Best Sock Knitting Pattern-Toes Up (of course)

Regia is the best sock wool.  I didn't love wool, but it makes the best-wearing socks.  This is the best and fastest way to knit a pair.  I knit it almost all in plain knit because I can knit much faster than I can purl and patterns really slow me down (although they look awesome).  I love a snug-fitting sock and I have size 9 (wide) feet.  Adjust as you see fit, so to speak.


M (make) as often as possible on the back loop to leave the smallest hole possible


100g yarn
5 size-1 Double-Pointed Needles (DPN)
9" size-1 circular needle (I like the Chiagoo)
stitch markers
ruler
CAST ON


Cast on 30 stitches on two of the DPN using the figure eight cast-on method.  I leave a decent amount of tail so that I can knit it into the second half of the first round and then I don't have to worry about it unraveling and can simply cut it off after that first, but make sure not to pick up the two threads as two stitches.  Make a slip knot on the right needle, then wind under around and down over the left needle (one stitch) down through the middle and under around and over the right needle (second stitch).  Repeat to 30 stitches and be sure not to include the knot.  Pull them snug.  Knit the stiches on the left needle but don't count them as a round (or part of one).  Drop the slip knot, pick up the tail and knit one round, all stitches on both needles.


TOE
Knit the toe in pairs of rounds, increasing twice at each edge for the first round and a plain knit the second, notated thus:
1--K1    M1     knit to the penultimate stich     M1      K1 (first needle)
Repeat for second needle to finish the first round
2--Knit a round
Repeat to 25 stitches on each needle or 50 stitches total.  Add a pair of needles as needed (pretty early, in my experience)
FOOT
Switch to the circular needle, marking the edges and continue knitting all rounds until the sock measures six inches.
GUSSETS
Increase at each edge to create the gussets until there are 70 stitches total, notated as pairs of rounds thus:
1--Sole(first needle)-K1     M1     knit to the penultimate stitch     M1     K1 --- Arch(second needle)-Knit
2--Knit one round (both needles)
For the final round (once you've reached 70) taking off the markers: put 25 arch stitches on the Chiagoo,  sole---14 on one DPN, 17 on the second DPN, and 14 on the third DPN.
HEEL
Working only on the second needle (for now) on a knit row:
K1     M1     knit to penultimate stitch      wrap and turn
P1      M1     P to the 3rd-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
K1     M1     K to the 3rd-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
P1     M1      P to the 5th-to-last-stitch      wrap and turn
K1     M1     K to the 5th-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
P1     M1     P to the 7th-to-last-stitch      wrap and turn
K1     M1     K to the 7th-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
TURN HEEL
P1     M1     P to the last stitch, slip & purl tog with stitch from the first needle, turn.  Repeat the following pattern until all stitches on needle one and three are used, splitting the work on the second needle as needed (Partridge stitch);
Slip1    (K1 S1) to penultimate stitch, knit together with stitch from other needle     turn
Slip 1     P to penultimate stitch, purl together with stitch from other needle      turn
Slip1    K1 (K1 S1) to penultimate stitch, knit together with stitch from other needle     turn
Slip 1     P to penultimate stitch, purl together with stitch from other needle      turn
LEG
Knit around all 50 stitches until the sock is as high as you desire, then K1 P1 for the final 1-1/2 inch.  Secure your end and Boom, SOCK!  Repeat for a pair :-)

Writer? HA!

What ever made me think I could write?  Day two of NaNoWriMo and I'm already plagued with both doubts and technical difficulties.  Grrrrrr.

I had hoped to use my work laptop to write at the write-ins but it is wonky when away from its dock and a huge pain because of the security in place.  I'm even thinking about buying a laptop to use but I didn't get involved in this so I could spend money (I don't have)

Grrrr

Did I mention that my son had a fender-bender while delivering pizzas and so Allstate won't cover the accident.  Even now I'm waiting to find out how much the other driver is going to bleed me for.  Grrrr

Have you ever been afraid?

I have not been very "in touch" with my emotions.  For how long?  Maybe ever?  Maybe I'm a sociopath.  Isn't that what they label someone who has no emotions-no, wait, that's someone who doesn't care about other people or their emotions.  And Asberger's is when a person can't read others' emotions.  Stoic?   Frozen? Confused?  Dispassionate?  Sublimated?  Well, whatever the name, that's me.  I seem fearless most of the time,  and then I realize that's mostly because I don't take very many risks.  Certainly not any big risks, the ones with possibly big rewards.  Which is kinda silly.  Fear is a pretty stupid way to live your life, my head tells me.  You certainly need to exercise due caution and make intelligent choices, but fear sneaks in and colors the scene until everything seems so unreasonably risky.  And so I choose inaction all too often.  Almost every time.  Until I get super fed up with myself and let loose on a dumb choice just to prove I can.  Makes me tired :-)

The Painted (Young) Man

My son got two more tattoos the night before last, bringing him up to three.  He wants to get full sleeves, or at least one sleeve.  He assures me he wants to get many, many more.

I can't tell you how sad this makes me.  I don't love all the tattoos people are getting these days.  Even highly paid fashion models have them.  Sports stars, movie stars.  Piercings, holes, gauges, scars, tattoos.

I think they are cries for help.  I think they are little signs that a person doesn't feel appreciated, and wants to feel special and somehow can only feel that way by permanently painting special-ness on themselves.  It makes me especially sad that my son just doesn't see how pathetic they make him look.  How very alike all the other tattooed people in the country.  It's like those kids who all wear black eye makeup and black nail polish and black clothes with a thousand safety pins in them, and work so very hard to look different, but just like all the other kids who wear the same "Different" uniform.

A hare-brained scheme explained

I've been recently looking into living "on the road".  Selling everything except my casual clothes, some kitchen gear and my craft tools.  Buying a pickup and a 30-ft fifth wheel and running away to ... wherever the wind takes me!  With some craft fairs thrown in for gas money.  I figure if I work very hard for the next 3-5 years, I'll have enough to pay cash for the rig, then it'll just be about food, campsites and gas money.  Instead of paying way too much for a condo that is now worth SO MUCH less than I paid for it.  I like the idea of living small, and i LOVE the idea of seeing the country.  Really seeing it, not just making little week-long trips to see pieces and parts of it.  All the National Parks, and lots of the state parks, and historical places... We traveled a lot when I was a kid, my dad got pretty good vacation time and we'd take off in a mom-and-dad-converted van for two week chunks of travel all over the country + Canada.  Except Texas.  (and Alaska!)

Even some of the affordable fifth wheel RV's are pretty amazing and have everything but a washer/dryer for clothes.  For one person, there'd be plenty of space and I could totally rig it to be a dandy crafting space.  I've seen some of the rigs on Pintrest (not SO much pink, please!!) and it can be done.

I'd like to do this before I'm too old to enjoy myself, or before I come down with something deadly.  There are services to help with roadside assistance, and mail delivery and etc.  I know it wouldn't be totally cheap, and it would be kinda lonely even for a loner like me, but social media will help.  And it wouldn't necessarily be forever.  A girl can dream, can't she?

Life on the road - list of links

another hare-brained scheme???  some links:

Cheap RV Living

A discussion thread

Comet Camper

RVers Online

my new home?

electricity explained

Mary Russell

I don't know why it has taken me so long to think of writing this entry, but better late than never.  I have been completely enthralled by listening to the Laurie R. King series of Mary Russell stories on audio.  Read by Jenny Sterlin, they are WONDERFUL.  The plots are intriguing, the characters are believable and the stories are so witty!  I hate to give too much away, because I hate to plant expectations in your minds, but I want to encourage you to read them, so here goes:

Unlike Elementary or Sherlock, this series has a very traditional version of Sherlock Holmes as the secondary character.  Set in the early part of the 20th century, the author has captured the best things about the Conan Doyle character and created a world where a smart, confident woman is still expected to down-play those traits.  Mary Russell is a smart, clever woman who captures the attention of Sherlock Holmes and eventually becomes his partner.  Unlike most murder mysteries today, the action is slower, there is not much violence and there aren't bad guys waiting around every corner.  Some of the investigations the two undertake are for crimes that happened many years previous, so there is no Jessica-Fletcher-like problem where every single character is either a potential victim or suspect.  So good!  They are so well written - LOVE THEM!!!

Most Indigenous

Yesterday on the radio, I heard the following introduction for a man who had moved with his family to a difficult place, in order to evangelize.  The announcer stated that he had moved to be near "the most indigenous people group in the world."   Hmmmm...

Cobblestone

I'm at a slightly trendy chain restaurant eating a salad and eavesdropping on my neighbors.  The approximately-10-year-old boy asked his mom what a cobblestone was (the name of the baked good they were sharing).  She thought for a second and explained that it was a cover.  "You know how some people have a cobblestone driveway?"  ---Argh!

That Mr. Lincoln... ahead of his time!

Duh?

College graduates with degrees in higher-demand fields had lower unemployment rates upon graduation than other students.


This was an actual news item.  Journalism ain't what it used to be!

Leaving (sniff)

I just dropped my son off at his base.  He's doing his two weeks of AI.  I took some photos.  He pointed out that he was only going to be gone two weeks and I was taking more photos than when he left for six months of Basic.  I then admitted that back then I was too freaked out to take photos.  I also just realized that seeing him in uniform makes a difference too.  When I dropped him at the recruiter over a year ago, he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans.  This time he's in ACUs and at a not-on-any-map base with a bunch of other folks from his unit.  Who may one day depend on him for their lives.  He's excited about this trip because while the rest of the unit will be practicing shooting and whatnot, he will be working at the base clinic with the other rookie medic.  A chance for them to see real stuff and test their mettle.

Shrubs, not shrubbery

Leave it to me to pick up on a trend several years later.  I recently saw a blog post about a "shrub" and it sounded good.  I looked around for other recipes and found quite a few, all from several years back.  Macarons are old news too and I only recently tried them.  And knitting socks is rather passe too.  Well la ti da.  I know have three shrubs resting on the kitchen counter (see photo).  Strawberry which will probably become Strawberry-Basil in the next step.  Mango-lime with nifty-looking-for-now lime slices that will undoubtedly look cruddy after soaking in vinegar for a few days.  I have the highest hopes for the third one; Fennel-Apple-Rhubarb because I love almost anything rhubarb.  Now I just have to be patient for something like two weeks to find out if they are any good.

I'm going to stop now.

Buying sock yarn, that is.  I have enough for... five? pairs and I won't buy any more until I'm about done with that.  And one set coming from the UK.  It cost less than the same brand in a shop here, even with mailing, and ended up costing me nothing because I had Discover Rewards I didn't know about until I was checking out on Amazon.  Pretty cool.  Although I'm such a ninny that I still wonder if I should have saved the Rewards for...something...else?  Better?  More decadent?
This is Cascade Yarn's Heritage Paint in color 9805 and it cost 18.00 at Never Enough Knitting in downtown Wheaton.  That place is always an experience!! (Sniff sniff sniff). I promised myself to make that the next place I go for yarn because I love their prices and I like to support brick-and-mortar yarn shops (when they deserve it!  Don't get me started on the goofy place in Glen Ellyn!)

Sock yarn

I've gotten hooked back onto knitting socks because of Claudia.  I realized that the key, for me anyway, is to KNIT socks.  No fancy laces or stitches or yarns, just plain old stockinette with fun yarn colors.  Knit, no purl (well almost none) and no yarn overs (well almost none) and I'm getting much faster.  My first sock fits so well!  I'm about 1/3 done with the mate and it should go a little quicker.
I got out of work early because my new bosses are actually NICE and so I drove to LaGrange to a nifty yarn store and bought just ONE SKEIN.       That part isn't true, I bought two skeins but ONLY two and I resisted the cool wood knitting needles she was handing me.  I'm sure I'll be back.  They had a lovely array of yarn---their website does not do the place justice.  And I stopped at one of my very favorite restaurants in Berwyn while I was out thatta way.  A good way two spend a gift hour!  A three hour outing that cost about 45 for the yarn and 16 for the dinner (including a very generous tip) with tons of good-to-reheat leftovers!  Yay!!!

It runs in the family

Saturday my family got together.  There's just the three of us now.  I thought we were getting together to celebrate Mother's Day, my birthday and my son's birthday.  Apparently my mother thought we were getting together to help her get through the five-year anniversary of her husband's passing.  Nevermind that he was my father and my son's grandfather and the only real male role model my son had.  Nevermind that my son is in the military and may not be home for his next birthday.  Nevermind that my son is now 20 and may end up living somewhere far away.  Nevermind that it was my 50th.  She needed a distraction and we were it.

Where to begin

I had thought it would be rather easy to find a good, reliable, in-depth, self-paced Bible study on the internet.
Still looking...
I did find an interesting weekly devotional called Prayer's Apprentice by Timothy Jones, former editor of Christianity Today (it's a small world after all...  it's a small world after all...)

Where not to begin?

This really is turning out to be more difficult than I thought.  I tried some of the big schools and it looks like only Moody has any "personal enrichment" classes... at 49.00 per class, that might be a last resort.  I also can't tell much about the classes themselves-it seems like they send you something for your money, which would be fine, but I expected a better explanation of what I might be buying.
There are all sorts of Bible studies on line.  I have to know something about the source/writer(s) before I'll plunge into anything.  I'm also looking for something that is not geared for seekers nor for graduate-level theologians.  So far nothing has fit the bill.  Almost everything seems to be geared to the absolute novice and I'm pretty far from that now.
Well, the search continues.
My good friend just gave me a daily devotional Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament by Nancy Guthrie.  So far-quite good.  We've been walking through the One Year Book of Psalms (another daily devotional) and that has been very interesting.  I never really looked at Psalm 119 before.  I've been thinking about looking for a print book about that Psalm since there doesn't seem to be anything much online about it.

Boom Crunch

There was no squeal at the beginning because I have anti-lock-brakes.  Well, I should probably use the past tense because I think my van is totaled.  It was used, nine-year-old model.  Still...  I never got a chance to camp in it (pout).  All this to explain why I have no news to report for today.  No spiritual news anyway.  On the plus side, I had not yet put new tires on the van (wan smile).

So much for a daily post!

It has been a rough two weeks.  Car accident and then a ton of stuff at work.  Capped by my son taking off for a few days on a little adventure with a friend.  Kept me far too busy to stick to my plan for this blog.  But one of the good things about getting older is coming to some peace with my limitations.  So I start again.
It is amazing to me how fast we adapt to new technology.  I don't know when this changed, but I have found it completely wonderful that two of my favorite radio stations now have instant-play websites.  I downloaded some software onto my desktop computer that acts as an alarm clock (as long as I put it into sleep mode rather than shut down) and one feature triggers a URL so now I can rise to With Heart and Voice at 6:00 on Sunday mornings and I don't have to fiddle with antennas or anything to get perfect reception.  Free software too, by the way.

Worth

I wish I had something valuable to say.  I enjoy reading other people's writing/blogging, but when I see my own, I sort-of cringe inwardly.  I feel empty, with no creation or imagination within to draw out and give life to.  Vanity of vanities-all is vanity.

No More Complaining!

In light of my decision to end complaining in my life, I would like to express some gratitude.
My son got home from Battle Drill about 2:30 this afternoon so we were able to spend some quality time together.  He even wore his ACLs so he got a "Thank you for your service!" shouted to him across a parking lot and a large french fries for free at the local eatery.  So I'm grateful to spend time with him. I'm grateful that people honored his service.  I'm grateful that he is doing stuff he can be proud of.
AND I GOT A PRESENT!  He bought me a nifty print version of The Princess Bride.  I'm grateful that he got me a gift. 
And I have three pieces of pie waiting for me in the fridge.  Well, two and a half, since I already ate part of the Honey Pie.  Not bad.  I don't love cornmeal in a pie.  I was very disappointed that they were already out of apricot pie, so I just ordered the next thing on the list.  I didn't think the Rocky Road would survive the rest of the trip.  I'm grateful for the lovely trip, listening to my son's mix cd.  I'm grateful that my $2k car is running like a champ!  I'm grateful that I could spend the day doing whatever I felt like.  I'm grateful to live in this free country and to have the cabbage necessary to buy not just what I need but some of what I want as well.
NOT COMPLAINT:  I wish my son would stop smoking!!!

More coincidence

Earlier today I posted that the random number I was assigned at Bang Bang Pie Shop was 64, the year of my birth and that today is my 50th birthday.  I went to dinner with my son at Portillo's and guess what number I was randomly assigned by the cash register?  Why 64 of course!  I was also sent a 15-percent off coupon for Half Price Books so we went there and I found a $2.00 book called 50 Things To Do When You Turn 50.  AND the first advice given is to stop complaining.  And just to put a cherry on top of my day of coincidences, that portion of the book was written by my distant relative Garrison Keillor.

Waiting in line

I don't know whether to feel like an idiot or to feel justified in making the long trip to the Bang Bang Pie Shop and finding I'm just one of many people who thought of that on this beautiful, warm spring Sunday morning.  And Mother's Day.  And my 50th birthday.  When my son has battle drill and even if he wasn't away for the week-end would probably still have done nothing for me anyway.  Am I feeling sorry for myself again?  YES!  Am I almost over it... yes?  I will be soon, I promise.  And doubt anyone came here because of my birthday (sorry for the poor grammar above)
And what number do they randomly give me for my order?  64!  How cool is that?  The year of my birth.  I wish it wasn't quite so long ago, but still.  And The Doors are playing, and I just heard them on a mix-cd my son made for me that I was playing on the way here.  Yes, he does love me.  He made me a 5-cd mix for my trips to MI a few weeks ago.  I'm finally getting a chance to hear the last one today.  One more stop at The Hoosier Mama Pie Shop and then I'm on my way back home.  Too bad they already ran out of apricot pie here.  That woulda been excellent I'm sure.  Instead I'm settling for a ham biscuit with ramps and dijon and a slice of honey pie with lavendar sea salt.  Poor me, right? :-)

Side effect

Another good sign-ink on my fingers!!

Creating... something

Setting aside thoughts of quality, I'm just happy to have created something-anything, really.  Last night and today, so far.  Whew!

Midlife crisis

Woo boy.  Although "crisis" seems a little melodramatic to me.  And "midlife" suggests I will live to be 100.  Not impossible but the odds are against me.
Who do I want to be?  Who am I really, inside?  How much am I not being authentic?  The world is my oyster and I don't know what the pearl looks like, for me.  I've just lived my life, not really steering the ship.  I know now that God is in real control of my life, but he isn't into telling me what to do.  James MacDonald says that God gives us each the really big box of crayons (choices in life) and does not sit there waiting for us to pick the one right crayon to use.  He gives us the whole box so that we can use them in any way we see fit (free will) and often delights in the various ways we take off.  We are made in His image and he is creative and imaginative and inventive and rule-bending (in all ways but one-SIN).  He created sunsets and dodo birds and jellyfish and dogs and pine trees and protozoa and Mars and...
So.  Let's start really basic.  Am I visual, aural, active, what?  Would I rather see something, hear something, smell something, taste something or do something?
Its a little like Gary Chapman's five love languages.  I've pondered that list many times and it just seems like I don't really have a strong preference.
What makes me happy?  Practically nothing, to tell the truth.  That's where the title comes in!  So what gives me joy?  I love routine and I like surprises (mostly).  I look forward all week to my Saturday morning routine.  Different in detail every week but similar.  I don't know if that's a red herring, though, because of the whole title thing again and maybe I just have such a pathetic life that even the farmer's market, Salvation Army and Hobby Lobby are just barely above such a low plateau!  Kidding-I think...

We aren't all pretty Christians

Tonight I really resonate with Maggie the Cat.  "I feel like a cat on a hot tin roof!...."  "Well, just jump off."  "Where? Into what?"
Maggie knew that where she was at was not good, but Fear kept her (and everyone around her) from facing the truth and then being able to move beyond.   I get afraid of the unknown too.  If I let myself just feel, I feel anxious and afraid by nature.  Or by nurture, really.  Enough bad stuff happens when you're looking for it and you wind up convinced that life sucks.  That's why we have intellect, though, I think.  To think things through and to reason our way off that "hot tin roof".  Take a chance on trusting something and see if that one thing doesn't pan out.  I took a chance on trusting God and I haven't been let down by him yet.  Other people-other Christians-sure!, but not God.  I slide into feeling scared every so often, but as soon as I correct my focus back on him and his promises and his guidance (via the Bible), I soon find myself back on a secure path, humming a tune as I stride toward the future.

Hello out there...?

I clearly don't take this blogging thing too seriously.  I had intentions of blogging daily or almost daily and creating things and posting about them...  Now it has been HOW LONG? since I posted anything at all.

Here's a little update.  I quit my job of 14+ years and have started at a new place at a new pace.  Weird is the word for me right now.  Everything is just so weird.  I knew it would be a change and it certainly is.  I'm not freaked out, thanks to God's good grace, and I am trying to pace myself.  Part of the reason I left the old job was the pace of things.  I was being pulled apart and at the same time was turning into a big stress ball.  Not a good combination, I assure you!  I hated hearing the phone ring because it was almost inevitably my boss calling to harangue me about some minor point on some minor report that only she was ever going to really read.  I could understand her position and I didn't envy it, but it still made my life a little more miserable.  So I hunted around and found a job at a similarly-sized company that is NOT owned by a hugemongous corporation.  Much better atmosphere.  Except.

I'm having trouble adjusting.  Or more to the point, I'm having trouble allowing myself time to get adjusted.  Things are just slower here.  I'm no longer being pulled in four directions with endless amounts of tasks that take more than a regular work week to make a sizable dent.  I wanted a slower pace but now that I've got, I find it's hard to adjust.  I have had a certain level of anxiety built into my workday from the last few years that is just going to take a while to wear off.  I feel like a pound puppy.  I'm NOT suggesting I was abused at my last job, but I'm just a little worse for wear, like those dogs who've been in cages, feeding off one-another's anxiety for just long enough that they are anxious themselves.  I'd like to somehow speed up the process of relaxing into this new job.  Any suggestions???  How does one force themselves to relax?  Without making a mess of the new job?

4-2-1

I'm not keeping to my daily blog post.  I'm also not keeping to my plan to create every day.  And that is the subject of the journal page I just made.

1-2-1

I think this is called a scrumble.  Something like that.  I'd gotten a book that showed how to mix knitting and crochet in a freeform manner and I checked out a website for one of the authors.  This is not a brand new book and it seems the author's followers haven't done any blogging about work in two or three years, but the idea is interesting.  Probably not something I'm going to dive into for a month, but I gave it a try.  Probably too open-ended for my style of crafting.  What do you think?

1-1-31

I've been too busy at work to do...anything else, it seems.  However, I managed to get the shrug finished.  So month two will start tomorrow.

1-1-27

I haven't really been creating anything much.  Last week I worked entirely too many hours and they were very hard hours, so I still feel entirely drained even this late on Sunday night.  I can't keep this up much longer.
Anyway, I did manage to make a page for my Psalm journal.  Last night, I think.  Today I frogged 2/3 of the black shrug I've been crocheting and got back on track with the help of a cheat sheet on the edges and what to do when turning.  You certainly don't need to see another photo of that project, so here's the journal page.

1-1-22

Despite having a dreadful day at work, I managed to do two rows on my crocheted shrug at lunchtime.  And just now, after a 13-hour workday, I managed to put on quite a few more rows.

1-1-21

So I didn't really have much time after a 12-hour plus workday last night to create much, but I did get my new journaling bible and started marking the reading I'm at in John.

1-1-20

While it seems like I didn't do any crafts yesterday, it is an illusion.  I simply forgot to post what I was working on.  I'd gotten two glittery black yarns on sale and had started making a shrug with the glittery-ier one.  The pattern was tough, I don't love crochet and the width was too narrow.  I ended up frogging it and then, because I couldn't come up with anything better to do, I started again with a slightly different pattern and a longer chain.  Voila.

1-1-19

I need a little something to wear with my little black dresses.  There was interesting glittery black yarn on sale at Michaels.  I got two kinds.  This is my first attempt at a shrug.  Too small.  And I still like knitting better than crochet.  Gonna frog this shortly.

1-1-18

I've wanted to try art journaling for a while but was held back by two things.  First, it is daunting to create something from nothing at all-that blank page staring at you.  Second, I have nothing profound to say and so the idea of decorating my lame words seemed... stupid.  Then the solution dawned on me.  What are the best written words ever???  And of the Bible, the Psalms are the most personal and emotional, so that's where I started.  I recently came across Psalm 119 and despite the cute acrostic-ness, it is a very profound set of words.  I debated a while over which translation to use and settled on The Message, at least for now.  The most "regular language" version I have.  I don't think I would recommend it for anyone's only Bible, but I picked it up cheap at Goodwill and for the Psalms, in my "art journal", I think the language is right.

1-1-17

I know-I said I was going to set aside the grey grannies for a while, but I didn't have much time after rehearsal tonight to start something new, so I got to thinking about them.  I thought about using the flat braid join in a slightly different way and tested it out on my smallest square.  Using white.  Two things I don't like about it.  The white is actually too bright when I'd hoped it would be unobtrusive.  Second, the 3-chain is too long and will leave too much open space for the way I'm planning to join them.  See for yourself...

1-1-16

I'm stuck.  I don't know if I want to do any more on this afghan, either now or ever.  I can't figure out how to join these.  Neat rows? Big aisles between? Funky offsetting?  I can't even decide on the finished item.  Lap quilt? Wall hanging?  Wheelchair afghan?
Grrrrr....