slump September 15, 2007

i think i may be in a knitting slump. i knit and knit and knit and all i end up with are blanket squares. every time i look through my stash trying to come up with a new project, i end up turning to the super fast and simple 7″ garter square. i look longingly at my sock yarn, but i don’t have the energy to wrestle with my DPNs; i think of a scarf either for myself or the red scarf project, but i don’t want to search for a pattern or mess with cables; i see my felted tweed and imagine the cardigan, but i can’t even consider of testing another swatch. i managed to knit my dad another mason-dixon dishcloth earlier in the week and felt very accomplished. what’s wrong with me?! i certainly don’t mind doing squares (they’re going to the ghana project), but i’m used to having a bit more variety. how can i snap out of it?

 i have been doing some embroidery, though. i was behind on last week’s lesson, but i got through that one and now i’m ready to start the new piece, as soon as i figure out how i want it to look.

the big thing for this post, though, is that my grandma is finally really having the surgery for her cancer on monday morning. if you haven’t been reading around here for very long, this post and this post have a few more details about her situation. please keep her in your thoughts and prayers this week as she has the surgery and recovers. hopefully the cancer hasn’t spread.

one last (and less important) thing. if you drink coca-cola products and don’t collect the mycokerewards points, i would looove it if you would email me the codes! i got sucked into collecting them and now i need a bunch more to be able to get something even remotely good.

back in school September 7, 2007

things have been crazy ever since i got back to school. in the first week back, seemingly everything that could go wrong did. in the last two weeks, classes started up, professors loaded us up with projects and every accounting firm around has wanted to feed us and talk to us and make us want to work for them. it’s all very tiring, really. but enough about why i’ve neglected the blog!

 a few weeks ago, i finished up the bathmat that i’d been working on. using most of my one-pound cotton mill-ends also helped me finally get my whole stash (and needles and supplies) in one rubbermaid tub again, which is very exciting!

the bathmat was knit using two strands of dishcloth cotton held together worked on size 10.5 needles from this pattern. i’ve been using it in our dorm bathroom ever since i finished the crochet edging and it works great (and adds much needed color!). very nice and squishy.

 also, i knit my square for the charity blanket swap:

my square is the blue striped one in the bottom right corner. i used the new vanna’s choice acrylic yarn from lion brand and i liked it pretty well, as far as acrylics go. for more details about my square and the project, visit the blanket swap blog.

i’ve also been doing the embroidery lessons over at crafty daisies. each week you learn some new embroidery stitches and then do a little project. i’m really enjoying it…. gives me a chance to use up some of my embroidery floss, too! i even figured out how to do french knots (finally!)!

and that’s about all for now! hope you have a great weekend!