Bright Colors.

I thought I was knitting with bright yarn...

  I was wrong.  She has been making these neon hats for a while and we like to tease her about her dull color choices.  I love them and will be a bit sad the day when there are no more neon hats.

  I finished my scarf that was supposed to be a cowl.  It was fun to make even though I forgot a few times that I was working in the back loop only and had to take some out a few times.  The yarns were also slightly different weights and one also had more in it.  I would have had enough to make another stripe of pink but I only had enough to do a few rows of the blue.
  I kept worrying that it was going to be too short, but the scarf is about 94" long when measured down the middle.  Things just always seem smaller when balled up on your lap.

  Anyone remember when I mentioned this?  The top I started back when I was in college sometime in either 2005 or 2006.  Well, I finished it today!  I again had the problem of putting off the last step for a while.  I didn't want to sew the buttons on because I always worry that I won't secure them well enough or that I will put them in the wrong area.

  I had so much fun when I finally sewed the buttons on that I felt the need to do it again.  In other words, I sewed the buttons on the wrong side and had to do it again.  I used some crochet cotton, so hopefully those will hold on and no one will have to sew them on again any time soon.

  I know I had that leaf thing in mind for my next project, but I keep getting distracted by other things.  Right now I have the small Heart and Waves hat on the needles for my future written pattern, and I also have a random hat that I'm using odds and ends for.  Hopefully not too many people were super excited to see what the leaf thing was going to be, because there are a few more hats in my head before I get to that.

Happy Turkey Day/Thursday

  I was right!  She was able to get a better picture than I did.  I had definitely not planned on that thing getting to be that big and it didn't feel quite so big when I was working on it, but it sure is a doozy.

  I also feel like I haven't done any knitting or crochet in such a long time.  I did teach that knit hat class last week.  I didn't finish that project because it was knit flat around the head as a flat piece that was then made into a tube and cinched at the top.  I thought that was a silly design since there were no short rows and the top would be very bulky.  I taught the class and my students seemed happy, so that is a good thing.  I also showed them the importance of gauge because my sample was not done with big needles and chunky yarn but with smaller yarn.  Theirs would fit their hat and mine would have fit a large doll's head or a very small baby.
  Since that I had not gone to any knit-nights for various reasons.  I skipped Saturday because I needed to finish some work so I could get the table cleaned off for D&D and I also had the New Member Orientation during the morning.  I then spent Monday getting another tally group done so I could have another mailing done for work on Tuesday.  The Wednesday, that was yesterday, was used to get anything done we needed to for today.
  It's only been about a week, but it had definitly felt longer.  It definitly felt weird, but I have plans to go to knitting this coming Saturday.

Distracted by Distractions

  Not sure why that picture looks like it is in black and white, I swear it isn't.  This is the re-do from the Wish pattern I did before.  I definitely like it a lot better and I like the decreases I did on this one better as well.

  I kept meaning to finish these earrings and listing them online.  I have a bunch of charms that I have been making into super easy to make earrings to list for the Holidays.  I took some pictures and listed a few online.  I don't want to list too many at once because Etsy has a section on the front page for recent listings and you have a better chance to get noticed if you only do a few at a time.  I'm also pretty sure I had made more than I found, so I will have to see where those went to.

  I've noticed an interesting habit of mine.  If I teach a pattern class I tend to want to finish the project.  This is the last class I taught.  I tried to find the pattern and couldn't find this one either.  I'm wondering if the people within JoAnn's corporate office have found someone to make patterns for them.
  I am in the middle of writing patterns for a small and a large of my Heart and Waves hat pattern.  That is now put on hold because of this crochet thing.  The pattern tells you to make it into a cowl but I want to use as much yarn as I can, so it might be a scarf.  Just remember, the more yarn I use the less I have to organize.

  This has been done and sitting in a bag since February.  My problem was that it is so big and was so hard to find a place to take a good picture of it.  I'm also standing on a chair to get this picture, so you are welcome that I put myself in danger for you.
  Okay, not real danger.  I will also post a better picture if Andrea manages to get one.  This thing is oddly shaped and huge.  Some free floor space probably would have been a better choice than some tables pushed together.

  I'm also getting distracted from organizing my house.  It doesn't help that I'm really bad at it.  I know a lot of people claim this, but I know I am.  Most people can work in a room for a few hours and make a big difference.  It takes me at least 6 hours before any real difference can be seen.  It also doesn't help that I didn't take as much time as I meant to during my down-time at work and now we are getting busy.  I also have more things that I need to list more things on LetGo or just donate them.  I'll get the hang of it someday.

I'm a Critter Now!

  Starting on the Thursday before last I had found myself with a scratchy throat.  It then progressed to a full sore throat that lasted through Friday and Saturday.  I felt pretty good on Tuesday but then I got a bit worse on Wednesday.  Bill had sent me a link to an episode of Critical Roll on Geek and Sundry.  It wasn't the first episode, but it was a more light hearted one that didn't give away too much of the story-line.  It was hilarious and about flying cows and I was hooked.
  I had already been a fan of Geek and Sundry and have watched a bunch of Felicia Day's Flogs and Table Top with Wil Wheaton, but hadn't watching much beyond those two.  I'm not sure how they got invited on, but Critical Roll is a show where a bunch of voice actors play D&D.  They had been playing about a year or so together before they came to Geek and Sundry.
  When they are streaming on Twitch they donate any money that is sent in to 826 LA and they encourage people to check out if there is an 826 chapter near them.  In only a few episodes they have gotten to the point where they only have time to read the names of people who have donated over $20 because they were getting so many.  They have even had some other people representing other charities stop by everyon once in a while and have given the donations from that night to the other charity.  Most of cast has also has a list of charities they personally support.  They are such nice people, I want to be friends with all of them.
  They are all also very good at what they do.  Matt Mercer is an amazing story teller; you give him a crumb and he will not only tell you about the cake but the kitchen it was baked in and maybe a bit about what kind of day it was.  Everyone one else is so funny and good at improve.  They also get very into it and love their characters so much.  Back before they started playing on the stream they had a death of one of their party members.  Everyone was crying about it and did everything they could to bring her back.  Some people might think that is silly since they are just numbers on a piece of paper and images in their minds.  I think it is awesome because it helps everyone involved get more into it and makes it so much better now that they are sharing it with the world.  Their playlist can be found here, and their Geek and Sundry page can be found here.

  Now that I've gotten that wall of text of me fan-girling (and not so secretly wishing I could be friends with all of them) on to what I got done while watching them run around while causing trouble and fixing problems.

  I finished that hat you saw pictured in the post from a few weeks ago.  There was another thing I changed before that I hadn't noted.  On the second one I made I had decided that I liked the heart lace better without the very top row of lace.  Of course I realised this when starting my last heart of the hat.

  While I had achieved the effect that I had been hoping for with the first try, but you know I like trying new things.  I wanted to see if I could still get the flowing and branching off effect if I didn't use the ribbing and used stockinette instead.

  While it is a cool texture it doesn't look as much like flowing water as when I first did it.  Both are good looking, but I think I like my first attempt better.

  I really like this Aura yarn by Austermann.  I was worried that it was going to be a bit hard to work with because of how smooth and slippery it seemed to be in the ball.  Bits of it was also slipping off before I even started working with it.
  I wasn't very bad at all.  I used metal needles and didn't have any more worries about stitches jumping off the needle than I have had with most other yarns.
  This is a Scallop Lace Hat.  I wasn't sure what all I could make with what I had left and I remembered making this once before and that I liked it.  I didn't know how it was going to turn out because the yarn was a different thickness, but I think it turned out pretty well.

  Since it went so well before, I decided to give it another try.  I know I said that I was going to give the rest of this yarn back to the donation pile, but I was still feeling yucky and didn't want to move around too much to rummage through yarn to find something.  This was sitting near me on the couch.
  I didn't run into any more problems with it, so it seems that the yarn itself might be fine and all the problems I had run into before might have just been the fault of how the yarn had been stored before I got it.  It must have had a hard life.

  I finally remembered to soak and block this.  This was the crochet version of the Neck Warmers I had been knitting like crazy.

  I think it looks pretty cool.  The main body of the neck warmer is done in extended single crochets and the leaves are in single crochets.  I had planned on having the whole thing in singles, but it was taking a long time to get anything done and it was becoming a bit stiff.

  I was feeling better, which was good because I had run out of yarn within easy arm's reach and had to venture forth to find more.  While I had that green and leafy project swatched out I didn't think I was ready for it yet.  Since I was on a hat roll I found something that I thought would make a cute hat.
  I cast on and started knitting.  I figured I would try the second version of my Wish Braid hat I had in mind.  I got a few cables up and saw that I wasn't going to have enough yarn to finish.  I then took it out and re-cast on with one less repeat.  There should be pictures before too long at the rate I'm going.