old things

So much is going on that I feel that my head has become so full that I don’t even know where to begin.  I feel as though I’m running myself ragged with trying to keep up with everything going on.  But I’ve let myself sleep in this weekend and it’s helped somewhat.  Just have to make it though this coming week and then the real fun will begin…

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been house-hunting.  Well, the 4th house that I looked at was amazing.  For me, it was the perfect place.  I put in an offer on house while my realtor and I were still standing in the house’s kitchen.  It’s a small little bungalow, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, kitchen, living room, basement, patio, fenced in yard where Hercules can run free…  and it’s pretty much move-in ready.  I’m so excited!  I close in 1 week.  I’m so ready to just get in there and start making the space my own.  I’ve been filling up my boards on Pinterest with inspirational objects and spaces, trying to decide how I’m going to decorate.  But I think that I have finally settled on the “don’t think about it too much” approach.  The goal will be to surround myself with things that I love.  Things that are handmade.  Things that are upcycled, repurposed, second hand.

It’s funny… I’ve been addicted to the TV show “House Hunters” on HGTV (an addiction I will be giving up when I move, as I have vowed to give up cable TV).  I love seeing all of these gorgeous homes, some of which are modern and new, some are old and need some love.  And I’m particularly struck by the desire of many of the people looking for their next home to want to have all new things in the home:  new stainless appliances, new granite counter tops, newly constructed home, new crown molding, new window treatments,  new leather theater seating for the new 50″ flat screen…  And the need to have way more space than you could possibly need.  And I see these homes, where everything is new and spacious and large, with the perfectly manicured lawns without a single dandelion (“little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of tickey-tackey”) and all I can think is how cold and sterile the home must be.    Where is the cozyness?  Where is the 40 year-old afghan in olive, yellow, and taupe that the grandmother crocheted out of  red heart (that will outlive us all!)?  Where are the family heirlooms that are passing from generation to generation, like rockers and end tables and such?  I can’t possibly understand how to feel connected to a space that has no history, no stories, no signs of wear.  I love that objects can have histories.  I love going to antique stores and finding amazing objects that look like they have stories to tell.  I want to fill my home with their stories… and add to their history.

So, you can imagine my delight when my mother offered to give me her corelle ware dish set that she purchased before I was born.  My family has been eating from these dishes for as long as I can remember and they’ve always felt like home to me.  So in an effort to complete the set, I’ve been looking for other corelle and pyrex pieces in the same print (Spring Blossoms/Crazy Daisy).  I found this creamer cup at a thrift store yesterday for 49 cents!

Today at an antique store, I found the butter dish and some casserole baking dishes.  It’s ridiculous how obsessed I’ve become with hunting down pieces in this pattern.  But I just love it so much!  I’ve also picked up some random pyrex baking dishes and mixing bowls.  I’m looking hard for the turquoise pyrex bowls.  I will find them.  My love of vintage pyrex runs deep.

In other news, I had the wonderful pleasure of attending the Insubordiknit workshop in Niles, MI, last weekend!  I must say, that workshop was money well-spent.  Jacey is a fantastic teacher, fabulous story-teller, and is hilarious!  I absolutely adored her!  She knows so much about spinning textured/art yarns, but in a way that makes them genuinely, balanced, usable yarns.  The change in my spinning since the workshop is ridiculous!  My yarns feel more balanced.  I’m blown away by the change in my corespun yarns.  Plus, I finally was able to try out many of the awesome techniques that I’ve been wanting play with.  Spinning, in general, feels a bit more effortless for me now.  I’m so grateful for the knowledge I gained!  But most of all, the weekend was made even more awesome by the AMAZING people that I finally got the pleasure to meet!  Dani (aka Pumpkinhaus), Emily (aka Bricolage Studios), and Lacey (aka Moonrover).  I got to spend the weekend hangin’ with these awesome fiberistas and it was so much fun!

A fantastic weekend!

prepping for what’s to come…

I’ve been wanting to sit down to blog for a while now, but life kept getting in the way.  Lots of things are going on à la maison de Nox.

The biggest of these things is that I am getting ready to move.  Soon.  As in the next 2 or 3 months.  I’m doing the whole house hunting thing right now and it’s this weird mix of annoying/exciting/scary/fun.  I have all of these ideals in my head of the perfect house in the perfect location with the perfect tree in the front yard and the perfect window with the perfect view and on and on.  Reality is that none of these ideals will be met right away.  But is there the potential to meet as many of them as possible?  That’s really the question.  There are a lot of good things that will be coming from this move.  And frankly, it should have happened a long time ago.  But I guess the stars weren’t quite aligned yet.  But they are now.  And I’m foaming at the mouth to decorate!  Whatever place I choose will become a shrine to the handmade decor.  I’ve already raided my mother’s fabric stash for fabric for curtains.  I’m pulling out all of my cotton yarn to knit an crochet bath mats, dish towels and wash cloths.  My stack of card stock is going to finally become that mobile I’ve been wanting to make.  I’m even eyeing some lace weight to knit up airy curtains too.  It’s going to be wonderful.  I can’t wait!

I do need to add that I’m scared out of my mind at the thought of having to move my stash.  I think I could fill an entire moving truck with just my stash.

There’s been lots of yarns heading over to the shop recently.  And there’s been knitting.  I finally cast on that yummy lace weight I spun up from some moonrover batts.  I’ll leave you with that photo… Her way with color is truly divine.

On the wire

I saw sky today.  Real.  Blue.  Sky.  And sun.

For a little while, I was excited.  I took advantage of the light to pull back curtains that have been closed, to sit in the chair near the window and enjoy the sunlight with my coffee, and to take some fiber photos.  I played “sunny” music as I sat at the wheel for some spinning.  I love that a little bit of sunlight can improve my mood and give me some hopeful thoughts for this cloudy, dreary cold.  Of course, this evening, I’ve learned that yet another winter storm is scheduled to hit tomorrow evening.  I had almost forgotten that there’s another month of this left.  Almost.

I’m really pushing myself with my spinning lately.  I spent the first half of the week dyeing and carding up some batts and I’ve spent all weekend at the wheel treadling away.  I’m excited to play with my “Dead Yarns” line and I have a lot of ideas for some yarns that will fit in nicely with it.  I’m planning on spending every evening after I get home from my day job at the wheel working.  I’m also pushing myself with new techniques.  I gave wirecore a go today.  The results are wicked cool, but the process, itself, was a little frustrating for me.

As you can see by the last photo, I was having some issues keeping the wire untangled.  It was odd trying to spin something that doesn’t absorb twist the way fiber does.  I was trying to let the excess wire spin on its own, but it kept getting caught and then it would tangle and kink… and thus began the never-ending cycle of untwisting the wire, twisting the wire, untwisting the wire, twisting the wire, and so on and so on.  But the more that I look at the 2 yds of spun wirecore that is hanging on the wall next to me, the more I want to give this a go again and master the technique.  I think no beads is the way to go for my next attempt.  They seemed to be part of the problem, getting caught on the kinks, creating more kinks, creating more kinks that created twisted wire.  It’s an interesting technique.  And I’ve been looking around for some photos of work that has been made with wirecore, but I’ve not really found anything yet.  Personally, I want to make myself a bowl with it. Not sure why a bowl, but a knitted wirecore bowl just seemed really groovy.  Of course, the possibilities for this type of yarn are numerous!  It’s really very cool.  Definitely going to do some more exploring with this.

 

social hibernation

January is the longest month of the year.  It’s cold.  It’s dark.  It’s uneventful.  Most of the time I’d be content to just skip the entire month and move on to February.  But I’m not too convinced that February is any better.  I think it’s the isolation of living in the middle of nowhere in the dead of winter.  Roads are often snowy and icy, so going out isn’t always an option.  The bitter cold is unbearable at times, so the only solution is to stay buried beneath afghans and enough wool to be confused for a sheep.  Hot drinks (coffee!) and comfort food have become my vice.  My brown boots seem to go with every outfit I own.  I’ve quit paying attention to weather reports as it only seems to depress.  I’m just ready for spring and tired of the cold and snow.

But sometimes the snow is certainly pretty.
So, I’m making good use of this time of social hibernation and am working on the waterfall of ideas flowing through my head.  I have a lot of new ideas for the shop.  Some really amazing yarns will be heading there over the next month.  I’ve even given it and this blog a little facelift. I’ve also just started a little photoblog over on tumblr.  I’ve really been wanting to challenge myself with a photo a day, so I’ve decided to put that project over there.  It’s called Glimpses and is worth checking out.  I’m a few days late of the January 1 start, but no worries.  And lastly, I’ve finally started work on a secret ninja project that has been in my head for about a year now.  This is a big one!  But if finished, it will be spectacular.

In the meantime, I’m going back to tonight’s spinning project (some baby alpaca from the lovely Fall Creek Fibers).  To those in the cold, keep warm!  To those who are warm, lucky!

Scenes from Christmas

Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

 

Crafting for the masses.

I am deep in the trenches of holiday crafting.  There are things to knit, crochet, sew, hot glue, bake, etc….  Surprisingly, I am more on schedule than I’ve ever been.  And yes, I realize by having just made the previous statement, I will now be cursed with a serious lack of motivation and my crafting will crash and burn and I’ll spend Christmas eve frantically trying to create a christmas miracle with sticks and string.

As, for what I’ve accomplished, here are a couple of highlights.

I’ve knitted up a lovely little gift with the most DELISH cables ever!

It’s a woodland hoodlet and it was a breeze to knit up.  Super bulky yarn is my friend.  All it took was a few evenings with episodes of Top Gear on the DVR and it just flew off the needles.  I need more instant gratification projects like this in my life.

I’ve also jumped on the yarnie bandwagon and using this tutorial, made myself a little christmas cheer in the form of a wreath.  Sadly, I cannot hang it on my front door, so I get to keep it inside where I can see it all of the time.  I’m in love with the colors.  They don’t scream Christmas colors, but they are still very festive.

And lastly in our tour of knitted gifts, I finished up this groovy scarf made with some yarn that I handspun with moonrover batts.

Mitered squares with striping handspun is the perfect knitting combination.  It’s a little sad to part with this one, but I know that it’s going to a good home.

I still have a lot to finish before Christmas hits:  2 shawls, a pair of socks, a baby sweater, and various other little items that are non-knitted.  If I can pull this off, it will be my greatest Christmas crafting season ever.  Maybe I’ll even reward myself with a country spinner spinning wheel if I can get it done!  Hmm… that’s a great idea,  actually.  I feel the motivation surging through me now.

Alright, I’m off to earn myself a new wheel!!!

You can find it in the little things.

My days of freedom are numbered.  While I’m happy for this change, I’m also a little sad that my lazy days are coming to an end.  This is a good thing, but I’m reminded of everything that has made the last month special.  This has been a rare opportunity for me to take a break.  A much needed break.  And it’s sad to me how few breaks we have the opportunity to take.

So, to celebrate these last days, I’m inspired by the ever-lovely, Brie.  Over on her blog, she has been blogging about The Grateful Project.  (You should all go check it out!)  Reading her posts has reminded me of all of the little things in my life that bring me joy.  It’s easy for us to get caught up in all of the negativity that sometimes surrounds us.  Our jobs stress us to maximum capacity.  Finances get us down.  Life throws curveballs that we just can’t hit.  Going forward, I don’t want a problem to be so big that prevents me from seeing all of the amazing things that are always around.  Joy lies in the little things.  So, I’d like to take a moment to share some things that bring me joy and for which I am grateful.

An afternoon of knitting.  Cupcakes with sprinkles.  My adorable puppy.  Coffee and a magazine.  Leaves that crunch under my feet as I walk.  Ice cream in a waffle cone.  Wool.  Having dinner with my Mother.  Sleeping in a patch of sunshine.  Good friends.  Bacon.  The smell of vanilla.  Wooly scarves, hats, and mittens on cold days.  Giving handmade gifts.  Sunday mornings.  My niece.  Ravelry.  Homemade bread.  Clean sheets.  Taking photos and making memories.  Music.  My lilac bush.  Snow in December.  Taking vacations.  Sitting on my patio.

There’s so much more…

<3

A perfect day.

Not a lot going on in my world as of late.  The sudden abundance of free time has almost seemed like a curse, rather than the blessing I had hoped it would be.  But I’m trying to use the time to get some things finished.  Most importantly, I’m trying to enjoy the time.  This is the first time in  many years that I’ve not had any obligations or impending deadlines hanging over me.  I need to enjoy this feeling.  Treasure it.  It’s not going to last much longer and I certainly won’t have this opportunity again for a while.

So, in my effort to enjoy my days, I took a walk in the yard today.  Sadly, this is something that I haven’t done in many months.  It was the ideal autumn day:  a bit of chill to the air, sunny and breezy.  There was a hint of the lovely “dead leaves” scent hanging around also.  A perfect day.

The leaves crunched under my feet as I walked.

My mums are in full bloom.

Things are really, really lovely outside.

This is my favorite time of year.  I’m very lucky to be able to enjoy it this year more than I’ve been able to in years past.  I hope that you’re making the most of these perfect days too.

<3

Sunshine, daisies, and acrylics.

I woke up this morning and I felt like me.

Yes, me.  The me that I feel has been missing for a while now.  My world seems hopeful and for once I think may have more creative energy in me than I know what to do with.  I don’t think there’s enough time for all of the projects on my to-do list.  And considering that I have so much free time right now, that’s saying a lot about how much I want to do!  Just need to keep reminding myself… one thing at a time.

So far, this morning has been spent watching The Karate Kid while crocheting hexagons for my first afghan.  I’m using this awesome tutorial from Lucy over at Attic 24.  I’ve not done much crocheting in my time, so whipping up my first hexagon was quite the cause for celebration!  I’ve managed to get a few completed so far, but there are many, many more left to make.

They’re going to make a fun blanket!  I’ve always had such a soft spot for crocheted afghans.  My mother has been crocheting them for as long as I can remember.  Her bread and butter is the ripple afghan.  The stripes of carefully chosen colors (read: muted 70′s color combos of greens, yellows, browns, and oranges) are epic.  There was one in particular that I remember as a child:  stripes of sage green, daisy yellow, and sandy brown.  That particular afghan was so fabulous that my sister had my mother make a duplicate for her last year.  I’ve always wanted either a granny square or hexagon afghan, but my mother hates sewing all of the pieces together at the end.  Hence, her fondness for the ripple.  So, I’m diving in to the hexagons.  Armed with 7 1lb skeins of acrylic yarn in various colors and a size I crochet hook, I plan take over the world!  Well, I guess just make a really bitchin’ afghan.

So here’s to new-found freedom and acrylic yarn!

 

mishaps

It’s another glorious Sunday and my sleep-deprived brain is powered up on coffee and more coffee and has begged me for a day to sit down to figure a few things out.  So today is that day.

I’ve been feeling a little lack-luster with my knitting as of late.  I’ve been working on several projects here and there, but nothing has been finished and well, honestly I’ve pretty much screwed up every project that I’m working on.  I missed 2 yarn overs on my Multnomah about 7 rows in and didn’t notice it until I was ready to start the feather and fan section.  My stitch count is right, but the row is off.  So, that one will have to be redone.  Damson was going along rather wonderfully until that fateful day that I was out having breakfast with my mother.  (I always take my knitting with me to our Sunday morning breakfast outings)  Randomly, my cable decided to just pop out from it’s happy home with the needle.  Unknowing of the divorce that had taken place in the knitting bag, I pulled out Damson and about half of the stitches slid off the cable.  Our server was at the table delivering drinks as this happened and so intelligently began to laugh and make jokes about my knitting disaster as I sat there horrified, staring at the loose stitches (which were many).  Had she not been delivering coffee to me at that moment, I may have exercised my mad kickboxing skills on her.  (Let this be a lesson to you:  Never laugh at another knitter’s knitting tragedy until they too, are ready to laugh at it.)  Disgusted with the mini disaster, I promptly returned Damson to it’s bag and have not reopened the bag since.  As for my Bitterroot shawl which has been on the needles FOREVER, I’m close to being finished, but can’t remember what row I’m on.  Attempts at deciphering where I am in the pattern have failed.  The sock that I’m working on is full of mini cables and isn’t the most user-friendly of patterns (but AMEN to cables without a cable needle!).  The stuffed bunny that I’m working on for my nice is adorable, but 2 strands of cotton held together with a tight gauge is murder on my hands which means slow going.  So there you have it.  My recent knitting adventures.  Being the Polly Positive that I am, I’m struggling with getting back to any of these projects.

So, that leaves me feeling a bit … directionless with the fiber.  But, this morning my brain began to stew with some ideas on what I can do.  Armed with a couple of EZ books, coffee and my sketchbook, I’ve set up shop at my desk to figure things out.

So, I’m working it out.  I’m not going to let a couple of sticks and some string get me down.

And that stack of yarn there… those are all of my spins from the last week that I still need to wash and finish.  I’m  a little behind.