bus system now, but some of the places I want to go are complicated and I could probably get there faster with my own two feet. Not to mention the bus stops at 7pm.

Having a working vehicle is such a privilege that I am totally guilty of taking for granted.

Sleep

Two days in a row of 8 hours of sleep at times beginning before midnight! What even is this life? What do humans do with so much sleep? Eat breakfast at breakfast time? Put on clean clothes? I don't even know what to do with this.

Two years ago today:

Tried to relive part of my childhood. Almost died.

Five children tried to get themselves lost. They almost died too. From more than one potential cause.

One year ago, I expanded on that thought:

Yes, on this day a year ago 5 little girls tried to get lost in the woods and very nearly succeeded. But I managed to find them and aside from having to walk under some really thick spider webs full of a million spiders, we made it out unharmed.

I also posted a much longer, very dramatic telling of that story, but it comes with 34 pictures and I don't know how to put that many pictures in a blog post, so I'll save that for another time. Thankfully, it was too dark to get a picture of the spider trees.

Little Hits of Happy

This has continued to just be a really bad week. My sleep is backwards and everything. At the same time I've been randomly productive in little tasks. Like putting the camp dishes back in the van.

I keep all kinds of weird stuff in my van. Some of it is necessary, because we have a small place with not enough storage. (Also too much stuff) Some things are in the van for laziness, who really wants to take the fold up chairs out of the van when we don't need them inside but might need them wherever we end up? And some of it is being prepared for adventures.

The first time we met Jenny, my kids got so muddy. I want them to be able to play and explore and get muddy so I started storing the more worn towels in the van. Now we can get into things and we always know we have a towel handy for clean up. Plus we don't care too much if they get stained or torn or lost.

So anyway, dishes we bought specifically for camping purposes come in handy in the van. You never know what you're going to get into.

I've organized different parts of my Google drive. I've continued to work on little bits of past projects. I've maintained some parts of my daily routine even though I'm starting them at random times. It seems like if I do little tasks until the little releases of happy chemicals build up, maybe soon I'll be able to do bigger tasks again.

Moving On

I ended 2018 by taking a photo of all the unfinished knit or crochet projects I could remember and find at the time. There are 14 in this picture. There were two more in my backpack that got stolen and two more that I remembered after the picture.

So far I've finished that rainbow-y piece on the right. It's a temperature scarf for 2018. But then I promptly started a temperature project for 2019 so it feels like it's an ongoing project. I'm knitting both the high and the low held together as one strand of yarn. Some days I knit the previous day's two rows and some days I play catch up.

2018 Scarf

2019. January - June

 In March I finished the peacock feather project, which is a lap blanket. I'm pretty sure this project began in the fall of 2017. I have also sworn to never ever try that one again. It was so frustrating. I may be willing to make something with peacock feathers on it, but not one like this. It's one of a kind.

One of the projects that I had left out of the photo was a giant elephant project. I make all kinds of little stuffed animals but when I wanted to make a special project for my own children, I asked them what size they wanted and of course they wanted giant sized. I believe I began the project in May of 2018. I wanted to make the elephants give the impression of each girls' favorite Girl Scout cookie. I also finished these in March along with making two giant stuffies for my nieces so I felt like I was on a roll of getting caught up on past projects

I got a little busy with other projects. The next past project I finished was at the beginning of July. I had started it as a Christmas gift for a group of my friends but didn't get it done, so I finished in time for a special event we had together.

I would feel like I've been slacking on this project list, except in March, I had this brilliant idea to start keeping track of all the projects so I wouldn't feel like that. In 2019 so far I've started and finished 31 sewing projects and 29 yarn projects. I've also started 4 more yarn projects. And then the whole reason for this post is to talk about the 5th past project that I've finished. Unless I count each part of the project separately, in which case I've finished my 12th past project.

So in December 2017, I started a baby blanket. And it's finally done.