Cleansing the Confused (Beetle)

I apologize for not writing on Thursday this week. I've been fighting a bout if depression and was having a rough day.  More on that later.

Last Thursday night I sewed together Thomas' birthday gift - a blizzard fleece blanket. He had picked out the fabrics he wanted but didn't know I'd bought them.

First I looked up the size of a twin bed blanket.  It is suggested to be 66" x 90".  Two and a half yards is 90".  The blizzard fleece is only 60" wide, but it is close enough for the way that Thomas sleeps.  If it is a problem I'll add some sort of boarder later.   So with coupons in hand I went to the store (at two different times) and picked up the fabric.

Are you blind yet?  Yes, Thomas' favorite color is highlighter pink.  For my own personal safety I

Is September Over Yet?

You know it's been a busy week when you have to look back at your own Instagram feed to remember what you've done for the last seven days! lol  Not every week is this overwhelmingly full, but for now you get to enjoy all the juicy details!

15th Thursday

After I finished writing my blog last week I started working on my mending basket.  My husband needed one of his belt loops reattached.  I did this by cutting a small scrap of denim from the stash and pinning it to the inside of the jeans.  I then used matching blue thread and sewed over the hole, using a denim needle in my machine, in multiple directions to create a new bit of secure fabric.  I then trimmed the excess of the patch, then VERY slowly sewed the belt loop down.  About half the time I was manually walking the foot to make sure it wouldn't break.

After that I fixed my daughter's leggings.  She wore a hold in the knee of one pair and experimented with scissors on another pair.  I happened to keep the bottom part of another pair of leggings that I cut off at the knee.  I cut out cute shapes and attached them with fabric spray adhesive before sewing them on.  The patches on the knees I had to sew by hand as they were too tiny of tubes to fit around my machine.

I also started cutting the drapes for Blur's bed.  I planned on just making a tube at 1 end and running

This Week

It has been a long couple of weeks for me.

I am working on setting up a new schedule.  Thomas started school last week and Anna started preschool this week.  Blur is still having sleep issues.  Since my husband works swing shift I'm the only parent two of my kids see M-F; I have to make it all work somehow and still get my work done.

My big project right now is trying to solve Blur's sleep problems.  I've been selling our old

Catching Up to Date

In my last blog post I was talking about all the crazy things I had going on last year that overwhelmed me.  I left off at the end of August just as I was being buried alive in projects...

I have always loved September.  For me it represents so many new beginnings;  the first day of school, my birthday, it is even Jewish New Year though I've not particular celebrated it that way.  September 2015 was all about just getting through the next step, one little bit of progress over the mountain path, carefully as to not cause an avalanche.

Here's what I worked on month-by month:

September

Searched through lots of pattern books for ideas for my design

Hand knitted socks for my sister

Used Jamberry nail wraps to quit biting my nails

Started knitting socks for my daughter

Started spinning this SAPGAP yarn order

October

Working out pattern details

Finished my daughter's socks

Wrote, tested and published this hat pattern

Started socks for my son

Hand spun and mailed out all this yarn

November

Sewed box bags for a fiber festival

Sewed a special order bag and an new cube-sized bag

Hand spun and hand dyed this yarn

Hand knit this adorable dragon

Started a fund-raiser for my ferret's surgry

Finished writing the pattern, and got it test knit

Sent off my Geek-Swap package

December

Make custom-order slippers

Dyed wool

Sewed more bags

Sewed a different style bag

Designed new fiber graphics

Hand-combed LOTS of wool

Learned a new style of art-yarn

Dyed this wool

Went on vacation to visit my family!

January

Designed something I haven't revealed yet

Hand knit a skirt for my daughter

Made a custom order of two hats

Finished this SAPGAP art-yarn order

Finally finished my son's socks

Got my ferret her life-saving surgery

Started an MKAL for my latest pattern

Whew!  All that was tiring!  That gets us all caught up!  My husband is still on swing shift so I am still 99% a single parent.  However I am going to be careful as to not overload myself to *that* point again.  I am enjoying my freedom of sitting and enjoying an evening of MY choice instead of trying to keep up with that frantic pace.  I still have a lot to get done, but at a much more reasonable pace. :D  I have lots of exciting things to share with you!

Beginning

I'm starting a new blog to show what I'm doing at Rachel's Cozy Knits & Designs.  I love what I am crafting and I hope you do, too!

I do have a problem with OCD which can make my knitting amazing but caused problems with blogging in the past.  I'd spend way too much time editing every post and I couldn't keep it up.  This time I'm going to try to let it go and blog with a more raw style.  Little to no editing.  So my apologies up front if I come off like I'm babbling!  I'll try to K.I.S.S.

My latest project has been to create these box bags for projects.  I really like them as do my friends. :)  I have four sizes:

Small - notions / tatting
medium - small project
large - good size project or a small spindle
extra large - good size spindle and fiber

They are for sale at Black Sheep at Orenco.  I'll also be posting them in my online shop shortly.

These are a couple of the extra-large bags.  They are lined with complementary fabric.  I'll post more pictures soon.