Showing Interest

     August.  My last post was in August of last year.  I've decided that I'm just really good at long pauses.  Not something to be overly proud about, but this last pause was different.  It stared as a "life being overly busy" kind of pause, but by Thanksgiving it was more of a growth spurt kind of pause.  I lost interest in almost everything.  Then I learned a few things about myself.  

     Shortly after Thanksgiving, all I wanted to do in my free time was binge watch Netflix or read Harry Potter.  I didn't even go all out during Christmas.  I didn't spend very much time shopping for presents, I didn't send out cards, I didn't plan any special parties or dinners.  But I did purchase one Christmas present that I'm pretty proud of, it also helped me get out of my "uninterested" slump.

     On Dec 16th I took my husband to a local Genesis Health Club and signed up for a three year membership.  That was his Christmas present from me.  He told me that he wanted to be the same weight as James Bond.  According to Ian Flemming, Bond is 6 foot tall and 167lbs.  My goal is to lose enough weight that I weigh less then my husband.  I'm not going to lie, I've out weighed him for some time now, by about twenty to thirty pounds (depending on the time of year).  It's probably been over five years since my wedding ring fit.  I know that some of my weight gain has come from the type of birth control I use, Depo injections.  But this is my body and I knew when I started taking Depo that weight gain was highly possible, but I didn't take any action to prevent it.  So it's not the medicine's fault, it's mine, and I'm going to try my hardest to reverse the effects it's had on my body.  

     Since we got the membership, we have been working out 4-5 times a week AND we decided we wanted a trainer to help us, at least for the first year.  So two of my workouts a week are trainer guided and the rest are up to me.  The trainer also did the math and figured out caloric intake for both my husband and I.  He also broke it down in to carb, protein, and fat ratios to help us stay in check.  I updated my info on the myfitnesspal app (food and fitness journal) to the caloric info the trainer gave us.  And now, a month after signing up, working out each week, using my food journal, I'm down ten pounds.  I've become friends with a treadmill and a StairMaster.  I've learned that I can live without Starbucks without killing anyone.  I've discovered that 60 min of cardio isn't that bad and my body is more then willing to go longer.  I purchased some running tights the week of New Year's Eve, they are now to big.

  

     I think that focusing on going to the gym enough times each week and trying to use my free time more efficiently has helped me get out of the slump I was in.  I started knitting a sock, I baked a cake from scratch; a carrot cake, I even shredded the three cups of carrots myself.  I improved my crochet skills and learned a new dishcloth pattern by heart.  I went through my desk at home and got rid of a LOT of junk that was just cluttering it up, taking up space.

  

     The point is, I feel motivated again.  Now I just need to find the motivation to take down the Christmas tree.

Knitting Project Update

Since I took a long break. . I thought I'd better catch you up on my knitting projects ;)

Silver Gin Fizz Cowl in Bernat Alpaca; knit for a co-worker.

Pine Forest Baby Blanket in Lion Brand Wool-ease for a friend of mine who's baby is close to a year old now. . . . it's the thought that counts. . . 

Time Turner Shawl in Knit Picks Gloss Fingering.  This blue yarn was purchased with the intent of knitting up a Dr. Who related item but. . I decided that a Harry Potter related item that has something to do with time travel was good enough for me. . .

I LOVE THIS YARN!!

Broad Spiral Rib Socks... I know. . I cast these suckers on over 6 months ago. . but that baby blanket took up a lot of time AND I really only wanted to work on the sock during traveling and I haven't been doing a lot of traveling.

I have another WIP but it's a Christmas present for hubby so I can't go about flashing pictures of it. . but the yarn looks like this :)

Meanwhile In Manhattan

 First of all, it is the 5th of May AND it flooded here last night so. . . thought this would be appropriate:

 

Intersection of North Manhattan and Anderson via City of Manhattan Traffic Camera

 

Ditch near Tuttle Creek and Anderson Via Manhattan Mercury's twitter account

Ok, so the first one is just silly, but the other two pictures are from Manhattan Kansas on 5/4/15.  I left work around 3:45ish.  It had already started raining by then.  Glad I left when I did, otherwise I would have been driving through this. 

Another Dye Day

Started out as black but turned a bit red/purple

Same skein after a second dye bath, lowered pH

Not sure what to call this one, "The Green Fairy" or "Grandma Smith"

Started out with neon pink and blue.  I decided there was to much white so I made a dye bath if purple

Thanking of calling it "Tutti Fruiti"

This one is still drying. . .  So not a good picture of it yet.  Maybe next time.

All is quiet

I know, it's been a while since I've visited my lonely little blog. . .  Don't let the title fool you, it has not actually been quiet, but at the moment it is.

Let's see, where to pick this thing back up at. . oh yeah, de-stashing and re-organizing the craft supplies. . .

Well, I got rid of the table in my craft area, which was a big goal of mine.  I now have this lovely little bookshelf. . .

It's cute but not big enough, which I knew that when I got it.  The plan is to get another one just like it and put it side by side.  This photo was taken shortly after setting it up, but not filling it up.  I still have lots of yarn in plastic bins.

After I got the shelves, I started de-stashing again.  One cubby hole is just dishcloth cotton.  Most of the remaining space is taken up by knitting books and patterns.  Hopefully a secondary one will hold the rest of my yarn. . .  probably not, but we'll see.

My knitting books and other non-yarn related knitting supplies used to be stored elsewhere in the house, but recently we had to rearrange our living room to make room for more furniture.  So all of my knitting stuff is now stored in the bedroom.  I'm a little sad by this, because I have less space (even through the de-stashings and general crafts supply give away items) but I can't be sad for long because the furniture we made room for was an upright piano. 

It belonged to my husbands grandmother.  She recently moved into an apartment so most of her furniture has been given to other family members.  But she specifically wanted my husband to have her piano.  And I'm very happy to have it even if that means I have less space.  My husband (for those of you reading this that don't know) is a jazz musician and teaches private guitar lessons.  He's played piano since he was a kid.  It's nice to knit and listen to him practicing. 

A little bit of history, Husband's Grandma told me that she bought the piano when her husband died.  That with out that piano, she wouldn't have moved on with her life.  She said that she would stay up well past midnight playing, because playing piano felt better then crying.  I told her that I'd take really good care of it.  

<3 H U G S <3

Once we got the piano in the house, I decided that we needed a nice knitted table runner to go on top of it.  I don't have a clue what pattern I want but I did find the right yarn.

I got this yarn at The Shivering Sheep in Abilene Ks.  It's Overberg by Fleece Artist.  The color is called "smoke" but it looks more like gray yarn that someone spilled coffee on.  And I LOVE coffee and yarn so. . it just seemed kinda perfect. 

In other news: Unwind

During my little blogging hiatus, Manhattan Ks got a new Yarn Store!

Unwind, a Yarn Store Without All the Tangles

I went on opening weekend and got some of this:

Knit One Crochet Two Elfin Tweed

I already had six skeins of Cara Cinnamon at home and I thought these colors would make a good Color Affection Shawl but after getting my knitting groups opinion, I've decided that these colors would do better as a sock weight sweater.  I probably have enough yarn to make two sweaters. . .

Craft stuff finds a new home

Talk about an emotional roller coaster.  Since my last post several exciting, but not necessary good things have happened.  First, the craft area is looking MUCH nicer.  My yarn and patterns are easier to access and the bedroom looks neat, tidy, and more comfortable. 

During my cleaning I decided that I didn't have the time or space to learn to sew, so there was no need for me to own TWO sewing machines.  One I gave one to a nice lady in my knitting group.  I told her that I'd take $25 or she could sew the ends into 25 WIP's.  She chose the non-monetary exchange and I'm loving it.  Wow, talk about killing two birds with one stone!  She has been dutifully working on the WIPs ever since, and each week I have several finished items that I can use as Christmas gifts. 

The other sewing macheine was given to a friend of mine from work.  She is a very generous and sweet lady who does all kinds of sewing and quilting projects.  She's also the kind of lady at work where everyone sees her as some sort of motherly figure.  You do what she says, because breaking her heart would hurt way to much.  Over this last summer she fell in the freezer at work (I work at a very large grocery store) and hurt her shoulder, arm, and hand.  So she's been limited on what she can do at work.  Despite her injuries, almost every day, she can be found sitting in the break room during lunch, hand sewing or cutting out bits of fabric for her Christmas gifts this year.  She is determined to get them done regardless of how much it hurts to use her injured hand, arm, and shoulder.  One day we started talking about sewing and she told me that when the electricity goes out during a storm, she uses her incredibly old, non electric sewing machine.  But that her current electric was having issues so she's been using the old non electric one more often.  So I offered her my other sewing machine for free.  It will save me space and I know that she will love and care for that machine.  Also, I know that it will be put to good use, where at my house, it was under the craft table collecting dust. 

Second amazing thing that happened over the past few months is that my husband found an awesome house for us!  Three bedroom, two bath, unfinished basement, wood floors, garage. . .  All the things we were looking for.  Most exciting thing for me is being able to put my craft stuff in it's very on room.  I'm also pretty excited about having a basement for storage.  We currently have a shed for storage, and nasty little things like bugs, bees, and muddobbers like to live in the shed.  So we don't use it for anything other then gardening supplies.  It's a rental house, so the bad news is that it's available for move in on Jan 2.  That will give us less then a month to pay the deposit, first months rent, and the pet deposit to ensure that the house was ours, AND less then a month to pack up our current home.  So, my amazing family helped out with the needed funds and I started bringing home large boxes from work and diligently packing up all the non-necessities.  Books, nick-knacks, pictures and artwork were taken down. . .  Lego displays were taken apart and packed. . .  Then the rental agent emailed us, telling us that they were denying us. 

Since then I have had friends and coworkers come to me with horror stories about this rental agent.  We are so thankful that we didn't get the house based off of the stories that I've heard.  My opinion of them didn't improve when I realized that they had actually declined us the same day we submitted our paperwork, but didn't bother telling us until all three checks I wrote them had cleared the bank.  Then they waited over a week before reimbursing us.  Really?  If we had been looking at multiple locations, holding on to that money would have kept us from securing another place.  And if they knew they were going to deny us, why bother even cashing the checks in the first place?  Why didn't they just return them to me?  

So I've been spending what little free time I have unpacking the boxes that had taken over the house and trying to finish Christmas knitting.  Besides not having to deal with a bad rental agency, the other bit of silver lining is that when I was in "we're moving" mode, I threw out so much stuff.  Our new goal is to look for a place that will be ready for us this summer.  Lets hope the "we're moving", lets throw stuff away feelings don't go away anytime soon. 

Three Day De-Stash

I recently was able to get three days off in a row from work.  I have vacation hours that have to be used up before the end of the year or I lose them.  So I'm using my "vacation" to de-stash my yarn collection and clean up my craft area.  I currently have a long folding table in my bedroom that has boxes and totes of yarn, knitting supplies, mixed in with other craft endeavors like cross-stitch stuff, beading/jewelry supplies, and scrap-booking stuff.  I would like to get rid of the table all together.  It attracts more clutter, things that aren't related to my crafting stuff.  And that has to stop. I also have a five drawer dresser full of projects that needed the ends sewn in and blocked, plus more yarn.  A while back my mom boasted that she bought a plastic storage bin to store all her yarn in, then she came over to see my stash.  She couldn't close her mouth due to shock.  My little sister is way worse off (or better, depending on how you look at it).  My sister took her stash out of storage and laid the yarn end to end and it covered her entire basement floor.  And that was just the red heart brand of yarn!  My home is smaller then both of theirs, at a little less then 1000 sq ft, so my stash has out grown the space.  If you have been following the blog, you'll know that I've starting selling some of my hand dyed yarn creations on Etsy.  Well, my stash is so big that I don't have room to order more blank yarn to dye for the shop.  So my goal is to make room.  This means getting rid of some yarn as well as other craft supplies.  Honestly, it's been kind of hard to make some decisions, but it feels good to see the space coming together. 

Day one I accomplished:

1. Filled the back of my SUV with boxes and garbage bags of stuff to take to Goodwill.

2. Sorted yarn by size and put it in plastic storage totes.

3. Made a WIP space to store (obviously) WIPs.  It's kind of like an "IN" box that one might put on their desk.  I gave my husband permission to put any knitting item he finds around the house in this space.  The idea is that this space will encourage me to finish projects before starting new ones and keep the rest of the house WIP free.

Day Two I Accomplished:

1. Emptied the dresser and sorted that yarn in to the already established bins (I'm totally running out of space in the bins. . the lids won't fit. . . ).

2. Completely cleaned the dresser and the drawers with wood cleaner.

3. swapped the table and dresser so there there is more floor space next to my bed.

4. Sorted/tossed/reorganized all the random "other" craft stuff.  I now have a box of fabric, beads, paint, colored pencils, pastel chalks, and other art supplies that I've collected over the years that I'm going to give away at my next KIP.

*totally ran out of trash bags. . .  Making a trip to Target in the morning*

Day three I Accomplished:

1. Sorted the "not sure" yarn pile and added what I didn't want to the give away box.  The very same box that I'm taking to my next KIP.  Whatever is still in the box by the end of the night. . goes to Goodwill.

2. Went to various places around town, pricing shelving/organizing furniture.  I found what I was looking for at Bed Bath & Beyond. The 9 cube storage unit by Real Simple.  I know that one wont be enough, but it's a start.  There are shelves and drawers that I can add to it.  Plus other units that I can get to match it.  I didn't buy anything yet, I'd like to get rid of the table first.

3. Starting going though other parts of the bedroom, getting rid of stuff.  Sorted and organized my clothing dresser.  Ended up with a bag of clothes to add to the Goodwill pile.  Also discovered that the bottom drawer was full of more knitting projects that need the ends sewn in and blocked. Most of those projects where from when I first started knitting so most of those projects when into the trash.  I know, I know! What a waste! But the projects were things I'd made for myself that I know I'll never use and they were so roughly put together that I know that I'd never give them away as gifts. 

So over all, I don't have enough space yet to order more yarn.  However, I have a plan in place and a goal.  I'm also really enjoying the extra floor space in the bedroom. :)

Addicted to Sock knitting

If you've been following this blog, you'll know about my attempt to knit 12 pairs of socks in 2012. . .  Well I almost made it but didn't complete all 12.  The problem came when I suddenly had no urge to knit on a sock project.  I just go tired of them.  Recently I joined a sock knitting group on Facebook.  The members keep posting all these amazing pictures of finished socks which got me inspired.  So I cast on and with in a few days I had a sock!

The pattern is Sailor's Rib from the book More Sensational Knitted Socks.  

After I cast on for the second sailor's rib sock. . I got start-itus again, and cast on this puppy. . .

This pattern is from the same book, but more on that once I have them done.

Yeah. . check out that yarn. . you've seen it before. . .  This is one of my hand dyed yarns that I talked about in a previous post ;) 

I made it using two different kinds of Kool-aid and I had lots of fun doing it.  Knitting up this sock seems more satisfying then any other sock I've knit up. . probably because it's my own yarn.  Gives me the warm fuzzes!

A Few More Dye Days via Photos

This yarn is for sale in my Etsy Shop!

This yarn is Also for sale in my Etsy Shop!!

This one too!! Check out all the yarns available in my Etsy Shop!!!

Interested in purchasing any of my hand dyed yarns?  Check out what's for sale in my Etsy Shop!!!!

Dye Day

I had two days off in a row. . which doesn't happen often enough.  So I decided I needed to dye some yarn.  I started with a hank of Bare Stroll fingering weight from Knitpicks and a hand full of Kool-aid packets.

The "BEFORE" picture

Two shades of red: Tropical Punch and Black Cherry

Decided it needed some Raspberry Lemonade

All Done!

Now the question is, do I love it so much that I want to keep it and make something with it?  Or do I want to sell it?  Oh decisions decisions. . .
If I keep it, it is the same yarn that I am using to make my Beekeeper's quilt.  So if I use it, any leftovers will be come a puff in the quilt. Hummm. . .   Please share your opinions!

Manhattan Music Festival

So a few weekends ago, I got to spend time knitting at the Manhattan music Festival. . .

That's the Hemlock Ring Blanket.  Love how blue this looks in the evening light of the concert.  I wanted my first attempt at this blanket to be washable which is why I went with Lion brand pound of love.  I chose this project because I really wanted to learn how to knit something "circular" in the round.  Once I get comfy with this I will attempt the shawl I wanted to make this past January, Evenstar Shawl.

Baby blanket factory

Following the footsteps of my little sister, I decided to try to sell hand knit items on Etsy.  My first Etsy projects will be baby blankets!!  So here's what I've been working on; 

This first one is made out of Effervesce by Yarn Bee in Creme de Menthe,  and the pattern is Sweet Pea Baby Blanket.  It was super easy and quick to knit up.  I never got board, which was surprising, because this blanket turned out so long. 

The seconded one is made out of Heartland by Lion brand in Grand Canyon.  The pattern is called Pine Forest Baby Blanket.  I really liked this one, the yarn worked perfect to show the lace pattern.  The neutral color is perfect for a boy or a girl.  So neutral in fact that it can be used as a throw or lap blanket when the baby grows up.

The third blanket is the famous (at least in the knitting world), Hemlock Ring Blanket.  I'm working this one out of Lion Brand pound of love, in white.  I'll talk about this one more in another post, once I have some more pictures. 

Now I'm having a hard time figuring out what to charge for them.  I'd like to get my money back on the yarn that I used as well as the time it took to make the blanket.  But, if I pay myself minimum wage for the hourly rate to knit up the blankets, each one would be REALLY EXPENSIVE.  So I'm worried that no one would buy them.  But I don't want to undercharge myself for the work that I put into them because that makes other fiber artists look expensive when they are not undervaluing their own work.  So I'm dealing with a moral dilemma.  If you have any tips on this or an opinion please share with me. 

Open letter to The Fly Lady

Dear Fly Lady,

     I have considered myself a "fly baby" since 2004. I've never set your routines and zones into place.  To me, making a cleaning routine and sticking to it is perfection and I am a perfectionist who is easily overwhelmed.  So overwhelmed that I give up and decide that it's to hard to do it right, might as well not do it at all.  I know, I need to learn baby steps. . .  But that doesn't mean that I haven't felt the effects of your cleaning missions and email reminders.
     Today is July 21, we are in zone 4: Master bedroom.  Today's mission was simple; get everything out from under your bed and only put back what belongs.  Here's what happened:

1. Sheets needed to be washed anyway, so the bed got stripped and everything is washing now.
2. Only two storage boxes go under my bed, a winter clothes box (mostly my husbands stuff) and a box with gift tags, bows, and wrapping paper.  After moving those, I decided to move the bed away from the wall, knowing that a few things had fallen from the night stands onto the floor.
3. What else did I find: 2 pens, 9 hair clips, 4 hair bands, a pair of winter boots, a pair of slippers, two socks that were not mates, two hair balls (a lovely gift from my cat), and enough cat hair to support a litter of kittens among the dust bunnies.  The carpet is suppose to be a coffee brown, this carpet was gray.
4. Picked up everything, and everything that I was keeping was put in its proper home.  Then a major vacuuming was needed.  

     I have no idea when the last time the floor was cleaned under my bed.  But after this experience I felt a bit confused but happy. . Confused because no one but my husband or I will ever actually LOOK under our bed, so I can't feel embarrassed by that mess if people come over.  Your original task was just to get rid of stuff that doesn't belong, not a deep cleaning.  But, under the bed is where my cat likes to hide/hang out when people he doesn't know come to the house.  It's where he likes to hide when things get scary or when we go out of town over night.  It is where he would develop an upper respiratory infection if it wasn't kept clean.  You just saved me a few hundred dollars in vet bills.  So thank you!

Love,
Sarah the "fly baby"
P.S.  It only took me about 20 minuets to do all of this.

If you are reading this most and are not the Fly Lady and want to know more about who she is, please visit her website http://www.flylady.net/

Crawling out from under my rock. . .

Wow, where have I been?  Not here, sharing my thoughts on my blog. . .  Work and personal life has been kinda bumpy.  So I haven't been doing the things I love very often.  Like knitting.  (I'll wait right here while you pick yourself back up off the floor)  So, no.  No knitting in the past four months or so.  I also haven't bought any yarn or patterns or needles.  Creatively speaking, I haven't purchased craft supplies in a very long time.  At least it feels like a long time.  So what have I been doing?  Well, last summer my Grandmother moved into a small apartment.  Which meant that a lot of her belongings had to go.  Along with some very pretty glass knickknacks, I inherited her cross stitch DMC floss.  My mother-in-law gave me most of her collection a few years back and I already had a lot of my own.  So I started sorting though them this past February, mixing Grandma's into my collection.  It got me thinking about how I don't really cross stitch very often, so why was I going through the trouble of keeping it?  Why spend so much time when I may never ever use it?  At this point I had already set aside my knitting.  So I went through my cross stitch stuff and found a project I'd started but hadn't come close to finishing.  So that's what I've been working on:

When I pulled this project out, it was just the pointe shoes.  So, from February until early May, I did the roses and leaves and some back stitching.  It's only about 45% done.  Here is what it should look like when it's all done, sorry for the blurry picture:

I originally started this because I wanted to decorate my bathroom with a ballet theme.  Light pinks, black, grey, and chrome.   Since my husband and I still rent, it's not really in my best interest to go out and spend money decorating our house the way I want my dream home to look.  But that doesn't mean that I can prepare for it now.  So ballet inspired cross stitch it is. 

Flying

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the FlyLady before, if I have, sorry for the repeat.  

The FlyLady is one of my heroes.  In preparing to organize my stash, I've started getting rid of things.  Not anything craft related, not yet anyway.  But following the FlyLady's cleaning routines has made a difference is just a short amount of time.  So, here's my FLYing story: 

FLYing refers to Finally Loving Yourself.  By taking the focus off of what I couldn't or didn't get done in a day to allowing only 5-15 min per task on my to do list has made life less stressful.  Yes, the to do list is still long and a bit overwhelming when you look at the whole thing.  But, when I give myself a time limit to work on a specific project, knowing that if I don't finish the project, that I can go at it again tomorrow, has made things less stressful.  It has made me feel productive with less negative self-talk.  I have defined deadlines at work, I don't need to do that to myself with my personal life.  One point she makes is that procrastination is a form of perfectionism.  If something can't be done perfectly, then we put it off, making the job much harder when we do have to deal with it.  I see that in myself, in the way I clean, get my car fixed, even in my knitting.  If a job seems to hard, then I don't do it right away.  That's what the book is about, though, it appears to be a cleaning book. . . 

I first read the book in 2004.  I signed up for daily emails and reminders.  At first it was totally awesome.  I'd come home from work and then look up what tasks had been emailed to me.  It got hectic really quickly.  I lived with my husband and a roommate, who had her own boyfriend who semi lived with us.  I was working two jobs, about 60 hrs or more a week.  I soon lost focus, decided that since I couldn't do it perfectly every day, that I wasn't going to do it at all.  And no, I do not blame the FlyLady for this, she said that my house didn't get dirty in a day, that it wasn't going to get clean overnight.  I expected miracles that involved cleaning fairies and magical spaces that would hold all my stuff.  Once my husband and I moved into our own place I realized what the problem was.  We had to much stuff for the amount of space we had.  Well, we couldn't afford a bigger place so the other option is to get rid of things.  In comes the FlyLady again.  One of her first bits of cleaning advise is to just focus on de-cluttering.  Get rid of the things you don't love and cherish, all the extra stuff is just junk that you have to keep clean and store somewhere.  

Ten years later and I still consider myself a "fly Baby".  I don't have a daily routine down, but what I do have is a good understanding of the work involved in keeping myself sane.  

Check out her website and maybe read her book (though the info you'll need is all on the sight). 

The Dishcloth Distraction

I recently went to Wichita Ks, to visit my sister and her family.  It was also my niece's birthday. .   We did go to Heritage Hut, a lovely yarn store, where I found this:

A friend of mine made Stephen West's Boneyard shawl out of this yarn, and ever since I wore her finished shawl, I've wanted some of this yarn.  It was in the clearance section, so I bought all that they had.

I also acquired these:

Thanks to my little sister, whom I blame for the dishcloth distraction, my stash has grown.  She had recently laid out her stash, end to end, and it covered her entire basement floor.  I guess seeing how much yarn she had made her decide that she really didn't need so much of it. . so she gave me a bag of dishcloth cotton.  At first she told me to go through it and just pick out what I wanted.  I picked out two balls, then told her that if she wanted to give me some of it, that she should pick out what to give me.  That's when she went to go get a bag to put it all in. .   When I got back home, I combined my new cotton collection with my current stash.  I started going though the yarn, sorting out full balls from leftovers.  Next thing you know, I knitted these: