Casting On New Projects (AKA Avoiding Finals)

Ever since my relationship of eight years ended two weeks ago, I've been spinning my wheels.

The plan was to be done with my freelance project before finals week, but I spent a week just numb and recovering from the shock of the finality of it all.

I reorganized my yarn stash on Saturday and realized I really have a lot of yarn. I need to start making more projects with the patterns I planned for them using yarn I've already bought.

So, I cast on a Firefly Dishcloth last night. It's small enough that I can knit a row or two when I need to think, but it's interesting enough to be a bit of a challenge. I'll finish it up this week and add the yardage to Stash Dash 2015.

I'm itching to cast on a Liason Tee and a Flax sweater. I've got yarn earmarked for both projects. Knitting is so much more fun than doing final portfolios or freelance projects. I'm sure if knitting were my job, I'd have a spotless house ...

The good news is I've found a new apartment. It's super cute, even though there's only street parking and no dishwasher or laundry facilities. But, the price is something I can afford and I can get a six-month lease. Even if some of the job prospects work out sooner rather than later, I can afford to pay for the full term of the lease in order to be able to walk away.

I bought dishes today. They aren't exactly what I wanted, but they're cute - white with blue stripes. I gave away my awesome Coca-Cola set in Georgia because "we don't need two sets of dishes."

Now I'm no longer a we and until today, I didn't have dishes. It's weird to think of myself in only terms of "I" and no longer "we." These dishes are always going to be the set I bought to replace the Coca-Cola plates I loved because "we" didn't need two sets of dishes.

I've got two classes with finals next week. I have a portfolio due Wednesday and a portfolio due Thursday. I also have a three-page essay to write for one of the portfolios. And the freelance project is not done yet. Which is stressful.

But, I have a plan. I have a tentative move-in date. I'm getting ready to move forward.

I'm going to focus on making my new place a home, even if it's only for a few weeks or months. I'm still hopeful something else will stick, even though I'm heartbroken I didn't make it to an in-person interview for the job in Portland. Maybe something else will turn up. Maybe I'm trapped in this city for the rest of my life, working a job that fits like a shoe that leaves blisters.

Stash Dash 2015

I enjoy watching the video podcast The Knit Girllls and I follow their group on Ravelry. For most of the summer, one of the hosts, Laura (also known as La La) hosts a "stash dash" where members are encouraged to use up the yarn already in their house; you also can count any projects you finish up during this time. For the first time, there are three finish line options: a 3K, 5K, and 10K.

The distances refer to how much yarn you knit. I started a $5 in Paris sweater last Sunday and it is going fast!

I cast this sweater on Sunday, May 24, 2015, and a week later I'm at the ribbing on the bottom. Once I finish with the body and bind it off, I'll be ready to finish up the sleeves!

I haven't really knit the Little Lady Garter Blanket much since I started the sweater, but with more than 24 inches left to knit, well, it's going to be a long time knitting garter stitch. Sadly, even though I'm holding the yarn double, the Stash Dash 2015 rules state you can't count the second skein's yardage in your total. So, even though I'll be creating a double-thick blanket with two skeins of yarn, only one skein's yardage counts. There's lots of disagreement with this rule in the thread; it might change next year, but I won't be knitting double again any time soon because it's such a pain in the butt to work with.

This is the garter stitch that never ends. Yes it goes on and on my friend ...

I still need to press the fabric, cut out the bunnies, and stitch them onto my Bunnie Blankie. It's been in hibernation for nearly three weeks. It's on the to-do list that won't get done for awhile. It also won't count for Stash Dash 2015 since I bound it off before the competition started. Sewing finishing touches doesn't count, unfortunately.

I really hate this project at this point. If I hadn't bought the fabric, I would say that I'm done with it, but I'm another $10 of materials in and I want to see how it looks completed. This will happen. Eventually.

I did buy some silk yarn to make the Tunisian crochet multigarment for the Craftsy class "Tunisian Crochet: Revolutions in Color and Style" class I bought a few weeks ago. Thanks to the really low prices at Tuesday Morning, I was able to purchase enough silk yarn for the project for half of other websites. I'm not 100 percent in love with the green I picked for color C in the pattern, but I also am not in love with paying almost $70 in materials for a new-skill project. The wooden Tunisian crochet hooks I bought from Amazon are okay, but they're not great. I bought a second set of sturdier plastic ones, which should arrive here in a few days. We'll see. The right tools make for a better crafting experience!

I will say I was very pleased with the two Craftsy classes I bought that I've already looked into. Eunny Jang's "Choose Your Own Sweater Adventure" has been helpful on my $5 in Paris sweater. I didn't understand some of the directions in the $5 in Paris sweater pattern, but after going to the appropriate (and well outlined) sections in Jang's video, I was able to complete the more technical parts of my first sweater. I'm looking forward to trying her patterns, even though they're written for bulky yarn.

The yarn I bought at Craftsy at the same time as I bought the classes arrived very quickly. I was impressed that all of my yarn (even when I bought 12 of one type) were from the same dye lot. I'm going to try to make the Tree of Life afghan, but probably won't start it until after the summer is over given its level of technical difficulty and sheer size.

As the summer progresses, we'll see if I have time to do more than the 3K. I might not even finish that, especially once summer classes start.

I'm going to be taking four summer classes - two first session and two second session. I still owe the university money for my summer classes. I'll get right on that after I get back from my knitting group that happens at 10:30 a.m.