- Two major commitments at a time should be my limit this year:
- 1) the MKAL I’m running [still in progress]
- 2)
my pet ferret'€™s health[done!] - 3) Working on next pattern
- Write at least 2 more patterns
- To try to use some of my current lovely yarns for my new pattern designs
- Spin enough of my stash to knit myself Awilda B.’s In Time and Space [starting combing]
- To start to sew together larger hexagons out of my itty bitty hexis for my the beekeeper’s quilt
- Continue to use up the excessive amount of acrylic yarn in my stash
- Make a stash of dishcloths out of my existing stash of dishcloth cotton [Current count is 4]
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Some 2016 Yarn-Related Goals
I posted some de-stash goals in a Ravelry group earlier this year. I'd been thinking about it more recently as I've been making progress on dishcloths. I have other yarn related goals as well so I figured I'd share my list with you all here. :)
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Is life going the way you thought it would?
A friend asked me a random question today. I felt moved to share my answer with all of you:
"Is life going the way you thought it would?"
I hadn't thought about it for quite a while but I immediately knew how to answer:
My life in general? Nope, not even close. I thought I would be working full time at some graphic design place, living middle class. Where am I actually? I'm a full time homemaker taking care of my special-needs kids, homeschooling my oldest while my husband works very hard at a job that covers our basic needs. Anything extra we have to work doubly hard at. Both of us have tiny businesses that we are trying to get going so we can improve our situation.
Have I been disappointed in my life? Many times yes, many times no.
What it comes down to is that God has a plan. I made my own wishful thinking as a kid: "What do *I* want to do when I grow up?" Instead I should have asked: "What does GOD want me to do?" Once I stopped fighting his vision for my life it got a lot easier. :)
Because this what me wants me to be: flexible, creative, a helper.
How can I be available to help people the way he wants me to if I'm busying working a 9-5 job?
He gives me the gift of learning. I can pick things up pretty quickly and learn entirely new skills. If I was well-off would I have practice being so resourceful?
As for helping; he gave me a heart to help others. Sure I get hurt a lot, but I also gain huge satisfaction and love by building relationships with others. smile emoticon
This is *my* journey that he has sent me on. Each of our journeys will be different. Your
walk will look very different than mine. They're supposed to! Embrace the plan the Holy Spirit is whispering to you and you may find rich satisfaction and joy in your own life.
"Is life going the way you thought it would?"
I hadn't thought about it for quite a while but I immediately knew how to answer:
My life in general? Nope, not even close. I thought I would be working full time at some graphic design place, living middle class. Where am I actually? I'm a full time homemaker taking care of my special-needs kids, homeschooling my oldest while my husband works very hard at a job that covers our basic needs. Anything extra we have to work doubly hard at. Both of us have tiny businesses that we are trying to get going so we can improve our situation.
Have I been disappointed in my life? Many times yes, many times no.
What it comes down to is that God has a plan. I made my own wishful thinking as a kid: "What do *I* want to do when I grow up?" Instead I should have asked: "What does GOD want me to do?" Once I stopped fighting his vision for my life it got a lot easier. :)
Because this what me wants me to be: flexible, creative, a helper.
How can I be available to help people the way he wants me to if I'm busying working a 9-5 job?
He gives me the gift of learning. I can pick things up pretty quickly and learn entirely new skills. If I was well-off would I have practice being so resourceful?
As for helping; he gave me a heart to help others. Sure I get hurt a lot, but I also gain huge satisfaction and love by building relationships with others. smile emoticon
This is *my* journey that he has sent me on. Each of our journeys will be different. Your
walk will look very different than mine. They're supposed to! Embrace the plan the Holy Spirit is whispering to you and you may find rich satisfaction and joy in your own life.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Sale!
Hello, everyone!
I'm in a generous mood (not rare) and feeling un-modest (very rare.). ;)
I know my designs are fun and enjoyable otherwise I wouldn't have bothered making them. lol I have a high standard for myself and have included ALL the goodies in these patterns, including how-to videos on all the techniques required.
I want you to be able to join in the fun, too! So to that end, I've made a code "LUCKYME" that will get you 25% off any/all of my patterns on Ravelry though St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.
(This won't get you a discount on Etsy, though, sorry.)
I am half way through the MKAL for Stitch & Story: The Case of the Missing Yarn. It is a mystery knit along like no other; there is an actual accompanying mystery story!
Sunday, March 6, 2016
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
October
November
December
January
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!
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! |
 |
| 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!
Saturday, February 6, 2016
It's "September" at last!
My last commitment from July/August 3015 is done! It was mailed out a few weeks ago, she received it and loved it! I can look up from my workload and focus on the here an now again. August 2015 is finally over and now I can look at the next page...
Ahh. Now I can breathe again.
Recap:
I committed to a intense-yet-fun workload of spinning work, swapping, and pattern writing,knowing that my time would be full but okay as long as I stuck to it every evening during my "me" time after the kids went to bed. Then my husband's work moved him to swing shift "though the month of August." Well, that made me pretty much a single parent over night, but it'll be just a few weeks, right? Wrong. It is February 2016 and he is still on swing shift, often with overtime having him work Saturdays.
His work schedule made it impossible for me to have any breaks, any solo trip to the store, any girl's night outs. My two oldest kids have special-needs and my youngest, well, being a preschooler is its own special set of special-needs. As my mom said, "I'm too pooped to poop." I would completely zone out during my "me" time and fall asleep early, or accidentally stay up too late subconsciously waiting for my husband to get home from work (at 1:30 a.m.) I was a walking zombie.
So those intense-yet-fun projects became an overwhelming smothering burden. I did find many moments of joy in my work, but they were all caffeine-laden. :)
How about I show you what I've been working on?
Tour de Fleece I blogged about heavily here. It was the last just-for-fun spinning that I'd done until this week. Here's what I spun:
The white yarn above was part of a SAPGAP (Spin a Pound Get a Pound) order. It's a heavenly merino/cormo cross wool... and my share is actually what I'm currently spinning this week! I spun these mostly in July 2015, with the last one being finished off at the beginning of August.
During this time I also did a wool spinning demo at the county fair. Since I still had this yarn I took it with me for a display of the yarn in stages.
Next, I did another SAPGAP trade, this time with a woman in Canada. This one is a pretty black & brown alpaca with blue/purple silk. :) They were rovings so it was pretty quick to spin. It was so quick that I spun my share at the same time and sent her the most consistent ones to sell in her shop. They were mailed by the end of August 2015. When I was spinning this is when I started my daily photo journal on Facebook / Instagram / Twitter.
Next I worked on a pattern that my husband requested. His very first thing he let me knit him. This led me to my first official test knit using the Ravelry group Free Pattern Testers.
Meanwhile , I was also hand processing my next SAPGAP trade with hand combs. This was a lovely California Red wool from a sheep named Violet. The grower specifically wanted to have fingering weight yarn so I did some test spinning to make sure I got the exact gauge and texture I was going for.
By the time this was all combed out it was nearing the end of August so I thought swing shift was coming to an end. So I didn't resist too hard when a tempting chance of spinning an art yarn from a Tunis fleece landed in my lap. Pretty soon that wool was on it's way to me.
I haven't even mentioned my travel projects. These big spinning projects aren't on-the-go after all. So I grabbed a hank of pretty wool my friend gave me and starting knitting some socks for myself. I deserved to be pampered just a little for doing all of this work, right? I was also reading a book for my book club with my mom and sister. None of us liked this particular one so I won't recommend it. It was a weak point in an otherwise classic series.
Also, the Knit 1 Geek 2 podcast started the crafting swap that I'd been waiting on pins and needles to start. My spoilee was *tons* of fun to spoil (and my spoiler did a *fantastic* job!). However, my mad-artist muse and OCD demanded that I had to write up this extremely detailed pattern-including-a-story. I started swatching for the consistent element throughout the scarf.
It's coming to the end of August 2015 ...and then I got buried under the pile of constant, overwhelming work.
My goodness! I'm already tiring myself out by remembering all the layers I had juggling in the air all at once. I didn't even mention that I had all 3 kids at home and trying to keep them entertained and out of trouble! Whew. I'm going to take a break and will continue writing about the saga tomorrow!
TTFN.
Ahh. Now I can breathe again.
Recap:
I committed to a intense-yet-fun workload of spinning work, swapping, and pattern writing,knowing that my time would be full but okay as long as I stuck to it every evening during my "me" time after the kids went to bed. Then my husband's work moved him to swing shift "though the month of August." Well, that made me pretty much a single parent over night, but it'll be just a few weeks, right? Wrong. It is February 2016 and he is still on swing shift, often with overtime having him work Saturdays.
His work schedule made it impossible for me to have any breaks, any solo trip to the store, any girl's night outs. My two oldest kids have special-needs and my youngest, well, being a preschooler is its own special set of special-needs. As my mom said, "I'm too pooped to poop." I would completely zone out during my "me" time and fall asleep early, or accidentally stay up too late subconsciously waiting for my husband to get home from work (at 1:30 a.m.) I was a walking zombie.
So those intense-yet-fun projects became an overwhelming smothering burden. I did find many moments of joy in my work, but they were all caffeine-laden. :)
How about I show you what I've been working on?
Tour de Fleece I blogged about heavily here. It was the last just-for-fun spinning that I'd done until this week. Here's what I spun:
The white yarn above was part of a SAPGAP (Spin a Pound Get a Pound) order. It's a heavenly merino/cormo cross wool... and my share is actually what I'm currently spinning this week! I spun these mostly in July 2015, with the last one being finished off at the beginning of August.
During this time I also did a wool spinning demo at the county fair. Since I still had this yarn I took it with me for a display of the yarn in stages.
Next, I did another SAPGAP trade, this time with a woman in Canada. This one is a pretty black & brown alpaca with blue/purple silk. :) They were rovings so it was pretty quick to spin. It was so quick that I spun my share at the same time and sent her the most consistent ones to sell in her shop. They were mailed by the end of August 2015. When I was spinning this is when I started my daily photo journal on Facebook / Instagram / Twitter.
Next I worked on a pattern that my husband requested. His very first thing he let me knit him. This led me to my first official test knit using the Ravelry group Free Pattern Testers.
Meanwhile , I was also hand processing my next SAPGAP trade with hand combs. This was a lovely California Red wool from a sheep named Violet. The grower specifically wanted to have fingering weight yarn so I did some test spinning to make sure I got the exact gauge and texture I was going for.
By the time this was all combed out it was nearing the end of August so I thought swing shift was coming to an end. So I didn't resist too hard when a tempting chance of spinning an art yarn from a Tunis fleece landed in my lap. Pretty soon that wool was on it's way to me.
I haven't even mentioned my travel projects. These big spinning projects aren't on-the-go after all. So I grabbed a hank of pretty wool my friend gave me and starting knitting some socks for myself. I deserved to be pampered just a little for doing all of this work, right? I was also reading a book for my book club with my mom and sister. None of us liked this particular one so I won't recommend it. It was a weak point in an otherwise classic series.
Also, the Knit 1 Geek 2 podcast started the crafting swap that I'd been waiting on pins and needles to start. My spoilee was *tons* of fun to spoil (and my spoiler did a *fantastic* job!). However, my mad-artist muse and OCD demanded that I had to write up this extremely detailed pattern-including-a-story. I started swatching for the consistent element throughout the scarf.
It's coming to the end of August 2015 ...and then I got buried under the pile of constant, overwhelming work.
My goodness! I'm already tiring myself out by remembering all the layers I had juggling in the air all at once. I didn't even mention that I had all 3 kids at home and trying to keep them entertained and out of trouble! Whew. I'm going to take a break and will continue writing about the saga tomorrow!
TTFN.
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