What happened in April?

The blog was a little quiet last month. I'm kind of sorry, and kind of not. Life wasn't extra crazy and we weren't sick, but I put my focus towards something else for April. My writing. April is one of the Camp NaNoWriMo months. Writers can pick what they want to write and their word goal. You can write scripts, non-fiction, poetry. Or you can do what I did, which was edit. I gave myself the goal of editing and moving 60,000 words from a first draft into a second. I ended up having to rewrite several chapters so I probably ended up writing 30,000 words and editing 30,000. 

Yep, I did it. Finished just before 10 last night. I spent most of the weekend at my computer as I was about 11,000 words shy of my goal on Friday. A lot of new chapters, for the new ending, were written on Saturday and Sunday, and a lot of it wasn't very good. But now that the words are written down, I can edit them and make them better. In February, I started editing the first draft and I'd send a couple chapters a week to my sister-in-law to read. By the end of March I only had 11 of 30+ chapters done. It was taking too long and I'd lose momentum if I didn't edit everyday. So I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, hoping I'd finish and I did. And I'm pretty thrilled about finishing. Winning for editing feels a lot better than winning for writing 50,000 words in November. I'll be rereading the whole thing starting Wednesday and then I'll be sending it out to some Beta-readers next week. Kind of scary but necessary. May's focus? Catching up on all the knitting and quilting that was ignored in April and researching agents and publishers to send my manuscript too (that's super scary). First up - this blog post and then mending my husband's shorts that have been sitting beside my sewing machine for two weeks.

I finished crocheting this afghan in April. (Ignore my face, I was probably yelling at the 3 year old who was outside with us and getting into trouble.) I used all 9 skeins of yarn I had and then did 3 rounds in blue for a border. Yarn was some acrylic stuff from Michael's that is perfect for afghans. It should hold up really well. And after washing became surprisingly soft.

Feels great wrapped around shoulders.

Got to love how colorful it is.

Back inside the 3 year old and I made sure it was good for snuggling under. It passed. The afghan will be a Christmas gift this year.

Other things that happened in April? My daughter and I marched for Science.

I crocheted a ton of button flowers. There are 72 in this picture if you're looking for an exact number. Only have 12 left to make!

And I have been slowly knitting my Duvessa cowlette. The KAL for this ends on Thursday so I have some knitting to do.

I'm halfway done chart A. Still need to knit charts B and C. So I will be doing that today and tomorrow.

I have several pictures waiting to get posted that I hope to do this week and next. It would be nice to feel caught up (does that ever really happen though?).What have you been up to?

WIP Wednesday

Wow, I really fell off the blogging train at the end of last year, didn't I? Well, I'm not making any promises to be a better blogger this year. In fact, I'll probably be blogging less. I hope to continue with WIP Wednesday's as I like looking back at my own progress and I'll do the occasional Friday Finish post when I have something to share but that's it. I have a couple other posts planned for this month too, to wrap things up, but then I'll be posting only once or twice a week by February. This year will be a year of change for our family. My husband's contract at his current job ends this summer, which means he's on the hunt for a new one (anyone looking for an Evolutionary Biologist?), which will lead to us moving somewhere else this summer. 

And I'm really committing to my career as a writer this year. I continued my research over the holidays about creating a website and think I have it decided. Now I need to buy a domain and a website hosting plan. And I plan on doing it this week, which means my computer time will become making a website time for the next couple months while I figure it out. I'm in no rush to get a site up and running so I'll be taking my time making sure the website really reflects me and what I want to share. I'm thinking I might add a writing blog to my life as well (because 2 blogs aren't enough for me? - I also have a family only blog besides this crafty one). 

Even my What I've Been Reading posts kind of disappeared at the end of 2016. Mainly because I hardly read anything the past few months. I think I have 3 books I haven't shared here but I've already finished my first book of 2017 so perhaps I need to do a post soon. However, I spent hours yesterday moving my What I've Read archives into Goodreads. I really enjoy stats and I like comparing the number of books and pages I've read over the past 5 years. You can find me here on Goodreads and here's my stats page (which I adore). Are you on Goodreads? Even though I joined a couple years ago, I haven't really used it, so advice welcome. And I joined the 2017 challenge - I'd like to read 30 books this year, which is low for me, but I think doable since I know we're moving.

And now for what you're really here for, crafty WIP's. I have lots to share today. And several finishes that I still need to share from the holidays. I forgot to take pictures of some - mom, I need a picture of the socks I made you! Anyway, here's what I'm working on.

If I was following the pattern exactly, this shawl would be finished. However, looking at other people's projects on ravelry, I came across one that continued the edging up the side that should be bound off. I looked at her notes and asked for her to expand on how she did it but this morning I decided to find my own way. Can you see the slight curve beginning at the point? I've only done two pattern repeats so far that decreases one stitch every two rows. This might take a while but I've got plenty of yarn. Hope I love it when I'm done.

And I picked up a lot of this colorful yarn during the after Christmas sale at Michael's to crochet an afghan. I've been itching to make one. And as of right now, this is suppose to be a gift for next Christmas. I have over 2,000 yards. That should be enough, right? Pattern is from this book and can be found here.

On the ride home I finally cast on Hogmanay. I've been waiting to start this shawl for months. I got this yarn as part of the giftables club from The Loopy Ewe, fall of 2015, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was meant to be a Hogmanay shawl. Maybe because the yarn is similar to the one on the ravelry page? I don't know. I haven't done much yet but I'm looking forward to working on it more this month.

My mother asked me to help her with a crazy project. She has a store-bought comforter whose batting is starting to bunch. She wants to tie the quilt with buttons to help the batting stay in place, but she wants some of the buttons to become crocheted flowers like this Pin she saw on Pinterest. However, she doesn't crochet. But I do. She bought 2 packages of yellow buttons and some grey buttons and we picked up some floss and I gave her some floss from my stash and I crocheted a bunch of flowers with that really tiny hook while I was home for Christmas. I made her 34 (sorry no pictures, maybe you can take a picture of them, too, mom?). Then she placed them on the comforter and I realized she needs about 80 more. Yikes. So a package of buttons and the floss and the hook came home with me and now I have another WIP. I need to find some more grey buttons (I found 8 in my stash when I got home, mom!) and buy more floss but this should be a fun little project to work on over the next couple months.

Oh, and these are the buttons I took from my mother's button stash as payment. And yeah, I'll give you that yellow one back, mom.

I also started the December embroidery pattern by Sarah K. Benning once all the gift making was done. Still have lots to stitch but I'm really enjoying it.

And my awesome sister-in-law gifted me this project bag for Christmas. The teeny, tiny needles blew my mind. I love it, Michelle. And it's so big, I can fit 4 different projects in it. Great for car trips since the zipper at the top stops things from falling out and going everywhere.

What have you been working on? 

Goal Along and My Word for 2016

     Doing something a little different this year to help me focus. Last year I made no real goals and I didn't give myself a word for 2015. I went in with the idea to make the year about improving myself but didn't really give myself a way to measure that. Near the end of 2015, I asked myself if I could give 2015 a word what would it be? The first word that came to mind was disappointment. At the end of the year I didn't feel I had grown in any area of my life. I still hadn't finished editing a novel - I had started editing 2 but that was it. I had made a list of projects I liked to complete and had it as a separate page on this blog (it will be changing to my 2016 goals soon) but every time I updated projects I did complete or books I had read, I thought about all the other things I had planned to do in 2015 and felt like a failure. My ambitions were too big and unrealistic with the time I could spare. 

When I read Sarah's post on Imagined Landscapes about a Goal Along I really liked the idea of breaking goals down into steps for each month or even each week. And it's only for the first four months of the year. If at the end of April I don't feel this is working for me, I don't need to make goals for the next 4 months, I can do something else.

But I'm going to give this a try. Sarah suggested picking 3-5 areas that we'd like to focus on and then break those areas down into monthly goals to help keep ourselves accountable. Right now, most of the discussion is in her ravelry group but if you aren't on ravelry (and you don't need to be a knitter to participate), she will have posts on her blog that you can read and comment on as well. I'm going to start with weekly Goal Along blog posts on Mondays. Once the kids return to school each week, I find Monday is my day to regroup. I look back on what I did the week before and what I need or want to do in the week ahead.

Here are the four areas I have decided to work on for the first four months of 2016.

1. Writing.

     This seems like an obvious one. For a couple years now I have talked about wanting to be a writer. First I need to change how I think of myself. I don't want to be a writer, I am a writer. Second, I need to finish editing a novel and get it out into the world. My writing goal is to finish editing a novel and also work on polishing and submitting some poetry. Here is how I will break it down.

Novel

January - edit 4-5 chapters a week 

February - reread novel, make notes about what needs to be added or taken away and fix it. Continue to edit spelling/ grammar, etc... as I read.

March - look for a few readers to read the current draft and give me comments in return. 

April - finish making edits so it is ready to be sent out to agents/ publishers 

Poetry

Weekly - revise 3 poems

Monthly - send out 3 submissions 

2. Crafts

     It's no secret I love to create. I knit, I quilt, I crochet. We are fairly certain that we are moving the summer of 2017 so a big part of my crafting this year is stash busting my yarn and fabric. I've done really well not buying fabric the last couple years as I do a lot more knitting than quilting now but the yarn stash keeps growing. Here are my crafty goals.

Knitting

More selfish knitting. Of the 11 pairs of socks I knit last year, I gave 7 away. My sock drawer is in desperate need of more socks. 

January - is all about finishing WIP's like the socks for my SIL above that were suppose to be for Christmas (oops). Other WIP's to finish are a pair of socks for myself (first sock is done), Pi Shawl, Mystery KAL shawl, Minecraft Creeper afghan for my son's birthday (has a deadline of the 22nd)

February - finish Thermal Tunic for myself. After knitting 4 sweaters and a cardigan as Christmas presents, I started this one at the end of December as a selfish knit that I can't realistically try to finish in January.

March - another pair of socks for myself and a cowl for me too.

April - to be decided.

Quilting

January - mini quilt that is a birthday gift

             - lap quilt that is a birthday gift

February - finish snowman face quilt

March - finish Cuzco quilt

April - a quilt for Floyd (our toddler who turns 3 beginning of May)

Food for Floyd

For Christmas, Floyd was gifted a set of play dishes. Since he is our last, I didn't want to spend money buying him a play kitchen so I painted 2 boxes to give him an oven, stove, fridge, sink and cupboard. He really likes washing and drying his dishes. He loves playing with his kitchen but has no food. This is just a short term goal but I wanted to remember that I need to do it.

January - make 2-3 different foods for Floyd each week

February - evaluate if he needs/ wants more.

3. Health

     One of the things I did last year but didn't share here or with anyone until the end of the year, was how much I was doing yoga and exercising at home. I felt very self conscious about it. I bought myself a couple sets of hand weights and have a secret pinterest board where I pin different workouts and yoga routines. I don't know why I hid it. Both are good things for me. It is the only goal last year  that I found a good way to keep myself accountable. I printed off a free calendar and marked the days I did yoga or exercised. 

Here is the calendar. When I think I didn't do yoga at all the year before and that I can't remember the last I time I purposely exercised it's not bad. When the kids were home in the summer I definitely did less and I gave myself a break in December so I had more time for gift making. You might be able to read my totals at the end of the year - I did yoga 53 times and exercised 65 times. The Mondays where I did both is due to the new yoga class my friend and I started going to last fall. It's the best/hardest yoga class I've ever done and it leaves us dripping in sweat (it's not hot yoga, just a Vinyasa flow class). I figure if I sweat like that, it also counts as a workout.

I will continue to focus on eating better this year. I have tried to give up pop completely in the past but always end up failing. I need to allow it as a treat and not feel bad about it. Here is how my health goals break down.

Yoga - 2-3 times a week

Exercise - 3-4 times a week

Pop - no more than 1can a week

I think I need consistency so I am not aiming to increase the number of times I do yoga/ exercise but that they become a regular part of my life.

4. Blogging

I enjoy blogging but it's a lot of work. I don't know if people who don't write blogs realize how much time this takes. Today's post is unusually long and I've already spent over two hours on it. Last year is the most I have ever blogged. I have a second blog I write that is just about our family for all our relatives in Canada that's just over 10 years old now. Between the two I wrote over 200 blog posts last year. I was able to schedule some blog posts in 2015 but I need to get better at that. I also find I get blog fatigue quickly. I want to post but don't have the energy to do it. I had been doing a post every Sunday where I shared links to interesting things I have found on the internet during the past week but it became stressful to find stuff and have the post up Sunday morning. I might bring it back in some way because I do enjoy sharing but I burned out doing it every week. 

Again I think consistency is key and doing regular, slightly predictable posts would be good.

Weekly - 1 post about WIP's (if I have several yarn and fabric WIP's, this could be broken into 2 separate posts.)

            - 1 post with finishes (if I have any to share)

            - Monday post about Goal Along

Monthly - write up 1 tutorial/ pattern and have it free on my blog

               - blog post about what I read each month

January - update Goal page 

February - add icons on sidebar that link to twitter/ pinterest/ etc...

March - ?

April - ?

    

     Okay, I think that's it for Goals. 

     In the title of this post I mentioned that I had a word for 2016. As I wrote this post, I was thinking I should change my word to Focus, but it doesn't feel right. My word for 2016 is...

... Be.

Just, Be.

I want to take the pressure off myself this year and enjoy life. If I don't make any of my goals, I need that to be okay. It isn't really a big deal if I knit another 6 pairs of socks for myself this year. It would be nice but not the end of the world if I don't. In the past I have gotten too down on myself for not completing goals and that doesn't help me or my family. Just saying the word Be to myself when I start to feel stressed, relaxes me. My shoulders drop down, even though I didn't realize they were up.

My real goal for 2016? I don't want to feel like the year was a disappointment at the end of it. When I look back on 2016 in December I want to feel that I did my best. I was kind to myself when I needed it and loved my family. Everything else ... will just Be.

A Couple Finishes for Friday

Last month I finished a little addition for my desk. I bought a mini-charm of  Kate Spain's Daydream at a quilt show last summer and sewed them together some time in the fall. I quilted it earlier this year and finally put binding on it. It currently sits on my desk with a new plant bought a couple weeks ago. It's nice to look up from the computer/ sewing machine and see it there.

Finished mat. 

Another finish in June was finally adding an About Me page to the blog. It only took me 6 years. And it's kind of wordy but I like it. I made some collages using PicMonkey. It was fun to go back through pictures and decide what to include.

Pictures of me and my kids. I guess I'll have to keep changing this one as they grow up but these are some of my favourites.

Some of my quilts that I love. The postage stamp quilt on the left was gifted to my husband's boss when we left Idaho. It was hard to give away. You can read more about it here - I mention in the blog post that we kept it but later changed our minds and gave it away. The middle quilt is my Jelly Roll Bargello which I wrote a tutorial for that can be found here. This quilt is currently on my daughter's bed. The quilt on the right I called a Charmed Log Cabin as the middle is a charm square. I had taken pictures planning on writing a tutorial for it but I never got around to it. Perhaps this fall? You can read more about the quilt here. I still love it and use it.

Knitting texture. Passerine on the left, Wedgewood shawl in the middle and cables from a vest on the right. I think deciding which knitting pictures to include was the hardest.

And some pictures of me. On the left is me knitting on the swing in our backyard. I love knitting out there but don't get to do it very often. Wearing my Flatiron cowl in the middle and my feet in Lake Michigan, September 2013 during our first family vacation as a family of 5.

See you next week!

When the cleaning/ purging/ organizing bug hits, you must embrace it and let it take over your life. It started at the end of last week and included my husband donating a carload of stuff Sunday afternoon.     I thought it had passed but after getting rid of a desk that only held stuff and wasn't really being used, I was left with all that stuff to put ...somewhere. My big table, and now my only work surface, is covered in books, yarn, patterns, lots of loose paper and all the other bits a desk drawer holds. We are happy about the extra space but it's going to take me all week to dig my way out of the clutter. 

There is a table under there, somewhere. I pulled things out from under the table to reorganize everything.

The quilt is still under the needle of the sewing machine but it's covered in stuff. The two empty bins are from my daughter's room. She also got in the purging mood this weekend.

I took this picture earlier this afternoon and it already looks better than this. But this should keep me busy for the rest of the week so I won't be blogging. I'm not doing much crafting anyway. I might pop in with a what I read this month post later this week or it might wait until next week. 

Have you been bitten by the Spring cleaning bug this year? Or perhaps this is just a case of severe procrastination.

Around the Web with a Cup of Tea

I've been battling the cold that kept my husband home from work for a week and since I blogged my Friday Night Sew-In results on Saturday, I decided to take Sunday off and do my Around the Web with a Cup of Tea post a day late. So if you're having as difficult time as I am getting up and going this Monday, take a couple extra minutes and check out some of the interesting things I found on the internet this past week.

I had no plans to do NaNoWriMo this year, but than this makes me change my mind. 

Read the book. Interesting to learn how the idea started.

Who doesn't love learning even more about the wonderful Margaret Atwood.

Of the 8 books in the Anne series my favorite, after the first one of course, is the last, Rilla of Ingleside. Loved reading this article about it. I might have to reread it.

Now some crafty links. It is taking everything in me not to join this QAL. I would have a grey background with blues, white and a bit of green. Not that I've thought about it or priced fabric.

Look at all these safety eyes! I might need to get some.

I've been wanting to make some cosmetic changes to the blog for a while and been looking into how to do it myself. So if things look weird over the next couple weeks, be patient but feel free to leave a comment if things look too strange, aren't working or you find spelling mistakes. I'll be adding an About Me page and a different header as well. I think I'm looking forward to those 2 the most. 

Around the Web with a cup of Tea

I probably spend too much time surfing the web, looking at pinterest and reading blogs during the week. Here's a few of the interesting things I've found this week.

I love the Muppets and they've started a new web series. 

On Ravelry someone linked to a video of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the Yarn Harlot) knitting. It's crazy fast. I think I want to learn how to knit like that.

These pierogies look yummy. I think I might try to make them.

Love this bird print.

I really enjoyed this post by Elise. She also does a weekly links post which gave me the idea for this one. 

I also liked this writing post. 

When Pinterest first started, I went on it a lot. Then people got upset about everyone not getting the credit they deserved and I stopped using it. I recently decided to start using it again as things have improved and I've been enjoying it. You can find my boards here. My sister's joined too and her boards can be found here. Lots of good stuff out there.

Books I read in July

So Reading/ Writing Wednesday will be going through some changes. The last Wednesday of every month I'll review what I read that month, while the first Wednesday of every month will highlight some of what I hope to read or my latest borrowings from the library. Here is July's round-up.

"The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

I actually finished this at the very end of June but never got around to blogging about it. I have read all her other books which were mainly about knitting while this one deals with the rest of her life. Knitting of course makes an appearance but it really deals with other events in her life. It was an enjoyable read but I admit to liking her other books better. This was still good and I'd recommend it but if you're a knitter, I'd recommend her other books first. There were a couple essays that were amazing - I think the last one in particular was really well written.

"The Creative Compass" by Dan Millman and Sierra Prasada.

A book about writing. It was alright but reminded me that I should really stop reading books about how to write and just write. It was interesting in that it was written by a father and daughter and had some good advice. They really, really like putting in quotes for inspiration.

"The Stone Gods" by Jeanette Winterson.

I love Jeanette. I love everything I have read of her work. This book is no exception. However, this book isn't for everyone. It is Science Fiction, which usually I don't enjoy but I loved this book. I don't want to give away too much... basically it wrestles with the idea of what if humans keep getting a redo. A chance to start over but we always end up doing the exact same thing - destroying our planet. 

When I tell my husband about a good book I'm reading he always asks how many robots are in it. It was nice to tell him there are actual robots in this novel. It made him look up from his computer. However the main robot in this book is female and has sex with both men and a woman, so if that kind of thing might offend you, feel free to skip this book. But the robot sex with humans is such a minor, minor part of the book, it's the humans and what they do that matters.

"We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves" by Karen Joy Fowler.

I finished reading this novel Monday evening. I think my mom would really like this book. It's another book that I don't want to say too much about. The book unravels into a wonderful tale and I really didn't know how it was going to end. I highly recommend it.

This book was nominated for the Man Booker Prize which is how I discovered it. The local library tweeted a list of all the nominees they had available at the library. I ended up requesting all them. This is the first one that I read. I have one more here and am waiting on the others. I also requested the book that won last year. To see this year's list go here. They all look so good.

#444

Last week I was looking at old blog posts and discovered that today marks 5 years since I started this blog and that this is post #444. It's been a long 5 years and it feels like a lot more. When I first noticed today would mark 5 years I tried to think of how I would mark the anniversary. If I had more readers I'd have a giveaway or something like that, but I lost a lot of readers when I changed the name of the blog a couple years ago and haven't really been able to get any back. I know it is mainly family reading this blog post today and that's okay. However, that lead to my second thought, that today should be my last post. Or perhaps announce a hiatus of several months as most weeks I struggle to write anything here. But one thing I have finally mastered as an adult is sleeping on every major decision. Whenever I want to rant, or quit something, I force myself to hold off from doing anything and go to bed instead. This past year I've wanted to quit this blog several times each month. Partly because I just can't get a lot done with a baby around. Partly because I don't know why I'm blogging or what I want this blog to be. I've had fabric sitting on my desk for a week that I finally finished cutting today. What would have taken me an afternoon to cut just over a year ago now took several days of doing a little bit here and there when I could. It drove me crazy. I just want to create but I can't and I get frustrated, and the lack of having anything to post about reminds me that I'm not creating, I'm not writing. It's been a hard road and I keep telling myself that it will get better. One day the baby will again sit and play with his toys. All he wants to do now is crawl or walk along the furniture. He is constantly getting into trouble and can't be left alone for a minute. I can't remember the last time he sat for more than a few seconds to play with something and that has affected my productivity, as it should. As much as I know and accept that he will only be a baby once (and my last baby), I can't help but want time for me, need time for me. We are trying to find a balance. Giving me time on the weekends or the evenings to get something done but it's hard to ignore his cries when it's me that he wants. 

So, what am I going to do? I guess I will keep going. No hiatus. No quitting. I'll try to post as often as I can. And I'm going to try and establish a routine before summer vacation begins and it gets really crazy around here. Today I finished reading a book about committing to process time (free creative time), product time and self-care everyday. Start small (15 minutes) then expand the product time. It was a book about writing and so writing is what I would be working on during product time but knitting and quilting would be my process time. Time to be creative and let my mind go and relax. And I need to take better care of myself. It's easy to forget that everything is connected and when I don't take care of myself and do the things I enjoy, I won't be up for doing any work.

Enough blabbing, here's some knitting. Made some good progress on the cardigan for my mom this past week. Something finally clicked and I can read cable charts instead of checking each time what I'm supposed to be doing. It's made it go a lot faster and more enjoyable.

I bought some yarn last week, too. Webs is having a 40th anniversary sale so I ordered up some yarn.  The pink one on the bottom is to make something for my daughter, but not sure what. Socks, maybe? All this yarn is sock weight.

I got 3 of these (also sock weight) and I might get more. I love it even more in person. I had planned to make socks for my sister and then something for me but I really love it and would like a cardigan or sweater in it.

This I bought to make a cardigan for me. Once I finish the back of my mom's cardigan I'll allow myself to cast this on.

Here's the little guy helping me. I keep the pattern in a page protector (or drool protector) that he likes to carry around. 

Writing Wednesday - Finding Balance

This week has been so strange that it's hard for me to believe that it is Wednesday already. Today feels like a Monday with a whole long week ahead of me and I've had to keep reminding myself that there are only 3 more days until the weekend, not 5. Having Wednesday dedicated to writing on the blog has really helped me focus on writing during the rest of the week. I need something to blog about so I better write something.

Monday night I was able to begin rereading my Camp NaNoWriMo novel from April 2012. I haven't looked at it in over a year so I know I need to reread the whole thing before I start making any edits. I have paper beside me to write down anything I might need to remember like minor character names and events. I tried to read more of it yesterday when everyone was home but life just didn't cooperate. I'd like to finish reading it by this time next week and start thinking about revisions - characters I want to develop more or perhaps take out completely; events I want to include, exclude or expand. Sometimes the process feels like it will take forever and is very overwhelming and I want to stop. The first step, however, is just reading it and that seems easy enough. 

I also finished reading this book this week. I think a lot of the information is for non-fiction writers who need to appear as an expert in their field before publishers will even look at them. However, I think it had a lot of good advice for me as well. It talked about having a social media presence which I have been trying to work on. I've begun following some people and groups on Google+ (although I'm still not really sure how to use it properly) and have tweeted a little bit more and have started following some new people, which has gotten me a few new followers as well. It feels scary to put myself out there. I like being anonymous. I like having my opinions but I don't really feel the need to discuss them with anyone outside my family and close friends. 

The one thing this book encouraged me to do was to sit down and think about what I want from this blog. What kind of readers/followers do I want? What do I want to write about? And why do I like the blogs that I do?

I spent some time thinking about these questions and writing down some answers. It became clear who I want  my audience to be. I really want to have readers that are similar to me. They can be moms, but not necessary as I don't write about my kids too much here. They should like reading and crafting. A lot of the blogs I follow are just women crafting and being honest about their lives. It's neat to take a peak into someone else's life but just a peak. I don't really follow anyone who overshares, is very opinionated or critical of others. The world can be a cruel place and I look to blogs to lighten it up a little and to give my creative self something to think about. This is what I want for this blog as well. 

This blog started as a place to share my quilts but has evolved as I have the past few years. Although I still like making quilts, it has not been my focus the past year or so. I thought I couldn't talk about all my interests, that I needed to focus on just one thing. I changed the name of the blog from Rachel's Quilts to Stitch 2, Write 1 to try and break out of that, to show that I was more than a quilter. When I did that my blog kind of got lost. I stopped getting new followers and comments. People forgot about me but I also think I needed to take a step back. Sure I changed the name but was I ready to share more about myself? Probably not. I replaced quilts with knitting but I still wasn't very present. This year I'm attempting to change that and Writing Wednesday is the first big step. It's scary to write about my writing ambitions but I know there are many other writers just like me. Wanting to get published, trying to edit their first novel but still trying to be themselves. I don't want to stop knitting or quilting just because I'm also a writer now (and I need to start feeling comfortable calling myself a writer, too). This blog, I hope, will become a place for me to reflect and comment on how I am balancing my writing life with mothering 3 children while still finding time to do the things I love like knitting and quilting.

It's taken me all day to write this post. I took time to think about what I wanted to say and rewrite several sentences. I also wrote a new piece of creative nonfiction for the CBC Canada Writes contest that has a deadline of this Saturday. I also fed the baby numerous times, changed some diapers, read blogs and ate some chocolate.This is me trying to balance my life.

Progress and Change

A lot has been going on around here. On a whim I started this cowl last Thursday. I have about 5 skeins of this sock yarn and have used this brand (different colours) to make socks and noticed it pills badly. I've been trying to decide what to do with it. I would hate to donate it and have someone buy it and discover how badly it pills after they make something. But I can't bring myself to throw it out - 1 skein maybe but not 5.  I wanted to use it but not for socks. I'd been searching scarfs and shawls with lace patterns since I am more likely to hand wash and lay flat to dry lace pieces than put them in the washer and dryer, like I do with my knitted socks. I found this free pattern on ravelry and is actually written by someone I knew in Michigan. It is a really fast knit if you are interested and since I used sock yarn (she used lace) I only needed to do 5 pattern repeats instead of 6. I finished it last night around midnight and have it blocking right now. I'll get better pictures once it is dry - the above picture was taken after completing 3 repeats.

I also took the plunge and started quilting my Oh My Stars quilt. I even registered it in the guild's quilt show on the 14th and 15th so I need to hurry up and finish it. I wanted the white fabric to disappear and so I began by doing a simple meandering stitch on all the white. And after seeing this quilt on flickr I knew I wanted to include spirals and decided to do them on the yellow stars. There is a spiral in the middle square, then I made points going off into the corners. They look like mini suns and I love it.

I was kind of stuck on what to do with the blue stars and tried a couple things that I ended up ripping out. I have finally decided just to outline each with blue thread. I didn't want to do anything to distract from the space fabric in the middle or the yellow stars. The yellow stars make this quilt and I am so happy I ran out of white background. I still need to finish the blue stars than I need to decide what I am going to do with the black spaces. It isn't in any of the pictures above, but if you look at the  quilt top here you will see that I replaced some star blocks with space themed fabric. I don't know what to do with them. And I'm not sure what to do with the border. I thought of straight lines to make the border look like a window frame but I figure the border will tell me what it needs when I get to it. I really want to bind and wash this and then decide how much more quilting it needs but I know I can't.

Been working away on the sleeves for my dad's cardigan. Finished the cuffs and have 13 more inches and 30 more stitches to add to each sleeve before they are ready to attach to the body. It's kind of fun to make two at a time but the yarn tangles are a bit of a headache.

It's been awhile since I posted any progress on this cardigan. I started making this for myself last July as my kids and I travelled across Canada on a train. My goal was to finish it by my birthday last September and I was pretty close. All I had left were the sleeves. I think I am going to only knit vests for the rest of my life. There's something about sleeves that just slow me down. I added a bit to the sleeves in December trying to get it done by the end of 2011 but that didn't happen either. Took it out this morning and got 2 lace repeats done. My biggest problem... I'm not sure how long I want the sleeves to be. There will be 1 1/2 inch garter stitch border at the end of the sleeve and I can't decide between short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve or long sleeve. Thoughts? 

I really do love the pattern and it is easy to memorize. It is a free pattern on ravelry and is quite popular (over 11,000 have been started). I think I need to finish it this month so I can enjoy it this spring (although with the snow we are getting today it doesn't feel much like spring). And what else has got me motivated to finish it? I finally have buttons for it. I told myself once I am done the first sleeve I am going to put the buttons on. I thought I was going to put round, wooden buttons on but I am going a totally different direction and am quite excited. About buttons!?! I amaze myself sometimes.

Now for the change I mentioned in my post title. Maybe some have noticed or maybe you haven't, but things have been disappearing from this blog. The link to my etsy store is gone because I am shutting it down; at least temporarily. I have completely lost all desire to make and sell my work and was more frustrated by the experience than anything. I have also been deleting some of the blogs I follow, not because I don't like them but they were becoming a time sucker. There are some I follow that I don't have listed. That will probably change as I am changing the title of this blog to something that more represents all of me and not just my quilting. The blog started as a place for me to share my quilts instead of doing it on our family blog which is mainly about our kids (and all though it isn't private, it really isn't interesting to anyone other than our family back in Canada). I know that my family are the main readers of this blog but having it separate gives them the option of looking at my quilts and stuff if they want to. 

So I am slowly changing things when I have the time and motivation. I won't say what the blog name will change to since the name which is available today may not be tomorrow or next week. And since I am a little nervous about moving everything I am trying to save it all before I make the move. The new blog will have a slightly different focus. Not only will it include my quilting, knitting and other crafty stuff, but it will include more of me. And I will probably either post less or write shorter posts. It's a lot of work and time to take pictures specifically for blog posts and write about them and sometimes it feels pointless. Personally, I am refocusing on my family and our impending move this summer. I am also focusing on writing. I'm glad that I rediscovered my love of writing last November but sometimes after spending all morning at the computer writing blog posts, reading blogs, updating ravelry and flickr, I don't have the energy to write. I am a great procrastinator so I am also taking myself off of pinterest as well. As much as I love it, I'm sick of the controversy that surrounds it and the people that are abusing it. I have already deleted a lot of my pins and am working on saving or deleting the rest.

To sum up - the blog name and its appearance are changing. Progress may be slow or there will be a lot of change at once. Hopefully you will all come along for the journey but I've realized that blogging, if it's going to take time away from my family and my writing, it needs to be something I enjoy, and feeling like I have to post sucks the enjoyment out of it. Thanks to everyone who reads and comments and to those who read but never comment. It's been an interesting experience and I am looking forward to the changes that the rest of 2012 will bring for me, my family and this blog.