Nothing to See Here...Oops

  To not sound like a broken record and to also distract you from my lack of posting, I'm going to point you towards Dana.  She makes matching sweaters for herself and her dogs!  They aren't just boring simple sweaters either.  How cute is that?
  Also, since there isn't much new stuff to read on here, you can head over to her blog, Yards of Happiness, and catch up on her blog.  If I could figure out how to hang out with her every day, I definitely would.

  I am going to get back to that thing distracting me from blogging (work), so I can get it all done and back to what I like doing.  See you with a bunch of pictures, hopefully, soon!

Casa Ruby

  This last Wednesday Marie told us that The Reston Stitch & Bitch has been meeting for 13 years!  That is crazy cool.  My mom and I joined in April of 2009.  We have been with this group in four different locations and I'm so glad we have stuck with them.
  Before we started our White Elephant swap we had someone mention Casa Ruby.  They aim to help LGBTQ people in the Northern VA\Washington DC area.  While the LGBTQ community is more accepted than it has been in the past, there are still a lot of people who don't accept them.
  They are asking for some warm things because it is really cold out and not all of these people can get their own.  No one should have to feel ashamed because they can't afford to buy nice warm things for themselves when we can make things for them and help them out.

  This hat, while cute, is not what I was hoping for.  I saw a hat online and thought I could replicate it.  I got close, but not quite there.  Still cute though, so not a total failure.

  Elizabeth made a hat following this pattern and we all fell in love.  For some reason the pattern isn't on Ravelry, but it is on Lion Brand Yarn's website.  You can see closer to the top why they call it the Virtual Cable Hat.
  I didn't make the hat as tall as they suggested because I was hoping to be able to make two hats out of the yarn I had.  Elizabeth also made a cowl out of this pattern by casting on more stitches and adding ribbing on the end as well.
  Time for me to go and get ready for Bill's birthday, which is today!

A Deconstructed Cold

  I went to Otakon for the first time in a few years.  Overall it was pretty fun.  I had forgotten that it has grown so big that unless you want to wait in line for two hours, there is a good chance that you will not make it into all the panels you want to.  Otakon had become more of a dress up and see everyone else's costumes kind of convention.  That being said, Krissy and I got into a few of the panels we were hoping to.  We learned about 3D printing(Spoolishness), traditional kanzashi making(Atelier Kanawa), and silicone mold making(BlakAnubis Cosplay).  I've linked to their various websites.  I feel smarter and now have a bunch of ideas for how to make things for future costumes.
  I also brought home some con-crud with me.  If you don't know what that is, it is the germs that people share with you while you wonder around a crowded convention center.  This cold has been the weirdest I have ever had though.  On Wed morning I had a scratchy throat.  I did everything I could to keep it at bay.  I felt like I should also have a stuffed up nose, but didn't have that.  For a few days I felt like I was on the edge of getting something, but wasn't quite getting the full force of it.  Sunday evening was when my throat had been fine for most of a day and then my nose got congested.
  I figured this happened so I could fully experience each part of a cold.  There were no other symptoms to distract me.  I was fully immersed in the sore throat or the inability to breath through my nose.  At least that is the fancy way I have been thinking about it.  Either way, it is weird.

  I also realized that even though I did my math for the raglan sweater twice, I still didn't totally do it correctly.  When I figured out the numbers for the half-way points for the increases and added them to the starting numbers, I somehow forgot that each section gets an increase on both sides.  I only accounted for one of them.  So instead of increasing to the halfway point, I only increased to the quarter point.  This meant that I got to take out about 20 rows of knitting.  It gave me something to do to take my mind off how I missed being surrounded by anime fans.


Donated:
Poly-fil: 4 24oz bags
Yarn: 60 166 172 174 183 193 skeins

Discarded:
Poly-fil: a few handfuls
Yarn: 7 skeins

Everything is coming up 'me' today!

  Yesterday was kind of lame for a few reasons.  We were working on taxes and didn't have all the info we needed, so we needed to file for an extension.  Well, the program kept trying to get us not to, but Bill finally got it to work.  We also tacked the drip that was happening from the master bedroom shower.

  Bill cut down the ceiling and then had me take video as he ran the water.  Though I don't think he necessarily had fun cutting it down, I don't think he hated it.

  We had Tank take a look at it.  He wasn't sure how to fix it, so we will have to check more sources.

  However, today was different for me.  I had a whole list of things that I wanted to try and get done and I was hoping I could before I was supposed to meet up with someone.  The first thing on my list was to get some certified mail that Bill missed signing for.  It was really funny because when I handed the lady the slip she said "Who's handwriting is this?" and then tsked at it.  I heard some yelling from the back and then she brought it out.  Turns out our carrier didn't put it with the other envelopes.

  I then headed to the auto-supply shop to get new wipers.  Mine were worn out last year when I got my car checked and I promised the guy I would get new blades.  I kept forgetting and since it has been a year, I needed to get my car looked at again.  The guy at the store looked them up for me and we got me some new blades.  I had to get two brands because they didn't have two of the same kind.  I was worried it was going to be hard to fix, but they were super easy to change.  You push on a little button and the old blade slides off.  The first blade just had an adapter that I had to pop off before it fit.  The second one had an adapter on it that I had to take off and then put the one that worked for me on.  Also pretty easy.  I felt super accomplished.

  I had downloaded some Netflix movies onto my phone so I would have something to do while I waited my turn to get my car inspected.  I drove up and I was first in line!!  So I only had time to take that picture and then the guy was walking over to take my car to the bay.

  I had finished everything I was hoping to get done before 2pm before 11:30am!!  This meant that I had time to get some other stuff done.

  We have been without a working air filter for a while now.  The one that was in there had fallen over.  Today I decided to try and slide it out of the way and put a new one in.  That didn't work because there wasn't enough room.  I then got a flashlight and some tongs and dragged it out.  It took a lot of pulling, but I win the battle.  You can see it is properly gross.  New one is in (hopefully in the correct direction) and hopefully we will have nicer air in the house.

  Look who is done and dry and getting some screen time!  My shrug is finally done!  It is in the bag to take to knitting on Sat to get donated.

  Here is my my first hat done!  I can't believe how fun it looks.  Everyone who saw me knitting it was super impressed.  I even had to give some demos how I was doing it, especially since I wasn't going to the very end of each color, but I stopped two stitches before so I could keep the tension on each color and not worry about putting it too tightly at any point.

  Since I was doing the tension trick I was worried that the top was going to get messed up.  I was worried that there was going to be mostly one color and only one stitch of the other colors.  Seems I was being silly because it turned out perfectly.

  I thought that this was going to happen on the first hat, but you can see where I ran out of the blue yarn.  That one kept getting over spun as I worked with it, so I wasn't too bummed.  I was also planning for it, so I liked that it did happen.  You can also see that is is possible to pull the new color a bit too tightly as you go if you don't pay enough attention.

  I was thinking that I was going to have enough yarn to make one hat.  Well, I made two hats and even had some left over.  I made these from a crochet bow pattern I found on Pinterest.  I think I will give these to Carola to add to monsters.

  On Sat we had someone new join us.  She usually works at Nature's Yarn on Saturdays, but they didn't need her that day so she decided to come to Wegmans and have lunch and knit.  She didn't even know we were going to be there!  She was making those crochet octopus critters for Cancer Kickin' Critters.  She knows the people who run it and everything.

Pink Pussyhats!

  I was sent a link to The Pussyhat Project on Facebook.  I didn't look at it too closely at first, but now that I have, I think it is awesome.  The strangest thing is that it is all local to me.  The mailing address is less than 5 miles from my house and the march is just a short metro ride away.
  I posted about taking hats on the K&CC (Knitters and Crocheter's Care) message board saying that I can take and deliver any hats they make.  If any blog readers want to make any hats then they can either mail them to the address provided on the website or send them to me.  Either way, I would love to see some pictures!
  Sorry for the short post, but I'm supposed to be working now.  Don't tell on me!

Bees and boobs.

 

   I made a new little friend!  I was getting ready to head out for the day and I saw this little guy standing on the driveway.  When I walked near him I saw he wasn't moving around very well.  I got a dead leaf and he walked right onto it.  Then I popped him over onto this dandelion and he started climbing around.  He also buzzed his wings a few times but did not take off.

  When I got home I didn't see him anywhere in the area, so I hope he was just over-heated and flew away to live his little bee life.

  Something I heard about recently are knitted knockers.  They are for people who have had a mastectomy but do not qualify for silicone implants for what-ever reason.  I think these are great.

  There a few free options on Ravelry if you want to go and make some to donate.

Knit it Black

  I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, like most of us do, and stumbled upon this.  Alex has made a few knitting patterns and some of the money she makes off of them will go to helping black cats and black dogs in shelters.  They are the last to get adopted for a few reasons.  She had a successful Kickstarter and you can find her patterns on Ravelry.
  I think this is awesome.  I love my Mr. Jag and would be sad if some other awesome black-furred animal didn't get to be in an awesome home too.

  I was also given a link to this GoFundMe.  The Magic Yarn Project makes hats for little girls who are suffering from cancer.  Though instead of just being standard hats, they are made into wigs so they girls can become their favorite Disney Princess.

Blue Shawl Period.

  I finally successfully blocked the Herbivore inspired shawl.  I also tried to think of some cool place to take a picture of it, but a lot of the plants out in front of my house have seen better days so that wouldn't work.  It is also a large thing, so I just went with where it was.

   It sure is a funny shaped thing isn't it?  I didn't expect it, though I should have since the garter stitch would make that section not as long as the rest.  I am digging the strange shape though, looks kind of like some sort of helmet.

  The odd shape does help to hold it on though.  Though when I did the measuring for where those sections would fall I had planned on them being higher up.  Oh well, they are still really cool.
 

  Anyone remember this guy?  It seems I finished it, blocked it, and once it was dry I just folded it up and didn't take any pictures or mention it or anything.  That makes me such an awesome blogger.
  Who knows how long it would have gone unmentioned if I hadn't been gathering things together?  I have been feeling kind of bad going to the K&CC meeting with nothing in hand.  I know that no one there really cares, but I know I have finished things at home and I know I should bring them with me. 

  I have that cowl I showed before off the needles, but I'm having problems trying to figure out how to block it. The cast on and bind off I used made the edges ripple some, so I want to be able to slip something into the cowl itself to help hold it in shape, but I can't find anything that won't get ruined by water.
  I am also almost done with another cowl using the same slip stitch pattern, but with less color changes.  I know I will be able to use up all of the orange this way, though I will have some leftover green.

Since I always have fun posting links to advertise and spread the word for other people, here are some more:

• The Crayon Initiative: Takes old crayons, mostly from restaurants, and makes new ones for anyone who is in need of them.
• Companion app: This is just really cool.  It makes it so that even though you might have to walk home from the bus or where-ever you were late at night, you aren't completely alone.

   I have not been pushing the GoFundMe as much as I have been in the past, but as of right now we are at 27%!  That's more than a quarter of the way there!

Is it fall yet?

  I am a huge fan of the transitional seasons.  It is warm enough that you don't need a heavy coat, but can still wear a hoodie, sweater, or cute jacket with your outfit.  It is also the time when there are less temperature dangers to worry about.  No frost bite or heat stroke.
 

   I can't wait to see the leaves start to change colors and for there to be pumpkin flavored everything!  This slippy cowl tells everyone that.  That link takes you to the kit, bit just the pattern is free on Ravelry.
   It is such a nice project too.  I felt like I got a few rows done and I'm already done with the first slip stitch section.  I liked having the slip section be surrounded by the contrast color, so I'm not exactly following the pattern.  That isn't the only thing I have changed.  The first garter stitch area is bigger and I also made the slipped section bigger by one repeat.  I also changed row 1 of the slip pattern the first time I worked it so that I knit what would have been the slip stitches in the new color, and slipped what would have been the knit stitches.
  I might also only do two slipped stitch sections instead of the three.  That way I might be able to make 2 out of the yarn instead of one with odd leftovers.  I will have to weigh the yarn once I'm done with the second section.

  I forgot that I was soaking the big blue shawl, so I had to dry it out and re-wet it so it won't smell musty.  I didn't totally forget about it.

  Since I don't have any finished shawl to show you, I figured I would make up for it by posting some links to some pretty cool things.

• Sproutworld: Pencils that become plants after you can't use them for writing anymore.
• Bellabeat: A little leaf that can help you with your fitness.
• Open Bionics: Using 3D printers to print more affordable bionic hands for those who need them.
• CLICK for Babies: Because their theme is purple.  Just kidding.  They are making purple baby hats to raise awareness for shaken baby syndrome.

  I'm off to go work on that cowl some more while watching the latest season of New Girl on Netflix.

Make-up Bags

  I have been obsessed with make-up lately.  I have been buying more, wearing more, and watching a ton of YouTube videos about it.  It got me thinking of things I could donate besides warm things I made.  I was thinking of pricing things and getting a price point to see how much this idea would cost me.  I could start a Go Fund Me, or something similar.
  Since I don't know what other people feel are "must have"s for make-up, I did some research online.  Unfancy has one opinion on the matter and Huffington Post seems to agree on a lot of things.  I know I will be able to get a lot of things from the Dollar Tree.  They even have tiny mascaras!  I was also thinking of getting some stuff from e.l.f. because I love them.  They have some great stuff for very good prices.
  As of right now this is what I am thinking of putting in each bag:

• mascara
• neutral eyeshadows
• tinted lip balm
• eyeshadow brush

  As of right now I am looking at about $4 for the contents of each bag.  I was considering maybe putting in some unscented face lotion as well.  Now the hard part...where to get a bag.  I am thinking of making some, but I could also do some searching online.  I know I could try and reach out to various places to see if I could get a deal on bags, but I'm not very good at that.  I never know what to say to them and feel like I end up sounding unprofessional.
  Also, let me know if you think I should add anything else to the bags.
  I also wanted to add that I was thinking of having these go to women's shelters.  I know this might seem like a silly thing but I feel like it might help some people.  Some people might have needed to get out and couldn't take things that they use everyday and might find some comfort to be able to fancy themselves up.

Here are some warm fuzzy feelings for anyone who was majorly bored by the rest of this post: Featherless Bird

Two kinds of sole.

You will see the bad joke as you read on.

I was taking some of our regular trash out to put into the big bin and saw some of Bill's old boots in there.  I pulled them out and found a huge bag to stash them in.  I went over to Mom's later in the day and put them in their Soles4Souls box.  My mom didn't know that there was one, so the next week she brought some to put in there too.

I don't remember what I was looking for, but I found this really cool little iron fish.  It is a super great idea too.  I like how when you buy one for yourself there is also one sent to a family in need.  I don't know if there is an option to send two out if you don't need one personally.
I first heard about it on Bored Panda and I am super amused by the iron fish in a pot of meat fish.  I don't know why, but I laugh every time I see it.

Rough past few days.

  These past few days have not been nice to the humans in my house.  On Tuesday Bill got into a fight with a shipping crate, and the crate won.  Actually he got mad at someone and punched the shipping crate instead of them.
  Well, when I got home from work his knuckle was swollen and hurt to move.  So I drove him to the ER.  We got nurse Cheryl again, so that was fun.  One not so fun thing was that the iPad was missing from his room.  I could see one in the other room!
  Turns out it was just some bad bruising.  They gave him a wrap to help keep him from over using it and sent him home with a referral for a hand specialist if it is still giving him problems in a week.
  Then I woke-up yesterday and went to Safeway to get some kitty litter and lunch.  The guy who was checking me out raved about how good the microwave Little Potatoes I got.  I got the garlic parsley flavor.  I ate those and loved every bite.
  After lunch I wasn't feeling so awesome.  I first thought that it was because I ate too many potatoes.  I did eat the whole container by myself after-all.  Though as the day went on I got worse.  I thought if I picked off the moldy bits off the dessert I had the night before it would be fine.  It tasted fine.  It was not so fine.  So don't worry about the potatoes, I still highly recommend them.

  I got more knitting done on my test knit though.  I finished the right sleeve completely and I am at the increases on the left side.  The designer and I have misunderstood each other a few times, but I think we are now on the same page.  If not, I can check on things at the next release and re-suggest it.
  I'm also itching to get it done because I really want to start a Slippy Cowl.  It looks like something super fun to do.

  I also finally got my cascading leaves and vines shawl blocked.  I had a lot of fun with the other test of a pattern, so I am excited to get another going.  It helps people to have a picture to know if they want to test it or not.
  I'm also having some designer issues in my head.  I thought of a fun shawl idea, but it was so easy I figured someone else had already done it.  Then I thought about it more and thought of a variation on it.  I have been checking to see about the original on Ravelry, but so far I have not seen it.  I tried "block shawl" and found nothing.  I have been browsing through "stripe shawl" but there are over 100 pages of patterns to look at.  I'm on page 51 and so far I have not found the original idea I had.
  So now I'm wondering if I should make two patterns, one pattern, or a two-in-one pattern.  I also need to get my hands on some yarn in the weight I want before I can do any of this.  It will give me some more time to think it over.  Though I hear rumor that about 30 boxes of yarn have been donated to Knitters and Crocheters Care, so I have a feeling the perfect yarn for one or both ideas will be in there.

Happy Star Wars Day!!

Happy Star Wars day to everyone!  I wish I had been working on something more nerdy than my Fragole Lace Shrug test knit.  I did put my Skywalker shawl in the sink to soak, so I guess that counts for something.

One of the events at work we had was to make Star Wars craft items.  One of the items was a drawstring bag.  I think I will make a few bags (not all nerdy, but who knows) to donate.  I think that would be fun.

I also ran across this interesting decrease.  Some knitters don't like how their left leaning decreased don't really look just like mirror images of their right leaning.  They both lean opposite ways, but one tends to look more stretched out and not as smooth.  The Slip-Twist-Turn Decrease has the answer to that problem.
I haven't tried it yet, but it looks really cool.

I was also thinking it might be fun to sign-up for the St. Jude PLAY LIVE event.  I love playing video games, I love doing stuff for charity.  Sounds perfect to me.  My only problem right now is that since I am doing a test knit and trying it get more made for my Etsy shop, I don't feel like I would have time to really dedicate to it.  Also, the game I really want to play right now has a higher age rating than I would be allowed to play.

Happy Easter, but don't get too close.

Bill has been super nice and shared his germs with me.  I felt myself going downhill last night and woke-up with a super sore throat today.  I'm hopped up on Vitamin C so I'm going to keep it simple this post.
We went over to my parents' house for an Easter lunch and Mary and I went wondering around in the woods I grew up playing in.  She found a few different plants she liked and wanted to take home.  Food was good and so was hanging out.

I have been working on something for someone at the Mon knit-night who had a baby.  I thought I was making a baby blanket, but it turns out I am making a play mat.  Silly yarn wanting to be something different than I thought of.
Another Skywalker shawl is in the works too.  I'm already at the edging.  I remember the pattern taking longer, but I seem to be flying through it.  Changes at the one wavy stitch have still been made, but I made different choices than last time.  Making this has made me want to design another shawl. 
Maybe I will get one of these patterns I keep making testing and out to the public...maybe.

As I was looking for the perfect border for the shawl I have in my head I found a few other things that are pretty awesome.
  This super awesome/adorable dragon is to die for.  I love it and want to snuggle it.
  The design page by Lucy Hague is just filled with such pretty things.
  This Grape Vine Shawl also caught my eye.  There is a link to the pattern right on the page.
  The bottom most picture on this blog post caught my eye.  I was hoping it would give some insight on how to use a straight edging and turn a corner with it.  From what I can tell there is no link to the pattern.  It is really fancy looking though.

I thought I had more to say....but I can't remember it now.  So here is another link to a Back to School Style Blazer Recon by ThreadBanger that I really want to try.

Happy Turkey Day!

Or for anyone who doesn't celebrate it: Happy Thursday!
For the NaNoWriMoers:  Only four days left!!!!

As you have probably read on here about a million times, I am feeling like my charity stuff has been suffering this month.  I would like to claim that my other blog is suffering too, but it has been suffering for a few months, so that's all me.  I have a new goal for next month and that will be to finally finish some of my projects that have been sitting around waiting for me to add that last step to them.  Some sort of ending the year and ending projects kind of tie in.  Everyone likes a good theme.

I also still plan on trying to do my work 50,000 stitches in one month in January.  I don't want any finishing work on old projects to get in the way of my goal.  It will be also very interesting because I will be working on some stuff for myself during that month in preparation for Katsucon the following month.  It will be happening over the Valentine's Day weekend, so I have something heart themed planned.  Yay for themes!

I still need to weight my owl mitts and get the last two bits of info onto my pattern file so I can get that put up.  I think I will see if I few people from one of my knitting groups wants to test knit for me.  I'm also still thinking of making a chart for the owl section, but I am still not sure about that.

In case anyone was wondering what to get me for *whatever winter holiday you want* this year, here is a hint.  I think it is a pretty awesome idea.  I was even surprised to find that I am not too far away from them. Only a bit more than a three hour drive.  This seems like an awesome idea because you get all the joys of owning your own sheep without all the hassle of having to clean-up after them.
I don't see them now, but I think they used to have pictures of the sheep so you could browse and see when one you might want would be available.  There was one I saw with a spot over one eye and I just loved her.  I wanted her but The Hubby didn't get me her last year.
They also have piglets for take-home-adoption.  I will be the first to admit that I want some very odd pets.  A pet pig is on my list.  Pigs are just so dang smart.  I think it would be fun to own one of them, even if they grow up to be one of those giant piggies.  The closest I can get are Guinea Pigs, which are also awesome pets, but not the same.
I've also wanted a pet cow too.  I love how soft their noses are.  I think I need to move to a small farm.  That way I would be able to own all of the creatures I want.  Most of these I can't own in my house because it isn't rated for agriculture.
Another odd pet I have always wanted was a skunk.  I just love their little waddly walk.  Though according to Skunks as Pets, it seems that is is illegal for me to own a skunk. Boo!

List of adoptable sheep sites: there are probably a lot more but here are the ones I look at.

• Owens Farm
• Woolly Manor
• Quaker Hill Farm
• Shepherd's Way Farm

Since I get so distracted so easily, I have found a few more knitting blogs that look interesting.

• Knitting to Stay Sane has some fun free patterns.
• The Left-Handed Crafter, I found because of this post.  I just love the colors.
• jiki knits has a very calming design.
• Karen's Krafts and Other Krap's name made me laugh so very hard.
• Bubble Gum for the Brain, I was not expecting this to have any knitting on it.  Surprise!

Since I like having pictures in each of my posts, here is a random one.  This little guy started out as three dimensional until he met me.  I put him in my cargo pocket and I figured he would be okay since the last time I did that the snowman stayed dimensional.  Well, I think I sat on this one or something because he is barely past being two dimensional.  Poor little dude.  At least I know he will still be tasty since he was made from Lindt.

Can I borrow your hand?

The Hubby heard that a lot from me last night.  He also heard "Are you using both hands?" a few times.  Since I only have my tiny girl hands to work with, it is hard for me to tell length for big man hands.  Lucky for me, the Hubby has a pair of those.  It seems that on my hand; the very tip of my pinky is around the first joint on the pinky of man hands.
I will also admit that I was very tempted to try and steal the use of one of his hands while he was asleep.  Though knowing my luck he would have rolled over, gotten tangled in the yarn, and I would have had to cut him out of the mess.

I survived!

It wasn't as scary as I was fearing.  The 12 hour day followed by the 11 hour day sure was tough though.  I'm very, very glad I won't be doing that again anytime soon.

I'm more than half-way done with the scarf thing that will become a hat.  I like the idea of it a lot.  Though the stockinet areas are curling really badly, I hope they will block out.  As I've been knitting I've been playing around with the idea of treating the pattern as a base and doing something fun with it.  Instead of large amounts of stockinet I was thinking of adding a lace.  Since I wouldn't want the lace to look odd I had to do a bit of fiddling with it in my head.  You couldn't use a pattern with too many stiches because the gaps in the pattern, where you add or take away four stitches) are near the top and would be noticeable.  While some people might not care, this was not the look I was hoping for.
Most of the time when you are adding more ribbed areas or taking away, you are changing the stockinet area by four.  Though you wouldn't be able to just use a pattern with four stitched across without having two plain ones on the end.  So here is my idea: Use a pattern that is divisible by four stitches, but have one stockinet stich on either side.
For some reason I didn't think it was going to work for a while until I picked up the knitting and just looked at it.  It will work perfectly.  There won't be any awkward stockinet gaps and there won't be this strange band of stockinet on one side.
Here comes the hard part...picking the stich pattern.  I have looked through a bunch and also decided that a lot of them were not what I was looking for.
Here is a list of stitch patterns I have narrowed it down to:

• Elm Grain I like the idea of this one because all the exciting stuff is done on the wrong side
• Star Cluster It has the word star in it and already has the side stitches built in
• Lace Background Seems interesting
• Diagonal Scallop I was thinking of doing a *yo, k2tog* pattern at first and this reminds me of it
• Zigzag Lace 2 This one just looks like a lot of fun

The website I found all of those on is also a very good one.  I am going to have to poke around on it some more.  You can search patterns by stitch count or even use their drop sleeve Gansey sweater pattern maker!  I'm so glad that I got too lazy to look through the tons of books I have for a stitch pattern and checked the internet instead.

Also for anyone who remembered when I was talking about doing writing prompts from the book I bought, don't worry.  I didn't forget about that whole thing!  Since I was given permission to use 32-62 prompts, it got me thinking.  There are 52 weeks in a year, so why don't I do one per week?  That sounded good, then I thought, why not start it on a new year?  This whole blog thing was started on something that was done in a year.  So I hope to start those writing prompts in the (shortly) coming new year.  The fact that I can do up to 62 gives me some wiggle room incase I'm feeling extra writerly.
Now I'm off to go finish the hat.  I can't start the new fancy one until I finish this one (or it will just never get done)