List Up Catch Post

It's been a hot minute, hasn't it? This time of year always gets so ridiculously busy between Trails, birthdays, the start of school...

Soooo.... let's catch up!

1. First and foremost, I want to say a tremendous thank you to Debbie for the incredible gift she gave me at the last pj party.

I've already waxed poetic about it on instagram, so I won't subject you to my emotional overload again. (I may also be avoiding making myself cry again...)

2. I ALSO want to thank my aunt Jeaninne for the gorgeous pitcher from a potter local to her.

I also cried when I got this, too.

Apparently, I'm just a crying mess lately.

3. I made another journal!

This one is just for me for more traditional journaling.

It's a little rough because I was trying to remember how to make the dang things as I was going.

4. I've also started on my new bullet journal! And to start it off, I'm doing a Harry Potter themed month!

5. Em and I found a new, fun store to spend all the moneys in.

6. We went to the beach! At Lake Erie!

It was actually the first time in my life that I'd been to the beach. And I fell in love. As did Alex. And now we want to go every dang weekend.

7. We went to a couple other places in Cleveland, too. I managed to get this adorable picture of my darling spoose.

And I found a yarn bomb.

8. I've gotten two more shawls done, but haven't had a chance to write them up yet. But here's a teaser of one.

9. I FINALLY STARTED MY DANG WEDDING SHAWL SO Y'ALL CAN STOP YELLING AT ME NOW!

11. My mantle looks really pretty right now.

12. I don't know if you noticed, but I've kind of given up on the whole "get a project done every month" thing. It was just too much to try and do with everything else going on this year. 

13. And to round this out, I just want to say a huge thank you for being here and reading and supporting and loving and laughing with me. It's been 4 years now since I started this blog and your support has been incredible.

Here's to the next four years.

PS. This post marks my 200th post on here!

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Big Plans

Great Trails is nearly upon us. 

And with it comes a crap ton of last minute planning, especially because we weren't sure we were even going to be able to do it this year. 

And of course because I'm me, I decided that I HAD to have a thicker shawl to wear in the evenings when it gets pretty cold at camp.

So, I grabbed that grey bulky weight yarn from the Great Lakes Fiber Show...

Wound it up into balls bigger than my head...

Then promptly went pattern hunting. 

Of course, I couldn't find anything I even remotely liked that I had enough yardage for, so...

I sketched out an idea, did some quick math, and promptly got to work.

The goal is as big and squishy as I can get using as much of the yarn as possible. 

And I have to have it all done by Thursday...

Ain't no party like an Ashatning party because an Ashtaning party don't stop until it's 3am and I only have 8 more rows and a bind-off and who really needs sleep anyway and can I block this on the bed and still be able to sleep on it?

I've only been working on it for a few days, but it looks promising. 

I started it the 17th and got through the first ball yesterday. I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I'd hoped since we were setting up. And it's going a little bit slower, too, because the plan is to eventually release it as a pattern on Ravelry. 

I've given it the tentative name of Squish Squash.

I'm probably halfway through ball two now and am going to have to decide soon if I'll have enough for six body repeats, or play it safe at five. I was aiming for seven, but I can't really afford to lose at yarn chicken.

I suppose I should actually get back to working on this thing, but let me leave you off with a little bit about this yarn.

It is not very soft, it is NOT very strong, it smells like machine oil, and I have spent So. Much. Time. picking bits of vegetation out of it. And feathers! There are damn feathers spun into it!

See that little white bit by the brown?

Yep, pretty sure it's a chicken feather.

I don't think it can hold up to frogging, which is why the one cable up there looks a wee bit funny. I accidentally missed two rows in the repeat, but I didn't want to accidentally rip the yarn when trying to frog.

The stitch definition is terrible. 

But...

My god, this thing is so damned thick. 

I'm hoping and praying (Henry, counting on you) that once it's washed (assuming that it doesn't just dissolve in water) and blocked (assuming that it doesn't tear) that it's going to do exactly what I need it to and keep me (and let's be honest, probably mostly John) toasty AF at camp.

So, little grey wool and cotton buddies, don't let me down.

"Uhhhhhhhh......."

This clever title brought to you by the ever lovely Jamie. Because hell if I could think of one.

I'm exhausted, friends.

My mental illnesses have sent me on one hell of roller coaster recently. It feels like there are just as many bad days as good days right now. I'm not sure what exactly is causing this sudden change, but I'm hopeful that things are going to even out.

But in the meantime, you'll have to deal with a slightly less witty blogger.

Anyway, September has come and gone and there's no Mermaid Lair to show for it. There is, however, a new shawl in my collection.

One that was completely improvised, mind you. A good, mindless knit.

Say hello to Polar Bear in a Snowstorm.

It originally started as a scarf to wear with this dress.

But of course, this is me.

So it got 'Ashtaned'.

No regrets, though. It's the perfect middle size. Just a really good, satisfying knit.

But, for the love of Henry, my next project has GOT to be something with some damn patterning! Give me lace or give me death.

Struggle

This month has kicked my ass. Hard.

I've only managed to get two blog posts done.

I've barely done any knitting, or painting, or much of anything.

Today has been the hardest, mentally, because an emotional scar got ripped open. And I was not in the best place to deal with it.

Right now I feel raw. Stripped to the bone.

So forgive me, but this is just going to be a short list post. I need to get my butt back in gear and put the effort back into this that it deserves.

1. I did manage to get a shawl done for August, but I haven't had the energy to write the post. But here's a little preview.

2. Jamie and I have been together for a year now. And this deserves so much more fanfare. But again, I haven't had the energy.

3. I finally managed to give Bethany birthday presents on time for the first time in about 5 years. She got a painting and a little knit cactus.

4. Al started high school. This is still terrifying.

5. Great Trail time is upon us again, and of course, I made my way to the spinning house and picked this up.

6. I FINALLY made myself some fingerless gloves after making some for like everyone else. I should have used different yarn and moved the owl pattern over a few stitches, but I was frantically trying to get them done to wear at Great Trail. And I'm glad, because it was effing cold.

Yarn is some random alpaca blend that I actually bought at Trail a few years ago.

7. I saw this at Joann's and need somebody to buy it for me as a birthday present.

8. And we found this guy shoved into the ivy in the floral department at Pat Catan's. I couldn't say no. It was too cute. So he's living in my library now.

9. Yes. I have a library. Yes, it's as awesome as you think. Yes, there will be a blog post about it in the future. But there are a couple of key components I'm waiting on before it's truly done.

10. Renee found this notebook for me and it's pretty much the best thing ever.

11. I harvested a bunch of herbs and now my hallway looks delightful.

12. This guy's pretty cute.

13. Ending on cat pictures because internet.