Heeding The List

I've started doing this wild thing where I write down what I'd like to get done in the month, and then I give it a think and decide how much that means I should do each week, and then I write THAT down, and fellas, I think I've revolutionized this whole productivity thing.

This past week The List told me that I needed to get 13 squares for Beach Walk done in Week 3 of February, and another 13 in Week 4 to get my total of 52 squares by month's end.  I'm well on track, having finished last week's allotment and 5 more for this week's.  No pictures this week; I'll show you again when something interesting is going on.

The List also advised that if I'd like to finish the crochet poncho by end of February, I should add one of the skeins of Mandala to it last week (check) and one this week (on track).  I'll give it some more love over the next couple of evenings and hopefully pull out one more February is for Finishing victory.  Worst case it's done the first week of March, and that's okay too.

These socks were supposed to be finished by last Sunday, but sometimes The List is a jerk and has unreasonable expectations. They're finished now though, so all is as it should be.  This is another 75/25 commercial workhorse yarn that I picked up from Wool Warehouse a few years ago, because no yarn should travel alone, and that goes double for yarn coming across an ocean.  They were just the shot of Valentine's cheer my February needed.  

Pattern is my standard vanilla with a Fish Lips Kiss Heel, this time with 68 stitches, and a 1x1 rib for the cuff.  I ended the toe with 24 stitches on the needles instead of 16 before grafting, to make a wider toe box.  Ever in search of the elusive perfect fit and all that.

also in search of that ever elusive spring - note the photobombing daffodils

In addition to all this yarnish industry, I've also done a spot of stitching, including February Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks and Big Hearted Tiny Town by Heart in Hand designs. (Links go to 123Stitch to show the designs - my cross stitch photography could use some improvement.) I won't finish either this month, but that's okay.  I've decided, for now anyway, to remain unbothered by my cross stitch WIPs and to embrace the idea of seasonal stitching.  I'll put them away, and odds are good there will be another February next year for me to work on them.

Plans for the rest of the week include finishing up the poncho and my remaining Beach Walk squares, and then on Saturday I may indulge in a spot of starting things.  On the cross-stitching front, there's a March Cottage and Blooming Tiny Town to consider, or perhaps a Hobbit House (or perhaps all three). 

I'll also continue to work on Riptide, start some new socks and try to figure out where I left off on my poor spatchcocked Emotional Support Chicken.

Oh!  And I'll finalize The List for March and see if I can't keep this train on the tracks for another month. 

It does not escape my notice that I'd get more done faster if I were to focus my efforts the tiniest bit, but it's spring, baby, and I cannot be contained.

She Was Like a Bearded Rainbow

It's been another eventful week over here at chez woolly, full of wild carryings on.  We had friends over for a lovely and soul satisfying dinner on Friday, where we did some belated New Year tarot readings and celebrated the birthday of the trees. There may have been a dramatic reading of The Lorax after dinner and wine but all present were sworn to silence.

photo credit to CyberMathWitch

On the finishing front (it being February after all), I have some very exciting news to report.

I had originally thought that I would want to add a black border around the outside of this, but once I got here I changed my mind.  A bit like gilding the lily, I thought.  We'll gloss over the fact that I bought a 400 yard skein of Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply to add a border I ultimately decided against, all in the name of using my stash.  Ya win some, ya lose some. 

In any case, I am beyond delighted with how it turned out.  I feel quite clever for successfully applying a 3rd-grader understanding of geometric shapes and adapting a pattern on the fly, allowing me to use up every drop of my 2023 Advent set from The Fiber Seed.

That's one project ticked off of the list, so I've turned my attention to the Wasilla Poncho. I'd like to finish it in February as well, so I've set myself a goal of adding one skein of the LB Mandala this week, and one skein next week.  I'm also continuing to plug away on Riptide, and of course the ubiquitous purse sock.  No pictures of any of them this time - they all look just like they did last week, only more so.

And finally, in the spirit of moving my Beach Walk Blanket towards completion, I'm working on the squares for the outer border.  I'm well on track to finish the squares in February so I can attach them and do the final few rounds in March.

there is no good way to show off 32 granny squares

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Incremental progress on a number of things, as is the way of things around here. 

But that rainbow wrap tho!  

🌈🌈🌈

Mid-February Check-in (I Was Shocked Too)

Here it is midway through the month and I haven't actually finished anything. 

Well, that's not entirely true - I finished the first of my February socks, which by custom here at chez woolly totally counts, since March is for Making Mates. I'm cavalierly flouting that custom and continuing to work on them, since they are my back-pack knitting. 

I spent part of yesterday when I was supposed to be working thinking about crafting goals and plans and current WIPs, and the like. I have a personal notebook in my One Note on my work computer so I can look busy while I'm actually thinking about granny squares. I'm back in the office three days a week, and let me tell you it's cramping my style. Being in the office is also related to why the socks aren't getting sidelined, as I've conditioned my colleagues over the years to think it's normal to see me knitting during meetings. 

I intended to work on cross stitch when I got home last night until dinner, and then knit after -- and instead I played Stardew Valley, so I think I might have sussed out part of why I'm not finishing things as quickly as I might like (my farm is kicking ass though, so there's that). 

I did pull out my Riptide vest after we ate, so partial credit will be awarded. 

It's not that much farther along than the last time you saw it, but slow progress is still progress, and all that.  Riptide is knit top down, starting with the back. After you've knit yay-so-far you pick up stitches at the shoulders and knit the front until it's time to join the whole thing in the round. I’m getting close to yay-so-far on the back, but I’m not quite there yet. I'm planning to finish it in March, so I'm nicely on track. It does occur to me that I'll be finishing it more or less in time for it to be out of season, but it'll be waiting for me in the fall, so I'm not bothered. Global climate change notwithstanding, we do get seasons more or less every year. 

During all of that planning and thinking yesterday I got a little crisper on what I'd like to finish this month, although I'm not sure I factored today's date into all of that planning, so we'll see how we get on. 

I'm planning to finish: 

• it only gets brighter from here (the rainbow wrap) 
• poncho of invisibility (Wasilla poncho) 
• the socks 

I also thought about what cross stitch I want to focus on in February and it occurs to me, perhaps belatedly, that while all of my stitching goals and all of my knitting goals could be accomplished separately … they are likely more than one month's worth of goals when taken together. 

Or as Suzy Izzard would say, "you're British kid, scale it back a bit." 

That being said, I'm holding the cross stitch goals pretty loosely. "Work on February Cottage" is not perhaps a SMART goal as such, but it is nice and easy to cross off, no matter how much actually gets done. 

needless to say, I did not iron