Thursday, September 19, 2013

Shopping the Yarn Store...

In my basement, that is.  
I am determined to only use the yarn that I already own to make things, even as gifts for other people.
So here is another set of baby booties, for another friend who just had a baby. 
I used 'I Love This Cotton!' by Hobby Lobby and it really knits (or crochets) up so much nicer than the Lily Sugar'n'Cream.  Another point as to why to only knit with good yarn!


And also a simple baby hat.
 Using up that yarn and making some nice gifts!


Projects finished: 16
Projects given away: 7+ 

Weeks: about 29

Thursday, September 12, 2013

A Spark


That spark..... that feeling that I'm buried in stuff and I want to get rid of it!!! is continuing.  Its funny how I have been living in the same house for years and haven't bought that many new supplies in the past two years or so and yet, now, it just seems overwhelming when months ago, it felt fine. 
Now, I realize where I want to spend more of my time, with family and friends and doing other healthy things, than doing so many crafts.
 
I thought when I quit my job to stay home with the kids that I would be overwhelmed with free time and finally be able to do all the crafty things I had purchased through the years.  But the reality is, it takes time and work to raise a good, healthy family and I'm finally embracing that.  All this reading about intentional living and I think I'm finally getting it. 
  • I don't want to tell the kids that they can't play something because I can't get to the toy or supplies because of all my stuff in the way. 
  • I don't want to read all those backload of nursing journals that I thought I would get to once I quit work.  (I have nursing journals from ten years ago that haven't been touched!) 
  • I don't want to spend all my days sitting on the couch knitting and crocheting (although I do like to relax with it while watching a good show at night). 
  • I don't want to look at all the craft stuff in the basement and not know what to do because I have too many options. 
  • I don't want to make things just for the sake of making things.

It's seeing those limits that is helping me want to pass on my stuff.  How long do craft items last anyway?  
I do want to spend my at-home time with my kids doing fun stuff.
  • I do want to read current information in my field of nursing to keep up-to-date.
  • I do want to be more active - not sit on the couch.  (I realized this when I saw there was a knitting/crocheting club at my church and its the same time as an exercise class that I've been going to for awhile.  I would rather go to the exercise class than the knitting club - that helps choose my priorities).
  • I do want to spend more time designing jewelry to sell.  This too needs to be a priority over the other crafts if I really want to be successful with it.
  • I do like to make things with intended purposes - either as gifts, or artwork with a place to go in the house.
And with these thoughts in mind, I have a big purge today...
Major amounts of yarn - not all of it, but enough to get rid of one of those 91 gallon bins.
My plan is to try and sell it on Craigslist, although I just checked and there are a lot of other people purging their yarn collections too.  So we'll see how it goes.

I'm getting rid of all of this.....


That's a lot of yarn!  Enough to fill up 3 garbage bags!
 
Even getting rid of some knitted items (They will be donated to the before-mentioned church knitting club).
 
And that's one empty container of yarn!


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Getting rid of the guilt....

Is gardening a craft?  Surely, it is a hobby, I don't know if it would be considered a craft.  It can be added to the repertoire of things that I like to do. 
When we moved into our house, we were the 3rd owners.  The first owners included a gardener.  Someone who made the yard beautiful with all kinds of flowers (or so I am told) and from what I have seen.  We had an area of a yard that used to be a bed of weeds - or so I called it.  I'm sure it was beautifully curated at one time but between the first owner and us, I don't think it was taken care of too well!.
Here's a picture from 2005 - nicely overgrown
 Since then, we have scaled back on flowers, trees and weeds and made it fit our lifestyle.  So here's the now picture:
When we were cleaning out that area, which we did in stages, my husband just wanted to whack everything down and then roto-till the land.  However, in part of that wild area were hundreds upon hundreds of daffodils - they were just gorgeous in the spring.  And all different varieties.  And so I insisted on painstakingly digging each one up, because of course, I seem to think I live in a land with 100 hour days and I would have time to replant all of them.  (Mind you, with 3 little kids underfoot.)
Picture of some of the beautiful daffodils....
Well, reality has set in, and I have finally, after many requests from my husband, decided to get rid of all of my daffodil bulbs.  It's just one more guilt-ridden thing to look at that needs to "be done".  So, I don't know how long daffodil bulbs are good for, but I put them on freecycle 30 minutes ago and already have 2 requests. 
 
 Look at all those bulbs!!!
Projects finished: 14
Projects given away: 7+  I think this can be included as a project.)
Weeks: about 27