Happy Holidays!

Mom informed me that it has been a while since I updated my blog so here we go!

Today is Christmas in my little world and I spent it with some of my favorite people. A few relatives are missing, as well as my husband, but this was a great group to hang out with.

I spend Christmas with my parents in Columbus and Andrew spends Christmas alone in Cleveland. People thing we're weird, but we like the arrangement.  He gets to lay around in his britches watching tv or making quick pit stops to visit all his relatives. I get to hang out with my parents and not worry about rushing home so he can get to work the following day. 

This year, we made a pact to not buy each other Christmas gifts, but to just buy ourselves what we wanted and call it even. I bought myself a little bit of yarn, a purse, a craft punch, little pouches and a handmade bag from the bazaar, and any other thing that caught my eye while I was out and about.

Santa apparently loves the amazon wishlist and he brought me the loot below!  Oh yes!

While I'm at home with the parents, I always manage to complete a project. I'm aiming at finishing the second sock before I head back home on Saturday.  For the record, this will be pair 32 for 2014.  If you want to see them ALL check out Instagram.  I'm michelejm on there and I've set up a Flipagram that shows them all.

Also, while I've been MIA, I've been preparing my sock quest for 2015.  Here's a small snapshot of some of my sock yarn stash. (Not pictured are roughly 15 more skeins.) It's going to be a very nice year!

Like a Junkie

Ever since Andrew finally found a job, I've been like a junkie. A yarn junkie. Going over a year on less than our two incomes really put a strain on my yarn obsession!

Well, I've been taking on extra duties at school to make extra money to cover the gap.  Now, there's no gap and I have money!  So here's a small sample of what I've purchased since we last spoke....

Nomadic Yarns in Gumball Buttons.

Must Stash Yarn in Retro Rainbow

I finally finished these socks. (I've been working on them for over a month.)

I finally finished this hat.  (I've been working on this for a month.). Keep in mind I've been doing my Christmas knitting at the same time, so my selfish knitting took a back seat.

These mini skeins by Candy Skein. The colors are Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potatoes, Corn, Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Brussels Sprouts, Pumpkin, Dinner Roll, and Boysenberry. I also broken down and bought the full size skein of Gravy.  These lovelies are going to make an awesome pair of Thanksgiving socks.

I have more--lots more!  Stay tuned for the rest of my shame...

Book Love

I'm an avid reader. I was recently asked what my favorite toys were as a child and I could only remember that I liked puzzles and books.  My favorite floor at Lazarus downtown was 5--they had a bookshop! When my parents and I lived in an apartment in Reynoldsburg, I remember there was a Little Professor bookstore that I liked to ride my bike to to get the latest Sweet Valley High...

Well, I'm no different today. I don't keep books like some of my friends.  I generally only read a book once so the library is my best friend.  BUT, I do keep knitting books.  I came across this book today on Instagram. It is called Curls by Hunter Hammersen.  Hunter has the most awesome patterns and this one is a real eye catcher.

I've posted three pictures of some of the projects and I hope you like them as much as I do.  I can't wait to get my hands on this book!!

 

November has arrived

So, I've been kind of mellow lately.  Trying to not stress myself out.  Trying to remember that I work with kids and not adults.  Trying not to take things personally.  And today I took a day to myself.  We call them Mental Health days in the teaching profession.  It was nice to have a quiet day alone--because Andrew finally found work!!

So here are the things I've been working on and finishing.  I made another sock yarn hat--this one used up my Russian Rainbow scraps.

I finally finished Dad's socks.

I finished at hat out of Vogue Knitting Fall and it is too small.

And as a gift to myself for Andrew going back to work..... I purchased this lovely madelinetosh twist sock yarn......

.....and the lovely Opal sock yarn in Rainforest.

Off to bed!

Obsessed with Kitties

These two precious felines have started visiting my house lately.  (There's a third one, but she runs away!) I have been feeding them and loving them and trying to get Andrew to let me let them in the house.  One day....

Oh, and I lied.  Not on purpose.  But the hats called to me and I finished them.  Now the only thing on my needles are 2 Christmas gifts. And I'm trying to finish them because they are terribly boring to knit.  I've really loved my selfish knitting spree this last year.  Saying no to others has helped me work through my stash and it has also given me a huge stash of hand knitting things just for me!

Giving up

So, I've spent most of this year preoccupied with Selfish Knitting.  I've only been making things for myself as I try to work down my stash (HA!).  Well, I've decided to make some of my Christmas gifts this year, so I'm now focusing on Unselfish Knitting.  In order to get that rolling, I have a few WIPs to finish.

A couple of days ago, I finished my Martian Rainbow Leftover Sock Yarn hat.  It is so,vivid!  I also have 2 more hats to finish, but I'm focusing on getting my gifts done early.

I took this lovely sock to Columbus to see if it fit my dad.  It does! Now I'm working on the other one,

Other than these two items, it's been a slow week.  Lots of practicing for football games, getting home late, and just being pretty darn tired.  2 more games and I have my evenings free for a bit....

WTHeck?

Here are my current WIPs. SIX!! You'd think I'd learn from last week when four projects were too many.  And I consciously knew how stressed out this would make me and I did it anyway.

Clockwise from upper left corner: Slouchy Hat from Vogue Knitting Fall 2014, sock yarn hat in Martian Rainbow, socks, socks, sock yarn hat in Russian Rainbow, socks.

And to make things worse, I bought 5 more hat patterns yesterday!  B r e a t h e . . . . .

Complete!

I was feeling overwhelmed last week with a stack of projects that seemed to never want to be finished.  Then, my school district had a three day weekend and I finished 3 out of 4 of the projects that were in progress.

Here are my Regia Stripemania socks in Lake.  This is a DK weight yarn and these socks are super squishy and warm.  And a little too big.  They will be perfect for weekends and snow days!!

I also finished an original design of mine.  It is just a basic hat but it uses up the left over yarn I used from a favorite pair of socks.  The hat is light weight, but still very warm.  Perfect for fall!  I'm currently writing up the pattern in user friendly terms if you are interested.  If you can't wait, I posted a rough sketch of the hat pattern on Instagram.  Just look for this picture!

I also finished a shawl for my mother in law.  I must have deleted the photos, but it is just a basic shawl done in purples.  I used the Sunset Shawlette pattern by Moogly as a guideline.

And I also completed 2 years of marriage to this guy! His card was so mushy and sweet it made me cry--and he just laughed and walked away. (He hates tears, the big softie.)

Slow progress and Christmas gifts

Decided to make Juanita's Christmas gift this year.  (Mother in law). She mentioned she wanted to find a good pattern for a shawl to keep her warm in church, so I thought it would be easy to whip one up for her.  This is the Sunset Shawl by Moogly.  I'm using a red heart boutique acrylic so she can wash it and get lots of wear out of it.

Here's the start...

I'm working (still) on Dad's sock.  More boring stripes.  Argh.  

I'm still working on my Regia Stripemania socks in the Lake colorway.  Another slow go-er, but only because I'm distracted by the other WIPs.

On my day off I worked on a pointless, yet cure craft making chains out of straws.  It is fun to work on and I'm considering making another chain in Christmas colors for my new skinny tree.  I got this idea off Pinterest and I've been trying for ages to find the striped straws.  I finally found them at Target (of course!)

I'm still working on the striped hat, but it's tucked safely in my car.  I work on it at traffic lights (don't judge me) because I sit for ages on my way home each day in construction.  Hope you're doing great. The weekend is almost here!!!!

Mental Health

So, I was a bit off my normal axis last week.  Decided to take the day off Monday and managed to still be irritated. Tuesday, back to work--still irritated.  Then I took sleeping pills and turned in early Tuesday night.  Today? A brand new person.  What was the fix? Sleep and prayer.  I had talked to a coworker about all the stress of working and not getting ahead while Andrew struggles to find work.  How it was affecting life and happiness.  She told me this morning that she prayed for me and I believe it worked. Thank you Miss Rhonda.  Sometimes we forget to ask God for his guidance and I'm thankful that Rhonda did it for me.

Long long week behind, long long week ahead....

This week has been a doozie.  I'm hitting the exhausted point on Wednesday instead of Friday. AND, I'm starting to want a day off. The kids rely on me, and I need the extra money, but I'm getting burned out.  I'm in bed around 7pm most nights and I'm pretty much sleeping through the night.  Also, I've been kinda on the edge of insanity.  Quick boiling point, irrational thoughts, on the brink of losing my cool.  I really need to get myself together.  I'm taking my meds, but perhaps I need a re-eval.

I finished these beauties despite my mood.  Perhaps I should actually wear them to improve my mood.

I've also gone against my usual rule of not having too many WIPs.  Two hats,  two pairs of socks, a shawl and a pair of mittens.  I frogged the last two, but I still feel overwhelmed.  And having too many projects makes my mind go blank around 7pm and I stop.

This hat will take freakin forever (sock yarn).

I hate this hat.  I hate this yarn.

And these two? I just keep pushing forward.  The one on the right is Dad's sock.  I'm starting to worry it will be too big, so I'm only making one until he can try it on.  The one on the left is in DK weight and I'm scared it will be too big too.  Too much uncertainty.  

I try to use thought this to calm me, but lately my knitting provides too much time to meditate and think. How do I calm my spirit amidst all of my struggle and stress? 

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The Wool Gathering, Yellow Springs, Ohio

Made an escape this past weekend to Columbus, Ohio. It was a chance to get away from life (my new washer and dryer still haven't been delivered, personal issues, as well as starting to feel burned out...).

Mom and I made our way to the Wool Gathering at Young's Jersey Dairy.  It is a large fiber and yarn festival.  We got a chance to see fluffy alpacas.

I found awesome yarn from Fibreworks yarn store from Dayton.  Hot pink madelinetosh AND two awesome Opal sock yarns!  Mom scored two beautiful skeins of yarn from Fiber Optics Yarn and a Zauberball from Fiberworks.

Then on Sunday we popped into Joann's and I found threes three lovely color ways. Dad informed me that I'm making so many pairs mod socks that I will never wear them all--I should sell them.  Bah! I have socks to last me into retirement and I love making them, so I choose to ignore him.

And as the weekend drew to a close and in was headed north to Cleveland, I decided that I needed to hit my favorite fast food place (Noodles & Co) to score myself an awesome lunch.

It was an awesome weeknd.  I got to forget about being a grown up for a bit and I got to hang out with my parents.  Of course, now I'm back home and there's laundry to do and chores to do and all that, but I do have lovely yarn to remind me of a great weekend!

Slow, but Steady

I got this yarn a while back--it's the start of my Christmas knitting.  I'm making socks for the family.  It's no surprise, like I wanted it to be, but when you ask people if you can measure their feet and what colors they want, it kind of screws up the surprise.

I bought the yarn from Simply Socks Yarn Company and I threw in a skein for myself.  Even better? I got a free bag for ordering for their new website.

Also, I've been trying to find the right colors to make a John Adams Rebels hat.  I finally found all three colors in the same yarn and weight after trolling the shelves for ages.  Once I complete the two WIP's I'm working on, I'll get started.  I'm going to make another modicum hat, this time with 3 instead of 12 colors.

I finished my Meadow Stripes socks last night while watching 4 episodes of Luther. Sad the show was not renewed because I love me some Idris Elba.  These socks are going to be super warm and it's actually cold enough to wear them here in Cleveland...

And here's pair number 24--Martian Rainbow by Must Stash Yarns.  Working up rather nicely.  I do,love rainbow stripes!!!

Pair 22 and other yarny goodness....

I managed to finish two project this past week.  I finished the Rockabilly Bride socks.  The yarn is from Fibernymph Dyeworks.  I'm verrrrrry glad these socks are done.  The stripes were so wide and so boring....

I also finished the guilt induced Burberry Legwarmers. This yarn is from Turtlepurl and is called Trenchcoat.  I'll never make legwarmers again.  Ever.

I came across this cute little guy on Instagram today.  I love him very much and am currently looking for her pattern on her blog.  I want to make one for myself very badly.

And here is a skein of yarn I received this weekend from The Flying Kettle.  It is called Bazinga! I'm NOT a fan of The Big Bang Theory, but I am a fan of these colors!!  I'm thinking I need a lovely shawl/scarf/cowl out of it so I can wear it this winter with my jacket!