Another New Year…

Every year, from Christmas to New Year’s Day – I think about resolutions.

Don’t ask me why. I know myself well enough, that I’ll never “finish”… but I am still compelled to participate in this tradition – even if I don’t like it! A few out of many isn’t bad right? Something better than nothing? Err…

Making resolutions is easy enough, the problem is keeping them.

So, when thinking about what goals to set for 2009, I decided to check out how I did in 2008. Oops! Failed many of these (even the knitting ones, gasp!) for a variety of reasons. 4/14 knitting resolutions, 4/5 personal resolutions. At least my excuses of school and surgery are acceptable. And the heat this summer? Yuck.

Since my surgery in July I’ve moved and made a lot of positive changes in my life. I’d like to continue on this path for 2009 with a couple of goals:

• continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle
• walk/bike a few days a week
• update blog/Ravelry/Flickr
• reopen Etsy shop
• take pictures of everything!
• finish knitting MY sweater!

And for my sanity?

• start making Christmas presents in January (unlikely, but can’t I dream?)

Happy New Year!

Success!

Surgery went great and I am alive and well. I’m more or less recovered, but still can’t do things like clean house, drive or swim for another 3-5 weeks. Boredom is an issue but I have some plans. Hopefully the weather will stay kind of cool so I can stay inspired! Heat makes me feel lazy.

The cyst ended up being 55 lbs of gross stuff. And I lost 70 lbs total from the surgery. Not bad for almost 2 days in the hospital! I’m eager to have the ok to start doing more than walking. Swimming and riding my bike sound pretty good right now. Having to sit on your butt for two months really changes your perspective on things!

It’s aliiiiive!

Well, I disappeared but I am back once again. This time with a legitimate, even medical reason!

Earlier this month, I was sick. Due to issues with insurance, I suffered for a couple weeks until things got sorted out and recently found out that I have some kind of gigantic ovarian cyst. Good news is they gave me pain medication and it doesn’t look cancerous. Bad news is the thing is huge and today we found out that it will probably be three or more weeks until they can cut the thing out of me!

Even with all the risks, everything is looking okay. I just need to find things to occupy my time. For the majority of June, I’ve spent my time on a chair or couch, unable to move much or lay down and have watched every possible TV show and all of the bad Lifetime and Oxygen movies. The worst part? Being too sick to knit! Yikes! With the recent change in my medication, I can knit and use the computer for short spurts which has really helped my sanity.

Most of my family is away camping for the weekend and they took the cute, lovable, loves-to-eat-wool puppy, so my next feat will be spinning.

I’m glad to know that my “sicknesses” are somewhat explained. The doctors still aren’t sure how long that this thing has been growing inside my abdomen, but it does seem to correspond with things that have happened in the past.

The past couple days I’ve been feeling much better. I’ve almost finished my second Forest Canopy Shawl in a matter of days, just about to start the border. Definitely an improvement on the first! I have the pattern completely memorized and have learned to read the knitting, so I haven’t had to rip anything back because I can usually tell where I left off. No more Post-It notes!

Making some progress…

I have dyed a TON of fiber the last few days. Everything looks fantastic. Hopefully I will have new batts up in the shop in the next few days.

My family isn’t too happy with the dyeing extravaganza – between the smell (my dad hates it) and my brother’s graduation party being June 8th… But hey, we have all week to clean! Roxy loves it though. Especially when she gets the chance to steal a giant 8 oz ball of roving and runs away under a table… Sigh. I should have really taken pictures, but didn’t have it downstairs. Regardless, I have lost the battery charger (again). I had it on Mother’s Day, but now it’s gone! I posses a unique talent for losing things, I really do.

This handspun is one of my latest – superwash merino, navajo plied, handdyed by me! I am hoping to turn it into socks for myself.

Note to self: Start taking pictures in the morning. Too many shadows in the afternoon!

Almost done…

Well, the semester is winding down. I’ve been busy keeping up with my homework, finishing final projects, etc. Can’t wait until it is over! Next week is finals and then I’m free for the summer.

I’m hoping to get some dyeing done between studying, this week or next. Lots of plans for new batts and yarns. My room is literally filled with wool, which usually wouldn’t be a terrible thing… but this is California and it is already up to 90 degrees most days. Yikes!

Trying to be “good” with school has really cut down on my knitting and spinning, but I plan to change that very soon!

To make up for my absence, here are some cute puppy pictures from Mother’s Day:

Art Project

For one of my classes we have an assignment to choose any medium and create a work of art. We have to document all steps of the process, etc. Our grade is based on how well you document the process, presentation and a few other factors.

I decided to combine my love of fiber arts and create a freeform piece that includes bits that I’ve dyed, spun, knitted or crocheted. Starting with commercial yarns in my stash, I’ve knit and crocheted different shapes and stitch them together. I plan to dye and spin yarns in similar colors to add a little more texture. I decided to use green, brown, orange, pink and cream. The colors might seem a little off the wall, but they match my bedroom! I figured, if I don’t hang my own art on the wall, who else would?

So far it is coming together pretty well. Before this my crochet skills consisted of making really long chains and deformed granny squares. I’m improving! I think the best part is that any mistakes can just be considered “design” elements.

New puppy!

Last week, we brought our new puppy home. Roxy is an absolutely adorable yellow Lab. I wasn’t exactly sold on the idea of a puppy but she is easy to love!

How can you not love that face?

We had our last dog over 10 years ago, a German Shepard named Heidi. But she was crazy! Big strong dog, nobody but my parents could really control her. And even then it was a stretch. I think when my mother was pregnant with my youngest brother, Heidi went to live with my aunt. They were afraid of having the dog around the baby and she was just too much to manage for anybody at that point!

It has been a definite learning experience. We’ve had cats all of my childhood and in comparison, they are way less maintenance! The puppy eats everything from lint, paper, tanbark, squished bugs, pine needles, Legos and crumbs. She loves to “taste” things as she walks by – cardboard boxes, ice chests, door frames, shoes, feet, etc. It will be a challenge for everybody to keep everything clean and picked up, but I’m sure they will learn fast!

The funniest thing is the puppy really knows how to work the “cute puppy” angle. Even my father – the man who doesn’t like animals, has been seen cuddling with the dog on the couch. Shocking!!

My puppy photography skills can definitely use some work. She is already like the rest of my family – “Get the damn camera out of my face, lady!”

Spring Break!

And it definitely is spring… Lovely weather out here in California. Midterms went okay for me. Thank god for Spring break – I needed one! Trying to catch up (and get ahead!) on my reading for classes then back to the crafty pursuits!

More new roving posted in my shop. Batts and handspun will be posted Thursday or Friday.

I have a little story that might be amusing. Here is the scenario: My brother is always buying the latest and greatest in electronics. Xbox, computers, iPod, LCD TVs, you name it. My siblings love to make fun of my hobbies (Wow, don’t you have enough yarn already?!), so naturally I compare all of their purchases to what it could buy in yarn/fiber.

For example, last week… Two of my brothers bought a giant LCD TV together. This thing is huge. Somewhere in the ballpark of 700-800 bucks because they got a really “awesome deal”. My first reaction – laughter. I’m not big of TV, but I do appreciate the larger screens. However, this is a 21 year old and a 17 year old, buying a TV on “plans” that they might, at some point in the future, move out and live together. Ha ha. Second reaction – outrage. “You spent what?! On another TV when both of you already have one, in each of your rooms? Why???” And the third – comparison. “You know, you could have bought me enough yarn to knit with for the next five years…”, “Hey, even 1/4 that could have bought me over 20 lbs of wool!”, etc, etc.

After the TV thing, there are no way my jokes are going to stop! I started kidding around that my brother should “invest” in my business. Hey, it seemed a little more plausible than him just giving me money outright… but still joking!

The hilarious part is he is seriously considering it. Of course, at the end of the same conversation he started criticizing my methods – describing ways I could improve, how I should promote, etc. Which resulted in more laughter.

Woo, first treasury!

Early this morning I opened up Etsy(while browsing the internet in my latest fit of insomnia). And what do I see….

I’m on the front page treasury. Woohoo!

Craft ADD?

Yesterday I found myself browsing in Goodwill, looking at frames for yet another craft project – papermaking. Do I really need something else to do? No! But I’m going to do it anyway!

I was very excited to find a small crockpot. It will be nice for doing solid colors or other small batch items. I hate doing less than 8-12 oz of wool in the big pot. Lots of roving dyeing today and tomorrow. Carding up more batts as well.

After tonight, my shop will be moved to a new location. I never intended to sell when I signed up on Etsy and the name just doesn’t seem appropriate. Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll be working on moving my current listings, as well as listing new items.