Confessions and Commitment

So, remember when I said that I wasn't going to be knitting very many Christmas presents? Yeah, the post right before this. I said that I wasn't going to stress myself out and try to get a bunch of stuff done. That I was going to concentrate on ME and make all the fall weather stuff I could.

My very first project that I finished after that post was a pair of socks that I intend to give as a Christmas present.

To be fair, I had started the grey one right after I finished my first pair of socks. And I needed a purse project since I finished Brass and Steam, so I tossed it in.

It wasn't my fault that I had a bunch of downtime and finished it super quickly.

And yes, this is a matching pair. The recipient isn't a fan of matching socks, so I obliged. Both are Kroy Sock Yarn, this one the Jacquard Slate. The other is the FX line in Celestial Colors.

And actually, it was fun not having to knit two of the same socks. It only took me two days to finish up this one.

Now, lest you think that I am neglecting my fall projects, I have once again challenged myself to the impossible and knit something really bloody big in a very short amount of time.

I finally cast on my Autumn Lace Shrug late Sunday night. (Pattern is Speckled Shrug on Ravelry.)

Most of Sunday afternoon was spent swatching, charting out various lace and cable patterns, debating about whether or not I wanted to just do an all over pattern or have a panel in the middle, and winding yarn.

That night, I only made it through the first 2 inches of ribbing and was disheartened. This thing was going to take forever and I was never going to get it done. I sat it to the side, and figured I'd pick it back up sometime next to never.

Tuesday, though, I figured that I should at least get through the first chart repeat for the lace section just to make sure that I liked it. And that went super fast, much to my amazement.

Apparently, if you add some yarn overs and decreases to any project, I start burning through it. I took it with me Wednesday and Thursday to the various doctor appointments that I've been going to with my grandma. (She's okay. Just needs some minor knee surgery). I've been working on it non-stop. As of right now, I have nearly 16 inches of it done.

All in 3 (4 if you count all the prep work) measly days.

Which brings me to my challenge. Jamie is due up here next Thursday. We plan on going on a date Saturday. You see where this is going?

Yep, I'm trying my damndest to get this done before they get up here. And, by all the wooly gods, I think I can do it.

Which means that I should probably stop typing this and actually get some of it done today.

So, I'm going to end this as hastily and awkwardly as I can. Because that's what I do.

Be back in a few days to check in, assuming that my fingers haven't fallen off.

Three Times a Knitter

If my facebook memories are any indication, it was roughly about this time three years ago that I started down the path of my addiction...*ahem*...enthusiasm for knitting. I had been crocheting for roughly a year before that.

My very first finished project was a mug cozy that I don't even have a completed picture of. It was messy and my stitches were all twisted. The yarn overs in the lace (what? you expected me to start with something plain?) were practically non-existent. I improvised the button hole because the instructions made no sense to me. But I finished it, damnit.

I *do* have a picture of my second project, a simple phone case.

A photo posted by Ashtan Albright (@ageeksgirl08) on Nov 4, 2013 at 10:55am PST

Three years is a long time. Yet it's also no time at all.

I've come very far with my skills, but I see people who have been knitting for decades and can't help but feel like my own skills are vastly inferior.

But I also am feeling a little proud. This year alone, I've accomplished two of my biggest knitting challenges. I completed Celestarium and learned how to knit socks.

Which I'm wearing for the first time today because it's finally cold enough to need them.

I've also improved my knitting speed, which means that I was able to make more things for more people. Knitwear that I've made with my own two hands is adorning my loved ones. I guess that's something else to be proud of.

I also feel like I've become an accomplished lace knitter. Especially when it comes to beaded projects. I feel comfortable taking on almost any project with tiny, thin yarn and lots of charts.

Funkia is still my pride and joy, another huge accomplishment for me. I love showing it off, if that's not too selfish of me to say.

I do still have a lot of room for improvement. I haven't knit a sweater or a blanket. Or really tackled a lot of colorwork. And poor John is still waiting on his socks. But I'm quite optimistic that, just like my lace skills, I'll soon add these to my repertoire.

Then I'll become an unstoppable force of needles and wool. Heaven help you all.

Christmas Carnage

The weather has turned cold. Leaves are changing. We've hit October already.

And there are only 83 days left until Christmas.

I should be freaking out, scrambling around and trying to figure out how to knit that many gifts in such a short period. 

But I'm not. 

I've decided that I'm not going to knit Christmas gifts this year for the majority of my list. 

I know, I know. That makes me sound like a terrible human being.

But I can't keep doing this. 

It's so stressful trying to get a high volume of things done in a short period of time. I end spending all of fall and early winter, chest deep in tears and wool. 

And all for what? The majority of my family members can appreciate that I took the time to make them something, but don't really understand just how much goes in to things. And there are just so many of them to make gifts for.

When fall rolls around, all I want to do is make large, snuggly wraps, bulky cowls, oversized sweaters, boot cuffs all in every shade of neutral you can imagine. Yes, all for me. But I never get to. 

This year, I'm changing that. I've already got a sweater pattern picked out, some boot cuffs on the needles, and a bunch of squishy, fat wool ready for a cowl.

Now, bring on the cold and the PSL's. 

Well, as soon as I finish this dratted shawl for an upcoming wedding.

RANDOM BONUS!

I literally had no idea where to stick this in my post, so here you go. Just a hat I whipped up because I was bored. No, I'm not keeping it. I'm a muted tone sort of gal.

Simply Made and Simply Done

As much as I love my complicated lace projects, sometimes I just need some pretty yarn and a simple pattern.

Remember Vi's lovely Age of Brass and Steam? It was so beautifully done that I had to make one for myself. She used Malabrigo Silky Merino, and I happened to have some in my stash, so I pulled it out and got to work.

This was my relaxing and traveling project. When I just needed something fast and easy, I could toss it in my bag. I wasn't expecting to finish it so soon, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I used most of four skeins in color Piedras, though my labels were misprinted as Piedra.

I was lazy as hell *creative* and decided that rather than alternating my skeins like you should, I would just work one skein at a time in its entirety. And I really love the results.

This is actually the smallest shawl I've knit for myself. It's only got a 82 inch wingspan. I know, I know. It's still giant technically.

What can I say? I make big shawls. I can't help it.

And if I didn't hate myself enough, I decided to do a picot edging. Did I mention there were nearly 350 stitches by that point?

But it does look absolutely fabulous.

But time for simple things is over. Now, I'm doing something in black lace, with matte black beads, on my darkest needles.

I only hate myself a little bit.

A Gratuitous Amount of Green

A post? With actual knitting? AND A FINISHED PROJECT?!

Yep.

As some of you know, there have been some changes in my love life recently. I'm planning on talking about it in another post, but for now, just know that I'm currently involved with three people. And yes, all of them know about each other.

Anyway, for my latest partner, I did what I always do and felt the overwhelming need to make them ALL OF THE THINGS!

I settled on making them a hat in a rather... alarming... shade of green.

Say hello to the Neon Ski Bonnet.

Knit with Three Irish Girls Springvale Worsted in Bells of Ireland.

Not only a gratuitous amount of green, but also a gratuitous amount of pompom action. That is an entire skein of yarn for that little thing.

AND LOOK AT THE PULL STRINGS AND TASSELS! I'm right proud of them.

This hat and I had a lot of arguments, though. There are a ton of mods, all of which are detailed on my Ravelry project page.

The most glaring one, much to my shame, is the fact that every single one of those cables are the opposite of what they should be. But I wasn't about to rip them all out and start over.

"Repeat the mistake on the next row, and hey! it's now the pattern."

I actually love this thing so much that I'm planning on knitting a second one just for myself.

Oh, yes, my hair.

I dyed it a lovely shade of red-violet, which means I now have to go and knit myself a bunch of new stuff to compliment it.

What's that?

Something about Christmas knitting?

Can't hear you over the sound of my glorious mane...

374

The number of days it has been since I started my blog.

Yes, I'm a little late on the anniversary post. Great Trails always tends to wipe me out.

Anyway, I'm not feeling over sentimental at the moment, so rather than some flowery speech about gratefulness and nostalgia, let's look at this from a pure numbers standpoint.

My very first post was on September 3rd, 2015. I ended up with 16 pageviews on it (half of which were probably my own before I figured out you could turn that off).

My posts for the first couple of months averaged around 20 pageviews per post, except for a few that did exceptionally well and averaged over 75.

Current posts receive around 30 - 50, effectively doubling my numbers.

By far, my best post was the one I made about Celestarium, which blew past all the averages and is sitting at 276 views.

My total pageviews (at the time of this writing) sit at 2,997.

My humble little blog has been read nearly three thousand times, a fact that is a little mind blowing.

From a project standpoint, I've gotten a heck of a lot more done than I realized.

Completed projects are as follows.

• Hats
• Blackberry Cobbler Hat
• As a note, this was my very first hat.
• Green Bean Hat
• Splattershot
• Deathflake Hat
• Ashwyn Beret
• Dried Flowers Hat
• My first self-designed hat.

• Gloves/Fingerless Mitts
• Leydon Mitts
• Maize
• Green Bay Fingerless Gloves
• Leafy Lace Mitts

• Amigurumi/Plushies
• Mini Mini Jaws
• Mandibles of Death
• Fox Doll
• Maxamillius Scampani the Shrimp
• Bulbsaur...with a Surprise!

• Cowls/Triangle Scarves
• Victorian Cowl
• Lace Edged Shawl
• Cabled Bandana Cowl

• Miscellaneous 
• Honey for Tea Cozy
• Mocha with Lavender Socks
• My very first socks!

• Shawls
• Dragon Scale
• Funkia
• Where I realized that I can actually do crazy things.
• Also, discovered talent of making giant-ass shawls
• Time Vi-Tex
• First shawl that I really branched out and cobbled together my own pattern.
• Passe-Partout
• Maori
• Golden Tree
• Celestarium
• You already know that this is my most precious of babies.
• Love Street
• My second shawl to be featured on the Ravelry pattern page.
• First shawl that I'm actually super excited/willing to knit a second time.

That brings us to a grand total of 28 knitting/crochet projects completed. Which feels like a goodly amount of stuff. Especially because that's not including all of my other creative endeavors. 

In my first blog, I also talk about my newest interest, book binding. I didn't realize at the time that it would quickly become my other go-to craft. Which means that I have yet another craft that I have to buy ALL OF THE SUPPLIES for.

Speaking of which, shall we take a look at all the yarn that I purchased in the past year?

Yeah, probably not. John would weep if he realized just how much of our income was sacrificed to the wooly gods.

I know I said I wasn't going to get sentimental, but I really do need to take a minute and talk about just what this blog has meant to me. In total, I wrote 51 posts, covering everything from yarn purchases, to mental illness struggles, to adventures we had. That averages out to almost one a week. I've tried several times in the past to commit to maintaining a blog and up until now, I've never succeeded. 

I've had times where I have struggled so hard to write something, anything, for a post. I had to fight to get it done, force myself in to not letting my mind get the best of me. I had to do a post. I had to keep going. I made a commitment, and I was going to stick to it. 

Did I backslide a couple of times? Of course. 

But the fact of the matter is that I did stick with it. And I'm damn proud of that fact.

This blog has become an extension of myself. A tool to help keep track of my life and my accomplishments. A reminder that I am capable of great things.

It has helped me to gain a sense of confidence and self-worth. Something that has already caused drastic, positive changes in my life.

It has helped me say thank you when spoken words have failed me. It has helped me say goodbye to loved ones. And it has helped me to truly learn who I am in my head and my heart.

So thank you, my dear readers, for your support, love, and comments. 

Here's to the next 374 days.

Grazie Molto

This post honestly should have been written a month ago.

No, earlier than that.

It should have been written when I was a little child, and grandpa was just as involved with my care as my grandma.

It should have been written when I was a school age girl, and grandpa took me on a mini vacation every summer to museums and historical sites. Memories that still stick with me to this day.

It should have been written when I was a teenager, and grandpa made the effort to come to see me perform.

It should have been written when I was in college, and grandpa offered to help me with school, housing, whatever I needed to make sure I was taken care of.

It should have been written when I got married, and grandpa walked me down the aisle. And made me laugh the whole day, even though I was nervous.

It should have been written when he went down multiple times to the pharmacy to get me medicine. He wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself.

It should have been written after every time he has shown up to bail us out of some minor disaster.

It should have been written a month ago when he surprised us with four new tires for our car.

But I didn't write it then. I'm writing it today. As I've said before, we are not a family who express affection and appreciation as vocally as others.

But we do remember.

I remember that grandpa taught me to ride a bike, to drive, to love history.

I remember all of the stories he has shared with me about his family and what it was like when he grew up.

I remember all of the talks and wisdom he's imparted on me when we've been riding together or sitting around a campfire.

I know that he doesn't always understand my mental illnesses and how they effect me, but he still offers me the love and support I need. The same goes for Emily and Alex.

He doesn't judge John when he doesn't know how to fix something. He patiently teaches John, helping him to gain confidence in working with his hands.

Grandpa is as ornery as they come, but you're always guaranteed a laugh.

My grandparents are amazing, wonderful people. They care for a whole lot of us, even outside of our family. They know who all of my friends are and often ask how such and such is doing. And my friends all know that my grandparents' home is as welcoming to them as if they were one of the grandkids themselves.

I feel so truly lucky that I have them in my life.

So, thank you grandpa, for everything.

For everything I've listed here and the miles long list of all the stuff I haven't. Can't wait for our next campfire talk. I'll bring the s'mores.