Challenge Yourself nearly complete

Time flies when it's straight garter stitch. I spent about four hours on Sunday sitting at the kitchen table, listening to SKK podcasts and sewing the Baby Girl Alpaca Soft Blanket squares together. I did however have the help of my two lovely assistance. With the sewing complete it's just a matter of picking up stitches for the boarders and doing 7 rows of garter stitch on each side. Last night I bound off the last stitches on the last side so I'll complete the February Challenge with time to spare. Assuming I can weave in those ends and block it before the month is over.

This brings me to thoughts of the March 5SKSO Challenge. I will be knitting 5 one SKein projects as well as attempting my first pair of SOcks. Hence the 5SKSO Challenge! I'm not so worried about 5 one skein projects. That's about 4 Saturdays and a Sunday but I have no idea how long socks take. I'm anxious to start and glad that there will be a quasi knit-along with the girls from the Webs trip as we all bought the same OnLine Pink Sock Yarn. Although the socks will be different sizes and patterns we'll all be doing socks.

Snow Day...no Delay

It snowed last night! It snowed a lot! 8" worth. This may not sound like a lot but when you get up and look out the window to see the snow piled up to the nose of your car it's surprising. So naturally I raced back up stairs at 6:02am, bleary eyed and avoiding the cats that love to try and trip me on the stairs. I ran into the bedroom and proclaimed "It's snowed!" My hopes were high. My heart was racing. Could it be, could today be a snow day!

It may be worth noting that my development stopped at 5 years old in relation to the snow. I am still delighted to see it and thrilled by the sound of plow trucks. Once, during the summer Steve taunted me, saying he'd heard a plow truck. I raced to the window. I still marvel at the snow and the joy of a snow day. Where most adults despise shoveling, cleaning the cars off, and driving in the stuff, I am anxious at the hope of an unplanned day to myself, completely unexpected and wholly mine.

Back to this morning, I hurriedly dialed the Cancellation Line, to see if it could be one of those special days. The message is different, something has happened, it could be something special..."Due to weather conditions...delaying operations until 10am"...my heart sank just a little. At least a delay is better than nothing at all. The boyfriend was not amused by my early morning antics which disturbed his last few precious moments of sleep.


The February Challenge is... well time is passing and I'm knitting but just not as focused as I'd like to be. This photo is a few days old. I've knit two more cream squares. So there are really only 3 squares to go and then on to the boarder of 8 rows of garter stitch on each side. I'd thought I could finish a square a day this week and then start the boarder this weekend, giving me 13 days to complete it.

But as you can see, the squares are not the same size. Should I block them now, before sewing? Or later after I've put the whole thing together? I'm leaning toward now in which case I should block the finished squares this week so that they are dry by this weekend. I'm hoping blocking will help the designs in each square show more.

Perhaps with a delay I can finish two squares today....

January's done now onto February...

With the January challenge of Knit a mile of stash yarn in a month being completed a day early, I had a little time to think about the February challenge.
February's challenge is, Challenge yourself. I’ve been thinking hard about what I can set for a reasonable challenge for the remaining 24 days in February that will be both challenging and achievable. I know I want the challenges to be about working through my 38+ miles of stash as opposed to my Works in Progress(WIPs) which don’t need any help getting me inspired to work on them. At the same time I don’t want my Ivy League Vest of the Shell Tank to fall to the way side.

I think a reasonable goal would be to either to do one or all of the following….

*Complete the Baby Girl Alpaca Soft Blanket that has been hibernating for 7 months and is 45% complete

*Complete my second Jacobean Felted Floral Bag that has been hibernating for 4 months and is 5% complete

*or Complete my Ivy League Vest (yes, I know this is a current WIP but if I could wrap it up in the next 25 days, I’d be happy)

Oh and the offical count for January was 1838 yards which is 1.04 miles!!!