A Glitch in the System

I finished reading Frankenstein over the weekend and went to my Goodreads account to move it into the 'read' category and creep a little closer to my goal of 52 books in 52 weeks. I clicked on the goal counter and Goodreads says I am 2 books behind (4%). If I finish up the book I'm in the middle of and get French Milk read this week, I should be back on track. I clicked on the counter to see the titles I've read this year that make up the count. Something was strange as I scrolled down...


Is there a glitch in the page? I see two The Cat Who... books are posted twice. Please tell me it isn't so...
Somehow I had added two different editions of each book as read. Damn! So now I'm 4 books behind (8%) my goal and also need to read one a week to keep up.

While we were chatting about reading, goals, the fact that each of has a list of books that that is more than we could read in a lifetime, Susan said something very wise. “I’m a reader. I don’t have to prove it to myself that I am.” Hmmm. Who am I trying to prove it to? I feel like if I read at a minimum, 52 books in one year, than I will reach the upper echelon of acclaimed readers. I’m even reading a book about reading books, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch. Yes, she writes about reading a book a day for a year. But this book is more about experiencing the profound loss of her sister to cancer.

If you are reading a book that you don't like, stop! Go and read something else you'll enjoy. Likewise for all the trashy TV and mind numbing movies. Go outside and look up at the sky.

a flurry of activity

Random list of successes:

1. Babette squares - 4 done, ahead of goals by 2 squares.
2. Read Frankenstein for book group Sunday on track to finish
3. Completed heel and started gusset on Paul Atwell socks
4. Knit and blocked swatch for Rose Lace Stole from Interweave Knits, Spring 2011
5. Cast on for Rose Lace Stole using a new cast on to me - provisional cast on
6. Knit 4 rows of Rose Lace Stole
7. Worked out five days in a row
8. Do P90 at least twice a week for a month - two weeks done so far...

Back to the squares.

Ashamedly, Babette has been in progress for over 3 years. How could that be? Well, I probably haven't worked on Babette for over a year. When I see pictures of other peoples completed projects, I get all excited and want to pull my squares out and work on them.

Before, the first problem was organization. Where were the finished squares? And my J hook? And my pattern? Was I really using a J hook? That looks huge. (I look it up on Ravelry). Now, how does one...crochet? Never mind that the squares are made entirely of chains and double crochet, how do you DO those things? No idea. Up come the YouTube videos, and I never get started.

I'm not using the recommended yarn or colors, so I haven't been following the elaborate square color chart to construct my color combinations. But then what happens is I worry. At this point my completed squares are a result of my haphazard color mixing. From now on I will supplement that style with squares created according to the pattern. How about that!?!

For my own reference I am circling the number of any squares I've done according to pattern on the massive grid.

I've laid out all my squares according to what's in grid 10 but it's just occurred to me that maybe I won't need to make grid 10. If it turns out that this blanket is gigantic, which it will be (I'm making the squares in worsted instead of fingering weight) maybe i only need to do grids 1-9 because 10 is tacked on to the end and could add an extra foot or more of length. I was aiming for a Babette that would cover a full/queen bed.  Grids 1-9 are fitted together to make a rectangle so removing #10 would be easy.

I organized my Babette squares and yarns month ago during a stash sort. So organization is no excuse for lack of progress. After much discussion with my friend C, I have a plan.

The pattern calls for 126 squares, broken down as follows:
Four-Rounds          49 (19 complete)
Two-Rounds          50 (10)
Six-Rounds            16 (2)
Eight-Rounds          7 (3)
Ten-Rounds            2 (0)
Twelve-Rounds      2 (0)

So, 34 finished squares, plus 2 1-round and 6 3-round squares that aren't really squares since they're not finished. 126 - 34 = 92.  If I crochet 2 squares a week it will take me 46 weeks, 6 weeks for finishing/edging/assemblage, and I can be done by Fall 2012. I think finishing will take a lot longer than 6 weeks. If I manage to finish more than 2 per week I can shift more time to the end for finishing. And who knows? Maybe I can start connecting the squares before I have them all done.

My plan now is to blog each completed square going forward. Here are the squares completed in the last two weeks. 2 per week, so I'm on target. Hooray!

 

Cuff-tastic!

 

I'm nearly done with the cuff of my first 'real' pair of socks.* Looks nice, doesn't it? I'm at 5.5 inches. The pattern calls for 6.5 inches, but these are men's socks, so do I have to make the cuff as long for me?

Let's take a look at some sock patterns in my Ravelry queue...Charade calls for a cuff 7-8 inches long,  Thuja and Rivercat recommend 7 inches, and Mr. Pitt's Socks call for 9. It turns out that maybe the cuff length in this pattern might be a bit short to start off with, so maybe I shouldn't

I was also a bit worried that I was running out of yarn. I know that's crazy but I weighed the ball already on the postal scale here at work and it measures up to be 3.3 ounces remaining in the ball. I looked up what the original skein weight and it was 3.53 ounces. So, not running out of yarn!

*Okay, so I have made a pair of socks, in 2008, in worsted weight yarn, as preparation for Sock Wars. But I don't seem to have a post about it. And for some reason I don't consider them real socks.  I do have one about Sock Wars though, right here! The socks I made are really bright and a bit baggy. They are complete, I wear them when it's cold, so they're socks!

Cheese me

Cheese. Any kind, any age, any color, I'll try it. Just about any origin too.

Last weekend I bought an aged goat cheese from Blue Mood Blend at an Upstate NY farmers market in Brighton. It looked like a mossy stump on the outside, complete with bark. Inside it's a hard cheese, similar to parmesan or reggiano in texture and color, and in taste similar to parmesan and swiss. And the strange thing is, no goaty aftertaste. My family didn't care for it, but I'd love to try it over pasta.

Tuesday I bought a fresh goat cheese at the Harvard Square market, made only 12 hours before. Light and lovely, it just sort of melts in your mouth. And again, no goaty funk. Some cheeses are so strong it's like a goat hook in your mouth. Yuck! I do like a bit of goaty cheese too, but some of them are a bit overpowering.

I sampled the cheese at the booth before buying and got some instruction on the proper way to enjoy it - a bit of bread, fresh basil, slice of tomato, and a drizzle of good olive oil. It's light and lovely

I think the cheese was at the booth of Olio di Melli, an olive oil vendor that I would never normally stop at but the blackboard had cheese listed and pulled me in. I also bought a canteloupe, 2 tomatoes, and a red pepper. There was no basil to be found.

Wednesday I stopped at the Davis Square market on Wednesday I was on a mission for basil. Again, all sold out, but I did get a big bunch of baby bok choy for $3.50. Maybe I need to find a basil plant and buy a grow light so I can have fresh herbs...