365 Days Handmade

March 14, 2015
by FC5 5 Comments

Day 72/365: Pink Shell Border

As you know, I’m trying to use up yarn from the stash by making little afghans to give away. And you also know (from previous photos) that I picked out a pretty yellow and pink self-striping yarn. However, I don’t think I mentioned that I only had one small skein of that particular brand. I knew that would give me just enough yarn for half a baby-sized blankie, and sadly, I was right. I got to the end of the yarn today, and what I’ve crocheted so far measures 13 inches x 22.5 inches, or roughly the size of a dining table placemat.

So. I scrounged through the stash and came up with a second ball of yarn that’s similar in weight and type (100% acrylic). I knew it would look unbalanced if I just attached the new yarn and crocheted more rows to extend the rectangle. It would obviously appear to be a half-and-half afghan made out of two different yarn brands with two different dye lots. I decided to incorporate the new yarn as a border, instead.

In other news, Sean and I are driving to L.A. this afternoon with plans for a full day tomorrow. I’ll try to remember to take lots of photos, especially of the Hello Kitty exhibition (yay! Sean came through with tickets!), if the Japanese American National Museum lets me.

March 13, 2015
by FC5 1 Comment

Day 71/365: Shell Stitches Close-Up

Today was my Friday at work. I’m taking tomorrow off because I’ll be driving down to Ventura, and then Sean and I will head into Los Angeles. He’s giving a presentation at a conference on Saturday. After that, we have plans to do a bunch of fun stuff in L.A., including eating at a couple of really good restaurants, checking out some cool Japanese shops in Little Tokyo, and going to the Japanese American National Museum to see an exhibition called Hello! Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty. (Doesn’t the name alone just make you want to see it?) Sean is in charge of getting the tickets, and if he actually pulls it off and takes me there, he is going to win my Husband of The Year award. He knows my love for all things kawaii.

I told my buddy the lieutenant (who was a key character in this post and this one) that I would be taking tomorrow off.

“Didn’t you just take the day off?” he asked.

I thought about it. “You’re right,” I said. Three weeks ago, I did take a couple of days off. And the nice thing about having written a daily entry since January is that I can go back in the archives to see what I did on those days. Turns out it was this and this.

“I had a seminar that time,” I said. “And I’m going to a conference this time. My license is up for renewal this year. I have to earn 36 continuing education units. Don’t worry. I get some paid education leave.”

“I knew it,” he said. “I shoulda stayed in school.”

March 12, 2015
by FC5 2 Comments

Day 70/365: Crocheted Afghan Still in Progress

Every Wednesday morning, my colleagues and I meet for IDTT: Interdisciplinary Treatment Team. An IDTT generally consists of a psychiatrist, a couple of psychologists, a social worker, and a correctional counselor. It’s basically a weekly committee where we review different patients’ treatment plans and meet with the inmate and discuss his treatment plan with him, including progress and goals.

Today one of the scheduled patients was a 23-year-old African American inmate with tattoos all over his face and the slouch and demeanor of a juvenile delinquent. He was assigned to my colleague Dr. Y’s caseload, and during our meeting with him, he sat with an air of indifference toward the whole process.

Upon the conclusion of our little conference, the kid got up to leave and started heading for the door. Dr. Y said (as he said to each and all of the inmates who came to IDTT), “Have a good day.”

The kid passed through the doorway and, to our surprise (and immense amusement), he casually tossed back, in a manner that he might reserve for wrapping up a phone call with his granny, “Love you, too.”

March 11, 2015
by FC5 6 Comments

Day 69/365: New Crocheted Afghan

I finished this little yellow afghan and sent it to a friend yesterday. (And in case you were wondering what I decided, I went with no edging.) I am still on a mission to use up yarn from my stash, so I decided to crochet another quick baby blankie to give away.

I crocheted a chain of 145 stitches and started a lacy strawberry pattern that incorporated a scalloped edging.

Like so.

Then I decided that it wouldn’t do for a baby afghan. So I ripped it all out and started a new pattern, this time with a shell stitch. It actually turned out kind of nice, so I think I’m sticking with it. For now.

Pretty, right?

Oh, P.S. I used my KnitPicks ballwinder to change that skein into a more attractive flat-bottomed ball. In case you noticed the difference between the two photos. Because I’m a little compulsive like that.

March 10, 2015
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Day 68/365: Hike (Resting the Arm and Shoulder, but Not the Legs)

This morning I met my friend Roberta to go for a hike up the side of a large hill or small mountain, whichever way you want to look at it. If I didn’t have plans with Roberta to go for this hike today, I would have just sat on the couch all day with the TV on, eating potato chips and chocolate, and either knitting or crocheting and not leaving the house. I think I would be great at doing solitary confinement in prison.

Anyway, so Roberta and I hiked up this large hill/small mountain in Los Osos, and it was not easy, but it was a good workout. When we got to the top, we both pulled out our cell phones to take photos of the view of the Bay and of the fog rolling in over the water, but the sunlight was so bright that neither one of us really knew if we were capturing any good photos.

Luckily, I did take a good photo. It’s just showing up small here. Click to get a better view!

The funny thing about the hike was that when we reached the lookout point, we discovered that somebody had carried an old bench all the way up there. Having just barely clawed my way up to the top of that mountain, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could be that agile and fit as to carry an unwieldy 50+ lbs bench while navigating that steep hiking trail. That takes some commitment and dedication.

How’d that bench get all the way up there?

But I guess in the end, the view from the top makes it all worth it.

That’s the Morro Bay Rock in the center of the photo, underneath all that fog. And somewhere in the distance, across the Rock and also underneath that fog, is our house on a way smaller hill than this one.

March 9, 2015
by FC5 6 Comments

Day 67/365: To Edge or Not to Edge?

Yes, I know. I should have been resting the arm and shoulder when it hurt from so many hours of knitting and crocheting, but I was so close to finishing my project. Well, actually, I was so close to running out of yarn that I figured, what the hell, I’m gonna keep on truckin’ until I finish this thing.

My primary intent in starting this particular afghan was to quickly use up yarn from the stash and turn it into something useful. This particular yarn is Caron Simply Soft, and the name of the color is Sunshine. I had two 7 oz. skeins that I knew would produce something the size of either a baby blanket or a small shawl.

After I ran out of yarn, I thought it looked kind of plain and needed something to fancy it up a little. So I added a simple shell border. But now I don’t know. Do you think it looks better with or without the edging?

Before: Without a border. I think it looks clean and simple this way.

After: With a white shell border. Now it looks a little more old-fashioned, I think.

March 8, 2015
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Day 66/365: Not A Nothing Day

“I don’t have anything to write about for tonight’s blog post,” I told Sean. “Today was kind of a nothing day.”

“You could write about how you got up this morning and your husband made you breakfast,” Sean said. “And then how later on we walked down the hill and went to the Otter Rock Café and had lunch with a view of the bay, and we watched a sea otter cracking open an oyster. And after that we walked down to the library and found a couple of good deals in the used book sale, and afterwards we went and got some really good frozen yogurt downtown. And tonight we went out for a delicious sushi dinner. Today wasn’t a nothing day.”

“You’re right,” I said. “Thanks for writing tonight’s blog post for me.”

And I got this much done on the afghan, along with everything else we did today.

March 7, 2015
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Day 65/365: Counting Down to the Time Change

Over these last few months, I’ve been staying late at work and typically leaving the prison between 5:30 to 6 PM. Normally I have no problem being inside a prison, unlike Sean who absolutely does not enjoy the idea of being locked inside a penitentiary surrounded by electric fencing, barbed wire, and gun towers with armed guards. But when it’s 5:30 PM in late November and outside of my office it’s like night time and I have to navigate my way through a prison yard where inmates are freely walking to the chow hall– I become acutely aware of my environment and the fact that I am a petite woman walking outnumbered among convicted felons who are potentially violent. It is a downright creepy, nervous-making feeling.

Now that it’s March, the days have started to stretch out longer so that it’s still bright outside when I leave my office, and I’m easily spotted by the correctional officers as I make my way through the facility. It’s also nice to get home and still have enough natural light to take a photo for the day’s blog post and show you a little bit of our view from the deck.

Ahh, fresh air and the ocean. Such a contrast to the work environment.

March 6, 2015
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Day 64/365: Full Moon

I am almost too embarrassed to admit this, but I’ll share with you anyway: I have been knitting and crocheting so much lately that I think I injured myself a little. My right arm and shoulder have been sore and aching. It’s not quite carpal tunnel, but probably something along those lines. I hate to say it, but I may need to take a break from the needles and hook for a few days. At least there is the sewing machine, though…

Tonight I left work after 6 PM, which is late for me. By the time I reached Morro Bay and was turning into my street, the moon was already visible in the sky while the sun was starting to set. I pulled into my driveway and got out of the car and stood staring at the sky. It was a really pretty sight. I love seeing a full moon, and I love that the days are getting longer. Even though it’s still the same amount of hours, the longer days make me feel like I have more time. You know what I mean?

March 5, 2015
by FC5 4 Comments

Day 63/365: Letting Go of Perfectionism

So I was crocheting along last night, and I stopped to look over the rows that I’d completed so far. That’s when I noticed something about one of the shells. The pattern calls for shells that consist of three double crochet, a chain, and three more double crochet. That chain space is where you would insert a single crochet in the following row. Anyway, what I noticed was that I’d messed up the placement of a single crochet. Rather than insert it in the chain space, I’d crocheted it between two double crochet.

The crochet hook is pointing at the misplaced single crochet. See if you can spot the mistake.

I despaired for about a minute. I thought, I’ll rip it all out and fix it. But as you can see from the photo, I was already up a few rows. Fixing the mistake would have meant frogging half of the already completed afghan.

So then I had to ask myself: How important is it to you that this afghan be perfect? Do you really want to undo all of the work that you just completed, in order to fix a mistake that no one else would even know was there? In the grand scheme of things, is that one little imperfectly placed single crochet going to make a huge difference?

My younger and less-experienced-in-life self wouldn’t have had that little talk in her head. Upon noticing the flaw in her work, she would have immediately started ripping out the stitches to get at that one single crochet and fix it. My younger and less-experienced-in-life self was a little bit of an uptight perfectionist.

My older and current self is a lot smarter. (And really, lazier.) It just wasn’t worth it to me to undo the last hour’s worth of work just so that I could have all of my single crochets in all of the right chain-one spaces. Because even if all the stitches were where they were supposed to be, so what? This afghan was meant to be used and enjoyed, not put up on a wall for display.

So I made the decision to leave the stitches alone and to let my little mistake remain. In time, I’ll forget it’s even there, and I’ll have moved on to other projects and other concerns. Because that’s how it is in life sometimes.