Bang out a Baby Blanket and This Teacher Loves Having Time to Read

This week my main knitting project has been banging out the chevron baby blanket in record time. Over the course of last week, I averaged knitting about two stripes a day, and while I guess when you have time in the evenings to watch a whole MOVIE you get more knitting done, the speed at which this project has progressed has stunned me a bit. It’s not complicated at all, and doing something in a worsted weight will get it done faster. I’m going to wait to bind off until Stash Dash starts (yes, I am hoarding!), but I’m tickled with how this blanket looks, and how fast it went. Next time I’d be interested in following the written color sequence. Again, this is not for any particular baby, but was just a ‘waiting for May and Stash Dash’ filler project. I also managed to smoosh the tip of one of my needles with my chair tonight; thankfully it’s not terrible to knit with, and I’m almost done. I needed another set of needle tips that size anyway…

Why waiting for May? Because having something to compete for, even made up points on the internet, and especially made up points that get you entered for a prize is a fun when your life is as pathetic as mine is! The Knitgirllls also do a monthly self-striping knit a long, and one of the yarns for May just happens to be KnitPicks, and hey! I have Knitpicks self-striping yarn! So, after seeing the Cooperish Cowl, I’m doing basically that pattern, only rather than pay for the official pattern, I figured out the stitch and am doing math to see how to maximize my stripes, as Felici doesn’t have a super long stripe sequence. I won’t be making it as tall as the inspiring pattern; basically I’m going to keep going until a) I’m sick of it, b) it’s almost the end of May, or c) I run out of yarn.

Other than knitting, I have been devouring books while I still have the chance to stay up past midnight gripped by a story. I borrow most of my books via my library’s subscription to a digital service now, but occasionally they randomly don’t have part of a series, or they don’t have the next one. I’ve been really enjoying Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s Iluminae Files series; I borrowed the first two, but had to buy the third, because I have to know how it all turns out. I have now read The Prisoner of Zenda--swash, swash, buckle, buckle!, and I finished up the gripping Ravin King Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I loved Chris Hadfield’s look into life as an astronaut, and read a recent, highly rated coming of age novel that would have been far more enjoyable if it wasn’t m/m romance. I’m continuing through Rick Riordan’s Greek novels so I’ll be ready for the new Trials of Apollo novel coming out this year, and I still have Brandon Sanderson’s new Way of Kings novel to plow into—maybe while I’m home this summer.

Well, that’s about all I have to talk about! Life explodes of Friday…brace for impact!