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

8 comments:

  1. How tragic about your school principal. I'm so sorry. It's scary how life can change in just a flash of an instant. You are so right -- we need to live in the moment and tell all we love that we do love them.

    You are so right about Paulette's trees. lol! They drove me absolutely batty when I was stitching Paradise Lost! But they are worth it in the end. Good luck getting through them! Love your Poinsettia House too! And nice stash! No clue about what the dolls are called, but nice hat!

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  2. First off, my deepest sympathy to you, your school and your principal's family. I understand exactly how a single car accident and the death of the driver feels to those left behind, how to sort through it, how to come to terms. What you said about being the best you can be is a fine tribute to the memory of the one lost. And if everyone in this world would take a moment to be that best them, wouldn't the world be a better place?! I applaud you and will pray for your preserverance and for the family of your principal. It's a hard road to travel to come to peace after a tragedy such as this.

    I love your Poinsetta House it is very pretty! Laura's stitching group is very addictive to one such as I that has a clicky finger problem :) I've eyed that bloom pincushion myself since seeing it on their blogs :)

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  3. I'm so sorry to hear about such a tragic accident.

    Your Poinsettia House is beautiful, its a design I've always loved. Paradise lost is looking gorgeous, and you've gotten pretty far on it.

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  4. It is hard sometimes to come to terms with such a loss. In the end we just have to trust in God's plan and try to move on as best we can. Not an easy thing to do though.

    Your Poinsettia House is beautiful!

    Good luck with meeting your goals. I always talk the talk but rarely walk the walk.

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  5. I'm so sorry about the loss of your principal! I work in a school also...as you know...and that is a loss that is felt by everyone...particularly when it is a LOVED person. I pray that you will find peace in this situation and that after you are the shoulder for all of your students...that you will find comfort from someone else... Such a hard time to be the one that everyone turns to...

    Your stitching is beautiful...and love the knitting! You're like me...jump both feet first into EVERY CRAFT POSSIBLE!!!! Can't wait to see those gloves...they look beautiful so far with that yarn.

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  6. What a terrible tragedy for the entire community... I'm sure it does, indeed, make you think about things differently...

    Your Poinsettia House is lovely and I like that you included your name on it...Cute baby hat :)

    My overdyed floss organization needs major help, too. If you find any solutions--let me know, Kellie!

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  7. I'm so terribly sorry about your former principal. You're right about it not making sense, but so many things don't make sense. The good thing (and we have to find some good things) is that you're learning all the right lessons from the tragedy. If only more people could learn the same lessons. Love really is the answer. Sorry, I sound like Pollyanna, but thinking this way helps. Good luck.

    As far as floss storage: I have a crazy system. My DMC is in little drawers, in flossaway bags, all lined up in number order. My other groups are in flossaway bags and on rings, either in number order or alphabetical order (a teacher OCD thing). The rings are put in some of my Longaberger baskets that look pretty sitting under my bed. Sounds crazy, but it works for me.

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  8. I don't know how I missed your post last Saturday. I just wanted to let you know that I just read it and I am so sorry for the loss of your vibrant co-worker. She meant so much to the community at large it sounds like. Keeping you in my thoughts today.

    Love all of your stitching and knitting pics. Love!

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