A Few Finished Projects

So, usually I wake up, roll out of bed and turn on the computer. From there, I check email, then Twitter. I do my rounds on my favorite blogs and websites. Then I write my NaNoWriMo word count for the day while I chat with the fiance at work. Afterwards, I'm free to do whatever. Free to do housework, clean, watch some of my many television shows that I hoard onto the DVR. Lately, the fiance and I have been watching Doctor Who when he gets home. I'll fix dinner, and we will start an episode while we eat. After dinner, I work on knitting projects. So, today's blog post is kind of a finished project photo day. I have a couple that I have finished recently, and just got around to photographing.



These are socks that I made for Tyler for his birthday a couple weeks ago. I had tried a different pattern before this one. It was really fancy, with cables, ribbing, patterns, and even a toe-up, which had be stressing for almost a full day. I just could not understand the Judy's Magic Cast-on. But, I eventually did it, and it wasn't until I got a good 4 inches into the sock, that I realized it was going to be way too big for him. I took it out and realized I was going to be pressed for time to finish it, so I picked a less complicated pattern, which fit him much better. He had to show every single person at his birthday get-together, I think he was proud of my work, and wanted to show it off to everyone. He put them on immediately when we got home. I think they turned out nice, and they should be a good starter sock for him, to see if he likes them and will wear them. If he does, I'll probably make more for him.



This Henslowe Shawl I finished last month. It was a complete nightmare to block, and had both me and Tyler pinning it out (the poor fiance had no idea what he was doing, honestly, but I appreciated the help he did do). It was brutal, and I'm not sure I'll make another one of these. Which is sad because I rarely pay for patterns, and this was one of the only that I purchased. The instructions on picking up stitches were a little confusing, probably because I have never done Shetland lace construction before? I don't know, but I can't foresee myself doing another.



These miserable fingerless mitts. I first started them on double pointed needles, and kept taking them out for some reason or another. One day I thought they were too long, the next day too short, or, I didn't like how the picot edging looked. It was always something. After it sat for many weeks, I eventually just divided the yarn into two balls (with my cheap new kitchen scale, yay!), and cast on for two at a time. I was determined to finish them, and finally did. I am extremely pleased with them, and for the past 2 days, I've been wearing them everywhere.

NaNoWriMo Begins!

Today is November 1st, the beginning of National Novel Writing Month! I've heard a lot about NaNoWriMo throughout the years, and this year, I have decided to participate! I've been waiting for it for weeks, thinking of what I'm going to write, then making character profiles, and then just making general notes about what I want to happen. I have started my novel, and completed my first 1,667 words this morning. Yay! I'm excited. I told the fiance that I'll be spending November working on this, and he has been really supportive about it. Even today when I told him I was stuck, I don't know what to write, he tried his best to give me ideas, even when he had no idea about the direction of the story.

Anyway, I've been gathering resources for the past month, and I thought I'd write a blog post on some of the things that I've found helpful.



The single, most helpful thing I've found is StoryBox. It appears to be a program that you pay for, but the creator offers the full program with no trial, no restrictions. So, you can use this software completely free, forever. At first I didn't think I needed this program, it's filled wit SO many features that I didn't think I'd need. But, as I started to outline my characters, locations and plot, there are just so many things that I don't think I'd be able to live without now. I can upload photos of places, animals, layouts, floorplans, anything up into the file so that I don't forget about what places look like. I can completely list out everything about my characters. Especially helpful so I don't forget what side that scar is on. Left or right.  If you are participating in NaNoWriMo, you need this program. Or a similar one. I love it. (By the way, you can click on the photo to go to the Flickr page, where you can view in full size).

If you prefer an online based outline service, check out LitLift. You can create characters, settings, and items on there. The most useful thing for me is their character generator. I'm horrible at coming up with names, so I just tell the generator if I want a male or a female, and it pops out several names for me to choose from. I love this feature.

Also, for backup, I'm intending to upload to Dropbox. Through the years, I have lost many important files. Many that were hours, days or even weeks of work. For this novel which will require even more time than anything I've ever done before, I'm becoming a backup fiend. I have a little 4GB flash drive that I'll be using for this, as well as Dropbox. The cool thing about Dropbox is if you have multiple devices to work on, Dropbox syncs your work to all devices. I can work on my desktop computer, then leave the house and work where I left off at the mall from my phone.