Currently Obsessed With: November 2015

Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month (but sometimes more) feature where I talk about my favorite things from the last month.

Currently Obsessed With

(A Quick Note: This post is a re-post from a few days ago)

November was a busy month!  I did NaNoWriMo, which went well.  I also went to the Night Vale live show last month, and it was completely awesome!  It’s great listening to it, of course, but seeing it performed is even more awesome because you get to facial expressions and gestures and body language, and I can’t wait until the recording comes out so I can listen to it again.  Thanksgiving was fun, and it was nice to spend some time with my family.

November was a little weird, though.  I was sick the first week (and I was glad it was just a week, that was bad enough), and the time change really got to me this year.  I’d be completely exhausted by 7:30, and there were quite a few nights where I’d be in bed by 8:30/9 and mornings were just as bad.  I’d wake up at 4:30 and not be able to go back to sleep.  Sleep has been getting back to normal (sort of), so hopefully soon, I’ll be able to stay awake past 8:30.

Crochet:

I haven’t really been crocheting much.  I started some wrist warmers, and got almost done with one, but decided part of it looked weird, so I ripped it and did one row of a different pattern.  Honestly, my attention has been elsewhere, so crochet hasn’t been a focus.  Now that November’s over (and I’m done with NaNo) I should be crocheting at least a little more.

Books:

I bought Crochet Stitch Dictionary by Sarah Hazell, which I think will be really helpful!  It’s not the most comprehensive book, but it’s pretty detailed, with 200 stitches included.  I think it’ll be a good resource to have on my shelf.

Crochet Stitch Dictionary Cover

I’m still looking for a book that has granny square patterns, since I’ve decided to do 52 granny squares next year, but if I don’t, I feel like I’ve found more than enough on pinterest and ravelry.

T.V./Movies:

I saw Mockingjay Part 2!  I really liked it, and even though I get why people are disappointed, I thought it was pretty true to the book, and even the things that were changed, I didn’t really mind.  Then again, it’s not something that usually bothers me.  Splitting Mockingjay into 2 movies is weird, and it would have been fine as one movie. I know that’s the thing now, while it’s fine for some movies, it wasn’t the best idea with this one.

I’ve been watching season 5 of Pretty Little Liars, and re-watching this season of Once Upon A Time, and trying to keep up with my usual shows.  It’s been a little hard, though, when you’re trying to watch something and falling asleep during it, so I’ve been watching/re-watching stuff after it’s up on Hulu.  Hopefully I’ll be back to my normal sleep schedule once everything comes back next year.

Around The Internet:

Book Riot has some awesome posts: Breaking The Rules Of Reading, Defending Fan Fiction, Coming Back From An Off Year Of Reading and A List Of Bookish Podcast Recommendations.

I made brown butter carrots for Thanksgiving and they were amazing!

This is a great list of women authors of color.  I definitely need to check out a lot of these books.

I also need to make these Maple Walnut Blondies.

Seeing these bookplates make me want to buy some!

You can also check out everything cool I find over on my Around The Internet Pinterest board!  FYI: November was a really slow month, for some reason.  I saw some interesting things, but not a lot caught my attention.

Music:

I haven’t been listening to a lot of music, which is weird, because usually I listen to a lot of music during November.  I did want to share a couple of songs.

Hello by Adele.  I know it’s hard to escape this song, but I love it!

Break Up With Him by Old Dominion is another new favorite.

I can’t believe it’s December already!  This year has gone by really fast.  Happy December!

Currently Obsessed With: October 2015

Currently Obsessed With is a once-a-month feature but sometimes more feature where I talk about my favorite things from the last month.

Currently Obsessed With

It is November, which means NaNoWriMo has started!  I look forward to it every year, and I really am hoping to do at least one post about it.  I’m also going to the Night Vale live show tomorrow, and I am so excited about it! I also went to a Halloween party, and a midnight kick-off party for NaNoWriMo, and they were awesome!  I had a lot of fun, especially in my Cecil costume.

Crochet:

I crocheted things…and finished them!

Crochet- October 2015 Unicorn Hat

I made a unicorn hat, and I did have to slightly adjust the pattern- I did one less row for the hat, and I did half double crochet for the earflaps instead of single crochet.  I did the single crochet for one earflap, and thought it seemed too short, so I opted for something slightly taller.  I know the mane added some weight, and pulled it down a little, so I wonder if that’s why it was in single crochet.  But the earflaps I made are the perfect length, so I’m happy with how it worked out!

Crochet- October 2015 Headphone Hat

I also made a headphone hat, which was part of my Halloween costume, and let me tell you, it was so much easier (and cheaper!) to do than actually buying the headphones.  I considered making a microphone, but I knew that would have stressed me out, so I’m glad I didn’t make one.  Anyway, I also altered the hat a little bit- I added a row to the hat because I finished it, and it seemed a little too short, so I took out the ribbed part, added another row, and re-did the ribbed part of the hat.  Adding another row of that would have made it a little too tight.

I did learn the magic circle technique, and I can’t believe it took me so long to learn it!  I skipped over so many projects that featured it, and now I want to do all the projects that feature it.  It will make crocheting in the round so much easier.  I also learned how to do post stitches, which was hard at first, but it got easier!  The first row or two was hard, because I could never remember if I was doing a back post or front post stitch, but after that it was easier because I could actually see what stitch I was on.  I have a couple of things I want to do next, but they might have to wait until October.

Books:

I got the Night Vale book!!!!  I got it on audible, because it’s narrated by Cecil, and I can’t imagine reading a Night Vale book any other way.  But I am curious about reading a Night Vale book, so I may end up getting a copy of it. I bought a few e-books: H2O by Virginia Bergin (so I can read the ARC I have of the 2nd book), Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern, The Queen Of The Tearling and The Invasion Of The Tearling by Erika Johansen, and Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.

Books- October 2015

I also got More Happy Than Not by Adam Silva in hardcover- I totally meant to buy the e-book and did instant purchase not realizing that it was on hardcover, and spent a couple minutes trying to figure out why an e-book was $16 when I looked at my email and realized I bought the hardcover instead of the e-book.  But I kept the book because I’m going to read it anyway, and it made no sense to me to return it.

T.V./Movies:

I’ve watched a few episodes of Arrow, and I like it enough to at least watch the first season.  I’ve also been re-watching Doctor Who- I’ve watched the season with Capaldi, because it was just added to Netflix recently.  I still don’t like Clara, and I’m not sure how I feel about Capaldi yet.

And Walking Dead…until it’s confirmed, I don’t want to believe that IT has happened.  But I’m also trying to get ready for the fact that it may have happened, because it is possible.  It’s been a week, so I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, but I also know that there may be people who haven’t seen it yet, so I’m being really vague instead of doing a spoiler alert.

Around The Internet:

You can find all of the cool stuff I find on the internet over on Pinterest.  There are way too many cool things out there!

I went down The Nostalgia Machine rabbit hole.

I can totally relate to this post about finding new favorite books.

What Should I Read Next? is an interesting book recommendation generator thing.

Booklist Online has one of the most balanced posts about Twilight I’ve ever seen.  And I really like this post over at Book Riot about Twilight.

Music:

I heard this song on the Air Raid Podcast, and I just love it!  I can’t wait until the album comes out, but in the meantime, I’ll have to check out his EP’s.

Happy November!