Progress

Well, over the past few months, I have been focusing most of my non-knitting time on my podcast, and less time over here on my regular blog.  Part of me feels that if I talk about something here, that means it'll be redundant to talk about it again on the podcast and vice versa.  The other part of me told that part to shush! and here I am.

On last week's episode, I laid out several mini-deadlines within a few of my WIPs to keep myself on track.  As of today, it's looking good so far!

Dark & Stormy sweater:

Knit with Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage (Short Skeins - 190 yds/skein instead of 200) in the Night Bloom colorway
US 7 needle

Short Term Goals: Finish bottom ribbing by this weekend. Finish sleeves by end of June.  Finish the rest of the sweater (collar/button band) by June 15th
Long Term Goal: Finish sweater by June 15th
Reality: Just finished binding off the ribbing before sitting down to the computer.

I may switch the sleeves and the collar order.  The pattern calls for working on the collar/button band next and the sleeves last. Initially, I was going to do the sleeves next since I knew those would be the challenge for me since they are the more boring parts.  However, after thinking about it, I am going to do the button band/collar first to see how much yarn I have left.  Reading through others' project pages on Ravelry, the button band and collar eat up a lot of yarn since they are so wide.  I still have plenty of yarn left, but I also want to have longer sleeves, so this way I'll be able to just divide the remaining yarn left and knit the sleeves from what is left.


Granny square blanket: (surprise for Carlos - good thing he's occupied with the Portugal/Netherlands game of the UEFA Championship and not looking at the computer so I can post the photo)
Crocheted with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes
G/4.00 crochet hook

Short Term Goal: At least 12 squares per week.  I was at 130 as of last Sunday
Long Term Goal: Finish squares by end of August
Long Term Goal: Finish seaming by September 25th
Reality: Completed 10 squares this week and the afternoon is still young - 140 complete, 112 more to go.


(and why, yes, that is an original NES hooked up to the TV)


Not too shabby if I do say so myself.  Deadline knitting/crocheting and I do not normally play well together.  That seems to be a general theme over the last several years.  Taking smaller bites appears to be working so far.  Let's see how long that lasts!  Happy knitting!

It's Me! Mario!!

Alert the authorities - Jen posted two days in a row! It's going to snow! Oh wait, it is already snowing. A perfect setting for some crafting. The husband is at work, so I figured it'd be a good time to dig out his hibernating Mario Blanket to get it back into the rotation. It's a surprise and I have the chart written out in code on graph paper so he couldn't figure it out. I've only worked on the little seaming I've done when he's not around or when he's in the other room playing video games. Here's my progress so far:



Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted in Wonderland Heather, Red, Chestnut, Daffodil, Oyster Heather.
G/6 4.25mm Crochet Hook

Ideally, I'd like to finish by his birthday in May. I'll need lots of time to seam the 252 squares together, so I figure I should have the squares done by mid-April at the latest. That gives me 12 weeks to crochet 123 more squares. Totally do-able (so I say now...)

Have a wonderful weekend!