Finished, almost finished, trying to finish, and hopefully finished

After great delay and putting aside I have finished Adrienne's gift of a hat and mittens. These mitts are my first try at the critters, which took a number of attempts to truly finish. First there was trying this pattern, which while quick, just looked formless and too short. So searched and decided on this pattern. There was simply no comparison - more elegant shaping, better length and fit, tighter stitch thus the first mitt got frogged unmercifully. Inspired by the speed with which even the second mitt was done I started gleefully on the second but when done it was seriously smaller. Sigh.

Frogging and more yarn usage occurred. Wonderful you say, well I would have too except now the second mitt's thumb was too small. Finally last night I snipped and frogged, but done! The hat was my own creation, I added a barely noticeable eyelet pattern to keep from getting bored while knitting. Also started that twice as I did not account for the yarn girth, frogged, reduced my cast on by 20 stitches less and now I love it. Given that it is a fantastic colour I am sure Adrienne will enjoy it.
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun, colour grape.
Hat: circular size 9
Mittens: size 6, Crystal Place, size 7 Susan Bates Quick Silver (borrowed from Jennie)

Niya's cat bed has finally been casted off, thrown in the washer for felting - one 6 minute cycle,one 2 minute cycle, hot wash, cold rinse. I love love this yarn for bulky projects and of course it's been discontinued. The pattern is simple but I wasn't sure about adding the eyelash.

I searched my stash and found this great colour, no label so I have no idea of it's origins. I finished it last night which included trying very haphazardly to circle a tupperware thingy with towels to reach something like the circumference I want. It is currently drying and I am hoping getting a little stiff.

Given it's my first felting attempt I won't worry too much about how sturdy the sides will be long term. Yarn: Debbie Bliss - Soho (disc) colour 37505 I think.
Some unknown but fantastic eyelash yarn.
Needles: Size 9 dpn, Clover I think? and Size 11 Clover circulars.


Next up is the secret project which is taking a long time for a few reasons. I don't love the Daisy circulars (size 13) for the ladder/railroad yarn at all! The points are way too dull for the material. Then all the yarn started coming off the cardboard it's packaged on. Don't let this happen to you.


This is how it looks after spending 4+ hours detangling! I am thinking of changing over to my Clover circulars (size 15). Since there isn't much done yet and gauge is not critical I think it might be okay. If it makes the project go faster then it's worth the shift in scale.



As to the hopefully finished, I sent off my revised research proposal paper to my professor this morning. Now mind you this is not research I will actually conduct, it was merely practice for writing such a thing. Since I do not plan on doing research it is a tad annoying but on the other hand it give me greater insight on how much work it takes to justify research that does happen. It also gives me pause for the future of this nation given how much is researched that is obvious. Like this tidbit:

Given the high incidence of childhood sleep problem and diagnosed postnatal depression, it is likely significant numbers of mothers being diagnosed as having postnatal depression are suffering the effects of chronic sleep deprivation.

Armstrong, K.L., Van Haeringern, A.R. (1998) Sleep deprivation or postnatal depression in later infancy: Separating the chicken from the egg. Journal of Paediatric Child Health, Volume 34 (3) pp??.

Brilliant! Brilliant I tell you, I would have never put postpartum depression and sleep deprivation together. Of course my proposal was so much more brilliant even than that. It had something to do with investigating if feelings of disempowerment during the birthing process lead to a crumbled self confidence which in turn would impact the marital dyad. Of course my greater intent would be to process data that would help support (eventually, after about 12 more studies) Stanton's* premise, which I concur with, that what we label postpartum depression is actually a realistic response to the pressures women feel when they become mothers in our society which makes it nearly impossible to be held in high esteem when one is a mother without turning around and smacking you down because that's all you do or smacking you for daring to have a life and possibly a career in addition to being a mother. This all results in a struggle for identity that leaves most women exhausted and overwhelmed and feeling like a failure.

Oh dear it appears I have found myself on a soapbox, how did I get here? Pardon me, as I step down.

I am off to accomplish more things. Ta ta!


*References

Stanton, A., Lobel, M., Sears, S., & DeLuca R. (2002) Psychosocial aspects of selected issues in women'’s reproductive health: Current status and future directions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Volume 70(3), 751–770