I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been working on this afghan. It seems like months. All those hours have paid off, though. Today I finished the last row of the body and started the border. The end of this project is near, and I couldn’t be happier.
Tag Archives: crochet
First (Almost Completed) Project of the Year
Can you believe that I have not yet started any new projects in 2016? I’ve been doggedly sticking to this Coast Ripple blanket, following the pattern’s sequence of colors exactly and crocheting a few stitches and a few rows at a time. I’m trying to tame my crafter’s attention deficit disorder (which I know is technically not a real thing and I shouldn’t be throwing that diagnosis around– bad psychologist!– but still). Anyway, this whole afghan has been an exercise in commitment.
Right now it’s almost 6 feet long with about ten more rows to go and a border to add. I asked Sean (who is 6’1″) to get in the photo so that I could show some sense of scale.
My personal blanket model.
Also, I thought that a picture with an actual person in it would look a lot better than the first photo that I took.
See? Not as cool a photo. Also– those tail ends!
I’m hoping to get this thing finished by the end of the week. After all, I have been working on this thing all year.
Week 1/52: A Little Late to the (2016) Party
A week ago today, it was newly 2016 and I could barely walk up the stairs in my house without getting winded. I’d come down with a viral infection the day after Christmas, and there was pretty much nothing for me to do except rest and wait it out. I had hoped to finish the Coastal Ripples afghan by New Year’s Day, but the virus had me so tired that I only managed to crochet a few rows in the last two weeks of 2015.
I went back to work on Wednesday the 6th. It poured rain for most of the day, so there weren’t that many inmates out on the yard and my first day back at the prison turned out to be relatively uneventful. The rest of the week was just as rainy and unremarkable (which is the way you want your work day at a prison to be, anyway). The low amount of stress was exactly what I needed to start getting back on track for 2016.
That sky pretty much tells you what the last couple of weeks in Morro Bay have been like.
I decided I won’t be posting an entry a day this time around. I challenged myself to do that last year and it was certainly an exercise in creativity, but there were days when I was really stretched thin and posting a blog entry was just one more thing to check off the list. I don’t want to feel like keeping this blog is a chore that I have to do. So this year I’m focusing more on quality rather than quantity– fewer posts, but with no bullshit phoning-it-in filler content.
Back in December of 2014, when I started seriously thinking about creating a new blog and was trying to come up with a name for it, I kept getting stuck on “365 Days Handmade…” Handmade what? Socks? Sweaters? Afghans? Napkins? Quilts? Table runners? I knew I wanted to emphasize the idea of making things by hand, of being creative and doing something creative every day. The problem was that I didn’t want to narrow it down to just one thing.
I asked Sean what he thought, and he said, “Why don’t you just call it 365 Days Handmade? Because every day is what you make of it. Three hundred sixty-five days, handmade.”
So there you have it, the philosophy behind my blog. I kept meaning to explain how 365 Days Handmade came to be, and it only took me 374 days to get around to it.
Happy 2016!
Day 365/365: The Last Day of 2015
Day 363/365: Progress
I go back to work tomorrow. I’m feeling better today than yesterday, and I managed to crochet a few more stitches on the afghan. So that’s progress.
I’m bummed that I was down with a virus for the majority of my Christmas break. The good news, though, is that I only have to work two days this week. Friday is a state holiday (New Year’s Day?!!!), and Monday is my regular day off. Hopefully, I’ll be a lot healthier and stronger then.
Day 362/365: Yarn Tails
My sore throat went away, but I’m still not one hundred percent well. I’ve been trying to take it easy and managed to crochet a few more rows on the Coastal Ripples afghan. I like the range of tones and the overall color palette, but there is one major drawback to changing strands of yarn every two rows:
Loose ends.
I really need to get better about weaving them in sooner rather than later.
Day 361/365: Sick Day
I spent all day on our couch. I tried to crochet, but got too tired and ended up mostly napping instead. This virus has kicked my butt.
Day 352/365: Happy Friday!
My five 8s workweek is over, and I’m back to four 10s and a three-day weekend. I am pretty happy about this.
Hope you’re enjoying your Friday night, as well!
Day 349/365: The Plus Side of an 8-Hour Day
The best part of my day was leaving work at 3 PM and having a couple extra hours of daylight to spend at home and work on this.
Day 348/365: First Monday of Work All Year
Did you ever sit in an all-day workshop or some sort of hours-long class where you got hit with so much new information that you thought your head would explode?
That was me today. This week I have to attend a mandatory five-day training from 7 AM to 3 PM. Mondays are normally my day off, so it was especially hard to be at work today. I did make sure to get to the classroom by 6:45 AM in order to secure the best seat (which I successfully accomplished), but that meant getting up at an hour when most sane people are still in bed– i.e. even earlier than the ass-crack of dawn.
On the plus side, I did get home while there was still daylight, and I was able to add a few more stitches to the Coastal Ripple afghan. It was exactly the kind of thing I needed to calm my overheated brain.
365 Days Handmade 