January Starts and Goals

So, here we are in January of 2018.  So much has happened in such a short amount of time!  Kelly and Jim were married in September.  They seem to be very happy with their three boys, Val, Jacen, and Abraham.  Baylor and Ashley got married yesterday, January 26.  It was a lovely little courthouse wedding, but I believe there were more people there than Ashley expected.  Our family was represented by Steve, Jay, Nat, Vern, Angie and I.  Her family was represented by Becky and Ron (her mom and dad) and her mom's parents.   We went to Red Lobster for lunch, then later to Mele's for a more inclusive reception.  It was very nice, but you could tell Harper and Ashley were both very tired by 8. So I guess I get to start the New Year with a Son In Law and a Daughter In Law.  Not too surprising, but wonderful.  Here is a photo of Baylor and Ashley:

And one of Kelly and Jim:

Well, this week I have received a lot of goodies in the mail.  I received this book in the mail.  I am really into Hygge lately and want to learn more about it.  

Also, the Multicultural Book Club is preparing for it's second book.  This time, it's a book from an African author.  I am not sure which one I want to read, but I will make a decision this weekend.

Stash Aquisition

I also received several yarns this week.  Since one collection is a gift, I will show you what I can.  Last Christmas, Ethan gave me a gift certificate from Backyard Fiberworks.  It took me a year to decide what I wanted to do with that gift.  This week, I finally figured it out.  The Stonington Socks 2018 group are making a pair of socks called No. 5 Union Street.  They are so pretty and fun!  Check it out:

So I purchased these colors to make a pair or two.  Ethan likes it and so do I, so maybe a pair for both of us.  There should be enough to make two pair with extra left over.  EEEHHHHH!!!!

 
  

WIPs

I've been busy working on so many projects and, in reviewing what I have in my Island of Unloved Projects, I have found so many items I really want to complete, but tossed aside for the next 'bright shiny project".  I am not going to give up starting new items, but need to complete a few items that I have on the needles.  

This weekend, I am making a few dishcloths.  I want to make 52 or so this year.  They make great gifts, everyone can use one or two and I have a ton of cotton I would love to use up.  I could probably make dishcloths for years and not use up all the cotton I have!

I am working  on a pair of socks for Box of Socks 2018.  These are the Hedgerow Socks in Seawall Fibres Laguna Agate.  It's a beautiful soft sock yarn.  The Box of Socks socks needs to be a fingering weight sock.  The idea is to knit a pair a month.  I am just over halfway completed with this pair.  I am really enjoying making them.  

Additionally, I am working on a pair of bulky weight slippers.  They are difficult to make because after using fingering weight yarn, the bulky yarn is like using rope.  I had a difficult time with the pattern, but now that I know how to read it,  it's a lot easier.

 

Finally, my LunchTime WIP is a pair of camp socks I started in 2016.  They are out of Cascade Heritage 150 Paints in sport weight.  I started them right after a trip to Lewisburg WV and got the yarn from Country Road Yarn House.  It's nice yarn to work with, but so PINK!!!  I finally decided the thing to do is to add white heels and toes to make this pair more palatable.  I think it will help a lot. 

The LunchTime WIPs are the WIPs I started prior to 2018.  I am using the ones that are in the Yarn Vault or the Room of Creativity.  This is the second I am working on since January 1. I am working on WIPs all this year during my lunch hours.  It's a good way to get a lot of these projects completed as it is 40 minutes about 4 days a week.  The first was Jacen's OSU Cardigan, which is completed and given to Kelly.  Which takes me to...

Finished Items!! 

As I said, I completed the OSU Cardigan for Jacen.  It came out lovely and is completely washable and dryable.  Perfect for a little boy to wear.  Pattern is the Lennix Cardigan and for the cost of the pattern, you get sizes 2 month to 12 years in 3 different yarn weights - worsted, DK and sport.  This one is made of Hobby Lobby Sport in Toy Elephant, Black and Cherry. 

 

I also completed a cowl.  It's the Obverse Cowl.  It is made of some stash yarn I bought at the Wool Gathering.  It is Queensland Rustic Tweed in Charcoal.  I still have enough of this yarn to make another, if I chose to, and may do it after the first of the month.  Here is the finished item, though:

Plans for future projects in February

As I said earlier, I would love to do the No. 5 Union Street Socks next month.  They will go in my Box of Socks.  I need to decide if I am going to make these or another pair of socks.  That's why I am making dishcloths this weekend.   Sometimes it's good to make something simple to clear your mind and make you feel accomplished.

I am hosting the Cold Hands Warm Heart KAL on Ravelry's Knitting for Boys group.  It's a chance to make some warm accessories for our wee ones.  I want to make the Yukon Blast hat for Val, maybe one for Ethan as well.  Val's would be acrylic or wool blend so it's easy to care for.  I am also going to participate in the Ravellenics.  Hard to believe it was about 10 years ago I heard about this idea through the Yarn Harlot!  I am hoping to participate in WIP Dancing, Ariel Unwind (frogging), Hat  Halfpipe, Sock Hockey, and Cowl Curling.  I know that sounds like a lot, but I believe it is doable.  

So that's all the news I have for this week.  I think that I will try to continue writing this blog weekly t get my goals and thoughts down so I know more of which direction I want my crafting to go.  I don't see me doing a podcast, but this... this I can do. 

It's time to party... and by party, I mean knit! Or crochet!

I've set this blog aside for almost three years.  A lot has happened, but we will get in to that later.  For today, I want to invite my fiber friends to join a fun event.

I love independent workers, people who are entrepreneurs.  Not surprising because I have been surrounded by them all my life.  My father, my husband, my son, cousins and friends.  It seems like many people in my life are working on their own, full or part time.  We've never been without jobs because we would create our own.

But this is an opportunity to enjoy those who design.  So fire up your needles and hooks, organize your independently dyed yarns and get ready for the Independent Designers Gift Along! 

So what is this thing I speak of?  Well, are you on Ravelry?  If not, and if you are or want to work with fibers, you should be.  It's free (best price ever!) and a great way to expand your skills, learn new skills, meet people who have similar experiences and enjoy knowing you are not the only one who has 10 totes of yarn and more needles than your family would ever know about. 

Anyways, once you are in Ravelry, search for the Indie Design Gift-A-Long and join the group.  Don't be overwhelmed by the enormous amount of posts per day.  Don't try to catch up, just read the last few pages and jump in.  Luckily Ravelry will let you know when someone replies to your posts.  And you WILL get replies. People who understand why you needed 6 skeins of yummy fingering weight despite your 150 skeins at home.  People who will share recipes, ask for photos of your dogs, want to see what you are working on, people who will give you validation as only another fiber artist can do.  It's glorious!

But what is more glorious is that on November  21 at 8 PM EST, the REAL fun starts.  Many independent designers who want nothing more than the opportunity to allow you to enjoy a great pattern written by an individual with a unique vision will offer some of their patterns at a discount.  A Discount, people!!  Hundreds of patterns available to you at a low cost.  The patterns I have acquired in my three years on this group is mind boggling.  There are designers I follow and I feel I know who they are.  I've seen their designs, talked about their families, compared other designers we like, talked about dyers we liked.  Because these designers don't just offer their wares and disappear.  Oh, no.  They are part of the group!


 



Another reason to be part of the group is the games, the prizes, the friendships.  Wait, did I say PRIZES!! Yes, yes I did.  There are games and competitions.  There are opportunities to win goodies.  You not only get the opportunity to buy great patterns at a discount, knit or crochet a WONDERFUL gift for a friend, family member, or yourself AND win prizes.

So how do you win said prizes?  Once you join the IDGAL (the acronym), buy your pattern, and get started, stay with the group.  Start your project.  Join the group that best describes your item.  Enjoy hearing what others are doing and perhaps you will find someone who is making the same pattern.  It's always more fun to  have someone join you.  

Will I see you there?  I hope so. I'll be there with my needles at the ready!   I'll be discussing this GAL as it gets started.  It will be fun!

A new start

Well, last year was a total bust as far as writing goes.  I was way to involved in the real world to be part of the digital world.  Here are some of the highlights of 2014:

• Last spring I took two classes instead of one.  One of the classes was Ornithology.  It was a great time and we went on 6 field trips. The other was Pilgrimages.  I added 3 places I'd like to visit to my bucket list.
• Kelly had a baby boy!  Valerian joined our family in the spring.  He is a little sweetie.
• Ethan and Baylor graduated from college.  I can't believe both my boys graduated the same week.  It was a very exciting week.
• I went to South Carolina for a week of enjoying time with my sister, Laura.  My niece graduated high school so we (Lou and I) went to South Carolina for the party and  spent the rest of the week on the beach. 
• Our 4H club got third place with our booth.  In my tenure as an advisor, we've never placed!  This year, we placed 3rd.
• I got a lot of knitting done this year - knitting up about 15 completed projects.

Now looking forward to the goals for 2015.  I am a part of two challenges to (hopefully) get my numbers down.  One is a Stashdown project.  What is Stashdown?  It is buying less yarn than you use during the year.  Hopefully, but the end of the year, I'll have a negative change in my stash numbers.  I am starting out pretty well - using up (and staging some) several projects from stash.

The other is a WIP reduction challenge.  A WIP is a Work In Progress.  I am down to 10.  I cleaned up my stash and frogged 12 projects I will probably never finish.  I can repurpose the yarn to some other project that interests me. I haven't started any yet, but plan on choosing one on February 1.

I am also hoping to do some other crafting this year.  I hope its a good one.  I'll be posting photos of the items I complete.

A week goes by...

and life continues.  I have a lot going on at work.  Way too much. There is so much that needs caught up that I am not sure if it will happen.  I haven't done a lot of demographics in about 5 weeks and just because we are closed, doesn't mean people don't move, give birth, get married, etc.

Ethan will be leaving for school this weekend.  It was a nightmare, as he needed to have several THOUSAND dollars to go back because his Fall semester bill wasn't paid.  It would have been so much easier if we (Ethan and I) knew about it before Monday, but Steve didn't say anything until Monday. Oh, well, we have a small fix that will buy us some time.

So on to goals for the year.  None are really accomplished yet, but I have plans.  I was going to do a down and dirty cleaning in the living room last weekend, but got sucked into a project for Steve.  He has a 15 passenger van and wanted to build a bench to go between the front two seats.  He built it, but wanted a cushioned cover over it.  I was in charge of that part- and it HAD to be completed last weekend.  I spent most of Saturday designing one out of old blue jeans.  It came out pretty good, but it wasn't my plan for the day. 

What I have accomplished is some knitting.  I got one slipper done, one to go.  It will be glorious when it is felted.  I am working on the second one now.  I am also working on the Age of Brass and Steam shawl in Lion Brand Amazing.  It is a great set of colors- bright blues, oranges, fuschias.  It's so much fun to knit that I don't mind the miles of stockinette stitch. 

I am still reading The Book Thief and it is very good.  I almost have a hard time putting it down, it's so good.  I highly recommend it. 

Classes start on Monday and I am happy/scared/ excited all at the same time.  As I said, Ethan goes back to school over the weekend.  Baylor heads out for Tucson next week.  It will be me and the dogs again.  I'll miss my boys, but they are on the downhill slide of finishing school.  I hope it all goes well.

New starts and snowy days

So, here we are at a new year.  I love new starts - the opportunity to think about what you would change in your life.  If you could change anything about yourself, what would you choose?  To lose weight?  Organize? Purge? Quit procrastinating?  All of the above?  That is what I want to do.  I also want to be more grateful for all the things in my life.  One of my goals is to be grateful and try to seek out the good in life.

I am a naturally upbeat person.  Many think it's because I am uninformed, maybe even a bit daft.  Its just the way I am wired.  I could look at life and see things that are negative, but I chose not to - to look at the way things could be and the bright side of the event.  Oh, sure, I have times that I get down, overloaded, all too sad, but I don't stay there long.

Here are my two grateful things so far:

January 1
I am grateful for my friends that I can go and play with for an evening.  They got me out of the house yesterday before a snow storm and allowed me to enjoy some time without my family.  I love my family dearly, but just needed a break.

January 2
I am grateful for snow.  I love snow, even when it causes travel issues.  There is something very exciting about snowy weather.  The chance for a snow day always hides in the back of my mind.  I don't get them very often any more, but I still can dream.  Even when you are at work, there is a change in the air on a snowy day.  You feel like you live in a snow globe.

Knitting goal:
As always, I have goals for knitting.  This month I am finishing my Christmas gifts, hopefully before the 7th.  I am also working on the Age of Steam and Brass shawl.  It's an easy shawl so I am doing it in bright colors. I need to finish a WIP, but that remains to be seen.

Household goal:
I need to finish cleaning the living room this weekend.  Maybe even get the tree and some other decorations taken down.  I think I'll get another tote or two to be sure I have good ones for the Christmas stuff.  Maybe do some moving around - move yarn out of clear totes into colored ones, move Christmas stuff into clear totes.  I don't have much up that needs taken down, but do have a few things that need completed.

I would say that takes care of at least three areas of my life for my resolutions.  I need to look for text  books and see if renting would be cheaper than buying.  It would have to be significant to make it worth my time, but for now, I believe it's time for some ice cream.

Baby knitting

I don't know why, but lately I have been obsessed with baby knitting.  Maybe it's the idea that baby stuff is little.  You can knit a pair of booties in an evening.  Really.  OK, some of you may be saying 'yeah, right, I can't do that', but I can and I am sure you could do it in maybe two evenings.  To knit a pair of socks takes me significantly longer.  The only problem I have is that there are no babies to knit for currently.  My kids are in their early 20's.  It will probably be a few years before they even start considering having families of their own.  The only child I have that has kids won't talk to me, so I don't even know HOW to get knitted goodies to his children.

So, what should I do to solve my dilemma?  Well, I mentioned something about this dilemma tonight at Sit and Knit.  These people are GENIUS, I tell you!  I guess that is why I love them so much. Terri said I should go ahead and knit a few items.  Just tuck them away somewhere for future use.  She said once my kids start having kids of their own, it will all be at once.  This way, I can get a jump start on it and still solve that bit of an itch I have.

I know, why would I knit for a baby that I don't know the gender of yet?  Well, I used to make things for my kids before they were born and I didn't know their gender.  Added bonus - I love brights for babies.  There really is no 'gender' to brights and gem-tones - I am talking about lovely ruby reds, beautiful sapphire blues, rich emerald greens, the sunshine southwest feel of turquoise, all of it.  I love these colors. I am so excited, I cannot decide what to knit first. I believe it will be one of my goals for the year.  I'll try to knit one item (or two) a year so I can scratch my baby itch and get a few things made up for my future grandchildren.

What a great idea!  Thanks Terri!

Labor Day

We celebrated Labor Day in the way only we would do- with lots of labor.  Ethan and Baylor are both back at school, Ethan on Sunday and Baylor on Monday.  Steve was working all day and so was I.

Ethan had school on Monday, so he had to go back on Sunday to finish any homework.  Walkie, though, spent the night with Steve and I.  It was a lot of fun.  He's such a big goofy dog, but wouldn't let anyone hurt any of us.  He is just a big sweetie that loves spending time here on our farm.  He runs up to the barn, rides around with Steve and TJ, and overall just has a great time.  We are glad that Erika doesn't mind us keeping him occasionally.  He will probably come over at least once a week until Ethan gets bogged down in all of his school work.  Even then, he might be over.

Baylor left yesterday to go back to his internship.  There were some changes to the internship - not sure how it all works, but he's only getting 32 hours in per week.  He's trying to get another job to supplement his income.  Also, he may spend the spring semester in Tucson!  How exciting is that?  I need to try to get in touch with my cousin who lives out there.  It would be nice for him to get to know some more family members. 

Steve is working in the field.  Hopefully, we will get another cutting of hay before the season ends.  None of the row crops are ready for harvest yet, but they will be soon.  The beans are turning yellow and in some places will be ready in two or three weeks.  The corn ears are starting to drop and the stalks are browning nicely.  This week, the temps are in the 70's and low 80's dropping down to the 50's at night.  It is beautiful.

I took an extra day off work to get some things done.  Linda and I went together and bought the rights to a 10 yd roll off dumpster.  We have it for 10 days and I don't know how much more we'll be able to get into it.  I am hoping it sifts down a bit before next weekend because I have a lot of stuff I still want to put in it.  So far, though, I got to clean out my garage and got rid of a lot of stuff - old fold up chairs, lots of paper, plastics that are not recyclable, lots of stuff went out the door.  My goal is to actually park my car in the garage this winter.  I did a lot of purging and sorting so far.  I have another day of purging and sorting to go and then I'll put it all away!  I am going vertical to get a lot of this stuff up off the ground.  There is so much that needs to be organized, but now it's not as bad as it was.  I am so close to parking in the garage.  YEAH!!!! 

Some people consider January 1 as the time to set goals and start working towards something.  For me, the first of September always feels more like the time to do this reflection and goal setting.   I am already well on my way to actually completing one of my goals.  To keep the momentum going, I am writing down all  that I've completed.  It will keep me motivated.  Just a note in my planner of what was done when. I am hoping to get caught up on many things I've let go (knitting, cleaning, etc.).  I am really happy with all that I've accomplished and would like to do the same thing with the basement, but that will wait until after the holidays. 

Here is to goals.  I like that term so much better than resolutions.  Resolutions are made to be broken, goals are attainable.  What will yours be?