Running Short

I have been knitting the Op Art baby blanket by Melissa Dominguez published in Knitty 2008 in Rowan Softknit Cotton and Halcyon Yarn Casco Bay Worsted for my new Nephew who is due any day now. I did stockinette on all the rounds but the last stripe.  Garter stitch in the round is slightly evil.

I am on row 6 of 16 in the final stripe (which is white) of this baby blanket.  Last night, hubby commented that it is almost done. I said "Yep and I will have a lot of black left but not much white."  I pulled the cone of black out to show how much is left and then pulled out the white ball that was looking deflated. A little too deflated. 

Tiny ball and big blanket.

I checked my math with my trusty food/ yarn scale. I had used this 50 gram ball to do 7 rows, I have 10 more ever increasing rows and it now weighed...GULP...20 grams.

I ran to the computer to buy another ball.  I found a coupon in my e-mail that gave me free 2-3 day shipping from Paradise Fibers. They are the super fastest shippers and I knew I could count on them.  I even got a notice that it shipped today! "I am going to have it before I finish knitting up this ball!" I danced around the house.

Then I saw the weather...we could get anywhere from 5-18 inches of snow tomorrow night. Sigh.
USPS says, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."  However, I believe I may be knitting on something else to get me through the storm.

Full circle

Here is my finished Starfish Blanket.
I think there was little boy finger prints on the lens of the camera.
This photo shows the size. My 6 year old holding the blanket is 3'8" with a red hat and white shoes. See him?

Casting off the blanket has left a big void.  I have a sock on the needles that I need to work on but I am going to be thinking about what I want to cast on next. It must be something for me.

As of tomorrow, I have been blogging for one year.  This past year has been a year of self awareness and self respect for me.  I have started putting more effort in those things that bring me joy and have cut out the things that add little value to my life.  It has been very cleansing. I still have more work to do (see My Dog is Fat post) but I am feeling good about life in general.

Baby won!

Little Miss Mermaid decided that her due date was not coming soon enough, so she came on the 19th. She is perfect.

Where is my blanket, Auntie Katie?

Her blanket is not yet done. Section 13 of 15 is almost finished. I hope to have it done before she is a week old. Can you see the starfish shape?

Plodding along

I don't have a lot of exciting news this week. I am working on the 9 (of 15) section of the Curlicue Coverlet which means more yellow and more blue sections then last time I photographed it. I am working out on the treadmill at lunch on days that don't start with T and happy to report that at a 10% incline I can do an 18 min mile.  My first goal will be to do a 15 minute mile with the next goal being 2 miles in 30 minutes. 

I did see a middle age man steal a pack of cigarettes from the grocery store this week.  The man had been completely rung up (including the cigarettes) and everything was bagged up (except the cigarettes which were on the little check writing counter) when a computer glitch knocked out all the checkout stations. The cashier and manager started un-bagging everything and scanning it all back into the checkout computer. I was two carts back. I saw his hand clench around the cigarettes.  I saw the hand slide back just slightly and then just a little more.  I was staring intently when another cashier invited me to check out in her lane.  When I had checked out, I saw him tucking the cigarettes in one of his bags all the while talking to the manager. He walked out as I did and looked cool as a cucumber.

Why didn't I turn him in? Maybe because it is only a $4 item. Maybe because he was buying beer and dog food (wet and dry food, he loves his dog) so I pictured him, a bachelor, drinking at home alone with his dog and felt bad for him.  Maybe I have seen Empire Records too many times. (Damn the man, save the Empire!)  Mostly, I think I wanted to see whether he would get away with it or not. He did and I got a little secret excitement from it in a boring week.

My Dog is Fat

There is a bumper sticker out there that says, "When your dog is fat, you need more exercise." Well, that is the case in my house. My poor Corgi mix, Angel, and I both need to lose 20% of our weight to be healthy.

Angel in our freak October snowstorm. She is a tall corgi mix.

I think "lose" is going to be the theme of this year's resolutions. I now resolve to:

1. Exercise 3-4 times a week to lose weight (Angel is going on a diet and going for more walks.)
2. Trim down the clutter in my house by selling or donating a big bunch of it.
3. Knit down my stash without buying a crap ton more. 

I have plans for all of it. I found a free gym that I can use on my lunch break at work. I have my husband on board with the clutter and plan to go room to room starting with the office, aka Katie's NEW yarn room (as soon as I clean out the junk.)

For my knitting resolution, I am going to knit up this basket this year.

Some of my oldest yarns will be knit up in 2012.  The average age is 3 years since purchase (that is pretty old since I started knitting in 2007.)  I am excited to get started.

After I finish my baby blanket that is. Here is my half finished baby blanket for a baby who better wait another 3 weeks before making her way to the world.  If for no other reason, then just so I can finish her starfish blanket. I just finished section 7 of 15 and she is not due for another 27 days, I think I can make it.