Don't start!

I've been thinking of what kind of project to take with me on my cruise.  I really don't know that I'll actually do anything like that, but I like to be prepared.  I can't imagine an entire week of not hooking.  But I don't want to take up too much room in my luggage with yarn.  It gets a bit bulky, you know.

Then it hit me. 

I've been wanting to do this for a loooong time, but just haven't had a time when I didn't feel like there was something more pressing I wanted to do.

I don't have a really good picture to show you... even the project page on Ravelry was pretty barren until I checked it yesterday.  Here's the cover of the book the pattern comes from, which is a close up of what I want to do....

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I want to make this Overlay Mandala Pillow Cover.  It's made with embroidery thread, not yarn.  40 skeins (are they called skeins?) of embroidery thread.  Sounds like a lot, but it all fit in my hand. 

Yes, I went out and got everything I need for it today, minus the actual pillow it would go on.  And I felt really bad, picking out the thread..... the girl was trying to do inventory.  It felt like watching someone count and then yelling out random numbers to screw them up.  Hopefully since I only had to get 8 colors, she won't put up a picture of me with the caption "Shoot On Sight" in the break room at Hobby Lobby.

So, anyway... it'll take up less space than a skein of yarn, and it's a complicated pattern, so I don't think I could finish it in a matter of a few days. I think that's a winner.

Of course, now that I have everything to make it, I'm itching to get started.  Must. restrain. myself.  I have other things to do....

But, I  did go ahead and prepare myself a little bag.... separated the thread by color, wound two skeins per color onto bobbins... stuck my pattern and teeny tiny hook in there and we're ready to cruise!  Well, that is anyway.  It's a bit early to pack anything else. 

So that's what I'll be doing on the cruise, when I'm not reading or eating or taking 5000 photos or God knows what else....

I'll shut up about it now.  I'm really trying to not be annoying about it, and I do know how annoying hearing about it can be.... I work with some of the most cruising-est people I've ever known and I always wanted to punch them in the head for going on about it.  But it's just so exciting!!!