BIG Things

I had a four-day weekend this past weekend (actually, it turned into five days, with kids' doctor and dentist appointments added to a big snowstorm today, but the fifth day cancels itself out, being more stressful than fun), and was not only able to get done most of what needed to get done, but was able to do some things I wanted to do, including working on three big projects.

Number 1:  I started M's quilt.  I bought the fabric for it something like two years ago, but have never had the time/motivation to get started...I keep thinking I'll get it done for the next birthday/Christmas, but then other projects always take over.  Finally, now, here is all the fabric washed, ironed and ready for cutting.  I figure if I work on it a little each weekend--one step a week--I may be able to finish it in time for his birthday in May.  Fingers crossed.

Number 2:  I finally got started on Issue #12 of my (print) zine GEMINI.  It's been over a year since the last issue came out and I miss it!  I'm afraid blogging has drained away much of the inspiration and energy that once went into my zine, but I couldn't leave it stranded there on Issue #11 (such an odd number!) and lots of my zine readers are not blog readers, so I really want to produce at least one more issue.  I'm embarrassed to admit this (but I'm going to go ahead and admit it anyway), but I spent a significant chunk of Friday--which I had at home alone as the kids were in school--rereading all the back issues in search of inspiration for this issue.  I actually enjoyed myself (I laughed, I cried), and found a few things I might dust off and polish up for submission somewhere.  My goal is to finish this issue by the end of January. I may need to force myself to take a little vacation from ye olde blogge in order to get the next issue written!  I'll keep you posted.

Number 3:  A sweater!  Yes, this winter marks 15th year since I began knitting and I'm only just now getting around to trying a sweater.  I was always too intimidated before--sweaters seemed so hard, and like they would take so long.  But, oh my gosh, this has been so easy and quick (knock on wood)!  I did have a slight issue of using the wrong-sized needles and having to un-knit a fairly significant chunk, and I'm terrified that it will be way too small (I noticed, after it was too late, that the sweater is designed to be more than two inches smaller than the chest measurement, which can only possibly make sense to someone waif-thin, which I am not).  But, if it is too small, some skinny person in my life will get a lovely hand-knit sweater for her next birthday and I'll just start another one, and then I'll have two sweaters to my credit.  Because, you know what?  Knitting a sweater is exhilarating.  Really, it is.  You can follow along with all the thrills and chills on my Ravelry page.  My goal is to finish one skein per week, which is totally do-able (I just finished skein #2 tonight and have a much more sweaterish-looking object now than what is in this picture).

I kind of miss the pre-holiday crafting whirlwind--having a deadline makes me so darn productive (my old boss used to say that the resume-building phrase "works well under pressure" really means "requires pressure to work"...yeah that's me), but rushing around like that makes me kind of sloppy too.  So, my last goal for these projects is to not only make time for them each week, but to also work on them mindfully, with an attention to detail (if only I'd thought of that before I started the sweater so I might have read the part about it being too small on purpose!)