The Saga of the Beret

I made this beret for Ashley, in gray. Maybe you remember it.

When I made it for her, I had to go back and rip the slip stitch row at the end, because it made it too tight. I could get it over my ears, but it was just a little too tight to be comfortable.

So I ripped it.

Last week I made the same beret for myself. I was hoping that my gauge was the same, because for this hat, I wanted it snug on my ears to keep out the city wind.

My gauge was not the same. It was much too loose, pre-slip stitch row. After, I couldn't get the thing on my head.

What the hell?

So Ben said, "what if you put the slip stitch row farther up the band, where there are more stitches?
Brilliant.

When I finally got around to ripping the slip stitch row, which I did not do right then because I was cranky, I screwed it all up and cut the wrong ends, and ended up ripping back three rows to find a place where I could start again.

So instead of moving the slip stitch row up, I just decreased the single crochets on the last round. It's a little loose. I might try to add one more round and decrease some more.

I might just leave it alone and find a different pattern altogether for the other ball of purple that I bought to match my coat.

But, ultimately, I did end up with a hat.

NaNo Fail

Perhaps fail isn't the right word.

Well...

in describing the 50,000 word goal? Yes, fail. Epic.
My novel is entrenched at 10k. And I have no enthusiasm for it anymore. I do like the idea, deep down, and I'd like to continue with it at some point, but this month, it just isn't going to happen.

So I have a new goal.

One query letter for The Smell of Rain sent, for every remaining day of the month.
Originally, the second half of my goal was to finish the first draft of my He and She fairy tale novella, but now that I'm thinking of quitting my dog job, I'm thinking of changing that part to writing as much of my dog-walker memoir as I can, while it's still fresh in my head.

And the holiday crafting continues...

NaNoProper

We've come to the end of the first weekend of National Novel Writing Month (the original month, as opposed to CampNaNo which I did this summer) and now it's, regrettably, Monday morning.

I am behind. On everything, really.

I have not made my word count, but I'm really only a day behind, and I have a light dog schedule today, so there is hope that I might catch up after work.

I have not registered for the GRE. Or begun putting things together for my grad school applications. And really, the reason for this is...I don't know if I should.

WHAT DO I DO WITH MY LIFE?!

That up there, is also why I've been putting it off. When I start thinking about it, I get a little panicky and my head starts to hurt and I want to cry. So I've been doing lots of holiday crocheting instead.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to see pictures until after Christmas.

In addition to writing and crocheting, I managed to cook and freeze all my pumpkins yesterday.

Advice on what I should do with my life? I'll take it.

In the meantime, I'll continue to knit.