Charity Blankets and a Cold

I finished the Mile A Minute charity blanket late Saturday evening! It turned out so pretty!! I even found a blanket I did earlier in the year that never was sent off to a charity, so I will be delivering two blankets this time.

Mile a Minute Afghan

Rippled lapghan

While at a friend's house Saturday, I ended up smoking several cigarettes while watching the Bama game. I woke up Sunday with a hell of a cough. I was under the assumption that it was just the cigarettes. It wasnt. I coughed all day yesterday, had a runny nose and my throat has been sore to boot. Lucky me! I have a cold! I spent all morning in bed and have been drinking water like it is going out of style. It has been ages since I have been sick so I have forgotten exactly how it feels. I am going to do everything in my power to prevent this cold from turning into a sinus infection. The last one I had was the worst one ever. I remember sitting in the waiting room at the doctors office with a terrible cough. I really thought I was going to cough up a lung. I know everyone else in there was getting p'od because I couldn't stop the coughing, but I was a sick girl. They ended up giving me two shots in the heinie. One was an antibiotic, the other was a steriod. Needless to say I am trying to nip this one in the bud before it turns. I have a dentist appointment AND a job interview Thursday morning, so I need to be as close to 100% as I can by then. SH went and bought me some chicken soup and meds to help me heal. Wierd but I have been craving oodles of noodles soup. mmmmmm. Warm brothy goodness.

Charity blanket and a Chicken

With a week off, I have almost finished the charity blanket. I have 2 more strips to make before I can stitch them all together. Maybe that project will be finished over the weekend. I wanted to share a recipe we made for dinner last night. It was absolutely fabulous. It came from an episode of Good Eats on Food TV. The host, Alton Brown is one of my all time favorite TV chefs. His shows are so informative and his recipes are wonderful. This one is super easy and well worth the hour and a half cooking time. Peeling the garlic takes some effort, but you will enjoy the end result.

40 Cloves and a Chicken
1 whole chicken (broiler/fryer) cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
40 peeled cloves garlic
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil and brown on both sides in a wide fry pan or skillet over high heat. Remove from heat, add oil, thyme, and garlic cloves. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours.
Remove chicken from the oven, let rest for 5 to 10 minutes, carve, and serve.

When I started fixing my plate, my chicken fell off the bone it was so tender. The cooked garlic cloves are wonderful smooshed onto bread. This dish is going to be a regular fixture at our dinner table.

My latest crochet

I finally got around to taking pictures of my newest pieces this afternoon. I even updated the ole' resume and got together a cover letter for another job. I have almost finished the 4th strip of the Charity blanket. I have attempted two different designs. One is the Annies Attic Mile A Minute variety and the other is a Make it Quick. Both style are made with several strips that are created seperately, then stitched together to create the blanket. I like both versions, but I will most likely stick with Mile A Minute since I have more strips completed.

Version 2 - Mile A Minute

Version 3 - Make it Quick

This is the Spiral Simplicity Doily I finished weeks ago. I blocked it but since it has been stored on top of some other stuff, it isn't flat anymore.

I QUIT

I decided earlier in the week that I would quit my job on Friday. I realized that with an "end in sight", work was much easier. I wrote a letter of resignation Wednesday afternoon. I decided (with a little help from Mother of Purl) to go ahead and just finish out Friday and leave the letter and all my stuff on the Supervisor's desk after I clocked out. I knew that if I told her Friday morning, one of two things would happen. Either they would be rude and mean to me all day, or she would try to talk me out of leaving. I am not very good with confrontation like that and I knew I wouldn't be able to deal with a conversation like that. Luckily we were slammed yesterday afternoon, so when I clocked out, the supervisor was still in the main office. I didn't have to deal with her. I hated that I had to leave my new work buddy, but she understood my decision. She is really in the same boat I was in except she had an even longer commute! We exchanged email addresses and I hope to keep in touch with her. It certainly feels good to be away from that place now. I feel so free!!!
BUT, I am jobless again. I applied for a job here in town Wednesday and am going to keep my eyes peeled. I don't expect to find anything right away, but I hate being the unemployed member of the household. We are just gonna have to tighten our belts for a little bit.

The charity blanket should move along quicker now. I started another strip this afternoon and have made quite a bit of progress on it. I keep forgetting to take pictures!!! Must do tomorrow.

Charity Blanket #2

Since it is the time of year that it starts getting cold, I decided to get started on another charity blanket. I started a little late last year and only got one finished. This year I am doing a "Mile a Minute" version of a blanket and hope to have it finished before it gets too cold out. I am also going to donate the blue/white ripple blanket I did last year that I never "turned in".

On a sidenote, does anyone here use Ravelry to keep up with their projects? I have seen other blogs where their ravelry "project progress" is added and can be viewed on the blog. Anyone know how to do that?

My hook is a smokin'!!!

I have finally finished the charity rectangles! I have 4 done in each color in a shell pattern, 2 granny rectangles and 2 done in a tunisian stitch. Twelve 'tangles total. The newest ones are getting blocked right now and I will post pics when they are finished. I used up all my leftovers in three shades of blue! Sweet.


Mother of purl has kindly offered to take all the other leftovers off my hands too. I will now have room to make a NEW YARN PURCHASE to get Mom's shawl started. I am still unsure and debating colors. I am leaning heavily towards a variagated blue or purple or green. I guess once I see them in person I will have an easier time choosing. I know that she cannot wear certain olivey-yellows or else she looks like death warned (warmed?) over. I will opt for something bright and cheery. I just know she will love this shawl.

Charity squares

I have gotten another 2 squares, I mean rectangles done for the charity blanket. I think I can get another 3 out of the remaining skein. Hopefully I will be able to get them all finished and blocked sometime this weekend. YAY for a good cause!

I also have lots of odds and ends of yarn that I seriously doubt I will ever use. Anyone want it? Mother of Purl? This means you. I bought several small skeins of baby eyelash yarn ages ago that I cannot stand working with. I wish I would have kept the receipt!!!

The last Monday at work

Today is my last Monday at work! Tomorrow is my last official day. When I arrived at my office this morning, I was shocked at how empty it looked. I had kindaaa forgotten that I had slowly been taking stuff home to make for an easier last day. I still have a few plants a calendar and an oil lamp to schlepp home. I contemplated not even coming in today since I have enough leave, but I had a chiropractor appointment at 8. I knew I would feel much better once he cracked, twisted and electroshocked me. I got my sleepy ass out of the bed and got moving. Unfortunately last night was YET ANOTHER sleepless Sunday night. Sounds like a Bangles song. I tossed and turned until at least 1:30, then once I fell asleep I proceeded to wake back up every 30 minutes. The dog had to go out sometime around asscrack thirty. He doesn't do this on weekend nights, only weeknights when all the adults have to go to work the next day. ARGH. Soooo annoying.

Anyhoo, enough bitching. I worked on my charity squares this weekend and even did a few in Tunisian stitch. I think I will have a nice variety when they are all finished. I ended up leaving my yarn at the office over the weekend so I ended up using up some leftovers from other projects I did in the same colors! Yea for destashing!!!

New project idears

I think my next project will be a wrap/shawl with hand pockets or a lapghan with a footie pocket for my mother. She is always so cold and either of these would keep her nice and toasty.

I also found this through the annies attic website. I am sooooo gonna make something.

I am finished with square #4 for the group charity blanket. I think I am gonna wait until I have a few more squares before I finish blocking. I have 1 skein of yarn left in dark blue so I guess I will do another 4 squares. They are actually rectangles so I don't know why they are called squares. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Is there such a think as a granny rectangle? I have a bit of leftover light blue yarn and I assume I will have the same amount of dark blue. I guess I could do a 9th square, I mean rectangle in a grannyesque pattern.
Update: There IS such an animal. Mash here