not-quite-S: hands not idle

The past two months have been...interesting. Is it something in the air or the water? Is it the violent solar flares I keep hearing about? It's been a whirlwind that included bumps and bruises and worries and a huge mistake, and I am only recently feeling recovered.

I kept my hands busy throughout, in an attempt to keep some form of normal routine going. This week, I'm going to show you the projects that don't fall into the S category - that is, none of them are scarves, shawls, socks, or sweaters. I'll get back to showing those next week.

Mom and I both worked on crocheted blankets while she and Steve were here for the holidays. She finished up a zig zag blanket I'd barely started I don't know how long ago:

And I got it into my head to do a crochet version of the Moderne Log Cabin Blanket. I got this idea because while I like the look of the knitted version, committing to that much garter stitch has always given me pause, not to mention hearing and reading complaints from people about how bloody long it takes to make. It required some gauge swatches and math (and a false start that had to be ripped out) to figure out a crochet version, but it turned out well. I adjusted the pattern a bit to suit the color placement (the color inspiration came from a sweater I've had for years), which was easy since the whole thing is made up of blocks that attach to other blocks.

A few people have mentioned that it looks like a Mondrian painting. I wish I'd thought of that sooner because I would have outlined all the blocks in black.

The cats like both blankets:

I also made a quick cowl out of some handspun yarn that owldaughter sent me (yes, she spun it herself):

It's a blend of blue-faced Leicester wool and hand-dyed tussah silk.

I'd made a cowl out of it soon after she sent it to me, but I had the feeling the pattern I'd chosen hadn't done justice to the yarn. Eventually, I unraveled it and started looking for another pattern. I finally found Anne Hanson's Poinsettia pattern, and it was off to the races. It only took a few hours to make, and I'm pleased with how it turned out:

I think the pattern shows off the yarn a lot better.

I also have enough left over yarn to make another cowl. I have quite a few possibilities saved in my ravelry queue.

Warning: There will be a small parade of brightly colored socks next week.

2012 revolutions

As I have done for several years now, I have a list of specific things I want to do in the coming year, rather than things I think I should do, and that makes resolutions easier to keep. And actually enjoyable. Here is this year's list:

Gardening

I learned many gardening lessons last year - namely, that wildlife may be cute, especially the way they come right up to the windows to chat with my cats, BUT THEY ARE ROTTEN LITTLE SEEDLING THIEVES, TOO! Two gardening goals this year are to get things planted earlier and GUARD THE CROPS!


Cello

I am thisclose to starting a new study book, and the first piece in it is the Breval Sonata. I'm already quaking in my boots at the thought of it, because I've heard things about it. Things that make me shudder.

My teacher has informed me that there will also be some non-study book pieces as well, just for a change of kicks and giggles, because, as he frequently reminds me, we're doing this cello thing for FUN!


Travel

Scotland in May. More details to come.

Also might go see the Dickens exhibit in London, since I'll be passing through. It's his 200th birthday this year. I feel the urge to re-read Bleak House all of a sudden.


Knitting

Catalog the stash and knit down more of it. I knit, and finished, a lot more projects last year, and yet, the yarn stash didn't seem to get any smaller. That may be because the lace projects didn't require as much yarn as something like a sweater or blanket project would need. Lace projects usually require only a skein or two of yarn, whereas a blanket or a sweater can use up to a dozen skeins or even more.

I've already put aside stuff for the next yarn swap, which will reduce the stash somewhat. I didn't buy much new yarn this year, mainly because I didn't go to the Sheep and Wool Festival in May owing to a monster of a sinus headache that weekend. My LYS had a big sale on its birthday this summer, so that added about two projects' worth. Most of the other yarn I bought or acquired from last year's yarn swaps went directly to a project, often for someone else, so it was in and out of the stash pretty quickly.

I may even assign projects to yarn, just to see if that gets them knit quicker.


Writing

It's a revision and publishing year, I think. I have complete drafts of several novels that need revision, and they're piling up. Now that I (more or less) have the hang of e-publishing, I have a good excuse to clear out the backlog before the stories get so stale they aren't worth reading.

My sonata novel is still missing "that certain something," and I think I've figured out what it is. My cello teacher explained the sonata form to me recently, and it's given me ideas for what I hope will be the final re-write of this novel. It may prove to be disasterous, and I'll have to take it all out again, but I'm curious to see what can be done.


Career

I have a new job as a medical information specialist for a small pharma company. I start this week. I was getting stale and mushy-brained in the old job, and feeling bored and increasingly useless. The new job scares me a little, because it's bigger than I am, and I'll be back into hardcore clinical science. I like the idea of growing into a job, though, and my brain will hopefully soak up the science and feel more alert and challenged.

I've also been musing on the crazy idea of another master's degree, this time in public health or clinical research. I probably won't start this until mid-year. Even I know that starting a new job and a science-heavy master's degree at the same time can only end in madness and tears. Best to get used to the new job first and figure out which degree would be the most useful for it.


Purely for Entertainment

Audiobooks! My commute time to work is going to double. Given the nature of my job, as well as the looming possibility of a master's degree, not to mention dealing with more heavy downtown traffic than I am used to, I suspect I will need the mental indulgence of fiction being read to me. I've already saved an embarrasingly long queue of books on the Maryland Digital e-Library Consortium page via my county public library system. I'm working my way through the five books in Anne Perry's World War I series, and they have a lot of her other books as well. (Yes, I know who she is and what she did as a teenager. No need to tell me. I still admire her writing.) I noticed that audible.com has the first of Gyles Brandreth's Oscar Wilde series on audio finally, so that's been added to my to-be-listened-to list as well.

If you have audiobook recommendations, let me know, and can someone please ask Richard Armitage to record some more Georgette Heyer novels or other novels in general? I'm afraid I've become addicted to his reading voice.