Tunisian Crochet update 1

Throughout this year my friend Lindy and I are going to be attempting to make a Tunisian crochet blanket from lion brand. I began this year knowing nothing about how to Tunisian crochet. A few days before the new year I went to my local craft store and picked up my needle. I am hoping to use up lots of yarn from my stash to make this project, I may towards the end need to buy some, we'll see how the year plays out. Anyways, the throw consists of nine different stitches. I have begun with the basic Tunisian crochet, which thanks to youtube, I picked up fairly quickly, my gauge isn't exactly what it should be according to the pattern but apparently according to the reviews lots of people have this problem.

Serious rollage

finished square number 1 only 35 to go

First thoughts and lessons learned from the first square:

• relax - the tension must be fairly loose
• the ends curl - it seems 99% of people have this problem
• I am going to need a border
• Ending a square is not hard but not as easy as I would have liked at first
• I have a year, I can do this. It is only 36 squares and 9 stitches. I have a year.
• Yes, this is me giving myself a pep talk, thanks for listening
• I am loving having a project to challenge me, sometimes I get bored with doing the same projects over and over again
• 35 squares to go, I can do this

Anyone else taking up a year long project?

Are you learning anything new this year?

Any random goals for the year?

366 pictures in 2012

At the beginning of 2012 (which really doesn't seem all that long ago, but in reality is months away, time is one of those things that boggles my mind) I challenged myself to take at least one picture a day and put them into a shutterfly book (I LOVE SHUTTERFLY). I am absolutely loving this challenge. This could by far be my most favorite challenge I set for myself in 2012. I love taking pictures, editing them, and making shutterfly books! I am realizing that I am going to have to make another 2012 book to contain more of the pictures in more of a traditional photobook type format. I have taken way more photos this year than I did at this point in 2011, which was part of the goal. Part of the challenge is what to take pictures on days that I would consider 'normal' and nothing 'extra-ordinary.' Sure I have gotten lots of pictures of my sweet Dakota, which I am totally okay with, and I have some funny pictures of things like my messy desk or some new recipe I tried. The other challenge is what to choose as my picture of the day, some days it seems like I take a ton of pictures and have a hard time deciding what exactly to claim as my picture of the day. I LOVE this project. I am not yet committing to doing it another year but so far this has been amazingly fun and even better I have made it to April without missing a single picture! Which I was 99% certain by now one of two things would have happened, either I would have missed a few days or I would have given up or forgotten about this project and neither have happened.

Dakota and her BFF Luther carrying a stick together