Lowlights

I apologize for nearly three weeks of silence out there. I don't know if it was midterm fever or what, but March has meant being up to my ears in something at all times.

• I submitted three essays to contests this month, with one more to go, and it needs the most work.
• My grandmother passed away a couple weeks ago.
• I took in a stray kitty only to find out he had FIV and had to be put down.
• I submitted an essay a little over a week ago to be workshopped today and have another due in two weeks.
• I have a big presentation Thursday in my craft class.
• This last week was spring break but I lost most of it to errands, family issues, and to driving up to Phoenix to spend the day with my mom. I say "lost" just meaning that it wasn't productive. There was a lot of fun, too, though.
  
• I haven't had any time to crochet outside of my weekly group, and since I spend most of that helping my girlfriends, I really haven't been producing at all.

This last crochet circle, I managed to get a couple inches of a scarf done, and it's highly portable, so I'm hoping after March wraps up, I'll be able to take it around and work on it more. I liked the stitch so much, I redesigned the front of a top I've been working on for a while. I made myself work on it while I watched a movie over the weekend. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll get to pick it up again until crochet circle on Thursday.

The hat is also languishing. I think I added one to two rows a week this month, so it's in the home stretch if - and this is a big IF - the crown works out. If not, I'm likely just going to frog it back to there and make a slouchy cap out of it. Which will be cute, but not what I was intending. Know that feeling?

I hope to be better about blogging in the next few weeks, but it's also the worst part of the semester, so I can't make any promises. For now, off to work on my astronomy homework!

Epic Fail

Well, maybe epic fail is an exaggeration.

I did work on the skirt, to the point of neglecting my school work (ssshhh, don't tell), and I finished it, but alas, there were two problems. One, it's too snug right below the hips (odd, I think) and the area right below the front zipper bunches. Here's a picture of the latter problem:

It's more obvious when I have it on, of course, but I didn't have time for a good shot of that. I know one thing I did wrong that is partly to blame, and I have a theory that part of the problem is also the cut of the pants. In the meantime, I wanted to update that it didn't work out, but that I did try. I took a lot of really nice, detailed shots and notes about the process, so I'll put together a series of blog posts on that for later in the week. (I have a strangely busy next few days, but my Thursday class is canceled, so I'll be back then.) I also have an idea of how to redeem the project.

The hat, on the other hand, is still a WIP. I just didn't have time for both, but hopefully an update will be coming soon on that as well.