OT: Taking on responsibility

So I've told ya'll about NET*. A couple months ago my teammate & I went to an alumni retreat that was pretty awesome. The lady who's home it was held in was also on NET our year. She's always been one of my favorites. For the last 5 years or so, she's been the Diocesan Contact Person (DCP) for the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Basically, that means she coordinates the schedule for the NET team while they are in LA every year. She also meets up with them and helps them out if they have any problems while they're here.

So toward the end of the retreat she told me she'd like to step down and was thinking about asking me to take over. Now, I don't live in the LA diocese... but I am planning to move nearby and the diocese I will live in doesn't host NET. I've been praying about it since then. In the meantime, the current DCP stopped working and is now a stay-at-home mom. Her stated reason for stepping down as DCP was that the "busy" time overlapped with her busy time at work. So I kind of figured she wouldn't be stepping down anymore. It was still on my mind, though, so I emailed her to offer any help I could. Her response? "It's yours! Thank God! I was getting so worried!" Ha.

So now I'm the NET DCP for LA. Crazy. I hope I don't screw it up.






*Why does talking about NET make me say "ya'll"?

Knitted Head! KNITTED HEAD!!

I love seeing knitting/crocheting in commercials. This one, however, is a little tiny bit creepy.



What do you think? Creepy or cute?

WIP it. WIP it good.

I am currently working on....

1. a Hexagon Blanket for one of 2 babies on the way
2. a crocheted scarf in the evil superwash wool that makes my finger peel
3. the Christening outfit that I have no reason to be making.
4. finding my cord that allows me to upload photos of the above from my camera

Decisions

Once again I'm putting off making a blanket for myself and repurposing the yarn.

All that KnitPicks Shine Sport I bought will now become a baby blanket. Yes, there is another "niece" or "nephew" on the way! I'm so excited! But you know me, this isn't a
"real" nice or nephew. You ready for it? This one takes a LOT of relationships to be clear! This baby is...

....my mother's first cousin's ex-husband's sister's son's child.

Alternately....

....my second cousins' first cousin (on the other side of the family)'s child.

OR

....my godfather's nephew's child.

or

...not related to me, really.

But really, this child is family. And he or she will be the child of a couple I absolutely adore- both as a couple and individually. My "cousin" is the catch of all catches- handsome, smart, sensitive, funny, understanding. He's an incredibly passionate teacher at a time when teachers don't have a lot of time or energy left over to be passionate about teaching. He's fantastic. And his wife is so sweet and beautiful and kind and funny. I've enjoyed ever second I've been able to spend with her and they just seem so happy with each other. This baby is going to be surrounded and flooded with love.

So... now to find the perfect project. I'd like to start soon (mostly because it will keep me from buying yarn for MY blanket and I really want to get my stash down). Of course we don't know the gender yet... but since I have a rainbow of yarn, I think we'll just go multi-colored. I also only have one little skien of each color, so while I'd like to try a star blanket like the one below, I don't want to have to buy more of one color for the increases.



Maybe a granny squarish thing? I like this:



Or I could see this in lots of different colors:




Any ideas? Did I not mention something that you think would be perfect?

Being Selfish

I saw this picture quite a while back and have been lusting after it ever since. I've actually purchased yarn for it not once but TWICE.

First it was massive amounts of Vanna's Choice. I couldn't find a white or off-white at my local store, so I bought Linen on Joanns.com. Um. No. Linen is almost silver looking. It wasn't right. Also, I suddenly realized I didn't really like the feel of Vanna's. Boooo. If I'm going to put in the effort to make a BLANKET for myself, it's gonna be comfy gosh darnit!

Then at some point I came across Lucy's lovely blog and... um... hello!



She's like The Queen Of The Granny Squares!
I love her so much that I joined her group of Rav which then lead me to buy the Rico "Lucy's Creative Color Pack"... from ENGLAND. Yarn shipped overseas. This is ridiculous.

I am a big fan of soft cotton yarn, though, so I do love the Rico. The pack itself, though, is not nearly enough for a blanket. Another Lucy group member suggested Shine Sport by Knit Picks. So like a crazy woman I bought like 10 skeins in different colors plus 4 white to get more of the look of my inspiration picture.

Yeah. While Rico is aran weight and, therefore, should be a bit thinner than worsted, it's a very dense yarn. The Shine Sport is barely sport... it's more of a baby yarn- hovering somewhere between sport & sock weight. UGH!

I also purchased Knit Picks Shine Worsted for my Crochet Class. Comparing it, it's a LOT closer to the Rico. Below I used an H hook with Rico for the center & third round and Shine Worsted for the second (green) round.



You can see the weight matches up pretty well. The Shine is obviously living up to it's name. If I wanted a really seamless look with the Rico I might go with Knit Pick's Comfy Worsted instead. But actually, I kind of like it. I think the different "finishes" give it some depth.

Since my class grew larger than expected, I wound up not having enough KP Shine Worsted! So I threw the Rico I haven't played with into the class bag. I'm bringing 15 balls total so the 12 students will have SOME choice. I'll most likely end up with some Shine left when I go home. So now I think I'll have to stash the Shine Sport for future baby clothes & pick up more Shine Worsted and perhaps Comfy Worsted to do my blanket.

Is it any wonder I can't make my savings account grow faster? Stupid yarn addiction.

You know what's hard?

Knitting socks. That's what's hard.



I'm using Silver's Sock Class per suggestions on Ravelry. Seriously, though? I don't know how I'm going to do this. Insane.

5,4,3,2,1....

Joining the countdown with one of my favorite creative bloggers, Wild Olive.

FIVE...things I'm looking forward to this month: my Intro to Crochet class at LA Harbor College, American Idol LIVE!, BottleNotes LA, Vegas w/ my godfather's family & 9 days off in a row!
FOUR... YouTube favorites: Gardiner Sisters, Tori Kelly, a seriously soulful At Last, my buddy AJ bringing the house down in Melbourne
THREE... reasons to start new projects: CHRISTMAS!, my new apartment, my second cousin's father's nephew's baby on the way! (And yes, I will be calling myself "Auntie Lia" even though there's absolutely no blood relation. Crocheted goods=auntie. :P)
TWO... packages I need to mail today: whole bunch of baby stuff & deployment package #1
ONE... thing I'm doing with my godmother today: Gettin' our nails did! WOOT!