Collage

Collage

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Halfway Over

We are quickly approaching the end of the month, which means a few things. Homework for the HPKCHC is due, I get a long weekend for the holiday on Monday, and half of 2011 is over.

That last one made me pause. Its hard to believe that 2011 is already half gone, and yet it seems like a lot has been packed into the last six months. I lost a good friend, gained several more, celebrated our second wedding anniversary, my husband came home from deployment, a close friend made a major life decision (for the better!), I got promoted, I put school on hold, we bought a house, bought a (used) car, and a lot, lot more. No matter what the next six months brings, I sincerely hope it isn't as full as the previous six were!

On the knitting front, I have decided not to stress myself out about finishing the dish towel for a class. I have to work both jobs tomorrow and I don't want to loose sleep over it, so I've given myself permission to slack a bit. I am sure I will finish in a few days time and that's good enough for me. All I have left on my Boneyard shawl is the bind off and weaving in ends, so that should be done tonight. The quidditch scarf has been at a bit of a standstill, but I hope to pick it back up in July. I have lots of projects planned for July... only time will tell if they get done!

I read an article in an old Writer magazine (December 2009 to be exact) about journaling. It talked about six different types of journals and how they can benefit writers. I had a few blank journals sitting around (and I always admire journals at Bares and Noble and Borders) so I decided to try a few out and see how I like them. I'll report back on how it goes!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Scheduling

It seems that with all of the weird weather we've been having (extreme heat, rain, thunder storms, cloudy, etc) coupled with more daylight and graduation party season, we've been busier than ever. I'm not complaining, I love that we spend lots of time with our friends. Also my brother's girlfriend was in own this week, so we got to spend lots of time with them. But my knitting has started to suffer, so I finally decided to start a schedule. Not actually scheduling my knitting into my day (but if it comes to that I will!) but going through and figuring out the bare minimum I need to go on each project in order to get it finished by a certain day. I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I enjoy doing this. I think I will try it again in July and see how it works over the course of a full month rather than 2 weeks.

Even though I haven't been knitting very much, I have still made some progress. My Boneyarn shawl is 2/3 done and I'm fairly certain I will finish by the end of the month (Multnomah, here we come!). It doesn't look that different from the last time I took a picture, but if you want to see my progress page its here. I have two newer projects I've been working on as well. The first is a scarf, specifically a Gryffindor scarf. Here's a pic:
Sorry for the somewhat dark pictures. We've been having lots of cloudy and rainy weather lately and I finally just decided to take the pics anyway. I bought this yarn specifically for this project several years ago. The intended recipient has kind of outgrown the idea of this scarf, but I never thought of anything better to do with the yarn, so I've decided to make the scarf and sell it on Etsy. If you've never been on Etsy before, only click the link if you have hours to troll through the beautiful handmade items over there!

The other project I've been working on is the first of (hopefully) four towels I will be giving as a wedding gift in August. This project has been planned for a while but I kind of forgot about them while I worked away on other things. I'm probably going to have a dish cloth in progress form now to the wedding to try and get them done on time! Here's where I'm at with the first one:

Its coming along faster than the last time I made these. I really hope I can finish in time without completely ruining myself for these towels, because I really want some for my kitchen!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Halfway!

Yesterday I turned in halfway progress on my OWL for the HPKCHC, which is a fancy way of saying I planned to do three shawls by the end of July and I have finished 1 1/2 of them. You want pictures? But of course!

I'm so glad I got to take nice pictures of these shawls. Our kitchen is 90% finished and I was able to take these on the table by our back door. I think I found my new photo place! I've started another project too, but pictures of that will have to wait :)


Saturday, June 11, 2011

Avatar Movie Review

I know I'm quite a bit behind the times with this movie review, but I wanted to do it anyway because this movie struck such a chord with me. The storyline was really touching and original and I wasn't constantly predicting the rest of the movie, which happens a lot (and it really irritates my husband!) I think one of the things I liked most about this movie was the animation. It was so realistic that it was easy to get lost in the world created by the movie makers. You felt just as jolted when the movie turned back to the human parts of the movie as the humans posing as avatars did. The relationships were sweet and realistic. I would give this movie 4 1/2 stars!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Boneyard Progress

Finally, I'm back and with knitting progress! Sadly I still haven't remembered to take a picture of the Saroyan shawl that I finished a few weeks ago, but I do have a picture of the shawl I'm currently working on, the Boneyard Shawl. I am LOVING this pattern. Its simple, straightforward, and easy enough to do without needing to be tied to the pattern. I'm at 20% right now, and here's what it looks like:

I think one of the reasons I am loving this shawl so much is that I am loving the yarn! Its Knit Picks Gloss DK and its really nice to work with. I can see more projects made out of this in my future!

Coming next... a movie review!