Coffee and crafting cure everything

It's Wednesday and that marks the halfway point in the week - unless you're in my house.  Today isn't Wednesday... for some it is Saturday and for others it is Tuesday... it's anything but Wednesday.  A point that is punctuated by my cranky pants mood due to lack of sleep - I was still awake past 3 a.m. and the alarm goes off at 7 a.m.  Add to that the fact that it's raining, making it a perfect stay at home day and I'm in a state, let me tell you.

I don't like waking up crabby.  My family would laugh and ask if I ever wake up any other way - yeah, well unless there is coffee involved the answer is a resounding no.  It's okay though because I know the cure - besides coffee.  It's crafting... so that is what I'm going to do today.  I spent last night planning and playing around.  Would you like to see what I've been up to?  Okay, I'll share ~

Each Nerd Wars tournament has an optional category called a dissertation.  That is a project which would take the entire three month tournament to create.  I am going to submit a proposal for a dissertation for Tournament 4!  I know, crazy but I have it all scheduled out and even have the perfect pattern.  It's called "Granny's A Square" and I love it.  I was gifted some gorgeous yarn by Cathy a few months back that I was saving for a special project... this would be that special project and here is my color palette, with white for the joining and border ~

All Caron Simply Soft yarns, including White.

I really love how it looks on my screen but I realize that it might be different in person.  The colors always seem a tad off from each other.  I will take snippets of the three I have (Strawberry, Persimmon and Sunshine) and match them up with the other colors before I buy them on Friday.  I am going to need 4400 yards so I'm happy that I can Stash Shop some of this.  After some serious planning in the car pick up line yesterday afternoon, I came to the realization that 64 small squares (3 rounds), 16 medium squares (6 rounds) and 9 large squares (12 rounds) isn't so daunting a task after all.  All I need to do over that three month time frame is make 1.2 small squares a day, 1.7 medium squares a week and 1 large square a week with seaming done as I go along.  Oh yeah, being an anal retentive overachieving uber-organized nerd has it's privileges.

I also worked on my technique for spinning last night.  I read this really great tutorial on plying yarn that tempted me to give it a shot and I must say, it came out pretty cool.  I really like it and I can't wait to figure out what to do with the tiny amount that I have drying in the kitchen.  I didn't want to 'waste' any more roving since I'd like to be able to say "Yes, I did spin this yarn first" and I love the colors in it too.  I still have a "drafting issue" but I'm learning.  I got my tension and consistency to a good place by doing this tutorial and here is the end result ~

What, where else would you dry it but from the hooks on the pot rack?

So today I am going to swatch for my dissertation and play with my drop spindle... but first, I have to go to Physical Therapy and get beaten up.  Joy.

I think I'll break in my Christmas present when it's over... my Starbucks gift card... because coffee and crafting really do cure everything.