Jananas

Rather, its that I don’t accomplish as much as I’d like. I’m into my third week of work and as new jobs go there’s a lot of downtime – you’re waiting for an answer or you don’t have projects because you haven’t learned enough. I’ll admit that I really resent that downtime at work (even a lot of meetings are still ‘downtime’) because I could be doing something with it. Even if its just knitting something simple like a hat or a scarf – I could be productive but instead I get to sit at my desk and look busy.

Its making me feel like I’m not getting anything done. So tonight I sat down and looked at everything else that I’ve done and you know what I’m still getting a lot done, the recognition has just gotten lost in the stress.

In that last week I have:

• finished two books
• spun 5 skeins of yarn, for a total of almost 2lbs of yarn
• attended three yoga classes
• hung out with our dear friends Chris & Polly
• watched some pretty terrible movies and one rather weird one
• gotten enough done on my little hooked rug that the end is in sight!

Those are two huge skeins – the brown wools. The medium brown is a more coarse Shetland and the lighter brown is a blue Leicester. The ridiculous blue and neon green is some blue wool that got contaminated at the mill and is being sold off. Regardless, I think its pretty amazing. I probably should have carded it as it was in clumps/sections, but I thought I’d challenge myself a little and just winged it. The turquoise/blue/purple/pink is some superwash merino that I dyed myself and the very top is a batt that Jason picked up for me for Christmas. I love the colours, but was a little bummed when I went to spin it up as parts of it just would not draft – a little disappointing in a batt that is supposed to be spinnable right from the get go. Regardless, it is pretty

I also have some thumbprint cookies in the oven, made with homemade jam from this past summer. I’m not 100% sure how they’ll turn out but if they are good they’ll be trekking into work with me tomorrow.

Its strange, when I sit back and take stock of what I’ve done I realize that I’ve actually done a tonne. Although I haven’t really had downtime or me time or just do nothing time. I’m not 100% sure if this level is sustainable in the long term or if I just haven’t really gotten back into the swing of a work schedule. I guess only time will tell!

So what have you done this week?

I started my mini learn to rug hook project a month (or two?) ago. I’d put it down in favor of spinning and knitting and reading and a million other little on the go type projects. Friday evening I picked it back up and decided to make a good dent in it. I’m happy to say that I’m about 3/4 done at this point and got most of the sky finished.

If you look closely at the light blue water on the bottom, you’ll notice that you can see through the strips of fabric to the backing. It was one of the first sections I did and I was dutifully following the instructions of ‘every other hole’. Strangely, for this piece that didn’t seem to create enough density. As I went on, I started putting the loops more closely together. You can see the difference if you look at the dark blue or pinks towards the top of the piece. I don’t 100% like the bottom, but its also the first piece I’ve ever done so I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. Its about learning, not perfection

The one little detail about rug hooking hat I absolutely adore is how tidy the back of a piece looks. I mean, isn’t that just neat?

I spun up 4oz of hand dyed rovings that I picked up at the Black Lamb in Port Hope. What better way to celebrate St Paddy’s Day than with lots and lots of lovely green yarn?

I tried to make this more worsted weight (so thicker), as what I normally spin tends to be rather fine which means that it needs to be plied. I still added a little two much twist as it was kinky, but after wet setting it it was reasonably well balanced. There’s a slight twist to one side, but nothing super major.

I have to say that I’m pretty proud of this!

This evening I ordered myself a Nexus One (engraved to boot) and setup my p8tch to direct, well, here. Yup, I feel like my nerd character just lvld up.

I work in offices that like their air conditioning. The end result is that I end up freezing while it’s nice and sunny outside. I normally end up throwing on a scarf or sweater, but they can often be too much and too bulky for the summer weather.

This simple summer cowl was designed to be light weight, airy and cozy, with a little bit of slouch. The angora adds warmth and softness without dragging you down, so that you won’t overheat (or look ridiculous) if you forget to take the cowl off before leaving the office.

This pattern used Fleece Artist’s Peter Rabbit which is nice and fluffy and soft.

To Download the Simple Summer Lace Cowl Pattern you can do one of three things:

1. Click on the button above,
2. Click on this link,
3. Or you can find it on Ravelry here

Also, you can find more of my knitting patterns here.