Okay, so I’ve decided to start another long term project. Ever since I finished the blanket out of sock yarn for my grandfather (which I still haven’t given to him! It’s sooooooo late it’s not even funny), I’ve wanted one for me. And I want to use up leftover sock yarn again. But I really don’t want to knit more squares on teeny tiny needles. Crocheted squares it is!

After doing a little bit of math (O did the math, I just showed with my arms how big I want the blanket to be and the size of the squares), he told me I needed to make 864 squares. That means that if I make four squares a day, I’ll be done in seven months. Seven months people. Just to have a blanket. But I’m okay with that. Like I said, long term project.

So far, on Friday I crocheted four and yesterday I made twelve. I’m hoping that I’ll make at least eight today. On the sidebar I’ve added a little entry thing where I’ll be keeping track of how many I’ve made so far.

Oh and I’ve got quite a few FO pics to show you all, but those will have to wait for another day. I need to go crochet me some more squares now.

I’ve finally managed to write up the pattern, get it test knit and then set it up on Ravelry! Awesome, isn’t it?

I came up with the pattern one day a few years ago while I was doodling around and petting my new yarn. The brown was just so luscious that I had to design something with a coffee theme to it. And so after a lot of charting and playing around with gauge, I had the mitts. A fairly quick knit, actually (it helps that I really do love my dpns). Then after awhile, people (and I mean mostly knitters) who saw me wear them prodded me into writing up the pattern. So I did. And then the wonderful Sadie test knit them for me and gave lots of good advice. She got one of her patterns into Knitty so go look!

If you click that little Buy Now icon, it’ll take you over to Ravelry where you can buy the pattern if you’re so inclined (and I hope you are!). No need to sign up. :D

I’ve been doing some more planting again.

O’s dad bought me these tomato plants last week and yesterday morning I moved them into the gro-bag that’s on the step next to the shed.

That little pot next to the tomatoes? I’m fairly sure it’s lettuce. My gardening method (when starting plants from seeds) is mainly along the lines of: seeds + soil + pots + sun + water => see what happens. It’s magic. So yeah, pretty sure it’s lettuce but not 100%. Some of the seeds that I planted in the propagator tray got mixed up so I’m in for a few surprises.

Then I’ve also got two pea plants and now they’ve given me two peapods!

In that second picture you can see the two cucumber plants in the background. Again, surprises. They just appeared in the same square in the tray when I’m fairly sure that I didn’t put them there. So now I’ve got two pea plants and two cucumber plants in one bigger pot. We’ll see how that’ll go.

And then there’s the cherry tree that was already in the garden. It’s coming along quite nicely.

And the strawberries! No idea where they came from. They just appeared at the base of the cherry tree last year and they’re still here. They’re actually trying to take over the little path and just spreading everywhere. I’ve had to pull out quite a few to keep them “contained” near the tree.

In other news, we’ve decided to buy a car in August when the car insurance goes down by quite a bit (turning 25 has its perks). And we’re also going to buy the plane tickets to go see my sister in Chicago for Thanksgiving once we’ve made sure that we can have the time off work.

Gorgeous yarn (Green Sheep Sport in the Nox colorway by The Unique Sheep) + great free pattern (just search for Rainy Day Socks in Ravelry) + 3,25mm dpns = pretty socks that knit up quickly.

See those up there? I designed those. And now, after they’ve been test knit by others, I’ve made the pattern available for you all for free. Because free is nice. And because I can’t claim that I came up with the idea for owl cables, as neat as that would be, so I didn’t feel right charging for the pattern.

The story behind these mittens started last November. I wanted to knit a pair for my youngest sister for Christmas in this lovely DK yarn that my LYS had. So I bought the yarn and figured that Ravelry would help me in finding an owl mitten pattern suitable for my gauge. No luck. But I really wanted to knit these, so I resigned myself to having to do math. To make sure that they would be worth my time, I e-mailed my sister with just this line: “You like owls, right?” Her reply: “Yes? Your question scares me.”

I’ve been busy, but I have a good reason for my absence! See the above pic? *That* is what I’ve been up to. IVDC (InterVarsity Dance Competition) was held last Saturday at Blackpool. Once again, I got to dance in the Empress Ballroom in pretty dresses. :D

I’d say that Ian and I did quite well. We entered Novice and out of about 170 couples, we made it to 40th in the Ballroom dances. But only 101st in the Latin dances. Still, considering that Ian totally forgot our routine at the previous comp, getting through a round at IVDC on an almost improvised Jive routine (learned it the week before) is quite good.

Oliver was dancing in the ex-student category, so he wasn’t competing against me. He and Eleanor won fifth in the ballroom dances and came home with a shiny trophy.

Then it came time for the team match. Ian & I were chosen to dance the Waltz since that’s what we’re the best at. No ex-students were allowed in the team match, so we were bumped up to A Team this time. Believe it or not, we as a team won second place in Division 2! I’ve got a medal to show for it too. Engraved with “2nd” and everything. :D

Now, Ian wants to compete at the next open comp which is being held in Stockport on the 14th. I said sure, why not? And then we found out that it’s not WQCJ, it’s WFCJ for our category! I don’t know any Foxtrot! Well, I was taught a few steps on Monday, but we don’t quite have a routine. So Oliver’s coming with me this Saturday to dance practice and he’ll show Ian’s corresponding steps to what I was taught on Monday. The 14th will be interesting if nothing else.

The Bex socks are done!

Out of 100g of yarn, I had 3g left. Talk about cutting it close! All in all, I really like the pattern. Got into a nice groove once I had it memorized. The leg portions took forever (approx 2 mins per needle, yes I’m a dork and timed myself while knitting during my lunchbreak at work). The foot just zoomed by in comparison.

So now I’m taking a small break from cabling and cast on the Bitterroot shawl from Knitty. Since I’m using the yarn from the first Sip N Stitch shipment (The Unique Sheep Luxe (75/25 merino/silk) in Joe Van Gogh), I’m making the shawlette size. I’ve already completed one repeat of Chart A. ^_^

I’ve been knitting on my Bex socks almost exclusively this week. Today, it’s the only project that I’ve touched. Past the gusset decreases now. Kinda worried about running out of yarn. :/

So to steel myself against that possible eventuality, I’ve made my self a drink: Apple Sourz and lemonade (the British kind, sort of like Sprite).

Still snowing. Still knitting. But now with chocolate buns at O’s request. ^_^