PROGRESS
So how long will this take? Back in 2001, I completed a large latch hook (~9600 strands) which took me about one year to finish. There were times, however, where it just sat for weeks without me touching it. Assuming I have the same work ethic as before, it should take me about 6 years to finish, right? Being that there are large chunks of black where I can mindlessly work, those sections should go much faster, as I won't have to check the pattern over and over. I estimate that the entire project should take no more than 4 years. (sigh). Holy crap, I just realized that I'll be 30 before this is over. This also assumes that my level of general busyness doesn't increase over this time. "Sorry ladies, I'm not getting married until my latch hook is finished."

Here are the pics, showing the progress as time passes. The plan is to take a picture near the beginning of each month. Based on rows completed, I can calculate percentage complete and make a graph, which I can use to extrapolate when this'll be finished... (ok, I'm not quite THAT bored - yet). Anyway, the first number (in bold) is the amount completed since the last picture. The second number is the total percentage complete.

06-05-05 2.46% (2.46%)
07-06-05 2.90% (5.36%)
08-06-05 2.90% (8.26%)
09-01-05 8.03% (16.29%)
10-01-05 7.15% (23.44%)
11-01-05 (full) 3.47% (26.91%)
12-01-05 (full) 5.53% (32.26%)

01-01-06 (full) 10.20% (42.46%)
02-01-06 (full) 2.05% (44.51%)
03-01-06 (full) 4.59% (49.10%*)
04-01-06 (full) 0.90% (50.00%*)
05-01-06 (full) 2.95% (52.95%*)
06-01-06 (full) 2.45% (55.38%*)
07-01-06 (full) 3.55% (58.93%*)
08-01-06 (full) 4.29% (63.22%*)
09-01-06 (full) 1.58% (64.80%*)
10-01-06 (full) 3.53% (68.33%*)
11-01-06 (full) 1.37% (69.70%*)
12-01-06 (full) 1.42% (71.12%*)

01-01-07 (full) 1.36% (72.48%*)
02-01-07 (full) 2.52% (75.00%*)
03-01-07 (full) 0.85% (75.85%*)
04-01-07 (full) 1.39% (77.24%*)
05-01-07 (full) 0.78% (78.02%*)
06-01-07 (full) 0.49% (78.51%*)
07-01-07 (full) 1.27% (79.78%*)
08-01-07 (full) 1.44% (81.22%*)
09-01-07 (full) 0.48% (81.70%*)
10-01-07 (full) 0.51% (82.21%*)
11-01-07 (full) 0.30% (82.51%*)
12-01-07 (full) 0.13% (82.67%*)

01-01-08 (full) 0.43% (83.10%*)
02-01-08 (full) 1.53% (84.63%*)
03-01-08 (full) 0.80% (85.43%*)
04-01-08 (full) 0.73% (86.16%*)
05-01-08 (full) 0.64% (86.80%*)
06-01-08 (full) 0.83% (87.63%*)
07-01-08 (full) 0.89% (88.52%*)
08-01-08 (full) 0.77% (89.29%*)
09-01-08 (full) 1.01% (90.30%*)
10-01-08 (full) 0.35% (90.65%*)
11-01-08 (full) 0.99% (91.64%*)
12-01-08 (full) 0.38% (92.02%*)

01-01-09 (full) 0.54% (92.56%*)
02-01-09 (full) 0.33% (92.89%*)
03-01-09 (full) 0.24% (93.13%*)
04-01-09 (full) 0.86% (93.99%*)
05-01-09 (full) 0.72% (94.71%*)
06-01-09 (full) 1.02% (95.73%*)
07-01-09 (full) 1.09% (96.82%*)
08-01-09 (full) 0.89% (97.71%*)
09-01-09 (full) 2.29% (100.00%*)

*still need to go back and rework the old grey...

updates / news
01/01/09 - Another happy new year... although I think it'll actually be done this year

09/01/08 - finished off all the brown, purple, and orange sections this month. I needed more black so I ordered a bunch and some other random colors. I have started making new patterns from sprites. I started small and made a shyguy.

08/01/08 - slowly getting there... Looking at my stash of black yarn, it looks like I'm going to run short. I'm not sure how that happened...

03/01/08 - Par for the course, no?

02/01/08 - It's been a year since I got this much done! It's kinda sorry to get excited about 1.53%, but hey, I'll take it!

01/01/08 - Wow. This is the third "happy new year!" update... I guess that means another year of dissapointing updates... looks like I only got 11% done in 2007. Dang.

12/01/07 - Oh yeah... 0.13%. At this rate, I'll be done sometime in 2019.

11/01/07 - Holy crap... maybe I screwed up the math? I could've sworn I had two or three good nights' worth...

10/01/07 - I had one or two good days... other than that it just sat around...

09/01/07 - Another record for worst month! Yay!

08/01/07 - Finally broke 80%... It seems like there's a good chance I WILL be 30 by the time this is finished (unless I can finish before May of next year)

07/01/07 - Better this month... The latest batch of black yarn is cut differently, so the ends of each strand have a slightly different look to them. It's annoying, but I'm not going to do anything about it. I still have high hopes of updating the grey eventually.

06/01/07 - Another record-setting month... (the bad kind). I even promised myself I'd never go below the 0.5% mark. Although I did make that promise mid-month, so it doesn't really count.

05/01/07 - Worst month ever. Yay!

04/01/07 - Slightly better this month. I've already started working on a MUCH smaller scale project, which is just one sprite from a famous NES game. There's a new color I need, so I'll get it the next time I order yarn. In other news, I'm pretty sick of working on this. I think it's the combination of knowing I have to re-do all that grey, and also not having the slightest idea of how to combine the quadrants after that... (sigh)

03/01/07 - Only 0.85% this month... oh well...

02/01/07 - Got quadrant 3 done... one more to go! Of course this one will take the longest...

01/01/07 - Happy New Year! Not a whole lot done this month, but I did manage to get my final installment of yarn, so I'm totally done with that. I'd like to at least get the last 2.52% of this 3rd quadrant done this month. We'll see how that goes...

12/01/06 - Hey, an improvement from last month, AND I spent 53+ hours playing Final Fantasy XII. Booyah. I also placed the last order for yarn. I had to go to a completely new source for the light and dark teal, and they managed to biff my order. So, I'm still trying to get those colors, as I think I'll need them before I can finish the third quadrant.

11/01/06 - Well, at least I got 1% done... I don't have high hopes for the coming month, as Final Fantasy XII made its way into my PS2.

10/01/06 - Started working on the teal... the weird yarn I bought from England is acutally working out. I have to strip the individual strands, since they're so thick, but it looks decent enough. Now I just have to remember to order more, since I only bought the one pack.

09/01/06 - I guess retiring the red was really the accomplishment of the month. I'm starting to wonder if this will actually be done by the time I'm thirty...

08/07/06 - I managed to retire the red and flesh colors tonight by working out of my way.

08/01/06 - Decent work this month. I was hoping to retire the red, but I should get there next month. Then the fun with teal begins.

07/01/06 - I had to check the math twice - I thought I had done at least 5% this month, based on the amount of time I put into it. I guess having the table moved out of the way for DDR makes it harder to remember to work on it...

06/01/06 - Another slow month, but progress is progress, right? I at least wanted to get the first fighter complete. Yay. However, in this month's "full" picture, you can slightly see the grey/silver differences between the first two quadrants. I still don't know if I have the patience to undo all those silver strands and re-do them... Ug.

05/01/06 - being able to work on the table again has made it more appealing to continue on this project. However, I was expecting to get a bit more than 2.95% this month. Oh well...

04/01/06 - 50%! I discovered that the whole "attaching the two sides together thing" was really not worth it. I had to sit on the floor and work in it, which was uncomfortable. I'm looking forward to working on the table again. The plan is still to go back and rework all the grey, but not right now. I still haven't received the grey that's backordered...

03/01/06 - I have to admit the mid-month grey disaster has set me back... I haven't really touched it since then. I happened to order some more grey, white, and black, only to find out that the grey is on backorder AGAIN. However, I did get the last of the canvas sections, so at least I'm done there.

02/15/06 - I completed the top row of the second quadrant tonight. I then lined up the two quadrants in order to begin the "double latch through connecting" experiment, to see if I could latch through two canvases, looking seemless when done. I picked a section where there was black, grey/white, and the "M" from "DMG", and would then decide if the overlap theory worked. I also latched a few random black strands just to hold the whole thing in place. After I placed the first grey, I noticed that the one next to it (from the 1st quadrant) was one of the pesky silver strands. Thinking, "weird, I guess I'll have to replace that one", until I noticed that the ENTIRE first quadrant was done using the weird silver. I can only assume that when the store ran out of grey (remember that?), the new grey they got from their source was a new "batch". After staring in space for 5 minutes, I decided to continue on with the overlap experiment. Based on the results, I believe the plan will work. I'll go back and replace all the greys once I've finished the "Death Star Trench".

02/08/06 - I managed to work out of my way to retire the blue yarn tonight! The next color to retire will be red, but not until I'm done with the fighters. I also played with the weird middle teal yarn I bought from England. I was able to unwind a strand into two thinner strands, and then re-twist them so they looked normal. Now I just need to order the rest of the teal packs, and I'll be good to go. I also took this shot, in case anyone was curious as to how I have my work area setup.

02/01/06 - So yeah... I've followed up my best month ever with my worst month ever. I think most of my fabulous 2.05% was done in the past few days, as I was feeling bad about not getting anything done this month. It's possible my push at the end of Decemeber burned me out a bit. On the brighter side, I think I'm past the most boring part of the project. Anyway, at this rate I won't reach 50% complete for another few months.

01/01/06 - Happy new year and such... so I was able to meet my 10% goal, but I spent about 5 hours on it the past three days. It turns out I didn't really give myself the free time to sit around and latch hook all week while I was not working. I'm getting excited about getting closer to the first of the four characters. This lower-right quadrant is definately very boring. As I get closer to 50%, I realize that I still have to find that middle teal color...

12/15/05 - More black yarn arrives... I actually ordered it from the place that gave me so much trouble with the grey. I know, I had already written them off, but I thought I'd give them another try. They came through with a quick shipment - I wonder if they felt bad. Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to try to get 10% done this month... It's not going to be easy, though. I've also discovered that the grey packs of yarn have some rogue strands of silver in them. I tried taking a picture of "grey vs. silver", but they look so similar in the picture, it wasn't worth posting. However, it is obvious when you look at them. Just another thing I need to be wary of. I also changed the look of the website a little (can you tell?)

12/01/05 - Looking at this month's pictures, I realize this thing will be bigger than my bed. Snaps. I'll be able to get a good chunk done near the end of the month when I'm off work. Also, I found it hard to believe that I only managed to get 3% done this month, so I went back and found that I had miscalculated November's percentage. More Snaps. So I corrected it from 29.91% to 26.39%, which means I got about 5.5% done this month. Not bad considering the whole grey snafu. Since I'm running numbers anyway, I decided to start tracking how much I complete in a given month. I wonder if I'm up to the challenege of completing 10% in one month...

11/15/05 - The grey yarn finally arrived yesterday, so I was able to continue work! I also received a shipment today from a third online store, which is actually based in England. Oddly enough, even with shipping and the currency exchange, it was still cheaper than most places I've seen. I was able to find the middle teal color, but the yarn itself is much thicker than all the other yarn I've gotten so far. I was able to unwravel a strand to make it smaller, so I might be able to use it. I'm done messing with teal for now - it's time to get back on track!

11/01/05 - I called again today about my backordered grey. They were basically clueless about my order, so I'm taking my business elsewhere. Take a look at the November 1st pic to see the "avoidance" I've had to do to continue work. On a positive note, the new website I found had some some tealish colors, so I may end up being able to use those, instead of the skeins I bought in September. I've also decided to leave the first 6 columns of this second quadrant empty, so I can try latching the two sides together later.

10/17/05 - more yarn arrives... blue, red and fleshy. Here is my current collection of yarn. Painfully missing is grey, which is still on backorder. I'm having to work around the grey lines just to continue progress, but the longer I go without grey, the more annoying it'll be to go back and do it later.

10/09/05 - 1/4th (25%) complete! I've decided to work on the lower-right section next, leaving the most time-consuming section for last (upper-left)

09/26/05 - discovered the teal colors I need for the towers are not available in the packs I buy, so I had to buy skeins of yarn, and try to match the colors as best as possible. I'm not looking forward to cutting all that yarn...

09/17/05 - first color used!

08/17/05 - 1/8th (12.5%) complete!

08/06/05 - started tracking percentage complete (see pictures)

07/25/05 - web page created!

06/23/05 - 2nd quadrant of canvas arrives, plus more white, grey, and black yarn

05/25/05 - I've found that the length of each strand of yarn varies quite a bit, so I've had to separate strands that are too long. Some are over twice the length of a standard piece. I can only assume they were supposed to be separated at some point. This filtering and self-trimming adds time to the process...

05/15/05 - first shipment of canvas and yarn arrives! Time to get to work!

04/26/05 - costs determined (sigh) and eye pain sessions begin.

04/23/05 - initial thought pops into my head.