36 hours down- 9964 to go

I finished a blanket that I have picked up and put down many, many times. I think I'm going to give it to one of my students as a graduation present.

Really, that's all I have to say; I just wanted to get my three hours logged before I forget. Pictures shall be forthcoming, when it isn't so icky outside.

Oh, and tomorrow is the last day I have students. I'm SO excited, and I'm sure they are too.

Quiet Saturday

33 down- 9967 to go

Yes, I did ONE hour of knitting this week and it was gasp at school after some kids finished a final.

I spent at least 16 hours a day out of the house and at work this week so pretty much every night I came home and just sat.

But, that can change today! It is Saturday, I'm home alone until tomorrow afternoon, and other than trying to make my house less disgusting I plan on spending a lot of time knitting. My plan of attach is to make a list and between each part of cleaning I'll knit a few rows on something. I'd really like to sit outside and knit, but I'm working on a giant, heavy blanket so that idea is out.

My lys is closed today. I was ready to go out and buy yarn for the rainbow fish blanket I want to make, but Memorial Day weekend has other plans. So, I think I'm going to make myself finish the heavy blanket I'm working on and then buy yarn when it is finished. (I'm all about bribing myself, can you tell?)

Steeking...

32 hours down- 9968 to go

I might not have done much other than knit yesterday. Well, I did a boatload of laundry and reorganized some stuff, but it was only because I felt like I had to get my ass off the couch and do something instead of just knitting.

I decided, after being peer pressured via plurk, that I'm going to steek the armholes of the snuggie. This makes knitting the inital piece way easier, but also makes me completely nervous. It isn't like I'm using nice sticky, thick wool. The yarn I'm using is Knit Picks- Comfy Worsted. It is really soft and really slick. So, there will be some pretty serious reinforcing going on before I cut anything. Also, I won't be cutting anything for a long time because I'm approximately seven inches into this snuggie and it needs to be WAY longer.

This week is going to suck- there isn't a night that I can foresee getting home before 8 (even on Friday) and there are two nights that I don't think I'll get home until 11 or later. I'm sure I'll be full of joy, but on the upside it is finals week and if I can bust it early in the week I might score some down time during the actual school day toward the end of the week.

The series finale of Lost was last night, and I am not about to pour out any spoilers or bore those who don't care, but I have to say that I'm a little conflicted and confused.

one square done...

27 hours down... 9,973 to go

I finished the first square of my sock yarn baby blanket, and all I really want to do is go buy some superwash yarn to make this awesome blanket. Yes, I have a problem.

But, I feel like this problem is warranted because I want to make the fish blanket for a 3 year old that carries around a far too small blanket I made her. She needs one her size, right?

So far I'm holding off and NOT buying that yarn, but I have a gift certificate so I know I will. I'm just trying to decide how to justify it to myself. Currently, I'm trying out the justification that if I knit all the yarn I have (even if I've added to it) then I've still met my goal of getting rid of my stash... that's legitimate, isn't it?
There's not yarn in my stash that would really work for the blanket, and there's definitely not yarn to make the rainbow colored blanket outlined in black that I'm dreaming of...

For now, my plan is to inventory the yarn that I have and make plans for it-- then I can decide what to do about the awesome rainbow blanket.

So close to the weekend...

Everyone who has a Monday-Friday type job likes the weekend; I know I'm not special in this regard, but I am super stoked about THIS weekend! Why? There's nothing really planned.

There's a handyman coming over tomorrow and Sunday to fix something things that we have seriously neglected, but other than that there are no dates or times that have plans attached to them. There is a large list of things that need to get done, but I get to do them on my own time in the next 60 hours and that's enough to make me really, really happy. I like lists and more than lists I like crossing things OFF of lists and this weekend will give me a chance to do both things. Crossing things off is especially important because next week I have something after work EVERY DAY. Even Friday. The more I can get done this weekend the happier erin I will be.

This picture is the dog and the cat last night. My husband took it and sent it to me to show how tired the animals were and how they wanted me to come home so that we could all go to sleep. About 10 minutes after I was through the door last night I was asleep. It was glorious.

Sock yarn blanket

23 hours down- 9977 to go

I have a plan. It may be a plan I've blogged about before, but it is something that I think about every day. August 19-22 is Stitches Midwest. I've never been to any big fiber show, and especially not to stitches. I really want to go, but I decided that I need to accomplish something before I should be allowed to go. So, I've decided that I can go IF I knit through all of my stash. I don't have a giant stash, but there's enough to make it a real challenge. Plus, on top of all the yarn I already had I had to order yarn for my sister's snuggie. So, we'll see what happens.

In the stash down vein, I've decided to make a sock yarn blanket. I'm going to use this yarn. Now, I made baby leg warmers and head bands out of the white so there is none of that. I have enough orange for maybe two squares, and I used the the violet and purple, but I have new skeins. I realize this isn't probably enough for a blanket, but it is how I'm going to start.

The plan: I'm casting on 50 stitches and knitting until I have a square. I'm going to make some plain squares and some with different cabled patterns. (Whatever catches my eye in Vogue's cable stitchionary.) I realize that the blanket will be really thin, but I think it might be perfect for the couch in the summer. I'm going to use all of this yarn to make squares and then decide what my next plan is...

I really got started on the snuggie yesterday and so far it is REALLY soft and I like it.

That's not fair or I have jealousy issues

22 hours down- 9,978 left

My husband texted me. His boss can't go to his massage today, so my husband gets to take his place for free. Somewhere I'm really happy for him, but I can't find that place underneath my jealousy. On top of my general jealousy I got rear-ended last night and while my car and I are both fine I'm just a little sore and it is making me mad at karma that he's getting a massage and I'm not.

I'm working on three things right now:

- a thick cabled blanket that I think I'm giving my Teacher's Assistant for graduation

- a lacy scarf out of yarn that's supposed to hold meaning

- my sister's snuggie

I'm trying to work on all three each night so that I don't get bored and so that I can see progress on all of them. Do I have pictures? I don't.

I do have really poorly lit pictures of a baby sweater I just finished. It is beautiful orange with bits of other colors. It is Cables and Lace yarn (which is now sadly defunct) in the "orange room" colorway from the Poe Collection. http://http//www.ravelry.com/people/erincolleen/stash

My brain isn't working and I can't figure out how to make a better link than that...

About that..

I haven't knit at all. We even drove to and from Arkansas this weekend and I didn't knit a stitch. Just wasn't in to it.

Then, this morning I took a half day from work to get my poor little car and oil change and to apply for summer employment and where I could have found a good half hour to sit on the couch and knit I still didn't. I think everything that I have on the needles is at a weird point, and I don't want to work on it until I have a lot of time. So, that should work out well...

Hopefully, when I go to apply for said summer employment there will be someone for me to talk to there, because I don't have much time to go again.

I'm also hoping the rain stays away because there's a track meet tonight and I'd really like to just go ahead and have that- the rain dates do not work well with my schedule.

18 hours down; 9982 to go

Things are crazy busy right now because somehow every May I get over involved and leave no time for anything else. So, my thoughts are short and choppy and this will be short and choppy. I meant to start having pictures in each blog, but you can see that hasn't happened. (And, I'm sitting in the dark in my classroom while my students are at lunch because otherwise my head might explode.)

Things I'm knitting:
- the cutest baby sweater in BRIGHT orange. I have sleeves left.
- I cast on for my sister's snuggie. Haven't knit a row, but it is cast on.
- A very thick blanket that I'm trying to decide (between two people) who it should belong to.
- Sachets for mother's day, because I haven't gotten my mom anything yet, because I'm awesome.
- a very lacy scarf

I'm usually a pretty monogamous knitter, but recently that hasn't really worked.

I figured it out

16 hours down, 9,984 to go

Friday, I figured out why I love knitting. There's always progress when one is knitting (even when it doesn't feel like it,) and the knitter is always in charge. Being in charge and making progress might be the two things that I love the most, and so it now makes complete sense as to why I would be so happy as a knitter.