another knit blanket

This blanket was a labor of love. I started it at the beginning of August and finished it over Labor Day Weekend. It's long enough to cover me completely when I lay down on the couch with it! Justin says my blankets need to be wider though, so I'm keeping that in mind for the next one I make. ;)

Yarn is Lion Brand Thick & Quick in the color Hudson Bay. Took 7 skeins total to finish.

methods of self care

So far I'm learning this year that if you don't feel good, you're not going to do good. Take care of you. Shower because you haven't showered in three days, wash the pajamas you've been wearing all weekend, organize your living space. 

Take care of the basics first. Then focus on doing what makes you happy. For me, that was making a big cup of tea and crawling into bed to read East of Eden last night. Then when my mind couldn't focus anymore, I put earphones in and listened to music while I worked on a new knitting project. 

I slept better last night than I have in ages, and that says a lot to me about the ways that I treat myself on the daily grind of life. Self care is so important, and feels so good when you actually allow yourself to do it. 

the rainbow blanket

It's done. It took approximately 7 months and 3 days for me to knit, cast on through cast off. My goal was to accomplish part of #1 on my birthday list: use up all my yarn stash. While I am not even close to accomplishing that goal, this got me in a better place than I started this year. 

This blanket saw me through the first half of my engagement, and it saw me get engaged in the first place. I drank coffee on the balcony and listened to podcasts while I knit all summer. I worked on it when my grandma was in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. I worked on it when I was down in Burlington for her funeral, needles clacking together to keep my mind off the all-encompassing grief. 

A lot of love has gone into this blanket. A lot of love and a lot of stitching hours and a lot of hand cramps and more than one coffee stain. I always envisioned this being a "back of the couch" blanket and I'm so excited for that to finally happen. 

Last night as I was taking pictures for this post, I sat down by the lake to watch the last of the sunset. It was the perfect way to break this blanket in, I think. Now I need to come up with another knitting project! 

progress > perfection

All photos taken on my iPhone 4s, processed with VSCO app, & uploaded to Instagram March-November 2015. 

friday

It's grey and rainy outside and there's absolutely nothing I'd rather be doing right now before I have to work tonight. Happy Friday!

magic monday

I'm knitting again, a blanket out of scrap yarn to use up some of my stash. And while I'm happy it dwindles down some of my supply, I'm more thankful for the relief it brings to my soul. The repetitive motion of knitting row after row and having to concentrate so I don't mess it up and end up with holes all over the place calms my anxiety. It's been a rough week, and I'm so grateful to have knitting as a method of self care. 

just for fun: weaving

Last week, in my no-phone-tv-watching black hole, I made a loom out of the end of a cardboard box and started weaving. 

One of my goals for February was to make 3 just for fun projects. This is the only one I completed (but I have a blanket & a painting in progress!). Weaving might become my new knitting once it (finally) warms up around here and it's too hot to be covered by yarn. I had a lot of fun going through my yarn stash and coming up with a color scheme. 

I'm excited to see what else I can come up with for "just for fun" projects, especially ones that I can complete in an afternoon. 

magic monday

I tore out everything that was on my needles in my last post and started knitting a cowl. It's my first time knitting in the round and I'm learning a lot as I go along but so far I'm loving it. Knitting has become one of my favourite activities, especially for how portable it is (or can be). I've been knitting while I take my break at work. I knit while watching tv. I knit a couple weeks ago when I had an appointment to go to and was wasting time in the waiting room. I'm gonna be kinda sad when it gets too hot to be covered by yarn again. 

I've caught the Pinterest bug again. Sometimes I go through phases where Pinterest is the best thing that's ever happened to me and then I get bored of it and forget it exists for a while. But right now we're on the upswing and I'm loving the extra burst of inspiration. 

There are 27 days until daylight savings time starts. So grateful that winter feels like it's almost over. Especially compared to last year when it felt like it just dragged on forever. 

Happy Monday!

making me happy

Coffee is making me happy. I only had one cup of coffee yesterday and I was a major grump all day because of it. I had a pounding headache and I was irritable and just generally not a fun person to be around. (So pro tip: a guaranteed way to brighten my day is usually to bring me coffee)

Knitting is making me happy. I have a couple works in progress right now, a black and white blanket which is on hold for now until I have time to run to Stevens Point and get more yarn. And this one! Which in not sure what it is yet. Maybe I'm just knitting for the sake of knitting and keeping my hands busy. But either way I'm grateful for the practice. 

Books are making me happy. I finally got bit by the reading bug again and I'm so happy I can concentrate enough to make it through a whole book again. I finished The Bell Jar a couple of days ago and now I'm working my way through this Good Will find I picked up a few months ago. 

Annnnd, I have a giveaway winner to announce!

Commentor number 1 is Emily Creek! Email me your address and I'll get that in the mail for you asap. ;)

Happy Friday!

tassel garland (+ a giveaway!)

Last night I was bored and perusing Pinterest for something to do while I was waiting for Justin to come home from work. I settled on a mini tassel garland and I loosely followed this tutorial by La La Lovely.

I used yarn instead of embroidery thread and I wrapped it around my hand instead of using cardboard... And instead of using the glue gun to hold everything in place, I just tied knots to hold the tassels together. 

I made the little one above for myself, and I made this longer one to give away here! Leave a comment telling me one thing you'd like to see more of on the blog & I'll pick a winner next Friday morning.

Good luck! 

my first blanket

I finished my blanket last week. It's about 20x23 inches long. There are holes. There is a stripe where I knitted 8 rows instead of 6. The end where I casted off is coming undone and I have to go back and fix it, but it's done. 

I love it. It's imperfect but it's all mine. I'm still amazed that I created this out of 3 skeins of yarn and size 10 knitting needles. I casted on about 75 stitches using the long tail cast on and just went crazy. Overall I think this took me about 2 weeks to knit from start to finish. 

It's small but it's the perfect size to curl up with on the couch with a good book and a cup of tea. I love knitting.

my new obsession

In November, I taught myself how to knit. I was majorly inspired by Elise's November installment of MAKE29 and didn't get the blanket I wanted... So I thought "why not knit it myself?!"

I've been posting progress pictures on Instagram and my knitting has been accompanying my morning coffee in pictures more often than not these days. This is a big reason why I love Instagram: when working on a project, process pictures help keep you accountable. Taking pictures of the process and documenting progress makes me feel like I'm actually working on something and accomplishing it.

Teaching myself how to knit is probably the best thing to happen to me this winter. I taught myself the garter stitch via YouTube and I'm forever thankful we live in a world with the technology that allows me to do that. I love my new hobby and I'm sure there will be more progress posts as my blanket comes farther and farther along. 

thankful

My heart is so full today. I'm thankful for my loved ones, that I got to make a trip home for the holidays, photography for being my saving grace all year round. Happy happy thanksgiving everyone, and if you live outside of the U.S., happy Thursday. 

week 40

I learned how to finger knit and arm knit & I'm currently drowning in scarves. Love this new hobby.

Week 40/52