round one: complete

round one officially came to a close on monday. i got my prime scarf submitted just in time (it was a very long day)(also if you can't see the picture through the link, they are all on my facebook here).
so, i promised to tell you all about my prime scarf. well, it was almost entirely based on a delightfully fabulous conversation from big bang theory (w00t for Team Bazinga!).

Sheldon: What is the best number? By the way, there's only one correct answer.
Raj: 5,318,008?
Sheldon: Wrong! The best number is 73. [Short silence] You're probably wondering why.
Leonard & Howard: No no, we're good.
Sheldon: 73, is the 21st prime number, it's mirror 37 is the 12th and it's mirror 21 is the product of multiplying, hang on to your hats, 7 and 3. Did I lie?
Leonard: We did it! 73 is the... Chuck Norris of numbers!
Sheldon: Chuck Norris wishes! In binary, 73 is a palindrome, 1001001, which backwards is 1001001, exactly the same. All Chuck Norris gets you backwards is Sirron Kcuhc!
Raj: Just for the record, when you enter 5,318,008 in a calculator, upside down it spells BOOBIES!

so, now you have a frame of reference. the challenge in the intellectual category in round one was prime numbers. therefore, my prime scarf is 73 inches long, 37 stitches wide, has 7 stripes, and has 3 colors. each little clover-thingy has 3 leaves and the colors of the stripes are arranged to represent 73 in binary (purple green green purple green green purple).
not gonna lie, i'm rather proud of myself. there was some frustration when, on all three of the last stripes, i ran out of the color i was using with only an inch and a half left. it was beyond irritating to have to go out and get an entire new skein in each color for only the last tiny bits. it was especially lame on saturday when i ran out of the purple i used at 8pm. i thought, "okay, just run to walmart two minutes away and grab another." got to walmart. they were completely out of the shade i needed. awesome. so i tootled my way to michael's (across town) to try again. i get there and they don't even carry the shade i'm looking for. it is now 8:30pm. i start fervently praying that hobby lobby closes at 9pm instead of the suspected 8pm. i get there at 8:40pm to see the manager locking the door. sigh. at this point i've driven in a decently large circle that resulted in disappointment. then it finally occurs to me that there is, in fact, a second walmart that i have not tried. i scoot myself back over to it (it is right my michael's, lame, i know). they have ten skeins of the shade i need. so, after purchasing it, i complete circle number three and finally go home at 9pm. epic, i know.
there, now you have all the details (i know you were chomping at the bit in anticipation, it's okay).
i actually started planning for round two yesterday and i am beyond excited about my plans. new things to learn and try out! huzzah! once again, i'll have more details as i finish things. suffice it to say, if all goes the way i want it to, i'm going to have some seriously delightful things to share. :D
frustration has a way of sneaking up on me without my noticing until it has pounced and sucked out all of the pleasant thoughts i was having before its arrival. i know this about myself. so does God, i'm certain. while frustration has a tendency to push other away from us, it also brings us together in an odd way. we share our frustrations and bond over them, causing them to no longer be something nasty. they turn into a connection point. afterall, very few problems in this world are new (we tend to repeat history regularly). therefore, there is always someone that's been there and done that and gotten through it relatively unscathed that can help us through when it is our turn. while i don't think that God sends us into suffering for His own amusement, i know that He doesn't let anything at us that we simply cannot handle. granted, handling it alone isn't His plan. He's here for us, as are the people around us. He puts us in community for a reason. if we were meant to do it all alone, there wouldn't even be a "we." thank His goodness that "we" is where He wants us, so we can thrive.