Reprioritizing

Well, I don't really feel like I got a whole lot done this past week on the yarn front. The blanket is moving along, and I did get a small project made, but I didn't get very far at all on my sweater. That last one has more to do with the fact that my daughter's molars are coming in than anything else. She has been having trouble sleeping, and Friday night was particularly bad. The lack of sleep made me just worthless on Saturday and I totally gave into lazy-mode. Which of course meant I had twice as much to do on Sunday and therefore got less done yarn-wise.

I don't know why I ever think it is a good idea to have multiple big projects in the works at once. I mean, yes, it is nice to be able to take a break from something to pick up something else, but when you get to a certain point, each one just starts distracting you from the others. Sigh.

At this point, I have three things I am working on. Only one needs to be done by a specific date, but I would like to get the other two done by the end of November. I think this is possible, but I could be totally kidding myself. Once those are finished I only have two must-do projects on my official list and one want-to-do. One of the must-do items can totally wait until the start of the year, so there's that.

Here is my priority list as it stands for what is in the works now:

1. Blanket (I am 1/3 of the way done with this and might just buckle down and plow through and then pick up the other two projects once I am done.)
2. KAL Sweater (Still slogging along on the back on this one.)
3. Secret Project (This is actually ridiculously easy, which, unfortunately, means it is not very engaging. I just need to find some good television or movies to burn through while I work on it and it should go pretty quickly.)

Once December rolls around I will pick up Must-Do project number one (because it is a Christmas present) and put whatever else I am still working on from the above list on hold if necessary. It is a crochet project so I think it will go much more quickly for me, thankfully. Depending on how much of my sweater and other project I have left, once I finish the Christmas present, I might or might not attempt to make my daughter a pair of socks for her Christmas stocking. Her feet are small, so those should go by relatively quickly even with the learning curve involved. That's the plan, at least. 

If, by some miracle, I managed to finish ALL of those projects before December is out? I would like to make myself a vest. Then when January rolls around, I will start off the year with my last must-do item, a blanket for one of my cousins, and then I shall dive into SOCKS. 

Yup, got it all planned out. This means that you, dear readers, are now free to sit back and enjoy watching my plan fall completely to pieces. Feel free to laugh as things go all pear-shaped. It's okay, I won't mind. I was totally asking for it anyhow.

To end things on a good note, here's that small project that I did manage to finish off this week. I made another Ninja Turtle hat for my friend's daughter. 

Red is for Raphael.

Pattern: Meh, totally winged it.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Dark Sage (1 skein) and Red Heart Classic in Cherry Red (1 skein)
Needles: Size 8

My friend thought red would be the best color for her daughter, so red is what we went with. I was a little put off by the contrast between the yarns at first (I used what was in my stash), but I actually ended up really liking it. The mask is not part of the turtle's head, after all. It makes sense that it would look and feel different.

I also am much happier with how the eye holes on the mask came out, as well as how the attaching of the mask to the "head" ended up looking than with my first turtle hat. For the eyes, I ended up just binding off at the holes and joining a new strand of yarn for each separate section until it was time to resume knitting across. This did mean that I had three strands of yarn attached this work at one point, but only for like three rows, so no real biggie. It was a good practice lesson for the neck shaping on my sweater, actually. When I attached it, I actually overlapped the last row of the head and first row of the mask, with the mask on top, and just back-stitched it on. I think it makes it look more like an actual mask, so I was very pleased with that.

I got my daughter to sort of model it for you, too, so I'll leave you with that. Have a great week! Hopefully I'll have more progress to report next Tuesday.

Mom, I really don't know what you are doing but you're
interrupting Planet Sheen.

Fine, if you're going to make Daddy hold me still insist,
I will pose for a picture. Sheesh.