I've been updating on FB and updating via emails and totally forgetting to come here and post something. So, hi. I've been busy. How are you?
November is over and once again, I participated in NaNo (National Novel Writing Month). Once again, I'm pleased to say, I won! I hit my 50,000 words on November 29. That turned out to be a Good Thing, because I was so busy working on November 30, I didn't have time to go back and write some more of the story, which I had planned to do.
(For those who don't know about NaNo, it takes place over the month of November, and it's to jump-start people into writing their novels. You know, the Book You've Always Wanted To Write. November is the no-excuses month - just sit down and write. 1,667 words a day will get you to 50,000 words by the end of the month. [Technically, that will get you 50,010 words. Consider those extra 10 your emergency buffer.] In reality, 50,000 words would be more of a novella, but writing 50,000 words by November 30 will probably be closer to a novel than what you might write on your own in a non-NaNo month.)
So this year, I actually sort of liked my story, but it wasn't finished by the time the end of the month rolled around. I know I keep thinking about putting the stories on CreateSpace or Lulu.com so they could be shared, but ... They're really raw first awful drafts. There may be kernels of non-mediocre writing or glimpses of a point/plot, but they're no where near semi-fully formed. I'll keep thinking about sharing them.
In November everything takes a back-burner to just about everything, including knitting, so I have relatively few completed projects to share. A couple of cowls, some socks-in-progress, little work done on the three (four?) shawls I have on needles. My brain doesn't seem able to process anything vaguely complicated, so I'm sticking with a 3x1 ribbed sock and some pedicure socks most of the time. And I'll have to decide what knitting to take on the Mediterranean trip - that's always a dicey proposition. I'm good with U.S. travel, but the rules are different for other countries, so I need a project that will work with my vacation brain AND be expendable should a security agent feel the need to rip out my needles.
I did manage to make what turned out to be a teeny tiny baby blanket yesterday. Sock yarn, even on the smallest plate, makes a very loose fabric, and yet it still curls like a sonofagun, so I'm adding a border in hopes it will un-curl a bit. I may try to block it, but it's superwash sock yarn. Blocking, not work so much. I still managed to drop a fair number of stitches and had to re-hook them (one dropped around 15 rows down), but on the other hand, I'm getting a better feel for how to get the machine to cooperate and not get stuck too often. I doubt I'll ever get to use it for its original intention (to knit the boring parts of a large clothing item), but I may get to use it for other things. Washcloth, anyone?
Picking up the love of my life tomorrow after being gone 9 days. This house gets HUGE when he's not in it. I rattle a lot. Plus, I had to take out my own garbage and clean my own kitchen. Sweetie, if I ever start to take you for granted for any reason (but especially for the clean-up work you do around here), just remind me, okay?
Okay, time to watch "Two and a Half Men." Hopefully I'll update here once or twice before we leave.
