Purl Soho pattern

Off topic: Are you going to do another mood blanket for 2015?

This is the first time I’m responding to a comment with a post, but I think Amina deserves to know what’s up in blanket land for me this year. 😀

It had crossed my mind to do another mood blanket after the first one turned out so well but requests and promises made caused a change in that plan. To date, I have four blankets on tap for 2015! Yes I said four! Nuts … I know, but here’s why:

image courtesy: Lion Brand Studios

After staying wrapped up in my mood blanket for 4 days while we went through the “blizzard” in January, my little cousin requested his own throw/blanket. We went through Ravelry patterns together and he picked this cabled blanket. According to him, he wants it big enough because he’s taking it to college — college for him is 4 years from now. Be still my beating heart. ❤

The yarn is already in my possession, he picked some crazy lime green colour but it’s his blanket, all I am is the maker so I had to accept the colour choice I was given. He was so very resolute in his colour choice. 😀 The bulky weight should make this project go fairly fast so I’m confident I can get it done (all things being well before the end of the year). He says he expects it for Christmas since my mood blanket took the entire year. What a sweet-heart. ❤

The second blanket is more of a decorative throw but I love the look of it and actually started to make it in December. I didn’t have the yarn used in the video — Bernat Blanket Yarn — which is a velour type, super bulky weight yarn:

so I used two strands of KnitPicks Brava bulky held together. The look was okay but still not what I was going for so I ended up scrapping that project. Then a friend went to Michael’s after Christmas sale where the Bernat yarn was 40% off. She knew I was not buying yarn this year so she picked it up and called it my “Christmas” gift. Still not sure if she meant Christmas 2014 or 2015. 😀 Either way, this blanket is back on the 2015 to do list.

image courtesy: Purl Soho

The third blanket on tap is a Double Seed Stitch blanket (baby version) for my friend’s son. I was supposed to do this before he was born. He’s going to be 2 in July. In my defense, I did start the Honeycomb pattern for him but it wasn’t working up the way I liked so I’m going to adopt this Purl Soho pattern, making it in stripes as opposed to one solid colour.

And finally, a blanket for me — a free Martin Storey KAL (knit a long) afghan from Rowan Yarns. This version of it sold me completely so I’m also doing mine in one solid colour rather than multiple colours as the original pattern suggests.

image courtesy: http://www.dayanaknits.com

The project is done is squares, then joined and finished off with the cable binding. The squares shouldn’t take too long but I read that the binding takes a bit of time. I bought the yarn for this in December — Patons Decor in Eggplant. Since I’m in no hurry with this one, I’m going to finish the others first then get cracking on this.

It might seem a lot — four blankets in a year but I’m finding that I like projects like these and I don’t mind the length of time they take. So there you have it Amina … no mood blanket but plenty of others to go around in 2015! 😀

What about you all — any blanket plans for 2015?

…. that’s what I came home to yesterday. A bill from the NYS Office of Taxation and Finance.

I tried to be good. I really did. But when I looked at my return, I lost it! I filed late (as usual) and was happy to see that I didn’t owe. As a matter of fact, they owed me $175.00. But in the typical scare tactic way they operate, they ignored $3421. of the $5700 I paid in taxes, slapped me with a penalty and interest to say that I owed them close to $4000.00. Then on top of that gave me two weeks to pay the total or incur more charges. They ignored my total taxes paid on my return and on my filing application. So now it’s time for me to do the song and dance with them to get them to reverse the charges and pay what they owe me. That should be interesting.

I’m not going to lie, I wanted to cry. So badly, I got a headache. But I was more angry than my need to shed tears. Especially since I felt singled out for no reason. A mistake they made turned around to be a tax liability with a fight I don’t need for me. On top of all the shenanigans I have going on at work already.

I remembered part of Kate’s comment on this week’s selection for Music Monday — “a simple message and hard to follow!” Yes indeed. I felt crushed and just all around ticked off. My first thought really was — where would I get $4000 to pay them in two weeks? I felt that despite my efforts to maintain a positive attitude it seems like life is determined to keep relentlessly sucker punching me. Then I was gently reminded of — Phillipians 4:6 – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” Well okay then … I got told. 😀

So I asked for forgiveness for the not so nice words I said aloud and in my mind, then I sat down to do what I know would calm me down — knit. Me on the couch, still in my work-clothes, 160 stitches of garter, adding to the rows I already done on the train ride home.

This is the beginning of the Purl Soho Easy Baby blanket I’m doing for my coworker’s son.

I breathe deeply, then felt God telling me that everything is going to be okay. Because a tax bill of $3882.90 that I don’t owe ain’t nothing for God to handle. Shoot, even if I did owe it, He’d find a way to help me pay. So there NYS Office of Taxation and Finance! Take that, you dirty rat! 😛