Saturday, January 14, 2012

overload

I didn't mean to be away so long. I am trying to be better about blogging more frequently.

The last week has been very hard. I don't typically dwell on sad things on my blog, much preferring to mainly focus on stitching and knitting and positive. But this week has had a profound impact on me and if you will indulge me for a minute, I will get back to more positive things....

Most of you that have been reading for some time, know that I am a school counselor. I have worked at all levels from kindergarten to eighth grade. Actually when I first started this blog I was an elementary school counselor shared between our two elementary schools and within the last year and a half, I transferred back to our middle school. Anyway....

Last weekend, one of the elementary school principals that I worked for previously was tragically killed in a car accident. It was a single car accident. It is thought that she swerved (to avoid an animal maybe?), over corrected and lost control of her car. She was killed instantly. She was young. Forty seven (I think that is young...), and she had two children. And she was the caretaker of her family. And she was a respected well-loved principal that knew every single child and adult in her building by name. She hugged. A lot. She told people she loved them. A lot. And a whole community has been in mourning for her all week. Along with everyone else, I am struggling to understand how such a vibrant person can suddenly be gone when so many people needed and relied on her. It has caused me to rethink a lot of things. To want to be a better version of myself. To be kinder than necessary. To live fully in the moment. Every. Single. Day. To not dwell on past hurts or troubles. To not worry about future problems that I have absolutely no control over. To be the best mother and wife and daughter and sister and aunt that I can be. To tell people that I love them and appreciate them. Not just people in my family who I tell daily that I love them, but my friends that I am close to who I may not have let know how much they mean to me. To learn ALL five hundred and fifty plus students names every single year so that they know that they matter to me too.

Okay enough of the sad.....
On to the positive....

In the little time that I have had, I have stitched and knitted this week.
I finished Poinsettia House! Just in time for the new small that will be announced tomorrow. I am so loving this 2012 Year of Smalls challenge. I chose to stitch our name on the sampler rather than "poinsettia."

Poinsettia House by Little House Needleworks
40 count Lakeside Linen Navy Bean
recommended threads
I think I mentioned in my last post that I am wanting to stitch a lot of smalls this year and to work on whittling down my WIP pile. Most of which are BAPs.... I am trying to focus on one WIP at a time in between the smalls that I stop to stitch. Right now, my focus in Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers. While I love Paulette's quirky fun trees, I will be happy to have all of them stitched on this piece. This last one with the diamond shaped leaves is about to plow me under.... LOL!


In the world of knitting, I have embarked on making some baby hats. I have two teachers in my building that are having babies soon. Like one of them is due this month. She's having a girl and I finished her hat last night. Here it is modeled on one of my baby dolls from when I was a child.

Easy Peasy Newborn Sock Hat
Free pattern found here: Ravelry
Classic Elite Yarn Summer Sox
3.25 mm needles
Mods:needle size and stitched stockinette for 4 inches instead of 3.5 inches
Anyone know what these dolls are called? I know they are old and antique, but I know very little about them. I was given two of them by a great aunt. I remember seeing these type of dolls in clothing stores when I was a child in the 70s. They used them as mannequins for baby and children's clothing. I can remember seeing them sitting on top of clothing racks, but not for sale. I have no idea how my great aunt came by the ones she had. They were old when she gave them to me as a child. If any of you know anything about them, let me know. I am curious to learn about them.

I am working on Jake's epic striped blanket. I have started stripe number three of seven. This is supposed to be my focus knitting project right now, but I have strayed. I am knitting this out of Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand. Not that I am a yarn snob by any means, but I am not too fond of acrylic yarns. However for blankets, I want something machine washable and dryable. And Vanna's Choice is actually pretty soft to knit with and not squeaky on the needles. This is a modification of the Purl Bee Super Easy Baby Blanket. I just cast on a bunch more stitches (around 300 maybe?) and have made my stripes approximately 10 inches long (39 garter ridges). Very easy knit. Also very boring knit. But I love the simplicity and squishiness of garter stitch, and this is a great TV project.



Speaking of TV, I am officially hooked.... Love. This. Series. I watched the entire first series last weekend which was very therapeutic for me and helped to keep my mind occupied.


I cast on a pair of Toast mitts last night. I am making these out of KnitPicks City Tweed in the color Larkspur. This is the first time that I have knit with City Tweed, and I love it. I will be looking for more projects to knit using this yarn.


A lot of stash enhancement this week, partly thanks to my brother and sister-in-law who gave me gift certificates for Christmas....

Here's my yarn haul...


And the stitching haul....

The scissors were from my parents for Christmas. And I had the JCS magazine. I ordered the fabric, button, needed threads and beads to make the Bloom pincushion. I have fallen victim to Laura's stitching group's influence. I think all of them have this as one of their twelve projects to complete in the coming year. After seeing it featured repeatedly and loving it more each time I saw it, it is now one of my projects to complete in the coming year. :)

Another goal for the coming year... organization!! Everywhere, but including my stitching and knitting. I am a pretty organized person, but I have let some things slide lately and one area is keeping my stash and supplies organized. I am sucker for the visual. I love quirky and unique. I am going to try to find a few more of these locker baskets to store my stash of charts in. I love being able to see what I have at a glance and to be able to flip through them easily. More organization ideas to come. Please share yours with me. Particularly on overdyed threads. I like flossaway bags. What I don't like is figuring out a good way to store them. I have outgrown the big 3 inch rings. I either need more rings or bigger rings or a whole other system. Any ideas?

Okay, now that I have overloaded you completely, and probably very few of you are still reading at this point, I am going to sign off of the day.

Have a good weekend. Tell someone you love them today.

Kellie