Hey, guess what?  I finally finished the Baby Hearts blanket!  Whopee!  And, better yet, I delivered it to the parents on Saturday.  I must say that I think it turned out better than I had expected.  I was going to knit the border on, but after about 3 rounds it was not looking too good – the corners were giving me problems.  So early on Saturday morning I frogged the borders and decided to crochet them instead.  I did one round of 1/2 crochet, one round of single crochet and one round of a picot edging, just to give interest.  It didn’t fold over too much and the pink yarn that I found was absolutely perfect to crochet with.  I’ll have pictures tomorrow.

So, with one thing crossed of the task list, I decided to cast on for another project yesterday – can’t afford to waste any time.  I cast on for the  mittens, two at a time, tip to cuff, on one long circular needle.  This is the new technique that I learned about a month ago on my adventure to Cedarville, IL and the Stephenson Country Fiber Art Fair.  This was the first chance I’ve had to rip out what I had learned and to cast on again, this time for real-life mittens instead of little mini-mittens.  I only had to cast on twice, the first time I somehow got 4 stitches on the bottom and 5 on the top of one of the mittens.  Second time around was the charm.  I’ll have photos on those tomorrow as well.

I did have the opportunity to watch 4 movies over the weekend.  I rented these:

Moliere – it is about the French playwright, Moliere and it is in French with English subtitles.  Very good movie – I enjoyed it very much.

Into the Wild is a very strange movie.  It is supposedly based on a real story and it is about a young man who discovers that his parents are not really married – in fact his Dad is still married to some one else and has a child by her.  So after college and playing the "dutiful son" part, he decides to become nothing.  He destroys his identity, donates everything to charity and ends up losing his car.  He then treks across America ending up in Alaska, where he will eventually die.  It was okay.

I read this book a few years ago and thought that Khaled Hosseini did a beautiful job writing the story.  It is sad and uplifting at the same time.  Because I loved the book so much I was torn as to whether or not I wanted to see the movie.  While there were some minor differences, they did a really good job telling the story on film.  The characters were brought to life and the dangers/perils of the life in Afghanistan were very dramatically portrayed.  I would watch this again.

Finally, Partition is set in 1940′s India and the migration of Muslims and Hindus between Pakistan and India.  This was also a good story, some of which is in Indian and some in English, but very sad at the end.  Well worth the watch.

Wikipedia defines friendship this way:

Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more humans.

I want to focus on the "co-operative and supportive" aspect for just a moment.  I have a "friend", I shall call her…"Kate".  Now I’ve known this "Kate" for a little more than a year.  And in that year’s time my life has taken a nose dive.  "Kate" has introduced me to: knitted socks, sheep and wool festivals, quality yarn, knitting and craft shows – and is a large part of why my life has turned into a yarn/knitting obsessed one (see post on Obsessive behavior).

And as if that wasn’t enough, yesterday I had to make a "quick" run to JoAnn’s to pick up some yarn to finish the ever lasting Baby Hearts blanket and I make the HUGE mistake of taking "Kate" with me. 

She made me take a stop here:

And now I’m probably hooked for life.  I ordered an orange thing that reminded me of the frosted orange thing at The Varsity in Atlanta, which then fostered those long ago Saturday afternoon Georgia Tech games in which The Varsity is a must do with 2 chili cheese dogs, onion rings and a frosted orange.  Ah, those were the days. Then I started drooling and thinking about going there when I next visit Atlanta…wait.  Stop!  Focus!

"Kate" has done me a grievously bad thing. Certainly not "co-operative" and certainly not "supportive".  What kind of friend is this anyway?

The wonderful kind that will knit with me.

9.  This year it falls on a Friday.

8.  I have no homework to think about.

7.  It is someone’s birthday (I don’t know who, but the law of averages says that someone had to have been born on this day and a birthday is always cause for celebration.)

6.  I get to knit.

5.  I get to watch TV/Movies all night.

4.  I get to eat pizza.

3.  My roommate won’t be home.

2.  It will not be hot outside.

1.  I get to spend a relaxing, cool (breezy) Friday evening eating pizza, watching movies, not thinking about homework, all the while knitting on someone’s birthday.  How cool is that.  I love May 9th.

I took my final exam yesterday, which means that I am FREE for the summer.  Relief.  I have great plans for the summer…here are my goals: 

Knitting Goals:
1.  Finish Baby Hearts Blanket for Abigail
2.  Knit blanket for Gabby (my niece due in July)
3.  At least start on sweater for Olivia (my 3 year old niece)
4.  Socks
5.  Mittens

Other Goals:
1.  Sleep
2.  Write
3.  "Vegg out"
4.  Read books for next semester

Okay, I think I should stop now…I’m beginning to feel a little stressed.

For those of you know who exactly how NOT green my thumbs are, maybe you shouldn’t read this – you might have a heart attack.  I planted 3 Purple Cornflower plants today outside the back door of the Library.  Gasp.  I know.  We’ll see if they decide to bloom or not.  My cooties might just be enough to kill them.

Here are 2 of the plants that I planted.

And here is their resting home.

These are tulips that some generous person planted a few years ago.  They adorn the little "woodsy" triangle between the parking lot and the ramp leading down into the library.  Great way to start the day.

I just can’t help but think back to where I was just 4 years ago.  I had just learned to crochet, had crocheted by first baby blanket (that turned out lopsided, but who cares?) and was getting ready to learn to knit.  I had no idea that I would become obsessed with "fiber" and with patterns and with the industry as a whole.  I’m actually a little disappointed with myself for allowing such irrational behavior come from me – a person who is by nature not really obsessive about things.  It’s just about all I think about in my spare time.  I’m going to start looking for a cure, there is just no excuse for this.

I attended a congregational meeting at church last night and yes, I was knitting.  I had more comments…this just needs to stop.  After I’ve finished my socks, my new niece’s baby blanket and sweater, by existing niece’s sweater, my felted purse, the afghan I’m crocheting, my next pair of socks and the mittens.  What else…oh yes, the myriad of washcloths for people, a scarf for my godson, an afghan for me and maybe even a bookmark (thread crochet).  See?  Obsessed.  I’ll try to post pictures of baby blanket and sock progress in a few days.  Until then I really, really have to study.

Toodles.

I suspect that many of you have already received your "ESC".  I should be receiving mine shortly and, like a red-blooded American who is totally driven by purchasing power, I already have plans for it.  I plan on enhancing the way I store my stash.  Nothing fancy, but something that is much needed.  I have opted not to enhance the stash, just improve its resting place.

I wonder, though, how many knitters are going to use the check to enhance their stash?  I’m actually more wondering if I should be at all concerned with the potential decrease in the world’s supply of yarn.  Hm.  Let me think about this one.

Okay.  It seems as though I have enough projects to take me into 2011, so I shouldn’t be too concerned with not having something to knit.  However, a good yarn purchase is tempting, even if there is no project in mind for it.  Now using the scale that the Yarn Harlot uses for judging the condition of my stash, I would have to say that up until this point I’ve been a conscientious yarn purchaser, buying only with a specific project and only when I’m ready to seriously think about making the project.  I know that this means that I am in serious stash debt, but I’m willing to live this way because my knitting time is limited and if I don’t the yarn will take over the house.  And while some of you would love that (the yarn being in control of the house), my books would get too jealous and I really don’t want the thought that WW 3 started in my living room with the stash and the books nuking duking it out.

So, I’m thinking that purchasing stash is out of the picture for now.  At least until I can safely move the books into a non-threatened stance.  It may take longer than you would think.  I have a lot of books.

Toodles