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January 26, 2007
Cluttered
My house... cluttered.
My mind... cluttered.
My life... cluttered.
I haven't done much knitting in 2007. It's not that I haven't wanted to. It's just that there are other things that I've wanted to do more. Namely... de-cluttering.
You see, there is a lot I want to accomplish in 2007. That, coupled with the fact that I'm turning 30 in two weeks, has lit a fire under my bum. I want to conquer the clutter that seems to consume my everyday.
Conquering the clutter in my house will be the easiest to tackle. Our home is very small. It's the price we pay for living in the city (one we are willing to pay because of the life that city-living gives us). Right now I'm quickly filling boxes with things to give to charity and then I will take on the organization of the things that will stay.
My hope is that the de-cluttering of my home will lead to a de-cluttering of my mind. It seems that my creative mind has been in overdrive lately and I have so many projects that want to come to life! Yes, a few of them require knitting, but most of them do not - sewing, crochet, jewelry design...
The knitting (and crochet) I can pretty much do anywhere. But the sewing, jewelry design, etc require a work space. A studio of sorts. Not an easy thing to find in a small house. Our spare bedroom has been a "dumping ground" for things we have no other place for. I think a lot of people have a room like that in their homes. But we really can't afford to have a room like that in this house. We need to use every square foot (and use it efficiently)! We have been very creative in the usage of space in the rest of the house. Large objects do not come into this house unless they have multiple uses. Our "coffee table" in the living room is actually two ottomans pushed together. Two ottomans that serve as a coffee table, extra storage and even extra seating when we need it. This is how we must live!
It's time we work our "small space magic" in our spare bedroom so that I can get that longed-for space where my creative juices can flow.
Of course, all of this house and mind de-cluttering should lead to the de-cluttering of my life! I feel like I'm spending so much of my free time navigating through all of the clutter (both physical and mental). This leaves little time to actually be productive!
So why am I telling you all of this? Well, for one thing, I've been feeling guilty about the lack of knitting on this knitting blog (I still need to take a picture of my Pomatomus socks). Also, I guess I just wanted to let you all know why this blog may become silent for a week (maybe two?) at a time. I'm really trying to spend my "free time" working on my de-cluttering goal.
Speaking of goals, I did say in my last post that I wanted to tell you my goals for 2007. Well, the obvious one I just spoke paragraphs about, but here are a few smaller ones:
1) run more. Right now I'm only running about 8 miles a week and am wanting to get to 20+ miles a week. I've never run a 5k so I'm going to run my first one on St. Patrick's Day!
2) blog more. Heh heh... that may not be able to happen in the immediate future due to my de-cluttering but once I'm de-cluttered I anticipate lots of time for blogging (and lots to blog about)!
3) give this blog a facelift. I am growing weary of the design of my blog. I don't like the dark colors anymore and want to make my tiny spot on the internet a little more light and airy.
I want to end with a HUGE thank you to everyone who has visited this little blog over the past year. I try and reply to all of the comments that you leave, but sometimes life happens and I'm lucky to even get a shower. I'm looking forward to spending 2007 with you!
What are your goals this year?
Posted by allison at 11:22 PM | Comments (6)
January 21, 2007
Lots to tell you about!
Gosh! What a busy week (aren't they all?!). That yarn shop I showed in my last post? It is now open for business! The grand opening was yesterday, but Lara, the owner, opened the shop Thursday night just for the members of my Stitch 'n Bitch group! How nice was that?! There was a big turnout, too! I started Stitch 'n Bitch Columbia about a year ago and since then it's grown to over 80 members! Thankfully, not everyone showed up Thursday night. :) Lara wants the group to start meeting at her shop and we had a great time Thursday night for our sneak preview.
Yarn was purchased (though not by me because I was trying to be good!) and there was even some knitting accomplished between the yarn petting! Thanks, Lara, for allowing us to be your first customers! The youngest member of Stitch 'n Bitch Columbia was also in attendance but she slept through all of the excitement (I'm sure she was dreaming of yarn).
This is my friend Liz's little girl. Just 5 weeks old! Liz tells me that she screams and cries but the times that I've seen her she's either sleeping, eating or cooing. I think Liz is lying about all that bad stuff. She's a perfect angel!
Geoff and I had a great time in Asheville last weekend. We went back to what has become our favorite bed and breakfast, The Lion and the Rose. One of my favorite things about this place is this little guy...
Meet Cedric! Isn't he the cutest?! And he has a funny underbite that makes it look like he's smiling all the time. I love hanging out with him downstairs while I knit.
I went to two yarn shops in Asheville and (believe it or not) did not buy any yarn! The first shop I went to was Purl's and it was a nice shop but I have to gripe a bit. They had all of their yarn organized by color instead of brand. And, yes, this makes for a beautiful shop but it's just not practical! I don't know what color I want my project to be! I just know what kind of yarn I want! I want to be able to browse all of the colors of a particular yarn in one place and not have to search all over the shop to try and see what colors are available. I got tired of the hunt and walked out of there spending just $6 on a pattern for a lace stole. If I hadn't gotten so frustrated looking for yarn, I probably would have spent a lot more money there.
Then I went to Yarn Paradise and I just really love this shop. The people who work there are super nice and super helpful. So I almost felt guilty when I couldn't find any yarn that called to me. I did buy some needles but no yarn. Geoff thought I was ill. I don't think he has ever seen me come out of a yarn shop without yarn. And he witnessed this strange behavior twice in one day!
But I also went to Piece Gardens fabric shop. I could not get out of there without buying some wonderful Amy Butler fabric...
The fabric on the bottom is going to become an apron (the one from In Stitches - LOVE this book!) and the fabric at the top is going to become a tote bag for my swift so that it's easier to transport. I just need to find some coordinating fabric for each of them.
Geoff and I also found some art by an Asheville artist to dress up a very naked wall in our living room. I love all of the colors!
I still have lots to blog about - goals for 2007 and a finished pair of Pomatomus - but they will have to wait. I haven't taken a picture of the socks yet! Hopefully I can get them posted in the next few days. One of my goals for 2007 needs to be "blog more" so that I can avoid these "super-sized" posts.
Posted by allison at 10:40 AM | Comments (7)
January 15, 2007
1.3 miles from my house
Posted by allison at 10:07 PM | Comments (10)
January 11, 2007
I'll be back!
Geoff and I are heading to Asheville, NC for the weekend to see Iris Dement and relax a bit!
I have lots of stuff to blog about (including a finished knit!) but this week has been crazy. I'll see ya on Monday! Probably with a bit of "stash enhancement" to show from Yarn Paradise. Whoopee!
Have a great weekend!
Posted by allison at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2007
Comments are down
Blah. My comments are down. I was trying to install anti-spam stuff and now you can't leave a comment. Hopefully it will be fixed this afternoon when I can access my backup files.
Edit: Ok! All fixed! Yay! Guess I'll have to find another solution to my spam problem. Any ideas? Would upgrading to Movable Type 3.3 help things? I should probably do that anyway, huh?
Posted by allison at 02:51 PM | Comments (2)
