New accomplishments & New toys!

While the rest of my life isn't going so great lately, the knitting part is a wonderful respite and is going really well!

I've officially finished all the single-colored squares for Mom's blue and white afghan. I learned to cable! Just like everyone said, it's so much easier than you'd think. It's really fun, too. I can't wait to do a bigger project with some cabling.

Since I didn't have all my colors to work on the next square at work yesterday, I used a tiny cable square that I had made some mistakes on to teach myself an applied I-cord border. It's not the one specified in the pattern, but I think it will work nicely on the real blanket. I might try to look up some more tips on turning the corner so they are a bit more square instead of round.

This morning I started on the first peas and carrots square. Don't think I'm really carrying the yarn up the sides quite properly, but it's looking really cute. I wasn't sure about the off-white color at first, but seeing all three colors together in this square I think they work really well together :)

Last night I got the sad news that I didn't get cast in a show that I really wanted. Thankfully my splurgey knit picks retail therapy purchase arrived today and that definitely cheered me up! I took the time to enter all of the yarns into my stash on Ravelry with pictures and all. I am a huge nerd so that was pretty fun and a good distraction with added sense of accomplishment. I posted a Facebook status a bit ago saying that the best thing about knitting is that i have 100% control over the outcome. I really think that is one of the reasons I find it so comforting and satisfying. When I put in the work and follow the steps, I get the desired outcome. I don't need luck or timing or the help of anyone else to create something that brings me joy. The world -- and especially acting -- is so unpredictable and most of it is out of one's hands, so the knitting experience provides a lot of solace from that.

*maniacal laughter*