unplugged, or not

It is almost the end of NaBloPoMo and I am running out of topics. Also, I had sort of a low key day without much blog fodder happening. I went to the farmer’s market and it was cold (well, California cold, bordering on actual cold). I went for a walk with a friend her dog. I knitted a little. Here’s a picture of that.

I am making a log cabin baby blanket, sort of like the one in the drawing in that book, but with fewer stripes and simpler colors, I think. It’s for a friend’s daughter who is pregnant. The yarn is really soft and cozy and I have rainbow colors.

So, what I was going to write about was an answer to the Daily Post’s prompt: Sometimes, we all need a break from these little glowing boxes. How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

This prompt has touched a nerve since I would say I am in fairly constant need of unplugging. A few times I have deactivated my Facebook account when I feel overwhelmed by either negativity there or I feel like I am comparing my insides to other people’s outsides too much but other than that I don’t unplug unless forced.

So now I think I should make a plan for unplugged time to happen regularly in my life. I try to put the iPad away a while before bedtime but I’m not always good at that either. I should probably start with a daily unplugging at a certain time of night and then expand to not checking my social media once a week or something. I don’t want to disconnect from my phone completely because I have several friends who are far away (or not that far away) that I reach out to for moral support on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes a digital connection is also a human connection but I do need to learn to disconnect from the mindless scrolling of Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and online news sites.

Thanks for the prompt, Daily Post, it has given me something to think about.

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a blankety week

It's been all blankets all the time around here this week. Back in January I saw the book Knitalong online somewhere and started to think about making a blanket for Anabel's new little one. Specifically, I saw the Blessingway blanket, which looked like something Anabel would like. I talked to Kristi about it and we debated whether that was the right project, particularly since the book wasn't out and then thought about doing something more square, but what yarn? What patterns? You know, all the things you debate when starting a project. Kristi then happened to see a class a couple of friends of hers taught at her local LYS on log cabin knitting. We discussed a couple of different yarns to use and then settled on Pakucho. Kristi picked some colors and I knit the first square.

We decided that we had a winner! So Mary and I wound yarn into the kits and distributed it to Janice, Lisa D, Lisa L, Karen, Rachel, Jeni, Teenuh, Jill and, last but not least, Cookie. One kit was sent off to Kristi and then I waited for them all to come back. There were more knitters than there were squares to knit, so Juls and Hannah contributed to the ordering of the yarn. The last square was delivered to me on Thursday at which point I got the crazy idea that we could finish the blanket by today because Kristi is in town and I thought it would be nice for her to be there when we gave Anabel the blanket. I sent out a desperate plea for help with seaming and Cookie, Jeni, Lisa D, Karen and Teenuh all came over yesterday evening to help. Thanks all! By 11pm, the squares were seamed.

blanket pieced

Originally I had a crazy plan (I'm all about the crazy plans) for a border with mitered corners. Then I thought about an i-cord border. In the end I was pressed for time and overwhelmed by how large the blanket had become. Each of those blocks is 12" square! So, in the end, a crochet edging was added in natural. I did one row of single crochet and then one of half double crochet. I was pleased with the result.

done!

I presented it to Anabel at our special Saturday-Kristi-visiting edition of BobaKnit. I'll have to leave it to someone else to post a picture of Anabel with the blanket because I, of course, forgot my camera. After all that. I hope Anabel and her new little person enjoy the blanket! Also, now that we're done, you're free to give birth. I know this blanket is just what you were waiting for. (Insert winking smiley here.)

(To those BobaKnitters mentioned here who haven't signed the card for Anabel, I have it, touch base with me so you can sign it, or email me a message to put in!)

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moderne log cabin baby blanket

It's official, the mitered baby blanket that never was has been reborn as the Mason-Dixon Knitting Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket. I didn't do the outer blocks because it was already 25" by 34" and those blocks would have added a lot more than that. Plus, if I wanted to do it, I would have needed to buy more of the yellow and light blue yarn. Somehow, I ended up with three balls of yarn left, two dark blue, one white. Go figure.

Cutest picture first (I think he likes it, don't you?):

1/13/07

A couple of in progress pictures:

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