CAL, Part 2

I'm almost finished with my Yet Another Market Bag, and I thought I would share what I hope are some helpful tips about how to make the handles.  It's going to take a little math, but bear with me!

I had 108 stitches around the top of my bag.  When I flattened it out, I decided that I wanted the handles to span 26 stitches.  Ok, so that means that I will use up 52 stitches for both handle spans, with 56 stitches remaining for the sides in between the handles.  Since I just hate fastening off and reattaching yarn, I started my first handle where the bag trim finished off (I did 4 rounds of single crochet stitches to finish off the bag).  I chained 60, counted to the 26th stitch from where I started chaining, and did a sc in the 26th st.  Then I single crocheted in the next 28 sts (which is half of the 56 remaining stitches), chained 60 again for the other handle, counted the next 26 sts, did an sc in the 26th st, and single crochet around again another 28 sts, which brought me back to my first handle.

Then, I started to work into the first handle's chains, but instead of working into the front, back, or both loops of the chain, I flipped over the chain and worked into the ridges or bumps underneath the chain.  Here's a new video on my YouTube channel that demonstrates the technique.

Ok, so hopefully I will be posting a picture of my finished bag shortly!

Whammo! and a New CAL

I was pretty cocky, thinking to myself that I had managed to get through the entire fall and winter without catching a cold or the flu.  So, when my husband caught a bad cold a few weeks ago, I laughed and told him not to worry about hugging me and sharing a cup, etc.  Well, I bet you know where this story is going.  Yup, I've been hit, and hit hard, by the cold since last Thursday.  Am just starting to feel like myself again today and getting back in the groove. 

But, I did use the opportunity between hydrating myself and taking naps to start Crochet Tracy's new CAL -- Yet Another Market Bag by Debbie Solinsky, available on Ravelry.  To join in, go to crochethappy.com or her group on Ravelry to post pictures of your version of the bag.  Oh, and I just posted a video to our channel on YouTube about how to avoid cutting and joining yarn on each round of the mesh section if you want to keep using the same color.  Enjoy and post your pix on our Facebook page as well!

Here's a picture of my bag so far!

Free Craftsy Mini-Courses!

I've really been impressed with how Craftsy is growing and making such great online crafting classes available.  As any good business would, they are offering some free mini-classes to demonstrate the quality of their work. 

The next 2 free Craftsy mini-courses I'm going to take are:
1.  Know Your Wool
2.  Short Rows

Check out all of the other free Craftsy mini-courses by clicking here (full disclosure:  I am a Craftsy affiliate but wouldn't be one if I didn't think they have a great product/service to offer.  I'd really appreciate your using my links to check them out, thank you).

R.I.P. Princess

Well, I guess the title says it all...  Caroline called me Monday morning at 8:30 am (I knew it couldn't be good news).  Well, apparently, after the flock had been checked on Sunday, Princess once again managed to get away from the flock and get herself stuck upside down somewhere and just wasn't discovered in time.

By chance, Caroline happened to have her camera with her on Saturday while out in the pasture and got this great picture of Princess and two of her triplets (the third is hiding in back).

She sure was a beautiful sheep, and I hope she did not suffer...  I'm happy to have had a small part in her time on earth and cherish the fleece and yarn that she gave me.  I hope she's frolicking happily in a better place...  And I do so appreciate that Caroline called to tell me in person, it's a loss for her too, but I'm sure as a farmer, this truly represents the cycle of life.

Caroline has another sheep for me to adopt, and I hope to introduce you to her soon.  But, this post is about Princess and my appreciation for her.  Long Live the Princess!

Adventure!

I've been taking it a bit easy this Metro Yarn Crawl.  My yarn stash is already busting at the seams, and I'm in the process of working on at least 3 "real" projects (aka gotta get them done for someone else!).  I really can't/shouldn't/WILL NOT go wild this crawl...

So, yesterday, Mom and I piled in the car to venture out to Glen Burnie to see The Knitting Boutique, the only shop that we did not visit last year.  It really is near to BWI Airport -- we know because we ended up missing our turn, going too far, and circling through "departures"!  The nice desk lady at the Four Points Sheraton got us headed back in the right direction :-)

Once we found the store, it was a worthwhile trip.  Although located in a relatively empty part of a strip mall, once you get inside the store, it's quite lovely and inviting, and the folks there could not have been nicer!  I wish the shop wasn't so far away, it really would be a great spot to sit for a while:

I of course ended up getting some Tahki Cotton Classic in a beautiful red color, you know, for that tank top that I'm going to crochet or knit up for myself ;-).  Any day now, any day....

Tulips

Yes, the tulips are finally blooming, even though the weather here in DC has been cold and then hot and now back to quite brisk again (but at least sunny).

And, speaking of tulips, CrochetAddict has added my Tulip Kindle Cover to her Thursday's Handmade Love blog feature!  She's got some really sweet tulip spring patterns featured on her blog, so check out the whole collection.

And one of my squares for the Looped Blanket Project is done!

I've almost finished getting all of the knit and crochet squares finalized for the blanket and will be featuring each square and its designer in blog posts during the Metro Yarn Crawl.  I'm hoping to team up with

Peak Productivity

As many of you know, I am constantly searching for the productivity holy grail!  I feel that I manage my time pretty well, going through decent spurts of great productivity but then (longer) periods of downtime.  I do, however, always feel like I could/should be doing more somehow.  But, from new articles and research that I’ve come across, it seems that a number of our natural human instincts are actually spot on and should be encouraged. 

In the April issue of Inc. Magazine, there’s a whole section devoted to research on and techniques for increasing productivity, or I should say from what I gathered, making better and healthier use of your time, even if you’re not getting more actually done (quality versus quantity).  Recently, I feel that I’ve really begun to appreciate how important it is to let the brain rest.  I feel so inundated every day with information, much of it useless, but still I have to figure out how to dodge and weave away from the cr*p and to capture the truly useful and important information.  Once it’s captured, then it needs to be organized and then acted upon or filed away for future reference.  Rather than tout yet another system for accomplishing these tasks, the articles in Inc. try to give some scientific insights into how the brain reacts to these processes and what will help it react better.  The cover story “Get More Done” makes some unusual suggestions, but hear them out.  I found the following 3 points quite thought provoking:

1.       Think Fluffy – recent research findings suggest that viewing cute images heightens mental concentration and carefulness.  Test subjects who viewed pictures of baby animals experienced enhancements in their fine motor skills and performed better on dexterity and visual search tests.  So, feel free to go on over to my Facebook page and get your fill of cute lamb and baby animal pictures!

2.       Turn Up the Heat – literally.  Studies show that office workers are more productive when the thermostat is turned up to 77 degrees.  Typing errors dropped by 44 percent while typing output rose by 150 percent.

3.       Let It Rain – bad weather is good for productivity.  Not surprisingly, when beautiful sunny skies aren’t calling, people get more work done.  A Harvard Business School study found that turning desks away from windows can boost productivity as well as letting employees work shorter hours on good weather days as long as they make up the time during bad weather or other times.

There’s also an article that recommends against multi-tasking, stating that not only is the brain not equipped for it, but that it might actually do harm.  The article recommends 3 approaches:

1.       Dedicate 20 minutes to one task, then switch to another task rather than trying to do both (or more) at the same time.

2.       Cut down on email and check it only a few scheduled times per day (and turn off notifications the rest of the time).

3.       Answer quick questions in person or by phone to further cut down on the amount of email.

Other articles explain the importance of physical exercise as well as sleep and “disconnection” for the brain. Mmmm, maybe I need to go back to that new crochet project I just started and get off the computer!