I did it!!! I got to 50,000 words in 30 days! Now back to my regularly scheduled life....

OK, so I've done a lot more than write my 50,000 words this month.

I'm giving this set for a Christmas exchange. The rules were $5 or homemade so I decided to do the soap saver and washcloths that I found on the Internet. I actually made these for my mom last mother's day, too, so it was really easy for me to whip them out. To be honest, these are probably my favorite things to crochet just because they come together so dang quickly!

Would you believe I decided to start ANOTHER project? This time I pulled out my embroidery machine and made some holiday placemat and napkins. I bought the ornament pattern and loaded it in. My machine has 2 fonts already loaded, so that part was easy. The whole thing was done on some old tablecloths that I was given with batting stuck in the middle. Then I surged the edges. And I STILL am less than 5,000 words away from completing NaNoWriMo! So I know that's good. I am hoping to finish by Tuesday at the latest.....

Time to go back and add a few hundred more words!

Do you ever wonder where the time goes? It seems like just yesterday my daughter was so little. She actually let me pick out her clothes. Now she has purple-ish hair and bell-bottom jeans. (Of course, my own mother says I have little room to talk, but what does she know? *smile* )

Time rushes by and November seems to be the worst of it. Obviously, I'm participating in NaNoWriMo (see previous posts!) and that makes for a bit of a time strap this month. I must have been crazy to think I could write 50,000 words in a month!!! But I'm still plugging away at that and have more than 34,000 words written and nine days to go. Notice I didn't say they were GOOD words, but they are on the page, so to speak.

Add to that the holiday hype -- yes, I've started CHRISTmas shopping already -- and November seems to be almost over before the Halloween candy is gone!

Ah well, I suppose that's the way it has always been and no amount of complaining will change it.

But since time is so short, I must go and hug the daughter (she does still allow that, although not where her friends might see!) and get back to writing. I'll be glad when November is over!

OK, so I haven't been JUST writing for NaNoWriMo. (Although the current word count is clost to 17,000 and I hope to hit 20,000 today, although I don't think that will really happen.... it's nice to have goals!)

I did finish my crochet bag, though. I'm really liking this! It took awhile, and I'm pretty sure I messed up the bottom of it, since it didn't mesh quite the way I had planned on. But this will be really cute to carry library books or even as a shower bag next time we go camping.

It was made with 5 balls of Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn in the "denim blue" color. You can't tell very well in the picture, but it is a tan colored yarn with flecks of blue.

NaNoWriMo goal to date: 10,002 words
NaNoWriMo words written: 10,006 words

NaNoWriMo goal to date: 6,668 words
NaNoWriMo words written: 6,693

NaNoWriMo goal to date: 5,001 words
NaNoWriMo words written: 5,075

Not sure I totally agree with this one either, but the quizes are fun!

Your Element is Earth

Your power color: yellow Your energy: balancing Your season: changing of seasons Dedicated and responsible, you are a rock to your friends. You are skilled at working out even the most difficult problems. Low key and calm, you are happiest when you are around loved ones. Ambitious and goal oriented, you have long term plans to be successful.

What Element Are You?

NaNoWriMo goal of the day: 1,667 words
NaNoWriMo words written: 1,682

Interesting week. I've been fighing a migrane all week, and it doesn't look like it will be much better tomorrow. I'm on deadline with one web site (that's my "real job") and a directory that I still don't have all the ads for. Yeah, like that will be ready for print a week from now!

The little one went to a theatrical make-up class. She was the only one there!! I think that's just crazy! But she had a good time. Can you tell?

Tuesday NaNoWriMo kicks off, so I'll be writing my 50,000 words -- I hope! This is the first year I'll be participating. Hope to do it. I've been doing research on my characters and at least one set of problems that I know she's going to face. I plan to post my word totals here at least once a week.

Finished the Magic Stripes socks last night. Now on to the HP scarf. The scarf is a K1, P1 pattern for the ENTIRE THING! I just hope I don't lose count!

I really think I want to crochet some slippers at the same time. Or maybe the bag I saw the other day. I also want to try the Getaway satchel from the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits magazine. A knitting list I'm on is doing that as an exchange, but I don't think I'll participate. Too much other stuff going on to knit on a deadline right now.

Trucked the little out in some really yucky weather to do a few geocaches today. One of the best things about home schooling is going all year long, I think. Then I don't feel bad about taking a "slack day" like today. Although, we did get a work out! We did a ton of walking to find the 2 caches. And the weather STUNK. It was cold and rainy in the Black Hills. Welcome to October in South Dakota.

On the knitting front, I'm finishing my magic stripes socks (See October 9 post). One is totally done and I've turned the heel on the other. I'll probably have it finished this weekend. I guess I'll do that scraf next.

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo next month. I'll keep a tab of word count on here if anyone is interested.

Next knitting project? A scarf for my daughter. She wants it in "Slytherin" colors. Why? Because she wants a HP scarf that is different from everyone else's and that you have to KNOW is a Harry Potter one. She decided that only those who KNOW the books or movies would get the color scheme. Odd child! ;)

Well, I'm back! Spent the week at the state OES Grand Chapter. Very interesting. Did manage to finish one sock and got a really good start on the other one. Didn't get much "real work" done, though.

Spent most of yesterday morning adding old home school stuff to e-bay. It took most of the morning. I have 3 auctions going right now and 11 more starting on Saturday. Man, that took a long time! Almost every one has a picture of the book I'm selling, which I know took more time, but wow!!! Anyway, you can check out my auctions. My e-bay ID is "jenbin822".

Hey, I thought this was pretty interesting! I'm not sure I would call myself a "Guru" though. I still think of myself as a beginner, but the rest of it may be true!


You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thought I'd share this cool yarn with you. It's called "Magic Stripes" by Lion Brand. Very thin, but it knits up beautifully, as you can see in the second picture. I'm doing a pair of socks for myself. It amazes me that the yarn can look like that to start with and honestly knit up in rows!

Anyway, the socks will be a bit thin, but that's OK. I still think they'll be pretty!

We had a game night at our house last week. We actually try to do that once a month. Hey, my daughter is already 12. She won't be in my home forever! I need -- and want -- to make the most of the little time we have now!

Anyway, we played the Harry Potter version of Scene It! The Scene It! games are so much fun! They are movie-based, DVD and board games. You answer questions related to movie clips (in this case, all Harry Potter movies) or about the sets, actors, directors... movie stuff. Now, reading the books doesn't help at all. As you can see, I got stomped. Yep, my daughter beat the socks off me!!!

I guess I'll have to watch the movies more often!

Well, after knitting that huge heavy sweater -- which got done just in time, it turns out! -- I wanted a quick project. So, I took the same pattern book ("Campus Knits" by Leisure Arts) and found this cell phone cover. It's made with Lion Brand's Homespun yarn and is so soft.

The most trouble I had with it was the buttons. I had to find some that looked good, but had holes large enough for the yarn needle to pass through. I guess that button collection my darling hubby has been eyeing suspiciously is good for something!