by Kat | Feb 25, 2019 | General, Words
Sometimes the best thing about a Monday morning is an in depth review of what you did over the weekend.
We have been in a bit of a “drink slump” on the Friday Happy Hour™ recently so I pulled up my Pinterest Gin Cocktail board and picked a new drink. Why gin? To me nothing says warm weather quite like gin and we are wishing for some of that here. I made this recipe for an Old Tom – it was okay, but we thought it needed a little something. My easy fix was to juice an orange and split that between the two cocktails (my orange, juiced, was roughly 2 ounces) and that was the perfect addition! This cocktail is bright and refreshing – the perfect slump breaker!
Saturday… oh Saturday!
I learned some lessons about my memory, telling time, and how the heck can a yarn vendor be a yarn vendor if they don’t have a SQ* of yarn. My apparently failing memory tells me that Indie Knit and Spin usually started at 10am in their old location, and I remember seeing something about an 11am start on FB, but actually reading the starting times might have been helpful. Why, even reading the FB alert on my phone might have been helpful! Yes, we arrived at 11am only to discover that 11-12 was the “pay preview.” I will leave Steve’s response to this to your imagination – but, let me just say – it was not pretty.
The biggest shock, however, came with the “yarn vendors.” How do they call themselves that if they only have **ONE OR TWO** skeins of yarn in any color????? I saw plenty of yarn I liked, but my intent was not to buy a skein or two of yarn to enhance my already out of control yarn stash! I was on a mission and the only purchase I was going to make would be to fulfill that mission! Imagine my shock when one vendor said to me and I am quoting: “You knit sweaters?” – as if this was a foreign concept! (also, HELLO!! I was wearing a handknit sweater, thank you very much!!) However, I persevered and tried a different tactic – I asked two different vendors if I could place an order for a SQ of yarn in a colorway. Their responses: “Not in that yarn, I don’t stock that yarn.” (Really? Because THAT IS ALMOST ALL THE YARN YOU HAVE IN YOUR BOOTH!!) And “That is a ‘unicorn’ color which means it was a mistake and it cannot be repeated.” – I almost wanted to stay in her booth for the remainder of the day to see how many “mistakes” she sold versus her “planned” colorways… almost. I did not and I really wish them luck with their “yarn hobby.”
There is, however, a silver lining to this disaster of a day, and it came from Lisa of Fibernymph Dye Works!! She had 3 skeins of yarn that I thought would work but, I needed one more skein. She did not ask me why I needed another skein – she just started looking through some show kits she had and found a fourth skein! Really, this was the most AWESOME customer service!! Lisa… you win the day (and you got the sale!!) Thank you!! And, no – this yarn is not for this sweater… I figured that having just one sweater on my radar might result in disaster, so I had a backup plan! I will combine this gorgeous yarn with an enormous skein Wollmeise Lace yarn that has been in my stash for ages. I have not swatched yet…but, I have thought about it more than once this weekend! If you are in need of a skein or ten of yarn, I highly recommend Lisa!
All this yarn angst triggered a bout of Day Drinking which Church Brew Works happily obliged! It was the perfect combination of good beer and great food!
Sunday had some bright moments but those moments did not include very much time outdoors – thank you Gale Force Winds, but that equated to some excellent knitting time. There was also some meal planning for the week in an effort to reduce the “what’s for dinner” conversation – and if this prolonged discussion eliminates the daily “what’s for dinner” diatribe – I am all for it. Because that conversation is my least favorite one to have, yet it is the most frequent!!
And, there you have it… after unloading all that I am ready for Monday! How about you?
*SQ = Sweater Quantity
by Kat | Feb 15, 2019 | General, Words
Another week draws to a close and this one ushers in a long weekend! Yes, Steve has Monday off and he is going to the car show with a friend.
Add to that we are more than half way through the month! Yes – in two weeks from today we welcome March! For as long as January felt, February is just flying by despite the weather!!
Thinking About – Dreams. I rarely dream, which may be a byproduct of insomnia – but recently I have been having the same set of dreams (some might call them nightmares) on a repeat track. The dreams are disturbing, and I am not sure why I am having them. However, it makes me curious that I can tell myself in the dream that it is a dream so thankfully there have been no repeats of me waking Steve with blood curdling screams. However, knowing it is just a dream has not stopped them from occurring. I am not sure if there is a message in the dream (or in any dreams for that matter), but I am more than ready to put this “dream list” on permanent pause.
Giddy About – A Monday Alone (see above!!) Yes, no meal planning, and really – no cooking!! Silly thing, but one I am really looking forward to, a day alone is the nicest of treats!
Inspired By – Empathy. This design is a “mashup of the four 2018 Pins & Lace patterns” and I have been unable to stop thinking about it since it was released earlier this month. It has been too long since I knit a Romi design and I cannot get this one out of my head. I think I am going to cast this on once I have my Shawl of Many Colors finished.
Focused On – Getting some sewing done today. I am ignoring my indecision and just doing it. Indecision is.the.worst!
That is all I have for this week! Have a wonderful (and hopefully) long weekend! See you all back here next week!
by Kat | Jan 29, 2019 | General, Words
Stop looking forward to things, look inward instead. Kamand Kojouri
After spending almost 30 days with my word for 2019 I am more confident than ever that focus is the right word for me this year. But, wow – there is so much to unpack with this word!
I have spent much of the month looking inward and thinking about the whys of all the things I do. It has been a very good review process which is going to upset several habits, and while they are not necessarily bad, they don’t always help me stay focused on what is important. Habits are hard to break but I have become more mindful of things I am doing – and the things I am not doing.
- I am refraining from jumping on the “Make 9 in 2019” bandwagon – although I have thought about it! Rather, I started a more mindful list of things I need to finish and things in my Ravelry Library that I want to make.
- I have started a gift knitting list that I will work on all year long.
- I want to intentionally spend an hour each evening spinning while we watch the news and I have been able to “sit and spin” at least 3 times a week thus far!
- I am not going to let my desk become the black hole for papers and, honestly – this might be the hardest habit to break! This is really going to take some work, so I have added it to my “monthly focus list” in my planner to help me stay focused!
So as January draws to a close, I feel like I am off to a good start for the first time in a long!
Want to see what everyone else is doing with their word? Head on over to Juliann’s to see!
by Kat | Jan 14, 2019 | General, Words
Michael Eric Dyson Spoke in depth about James Baldwin in his book What the Truth Sounds Like. My knowledge of James Baldwin was non-existent but thanks to the internet, I found a beautiful introduction to James Baldwin and his works. I found this poem most interesting and thought I would share it with you all today!
The giver (for Berdis)
By James Baldwin
If the hope of giving
is to love the living,
the giver risks madness
in the act of giving.
Some such lesson I seemed to see
in the faces that surrounded me.
Needy and blind, unhopeful, unlifted,
what gift would give them the gift to be gifted?
The giver is no less adrift
than those who are clamouring for the gift.
If they cannot claim it, if it is not there,
if their empty fingers beat the empty air
and the giver goes down on his knees in prayer
knows that all of his giving has been for naught
and that nothing was ever what he thought
and turns in his guilty bed to stare
at the starving multitudes standing there
and rises from bed to curse at heaven,
he must yet understand that to whom much is given
much will be taken, and justly so:
I cannot tell how much I owe.
Finally, a tiny postscript to last week:
If you did not find anything wrong with the post that lit the internet on fire last week, Karen explains beautifully what should have made you uncomfortable here.
And, then perhaps this perspective will open your eyes even wider.
by Kat | Jan 10, 2019 | General, Words
I am joining with Carole today and my things all surround something that sort of blew up over social media this week thanks to a very poorly conceived blog post and the crucial things we all need to learn from this debacle:
Thing One:
An apology for offending people is not an apology. The apology needed to be for the behavior, thoughts, ignorance, and yes… the extremely poorly worded blog post.
Thing Two:
Making excuses for your behavior does nothing but compound the problem.
Thing Three:
Finally, it requires each of us to spend time realizing that we don’t know, what we don’t know – and in that realization – we need to make the commitment to learn more. Be more aware. Acknowledge that we have said – say – did – do things every single day that compound this problem. And, yes… even that we are silent when we should not be.
This opened the door to a very real problem that exists in the Fiber Community, et al – it is structured for white success. We all need to work on making it more inclusive – this is not something we can think well “someone else will do that.” It is something that requires work from each of us collectively – every day!
I am not linking to the blog post, but you can find it on the Fringe Association blog but there is a very interesting conversation happening on IG which you can see here and here and here.
Image used courtesy of Peter Heeling.
by Kat | Jan 8, 2019 | General, Words
First up, I want to thank everyone for their well wishes yesterday! Through the wonder of antibiotics, each day I am feeling the tiniest bit better! Today, I even managed to do a short bit of Pilates and that is a very good thing! No chances of an afternoon walk today though – it is wet and rainy outside and those few minutes of Pilates were enough to expend my energy. No overdoing it for this girl!
Last week, Juliann asked what changes I made this year to my planner system. I managed to work a bit on it yesterday – and I am happy with my results! I need to make a trip to Joann’s to get some Tombow markers – but yesterday, colored pencils worked just fine. I have been finding some really helpful things on Pinterest and have implemented some of them this year. Previously, I had been using a Traveler’s Notebook weekly calendar with the week on one side and grid paper on the other side. This worked well when I was “working” and spent my day attached to my PC and my planner. I used it to track hours worked, and things I needed to complete and by when.
This system was great for that, but in my non-working-for-pay life, its functionality was just not functional for my daily life. First, I am not at the PC like I was when I was working and, therefore, not “attached” to my planner in the same way. Too many pages were unused and so when I needed to replace it, I looked at what I wanted my calendar to do in my day.
Enter my take on the “BuJo” craze. On Amazon, I found a set of 3-dot grid books that fit perfectly in my traveler’s notebook. They are stitched, and the paper works well for fountain pens!
I will set up each month with the calendar and my focus for the month. As you can see, my focus right now is moving and thanks to this pneumonia that is not off to the most auspicious start, but that is okay. It is there, and I am well aware of it. Each week has a section, and I can fill in things that I need to remember that week. I still need to make that page of my yearly “remember” things, i.e. birthdays, anniversaries, prescription refill dates, etc. I am also contemplating adding something in with a gratitude/mental health/focus list, but I am not entirely sure how to work that in yet.
My morning routine now includes, checking in with what is “yet to be done” this week as I spend a few minutes writing in my journal pages… a much better and more productive start to my day!
What about you? Do you “BuJo”? And, if you do, how do you make it work for you?
