Mood Blanket Mood Log (January)

Here's where I will update the next two rows of colors on my Mood Blanket for the month of January.

• January 31: Green - Undecided
• January 30: Gray - Tired
• January 29: White - Sustained
• January 28: Green - Average
• January 27: Black - Overworked...
• January 26: Black - Overworked...
• January 25: Light Blue - Mellowed
• January 24: Gray - Tired
• January 23: Purple/Blue - Mischievous/Liveliness
• January 22: White - Constant
• January 21: Fuschia - Upheaval
• January 20: Blue - Pleasant
• January 19: Orange/Blue - Excited/Happy
• January 18: Gray - Tired
• January 17: Green - Easily amused
• January 16: Purple - Joyful
• January 15: Pistachio (green) - Nonchalant
• January 14: Blue - Peaceful
• January 13: Orange/Red - Annoyed/Angered
• January 12: Yellow - Fair
• January 11: Blue -Happy
• January 10: Gray - Sad/Somber

Last blanket check-in for January

Since there's only a few more days left in the month...

I am still loving all the colors!  So vibrant and unique!

Thinking of selling my wares

When one of my friends at work found out she was pregnant, one thing she said was that she was sad her mother wasn't around to make her handmade clothes.

Enter Jess.  I offered to make her some things for the baby (which really was no big deal, I always try to make one or two little things for pregnant friends).  I've been having fun with it; finding new patterns to try on Ravelry, coming up with color schemes and such.

Meanwhile, I've also found some really cool hat patterns I've liked, modified, and made for people.  I made the TARDIS hat for my baby brother, a hat that looks like a creeper from Minecraft for another brother, and a Hello Kitty hat for another work friend.

Well, now I've found I have a waiting list of people who want a hat or something made for them.  It honestly surprised me that in this age of easily-obtainable, mass-produced clothing, people still really want handmade stuff.  Maybe it's that it'll last longer than some of the factory-made stuff (I have a knit penguin hat that is sorely close to losing the tassels and beak).  Maybe it's just the simple fact that it was specially made for them by a friend.

Who knows?  Either way, it has encouraged me to keep crocheting and possibly set up a little online shop somewhere to sell some things I make.  I'm still looking into it, though.  Once I get through my current waiting list, I'll reevaluate what/if I want to do.

What would my psychiatrist say about this?

Well, 12 days into my mood blanket and...  I'm all over the place!  I've had mostly good days, but my moods have always been so different in realm of "good" that I've incorporated so many different colors into the blanket.  The longest color streak I have is three rows of blue.  That's a day and a half of a similar mood.

This is really an interesting look into my mind and personality.  Can't wait to see how it keeps progressing!

Here's a picture of the blanket as of today:

This post is controversial. Feel free to skip.

While at church today, the priest went on the yearly it's-been-xx-years-since-Roe-v.-Wade-blah-blah-blah rant.  Usually, I just sit there and space out; I firmly believe politics should not be brought into religion and vice-versa.  I know how my religion feels about some of my political beliefs, but that's my faith pointing me that way.  I follow what Jesus actually said, yo.

Anyway, this year, I found it really hard to tune out the anti-abortion sermon.  The priest started off by talking about the meaning of the word 'tragedy' and listing death counts of such events as the Holocaust, 9/11, and even the shooting in Connecticut.  Yes, he said they were each tragedies, but then he went on to say that all of these pale in comparison to the lives lost to abortion.  I'm sorry, but I find it just a little classless to be belittling all of these tragic events to push your opinion on people.  I guess I can see where he was coming from, but the people that were killed in, say, 9/11 were already living their lives; they have people that will miss their presence and the quirks they brought to the day-to-day.  You can't miss a fetus like that.  They don't really have a big presence.

The priest then went on to say how a third of his generation is missing due to abortion and that for every two people he knows, he should know another person.  Okay.  I should know a lot more people for every person I know, too.  ...But I'm anti-social at times.

He got really upset and started literally crying about "wanting his generation back."  I just could not believe it.  My feminist side started rearing her head.  It was so nice to see him crying for something that would oppress 51% of the populace.  For this man to get up there and cry about what should or should not happen to my body?  While I don't support abortion in an oops-i'm-an-idiot circumstance, I know I would not be able to handle a pregnancy and child that was a product of rape.  I fully support that option being available to me.

I guess this all comes down to:  don't like abortion?  DON'T GET ONE!

Oh, and don't belittle tragedies.  Especially ones that are still fresh in everyone's mind.

If you actually read this, please be respectful in your agreement/rebuttal.  Also, here's a cookie:

The Mood Blanket

My current big project (and by big, I mean in size and time) is something interesting I found that I'm calling 'The Mood Blanket.'  It's based off the idea in the The Mood Project on Ravelry.  I know the original idea is to make a scarf, but I can be picky about my scarves and I'm a blanket hoarder.  I can never have too many blankets on my bed!

This just seemed like a fun idea to work on.  I add a little bit every day so by the end of the year, I'll have a pretty cool blanket with a representation of how I felt each day.  What I'm doing is sc (single crochet) two rows a day.  The colors of both (or each) are dependent on how I feel my mood was a majority of the day.  The colors I'm basing all my moods on comes from this guide here.

I'm already five days in.  Here's a check-in picture (taken with my laptop, still can't find my camera cord):

I'll be updating a post everyday to add on what color(s) I used that day, as well as posting update pictures every now and then.

I can't wait to see what it ends up looking like!

A little catch-up

Happy 2013!  Well, let's see what has gone down since last I typed...

First of all, I finished a few projects!  First I assembled this adorable little sweater for my friend's baby.

I have no idea why each picture is a different shade of pink...  The middle picture is actually the closest to the actual color of the sweater.  I followed the pattern for the Simple Sweet Crochet Baby Sweater.  For being my very first handmade article of clothing that's not a hat or a scarf, I think I did pretty good!  I'm actually quite happy with myself and with the way it came out.

I also have finished a little baby beanie and dress ensemble, but my camera died and I haven't been able to find the charge cord, so I'll get around to posting those pictures soon.

Next up was Christmas and New Year's.  I had a pretty good holiday season!  I got some pretty cool presents, including a baking set, a fluffy penguin blanket, and a copy of the 1970 version of Jane Eyre, which means I need to finish Anna Karenina then read Jane Eyre before I can properly watch the movie.  If I were to watch it first, the story is ruined for me and I'd have a hard time getting myself to read it.  I was the same way with Pride and Prejudice (which is my favorite book/movie combo).

Christmas night was the premier of the Doctor Who special, 'The Snowmen.'  Oh, it was so good!  I was really interested in how they were going to reintroduce Jenna-Louise Coleman and what her character's story was and, after watching the episode, I cannot wait for the season to resume in the spring!  I won't give any spoilers, but it was both exactly what I was expecting and not at all what I was expecting, if that makes any sense.

I also love how they are ramping up everything for the 50th anniversary.  They remodeled the inside of the TARDIS.  From comments on Facebook, it's apparently reminiscent of the 70's-era TARDIS (I'm still in the late 60's, so I haven't seen that console room, yet).  They also made a new opening sequence which is very reminiscent to me of all the old openings.  They even brought the Doctor's face back into the sequence!  Oh, they better have something huge and amazing planned for November.

And now, exciting news (for myself, at least)!  My Penguins are coming back!!!  The NHL lockout is over!  All the teams are opening training camps on Saturday and the season starts up on the 19th.  Ah!  I'm so excited to watch my favorite team actually play again!  I've been really upset and bitter with everything to do with the NHL since September, but I'm so happy this season wasn't a complete loss like 2004-05 was.

So, I will end this post with a sentiment I haven't uttered or thought about in months...

LET'S GO PENS!