A Not Terribly Productive Month...for Crafting, At Least

November was a pathetic month for crafting.  Between moving, NaNo, and everything else, I've been a busy, busy person.  Not to mention when you move with kids you have to change schools and all of that kind of crazy stuff.  It's been chaotic, but that's not surprising at all, I'm sure.  However, in the past month of limbo, I have had a few things that I got done.  First and foremost!

Yup, that's right, I'm a winner this year!  That's my biggest accomplishment of the season.  I'm pretty proud of myself for it.  I have a long road before publication with editing and the like, but I was able to accomplish it in spite of everything else going on.  That alone is worth some serious patting myself on the back.  That makes two years in a row.

In addition, I also finished a pair of socks for my second child.  He's thrilled with them, and they're ready in time for Christmas.  That was a minor miracle.  For some reason he's got odd shaped feet.  The measurement across his heel is rather odd so what seemed like it should fit really didn't.  On top of that, I didn't want anything that would take much effort, given the way he wears through socks.  I know they're a future darning project, so I didn't want anything it would hurt too much if it got killed.  As a result, I've ended with a pair of socks I think I'm happy with for him.  This isn't the finished photo (because that didn't come off as nicely as I would have liked, but it's a beauty.

I'm finding I really like the Knit Picks yarns.  This one, as the other ones were, was wonderful to work with.  I just wish I could get my hands on more.  I didn't think I'd like the way the twisted yarn came out, but I surprisingly like this.  It worked out much nicer than I'd imagined, which definitely pleases me.  It definitely wouldn't be a yarn I'd use with anything with a serious texture, but it works out alright for a mostly vanilla sock.  This is another version of the MineCraft Socks.

Though it was after the November 30th cut off I'd given myself, I did manage to finish the socks for Bunny Boo too.  That was definitely an accomplishment.  I'd lost motivation and was tired by the time I got to hers.  On top of that, her feet are almost as big as mine!  She's only about a half inch shorter in the foot.  That means I'm effectively knitting an adult sock for her, which seems to take so much longer than the socks for the other kids, even though each size up isn't all that much more work.  Crazy how that works, right?

Apparently hers are in a colorway that's majorly sought after.  It's called Gummy Bear, though it much more makes me think of Care Bears.  She loves it, and that's what matters.  It was hard to stick to my guns on this one when people started contacting me for the yarn, with very good projects lined up for it.  I felt a little bad when I decided I had to honor my promise and keep it for my daughter.  However, the socks turned out great, knit up in the ever popular Hermione's Everyday Socks pattern.  I'd been avoiding this pattern because it's so overly used.  I hate doing what everyone else is doing and prefer to call attention to some lesser used patterns, but with self striping yarns, there aren't a lot of options.  I decided to go with something not quite vanilla, and my daughter loves Hermione from Harry Potter, so double win on that one.  I'm not a fan of vanilla socks, mostly because I want something I have to pay a little attention to.  However, I'm finding that simple socks are kind of appealing to me.  It's something I can knit away at without having to put all of my mind to it.  I can just kick back and enjoy, with enough interest to keep me working away at it.

Next up?  Socks for me.  Everyone else has gotten new socks for Christmas, so I'm knitting myself something enjoyable for the season.  My excuse is I need warm feet just like the rest of us!