It's here.

The day I'd not at all looking forward to....... Finishing Day. Tonight and tomorrow will be spent weaving in ends and sewing stuff up. (and trying to finish another small present. Did I mention I have a really screwed up sense of time?)

There will also be more baking. The cookies, brownies, and cheese ball were all accomplished, but that leaves the cupcakes and another attempt at blondies (the last ones were WAY underdone, a problem I didn't notice until it was much too late to do anything about it.)
So why the heck am I still sitting here? Gotta go!

Love letter to Sunday.

I remember way back when Sunday had become just another workday in a long stretch of endless retail weekends. Then I changed jobs to a new wonderful place where I only worked Sundays if I felt like it, which mostly I didn't. Since then, I've come to appreciate having that day completely to myself.

Sundays around here are generally dedicated to football, knitting, and sometimes a big cooking or baking project. Last time it was chili and lasagna, but I might try and throw together some whatchagot casserole today. I'm on a mission to use what's left in my cupboards until I go grocery shopping next week, but it's starting to become quite the challenge now that I'm running out of both fresh and canned vegetables. But I'm too determined to go out to eat now, so I'll be coming up with something awesome out of the odds and ends.

Then again, I might bag all of that in favor of the pizza in the freezer. That's my favorite part about Sunday-- doing exactly whatever I please.

As freeform as my Sunday afternoons tend to be, I have set myself to a sort of knitting schedule. A couple of the projects I'm working on are time-sensitive and won't get done unless I hunker down to do them. So I've set a schedule for the next week of not-so-much when to knit, but what my project(s) of the day are. (I like having more than one option, so I listed two to three projects each day to give me a choice.) Next week I'll review and make a schedule for the next week.

It probably sounds a bit crazy, stringently scheduling what is essentially a hobby. But there are certain things I've promised myself I will accomplish, and it seems that won't happen unless I start getting disciplined with myself.

So for the rest of my Sunday, it will be a highly anticipated football game, laundry, and working Project A, E, or D.

Not gonna sing a sad song tonight. Gonna dust myself off, gonna do alright

Someday....

...I will finally get my craft room in order.

....I will find the time to knit and spin and maybe even sew and bead.

...I will come home without paint in my hair.

...I will set up that Etsy shop.

....those plants that are waiting to be repotted will get there. Or they'll die first, thereby eliminating the problem.

...I will learn how everyone else manages to juggle their lives, because the more I think about it, the more I doubt that I am any busier or more stressed than anyone else.

"Someday" seems closer than it used to be, but still not quite close enough. I'm grateful for small victories-- every hard-won inch of knitting (even the gauge swatch) and every little bit of roving that manages to find it's way onto a spindle. I'm grateful for summer, because although the busy season at work is starting and won't let up until October, the days are sunny and warm and give me a renewed sense of life. And I'm grateful for Google Reader, because some days being able to read other people's crafty accomplishments is the only thing that gives me hope for myself!

Someday, the phrase "someday I'll do that" will give way to the phrase "yesterday I did that." I'm looking forward to it (and working forward to it even harder.)

My summer girl....

We just came back from the monthly AHS adopt-a-thon, and although the dogs we want to adopt weren't there, I'm still pretty stoked that we're getting the ball rolling. We've talked with the humane society folks and are probably going to wait until we've finished working on the condo and are fully moved before going any further, but I can't wait. I'm already envisioning trips to the dog park, summer camping, and afternoons at Toad Lake!

We'll have to see how our new dog(s) get along with Tim and Amber's pets, but I think it will be alright. (Tim and Amber have about a dozen animals, but typically only bring their two dogs, Reno and Vegas, Beaker the duck, and Honeydew the goose when we go camping. They have playpens for them and everything. They're crazy-but-in-the-cool-way pet people.)

All around, I'm really excited by how this spring/summer is shaping up. We are 4 days away from closing on our new house. It's like Christmas, only you make all your presents yourself. In two weeks, I'm going to have more closet space than I can wrap my head around and a whole room in which to put yarn. My job, minus one nagging thing that's been stressing me out, is exactly where I want to be right now. E and I are doing amazingly well, even with all the stress of starting this new chapter in our lives. My friends are wonderful. My family's been great. What more could a girl ask for?

I think I'll go work on the fuzzy sweater and my new pattern project. I'm finally settled enough to sit down and math these things out.

*puts on best italian accent*
The purse, she is fini!

I actually finished it about a week ago, but hadn't had a chance to take pictures yet. After using it for a couple of days, I've decided that adding a lining and a closure would be best. Without the lining, it tends to get stretched out by whatever's in it, and since it has a tendency to flop over when set down, it might be good to have a way to keep stuff from falling out. Otherwise, I love it-- just the right size to hold what I need, but not so big I stuff everything but the kitchen sink into it.

Even after knitting with two balls at once, things still came out a bit more solidly striped that I had planned. I'm thinking maybe next time the best bet would be to start one ball from the outer end and one from the inside. Maybe that will help?

I also finished Carly's mittens. They're green and stripey thanks to the Noro Kureyon I used. Now to mail them to her!

Next up is the Straightjacket Sweater from Naughty Needles, minus the whole buckling-in-the-back thing. I'm replacing the original thick-and-thin yarn called for with a similar one I found at Joann. Typically I've been fairly standoffish towards most of their yarns. I'm trying to avoid the term "yarn snobbery", but that's pretty much what it is. However! I found one that feels nice, looks good, has the same fiber content and has so far been getting the right gauge. And all for over $4.00 less a skein! PLUS, it's on sale for an extra $2.00 off right now. Does it get much better? I think not.

It's beginning to look a lot like January.

I don't believe in new year's resolutions, but since we are coming up to the end of the year, I thought I'd put together some knitting/craft goals for the next little while:

• make more stitch markers, including ones designed for crochet (with the exception of Jen, nobody I know has actual stitch markers! We all use bobby pins and safety pins and bits of stuff!)
• finish atleast half of the projects currently languishing around the apartment
• make the skirt from "Greetings from the Knit Cafe"
• learn (or atleast attempt) spinning
• pick up jeweler's anvil and metal snips (for a pendant project)
• figure out a project for that pink cotton novelty yarn!
• dye more yarn
• reinstate the use of the craft journal (as in handwritten journal, not blog). With some projects, it really does help to take notes.
• start a pair of socks and actually finish them
• finally sit down and write "tutorial" of reknitted sweater tips.
• Maybe gain enough confidence in work to set up etsy store (this one might be pushing it just a tad.)
• Two words: Fair Isle.
  

In the immediate future, the goals are to finish E's scarf and the Noro mittens, get Jenny's scarf (and my dad's presents) mailed, and find some dinner!