The Holiday Season Begins

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a nice time at my in-law's. There was a full spread with both Turkey and Tofurky.

If you couldn't tell from the last post...I've given up on my novel. I made it close to 25,000 words, but began falling short. We'll be moving, so I've been busy sorting and purging. My eight year old's room has so much space now. He and I don't like it simply because it doesn't feel like his room any longer. Sadly, my son has been sick all day with a stomach bug. I'm hoping his stomach has calmed down, but we'll see.

Ok, enough with the yucky stuff...There have been lots of fun sales and knitting patterns released.

Most of the projects are crochet based, but check out the 4th Annual Mega Sales Event: More Info. I actually looked at every designer's Ravelry page and patterns. The discount varies based on what each designer chooses. I did buy a few patterns that I'm super excited.

The Fibre Muse Quarterly is out now too! Here is where you can buy a copy. Here is a link to Ravelry where you find a few of the patterns listed: Giver. It was such a nice surprise when that arrived in my e-mail. There  is a pattern that I'd lake to make for my sister-in-law. I've struggled to find something I really like. I found one thing that I think is awesome and then I struggled with choosing yarn. Maybe I'll try to get a couple things going and see what works.

Here is my hat from the Giver challenge that Aroha knits did this week. I love the blue beads.

I was able to do the finishing on several old projects to donate and those have been turned in. This hat might join them. I do love it...choices :).

With the impending move and the fact that we have no real decorations I'm hoping to make some home decor items for the new place. I have some ideas as to how to add color. I ordered some IKEA rugs for our new space. Lot's of neutral colors so some throw pillows, wall decor, and table decorations could help. Here are the rugs I've chosen for the living room and dining area. These are IKEA's images.

I definitely have a good size stash of many colors to make lovely things. I'm thinking of using some spilled Perler beads with neutral tones in the background. Something geometric?...so many ideas.

Have a great week!

Who's ready for Thanksgiving?

I'm definitely not ready and can't believe that it's already November 19. With the holidays and an expected move in December, I'm trying to get the personal stuff in order as much as possible.

Jeffrey had a look at the unit we're interested in and is now on-board with the idea of moving. It would be downsizing, so he would share a room with Ethan. The living room is quite spacious and the plan would be to have the boys bedroom be for sleeping only with their clothes and storage in their closet. I've been looking at a few different ideas for bunk beds.

Today was full of errands and I've started going through our stuff to try to purge a bunch of things. I went through much of our DVDs and books earlier this week. We'd been holding onto a lot of Ethan's clothes to pass along to my sister-in-law. We had almost a full bin of 9 month clothing that didn't get used so that's going...going...gone. Scaling back on the things we're keeping from Jeffrey to Ethan helped too.

Then, I had to start digging into my yarn stash. What a nightmare! I definitely have a problem. I pulled out all of my partially completed projects.

You can see the mound of  projects. There are a few that I'll try to finish. I'm getting rid of the rest of the UFOs (unfinished objects). I didn't even get through all of the bins this evening.

Some of the items are done besides a few hidden ends, so I'll get those it finished and send most of them off to a charity that helps the homeless.

One Christmas I wanted to give Groots. Each time I talked about it someone more wanted one so I gave up having three of them mostly done.

Here is a great start on a lovely shawl. The yarn is a bamboo, which makes it super soft. It's a very delicate lace.

Here is hat that I made because I didn't have the patience to do an entire scarf in the lovely pattern.

Lastly, when I was going through my sons' clothing, I found a pair of socks that I knitted for Jeffrey a couple of years ago. He came to the yarn shop with me and picked out the yarn. They came out beautifully and he actually wore them (Don't mind the pocket change all over the floor and toys. The kids definitely made a mess this weekend).

I'm making progress on the test knit pattern and am excited to get that wrapped up quickly. Thankfully, the sleeves knit up faster.

Today will be big day. My nephew's first birthday party should be a hoot. It's so amazing to think it's almost been a year since he has arrived. He seems like such a cute, sweet, and good baby. I'm hoping my kids can behave.

I hope everyone has a great week and a nice Thanksgiving.

Happy crafting!

November is in full swing...

I'm almost to 20,000 words in my novel, which is the total I need for today. I found out that Sammy has been reading it a bit. I didn't give approval, yet I don't care.

I'm going to have the front of the sweater completed tomorrow night. Then, I'll only have two sleeves to go... :)

Andrea Mowry put out three patterns recently that drew my attention. My favorite of the three is The Weekender. It's a boxy relaxed fitting pull over. I spied some yarn on KnitPicks Color Mist: Vermillion. I think five skeins will do, but I can't get myself to pull the trigger to buy any new yarn given the concern over moving costs and having to then move the yarn.

We're probably going to have to move. We asked to sign a new lease, but the owner doesn't want to make that commitment. The rules here are that a 90 day letter is required for a no cause eviction. My fear is that we'd get the letter and have to move while I'm in my busy season. We like the place we're in, but don't want to risk it. I'm going to reach out to the property manager. Having this place vacant for a few months would likely be more costly then signing a six month lease.

I looked at a possible option, but it's taking us farther from Jeffrey's school and we'd be in an apartment complex setting. The place would be cheaper and not much smaller. I'm looking at another complex as well, but I'm not sure if we'd be lucky enough to get a larger unit.

I had the chance to see my nephew today. He'll be one year old this month and it's amazing to see what a happy boy he is. He liked being held and goofing around with his Uncle Sam today.

My dad and his lovely wife, Lori, were in town today. They had fun spoiling the grand kids and hanging out with my in-laws.

I'm behind on my holiday crafting to no one's surprise. I might have to make coupons for gifts to be delivered in January or February. Hope that's ok...eek!

Have a great week!

Nanowrimo and Charity Crafting

It's November, which makes it National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo). I remember reading about this when I was younger. It's been around since 1999. It's a project that encourages people to write a 50,000 word novel from November 1 - November 30. I have about 5,500 words and need to add a few more this evening to stay on track. It's been a personal goal to complete it. Maybe 2017 is my year! I didn't start with an outline so wish me luck. Let me know if any of you would be interested in reading it. It's an alternate reality of my life with a spooky note piece.

I wanted to be a writer when I was kid. I used to type up scary and adventure stories on an old green screen.

On to charity stuff...it was nice to hear from a local representative of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), who is looking for handmade hats, scarves, gloves/mittens for gift bags to go to the homeless in Portland. It sounds like my office is willing to collect items as well so we'll make sure they have lots of stuff.

Whenever I'm making things for charity I try to find nice simple patterns that can work with many types of yarn. My favorite site for inspiration is Purl Soho. They have a ton of great free patterns. I love their hat and scarf patterns. I've made a baby blanket or two from their designs as well.

A buddy, Margaret, is making squares for high risk babies. There is the purple hat campaign for Shaken Baby Syndrome awareness (Twisted Yarn Shop Page). There is also a group that meets regularly to make baby hats in Beaverton (Hands on Greater Portland). There are a lot of charitable crafting opportunities around Portland. You can even ask a local homeless shelter what they would like to have to give to their clients.

One last thing...here's my best Halloween picture of my boys. They had a fun night, and it was awesome to share it with their cousin who is turning one year old soon.

Have a great week! Happy crafting.